Sept. 11, 2007 issue
EMU lecturer plays key role in track cycling world record

By Amy E. Whitesall

 

When it comes to endurance bicycling, Michael Secrest has been there and done that.

He pedaled across the country in just under eight days to set the U.S. transcontinental record. He has world records — indoor and out — for durations and distances that make even professional cyclists wince.

NO BONES ABOUT IT: Frank Fedel, an Eastern Michigan University anatomy and physiology lecturer, played a key role in helping Michael Secrest recently set a 24- hour endurance bicycling record. Fedel, who has provided support during six of his world records, lent Secrest his inhaler when Secrest began to suffer from ashthma about 14 hours into the attempt. Without the inhaler, Secrest said he would not have been able to break the 24-hour record.

So, even at 54, Secrest was never daunted by the idea of trying to ride 530-plus miles in 24 hours. The daunting thing, it turned out, was trying to do half of it while gasping for breath.

Secrest broke his own 24-hour world record by the slimmest of margins, pedaling 535.86 miles June 15-16 at the ADT Event Center Velodrome in Carson, Calif. Frank Fedel, an Eastern Michigan University anatomy and physiology lecturer, helped make it possible, lending Secrest an inhaler to get him through an unexpected bout of exercise-induced asthma in the middle of the ride. Fedel, an exercise physiologist and biomechanics specialist, has worked with Secrest since 1996. But he's never seen the cyclist work so hard for a world record.

"It was a 250-meter track and you could hear him breathing and gasping for air all the way around," said Fedel, 47. "It was awful hearing this guy suffer on his bike."

"If I wouldn't have had that (inhaler), there's definitely no way we could have broken the record. Without question," said Secrest, a Michigan native who now lives and trains in Scottsdale, Ariz. "I think it just allowed me enough of a relief from what I was experiencing to keep my speed up high enough."

Fedel, a former competitive inline skater, suffers from exercise-induced asthma himself. Part of his responsibility during the record attempt was to skate water and a nutritional drink out to Secrest on the track every 45 minutes or so, a job that had him logging 25-30 miles on skates over 24 hours. He packed his inhaler in case his asthma flared up.

RIDE LIKE THE WIND: Michael Secrest recently set a 24-hour bicycling endurance record, pedaling 535.86 miles on a 250- meter velodrome track. Secrest said he would not have been able to break the record without the aid of Frank Fedel, who gave Secrest an inhaler to use when the bicyclist began suffering from his asthma. Photo courtesy of TheGuyOnTheBike.com

Fedel has provided support on six of Secrest's world records. Secrest calls Fedel the most intelligent person he's ever known; Fedel says Secrest is the toughest person he's ever met. But they'd never talked about asthma until Secrest noticed the inhaler in Fedel's bag the night before the latest record.

The next day, Secrest started his ride so strong that he also broke the 12-hour and 200-mile world records on his way to the 24-hour record. He was far exceeding what anyone thought he could do when, about 14 hours into the attempt, he started struggling to get enough breath.

"Do you have your inhaler?" he asked when Fedel skated out to him. "I need it."

Fedel had to calculate just how much albuterol Secrest could take from the inhaler without compromising the integrity of his record. It amounted to six puffs. Between doses, he gulped down caffeine to help control his symptoms as he wheezed through 10 more hours.

Fedel orchestrates the science of Secrest's suffering — tracking the various stresses that 24 hours on a bicycle put on his body. He also manages a computer spreadsheet that predicts where Secrest will finish based on his energy output and projected fatigue. A mechanical problem mid-ride knocked Secrest off his pace, and the breathing trouble only made it worse. Fedel kept crunching the numbers. According to the computer, Fedel was dismayed to see that there was no way Secrest was going to make it. He didn't tell the cyclist.

"I don't know how he did it, but the last two hours he picked it up," Fedel said. "If he'd have crashed or fallen off with four minutes to go, he wouldn't have set the record. You couldn't have cut it any closer."

Secrest rode more than 3,000 laps and broke the record by 1.16 miles, or about six laps. One spectator called it the gutsiest world record ever witnessed. Two days later, Secrest was talking about finding a longer track where he's sure he could pack 550 miles or more into 24 hours.

"Knowing the technical and physiological difficulties he had, I'm completely confident he could decimate the record even though he's 54," Fedel said. "The good news, for those of us who are getting up there, is age doesn't take everything away from us."