My attempt to set 24h record took place in Montichiari at the Velodromo Fassa Bortolo. The track is wooden, 250m in length. My supporters were Roberto, the masseur Franco and the mechanic Fabio. The judges were Zoran, Irma and Barbara. During the attempt spectators came to support me.
Before the record attempt I stayed at the hotel Garda. I met the judges at breakfast. Gathering my things, I came to the track an hour before the start. I made some laps for warming up. Irma gave me documents to sign. Zoran showed how the scoreboard works. During my riding the scoreboard showed the average speed, the average speed of the last lap, the total time of riding and the total ridden distance.
I rode by the same bike all the time. It is a standard BMC TT bicycle. SMP saddle, 53/39 crankset. The wheels were pumped before the start and pumped up during each stop. I used Racer nutrition.
Before start I made 5 laps for warming up. Some blocks were put on the blue line so that it was impossible to go lower the black line. Riding only upper the blue one. Zoran set up the equipment.
During the record attempt Zoran made posts with photos and information for social networks, such as facebook and put information on his site. On the bike there was an electronic chip, so my time was clearly recorded by electronics. Moreover, Irma and Barbara wrote down each lap by hand.
The start was exactly at 12 a.m. I started very fast, because worried – never started before from the place upper the blue line. But everything was ok and I decided to slow down it to 38-40 km/h. For 3 hours I rode as I felt and my average speed was about 38 km/h. So I finished the first record with a little over 38 km/h.
My supporters announced me every record with a paper on which it was written how I had ridden. In addition, Zoran made photos of me at each record and at round distances, such as 100 km, 1 hour, etc.
Roberto gave me a bottle at my full running and I always managed to take it, never dropping it during all the way. In order to take the bottle, I slowed down the speed and took the bottle at full running, Roberto walked alongside. Besides this, I drank gels. I had pieces of bread, but forgot to put them out and to say about them to my supporters. Therefore, the whole record I drank only liquid gels. The masseur Franco, offered to put ice to my neck after first 6 hours, because my neck and shoulders were ached. He came to the place and expected me to stop after 6 hours. But I did not expect that I would go so well and easily. And had no wish to stop, being no tired. I continued to go until 9 hours of riding. After 9 hours I stopped just because I saw that Franco was tired of waiting and for three hours each lap assumed that I should stop. I realized by his face that if I did not stop then, he would leave, and my neck and shoulders really hurt. So I stopped and literally for a few seconds he stretched my shoulders. I went to toilet, rubbed my arms. Roberto gave me some rice, the mechanic pumped up the wheels and changed the bottles.
Since during 9 hours many records were beaten, the next pause I did after all the short records. Some hours later I made the second stop for 10 minutes. Every time when I stopped, I lost 1 km/h of average speed. During the second stop, I changed my cycling clothing. The main loss of the time was to change the clothing, as it stuck to my arms and was very tight. And also there was a little puffiness that gave me pain in feet and hands.
There were only three stops.
The third and last stop was only 5 minutes, because fatigue did not come and there was no special necessity to stop. The only difficulty – there was no solid food. While I rode only on some gels, I felt an empty stomach and decided to fill it with a couple of spoons of rice.
The last 12 hours I rode calmly, because there was no high record to beat. For not to risk in a case of any collapse or cramps, I rode a low speed of 30-33 km/h.
At the end, 2 hours before the finish, a lot of public came to support. TV-men, photo and video operators. At 12 and 24 riding hours I accelerated. So after 24 hours I just went 46 minutes more to make the last record of 500 miles. I did not plan to do it, but I saw that people supported me. And it was done. I had no a goal to make 11 records. It just happened.
Next time I would like to try to put 24 hour record without fast intermediate attempts and to ride at a more even speed. To start with 38 km/h, but without accelerating before each record for making round numbers. Since I made 11 sprints during 11 records, wasting efforts, 24 hours were slightly slower than it could be.
Thanks for your attention.
