Calvin's Challenge 2013

I had this on my radar fora while but this year Jesse, Dave and I participated in Calvin's Challenge.

Calvin's Challenge is a 12 Hour Bike Race is held each year on the weekend before Mother's Day, starting at Shawnee High School in Springfield, Ohio. It's a race to see who can bike the furthest in 12 hours. There is also a 6 hour bike race, a 100 mile time trial and a 50 mile time trial.

One of the things I like is that there are TONS of different tipes of bikes at this event.
• 3 Tandem classes
• Singlespeed/fixed gear
• Recumbents
• Hand Powered Vehicles (HPV)
• High wheelers
• Triples
• Trikes
• 2-person team
• 4-person team
• Ellipticals

Or one of those crazy old bikes but with aero bars!

This year we even saw some scooters (kick bikes). They were a debacle in the wind. Which brings me to this year's race. This year Jesse and I participated in the 50 mile TT. Dave was recovering from being sick and still tapering for the next event so he did the shorter loop TT.

It was cool at the start and WINDY! It was 60 degrees and cloudy with 20-25 mph winds in the begining. It was weather where you question why you are doing your first long event under these conditions. If that wasn't bad enough the first 30 miles in almost all seriousness was into the wind. At the 25 mile mark we were on pace for a 5 hour time trial. I thought maybe we should have just enetered the 6 hour race! I recall really long stretches where I was working hard and going 8 mph. Fortunately the last 20 miles was away from the wind and it was warmer and sunny. I think I was averaging 18-20mph the rest of the way and finished in under 4 hours.

All in all I was glad I did it. I hadn't ever spent 4 hours on the bike and I was surprisingly not that tired at the end. I ate plenty of energy bars on the way which really helped (about 1 entire clifs shot block per hour). I wore bike shorts but wish my seat were more comfortable. Either my gel seat is too worn in or a slightly stiffer seat would work better with padding from bike shorts (tri shorts actually).

I was really glad Jesse wanted to do the 50 mile TT with me and I plan to add Calvin's Challenge to my annual events. I plan to eventually step up to the 6 hour race and the 100 mile TT.