Earlier this week I spent a few days planning out another record attempt. I researched a half dozen possible race tracks that aren’t as far away as Alabama, and downloaded 5 years of weather data for each location.

It turns out that Winter / Spring in Nevada is pretty decent weather for a 24 hour record. Winds are lower than any of time of the year, and the chance of precipitation is low. Temperatures are cool, but a cool day is not an attempt killer – wind and rain are.

The warmer colored cells show preferable months for each location.

I figured that anywhere from March through to the end of May would work, plus I found a really decent track that I’m not saying anything about yet. The operators of the track are open to letting me use it any weekend, so this is good!

I heard from some others that the Las Vegas Superspeedway is also a great track for an HPV event. I contacted them and we’ve been playing phone tag. I’m not sure it would work for a 24 hour event though. The race tracks are typically pretty busy. If they comp you time on the track, it would have to be for a pre-set date at time. I require at least 4 to 5 days to select the perfect 24 hour weather window for an attempt. I really doubt a large race track could accommodate that.

I proceeded to plan a schedule for this winter/spring that would have me make another attempt at the 24 hour HPV distance record sometime in the spring. It involved cancelling Ironman Arizona in April and possibly cancelling Ironman Idaho in June.

The schedule included resuming training – ugh! Inside!!! (double ugh!!), as well as a growing list of items that need to be fixed/changed on CriticalPower:

1. Make a properly faired rear wheel, front wheel and canopy cover.
2. Build a trainer at the EXACT correct body position
3. Resolve the two-way radio issue
4. Move food, water bags and battery up top for quicker service
5. fix fork and remote steering rod
6. Recess HID light, make a proper nose-window for it
7. Finish shell repairs and prime, sand
8. Glue new tires – Crr test?

So, I went to work on the first item: I designed a new canopy top for CriticalPower. This will be made from carbon rather than a vacuum formed plastic cover. I really need more control over the exact shape – A smooth tear-drop that blends nicely into the fairing shell, and extends back farther for more efficient pressure recovery.

1. With my 3D design software, I stacked about 13, 1″ thick square shapes over the canopy form.

2. Then I did a boolean intersect cut-out on each of the 1″ thick squares

3. These cut-outs were merged to one flat sheet and printed out to full scale.

4. The shapes were traced to 1″ thick sheets of Styrofoam, and cut out.

5. I used a wire brush to sculpt the new canopy cover.

6. Now I will cover the foam plug with a couple layers of fiberglass, and then cover with bondo, and sand smooth. The final step is to pull a carbon canopy cover off the bondo/glass/foam plug. I’ll sand and paint the carbon canopy shell, then insert a small clear PETG window in the front.

I woke up this morning and immediately knew that this new ambitious plan of mine just wasn’t going to work. I can’t do it.

I think the record attempt + the months of training and building CP1 leading up to the attempt took a lot more out of me than I realized. I am mentally and physically toasted. I have ZERO ambition right now and I’m always tired.

I don’t want to even think about the work that needs to be finished on CP1, I can’t stand the thought of more arduous endless hours of inside training and on top of it all, I am actually very disappointed that I would have to cancel Ironman Arizona in April. Ironman in April was something that I was really looking forward to. I miss my road bike, I miss running and believe it or not, I was actually looking forward to swimming again.

I also need to give my family a break! They had to put up with some pretty wicked mood swings through this whole ordeal, and if I were to plan another attempt this Spring, I would only be subjecting them to another dose. We also wanted to do some travelling during the school breaks, and I’m not sure my ambitious plan would accommodate that.

So this morning I decided that another attempt at the 24 would have to wait until Fall. This will give me the opportunity to recover properly, time to put toward some serious training for Ironman in April and June, time to make slow and quality progress on CP1 modifications, and time in the summer to train properly for another attempt at the 24 in the Fall. I’m tired of feeling rushed and I need some time to focus on something WAY simpler – training for Ironman. It’s easy. You wake up in the morning, eat and run, swim and bike, then go to bed at night. Once in a while you get a hair cut and buy new running shoes. I love it!!

Simplicity! For now, I know this is the right decision. I feels good. A relief actually.

The one thing I loved about this summer and fall was my super-long ultra training rides on the M5. A few 300 km+ loops around Highwood Pass, a trip to and from Golden BC, some long rides into the mountains – absolutely loved it! If I attempted the 24 record again in the Spring, then those super long training rides would be out of the question – replaced with shorter inside efforts through the ugly Calgary winter on the mag trainer which I am NOT fond of!!! A record attempt next fall would mean I can spend the summer focusing on my lowracer position training, and more epic rides. And this time, I should be able to better coincide the record attempt with the training peak.

I’m going to keep this BLOG going through the winter with casual updates on my Ironman training and any work I occasionally accomplish on CriticalPower.

I added a Google search bar for the Adventuresofgreg site. It’ on the upper left hand side of the update index. Also I am experimenting with Google advertisements at the bottom of each daily report. When I first looked at it, it seemed like the ads were fairly applicable to the content of the page, and I was thinking that they could be useful. A book on Carbon Fiber, a link to a cycling vacations site, and tools and materials suppliers. However, I’m not sure all the cold medicine advertised on my 24 hour record attempt update is all that applicable, so I may dump the ads. What do you think?

Here are a couple new photos from Tony Myrick who was at the track in Alabama (click to enlarge):