Race Report Ingolf at 12-hour Mid-West Time Trial in Ohio (Part 3/4) Fin…
Race Report Ingolf at 12-hour Mid-West Time Trial in Ohio (Part 3/4) Finished first loop ok and was surprised to see that I did ok on time about 52 minutes. Cool thing was I kept the pace going consistent for about 3 laps between 52 and 53 minutes. Unfortunate after 60 miles (96km) my power and therefore speed dropped a bit. I did use water and some soda for drinking and minor sandwiches for food. Reminded myself to drink about every 30 minutes. Mostly water and after 4 laps I start adding soda on every other lap and last 3 laps a soda on every lap. Opening soda cans was an interesting experience while riding, steering and making sure I could use the breaks if needed. Empty soda cans and water bottles I moved behind my seat to make sure they are not rolling around in the mid/front section since I did not want them in the way of my feet. That was a cool experience allowing me to learn for future races with HPV. Power level for laps 4-6 was still below the one-hour mark. That was good for that moment, so I was able to pull about 130 miles (209km) total in the first 6 hours. I gained hope for a distance at least 240-250 miles (386-402km). However, after lap 6 I lost power. Food and drinking did not cover it. My leg was hurting a bit. Not too bad but I had issues and noticed that I must cut power input a bit. In addition, I ran into traffic issues. There is a stop and right turn onto one state road and required full attention since cars came driving fast. It meant full stops often and accelerate from zero … one of the downsides of HPVs. My lap time went from below an hour to one hour 4-6 minutes. I stayed with my strategy to stay as steady as possible on my power inputs. Tried to not push pain level to high. After lap 9 I realized the 12 laps for the 12 hours is not going to work. Start calculating a bit and considered to stop right after lap 11. It’s a bit of a mental game. I was fighting my pain, lack of power and …. I have not stopped at all. I decided if I have only 15-20 minutes left I may ride it to 220 miles (354km) only and turn around to start finish just to have an official 220 miles (354km) in the books. I kept focusing to monitor pain and get the best out of it using every little descent to gain speed that I would loose on the following elevation rise but saving me to add too much power. Again … elevation rise is bad for those HPV’s because you must push more weight upwards. I noticed after I finished lap 11 with about 45-50 minutes left.
