Apr 19, 2025
Helen Georgia Gran Fondo Race in Appalacian Mountains ... Had a cool Georgia Gran Fondo Race in Helen GA today. Miles are including warmup and cooldown mainly used for travel from/to my van. Result was not perfect but goal was to use it more as a training race. Did use a bicycle thats not setup for climbing specifically. Had my climbing bike with me but I wanted to test the Madone Gen8 with aerobars setup with the larger front chainrings ... Yes was needed to see how it would feel like in Race around Poland. So it felt better than expected and looks like I need no special adjustment on the setup. Had a faster overall average speed and was able to improve my PR's on lots of the sections including climbing. So that was a good test and shows the new Madone Gen8 is capable to do acceptable climbing and is doing better than the old Gen6. Happy with the outcome. Will do a few more Gran Fondo races to test more things but some of them most likely might switch back to either Emonda SLR or take the aerobars off the Madone SLR. Time will tell. At least a cool Race.
Apr 17, 2025
What keeps me motivated to keep going on Ultra Distance rides and Races? Not sure how others motivate themself and would be cool to read some comments from others to see what is driving you for cycling specifically even to keep racing. I am into ultra distance racing since two years now. OK ... if counting the Sebring 2022 race its 3 years but after Sebring 2022 I had a major accident and it took easy 8 month to recover so I could not do any ultra distance ride or race in 2022. Real start was more 2023 in Miami (12 hours) and Florida500 as preparation for RAAM. I often ask myself why the heck I keep scheduling new ultra distance races and why I train for those. OK ... part of it might be success. I tried different formats and seem to do decent in races over 200 miles. Do I win all the times? Definitely not. 😜 I have a few successful races and I have races where I am more happy to just finish the race.💪 So whats driving me to continue racing those long distances? Main reason seems to be that once on a very long ride out on such race (mostly the once over 500 miles) I seem to enjoy them. Enjoying them means I do try to go to my limits in a race. I train specifically for the very long distances and want to see whats doable. Inside a race I may ask myself why getting through the pain. And honestly it's most likely a painful experience. But having the finish line in mind ... Once crossing it its an amazing kick and I am happy. During the race I use methods to stay focused (more later) .. And once a race is done I am eager to look for the next one. Overall Ultra distance is tough ... yes ... but other races such as the Gran Fondo series (I do that as well) or some time trial races ... thats all very exhausting. Still my preference is Ultra Distance mainly because I know I have hours and hours for myself. And overcome the pain and crossing the finish line is always a great payback for me. I hope to see more competition specifically from younger generations. It's not easy at first but once racers keep doing it again they sure will get more comfortable. Hopefully see some of you out on the race tracks in the future 🙂
Apr 05, 2025
In addition to the pictures I have some video coverage from Start/Finish line from the start, a stop and the finish.
Apr 05, 2025
Texas Longhorn 500 Race report After finishing 2923 and 2024 Longhorn500 male across all age groups in 1st place I decided to give it one more try. Funny was that I did accomplish 50-59 and 60-69 track records male in during those two years and the record male across age group. So, for reasons of cutting my race cost a lot and make it a bit more interesting for myself I did go for the self-supported option in that race. Almost all races in 2025 I will try self-supported to stay in a very tight budget. I was in the area almost 12 days before the race to get used to climate and more important to the road conditions. Work did cut my training down mor than I like but job comes first so I had to take some compromises on the training. Tested loops 3 and 4 a few times. Also tested loop 2 first 11 miles in the dark since that’s what I expected to face in the race. Tough part without support crew is to not have the car behind me at night. Deer is in larger quantity, and I missed a turn once due to deer running next to me and I had to pay attention on those. Turned around to point of mistake and restarted from there. However, that and a few mechanical issues (chain did jump off a few times). The chain jumping off is no critical issue … it just makes me loose a bit time but it’s easy to correct in ride. So, I took off and was able to pass the first riders a few miles after start. First morning was a bit insane for self-support. It was not just dark but foggy and I even had to take the glasses off and store them because they got wet. Focus was on keeping initial speed up and pay attention on wildlife and the road. Was wondering what took the competitors that long to pass me. First one passing was Brendon Bruce around mile 91. Had a short chat and let him go. He was to strong for me at that time. I normally do a race with strategy in mind and told myself that ok .. he puts me in second place male, but he had a support crew, and I did not. I was still relaxed and stayed on my strategy. Around mile 128 Dorina Vaccaroni got me and passed. I stayed close and changed position a few times, but I remembered … I race male and she races female group so it’s not affecting me in my result. Temperature start getting up and it was dry. Big kudus to Dorina’s crew … they offered me cooling towels and help for the next 100 miles. Since I decided to race self-supported, I rejected … well known the help would have improved my performance. Still amazing cool crew and I was amazed. Finished first loop shortly before sunset and went into loop two in the night. It was later that night about 20-30 miles before the end of that loop 2 (not exactly sure) that I saw a crew car on the side. So, I knew I passed a racer but was not sure whom. Asking Heidi who was at my van after finish of loop 2. She mentioned its Brandon and that I am 8 miles ahead of him and 8 miles behind Dorina. So going into loop 3 I decided to push as hard as possible to build a gap to the racers behind me. I believe that lap3 was my fastest average speed. And my strategy worked well. I was about 25 miles ahead of the next racer behind me and kept same distance to Dorina. Loop 4, I decided to do a bit conservative. I could not pass Dorina that was clear. I just maintained the distance to racers behind and focused on safe riding. It’s the loop with the most cattle guards and potential water crossings plus it’s the section of the race that was directly hit by the fires. Finished the race after 34 hrs. and 36 minutes. With that I did improve my 60-69 male track record from 2024. Considering I did race without support crew I was amazed that I could pull it off. Great race and well-structured loops. Its my third victory for male across all age groups in the Longhorn 500 race. Very happy with that.
Feb 24, 2025
Florida 500 Race-> One more race in the books this year. Did the Florida500 533 miles from Jacksonville to Key West. Managed to stay under the 30 hours with 29 hrs and 46 minutes. Not happy about my performance and no excuses count. Ok I had to deal with two main obstacles. First bad one that got me mentally distracted was a crash at about mile 285. It was just dark and I had traffic to deal with. So I stayed in the bike lane trying to stay far enough from the passing car. Unfortunately the sand on the bike lane in that curve was not visible to me so I slipped and hit the ground at 19-20 mph. Took me a while to finally get up. Two people stopped while the driver next to me thought its better to keep going. Was in bad pain on shoulder, ribs as well as some pain on elbow and knee. However with help of two people I did get up and checked the bike. It was ridable so I thanked them and told them no more help needed and I keep going. Unfortunately to me it had a bit of mental disturbance effect. I feared another crash and slowed down a lot. Worked on my confidence and heck yes worked on finding a way to avoid the pain. Issue with that was … the last 250 miles no option to reach to my nutrition prepared for it in the rear jersey pockets. Used coca cola on stops at gas stations to get some energy back into me. Again it's not an acceptable excuse to me since I know I should have managed it better. Will work more on mental preparation for such situations. I was able to manage pace better again starting around mile 420-430. Thats why it's not an accaptable excuse. Ok not for me about me as a racer 🤪😉 And second disturbance was that 11 miles before finish the rear tire blew up in loud bang. So … quick decision was to push hard and keep going. Funny thing the guys at finish line could hear me coming early enough 🤣😂🤣. If only looking at regular bikes I finished 3rd overall. Incl recumbent bikes its 4th overall for self-supported racing. Learned a few lessons and will do better with self-support in future.
