Sebring 2016

[jond]

great write up for sure Larry. sorry but i did smile at the thought of Gayle holding back her laughter. sometimes humour appears out of nowhere even in the most difficult situations. i think you are done falling Larry. and as moose says congratulations on sweeping the field at Piccolo Park.

good on you for going back to the race and offering support to the team.

look forward to a few videos. and your future exploits.

inspiring stuff mate.

 

[LarryOz]

It was nice meeting you Larry and props to sweeping the field the following week at Piccolo Park.

Thanks Hardy - It was my honor to meet you and Connie, and of course congrats on your Century and your "featured" article on Cruzbike.
I just love what you two have been able to make also for the Cruzbikes.

i think you are done falling Larry.

Yes - Jon, I am done falling. Getting too old for that stuff. I pray I have seen the end of it!

look forward to a few videos. and your future exploits.

Thanks my good friend!
I am just finishing up processing the video from Sebring. It should be uploaded to YouTube tomorrow.
I am also working on my write up of the Piccolo Park races along with the 7 videos of that, hopefully in the next few days.

 

[super slim]

A great honest and and well written report!
I had forgotten about the repeating of the 87 questions (Only 50 Downunder, as the lawyers are not YET as bad as the Big Apple!!!) by everyone!
It looks like your blood system is as tough as your outer body, and immune to Morphine!!

Have you found the cause of all (3??) latex tube blow outs yet???

 

[Bentas]

Thanks for the great report Larry, as usual your honesty and humility are what make you a true champion.
"We can do all things " you know the rest .PTL

 

[LarryOz]

Have you found the cause of all (3??) latex tube blow outs yet???

After Sebring - A friend down in Florida found at least one "rough" imperfection in my CF tri-spoke wheel upon close inspection.
One spot appeared to be on the outside edge of the rim and I could see where this could slowely but surely compromise a tube, even full of sealant.
The other area was on the lip. He said it was too sharp. This one I am not too sure about, as I think area would be where the tire would seat.
I hope to get BentAero to take a look and confirm it for me. I will also try and get some photos of the spots.
It is hard to know what to do - I really like the feel and watts saving of latex tubes. I do not think that they are the problem. I still might end up going tubeless - it is probably the path that most will go in the next few years and if so the tires will just get better, especially if all the pros start switching. I'll get some of the best tires and add that to my testing scenarios for the year.
Uploading my video now to Youtube. I only have the first 84 minutes of the Sebring race, so I do not have the crash.
Seems my Garmin VIRB battery did not last that long, "and" failed to charge (with my on-board power banks) while running. Guess that was a waste carrying that weight around!

 

[LarryOz]

OK - here is my Video of the first 84 minutes or so of the Sebring race. I had a Garmin VIRB camera mounted to the front of my bike, so you can just see my feet go by.
It's too bad the battery died and I was not able to get more.
Of course 84 minutes is a lot to sit and watch unless you're on an indoor trainer riding yourself with nothing better to do.
Enjoy!

 

[jond]

Enjoy!

thanks larry enjoyed that. wow stopping at lights and missing right hand turn must have been a bit amusing. not.

must be great to zing along like that on such great roads.

here is to 2017 sebring and better luck my friend.

 

[bladderhead]

What an amazing place. They have a lot of space. The surface looks mostly very smooth. The only problem I can see with Sebring is that there is no opportunity to demonstrate the Cruzbike's famous ability to go uphill.

 

[LarryOz]

What an amazing place. They have a lot of space. The surface looks mostly very smooth. The only problem I can see with Sebring is that there is no opportunity to demonstrate the Cruzbike's famous ability to go uphill.

It is pretty nice. The track is very wide - but the surface I would not characterize as smooth, and in many places there are huge holes and cracks to navigate. The main roads are OK, not chip-seal, but are pretty rough in many places.
The track I heard is going to be re-paved by next year. The track is the worst at night, as they do not have any overhead lights and it is quite dark. They put down little red lights in the middle of the track everyone once and a while, but if you are trying to minimized your distance by taking the apex of the corners then you will miss that by a mile. And then after several people run over the little lights (and they slide around - or just go out), then it is even worse. I road of the track many times last year during the 24-hour ride, and eventually ... welll ... fell when my tire got stuck in a large groove.
My video was not nearly long enough to show the many gradual hills that had to be navigated during the first 100 miles. I was actually surprised how many there were for Florida. I once thought it was very flat, but yes there are some pretty nice grades that allow Cruzbikes to shine.

 

[Tigerpaw]

Loved the video, Larry. It felt like I was there again.