Battle Mountain 2019
Report of Saturday:
I am not a morning person and did not cycled very well in the early morning, so the decision not to run in the morning was easily made. In the 11 o’clock meeting I heard that in the first 3 heats the wind was blowing above legal. After heat 3 the wind became calm and in this moment Bill in the Milan SL (Velomobiel) went over 60mph. First time for a production Velomobiel to go over 60. Slot picking for the evening heat was due to the new personal best still possible in heat 2. After the meeting we all went outside to take the usual group photo. Now some rest and then we make ourselves ready for the last run. During the warmup it already became clear that the wind will be blowing quite a bit. Heat 1 only 2 out of 4 bikes started. And only one bike made it to the finish line. Jennefer from Team HPV Delft & Amsterdam crashed due to two flat tires. Here teame mate Rosa was supposed to start in heat 2, but it took more time to repare the bike, so she couldn’t start. In heat 2, 4 bikes sailed down the course, I mannaged to do this faster then Andrea from Italy. In the 3th heat the tandem scratched giving room for Rosa to start. This afternoon due to high winds no spectacular speeds, but the trike that started last did have legal wind.
The last evening was the award dinner. In this strong woman’s field, 6 women competing, I ended in 4th place. The 3 women before me all broke the world record. Only two men were faster then me. However I did receive a ticket from Sergeant Arthur Aten for going over the speed limit of 70mph. For setting a new personal best I received a black mug that changes color and shows the road 305 if hot water is pored into it. Neet.
Report of Friday:
Friday morning I did not run and hearing that almost all result had too much wind I have no regrets that I slept in. This afternoon the first time during warm-up It was really warm and the wind was low, this resulted in my best run ever, cycling 72.04mph (115.94kph). This night also the woman’s record has been reset to 78.61 mph (126.52kph) and that is not all. My trike record has been broken and Yasmin has set the record to 56.42mph (90.81kph). Also Calvin and Evan have broken the tandem record setting it to 74.73mph (120.26kph).
And still one morning heat and Saturday afternoon heat to come
Thank you Bas de Meijer for sharing these wonderful pictures.(https://www.basdemeijer.photo/index)
Report of Wednesday and Thursday:
Wednesday the wind is not dying down. In the morning the speed was 61.37miles and in the afternoon 66.19miles.
Thursday morning I did not feel well and could not go faster then 61.29.
In the afternoon going to the start the wether is looking fine and I feel better. I put in all the power that I have and just finished under 70mph with a time of 69.28miles (legal wind). I heard rumors that this was a good night and some fast times were set. The French girl Ilona gave me the thumbs up. In the meeting it became clear that she had an incredible speed of 77.10mph (124.07 km) and legal wind.
And if the weather allows we will see a battle between the French, Italian and Dutch girls. I am still going for my personal best and will have different tires on my next race in the afternoon.
Report of Monday:
The next ride was Monday afternoon in the third heat. In the morning I did a morning bike ride on the challenge bike that I left here in storage. I still felt yesterday’s run and the result of this run was slower than yesterday 65miles. Now 2 girls are faster then me and Rosa from team Delft&Amsterdam broke the womens record with 75.88 and she can potentially go faster. Exiting times
My next ride is Tuesday afternoon. In the morning the third girl is now faster then me, but getting a faster time this afternoon is not possible due to strong winds. I will run on Wednesday morning hopefully the wind dies down!
Report of Sunday:
The event started this year on Sunday morning with the usual qualifying sessions. There are 5 sessions in the morning of 4 riders in one session. The seating order is arranged by picking a number out of a hat. I picked number 11 and picked the fourth session. The air will be warmer and the wind does not need to be legal. With the 2.5 run up I had a solid ride of 56.36 miles. I also notes that some of the riders had difficulty with stopping on time resulting in a spectacular crash just before me. In the wrap up meeting at 11 o’clock I picked the monday morning slot first due to a bad weather forecast of the afternoon, also the second slot of the afternoon and also put myself on deck in the thirth heat.
We drove to the start and I immediately received the information that one bike in the third and last heat of the afternoon was scratched. So I was able to ride in the third and normally the best heat of the day. This time I put some power into the bike and the result was 68.04miles (109.51km) This result was ok and I cancelled the morning ride.
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Local Press 18/12/05
A pretty nice article about our trip to Battle Mountain 2018. Tank´s to the editorial department of the Westfalen Blatt.
Team Meeting!
A whole day Hans, Ellen, Ralf and Matthias worked on the planning of the next season. They got supported by Edwin Poorte a specialist in aerodynamics and inventiv problem solving using TRIZ. Besides a lot of long-term aims we collected a to-do-list of things we need to do right now. If we want to reach our ambitious aim to build a new bike for the next speed challenge in Battle Mountain, we have to start now! During our brainstorming we came up with a lot of good ideas how to improve the future bike.
CNN Report:
Here is a report about the speed challenge in Battle Mountain 2018. It is a nice summary about the event.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/17/health/fastest-human-powered-bike-fit-nation/index.html
Latest News from speed challenge in Battle Mountain 2018:
In summary we had a good week of racing. Ellen could almost reach her personal best even tough she was in a better shape before. Therefore we think she is able to beat the womens world record, if we built up a new bike and with more specific sprint training. Compared to all other riders she is by far the most experienced rider and is able to accelerate these special bikes efficiently.
After struggeling with the handling of the bike in the first days Matthias could increase his personal best speed day by day. Even the crash at 70 mph in his forth run did not stopp him to go faster afterwards. In the end of the week he started to feel comfortable in the bike and stayed relaxed in his upper body also at higher speed. This is one key point to be able to reach the maximum speed with these bikes.
Overall Ellen was the third fastest women and Matthias was the fourth fastest men this week.
15/09/2018 Saturday evening 5 miles heat
In the last run Matthias got the most promissing position for good wind condition starting in last position. As expected the wind droped a lot after the sunset. Up to the 2 miles marker everything went well, but then some wind gusts from the side stopped him to accelerate. In the end he crossed the finish line with an average of ~75 mph.
15/09/2018 Saturday morning 5 miles heat
The conditions in the morning were perfect. No wind and also a little bit warmer than the days before. Ellen was out first and finished with 68,24 mph (109,82 km/h). She realized that even tough the conditions are good she will not beat her personal best of this year and stopped pushing in the end of the run.
Matthias was trying another strategy and just slowly raised the power to have more power left for the last mile. It worked out and he reached a new personal best riding 78,95 mph (127,10 km/h).
In the evening there is the last chance to improve the current results. If we are lucky and get the right condition, Matthias may reach the 80 mph.
14/09/2018 Friday evening 5 miles heat
Only Ellen was taken her opportunity for another run. Matthias was focusing on the heat in the morning. Sadly the conditions were bad again hindering Ellen to beat her personal best.
14/09/2018 Friday morning 5 miles heat
We had quite nice conditions this morning. The wind was weak and it was a little warmer than yesterday. Ellen started in the second heat. With less power she could accelerate up to 67 mph (107,8 km/h) with legal wind. Ellen will try to beat her personal best in the evening session, if there are good conditions.
Matthias toke a slot in the last heat of the day. The bike was running faster than the night before and he could improve his personal best to 77,4 mph (124,5 km/h). He is considering to skip the evening session to recover probably to have another good run tomorrow morning.
Yesterday Todd Reichert (the current world record holder) arrived at Battle Mountain to watch out how people are trying to break his record. We had some helpful discussion with him and Steve Nash about technical solutions in these special bikes. There are a lot of things you have to consider, if you like to push the efficiency of the bike to its limits.
13/09/2018 Thursday evening 5 miles heat
Ellen went in the first heat of the evening, but the wind was still three times more than legal and she stopped paddeling at the 1 miles marker. She ended up with a speed of 60,64 mph (97,59 km/h).
Matthias was supposed to have a better slot, but also in the last heat in the evening the wind did not drop. In the first two miles he could accelerate to the speed he was aiming at. Even though he pushed harder the bike was than not going faster and he realized at the 1 miles marker, that he will not be faster than in the morning run. So he also stopped pushing the bike and crossed the finish line with 73,68 mph (118,58 km/h).
13/09/2018 Thursday morning 5 miles heat
Matthias picked the first run this morning with perfect wind conditions. So he was able to put all power in the bike and finished with a speed of 76.44 mph (123 km/h). Due to the speed improvement he could get a slot in the best heat this evening. At higher temperature he should go still a bit faster.
Ellen did also have legal wind conditions, but when she felt that she will not go as fast as in her last run, she stopped pushing. Finally she finished with 66 mph (106 km/h).
The two videos show Ellen and Matthias finishing the 5 miles run this morning.
13/09/2018 Story behind and around – Mining Truckers
The road is closed in every heat for 20 minutes. The public traffic is stopped completly. A long time if you earn your salary on the road. We are very glad about the patience of the mining truckers. They are waiting without getting angry, thank’s a lot.
12/09/2018 Wednesday morning
5 miles heat:
The wind picked up at the starting area just before the first 5 miles heat was started in the morning. Luckly Matthias got the Information that there might be legal wind condition down the road at the finish line. So he accelerated slowly to about 60 mph at the 2 miles marker. When he regonized that the wind was getting less he pushed a little bit more and crossed the finish line with 73,28 mph (117,94 km/h). Not as fast as he would like to cycle, but the first time he could at least push a little bit more power.
11/09/2018 Tuesday evening
5 miles heat:
We had a lot of wind during the day. Matthias was in the second heat of the evening session, where the wind droped a little bit at the starting area. Sadly the wind was freshing up during his ride and he decided to go slow for finishing the run safely. He ended up with a speed of about 48 mph.
Ellen was in the last heat, where the wind was gone. With legal wind conditions she could almost reach her personal best and crossed the finish line with 70.2 mph (113 km/h).
Matthias is hoping the have some better wind conditions tomorrow morning, while Ellen will have a rest.
10/09/2018 Monday evening
5 miles heat:
At not legal wind conditions Ellen “was sailing” with an average power of around 140 W the 200 m with a Speed of ~68 mph (109 km/h).
40 mins later Mattias went for his first 5 miles run. The wind droped and he had very good conditions. He slowly pushed up to 70 mph (~112 km/h), when suddenly the front tire got flat at the 2 miles marker. The good news are nothing happened to Matthias. Not even a scratch, but we will have to spend the morning to repair the bike.
The video shows the crash of Matthias at 70 mph!
10/09/2018 Monday morning
2.5 miles qualification heat:
Ellen started at first and rode 55.05 mph (88,59 km/h) at not legal wind conditions.
Matthias did at his first run 62.20 mph (100,10 km/h) at legal wind conditions.
In the evening there will be the first 5 miles heats. There are still some issues we need to work like more spacing for the helmet of Matthias and readjusting the tires.
The video shows Matthias starting at the 2.5 miles point.
09/09/2018 Sunday
We assembled the bike in the morning and realized that there is a small scratch in the fairing, which needs to be repaired. By putting some glass fibre and epoxy the damage was repaired quickly. Now we are waiting for the technical inspection.
Technical inspection went well and we are ready to race tomorrow morning.
08/09/2018 Saturday
After arriving on thursday morning in San Francisco, we stayed one night at Todds place in Mountain View. Before we went to Battle Mountain, we hat a short trip to Lassen National Volcanic parc for hiking. Finally we reached the Super 8 hotel at 9 pm.
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Older imperssion from speed challenge in Battle Mountain.
Here some impression from the last years.
Some impressions from the speed challenge in 2016. Ellen starting with Velox XS.
Ellen starting smoothly with the Velox XS for the 200m run at the speed challenge in battle mountain in 2012.
Battle mountain 2010: Ellen riding Speed Hawk II.