LarryOz
Cruzeum Curator & Sigma Wrangler
The day that has been planned for and trained for for months and months is almost upon me.
What seemed so far in the future and a distant dream has snuck up like a thief!
Tomorrow I will be attempting the UMCA Century Road record for age group 50-59 on a recumbent.
Much like Lief's quest for the N-S Washington record, I have no competition, no existing record to break.
Marko Baloh currently holds the fastest record time of "3:48:41" - of any rider any age on any bike, which is 26.24 mph. He road this record when he was 45 on a standard bicycle.
That takes some of the pressure off, or does it?
I want to make a good showing for recumbents, for the Cruzbike tribe, for my age (55).
I can feel the pressure now .... whatever time I ride will be a record ... that is pressure enough.
Many of you know this is my first year of racing. I rode my first recumbent: a Cruzbike (A Silvio 2.0) in June of 2014, traded it for a Vendetta in late September. I have been training and riding pretty steady since then.
I had a pretty good showing at Calvin's challenge in May, but since then there has a steady drop in my power and performance. Probably too much training for this old body?!?
On Saturday, Sept. 12 I rode my "standard" semi-hard 4 hour Century training ride on my indoor trainer only to see my heart rate creep up to 180bpm before the 4 hours was complete! Wow! Back in April I could ride this same workout and not even be breathing hard. I very upset, devastated, and disappointed at myself. I basically peaked back in the April-May time frame. Now my "key" ride was in a month, and my fitness was going downhill fast! I also had a charity ride starting on Sept 24, that would have me ride 10 Centuries in 10 days. What should I do? On the wise counsel of a very good friend I took the next 11 days totally off. Then I did my 10 Centuries. He said he would give me a 50-50 chance of re-setting my over-trained system back to some semblance of what it was earlier in the year. I was tired after my 1000+ miles in 10 days which ended last Saturday (Oct 3rd), but did feel better than I did 3 weeks ago. I tapered a little during this week, riding semi-hard hour intervals with little sprints mixed in on Monday and Wednesday, and fairly easy recovery the rest of the time. Perhaps it worked - We shall see.
I will be riding a 32 mile loop near Lumberton (the home of Jim and Maria Parker - perhaps you have heard of them?) The have agree to be the UMCA officials for my attempt. Other good friends: Andrew Thompson and Alvin Maxwell, and my wife Gayle will be my support crew. The attempt was supposed to be today, but the forecast is for 100% rain, thunderstorms in the "morning", and 1" to 2" of rain. So we re-scheduled it until tomorrow. The forecast is much better, although there is still a 30% chance of rain. Humidity will be high at around 70%, morning temps will be around 55 with a high of 70 and 10-15 mph winds. I am hoping an early start will miss some of the winds.
I will be broadcasting my live position using Glympse. If you would like to follow me I can send a link to your phone or email. (If you are interested in this follow link, send me one of the other to larryoslund@gmail.com)
I plan to start sometime around 7-8am tomorrow, Sunday, Oct 11.
Thanks for all the encouragement that I have already received. It's nice to know you are not riding alone.
Larry
What seemed so far in the future and a distant dream has snuck up like a thief!
Tomorrow I will be attempting the UMCA Century Road record for age group 50-59 on a recumbent.
Much like Lief's quest for the N-S Washington record, I have no competition, no existing record to break.
Marko Baloh currently holds the fastest record time of "3:48:41" - of any rider any age on any bike, which is 26.24 mph. He road this record when he was 45 on a standard bicycle.
That takes some of the pressure off, or does it?
I want to make a good showing for recumbents, for the Cruzbike tribe, for my age (55).
I can feel the pressure now .... whatever time I ride will be a record ... that is pressure enough.
Many of you know this is my first year of racing. I rode my first recumbent: a Cruzbike (A Silvio 2.0) in June of 2014, traded it for a Vendetta in late September. I have been training and riding pretty steady since then.
I had a pretty good showing at Calvin's challenge in May, but since then there has a steady drop in my power and performance. Probably too much training for this old body?!?
On Saturday, Sept. 12 I rode my "standard" semi-hard 4 hour Century training ride on my indoor trainer only to see my heart rate creep up to 180bpm before the 4 hours was complete! Wow! Back in April I could ride this same workout and not even be breathing hard. I very upset, devastated, and disappointed at myself. I basically peaked back in the April-May time frame. Now my "key" ride was in a month, and my fitness was going downhill fast! I also had a charity ride starting on Sept 24, that would have me ride 10 Centuries in 10 days. What should I do? On the wise counsel of a very good friend I took the next 11 days totally off. Then I did my 10 Centuries. He said he would give me a 50-50 chance of re-setting my over-trained system back to some semblance of what it was earlier in the year. I was tired after my 1000+ miles in 10 days which ended last Saturday (Oct 3rd), but did feel better than I did 3 weeks ago. I tapered a little during this week, riding semi-hard hour intervals with little sprints mixed in on Monday and Wednesday, and fairly easy recovery the rest of the time. Perhaps it worked - We shall see.
I will be riding a 32 mile loop near Lumberton (the home of Jim and Maria Parker - perhaps you have heard of them?) The have agree to be the UMCA officials for my attempt. Other good friends: Andrew Thompson and Alvin Maxwell, and my wife Gayle will be my support crew. The attempt was supposed to be today, but the forecast is for 100% rain, thunderstorms in the "morning", and 1" to 2" of rain. So we re-scheduled it until tomorrow. The forecast is much better, although there is still a 30% chance of rain. Humidity will be high at around 70%, morning temps will be around 55 with a high of 70 and 10-15 mph winds. I am hoping an early start will miss some of the winds.
I will be broadcasting my live position using Glympse. If you would like to follow me I can send a link to your phone or email. (If you are interested in this follow link, send me one of the other to larryoslund@gmail.com)
I plan to start sometime around 7-8am tomorrow, Sunday, Oct 11.
Thanks for all the encouragement that I have already received. It's nice to know you are not riding alone.
Larry
