|
|
About Naked
|
Please also see John Tetz' excellent report. On Wednesday November 19 2003, I broke the official One Hour Endurance World Record of 82.61 km set by the German Whitehawk team, setting a new standard of 83.71 km/hr (52.3 mph). I was riding the fully faired recumbent bicycle,Varna Diablo, sporting a new silver paint job. The course was the Continental Tire North America test track in Uvalde, Texas. It is an 8.5 mile oval with about 300 feet of climbing every lap on grades of up to 2%. The surface was quite even pavement but the general texture was rough, providing perfect surface conditions for testing durability of tires, not necessarily for providing the least road resistance as possible. Our hosts; however, were amazing! Ella Sammaron was incredibly generous during the week of our stay. In attendance were myself, George Georgiev, Paul Buttemer for Team Varna. Paul Gracey and John Tetz were the excellent official observers and various staff members of Continental tires.
John, George, Paul, Sam, Paul and Ella of Continental tires. You can also download the actual .srm file now! You will need to first download the SRM software for free. Lap 1 2 3
4 5 6
7 Total Thursday: I arrived with George on Nov. 13 in Uvalde, Texas to discover that although we were there, the bike wasn't. We had shipped it by truck 2 weeks before hand on the assurance that it would only take a week. After a lot of panic phone calls, cursing of various religious figures, etc. it did manage to arrive late the next day; albeit, with the end of the crate missing and the nose bashed in. More cursing. Friday: We got Diablo together and just as the sun was setting I went for a ride of the track without the fairing. It was quickly obvious that the rolling nature of the track was going to be a problem as I crawled up some of the grades at 20 km/h with a cadence of about 50 rpm. The surface was incredibly even so that big jolts would not be a problem, but it was far from smooth. The weather; however, was excellent and physically I felt very good considering having a mild cold the week before and two days of traveling in my legs. Saturday: It rained. We picked up Paul Buttemer from the San-Antonio, fixed Diablo's proboscis and ate yet more Mexican food. Sunday: Paul Gracey and John Tetz showed up to make our Quintet complete. The wind was howling and we got some nasty rain most of the day. I did manage 2 laps of the 8.5 mile track in the late afternoon and got some valuable, but disheartening SRM data from my power measuring computer. It was obvious that this track was going to require a Herculean effort to get the Dempsey-MacReady prize. Too rough and too many hills! An average power output of 280 watts was giving me a speed range from 44 mph all the way to 65 mph. There were many small sharp stones on the track and this caused a very slow puncture on the back tire and was almost flat at the end of my session. It turned out that we could have the whole track swept for the following day. Very good news indeed! Monday: I was originally going to make an attempt on this day but weather was not co-operating. Lot's of rain. And I mean LOTS! I managed another practice during a brief dry spell before it started again. Only excitement of the day was nearly running over a very large rattle snake crossing the road. Tuesday: No more rain but the tail of the storm left behind some 30-40 mph winds causing tornados in other parts of Texas. Good sailing weather but crappy streamliner weather. Very stressful trying to get into the right mental zone and waiting for Mother Nature to do her thing. Wednesday: Definitely felt like the day from the moment we woke up! Very little wind all day; maybe 5 mph at max. Temperature climbed all day to about 85ºF and humidity dropped to almost 10%. We decided to wait until 4pm to start so the wind could really drop off and it could get a bit cooler. When I started my attempt the the conditions were perfect, no wind, temperature of 75ºF, and humidity at 12%. I warmed up by doing a lap of the course without the faring. Right on schedule, I taped in and pulled off a near perfect launch. The most important thing about the hour is not to go out too hard. It is inevitable that my excitement will make the first 10 minutes feel much easier than they actually are. With great restraint I tried to keep a fairly constant wattage of 275. I knew from training that I could sustain about 275 watts in this cramped position in combination with the huge heat build up. This compares to my usual hour pace of 295-300 watts on an open recumbent and my 310-320 watts on my racing bike.
The launching process Everything went well and I came through the first lap on schedule for about 53 mph, nowhere near the 57mph I needed but still above the record. My heart sank a bit but decided not to jump to conclusions until I came round again. After completing the second lap it was obvious I was simply riding to beat the record and for the next 4 laps I was not even sure I was going to be capable of that. I was getting updates every time around about my current lap average and cumulative average from Paul Buttemer at the start line. At several points I was so discouraged that I contemplated quitting, ending the suffering. On the other hand, I knew my fitness was excellent, the weather was perfect and we had invested a lot of time and money into this attempt. I was damned if I was going to quit now. Around 30 min into the effort, I started to get very hot. I knew this was going to happen but I had to be very careful not to pass out from heat exhaustion. My small vent in the window was working well as were the ice packs I had built into the seat and was wearing on my chest provided quite generously by CoolSport. The lack of humidity was definitely helping to keep me cool as well. This still didn't change the fact that I was working at maximum in a small closet with the thermostat clicking off at about 105ºF. By keeping close tabs on my wattage and heart rate, I could tell how hard I could push without boiling over. This is why my 4th and 5th lap dipped under 52mph. I came through for the final push ever so close to the current record. I knew it would come down to my final kick. My legs were so tired they didn't even hurt anymore. Were they still turning? My cadence seemed to indicate that indeed they were. The hour record is an awful test. There is no second place prize. With this in mind I emptied all my strength and experience into the final lap. Just past the start line is the mark we had used to show were the current record was. I passed this with about 45 seconds remaining. I knew I had done it! The remaining time was all mine. I pushed a few seconds past the 60 min mark just to be sure. I had planned on riding all the way to the start line again but after a few km it was obvious I was too spent to climb any more hills. After being pulled out it took nearly 30 min before I could stand and a few hours and beers before I could walk without my knees buckling. I realized right away that this was my best effort and another attempt would be pointless. We spent the next few days getting the course surveyed and packing the bike, drinking beer and getting kicked out of pubs. In the end I was to beat the old record by about 1.112 km after a proper survey of the course. Not much but still better than the 112 metres originally reported by accident. Sam leaves it all out on the track I am greatly relieved in finally having the record back in my pocket and knowing that we found the full potential of myself, the bike and the Continental Tire North America Test Track. The big question now are two fold. How far can I go on a smoother, faster surface like the German Opel track? And will I be the one to beat my own record?
A big THANKS to everyone for there support.
|
|
| naked bicycles and design | Quadra Island, BC, Canada | (250) 285-3181 | sam@timetogetnaked.com |
60 Minutes of Hell
