Record-Report by Christian von Ascheberg

Christian published his report on the record ride allready on droplimits.de in German. I was allowed to publish this also on BentBlog.de and created an English translation. Please note that some expressions in the original are hard to translate and I did some interpretation… Thank you Christian, here is what he wrote:

First of all: Thank you very much to everyone who helped in the organization of  the event!

Also to the readers for their interest.

What are records good for? They are supposed to show that improvements are possible and they shift the borders further. Only few years ago, I did not imagine 1100km to be achievable.  Now I know that even 1300km in 24 hours are possible. Enjoy reading.

World record ride 31.7.2010 – My ride report

Start 8:56

The speed is increasing pretty early. Already 4 minutes after start, I am riding at 60km/h. After something about an hour, I made a decision. I will not increase speed to attack the 6h-record; I will primarily go for the 12h-record. I had had this secret option of attacking the 6h-record. Until 13:00 I rode 59km/h on average. My wife told me that a rider called his crew: “I am riding with 54km/h and I am constantly overtaken. What is going on? Is everybody mad?” Then he asked for the position of some riders. I myself was also overtaken by Milans at 60km/h. I have two meat-balls. During the afternoon a short stop. I throw some empty bins out and get some new thrown in. Apple juice with water, water, cacoa. That was good luck, I was not struck by the stuff.

At 13:30 the first slower 55km/h lap. I am chewing a rye roll. It is becoming warmer and  as planned, I am riding calmer to spare me for the cooler late-afternoon. The heat presses hard on me. A Redbull helps me to keep the circulation in flow and to avoid stomach problems or whatever you call that when you don’t want to drink or eat something and you get nausea.

Just good that I taped my windows with flat glass against infrared (sun heat) radiation. As an outer foil, this also covers rivet heads and screws. My light switch, which was fixed with hot-melt adhesives, meanwhile is hanging loose in the cabin. It is definitely not cool in such a record vehicle. Unfortunately, my hope for cooler weather from 16:00 does not fulfill. I am having a second, longer tank-stop at 17:00. My 3.5liters of apple-juice/water were empty (40g Maltodextrin per l). My power-mix with a ¼ volume percent to the apple juice/water was also empty.  I take 3.5l apple-juice/water and additionally 0.7l pure water – unfortunately much too warm. The stop cost me 2km/h on the average speed. Tanking while driving does not work as planned. The pit lane is too short and we are lacking the experience for handing stuff over – will be better next time. No, a next time is not planned. My remaining improvement possibilities are yet not sufficient enough. I will only start if there is a perspective for a record. 18:00, it is getting cooler, I feel like it could be even colder. I am pretty done. Average speed around 56km/h. Sabine, my wife, tells me that I am hunted and that it is close. No range for tactics, I am at the upper limit all the time. Heart frequency for a long time significantly above 150/min. This value is well above my limit of 140/min and I can only justify it (to myself) due to the heat. At heat my heart rate goes up without causing me problems. At 19:00 the hot-melt adhesive fixing of the navigation-speedo gets loose. From now on all speed information are rather subjective. However, it was not really cold at 19:00. At the rim of the track signs and fingers appear, which I cannot interprete. My wife shows me a two. Seems as if I am on position two, so I accelerated. 60km/h my better half told me. What was meant was, I should only have riden 2km/h faster than before. Then, no signs anymore. Did they leave me alone in my calamity? That’s what I thought. Then again cheering-signs. Suddenly, a mobile phone call. I needed at least 2 minutes until I could understand my wife’s words, the chain and the cover made so much noise. I understood, now it counts. „I am giving everything!“ What is to be done if you have to go faster but you are just done? My way: I imagine that I have to go fast from work back home because my wife and my son lie on the stairway with a broken leg, covered with blood. All in bright colors. 20 mighty power-kicks, then some relaxed turns, power in a constant cycle. Don’t let the cycle become too long. Seems as if Wulf’s malfunction saved me. After 12 hours a very long pit stop. „Please take the time, I want to go on after 10 minutes.“ Due to the things which have to be done, it takes 13 minutes, which leads to the fact that I could drink even more water. 2 Redbulls, 4 (0.3l ) waters, 3.5l apple-juice/water. Let’s see when I will be in order after such a ride. I am feeling fine, from begin on. It is not so hot anymore. I start to close the air entrance. It is getting dark and I have to pay attention that I don’t confuse the track lights with other bikes. Suddenly, I realize that my visor is steamed up a little bit. So I put the visor-brake on, means open up the window to avoid a crash. I am feeling fine and subjectively, I am going 48km/h. Later, my wife told me that the overall average did not decrease in the night. Only the pauses, they cost 1km/h (I lost about 3km/h by pauses). The alternative is to take more liquids with you, as done by others, drink warm stuff during the day. If you take the wrong stuff, you have to stop in spite of that. If you tank several times, you can better adjust temperature and content. Next time, I would again ride with 4l but train the pit-stop. Take into account: you can save 3km/h in a pit-stop! The next pit-stop in the morning, I ride into the pit-lane and I see that my crew is holding up a liter-bottle. I had wanted my camel-bag, not with juice/water but only with water. I don’t stop, did only cost some seconds, better than unorganized stop. I come in after the next lap, everything perfect in throwing technique. It is slowly getting hotter, by feeling, my speed is going in the direction of 40. I just think “ I want the 1200km” and damned “I won’t make the 1200”. I am turning again on emergency-strategy “wife and kid on stairs”. Circulation is at the end. I’ve already had 5 Redbulls over 24 hours. One of these to prevent me from falling asleep. Even if I had had one more, I would not have dared drinking it. The heat in the morning is disgusting. I knew that from the year before. So what. It is no fun anymore and you have to wrench every fast lap from yourself. Just don’t hang loose and go slow.

I used 12l mineral water from Gerolsteiner (because it is available everywhere and I know that I come along with it). 4l apple-juice/water Extaler without additional sugar. 0.3l drinking chocolate, approx. 400g Maltodextrin, 2 low-fat meat balls, one dry rye roll, 5 small Redbulls, 3 Creatin 0.5g.

The report shows, the bike is perfect – one could improve the ventilation for record rides and everyday use. This will surely come in the series production.

My power distribution was close to the optimum. I would not know how I could get more Watt out. Nutrition was perfect.

My crew worked well, they were allways there when I needed them. The cheering signs made me accomplish even more. Potential improvements will go on me alone. Clear announcements, clear supply with material and exercise. When I planned, I assumed to be tanked by a Milan. The subject pit-lane is pretty new.

How I am today? Nothing hurts, as long as I don’t climb the stairs. Even then only normal muscle soreness like after a good 400 or 600km Brevet.

My summary: One could improve 3km/h on the 24 hours. But it will never be

At the next Dekra-Event I will, l as an official, try to establish the circumstances that my record can be broken. 1300km in 24h are possible with a Milan-SL

Thank you for this great report!