Congratulations to Ingolf Micklisch who set the Capital-to-Capital-to-Capital Record for – Tallahassee, FL – Raleigh, NC – Tallahassee, FL – in the Unsupported, upright, Male 60-69, non-fixed gear categories.
Ingolf also set these embedded records during this overall attempt:
Tallahassee, FL – Raleigh, NC
Raleigh, NC – Tallahassee, FL
2025-11-07 Ingolf Micklisch: WUCA Cap-to-Cap Report
Day 1 (11/7/25) (16 hrs)
Made it the night before to the Walmart parking lot and was able to prepare my bicycle as planned. Plan was to start at 8am. And only had a few minutes delay since I noticed I almost forgot some spare lights.
Crazy was getting dressed. Prepared for mid-level temperature for first day and night. Therefore, I did pull around some spare jerseys incl rain jersey around me to make sure I can take all I need since I had zero support on the road. Plan was to take power naps when needed during the ride.
First day went very well. Made good ground and speed was OK. I accomplished about 243 miles from shortly after 8am until midnight. That was acceptable to me and landscape was not too tough. One issue was a bit scary … had water bottles all filled up when around mile 175 on the route two dogs came from property on left side and start coming after me. I was lucky that profile allowed me to speed up to almost 30 mph, so I was able to get away ok.
Otherwise, I had a few stops at gas stations and fast-food places for some nutrition as well as water refill. Decided because I could not carry too much that I would limit supply to cloth, lights and spare batteries only. Nutrition I decided to stop for on the road. Ideal every 80-100 miles. I had a few more stops on day one mainly to test things out and because I was not sure where gas stations and fast-food locations would be.
First night distance was completely acceptable and on that stretch I only a bit over 4100 ft of elevation gain. Nothing steep and all cool
Day 2 (11/8/25) (24 hrs)
I did not stop long right after midnight … Only short stop to restart new ride on my bike computer. Fortunate/unfortunate the bike computer was a new one, so I still was not fully comfortable with the setup. Had my watch also started to record but watch reset due to a bumpy road and send incident alarm to users I setup (lucky m it was only my own email address for that). But lost data on the watch even I restarted it.
Second day was a little bit more interesting. The landscape changed and once more into South Carolina I noticed the rolling hills … not just rolling hills. Even climbing did not seem steep initially but it started to get very ling. So, for miles just climbing was mentally challenging to me because I could not get speed up without burning power. The more into South Carolina and worse in North Carolina the climbing got longer and a bit more intense.
Crazy for me was a bit unexpected weather change when I was hit by heavy thunderstorm in North Carolina before Midnight. Problem was that lightening got close to me and I had no way to get cover for some time. I ended up finding a closed gas station in middle of nowhere and was able to take cover under that roof. Tried to sleep a bit but that was not possible, so I kept going. Good for me was to have a rain jersey that I put on top. However, my pants and shoes … all soaked wet. I was not worried for that night since I had good hope to dry off enough before the cold temperatures might hit.
Day 2 was otherwise uneventful. I stopped the ride around midnight with very short stop on the road only. Food supply I did some stops estimated every 80-100 miles to refill water and get some food like sandwich or some fries to stay up to the game.
Overall miles on day 2 have been about 299 miles with almost 8600 ft of elevation gain. A bit less than I was hoping for but the thunderstorm took a bit time.
Day 3 (11/9/25) (24 hrs)
Right after Midnight I started recording for day 3. Still going in wet raining conditions to finish the first part to the turnaround in Raleigh, NC. I picked the Fairfield Inn Hotel in the city … Miles to turnaround have been about 25 miles. That made the first stretch from Tallahassee, FL to Raleigh, NC about 567.56 miles. Had a brief chat with the receptionist at the hotel before getting back on the road. Good news was that it was dry for almost 10 miles, and I was hoping to dry off on my way back. Unfortunate another storm front hit me hard. So very heavy rain for another 2 hours. I tried to not stop but it slowed me down a lot due to low visibility and wet roads. Elevation gain still was kind of tough. Almost harder than it was on the way to Raleigh.
My Day 3 miles have been down to only about 244 miles with over 8000 ft elevation gain. It’s not that I did not expect the elevation gain but still was not happy with it at that time into the ride. Most of it was in North Carolina and the northern part of South Carolina. Had to add a few stops and drove away from 80-100 mile stops down to about 50–70-mile stops. After rain stopped I at least start drying off and luckily on day 3 the first part temperature was still kind of ok. However, getting towards the evening I noticed the temperature to drop into the low 40th and that required me to add another layer of long thermos jersey. The rain jersey I kept off for as long as possible.
My original plan to take power naps on side of the road kind of went overboard due to the low temperature. So, I made the decision to push through as long as possible and see if I could add a nap during daytime on day 4.
My stops have been filled with drinking hot coffee and see that I get some sandwich and fries if possible.
I noticed a few issues with the bicycle … turned out one was related to slowly loosing air on one tire. So, I swapped the tube. Took the tire off to check in detail but all turned out ok on it. Good thing I had two small electric pumps for comfort ad enough CO2 cartridges plus carried about 10 spare tubes. With one flat after that many miles I was ok with it. I assume I hit something hard and caused a minor hole. Only issue .. not I had a bad tube to carry until next spot with some garbage cans to dispose the stuff.
Turned off ride to safe around midnight again.
Day 4 (11/10/25) (24 hrs)
I did restart the ride for day 4 shortly after midnight. However, this was a tough day. Temperature was down in upper 30th during the morning. I added the rain jersey to hold off the cold air a bit better and added some thick cold weather gloves. OK some might smile about the typical Floridians complain about cold when temperature is in low 30th ☺ … Yes, we are spoiled and handle heat better than cold. Issue now was that any input in my bike computer or to even use bottle of water was a bit harder. Not a big deal but the other issue for sure now was that sleeping on the side of road was completely out of the question. Goal was to get to Tallahassee as quick as possible.
I made it about 239 miles with over 6400 ft elevation gain. So still, lots of climbing on the road. What went through my mind is that some of those areas in South Carolina and Georgia the locations would be cool for some training exercise for specific simulation of sections at RAAM. Funny what hits our mind when suffering from exhaustion and lack of sleep.
I did not turn the ride off to start next ride before next day about 2am. It was mainly due to exhaustion, and the temperature was in the upper 20th. I was not focused or worried about starting the next ride. My watch already gave up at that time. Therefore, I lost that as a backup option. Unfortunate I was planning to carry a second bike computer as a full backup, but I forgot that at my car. After the watch gave up I did regret forgetting the other unit.
I had to stop very much every gas station in range of 30-60 miles to get a hot coffee. Not due to lack of sleep but my hands needed to get warmed up and the hot coffee helped a lot getting me back in shape for riding.
So about 2am I did stop the day 4 recording of my ride.
Final approach – day 5 (11/11/25) (12:17 hrs)
I knew I had a bit over 110 miles to do to get to the car. Was on the road and tried to stop a few times at gas stations as planned. Speed was a bit meaningless since I had to stay focused.
Crazy part I start searching for the parking lot where I had the car parked. I ask Walmart for help, and they gave me confusing information So that through me off a little bit getting me frustrated since I did see on the phone that I went away from the car. At the end all went kind of ok.
My Bike computer recording shows a total of about 116 miles with over 3000 ft elevation gain. However, I know I made it to the car and bike computer simply gave up so I assume about 3-5 miles maybe missing in the recording. Not a big deal since I stopped at the Walmart and got the signature from the customer support manager.
Not getting into some details from after the ride was completed. A few situations caused some bystanders to be concerned and the got me an ambulance to be checked out at hospital nearby. Was checked in different ways and all was ok within the limitations expected. Was checked in the hospital for about a day and send back to my car after that. Doctors have been ok wit me.
Total miles recorded from Raleigh, NC to Tallahassee, FL have been 566.33 miles.
Total miles overall: 1133.89 miles to go from Tallahassee, FL to Raleigh NC and back to Tallahassee, FL. Done in about 100 hours and 17 minutes incl stops for food and resting.
Total time to Raleigh NC was about 42:00 hours / Total time from Raleigh NC back to Tallahassee FL was about 58:17 hours and total time all route about 100:17 hours.