Charlotte Motor Speedway (CMS) - 10 mile TT - new recumbent record

LarryOz

Cruzeum Curator & Sigma Wrangler
I make the 2+ hour drive to Charlotte Motor Speedway last night to ride in their 1o mile TT. They have been doing these for 20 years or so from what I understand. There are about 6 per year. Last night's was the 5th of the season. This was my first one ever. I also met "Gary123" and we road around together after the TT.

It was a hot and muggy day. Bad for your body , but good for speed if you can handle the heat.
I took my Frankenstein Cruzbike (I call him Frank now for short), and also the Arrowhead. I have been prepping Frank for Saturday's UMCA Century Championship. I just got done putting him back together from all the coast down testing (since I was swapping out parts like crazy). Unfortunately Frank was not ready to ride. I could not get the boom to stop slipping when I really laid into the power. So I had to ride the Arrowhead. Per my coast down testing they are pretty equal. I think Frank is even faster now as I closed in all the underside area nicely. Yes, more coast down testing needed! haha It never really ends.... all the testing.

Next, I tried to get out on the speedway track to do a practice lap to get a lay of the land, and they would not even let me complete a full lap. They were starting early tonight due to kids TT's and team TT's later. That was a little bit of a bummer since it would have been nice to see what it was like.

My start time was still about an hour away, so I rode around in the infield to keep warmed up. about 20 minutes before my start time I went back to the car, put my arm covers on, went to the bathroom one last time and topped off my hydration. Then I went to the start line. There were 2 lines of people there. They give you a start time, but it is a "suggestion" I found out. The guy in front of me had been there lots of times. I made the mention that I did not know if it was worth it to have driven 5 hours for a 20 minute ride. He scoffed at me and said - good luck with that: no one has broke 20 minutes all year - even the tandem team. Oh well. Recumbent record was 21:35, so I did not even need to break 20 minutes.

When it got to my turn. I went up the start line, someone held me, I clipped in. then 5,4,3,2,1 - go! I was off. It was fast and furious! A little windy, but not too bad. Here are my split times from my Garmin:
CMS slipts.JPG
My Garmin was a little "long" since I started and stopped it a little before and after the official start and stop. Officially they had me at 18:52. Here are the results. Beat the next closes guy by 69 seconds. He was younger at 33, so that is a handicap I here.
CMS TT#5 results.JPG

Here is the last known recumbent record: (which is from a "long time" ago) - so who knows if accurate, but smashed it.
CMS TT open track records.JPG
Here is the most exciting part. The overall track record:
CMS TT track records.JPG
Can't believe I missed it by only 1.51 seconds. I guess I'm gonna have to tune "Frank" up and and go again next month!

yes - I did video the whole thing (yeah - and who knows: it could have cost me 1.52 seconds!) I'm uploading it now to Youtube. I will give the link when done.
 

BJ686

Well-Known Member
Congrats Larry, looking forward to the video. What type of response did you receive after the fact? I'm sure you turned a few heads with that performance.
 

trplay

Zen MBB Master
Congrads to your ride Larry! Now you might want to take a break outside and test drivetrains inside your home by putting them on the same Neo type trainer. You might find one bike makes up for the aero differences there?
 

RojoRacing

Donut Powered Wise-guy
Wait didn't you miss the course record by 27 seconds? Results show the tandem did 18:25 right?

18:52 is a damn near perfect FTP test session. It would be interesting to see how my extra power would compare to your superior aero on your bikes.
 

LarryOz

Cruzeum Curator & Sigma Wrangler
ongrats Larry, looking forward to the video. What type of response did you receive after the fact? I'm sure you turned a few heads with that performance.
Yeah. It was actually hard to get away from everyone that wanted to "chat" about the bikes. That is why I got home at 11:15pm!

Wait didn't you miss the course record by 27 seconds? Results show the tandem did 18:25 right?
Yes - but for single rider - don't worry - I'll go after the 18:25 too next month. Goal is a sub 18 now with Frank! :D

18:52 is a damn near perfect FTP test session. It would be interesting to see how my extra power would compare to your superior aero on your bikes.
Yes it was - I could kick myself for not going harder too, as I have been able to put out around 320 watts for 20 minutes in other training sessions. I think I am also just weaker now from the "top power" aspect, partially because of all the super long endurance training leading up to RAAM. Come on down for next month. There is one more of these on Sept 12th! Last one of the year. We could tear it up together. Even try and get Kevin, Jim & Maria to join us! What publicity for Cruzbike!
 

Gary123

Zen MBB Master
Larry was fantastic. He looked like Dale Earnhardt coming out of turn four And screaming across the start finish line at CMS. I was a little embarrassed of my of 26:58 on my DF but at least I was finished before Larry started so I didn't have to watch him lapping me at 35 mph. Had a great time and really enjoyed meeting an cooling down with the wiz (or whatever u guys decided to call Larry). I'll just call him unbelievably fast.
 

trplay

Zen MBB Master
Nicely done Larry. I put your video on the big screen and raced you on the trainer. I must be getting faster cause you stayed behind me the whole time. Go get that record next time.
 

LarryOz

Cruzeum Curator & Sigma Wrangler
Nicely done Larry. I put your video on the big screen and raced you on the trainer. I must be getting faster cause you stayed behind me the whole time. Go get that record next time.
That is what I love about the trainers - You can go as fast as you got gears for! :)
 

trplay

Zen MBB Master
LOL, Actually it is what I like about your videos. I can pedal as slow as I want and even though your shadow stays in front of me for some reason you never pass.
 

jond

Zen MBB Master
Nice blooper mate ;) superOz there is no beating that incredible gutsy effort. Those pesky df slo mo riders cost you. Passing one guy on the inside. Loved the 35 mph back straight. So all one gear until last lap. Awesome.

At those speeds 90% of your wattage plus is taken up overcoming wind resistance so the relationship to power and speed is not so important as aero to speed. So a smaller body tears a smaller hole. Meep meep. Go the old guy on a fast bike.

I.e. Would love to see what Jason would do given similar aero cda figures and his watts/kg.

Congratulations Larry lots of hard work mate
 

RojoRacing

Donut Powered Wise-guy
First off great job but I have a few observations and critiques.

1. Are you always that wobbly? really seem more like constant pedal input wobble than wind buffering which is ok if you're letting the bike have it's way and you only care about a general strait line.

2. I know you already noted this but your pacing seems rather erratic as if you're fighting too hard to hold watts in the high 200's and get forced into recovering before ramping up again or you aren't maintaining that sharp focus needed to hold steady watts. Seems like passing other riders has some kind of influence on your power but it's not consistent enough for me to point out an exact correlation.

3. Do you not feel comfortable ridding closer to the inside line in the corners? or is it just erroring to the side of extra safely so you don't weave into the grass or pick up debris in your tire?

4. Annoying cracking audio feedback in you video, got any ideas about resolving that like maybe a slightly softer hard mount solution for the camera. I'd like to see a picture or two of where you mount them on your bikes. Eventually I try and record some of my crazy fast descents for you guys to check out.
 

RojoRacing

Donut Powered Wise-guy
Nice blooper mate ;) superOz there is no beating that incredible gutsy effort. Those pesky df slo mo riders cost you. Passing one guy on the inside. Loved the 35 mph back straight. So all one gear until last lap. Awesome.

At those speeds 90% of your wattage plus is taken up overcoming wind resistance so the relationship to power and speed is not so important as aero to speed. So a smaller body tears a smaller hole. Meep meep. Go the old guy on a fast bike.

I.e. Would love to see what Jason would do given similar aero cda figures and his watts/kg.

Congratulations Larry lots of hard work mate

I did a zwift race last week and after getting dropped due to a poor bike choice I proceeded to average 318 watts for the first 20 mins on my own before backing off. Larry averaged 267 so that's a difference of 51 watts which sounds like a lot but the faster you go the smaller the gains with each extra watt. AT 30 mph an extra 50 watts isn't going to get you an extra 5 mph it'll be more like 1-2mph. Take into consideration that Larry should be more aero than and you's have a pretty close race. If there's one thing I can say for sure it's that there is no way I'd ever let Larry beat me in a race ;) Last person a racer ever wants to loose to is his teammate on the same bike.
 

bladderhead

Zen MBB Master
It is within your reach, Larry. What you need is a few more watts, that's what.

The only way I could stay ahead of Cruz Merckx ito go on a trainer and watch his video.
 

LarryOz

Cruzeum Curator & Sigma Wrangler
AT 30 mph an extra 50 watts isn't going to get you an extra 5 mph it'll be more like 1-2mph. Take into consideration that Larry should be more aero than and you's have a pretty close race. If there's one thing I can say for sure it's that there is no way I'd ever let Larry beat me in a race ;) Last person a racer ever wants to loose to is his teammate on the same bike.
Actually, as an example, if Jason can do 28mph on 267 watts, then if he up'd it to 312 watts that is a 17% increase in power, Divide 17% by 4, and you get 4.25%, that is % increase in speed he can expect. 4.25% of 28mph is 1.19 mph. So his faster speed by applying 45 watts more is going to equate to 29.2mph over and above the initial 28. He is right, it's a lot of effort for a little speed. But 1mph is still a lot faster!

Jason - what a challenge - we have to get you out here now! HAHA. Only question is how much of a handicap do I need to give you since you are so much younger than me? (Maybe you ride the inside line, and ride 5' out.. ??? We'll figure it out.:rolleyes: See you in Charlotte on Sept 12th. Maybe the "fastest/oldest" person win! :D:D:D:D;)

showdown on sept. 12. I'd pay to see that race.
We al might have to "pay" a little and sponsor Jason with a a plane ticket to come over to Charlotte. How about it Jason - if the Tribe can raise a few bucks for you, are you game?
..
I'de write more, but I have to get my bike prepped for the Mid-Atlantic and make the 6+hour drive over there today in time to help Alvin set up...

..One last thing - Let's try and get as many recumbents to this last CMS time trial on Sept 12. (I am actually going to be on vacation in Myrtle Beach for a week, and I will commit to going if I know others will be there. Jim, Maria, Hardy - what about you guys?
 

RojoRacing

Donut Powered Wise-guy
Sept 23 we'll both be in texas so we can compare speeds there, sadly I suspect I'll be riding much further then any of the other cruzbikers so that'll be my handicap.
 

Gary123

Zen MBB Master
I'll be there on vendetta this time. Going for track record for 60+ group riding yellow vendettas. Actually there were some very good times posted for 60+ and even 70+ was well represented. It's a quality event with chip timing. I'll chip in for Jason's entry fee if he gets out here (30 bucks pre register). Hope to see some of you out there on 9-12.
 

trapdoor2

Zen MBB Master
Damn. I wish I could go to Charlotte, just to watch!

I have to reserve my vacation time for the October Cruzbike ride in White Lake. Don't have enough reserve to burn on a trip to CMS.

I wonder if they do similar bike races at Talladega? Or Nashville?
 
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