Congratulations to Larry Oslund – for setting a new 500 km Road Record in the Men’s, 60-69, Solo, Recumbent Bike categories on Mar 20, 2024.
Larry Oslund set the following overall WUCA and Guinness World Records during this attempt.
| Distance Event Kilometers | Time | Avg Sp (Km) | Avg Sp (Miles) | |
| 200 Km Road | 05:13:02.91 | 38.33 | 23.82 | |
| 300 Km Road | 07:53:52.17 | 37.99 | 23.60 | |
| 500 Km Road | 13:35:08.70 | 36.80 | 22.87 | |
| Distance Event Miles | Time | Avg Sp (Miles) | Avg Sp (Km) | |
| 200 Mile Road | 08:38:56.28 | 23.12 | 37.21 | |
| 300 Mile Road | 13:04:41.97 | 22.94 | 36.92 | |
| Timed Event | Miles | Kilometers | Avg Sp (Miles) | Avg Sp (Km) |
| 6 Hour Road | 142.514 | 229.354 | 23.75 | 38.23 |
| 12 Hour Road | 278.101 | 447.560 | 23.18 | 37.30 |
Those who know me are aware that I have been participating in ultracycling events since 2014 on my Cruzbike. Ranging from 100 miles to 24-hour events and even RAAM in 2016 as part of a 4-person Cruzbike team. I have set numerous officiated WUCA and Guinness records in the 100 Km and 100 Mile range on road, track, and velodrome venues, but never anything longer even though I regularly ride 12-hour events each year.
I have had the desire to attempt longer record attempts (12 or 24 hours) but it is a challenge to get together the necessary contingent of people required for support and officiating under the World Ultracycling Association (WUCA) guidelines and rules.
Having set the WUCA and Guinness World record for the “Oldest Male to ride 100 Miles in under 4-hrs on an unfaired bike” in July 2022, I have had it in the back of my mind to set the same type of record for exceeding 500 miles in 24-hours for the oldest person – plus to join the 500+ group has always been that carrot out in front of me and I’m not getting any younger. That is what I set my sights on for 2024.
Executive Summary if you don’t want to read the entire detailed report:
Trained from Sept 18, 2023 – for 6 months putting in a total of about 14,000 miles and working my way from 350 miles/week to about 1000 miles/week before taper. 95% of it on Zwift – zone2.
I met my crew and WUCA official at the course at 9 am the day before to go over the exact process and did a practice lap. Then I spent the rest of the day getting everything else ready.
Went to bed around 8am, woke up around midnight and tossed and turned until 4am.
I arrived at the start line at 6:30 and got everything ready – and did a warm up lap. It was 47 degrees -burr – We started at 7:13am and I was riding Magic, the Cruzbike prototype low racer.
I quickly settled into 2.6 W/Kg which was my target power level that I thought I could ride for 12 hours. That yielded just under 23.9 mph which was expected. Around hour 5, I started to experience some acute pain in both knees, so I slowly decreased and averaged about 2.1 W/Kg for the next 5 hours which yielded about 23.0 mph. This gave me an average speed of about 23.5 mph for the first 10 hours. I continued to fatigue and slowed down to about 1.75 W/Kg through the 12 ½ point. I had about 290 miles at this point and would be near the 500 Km mark in about an hour. At this time, my lights died and the official made me stop and switch to my Vendetta. I rode for about 70 minutes at 2.1 W/Kg and averaged about 21 mph. I rode an extra lap in case we miscounted somewhere. It was almost 9 pm when we stopped.
Unofficial results: (pending WUCA certification)
I already hold the existing non-age group WUCA and Guinness records for 100 km (02:24:33 = 25.79 mph) and 100 mile (03:56:58 = 25.32 mph) and did not break them, but I did set the following 7 records in my age group 60-69, also overall WUCA, and non-age Guinness records:
200 Km Road 05:13:06.01 38.33 kph (closest upright in age – 5:26:09)
300 Km Road 07:53:56.81 37.98 kph (closest upright in age – 8:27:07)
500 Km Road 13:35:17.04 36.80 kph (closest upright in age – 15:16:15)
200 Mile Road 08:39:01.38 23.78 mph (closest upright in age – 9:12:19)
300 Mile Road 13:04:50.64 22.93 mph (closest upright in age – 14:37:05)
6 Hour Road 142.491 miles 23.75 mph (closest upright in age – 136.65 miles)
12 Hour Road 278.055 miles 23.17 mph (closest recumbent in 18-59 age – 241.473 miles) – (closest upright in age – 255.376 miles)
Strava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/11006858592
Thanks for reading – Keep reading for more excruciating details.
Detailed Attempt Report:
I am the Event Director for 2024 Bike Sebring, so I went down to Sebring a few days earlier and rode the record attempt on Mar 20, 3 days before the Sebring event. I utilized the official WUCA surveyed 3.64 mile Duane Palmer Blvd loop in the CW direction. A couple of Bike Sebring riders who were there early (Robert Huiest, and Andrew Clayton) were my official and crew. Their job was to follow me and record my lap times in a log and make sure I followed the WUCA rules.
My training:
I started riding about 350 miles a week beginning on Sept 18, 2023, and continuing through the end of 2023. During this time I also tapered for the Psycho 12-hour WUCA Championship which was on Oct 21. (I was able to ride at 2.0 W/Kg for those 12 hours and ended up with the overall distance award of 258.6 miles – but it was super windy so mileage was less.) Most of my training was standard zone2 with at least 1 day off – which in reality turns out to be about a 42-hour stretch of rest which is good for the body and a decent recovery time, but I was still really loading on the stress. Most of my riding was on Zwift with my “workstation setup” which allows me to ride during the many hours of computer work that I do each day. Here is my setup.
Starting on Jan 1 – I cranked it up and for the first 2 weeks started riding 100 miles a day Mon-Sat, then cranked it up to more like 900/miles a week. I still rode almost exclusively zone2 on Zwift during this time – ranging with long periods from 3.0 W/Kg – to 2.0 W/Kg – and still always trying to have one long stretch of about 42 hours of total time off the bike.
Here is a screenshot of my Strava riding between Feb 5 – Mar 3.
As I mentioned, I had initially wanted to attempt a 24-hour record, however, Robert and Andrew could not commit to spending 24 hours following me because they were both going to be riding 24 hours themselves on Sat. I tried to secure other help but I could not get the coverage I needed. It is really hard to get anything but best friends to go that 8-hour night shift! Therefore, I decided to just do a 500 Km attempt, which would hopefully come in around 13 ½ hours. Robert and Andrew said they could handle that time commitment. So we were all set.
The day before Mar 19
We all met at the Eco Park site on Tues at 9 am and went over the protocol for the record attempt and did a practice loop simulating attempt conditions. We agreed to meet at 6:30 am on Mar 20 with an estimated start time of 7:15 am when it was nice and light out. I rode a few more test laps to gauge my power-to-speed ratio on the 2 different recumbent bikes I was going to ride: Magic and Vendetta V20
I spent the rest of the day going over both bikes with a fine tooth comb, preparing all backup parts, batteries, lights, and materials, mixing drinks, and making sandwiches, and other bags of food I might need. It took the entire day! Then I loaded everything but the refrigerated stuff in the van. I went to bed at 8 pm (with the alarm set at 4:30 am) totally exhausted and fell asleep pretty quickly.
Attempt Day: Mar 20
I woke up at midnight and then tossed and turned (which is normal) – until 4 am. Then I finally got up and made myself breakfast (scrambled eggs with ham and cheese) – got everything else packed up and loaded into coolers and the van, then put my riding kit on. I had 30 minutes before I needed to leave for the attempted location. This gave me some nice quiet time to do some scripture reading and prayer – the perfect start to any activity!
I planned to ride 2 different Cruzbikes during the attempt: they were:
The Cruzbike prototype Magic – low racer design with a seat at about 10 degrees. Weighs 33 pounds empty. This is me just before my start.
The Cruzbike V20 – FWD MBB – It has a seat angle of 20 degrees and weighs in at 26 pounds. I planned to switch to this one at dark – This is me at the end spot in front of the Eco Park sign.
The Magic is faster on less watts but they are harder to make laying almost flat. The plan was to ride the Magic during the daylight hours and switch to the Vendetta (V20) when it got dark as I am higher up in the air and can see the road better.
I arrived at the attempt location at 6:30 and got everything ready and re-tested – and did a warm-up lap. It was 47 degrees -burr – so I needed that “warm-up”. The wind was in the 5-7 mph range so not too bad really. It got windier from 10-to-2 (which was expected) probably in the 10-12 mph range which made it a little more fun. (once it gets to 15 mph the Magic becomes very hard to handle – especially if there are gusts) The wind changed directions throughout the day which was a little weird. But it’s Florida in the Spring. Some laps I swear the wind was against me at all points in the loop! Haha – That’s what you say when you are going slow and you don’t know why.
Robert Andrew and I went over everything required again – they were ready and so was I – We started at 7:13 am.
I quickly settled into my comfortable 2.6 W/Kg power range which was my target power level that I thought I could ride for 12 hours (at least I did on Zwift). That yielded just under 23.9 mph which was expected and I was happy with that.
Around hour 5 I started to experience some acute pain in both knees, so I slowly decreased my power every 30 minutes or so and averaged about 2.1 W/Kg for the next 5 hours which yielded about 23.0 mph. This gave me an average speed of about 23.5 mph for the first 10 hours. Very happy with that too.
I had told people it was OK to call me when I was riding to chat with me and encourage me. That was great and thanks to all who did that! It was cool to chat with people while I was attempting the record and riding at almost 25 mph. Roger Healy called me about 4:45 pm and we talked for about 25 min. He was very nice and asked if it was OK to talk about Cruzbikes in detail and I said no problem. I thought I would be a good distraction but in the end, I slowed down quite a bit and finally told him I needed to go so I could speed back up. Sorry about that Roger – I appreciated the call and the conversation. Who knows, maybe it was a “divine break” I needed! 🙂
After 10 hours my knees started to ache and I continued to feel fatigued and slowly reduced my power output down to about 1.75 W/Kg through the 12 ½ point. This was probably because I had not taken in enough nutrition. On the good side – I was not feeling any cramping coming on which had always been my problem on 100-mile all-out attempts. I think I only took in 5 bottles of varied nutrition and electrolytes (about 30 oz each), and ½ of an egg salad sandwich (which I choked down) through the first 10 hours – This is an ongoing thing with me on long attempts. My body just starts to refuse to accept the liquid nutrition. I try to eat egg salad and PBJ sandwiches – but I know it is not enough. So I think my muscles just revert to emergency mode – which I think is where I was at about the 11-12 hour timeframe. I had about 290 miles at this point and was nearing the 500 Km mark in a little over an hour.
At 12:37 riding time, Robert (my official) told me my lights were out and I needed to stop and swap bikes. The bike swap was not very quick (not because of Roger and Andrew – it was all me! Haha) I figured I lost over 2 minutes. Partly because I thought my rear brake was rubbing so I stopped a second time in about 100 yards and got off and double-checked. Here is what the swap looked like. I ended up doing 0.4 miles in 4 mins before I was back up to normal speed.
After the swap, I rode the Vendetta for about 70 more minutes at 2.1 W/Kg and averaged about 21 mph. At the end, I rode an extra lap in case we miscounted somewhere, as you never want to find out you missed your target the next day when you are looking at all the lap times. It was almost 9 pm when we stopped for good. I remember I tried to get off the bike myself and the ground below me was a little unlevel and I lost my balance and went down. It’s a good thing the video was not rolling! Thanks again to Robert and Andrew for untangling me from my Vendetta!
Overall it was a good attempt and result. The wind never howled at me and it didn’t get too hot or too cold. I would give conditions an 8 out of 10 which is hard to attain when most of it is just random luck of the day and the weather!
I was shooting for 280+ miles for the 12-hour and 300 miles in less than 13 hours. I was oh so close, but just could not make it happen. I am still very happy with the 12-hour result of 278 miles, and 300 miles in 13:04:50.64. Most know it’s hard to hold that speed for that long – especially at this young age of 64. Also my maladies: left knee which is bone-on-bone, my poor heart with 5 stents in it of which is only pumping at ½ power due to the heart attack 3 years ago. Getting old stinks, but it is obvious these little things don’t have to be a hindrance to having this much fun and riding.
Stats:
- Magic is a little heavy: about 38 lbs with 2 water bottles, USB batteries
- The V20 is about 33 fully laden.
- I weigh about 132 lbs (60 Kg)
- My average normalized power for this attempt was 2.23 W/Kg).
- For the first 6 hours, it was 2.57 W/Kg, and for the first 12 hours, it was: 2.28 W/Kg. I know it is not very high or powerful, but try lying almost flat and see how your power making ability seems to go down.That is the trade-off with a recumbent. It’s still the best choice for comfort and speed!
- I rode about an hour and a half in the dark.
- I was initially hoping to do a 24-hour attempt and break 500 miles, but I could not get the manpower for that. I would have needed to ride another 190 miles in 10:25, which would have been an average of 18.24 mph to break 500 miles. I’d like to think I could have done it but I’ll only know for sure when I try it again.
The main and longest record was 500 Km and per WUCA attempt rules I can also simultaneously attempt and set any embedded record that falls within the longest record. This is done using a proration method that calculates the embedded time or distance of the embedded record by using the lap times before and after each embedded mark. For this 500 Km main Record Attempt that would be 100 km, 200 km, 300 km, 100 miles, 200 miles, 300 miles, 6-hour and 12 hours: Here are the results of all the attempted records.
Unofficial results: (pending WUCA certification)
I already hold the existing WUCA and Guinness records for 100 km (02:24:33 = 25.79) and 100 mile (03:56:58 = 25.32) and did not break them, but I did set the following 7 records in my age group 60-69, also overall WUCA, and non-age Guinness records:
200 Km Road – 05:13:06.01 38.33 kph (no bent record: closest upright in age – 5:26:09)
300 Km Road – 07:53:56.81 37.98 kph (no bent record: closest upright in age – 8:27:07)
500 Km Road – 13:35:17.04 36.80 kph (no recumbent record: closest upright in age – 15:16:15)
200 Mile Road – 08:39:01.38 23.78 mph (no bent record: closest upright in age – 9:12:19)
300 Mile Road – 13:04:50.64 22.93 mph (no bent record: closest upright in age – 14:37:05)
6 Hour Road – 142.491 miles 23.75 mph (no bent record: closest upright in age – 136.65 miles)
12-Hour Road – 278.055 miles 23.17 mph (closest bent in 18-59 age = 241.473 miles) – (closest upright in age – 255.376 miles)
..
Note: Per WUCA rules for all time and distance attempts: the course must be surveyed as the shortest possible distance around the course, which is almost always impossible to match when you are actually riding. For instance my Garmin had me at 278.8 miles in 12 hours, but the distance based on the survey and lap timings was only 278.05 – 0.75 miles less. Still not too bad!
Strava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/11006858592
So many people to thank!
My very good friends Jerry and Gail Melendy who live in Sebring – We met them when attending the Vineyard Church in 2016 – That is the year I flatted just after the 100-mile loop when going across the railroad tracks right before the triple hill on the back of the old daytime loop. I dislocated my right shoulder and was in the hospital the entire afternoon.
Highest Kudos to Robert Huiest (my WUCA official), and Andrew Clayton (my crew chief and driver). They worked like clockwork during this attempt – Thanks, guys! I could not have accomplished all the records without you. Like all attempts it is a total team effort.
My lovely wife Gayle – who puts up with my cycling passion.
My Cruzbike teammates who continue to encourage me and inspire me to train hard.
My Christian brothers and sisters all over the world who are always encouraging me, lifting me up in prayer, and helping me stand.
And of course to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who died to save me from myself. I live to proclaim his love to everyone who crosses my path.
What is Larry up to these days: (in his retirement)
Cruzbike Museum (www.crubikemuseum.com)
If you did not know: I created the one and only Cruzbike Museum on Hilton Head Island – free to all who dare visit. Virtually every model and version Cruzbike ever built – 32 and counting! I am also a Cruzbike Premier Dealer and I am the only Cruzbike dealer who stocks all new versions of each model of Cruzbike. I also do custom builds, teach new Cruzbike tribe members to master their Cruzbike, and will do aero-dynamic testing with you on my courses here. If you want to know how to really go fast, I am your guy.
Velomobiles:
I am also the East Coast dealer for www.velomobileworld.com – I have a new “Bulk” version ready to test ride at my location
Event Director for the Following events:
- I resurrected Bike Sebring in Florida for 2024 (Mar 23-24) – just completed as possibly the best ever!
- Also restarted Calvins Challenge in Springfield, Ohio for 2024 – May 18-19 (https://www.bikereg.com/calvins-challenge-2024)
- In 2025 look for the resurrection of The National 24-hour challenge in MI
- In 2025 look for some form of the The Maryland Endurance Challenge
- In 2025 – also looking into organizing a “3 or 5 day Blue Ridge Parkway Stage Race
- Also, watch for an East Coast Time Trial Championship in 2025
Events I’m thinking of riding in 2024:
I am also currently planning on participating in the following events:
July 6 – Sweden N-S with my good friend Tor Hovland
August 1 – Mid Atlantic – 12- hour WUCA NA Championship
Oct 18 – Psycho 24-hour WUCA NA Championship
Thanks everyone for reading this far,
Larry Oslund
828-216-7860
Some cool pics of my attempt: From Robert during the attempt
From Sergio Ruiz after the attempt
