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New race organizers successfully took over the 17th annual Calvin's Challenge 12-hour bike race on May 3 in Springfield, OH; however, they couldn't get the weather to cooperate. The old organizers, John and Ann McKinley, passed the torch to new organizers, Jeff and Julie Stephens and Larry and Christine Graham, and then rode 121 miles on their tandem.

The course is a mostly flat 50-mile loop, but is has 36 turns making it almost like a giant criterium. With little shelter from the wind, the big loop has two checkpoints (one at the start/finish area {Shawnee High School} and the other 25 miles into the loop in the town of South Solon) where riders have to stop and have their numbers punched. At 3:30 pm, the seven-mile loop opens.

The new organizers established a new rule, which allowed riders to get credit for partial laps ridden on the seven-mile loop. The old rule only counted full laps, which often left 25-30 minutes left on the clock for some riders. This year an official was positioned at each mile point on the seven-mile loop, and riders had their numbers punched at whichever milepost they could reach before time ran out.

In my nine consecutive Calvin's, this was by far the worst weather conditions I have seen. We started with a temperature of 62 degrees F in light rain with a south wind of 20-25 mph. By mid-morning the rain had stopped and the roads started to dry, but the wind still howled. In the late morning, a nearly horizontal rain pounded us, dropping the temperature to 57 degrees. The rain stopped in the afternoon, the roads dried up, the high temperature of 72 was reached, but the winds shifted (coming out of the west) and increased to 30 mph! I am an experienced ultra rider, but I still did not feel very safe on my aerobars as the wind kept whipping me around all day. You could not even talk to the rider next to you.

As we waited in the rain for the start, we had a moment of silence for Randy Van Zee and Robert Bachtel, both killed in cycling accidents. They were in their 50's when they were hit from behind by heavy steel boxes (cars). Van Zee finished solo RAAM in 2004 and had his final ride last month. Bachtel's last ride was during the 2004 Calvin's, which was cancelled after his death

Last year Jim Verheul and John Schlitter on Bacchetta recumbents and Lawrence Fitz and I on conventional bikes set the high mileage record of 267 miles.

This year Schlitter, 51 years old, and Fitz (57) were joined on the start line by Wesley Wilmer (52) and me — I was the young rider at 45. Wilmer had set the old course record of 264 miles with me in 2001.

The women were also well-represented on the start line. Nancy Guth, one of the strongest female ultra riders, had set a record last year for the women age 56-59: 218 miles. She had finished second to Bena Halecky, who set the overall record of 225 miles in 2007. Guth lined up 18 other women to compete in the 12-hour. Halecky chose to contest the six-hour race. Merry Vander Linden, a perennial Calvin's racer, raced the 100-mile time trial and then took photos to illustrate this article.

Only one mile into the race, Bacchetta recumbent rider John Schlitter and Larry Fitz broke away. HPV rider Tony Levand caught them, but strong winds blew him and his yellow machine (The Carp) into the ditch. He was stopped checking out his HPV when our group came upon him. The brutal wind broke up the entire field into small groups within a few miles from the start. It took us (about a dozen riders including Larry Ide and Paul Carpenter) 1 hour, 19 minutes to arrive at the 25-mile checkpoint at South Solon. The two-man breakaway had a two-minute lead.

When our group of seven riders reached the start/finish at the school (50 miles) in 2 hours, 24 minutes the breakaway had a three-minute advantage.

We lost the only tandem in our group just before the first checkpoint. Captain Murray Wilmerding dropped off his stoker, Scott Denny, at the school after 50 miles, and rode his tandem solo for another 157 miles! Riding a single speed in that new category Matt Bond crashed out on the first 50-mile lap. Despite being outlined in orange spray paint, there were some big potholes that were hard to see in the driving rain. Bond is the only person to ride every Calvin's. David Lewis won the single speed race was won by with 178 miles.

Our six-man group rode our first 100 miles in 4 hours, 51 minutes, still three minutes behind the break. At the start area at the school most riders franticly fed themselves from coolers stocked with pre-filled bottles. Two of our riders fell of the pace and Wilmer, Brian McEwen, Michael Sterr and I started our third big lap in blinding rain chasing after the two-man break.

As we were approaching the school (150 miles in 7 hours, 17 minutes), we could see the break leaving. We stopped for just three minutes to remove warmers as the rain had stopped and the sun was shining. By the time we started again they were out of sight. The four of us worked well together riding in an echelon. I was surprised to hear we were some seven minutes behind the break when we finished our fourth big lap (200 miles in 9 hours, 57 minutes). I was amazed because John Schlitter and Larry Fitz are both in their 50's and I knew Fitz wasn't getting much draft from Schlitter's recumbent. We lost Wilmer at the school/pit area where he used a PortaJohn. On our first seven-mile lap, 35-year old Michael Sterr dropped off. Sterr is a criterium racer from Columbus, OH. He had only ridden 300 miles this year before Calvin's, but he more than doubled his previous longest ride of 110 miles with a 228-mile ride!

This left just McEwen and me to chase the two leaders. We figured no news was bad news. We must have been losing time on the break every time we rode up the short hill into the headwind where we'd pass Merry Vander Linden who was taking photos for UltraCycling and ultracycling.com. She had ridden the new 100-mile time trial in 6 hours, 1 minute. On our second short lap, HPV rider Tony Levand smoked by us chasing the two leaders. By the end of our seventh small lap Schlitter and Fitz had about a 10-minute lead.

Schlitter and Fitz had time to finish a full eighth lap, but Fitz was so exhausted that he stopped at 242 miles for second place overall while Schlitter cranked out another three miles for 245 miles and overall victory! From St. Petersburg, FL, John Schlitter set the Calvin's course record of 267 miles last year racing his Bacchetta recumbent. Last year he was on the winning two-person recumbent team in RAAM, and won the Saratoga, NY 24-hour race with 460.6 miles. In June he will attempt to become the first person to finish solo RAAM on a recumbent or HPV. With this recent Calvin's win, he is perhaps as ready as he can be.

From Oakland, IL, Larry Fitz has been a top mileage rider at all three of his Calvin's: He rode 256 miles his rookie year (2006), set the course record of 267 miles last year, and was the first finisher on a regular bicycle this year with 242 miles. He also rode 417.5 miles at the Sebring, FL 24-hour race earlier this year.

HPV rider Levand arrived just minutes after the break with 242 miles.

On our last short loop, McEwen and I arrived at the six-mile point where Larry Graham punched our numbers for 241 miles and fourth place overall. McEwen, 41 years old, from East Lansing, MI improved on his 2006 Calvin's ride by six miles despite worse weather conditions! I ended up with one mile less than my previous lowest mileage at Calvin's, despite the new partial lap rule. Wesley Wilmer took sixth overall with 235 miles.

Nancy Guth, one of the strongest female ultra riders, won the women's 12-hour division but the weather held her under 200 miles. Jennifer Miers was second with 178 miles followed by Caroline Atkins with 171 miles.

RAAM riders this year were well represented at Calvin's (mileages): Scott McIntosh (205 miles) will be tackling solo RAAM. Murray Wilmerding (207) and Paul Carpenter (202) will be doing the new 1,000 mile Race Across the West ending in Taos, NM. Starting on four-person teams will be Dave Tanner (190), 73-year old Lew Meyer (185) and Bob Ansell (192).

A group of 17 riders started the new six-hour race one hour after the 12-hour race. They also used the new partial lap rule. Recumbent rider Troy Timmons had top mileage with 114 miles. Roy Gryskevich rode 105 miles for first place on a conventional bike and second overall. Melissa Bellow was the first female with 71 miles and Bena Halecky was second with 50 miles.

The 100-mile time trial (no drafting) was also new. Eight riders started at 30-second intervals beginning 15 minutes after the six-hour race. Kevin Dobo-Hoffman won in 5 hours, 19 minutes. The first female and second overall was Cheryl Chaney in 5:38. Joe Raskay was the second male finishing in 5:57:40 and Merry Vander Linden was the second woman in 6:01:00.

Calvin's with its mix of distances attracts a variety of riders. The oldest rider was 81-year old Richard Lawrence who rode 64 miles in the six-hour race. Dana Stolka, the oldest woman, rode 114 miles in the 12-hour. The youngest riders were seven-year old Josh Hall who rode 50 miles on a BMX bike and Cathy Hamilton, 14, who raced 107 miles.

Overall it was a brutal weather day with many people riding far less than 12 hours. Only 25 of the 136 12-hour starters rode over 200 miles this year compared with 83 last year. The Grahams and the Stephens put on an excellent race and I'm looking forward to many more Calvin's in the years to come . . . when we'll say "Remember that awful weather in 2008!"