Ingolf Ultra Distance Cycling

Had a great end of August and start into September. Saturday I used to g…

Had a great end of August and start into September. Saturday I used to get a decent 10 hour ride in to work on longer distance endurance. Was a cool time with some sprint sections in between the ride to see if I still have some power towards end of the ride. Since Maryland Gran Fondo is coming up quick I decided to move my training to Clermont FL for some climbing practice. Wanted to do another 10 hours but had to finish early due to weather changes. Got hit by some light rain in middle of the training while at end of the training day I was surprised by some extreme heavy rain. Normally on downhill I easy ride 40-45 mph but had to keep hands on braks and stay at max mid 20th mph. The roads had been under water and visibility was down to 5-6 ft. Climbing was as tough as downhill since I had to navigate through the obstacles . Water and debris covered the road on backside of Sugarloaf Mt Road badly. So I called it off after I got the 100 miles covered.

posted by ingolf2314 at 06:53

Some cool memories from the 12 hour race in Washington NC. I am very hap…

Some cool memories from the 12 hour race in Washington NC. I am very happy with the outcome of the race. It was the first ultra distance race since finishing RAAM (Race Across America) in June. The result and some speed/power data show that I am getting back to normal.

posted by ingolf2314 at 14:54

Mid-Atlantic 12 hour Race (2) Crazy thing ... my expectation was nothing…

Mid-Atlantic 12 hour Race (2) Crazy thing ... my expectation was nothing special but checking how my performance is 6 weeks after RAAM Solo completion. I did 226 miles after all and under the circumstances I was actually pleased with that. More happy about the lap performance for the first 4 laps ... the first 100 miles I did in less than 4.5 hours. I now know I need to work a bit more on power level to get higher for longer distances again. Only two races scheduled for me ... one for sure is the Gran Fondo Maryland since it's a National Championship race and in October I will be at the Psycho race again. I believe overall I did decent to help my position in the WUCA (World Ultra Cycling Association) WorldCup. And focus now is on power improvements to do decent on my last two races. Overall this race was very interesting and gave me a good inside. Winning my age group was completely unexpected since the competition was strong. And seeing the strategy of the first group at beginning of the race was a good lesson I learned and know how to do it in the future. I hope everyone from the race is recovering well and maybe see some of the racers soon again in other races. .... Ohhh ... that pacing in the record list for the 25 mile lap was also an unexpected side effect and shows my strength is almost back from RAAM. It's still a bit weak but getting there. Maybe stronger next year 🙂 My recovery ride on Sunday with some friends went very well and I enjoyed being back on the bike. Ohhh ... and big thanks to my crew chief Heidi Maldonado and my coach Giovanni Prosperi. Unfortunate both of them could not have been at this race. If Heidi would have ben around I am sure I would have avoided some of my mistakes for sure. 🙂 And for my coach I think I got him a cool early BD present with that result 🙂

posted by ingolf2314 at 12:21

Mid-Atlantic 12 hour Race (1) 6 weeks after completing RAAM I now had my…

Mid-Atlantic 12 hour Race (1) 6 weeks after completing RAAM I now had my first Ultra-Distance Race again. Did a Gran Fondo race in Boone NC the weekend before but this was a bit more important to me to see how I am doing and specifically how much I recovered from the 3065 miles of RAAM Solo. I was not sure and thought I would simply do my own race to test myself and not worry much about results. 😎 So at start I was a bit unsure but went right behind the car leading us out for the first possibly 2 miles. Once the car was gone the first riders passed me and I went right on to their wheel. I think first pull was done by Georgi ... I was impressed about the speed the small group developed (recumbent rider Larry Oslund and Carol who was on a relay team, John, Jimmy, Georgi and I). Speed was awesome. However after first turn and getting unleashed once the car in front of us left I was unhappy noticing that I put the wrong battery in my rear derailleur (dumb user error). So I was stuck with I believe 14t rear chainring. I debated briefly if I shall stop and swap front and rear batteries or keep going. So I decided to keep going. It's tough not being able to shift at all but the momentum riding with that group was simply cool. Most of us did take a good share of pulling while Jimmy was pulling mostly and admitting that around end lap3 or beginning of lap 4 I could not stay with the lead persons any more. Was hoping to do a bit sharing with Georgi in lap 4 but noticed he seemed to have an issue (at that time I had no idea what it was). So I decided I keep going at my own pace. After lap 4 I had to do a fluid refill stop every lap to stay hydrated and used the 100 mile stop for a new battery. Unfortunate I did burn a few matches riding on one chain ring for a bit long. So I adjusted my goal a bit down already. Rest was a bit of a lonely ride ... One other mistake was that I should have start to eat the jelly sandwiches latest after lap 5. I noticed a power loss in lap 7 and once eating I regained power again. That power loss could have been avoided completely by eating as I planned initially. Goal adjusted a bit and was focused to make at least 230 miles on the race. That goal got changed one more time drastically ... in lap 9 after 10 miles I noticed front went flat. So I looked at time left ... distance to finish line for lap completion was 15 miles ... Afterwards it's easy to say should I have done it different but at that moment since I had no idea what was causing the flat I decided I keep going. A cut in the tire (it looked afterwards it was a bigger cut that caused it) would have stopped me possibly completely. So I learned from RAAM when crew was leap frogging and I had a flat with zero cell phone service I kept going and rim survived well. So I knew it takes much more power and speed will be down. My goal now was ... finish the lap 9 and see if I can add another mile. Kept an eye on my front wheel mostly and had to slow down a lot in every curve or turn. Noise level was crazy and bike was shaking badly. I am sure at the finish line area people have been a bit surprised and confused. Noise level was extreme and instead of stopping I kept going since I wanted the extra mile. Tried to tell Carlos (Ill Candido) that keep moving until 12 hours are done. He was kind enough and got in the car to at least drive me back once race was finished.

posted by ingolf2314 at 12:19

Had a cool Gran Fondo race in Boone NC last Sunday. First race since fin…

Had a cool Gran Fondo race in Boone NC last Sunday. First race since finishing RAAM in June. I still feel the power loss mainly during the final sprint i. The time sections. The good news was that I could keep power consistent during every climb. Had a few new PR’s on strava which shows I am getting back to normal power levels step by step. It was a fun race riding together with a friend. 15th out of 45 in my age group is acceptable to me for this race.