Race 3R Endurance Academy Update

In September, I highlighted that Team 3R were hosting an endurance academy with the target of undertaking a 12-hour and 24-hour ride (details can be read here).

Since then, the event has developed real momentum. In both the Saturday rides I joined there were over 100 riders taking part, so I thought it would be worth sharing more details about the event as it continues to build a following.

The Event and Schedule

The 12h Challenge is scheduled for 15th January 2022, whilst the 24 Hour Challenge is set a month later for 26th February 2022.

The weekly Saturday Endurance training ride is scheduled at 8:00 AM CEST and the Race3R Endurance Team are going to be tackling all the major long routes So if you are looking to undertake the Ultra Challenge, improve your base fitness, or simply collect those more difficult route badges such as the PRL Full, this is the team to join.

A complete ride schedule can be viewed below, giving you the opportunity to see what routes they are tackling and when so you can plan accordingly:

Guest Leaders

The Race3R Team have lined up guests to lead the rides, ensuring the long rides are kept interesting.  On 23rd October Kate Spicer, an Ultra Endurance cyclist from Australia, led a group of 150 riders on 3 laps of Watopia Waistband.

Kate is not a pro cyclist, nor does she want to be one, but she rides over 1000km a week, and in the summer, she does that also, outside!  Kate led her first-ever ride with the team and did an excellent job.

Romaric Eloud, a Zwift legend from France who is a true ultra-endurance athlete and holds the current Zwift 24h record of 1028 KM without any stops, led the group the previous week and is scheduled to make a return appearance.

On 20th November, Marko Baloh is scheduled to lead the event.  He is an ultra-endurance pro rider, and is the current 24-hour Road World Champion.

Hints and Tips

With all these endurance experts on hand and with each ride lasting in excess of 3 hours, there is lots of time to discuss cycling and the challenges of riding for such extended periods of time. During these rides a list of tips have been collated to help with such an undertaking. Here they are:

• Eat/drink what your body, when put under physical stress, can manage and also what you actually like, as it gives you something to look forward to
• Eat/drink what you know, don’t experiment on “the day”
• Eating during an ultra-event is a nice thing, it is something to take the mind off any potential struggles, therefore make food which is good, but you also like
• Drink enough water. Sports drinks are good, but water it vital.
• You will need to drink a lot, 0.5-1 litre per hour
• Alongside energy bars, fruit is good but also a sandwich.  Think pasta for dinner.
• Count calories, so you don’t under/over fuel
• Stand every 20/30 minutes during ultra-riding
• Core exercises are important to strengthen your neck and back
• TT bars can help to change position, making it more comfortable
• Change clothing and socks every 4/6 hours to prevent issues
• Switch your shoes every 4-6 hours
• Distractions are vital to help pass the time, such as listening to podcasts, music, or using Discord to chat with others doing the challenge.

The History of the Event

Rob Keunen, who is organising this Ultra Endurance Academy, is doing so to highlight the power of cycling.  He found himself undertaking long rides to help him through a very tough period in his life.  As Rob explained:

“In August 2019 we became parents for the second time, with a daughter called Feline.

During pregnancy we found out that Feline would be born with ‘Schisis’ , that’s a physical a split in the jaw/lip/teeth. It’s nothing strange, but would mean that we were up for a lot of surgery/hospital visits until she would be 16 years old.  

Schisis also brings some feeding issues when babies are born, they can’t suck milk out of a bottle, so we also knew the first months would be harder than normal.

All of that was true, Feline had issues, with feeding, sleeping, putting weight on, but Doctors concluded it was due to Schisis.  Surgery was planned when Feline was 6 months old.  Doctors believed that after that it would be better since with a closed lip she would be able to suck milk from a bottle. 

After the successful surgery Feline would not wake up, she stayed in a coma, and nobody knew why. We saw an increasing number of Doctors and Professors around her bed in the Children’s Intensive Care Unit, trying to understand what was happening.

3 days after the surgery a Neuro Professor and Feline´s team of Doctors and Nurses told us that Feline would not wake up anymore.  The sad fact was that she was already brain dead. She had been diagnosed with a very rare disease called ´Leigh´s syndrome’. This is a very rare metabolic disease that is not treatable.  There is no cure.

Basically there is a fault in the DNA, so that the energy in cells that are used for living, eating, moving, thinking, drinking, is not being refilled with new energy during a night’s sleep. This disease has different grades, light grade means light physical and mental issues, medium means heavy physical and mental issues, and then the grade that Feline had, always ends after a few months, in death. The brain cells will die, which happened with her during surgery.  She could not breathe anymore on her own, that function of the brain was dead. 

Our world collapsed.

After the funeral, I was feeling drained and was diagnosed by the Doctor with having a physical burnout.  That was in May 2020 and it took until December 2020 until I could return to work full time.  

In December, I joined a group 3R Endurance ride, which I liked. I started helping sweeping, and was asked if I would like to join the 3R Endurance team in January 2021. Which I did. 

On February the 6th, exactly 1 year after Feline died, I did my first lead for 3R, I asked to lead on that day, and they gave me the chance, so I choose PRL FULL as my first lead ride.  I wanted to make it extra special. That was a great ride, and I will never forget it.

After that I started doing races too, and I upped my training to 8-10 hour a week, more structured, and harder, to improve my fitness.

In summer, I started thinking about the next challenge.  After the endurance leads and races I needed another challenge. Helping Mitja, a member of the Race3R Endurance Team, during his own 24h attempt got me thinking.  The idea of this 12/24h Challenge was born.

So in a direct way this challenge is born out of the tragedy that happened with my daughter Feline, and the fact that I experienced a major setback in health after that which I don’t want to happen again. So I do this for myself, and for my daughter.  She is my inspiration, and always in the back of my mind. 

I still have a lot of pain and grief, and some of it will never go away but cycling helps along with the support I receive from family and friends and the Race3R and Zwift Community.” 

Charity

Team 3R would like people to try and raise sponsorship for the charity World Bicycle Relief. World Bicycle Relief is an international, non-profit organisation that specializes in large-scale, comprehensive bicycle distribution programs to aid poverty relief in developing countries around the world.  A just giving page is here https://give.worldbicyclerelief.org/team/390235. 

Summing Up

I am grateful for Rob for organizing an event like the Endurance Academy, despite his devastating loss. It is a testament to the man for being able to find the motivation and strength not only to organize the event but to lead it.  Moreover, it’s nice to hear that cycling, Zwift, and the Race3R Team have been a source of support.  After what Rob has lived through, cycling 12 and 24 hours will be easy. I certainly will be there to support him and the rest of the team in their training and on the day.

Questions or Comments?

Post below!