LarryOz
Cruzeum Curator & Sigma Wrangler
This is Larry Oslund's Race Report
7 years ago - This exact race was my foray into ultra-racing. I got my first Cruzbike (a Silvio 2.0) in late June 2014, and 7 weeks later I rode it in this 12-hour race. I went 237 miles and remember I was a little disappointed that I did not break 20mph average. I was so green. I did not know “anything” about ultra cycling, power, heart rate, fueling, etc. I just loved to ride my Cruzbike! I took so much food it was ridiculous! Maria Parker jokingly told me I had enough for 10 races! And I did! - haha
Fast forward 7 years. Now I’m 61, much weaker, plus had 3 stents put into my LAD artery just 10 weeks ago. But at least I am riding one of the fastest recumbents in the world. What I had in power 7 years ago, I made up in aero and experience now.
So - on with the ride report.
I arrived a day early and stayed with good friends Alvin and Jill. I had to work in the morning, but helped set up the course that afternoon. Painting arrows on the ground, putting turn signs and mileage signs every mile. It took 3 of us nearly all afternoon to do it! It was amazingly hot and I felt like I had ridden a Century by the time the day was over. So much for resting! Plus the forecast was more of the same, only hotter for race day.
I was racing my gold V20 (Same one I built and raced in RAAM 2017, 4 years ago)
It is basically a stock V20, with SRAM etap 11-speed, Vendtist seat, Cruzbike race case, curved slider. FLO 80 CF tubeless wheels with Pro One tires at 80 psi (CF wheel covers on rear). Front disc brake, rear rim brake.
I was going to be self-supported so I had to prepare everything in advance.
I planned on eating egg salad sandwiches (1 every 100 miles), watermelon, grapes, cherries, gatorade and water, and 1 gallon ice bags each lap after noon to help with cooling.
So I prepared all those the night before.
The course is just shy of 26 miles, and you loop through a school parking lot for the timing. You must slow down to about 10mph for that ¼ mile section.
My goal was to ride 10 laps in 12 hours. That is 72 minutes per lap. That would give me 260 miles for the 12-hours.
This was my fueling and riding plan:
Ride the first 100 miles non-stop - so I would need to start the race with 2 - 1 liter bottles of gatorade, 1-20 oz bottle of water, 1 egg salad sandwich, 1 bag each of watermelon, grapes, and cherries. I wore a fanny pack on my stomach to hold my food, had a race case with those giant 1 liter bottles in it, and carried the 20 oz bottle under the boom.
After than I would stop at my van and replenish after each lap:
I was planning on getting a 1 gallon ice-bag, 1 bottle of fuel, 1 bottle of water, and a bag grapes, watermelon, or cherries for each lap. (also on lap 4 and 7 I would grab an egg salad sandwich.)
That was my race and fueling plan - You know how a plan goes - never like you planned it!
To start off I did not know what I was thinking when I thought I was going to be able to take an egg salad sandwich, a bag of watermelon, a bag of grapes and a bag of cherries all in that little fanny pack. I opted to leave out the sandwich and crammed in the watermelon, grapes and cherries. It could barely get it closed. It was so high it stuck above my Garmin on the tube.
This event has 3 different races happening simultaneously. A 24-hour non-drafting, a 12-hour drafting, and a Century. The 24-hour and 12-hour left at 7am, and the Century riders left at 7:30. Alvin led out the 24-hour and 12-hour people at 7am at a slow pace for about 1-mile until most everyone bunched up. That way it did not really matter where you were at the start line. I tried to make it near the front before he “cut us loose”, but did not quite make it. I eventually got there and hung around 2 of the leaders for a little but not really drafting and then eventually passed them after a few miles as they were not really going as fast as I wanted to.
The first 4 laps actually went pretty well as planned and I negative split the 4 them:
1st lap: 1:07:18 - 22.4 mph - 154 watts, avg HR=140 bpm
2nd lap: 1:07:07 - 22.5 mph - 156 watts, avg HR=138 bpm
3rd lap: 1:06:36 - 22.7 mph - 155 watts, avg HR=142 bpm
4th lap: 1:05:44 - 23.0 mph - 154 watts, avg HR=152 bpm
(First 100 miles in 4:27)
(Theses laps were timed from after leaving the parking lot and right before turning back into it, so actual average speed overall was less because of the mandatory 10mph in the parking lot)
After the 1st four laps I stopped as planned. I decided to “not” take a sandwich with me and just stood there and ate it and then took a single bag of watermelon with me. It was nice not having the fanny pack on my belly so full; This was a 4+ min pit stop - so not too bad.
I was pretty tired after the first non-stop 104 miles, and now it was 11:30 and very hot and humid. The gallon of ice on my chest was very welcome and did help cool me down a little bit, but it quickly melted by mile 10. My power dropped accordingly but my pulse was just as high as my last lap (at a higher power) which is common with high heat and this much fatigue. The last few miles saw my heart rate spiking to 196. I could not feel anything internally in my body or with my heart which was odd, but I tried to go easier anyway just to be safe
5th lap: 1:09:53 - 21.6mph - 135 watts, avg HR=152 bpm
My quick pit stop at the end of lap 5 was just under 2 minutes. I grabbed a new bag of ice, 1 new fuel bottle and refilled my water bottle with cold water, a bag of grapes and took off. My heart rate was spiking again for the first few minutes then settled down until the last 12 minutes. I was not really convinced there was a problem, but I still decided to take it easy and not push the power.
6th lap: 1:11:21 - 21.2 mph - 130watts, avg HR=151 bpm
My quick pit stop at the end of lap 6 was just a little over 2 minutes. Again, I grabbed a new bag of ice, 1 new fuel bottle and refilled my water bottle with cold water, a bag of cherries and took off. My heart rate was spiking again for the first few minutes then settled down to about 155’ish until the last 10 minutes of the lap. I wasn’t feeling too great now now and my pulse was consistently over 160 and spiking to 186 even with minimal effort.
7th lap: 1:11:05 - 21.2 mph - 133 watts , avg HR=155 bpm
My pit stop at the end of lap 7 was just a little over 4 minutes as I tried to rest a little more. Again, I grabbed a new bag of ice, 1 new fuel bottle and refilled my water bottle with cold water, a bag of watermelon and took off. My heart rate spiked again all the way up to 187 right at the beginning, but then I eased off and it went back to 155-158 range again, although now I was barely averaging 110-115 watts. It was so hot. I should have stopped for a longer break. With 7 miles left of the loop my heart rate increased all the way up to 204. It remained highish for about 7 minutes and after laying off the power even more it went back to the upper 150s. I was feeling pretty crummy now and my pulse appeared to spike high with even minimal effort. I felt the Lord impress on me that if I did not stop and rest at the end of this lap that I might not make it to the next one. I was even contemplating on totally ending the ride. It was now about 4:40pm
8th lap: 1:15:37 - 20.0 mph - 114 watts, avg HR=158 bpm
I stopped for a long time at this stop. I ate an egg salad sandwich and some watermelon and mostly sat with a bag of ice over my head while I chatted with Alvin about the race. He said many people had dropped out due to the heat and he even saw one poor fellow pass out and fall over while riding his bike through the parking lot. He turned out to be ok, but that was a close call and I did not want to duplicate that effort. After 22+ minutes I felt much better and decided to go out again and just ride easy. Interestingly my power was a little higher than the lap before, but my heart had totally settled down. I averaged a nice 138 bpm on this lap.
9th lap: 1:13:15 - 20.6 mph - 120 watts, avg HR=138 bpm
I did one more quick little pit stop of less than 2 minutes and picked up one bottle of fuel and a fresh cool water and an ice bag. I had about 40 minutes left. I thought I was in first place but did not really know and wanted to get as many miles as possible. No one had passed me the entire race. I felt even better than last lap so I was going to try to push it to get as many miles as I could. I ended up riding 14 more miles which put me about as far away from the start as I could get when 12 hours expired. Luckily Alvin was behind me in the official judges vehicle and picked me up and took me back to the start. I pushed that last 40 minutes pretty hard and was feeling pretty sick to my stomach now.
10th lap (partial): 14miles - 22.2 mph - 151 watts, avg HR=152
Here is my complete Strava file: https://www.strava.com/activities/5797204563
11:25:32 riding time. Avg power: 137w (normalized 141w) - avg HR=148 bpm
When we returned back, Alvin informed me that someone had actually ridden 260 miles, so I gladly took 2nd place. Ryan Collins is his name - he is a young tall kid and rode an TT bike. He went off the front at the beginning of the race before I managed to get there and was never seen again. He averaged over 25mph for the first 104 miles which was amazing in the heat.
Here is the overall podium: Larry, Ryan, Rick
Rick Moore on another V20 took 3rd place with 208 miles.
There was also another Cruzbike V20 piloted by “Bill Horstman”, who also won his age category 70-79.
Final Comments:
The V20 performed flawlessly! Me not so much - but I am a lot older, so there's that!
This was a tough race for me this year. Maybe partly because I have not really ridden outside very much at all this year (95% indoor), and also getting 4 stents at 2 different times between Feb and Jun and having to recover from that as well. In addition: riding in August in the South can be hard and dangerous due to the heat and humidity. It is now the following Thur since the race and I am still recovering. I sunburned my nose and my lips are so bad I can’t eat anything without pain yet.
As always it is great to ride with like minded ultra enthusiasts - and especially some other Cruzbike brothers.
I praise the Lord that He has been with me through this year and my “heart” issues. Not that I fear dying because then I get to be with Him. More so that He is not done with me yet and I have more to accomplish for Him on this earth.
As always I also thank my wife Gayle for the support she gives me for this passion of mine, the prayers of my family and friends that follow me, the support of the Cruzbike tribe, and the Ultracycling community as a whole.
Warmest Regards to all,
Larry Oslund
larryoslund@gmail.com
7 years ago - This exact race was my foray into ultra-racing. I got my first Cruzbike (a Silvio 2.0) in late June 2014, and 7 weeks later I rode it in this 12-hour race. I went 237 miles and remember I was a little disappointed that I did not break 20mph average. I was so green. I did not know “anything” about ultra cycling, power, heart rate, fueling, etc. I just loved to ride my Cruzbike! I took so much food it was ridiculous! Maria Parker jokingly told me I had enough for 10 races! And I did! - haha
Fast forward 7 years. Now I’m 61, much weaker, plus had 3 stents put into my LAD artery just 10 weeks ago. But at least I am riding one of the fastest recumbents in the world. What I had in power 7 years ago, I made up in aero and experience now.
So - on with the ride report.
I arrived a day early and stayed with good friends Alvin and Jill. I had to work in the morning, but helped set up the course that afternoon. Painting arrows on the ground, putting turn signs and mileage signs every mile. It took 3 of us nearly all afternoon to do it! It was amazingly hot and I felt like I had ridden a Century by the time the day was over. So much for resting! Plus the forecast was more of the same, only hotter for race day.
I was racing my gold V20 (Same one I built and raced in RAAM 2017, 4 years ago)
It is basically a stock V20, with SRAM etap 11-speed, Vendtist seat, Cruzbike race case, curved slider. FLO 80 CF tubeless wheels with Pro One tires at 80 psi (CF wheel covers on rear). Front disc brake, rear rim brake.
I was going to be self-supported so I had to prepare everything in advance.
I planned on eating egg salad sandwiches (1 every 100 miles), watermelon, grapes, cherries, gatorade and water, and 1 gallon ice bags each lap after noon to help with cooling.
So I prepared all those the night before.
The course is just shy of 26 miles, and you loop through a school parking lot for the timing. You must slow down to about 10mph for that ¼ mile section.
My goal was to ride 10 laps in 12 hours. That is 72 minutes per lap. That would give me 260 miles for the 12-hours.
This was my fueling and riding plan:
Ride the first 100 miles non-stop - so I would need to start the race with 2 - 1 liter bottles of gatorade, 1-20 oz bottle of water, 1 egg salad sandwich, 1 bag each of watermelon, grapes, and cherries. I wore a fanny pack on my stomach to hold my food, had a race case with those giant 1 liter bottles in it, and carried the 20 oz bottle under the boom.
After than I would stop at my van and replenish after each lap:
I was planning on getting a 1 gallon ice-bag, 1 bottle of fuel, 1 bottle of water, and a bag grapes, watermelon, or cherries for each lap. (also on lap 4 and 7 I would grab an egg salad sandwich.)
That was my race and fueling plan - You know how a plan goes - never like you planned it!
To start off I did not know what I was thinking when I thought I was going to be able to take an egg salad sandwich, a bag of watermelon, a bag of grapes and a bag of cherries all in that little fanny pack. I opted to leave out the sandwich and crammed in the watermelon, grapes and cherries. It could barely get it closed. It was so high it stuck above my Garmin on the tube.
This event has 3 different races happening simultaneously. A 24-hour non-drafting, a 12-hour drafting, and a Century. The 24-hour and 12-hour left at 7am, and the Century riders left at 7:30. Alvin led out the 24-hour and 12-hour people at 7am at a slow pace for about 1-mile until most everyone bunched up. That way it did not really matter where you were at the start line. I tried to make it near the front before he “cut us loose”, but did not quite make it. I eventually got there and hung around 2 of the leaders for a little but not really drafting and then eventually passed them after a few miles as they were not really going as fast as I wanted to.
The first 4 laps actually went pretty well as planned and I negative split the 4 them:
1st lap: 1:07:18 - 22.4 mph - 154 watts, avg HR=140 bpm
2nd lap: 1:07:07 - 22.5 mph - 156 watts, avg HR=138 bpm
3rd lap: 1:06:36 - 22.7 mph - 155 watts, avg HR=142 bpm
4th lap: 1:05:44 - 23.0 mph - 154 watts, avg HR=152 bpm
(First 100 miles in 4:27)
(Theses laps were timed from after leaving the parking lot and right before turning back into it, so actual average speed overall was less because of the mandatory 10mph in the parking lot)
After the 1st four laps I stopped as planned. I decided to “not” take a sandwich with me and just stood there and ate it and then took a single bag of watermelon with me. It was nice not having the fanny pack on my belly so full; This was a 4+ min pit stop - so not too bad.
I was pretty tired after the first non-stop 104 miles, and now it was 11:30 and very hot and humid. The gallon of ice on my chest was very welcome and did help cool me down a little bit, but it quickly melted by mile 10. My power dropped accordingly but my pulse was just as high as my last lap (at a higher power) which is common with high heat and this much fatigue. The last few miles saw my heart rate spiking to 196. I could not feel anything internally in my body or with my heart which was odd, but I tried to go easier anyway just to be safe
5th lap: 1:09:53 - 21.6mph - 135 watts, avg HR=152 bpm
My quick pit stop at the end of lap 5 was just under 2 minutes. I grabbed a new bag of ice, 1 new fuel bottle and refilled my water bottle with cold water, a bag of grapes and took off. My heart rate was spiking again for the first few minutes then settled down until the last 12 minutes. I was not really convinced there was a problem, but I still decided to take it easy and not push the power.
6th lap: 1:11:21 - 21.2 mph - 130watts, avg HR=151 bpm
My quick pit stop at the end of lap 6 was just a little over 2 minutes. Again, I grabbed a new bag of ice, 1 new fuel bottle and refilled my water bottle with cold water, a bag of cherries and took off. My heart rate was spiking again for the first few minutes then settled down to about 155’ish until the last 10 minutes of the lap. I wasn’t feeling too great now now and my pulse was consistently over 160 and spiking to 186 even with minimal effort.
7th lap: 1:11:05 - 21.2 mph - 133 watts , avg HR=155 bpm
My pit stop at the end of lap 7 was just a little over 4 minutes as I tried to rest a little more. Again, I grabbed a new bag of ice, 1 new fuel bottle and refilled my water bottle with cold water, a bag of watermelon and took off. My heart rate spiked again all the way up to 187 right at the beginning, but then I eased off and it went back to 155-158 range again, although now I was barely averaging 110-115 watts. It was so hot. I should have stopped for a longer break. With 7 miles left of the loop my heart rate increased all the way up to 204. It remained highish for about 7 minutes and after laying off the power even more it went back to the upper 150s. I was feeling pretty crummy now and my pulse appeared to spike high with even minimal effort. I felt the Lord impress on me that if I did not stop and rest at the end of this lap that I might not make it to the next one. I was even contemplating on totally ending the ride. It was now about 4:40pm
8th lap: 1:15:37 - 20.0 mph - 114 watts, avg HR=158 bpm
I stopped for a long time at this stop. I ate an egg salad sandwich and some watermelon and mostly sat with a bag of ice over my head while I chatted with Alvin about the race. He said many people had dropped out due to the heat and he even saw one poor fellow pass out and fall over while riding his bike through the parking lot. He turned out to be ok, but that was a close call and I did not want to duplicate that effort. After 22+ minutes I felt much better and decided to go out again and just ride easy. Interestingly my power was a little higher than the lap before, but my heart had totally settled down. I averaged a nice 138 bpm on this lap.
9th lap: 1:13:15 - 20.6 mph - 120 watts, avg HR=138 bpm
I did one more quick little pit stop of less than 2 minutes and picked up one bottle of fuel and a fresh cool water and an ice bag. I had about 40 minutes left. I thought I was in first place but did not really know and wanted to get as many miles as possible. No one had passed me the entire race. I felt even better than last lap so I was going to try to push it to get as many miles as I could. I ended up riding 14 more miles which put me about as far away from the start as I could get when 12 hours expired. Luckily Alvin was behind me in the official judges vehicle and picked me up and took me back to the start. I pushed that last 40 minutes pretty hard and was feeling pretty sick to my stomach now.
10th lap (partial): 14miles - 22.2 mph - 151 watts, avg HR=152
Here is my complete Strava file: https://www.strava.com/activities/5797204563
11:25:32 riding time. Avg power: 137w (normalized 141w) - avg HR=148 bpm
When we returned back, Alvin informed me that someone had actually ridden 260 miles, so I gladly took 2nd place. Ryan Collins is his name - he is a young tall kid and rode an TT bike. He went off the front at the beginning of the race before I managed to get there and was never seen again. He averaged over 25mph for the first 104 miles which was amazing in the heat.
Here is the overall podium: Larry, Ryan, Rick
Rick Moore on another V20 took 3rd place with 208 miles.
There was also another Cruzbike V20 piloted by “Bill Horstman”, who also won his age category 70-79.
Final Comments:
The V20 performed flawlessly! Me not so much - but I am a lot older, so there's that!
This was a tough race for me this year. Maybe partly because I have not really ridden outside very much at all this year (95% indoor), and also getting 4 stents at 2 different times between Feb and Jun and having to recover from that as well. In addition: riding in August in the South can be hard and dangerous due to the heat and humidity. It is now the following Thur since the race and I am still recovering. I sunburned my nose and my lips are so bad I can’t eat anything without pain yet.
As always it is great to ride with like minded ultra enthusiasts - and especially some other Cruzbike brothers.
I praise the Lord that He has been with me through this year and my “heart” issues. Not that I fear dying because then I get to be with Him. More so that He is not done with me yet and I have more to accomplish for Him on this earth.
As always I also thank my wife Gayle for the support she gives me for this passion of mine, the prayers of my family and friends that follow me, the support of the Cruzbike tribe, and the Ultracycling community as a whole.
Warmest Regards to all,
Larry Oslund
larryoslund@gmail.com
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