Here's Dan Schaaf's writeup on his Sebring experience -- he's having password problems:
 
[This writeup was originally posted to the Plano Bicycle Association website. That is a non-recumbent enthusiast audience and I put things a certain way for that audience that I wouldn’t have if I had been addressing the “rbent” audience. -- Daniel]
 
 
It was cold, cloudy in the morning, sun too little, too late in the afternoon to do any good and a wicked north wind to top it off - very un-Florida like!
 
The 3 of us - myself, Sharon, and Shellene drove down to Florida for this 24 hour event - barely getting out of town on Thursday just as the snow storm was getting intense. We headed south, leaving Garland at almost 2PM, down I-45 and finally escaped the snow storm about 90 miles south of Dallas. Our route also took us from Huntsville over to US 287 at Woodville, and then south to Beaumont where we picked up I-10. We were on I-10 to eastern Florida where we took I-75 south; then the Florida Turnpike; then US 27 to Sebring, FL. Once we got out of the Snow Belt, we had heavy rain to within 20 miles of Sebring - and ½ hour after arriving in Sebring, the rain moved in, there, as well. We arrived in Sebring Friday afternoon and the time trial started at 6:30AM the next morning.  
 
The route consisted of an initial 3 laps around the Sebring auto race course; then a 96 mile long loop; then as many 11 mile short loops as can be fit in during remaining daylight; then as many laps of the 3.7 mile track as can be fit in during the 12 hours of night riding (or until you decide to give it up).  
 
For me, on the recumbent (Bacchetta CA-2), this was to be my longest ride on that vehicle in the 3 months since I took up riding a recumbent. I knew I would have a big challenge doing significant miles because of my lumbar issues, as on all of my century + rides, I have had varying pain in that area. The question was, how long could I take the pain and what stop gap measures would be effective in delaying the pain?  
 
I got off to a slow start, having had a strong headache during Friday of the drive, a far worse headache overnight (because there was something wrong with the hotel heating and cooling) and the strong headache continued for much of the day on Saturday, before finally easing by late afternoon.
 
I also had several delays, due to approx 7 nature breaks, a couple of missed turns, and a brutal headwind, as we headed north from the Sebring area while doing our 96 mile loop, to Frostproof, our turnaround. This area is in the central Florida highlands east and a little south of St Petersburg. It is an area of long, but not very steep rollers, and while some parts of the course were dead flat, most of it had climbing. As I neared the turnaround, I passed a huge lake with ocean-like waves and whitecaps from the strong wind. The road along the lake was exposed to the strong cross wind and I was getting very significant pushing off the straight line. There was also quite a bit of traffic along this part which was disconcerting due to lack of shoulder and the crosswind.  
 
Coming back was a whole different story. Most of that was glorious tailwind and it was a fast return - the hills no longer posed a problem with the push from the tailwind. We passed miles and miles of orange groves - a little reminder that while the temp was Texas cold, we were indeed in Florida. The oranges were ripe and being harvested as we passed by.
 
It was during the return trip that the clouds started breaking up and temperature started rising toward 50°. I wore as many layers as I do here when it is very cold and I was comfortable until nightfall. I had about a 15 avg on the ride north into the wind and a 21 avg on the way back to Sebring. At the end of the long loop I had 107 miles and I think I did another 68 miles or so, on the short loops. It was during the short loops that I started having major issues with the lumbar and had to readjust the extra padding I used numerous times. Sharon and I self-supported, so each of the short loops but one, I stopped at the car either to change the lumbar padding or eat or fill the bottles. I was shunted on to the race track at 5:40 PM, got in about 3 daylight laps of the track and another couple before we arranged to have the car moved to the new pit area and move our ice chest and other supplies from the car to the edge of the track. Then I did numerous loops on the track until about midnight, by which time the temperature had dropped to 39°. The wind was still blowing strongly as well, but what stopped me then was excruciating pain from the lumbar region. I decided to take a nap in the car and rest my lumbar. I sat in the car 1½ hours, too cold to sleep, and finally decided to get back onto the course, but by then the temperature had dropped to 33° and the chill was practically unbearable due to the wind. I cut some more pipe insulation for my padding and put on 3 more layers. I rode fairly continuously doing laps of the track until about 4:45 AM, with only stops for nature breaks, replenishment, and pad adjustment. Finally, more excruciating pain from the lumbar forced me off the bike and I went back to the car to try resting it, again. This time I did sleep, but I had also started the car to get the heater running - that was the only way I could sleep. I woke up at 5:45 AM. The 24 hour time trial was up at 6:30 AM but I was just not motivated to get out into the cold air again as it didn't seem worth it from a time standpoint nor was the pain in my lumbar area any better. I decided my 265 miles would have to do. I was quite disappointed with only that distance in 24 hours - all of me but the lumbar region felt excellent - my legs were good and I was still pushing along at a decent clip, even late into the ride.    
 
It was exciting being at Sebring as there were so many different and interesting competitors. There were RAAM hopefuls, RAAM veterans, all types of recumbents and HPV's (faired vehicles), tricycle type recumbents, handcycles, and road bikes and tandems as well. Riding on the Sebring race course was fun as well.
 
At the awards ceremony, I was extremely surprised to find out that my age-group standing (60 to 64) in the non-drafting recumbent category was good for a first-place with only 248 official miles (although my computer had me at 265 miles). I have in the past done so much better than that in a 24-hour event, so the surprise at coming in first was still tempered by disappointment.
 
Race officials do split up the field into many sub-categories. They do this to engender support and enthusiasm from the riders by recognizing the efforts of most of the participants. So getting a first is not all that significant, when others in my age group who rode different types of bikes or were in the "drafting" race had closer to 400 miles. But it was still fun "competing" and my first participation in this event may not be the last - there is always the quest for "doing better" the next time!  
 
 
 
 
 
 

I'm not going to have any sick days left over this year, am I?    So, when's the next race?  

Go Greg! Have fun on this one. Just take it easy on the big climbs and work the rollers. I understand they didn't like a recumbent climbing School Street so well. :^) Actually they wanted to bypass Boerne and the roads you will be on that do so and are scarey during the day because of high-speed traffic will have a chase vehicle behind you during those stretches to help protect you.