12hr Unsupported Recumbent WR
I was attempting this record as part of my Cruzbike training for upcoming ultra rides/races this 2026 season. Sebring is my next event and I’m getting excited the closer we get. My overall goal for the day was to be more aero than my December attempt and to push a little harder and go faster, despite being unsupported this time.
That goal and plan quickly disappeared after a few obstacles!
First of all, when I was getting ready for the ride I was trying some new tires but found out they were not going to reliable. I did bring other tires as spares, but switching tubeless tires when not at home with my normal tools is sort of a pain and I had four wheels to do. One of these wheels is especially hard to switch as the tire does not like to seat. After trying for a couple hours, even using CO2, I was at my wits end. Fed up with my anger and frustration, Bailey said we should just go home (joking) and I was about to agree.
I ended up going to the store to buy a small compressor. Several hours later, I had changed all the tires and had no spares for all of the training rides ahead of me. Luckily, this was the end of tire issues. The ENVE Raceday tires have served me very well.
The predetermined attempt day was forecasted to be a very windy day. The course loop includes a school zone that is active the whole school day, so the weekend was the only real option, other than riding overnight. I considered this, but I ultimately wanted to be less impactful on my family. So, Sunday was my best choice and it just happened to be the windiest day of the week with parts of the day having 15 mph sustained wind and gusts over 20 mph.
As part of an unsupported method, we had to do a pre-ride of the course. This gives WUCA the ability to have unsupported records be official Guinness world records. We had completed this earlier in the day, it took one hour and we had completed all of the requirements—or so we thought. At 8 p.m. the evening before the attempt, Bailey and I realized that the pre-ride was not filmed for the full one hour as was required. This was an oversight by Bailey as the acting official, but this was also my project and I had let the details go while I was doing all the bike prep. At this point, I was preparing for sleep, but now we had a real dilemma.
With only the official rules to go off, we had a choice between delaying the attempt and re-doing the pre-ride that night so this step was complete for the next day. Delaying the ride and selecting another day meant that I would need to ride at night or ride the 15 mph school zone speed on Monday. So, at 9:30 p.m. that night, we did the pre-ride again. With the extra riding and disruption to sleep, my legs were DEAD from the start. This was one of my lowest producing power rides in a long time and it was a battle to keep going for most of the day.
While the wind was very fatiguing and made speeds highly variable and overall slower than normal, there were benefits to riding in the wind. I was ultimately here to train more and get better on the Cruzbike. I’ve found that the wind is an incredible teacher on any bike. This was no exception—a refiner’s fire, if you will. Also, it was a solid reminder that I can do hard things even when I don’t want to.
This attempt, compared to the December supported attempt, included an improved position, the use of a TT helmet, and overall better equipment. I was fueled with Formula 369 at 140 g of carbs per hour.
I finished after adding a couple extra laps to make sure I got to 500 km and had to ride past 12 hours for this record attempt.
My plan is to do 12 hours this year at elevation to go further, we shall see how the year unfolds!
Distance (miles): 293.78
Distance (km): 472.79
Speed (miles/hour): 24.48
Speed (km/hour): 39.40