Congratulations to John Arneson for his new WUCA World Record
Read John’s personal account of his record attempt:
Timelapse summary: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NnxR_tUQr8o&t=5s
Strava activity (map of the route): https://www.strava.com/activities/5539891905
Leading up the record attempt our local crew raised almost $2,500 for my favorite charity World Bicycle Relief so I’d like to keep that spirit going w/ a segment challenge (also the course route): https://www.strava.com/segments/28971341
The day started at 4:15 with alarms bazing and very excited Crew Chief Kurt ensuring everyone was up and at em. I was eating breakfast and lathering sunscreen in the bathroom while the room and gear were miraculously getting packed up. We loaded the car and readied the safety gear then drove just a few miles down the road to a very wide shoulder on the bridge near the state line. Final checks and I was off at 5:25, starting uphill into a ~5mph headwind and enjoying a thick fog of humidity. The weather was cool for June and just light winds after a few hours, few rain clouds sprinkled along the way. Pretty ideal conditions if you can’t get a tailwind! 🙂 Nutrition was great with a lot of solid food, electrolytes and hydration on the menu, no digestions issues. The landscape and wildlife were fantastic. Only one chasing dog who just needed some exercise. One angry motorist but loads of supportive passersby. Our support follow car received a lot of lovely inquiries from locals about the event, and I bumped into a couple at the Quality Inn that were REALLY stoked to have passed us on the highway (avid cyclists) ?? Pacing strategy for the day was to hold around 70% and gauge progress every hour, this proved to be a fun game and kept me motivated until finishing at 1:37 pm, 8:12 later. The support crew and camaraderie were fantastic through the weekend, couldn’t have done it (enjoyably) without them!
Cheers, JA