10 Days for Honduras (or watch Larry ride 1000+ miles)

[LarryOz]

As you may or may not know, we (Gayle and Larry) lived in Honduras as full time missionaries for 1 year. Since returning in 2010, we have continued to support “Harvesting Hearts for Christ Mission” by visiting as often as we are able and supporting them in many ways. There are 4 families that we support with a small offering each week. They each minister a small local home group. They all also join together as one fellowship in a small church we helped them build several years ago. All of them try to find other work, but it is very hard to come by these days. The offering we provide helps feed them when things are tough, and things are always tough.

Going forward, we have decided that we will do a once a year fundraiser and whatever monies are collected will be the funds available for the following year.

Therefore, to combine Larry’s passion (Gayle says: obsession) for Ultra Cycling with our love for Honduras, we have set aside 10 days from Sept. 24th through Oct 3rd to “ride for Honduras”. Hence the title of this fund raiser: “10 days for Honduras”. Our goal during this time is for Larry to ride at least 1000 miles. (Part of this time will be on a “supported” westward ride from Western NC to Eastern NC during Sept 27- Oct 3) If you are willing to come alongside us in this adventure, please prayerfully consider pledging a certain amount per mile, or a fixed amount. Our goal is to raise at least $6000 for 2016. This amount would be sufficient funds to:

1. Continue to provide minimal weekly offerings to these 4 families ($25 each week),
2. Allow their children to attend school,
3. Create a small emergency fund for needs such as medicine, and medical treatment.

Harvesting Hearts for Christ Honduras is a non-profit North Carolina corporation. 100% of all donations go directly to specific needs there. No outside donations are ever used for “administrative” costs. The mission is not 501c3 per Federal IRS, but a donation earmarked for Harvesting Hearts for Christ Mission can be made to our local church who is 501c3, and they will then send the money directly to the mission.

Please email us back at larryoslund@gmail.com with the amount you would like to pledge and we will add you to the mailing list for this event. Larry will video some of each ride and also take pictures to share with you each of the ten days and distribute them by email. If we have time, we may try and create a website that you can access that would also have this data as well. You may also call us at 828-216-7860 anytime to discuss any question you may have about this event or Honduras in general.

Regardless of whether you choose to donate for this need, we urgently covet your prayers, for Larry’s safety during these 10 days of riding, and especially for our special friends in Honduras.

Thank you in advance,
Larry & Gayle Oslund

 

[BentAero]

I'm in.

 

[LarryOz]

I'm in.

Gary - Thanks buddy - yeah you're in sooooo deep .. and you know it!

 

[jond]

way to go Larry. a long way and far for your Honduran brothers.

 

[LarryOz]

Today was the first of my 10 days.
I decided to be safe and ride on a track in Asheville called Carrier Park, and also known as the Mellowdrome. (this is because it does not meet the "velodrome" qualifications)
It is about 1/3 mile oval loop. Pavement is pretty rough with lots of cracks to catch you wheel, so not the best, but at least it does not have cars on it!
It used to be an old Nascar track. Around 1999 the City of Asheville purchased it and turned it into a city park.
Besides having the track on it, there is also a summer hockey arena, basketball, volleyball, playgounds for little kids, and a nice large grassy area.
Here is a view from above. I usually ride on a dark blue line that is about in the middle of the track

I ride on this track often and I am hoping to to a 100 mile record attempt on it on Oct 24.
The UMCA record for an outdoor track (any non-faired bike, any age) is 3:55:55, which is 25.43 mph
314 times around equals 100 miles. Yes it sounds a little boring, but I listen to worship music and pray to pass the time, so it is really a wonderful time even thought the scenery does not change much.
My ride today was 105.5 miles in 5:09:22 total time. Riding time was 4:40:43 for 22.5 mph

Today my goal was to ride 3, 10 mile intervals, with the other miles easy riding before during and after.
I felt horrible tired the whole day. I have actually not ridden in over a week to be rested for this quest.
I was dumbfounded why I felt so tired until I remembered that I fasted yesterday for "The Day of Atonement". (no I am not Jewish, but our church is celebrating the Jewish festivals this year. Jewish history is rich and full of meaning. It has been very enlightening)
So yes, nutrition is extremely important. Even though you are in good shape and well rested, if you don't put the right things in your body it makes a huge difference.

Hopefully tomorrow I will not feel so drained.
Before the ride I laid down 3"x3"x20" foam blocks all around the outer loop to practice keeping the line for my record attempt.
A 20mph wind came up around mile 40 (and mostly stayed around) and blew them all over the place.
I had to stop around mile 60 to pick them all up, but I welcomed the break and the walk around the track.
I also got a front flat tire (but did not fall this time - yeah!) around mile 80.
So there was a little bit of everything today.

What's next:
I will be riding locally for the next 3 days, and then I will join a large group of people that are riding an organized ride called "Mountains to the Coast". This is a West to East trek across North Carolina.

It starts in Waynesville on Sunday and comes through Hendersonville and ends up on Oak Island. Since it comes to Hendersonville on Sunday night and leaves Monday morning, that is where I will join in, that way I don't have to get a ride or leave my car in Wayneville.
Thank you again for your support - blessings to you and your family,
Larry

 

[LarryOz]

Hello everybody,
Well today was a total wash out. Rained all day and very hard.
So I rode on my computer controlled trainer in our sunroom.
Here's a couple of pictures of me and my setup:
The one to the left is me with the Vendetta on the trainer and the computer on a stand behind it.
The one on the right I actually took while I was riding. You see what I am looking at while I am riding. You can seem my legs and handle bar in the bottom of the picture.
You can just see a fan to the left. I also have a commercial grade one on the right. When they both are blowing on it me really helps to cool me down, plus it adds to the realistic feeling of riding through the wind.

To pass the time I watched videos that I had taken of other rides or races in the past.
I watched about the first hour of the Sebring race from February, then the 1 Hour time trial up in Northbrook velodrome in July and then the first 2 1/2 hours of the 12 hour race in Springfield called Calvin's Challenge that was in May..
I rode pretty much a recovery pace of about 140 watts, since yesterday was a hard workout.
I rode today for 4 hours 35 minutes, and covered 105.4 miles

They are forecasting widespread rain tomorrow for the area,so I might be riding indoors again. But its not that bad as I have more videos to watch, so it is not as boring as it might seems.
Better than riding in the rain, with increased danger.
Thanks again for your support.

 

[LarryOz]

Day #2

Hello everybody,
Well today was a total wash out. Rained all day and very hard.
So I rode on my computer controlled trainer in our sunroom.
Here's a couple of pictures of me and my setup:
The one to the left is me with the Vendetta on the trainer and the computer on a stand behind it.
The one on the right I actually took while I was riding. You see what I am looking at while I am riding. You can seem my legs and handle bar in the bottom of the picture.
You can just see a fan to the left. I also have a commercial grade one on the right. When they both are blowing on it me really helps to cool me down, plus it adds to the realistic feeling of riding through the wind.

To pass the time I watched videos that I had taken of other rides or races in the past.
I watched about the first hour of the Sebring race from February, then the 1 Hour time trial up in Northbrook velodrome in July and then the first 2 1/2 hours of the 12 hour race in Springfield called Calvin's Challenge that was in May..
I rode pretty much a recovery pace of about 140 watts, since yesterday was a hard workout.
I rode today for 4 hours 35 minutes, and covered 105.4 miles

They are forecasting widespread rain tomorrow for the area,so I might be riding indoors again. But its not that bad as I have more videos to watch, so it is not as boring as it might seems.
Better than riding in the rain, with increased danger.
Thanks again for your support.

 

[LarryOz]

Day #3

Hello everyone,
Today I rode the 3rd segment of 10 for the "10 days for Honduras" fund raiser.
Thank you again to those of you that have pledged support for this ministry.

Today was another extremely rainy day, so I was relegated to the indoor trainer again.

I started at 5am as I had much to do today besides riding the bicycle.
Mostly I have to pack everything I will need when I head out on Monday with all the other riders who are going to be participating in the ride NC event.
I chose the NC ride across NC event to coincide with this "10 days for Honduras" event as it is really nice to have all the support that comes with it.
..
For anyone who curious about my wattage, speeds, heart rates etc, here is my Stave file. (just click on the link below)
https://www.strava.com/activities/400630447
If you look at this you can see that I rode 2, 60 minute segments at a lot higher wattage and speed than I rode the rest of the time.
This first 60 minute segment my heart rate averaged 166, the second segment averaged 170 beats per minute (I had to back off on the 2nd segment after the first 30 minutes as my pulse got up to 179, which is not very sustainable)
This is because in addition to just riding 100+ every day, I am also trying to train for a couple of 100 mile record attempts.
One of them will be a "road attempt" because it is ridden on the road (as apposed to a track). It will be on a 32 mile loop near Lumberton on Oct 10. So it will be only 1 week after I finish the last day of the "10 days for Hondruas".
I'll either be really tired or in good shape. Having never ridden this much in a 10 day period, I do not know what to except.

So, every other day I have a schedule that I will ride harder segments to condition my body to work at that level for the record attempt. The easy days will be as easy as I can stand.
Today I rode 108.7 miles in 4 1/2 hours.
Tomorrow will be extremely easy.

Thanks again for your interest, prayers and support.
Blessings to your family,
Larry Oslund

 

[LarryOz]

Day #4

Hello everyone,
Today I rode the 4th segment of 10 for the "10 days for Honduras" fund raiser.
Thank you again to those of you that have pledged support for this ministry.

Today was another rainy day, so I was stuck on the indoor trainer AGAIN!
I started at 5am so I could be done in time to get a shower and get to church by 10:30
.
Just made it too!
..
For anyone who curious about my wattage, speeds, heart rates etc, here is my Stave file. (just click on the link below)
https://www.strava.com/activities/401316533
Today was what we call a recovery ride.
Nice and easy and constant, which is what I did.

Today I rode 104.8 miles in 4 hours. 40 minutes. Average power output around 140 watts and average pulse 124bpm.
Tomorrow will be when I finally join the group of about 1000 ride as we all head west from Hendersonville to Shelby NC.
Everyone will leave the local area park between 7:30 and 9:00am.
Many of the riders at camping at the park tonight as they rode in from Waynesville (I skipped this segment so I could go to church and also sleep in my own bed one more night)
They are forecasting rain at 7am followed by fog all morning, so my guess is that most people will leave as late as possible.
The official route tomorrow is 76.1 miles.
I will ride my bicycle to the park so I will get an extra 10 miles before I start with the group.
My plan is to ride another 15 or so miles after the finish to make my 100+ mile daily goal.

Please pray for my safety and no mechanical difficulties on the public highway.
Thanks again for your interest, prayers and support.Blessings to your family,
Larry Oslund

 

[LarryOz]

Hello everyone,
Here are Day 5 notes. This was the day I was to leave with the 1000 person group ride across the state.
I woke up around 4:30am to do some final adjustments on my bike. Blew up one tube so I had to use my only spare.
My plan was to go out about 6:30 to get my extra miles in (as the official route today was on 76 miles), but it was raining. Weather forecast it should be stopping anytime, so I waited and waited and waited, until 8:15.
It was still raining so I had to go anyway just to have time to get to the start which was 9 miles away.
I took off and started riding in the rain. At least it was not pouring. I shifted a couple of times going up a hill and then my bike would not shift anymore. Stubborn me just kept riding thinking I was going to have to ride single speed all day. Got to the start just as the last person left and they had pretty much packed everything up.
I met my good friend Andrew at about mile 14. See picture. We had a few moments to look at my bike and saw a wire had popped loose for my electronic shifting system. Great, at least that was fixed, as I was already really tired of going up the hills in a harder gear than I wanted too.
I was about an hour into my ride. The rain was supposed to have stopped but it was now raining even harder.
It continued to rain hard for another hour. I could not wear my glasses or visor either due to fogging. This made going downhill at over 35mph painful with rain hitting my eyes. At one point a HUGE drop of rain hit me square in the eye. That was extremely painful. I was so happy when the rain stopped, but I was drenched.
At the second rest stop, I met up with some friends I knew: Doug & Nancy, (from Apex, NC), Alvin, Jill, and Kurt (from Washington, NC). We rode together for the most part until the end.
There was still a pretty good bit of climbimg, and I was pretty worn out by the time we got to Shelby.
Then I had to locate my duffle bags and carry them about half a mile to the gym where I am staying. I claimed my spot and then headed back out to ride another 16 miles. This is so I could reach my goal of at least 100 for the day.
I ended up with 101 miles today in about 6 hours.
I would like to write more, but am doing this on a smartphone so giving up now.
Blessings to you all,
Larry

This is a good friend of mine from church, Andrew - who braved the elements that rainy Monday to meet me on the route


Picture of some of the tents also.

 

[LarryOz]

Day #6

Hello everyone,
If you can believe it today it raining almost the entire 6+ hours I was out on the route.
I also just typed a really long description of my day on the smart phone and when I went to add the pictures it somehow got deleted. argh!!! Phone is smart but not me!
Today I ride 102.5 miles. The official route was 76, so I repeated a nice 2.5 mile road up and back an extra 5 times. People must have thought I was lost going the wrong way!
I rode mostly easy today, but Alvin Maxwell and I raced the last several miles to the finish! That was a fun ending to the ride.
Once there I found my bags, made my bed on the gym floor, took my shower and cleaned my bike. After that we told bike stories and went to eat around 8.
Tomorrow I will try and ride a couple of hard 20-25 mile segments if the roads allow.
My good friend Gary was supposed to come tonight, but his work needed him tomorrow, so he will come after work and ride the last 3 days.
Blessings to all,
Larry

 

[LarryOz]

Day #7

Hello everyone,
Beautiful day, finally!!!
Tried to put in a couple of hard 25 mile or so efforts, buy can definitely feel the fatigue accumulating in my body.
I was the 3rd one into Southern pines of the 1000 riders.
I did actually make a wrong turn right before the camping area and ended up on a busy highway right at noon.
Not a total loss though, as I took the opportunity to get some lunch!

Forecast for tomorrow is severe rain, wind from a tropical storm just of the coast.
My one man crew Gary was going to come and ride with me the rest of the way, says he is coming to rescue me now.
Too dangerous to ride safely in. I'm listening to my crew.
He is driving up to rescue me and take me home. I'll have to ride out the rest of my 10 days in Hendersonville.

Larry

This the beginning of the day.


Here is the finish.


Some of the tents


The friends that I rode with: Kurk, Jill, and Alvin (All from Washington, NC) - They are staying and will ride the next day to Lumberton. Way to go guys!

 

[LarryOz]

Hello Everyone,
Well I am home now and it was poring this morning (what's new!), so I hooked my bike to my indoor trainer and started riding around 8:00am or so.
While riding I am looking out the window and starting to see blue sky with nice puffy white clouds floating by.
I said to myself: "self - we should be out there instead of in here!"
So, I finished off a 70 minute ride and 26 miles on the trainer and started getting everything ready to ride outside.
A lot to do:

• take the bike off the trainer
• re-install the front wheel and chain
• put the flag back on for safety
• find my Garmin unit (no small task) in all my bags still in disarray
• clean out my water bottles and mix up news ones
• put on clean and "suitable for public" riding clothes
• etc, etc

Finally by 10 am I was ready. I still needed to ride about 75 miles, so off I go.
Unfortunately my pretty blue sky and puffy white clouds vanished before I even started. They where replaced with mostly foreboding dark clouds ready to drop rain at any second!
It wasn't raining, so I was going - and I was off!
I just decided to ride around where I live and try and never get any farther than 10-12 miles from the house in case the weather degraded to something horrible.
It was pretty windy whole time (around 15-20 mph), and it did rain on me for about 30 minutes of the 4:17 that I rode.
I just meandered all over the place. Here is my Strava log than mapped where I went if you are interested:
https://www.strava.com/activities/404283569

I stopped around noon and had lunch and then took off again.
All in all it was a pretty good ride. No sun-screen needed!
I had forgotten how nice it was just to ride around the area, as I don't do a whole lot of that these days when training.
Most of my training has been in-doors on the trainer before work (when it's dark) , during the week, and on the track on Saturday.

My friends I left behind continued their quest to ride across the state of NC and road from Southern Pines to Lumberton today. I missed doing it with them! (Hi to Alvin, Kurk and Jill)
Unfortunately, the organizer cancelled the last two days of the event due to the weather forecasting devastating flooding the next 2-3 days, so today was their last day.

Well that is all for today.
In total I rode 106.9 miles - Total for the last 8 days: 837.6
Tomorrow they are forecasting up to 3 inches of rain - hope their wrong, but if they are not, I'll be on the trainer again!

Take Care and thanks for the support!
Larry

Yeah - I look a little crazy - but wouldn't you by now too?


Looking like rain all day :

 

[LarryOz]

Day # 9:

Hello everyone,
Pouring and pouring rain - all day - but we expected it - expecting over 12" in the next 3 days.
So, I hopped on my trainer (again!)
I rode really easy today - only setting my wattage at around 100.
I rode for almost 6 hours, and watched some riding videos and other stuff on the TV to keep me from going MAD! (not sure it really worked?!)
Finished up around lunch.
I rode 116.2 miles in 5:53. Total mileage now for 9 days: 953.8 miles.

Tomorrow is my last day. It is forecast to be raining heavily again, but who knows - "they" could be wrong. I am hoping they are....

Blessings to you all and thanks for following me...
--
Larry


what it looked like in my yard this am: looked worse in person.

 

[LarryOz]

Day #10

Hello everyone,
Well, today was my last day of the 10 day, and it is raining more than any other day. 3" by noon and much more to come! Flash flood warnings to boot! Wow!
So, you guessed it, on my indoor trainer again!

Since my plans for next Saturday (Oct 10), include a Ultra Marathon Cycling Association (UMCA) Century record attempt, I decided to ride with that in mind. Therefore I wrote a program to run on my indoor trainer. I included a 10 minute warm-up session from 140 up to 198 watts, then 4 - 1 hour segments:

1. increasing evenly from 198 to 209 watts,
2. increasing evenly from 209 to 220 watts,
3. decreasing evenly from 220 to 209 watts,
4. decreasing evenly from 209 - 198 watts,

and finished off with a 5 minutes cool-down from 198 to 140 watts.

Wow - what a workout - but I was very pleased that my heart rate pretty much stayed steady at around 145-150 bmp.
I will try and ride with this same strategy next Saturday, maybe just a little harder.

My good friends Andrew, and his 94 year-old father-in-law, Paul came over during my last 20 minutes to "cheer me on" during the very last part of my last of the 10 days. It was very nice to see them and have the encouragement and also the distraction. When I was done, Andrew even gave the bike a try to see how it felt to ride it on the trainer. Paul even got on it, but could not pedal as his legs where just a little too long . Thanks so much for coming over guys!. (See pictures below)

Today I rode a total of 110.9 miles in 4 hours 15 minutes.
For the 10 days I have ridden:

1. 105.5 miles in 4:40:43
   
2. 105.4 miles in 4:35:05
3. 108.7 miles in 4:30:06
4. 104.8 miles in 4:40:14
5. 101.0 miles in 6:04:04
6. 102.5 miles in 5:54:06
7. 102.8 miles in 5:29:45
8. 106.9 miles in 5:27:36
9. 116.2 miles in 5:53:26
10. 110.9 miles in 4:15:00

10 day total of 1,064.7 miles in 51 hrs, 30 mins 05 secs for an average speed of 20.67mph

Can you tell I like numbers?
......................................................................................................................
Heart felt thanks to everyone who pledged to support the Honduras Mission through through this fund raising event.
Please mail your donation to:

Community Chapel of Hendersonville
422 Kanuga Rd.
Hendersonville, NC 28739

Put in the comment area: Honduras Mission
They will then in turn, make a deposit in the "Harvesting Hearts for Christ Honduras" bank account.
Please "do not" put my name anywhere on the check.
At the end of the year, the church will mail you a giving statement, so please make sure your address in on the check or the envelope.

Thanks again everyone - it was a fun attempt, even with all the rain.
Blessings,
Larry

Here's Paul - (I am pretty sure he is thinking - how can you ride like this???)

And here's Andrew pedaling so fast his feet are just a blur (he hit 140 rpm - in jeans no less!) - Very impressive!

And finally yours truly - just posing now! - not trying for the 140rpm - no way!