Cruzbike has another WUCA North American Championship title, as I won the overall 12-hour race yesterday at the 2023 Pyscho event. Covering 258.6 miles in the heavist winds I have ever ridden in. My closest competator was Georgi S on an upright bike. We were together in a small group until I rode away from them at mile 65 when we were riding dead into 15mph headwinds. I beat him by over 10 miles. in the end
The wind was relentless and was at least 25mph much of the time and gusty. Unfortunaly the way the course was laid out, riders had to deal with 25 miles of heavy cross and headwinds, and only 10 miles with a tail wind. When I got in the tailwind I could ride close to 30 mph easily and I know the wind was blowing close that speed because there was no feel of wind agaist me at all - and very quite. It was quite fun - but riding dead into it was not!
Here is my Strava file:
https://www.strava.com/activities/10080899858
There was a huge consensus at the award ceremony that Gerorgi should have been the overall winner because I was on a recumbent, and there were also a couple comments on Georgi's strava feed that: "They gave it to the Recumbent
bs".
In reality there were Overall, Upright, and Recumbent categories for both male and female.
They did not have a specific award ceremony for Upright, Recumbent Male or Femail categories, although the had one for Male 75-80 Uprgiht which was odd.
I think the male upright riders were greatly dissapointed they did not have a specific award ceremony for their category - espcially since they represented over 50% of the field. The female overall just happened to be 2 upright riders - but that is because Maria wasn't riding
It seems like it would be best to work the up to the overall and give some recognition to as many riders as possible.
The race in less than 1000 words!
I rode with the the "fast" group out of the gate which was comprised of about 20 uprights and myself. After 1 -35 mlie lap the field was down to 3 ( 1 - 100 mile rider, Gerogi and another upright 12-hour rider. I was riding the Magic
5 or 6 miles before the finish of the 2nd lap at mile 65 I left this group of 3 - not that I was trying to, but I was just set at my wattage and they just slowed down (I think because we where straight into the headwind.
I then stopped for about 30 secs at the loop finish and tunred on my taillight.
Then I started on the 3rd lap. The wind was even more ferocious and I had a terrible time controlling the bike. I prayed for the Lord to just get me through this lap so I coud change over to the V20C - (yes, just like Natchez Trace last year). I fought the wind for the 25 miles of that loop and was so grateful to finish. I stopped again to switch bikes. My good friend Jill offered to help me and graciously filled whatever bottles I needed. I that point I had ridden 4 1/2 hours and had drank 90 ounces of fuel.
I took off again on the 4th lap with aobut a 4 min advantage on the 3 riders behind me who had worked together the entire 3rd lap while I rode my solo.
The V20C was so nice a stable. I felt the power of the wind but did not have any trouble controlling the bike.
I basically rode each lap about the same intensity for the next 3 laps - stopping at my car - where Jill would fill me in on my closest competitor and fill my bottle with fuel. I did this for the laps 4,5,67. In the middle of lap 6 I had stop and turn on my headlight and relieve myself. Riidngin the pitch black was also a stuflle for me. I was seeing double again (just like last year) - which makes is especailly challenging at night. I was glad only 1 hour of the 12 hours was in the dark!
When I finished lap 7 and 248 miles Jill told me my closest rival was 20 miles away. I still had about 35 minutes to go. Wow! I thought - that meant there was no way they could catch me. Regardless I soldered on - and manged to ride another 10+ miles for my final total. The temp had also dropped to about 50 degrees and it felt quite chilly with sweat soaked clothing. Jill was kind enough to pick me up with 5 minutes of stopping. WHen I was done I found out the the person is 2nd was only about 10 miles behind be but no one knew because his traker apparently was not working correctly. I'm really glad I kept going - or we would have tied - as he stopped right at the finish of his 7th lap
We all know the Vendetta in any year have is super aerodyamically to any upright. However many have proven that a fully tricked out upright with a wind tunnel trained rider is very close.
It is not uncommon for upright riders to claim we have unfair advantage - but I was really curious: did Georgi's effort for the 12 hours really exceed mine significanly, but I won because I was just cheating on my V20C?
After looking at the power data from both our rides yesterday - the answer is a resounding no! I actually had a 5% higher W/Kg output than Georgi over the entire 12 hours (and he was even fortunate enough to ride in at least a 3 person pace group for 106 miles with 2 other teammates. I was in the group for only 65 and then rode solo for a194.)
Here is my analysis.
| Larry | Georgi | | notes |
| weight Kg | 65 | 75 | | (est) for Georgie, as he is significantly larger than me - estimate 10 KG - later confirmed by him |
| power W | 132 | 145 | | |
| W/Kg | 2.03 | 1.93 | | |
| Delta | | -5.04% | | |
| | | | |
| Recumbent factor 10% | 2.23 | 1.93 | | It is well known that there is a power lost in the recumbent position of 10-20% (based on low seat angle and resulting hip angle - when compared to an upright power |
I realize my 12-hour power (and even W/KG of only 2.0) is not really much compared to some out there (like Cliff, Derek or Jason), but I am pretty happy with it because I know since my heart attack almot 3 years ago that its capabily to pump was reduced by over 50%. (That will never change or heal - it is dead tissue now.) This result was also only after 7 weeks of training. Mostly 2-5 hours of zone 2 riding 4-5 times a week, and one Zwift race (usually 1 hour) on Tuesday nights. So when you only have 2 months to train for an event - don't worry - you can still do it!
Amazingly I could still stand up.
Thank you everyone for your support and encouragment!
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