John Jurczynski stayed aerodynamic during his New Hampshire cycling record.

The date I picked for this one was August 7, 2006. The weather forecast called for headwinds all day, so I opted for a very early morning start thinking that the winds would be less severe at that time. I was very wrong about that. As we pulled up to the Canadian border on Route 3 in New Hampshire we saw that the American flag was blowing straight out and pointing north. At that point my crew and I knew that breaking Amy Regan's 18.97 mph record would probably not be possible unless the winds shifted during the ride. My crew seemed eager to give it a go and I figured it would be a good workout, so we headed off at 12:24 a.m. With Boston-Montreal-Boston only 10 days away, in the back of my mind I was telling myself that it would be foolish to get hurt trying to break this record going into a headwind. I tried to keep that in mind throughout the day.

Riding into the headwind across New Hampshire was good training.

The first hour of the ride was very eventful. Wildlife was abundant and crossing the road in front of me more often than I wanted. There were moose, mice, deer, skunks and a rabbit. I counted four moose crossing in front of me. One of them ran along side of me for about a half mile before it crossed right in front of me again.

At about 100 miles, in Lisbon, NH, the skies opened. It rained heavily for at least an hour. Before the rain, I was averaging 18.5 mph. I was hopeful that this storm might cause a shift in the winds direction, but that did not happen. From here my average speed continued to drop until we turned southeast near Claremont, NH (about 190 miles into the ride). The last 60+ miles the headwind turned into a crosswind, which felt great in comparison. Without a headwind my spirits improved, but in the end my average speed was well short of Amy Regan's record of 13 hours 39 minutes. I finished the 254-mile ride at 3:49 p.m., which translates to 15 hours and 25 minutes for the crossing. It wasn't fast or pretty, but it was great training and I didn't feel like I overdid it in preparation for BMB.

John Jurczynski consulting with Carissa O'Gara, the UMCA official, for the New Hampshire cycling record attempt.

I was somewhat disappointed thinking that I spent a great deal of time and energy to do this event without getting the overall record. Although I didn't break Regan's record, there were separate male and female categories for state records. As a result, I set a somewhat slow state record and will get a few points for the Ultracycling Cup Competition.

Official Record: 254.0 miles in 15:25, average speed of 16.55 mph
Start: US 3 at Canadian border crossing between Pittsburg, NH & Chartierville, Quebec
Finish: SH 111 at NH/MA SL between Hollis Depot, NH & Pepperell, MA
Official: Carissa O'Gara