Nov 03, 2024
Fun Preparing for 48 hour race in early October: Want to share some of my preparation for Psycho48 race. I ended up at the location a bit earlier due to the hurricanes causing issues at home and on road. So I relocated for work and training to a more safe location which was right at the Psycho race area. Kept doing the race route on regular basis with interval as well as recovery rides to get used to the route and memorize it. Its an easy route so not much needed than understanding road condition and wildlife and most important ... had a few rides of 8 and 12 hours to stick with that route to just preparing my mindset for it (riding at night times and day times). It was fun riding and learned a bit about the different wind conditions. The race went perfectly well and preparation paid off.
Oct 28, 2024
Some cool numbers: My first 100 miles I did in 5 hours and 5 minutes. The first 12 hours I was able to get 221 miles in and for the first 24 hours I was able to get 422 miles in. Some might wonder why not keeping it up that way after the 24 hours. OK it is a 48-hour race and as of my experience it starts getting seriously tough after about 35 hours riding without sleep. And as the competition shows it is seriously tough and sounds easier than it is for real. Also, cool numbers to me I am 60 years young and did win across all age groups, genders and bicycle types. So next best racer was a woman with 610 miles, next best male racer was at mile 581 miles and best recumbent bike at 571 miles. Most impressive result (not mine) was Jeff Chaffin doing hand cycling and pulled off 501 miles. That number is amazing to me.
So, it’s my second year I did win across all other racers. What’s next to me on the 48-hour racing? I guess I won the second year and better prepare to defend my title again in 2025. For 2025 I may have to do some better preparations since the 750 miles is the minimum milestone for me while a dream distance would be 800+ miles in 48 hours. I know some may say based on what I have done it should be easy or when watching some 24-hour racers yep … shall be easy to get. But 48 hours is a different situation then 24 hours and you cannot simply double the distance. The body system his giving us a hard time after 35-40 hours and I need to work on overcoming some of those issues.
If anyone has questions related to the race … feel free to ask since I will try to answer those. I believe getting across 700 miles on a race like that is extremely tough and requires good physical and mental training and preparation as well as solid crew support. In the race a racer must stay focused all times, be dedicated and keep pushing even when power level goes down. Being only a short time into such racing and not sponsored as some top racers, it means I do train around a full time work schedule, and work keeps priority over my training. To me it’s still hard to realize that I seem to be very good in those type of races and looking forward to a race season 2025. For 2024 it was my last race. Borrego Springs, I had to skip due to race being too close after Psycho48 (with driving across the USA) and I had personal things and work to define and take over my schedule. It feels amazingly cool to finish a season with such a cool and clear win. It does not put me into the top ultra cyclist category, but I realize that I seem to be very good at those things.
For those who finished behind me. Be realistic –> you have done an amazing job in this race. Anyone getting to the start of a 48-hour race must be a ‘Psycho’. It’s insane what we try to do and sticking to it the 48 hours. I have an amazing respect for all of you and its all of you who keep pushing me to new records and such cool results. I am very thankful for that.
In addition, I cannot thank my crew chief Heidi enough. Results like that would be impossible without her. She keeps motivating me and she is responsible to straighten out my nutrition schedule and my pace. That’s very cool for me to have you on board and get all your support. Also big thanks to my coach Giovanni. He helped preparing me for the race and I know I am not always a good student and might ignore some advice well knowing he is right. Ohh … and as a cool side note talking about nutrition … I can pull the additional power levels due to dedication, amazing training and due to a major change in nutrition. Also changed my diet over 18 months ago to use vegan food only. Some may shake their heads, but my results (both medical and race results) clearly show that the change in diet helped me a lot. Did receive lots of help and advice what to eat to make sure I am on track. That’s also thanks to Heidi and Giovanni.
Oct 28, 2024
So, with first surprise gone I knew I was in third place. Heidi confirmed it after lap 2 and told me the first and second racers are at a stop as well. So, I went on the track before them. Kept the pace around 20 mph. The first one closed to me almost around mile 20-25 at that lap. I let him pass again and just kept my pace steady. The second one was far behind, so I was worried but did not see him again. And the game now started between two of us. I always passed him at the start/finish line due to efficient short stops and he passed me normally about 3-5 miles before end of a lap. That game went on a while. I think if I remember right for about 18 hours we kept changing positions close to the start/finish line and I took over after a short stop again. At lap 9 I was a bit frustrated and pushed in a harder lap to see if I can build a gap. It looked like that worked. OK later I learned he had to pull out of the race and after first 24 hours I was riding a bit lonely my laps. The first 18 hours fight was a cool extra motivation for me. However, sticking to the initial plan would have put me at average similar speed and be a bit more power saving compared to those extra pushing in such a race. Will adjust that in the future.
I remember around lap 10 Heidi telling me the other racer maybe asleep or at least still is at his car. Meant I lapped him one full lap and decided to keep adding another lap or two between us. That worked well for me. However, we did get a bit confused since GPS tracker missed counting the laps right. It did record the laps, but the count didn’t update correctly. So, I could not trust how much lead I had at that time. Overall, the first night was a bit chilly with some area’s temperature below 40. I did ok with a thermo-jersey plus regular long sleeve jersey and thermal long pants on top of my regular bib pants. And first night I was not feeling too tired, so I was able to manage it well. Critical situations were deer crossings. Some extremely close … possibly about 5-6 ft in front of me. Besides that, lights and batteries for the bike worked flawless and got changed on schedule. Had at least two stops where I took a bit longer (possibly overall one hour time lost because of it) But that was more my personal decision and things I wanted to get done and fixed.
Funny as it was … into second night … at daytime no Halloween decorations setup at the houses, but sure starting with the dark the people had the decorations setup for Saturday evening. At least I knew this year the flying ghosts are not real ☺ Nevertheless I remember my lap 20 was very tough. Lack of sleep was getting to me, and I did start a bit hallucinating, seeing things on the road that were not there. Once I stopped after lap 20, I knew I had 709 miles completed, and luckily Heidi checked the competition and manually counted the laps from the GPS tracker (due to GPS tracker count wrong). We saw that I had well over 100 miles lead to the next racer behind me and I decided … I am done since I have a new track record, and I have enough lead that neither the record nor the win could be taken away from me. So, I stopped riding after 44 hours and 44 minutes in the race and finally went to sleep. Yes, I could have kept going but did not feel safe to do so.
Oct 28, 2024
Race event is Psycho48 .. So as some know I always go for the hardest option in such racing event. Yes, there are also 12- and 24-hour options available but its named Psycho48 so ... 48 hours it was again this year.
I did this race in 2023 already and still remember how tough the 48 hours are. Last year I stopped after 670 miles. I had unfinished business since I wanted to get over 700 miles. I know with lots of great cyclists this year would turn out harder. Competition was much stronger to me than 2023 and many had amazing distance goals. That’s cool to have since its pushing us all.
ace preparation was harder than expected due to the tropical storm getting through and causing me some serious challenges. But I worked around it and relocated for work and training to Bayboro NC area.
Had some cool chats with other racers before the race and interesting to see how everyone planned to approach the race. Personally, I admit that my time in the bicycle racing world and specifically ultra distance racing has been way too short. I started cycling in 2020 and do ultra distance racing since 2023, with the exception of the Sebring 24-hour race in 2022. After that race I had a major accident … hit and run while I was in the bike lane, and it took me about 8 months to mostly recover, though I’ll never fully recover. I kept going after my big goals despite that accident. My big goal was RAAM Solo, and I got that completed this year. Anything else is kind of a bonus to me.
At this year’s Psycho 48 I tried to take off in front since it’s a non-drafting race for me and was hoping with 19-20 mph for the first couple of laps to have a fast enough but not overly exhausting pace. One lap is a bit over 35 miles, and I was honestly shocked to see the first racer passing me after mile 4-5. He must have been going about 22-23 mph. On top of that, the second one passed me around mile 13-14 and going over 21 mph. Admittedly I was confused and head start spinning if my race strategy was wrong. So I did not want to play a game with them and get pulled into passing them I decided to speed up a bit between 20-21 mph. That way I calculated that they could not get too far away even they will be in the lead for a while. But a race is 48 hours and not just one or two. Also, schedule was one quick stop (1-3 minutes) every lap to swap bottle and get new container with perpetuem solid tablets. Besides perpetuem and heed I used several Hammer Nutrition products such as anti-fatigue and a few other options to avoid lack of electrolytes and minerals or carbs. In addition, I did eat solid food such as jelly sandwiches, noodle soup, oatmeal, rice … My crew chief, Heidi, with the help of her little granddaughter, did an outstanding job of keeping me on top of my nutrition; and I normally kept the stops very short with only a few exceptions. Coffee and a few energy drinks and Coca Cola was also added on request and ready for me to use.
Oct 28, 2024
Race event is Psycho48 .. So as some know I always go for the hardest option in such racing event. Yes, there are also 12- and 24-hour options available but its named Psycho48 so ... 48 hours it was again this year.
I did this race in 2023 already and still remember how tough the 48 hours are. Last year I stopped after 670 miles. I had unfinished business since I wanted to get over 700 miles. I know with lots of great cyclists this year would turn out harder. Competition was much stronger to me than 2023 and many had amazing distance goals. That’s cool to have since its pushing us all.
