Link naar de foto’s: http://www.oypo.nl/9CFE7B17ED1710D6

We had a great time on the ice!

Inschrijving nu open voor de Icebyk Open Champs 2016

.. as if you needed them!

2015 saw a 3 fold increase in the number of unique monthly visitors to www.icebyk.com and the the fastest flying lap reduced by more than 0.7s to 33.18s. Much web traffic goes to Facebook these days so the increase to icebyk.com was nice. The fastest lap is a little behind the prediction as gains are getting harder and the focus in November was the hour record (35.3km) rather than sprinting. And I know, I know; I’m getting older (47..). I still hold the flying lap record but in the future all the records will go to real athletes!

After more than a year of trying, Icebyk is now a registered European Trademark. Feels like a great Christmas present. Obviously I had to pay for it but the various objections, restrictions and legal proceedings have been successfully completed now.

The trademark registration is part of the strategy to develop the Icebyk brand: the brand should represent:

1. a fun & fast experience
2. easy access to ice sport for everyone
3. inspirational design & innovation

OK, OK. I got it wrong! The obvious comment is I chose to ‘tactically’ ignore the current women’s 10km record (look at the original graphic at the bottom of this post, the points on the graph are the world records as of 8-12-15).
But to kick the ball back to Carien: you can skate 40,6km in an hour, so why is your 5km so slow??!! My next prediction is you will break the 5km record 🙂

Steve Ellis (10-12-15)

On 9-Dec, Carien Kleibeuker and Erik Jan Kooiman will try and set new speed skating records. For Carien that means skating more than 36.44km and Erik Jan 42.25km. I am most interested in the women’s record because we have been targeting this on the Icebyk.

Why did I choose the women’s record? Well the calculations show that (a) the current record probably has more room for improvement than any other skating record and (b) the Icebyk has proved it can safely operate at the required speed.

On 14-Nov Eva cycled 35,3km (and possibly 35,4km due to inaccuracy in measuring the distance). Her theoretical target is 39km. The difference was maybe a little down to Eva, but mostly due to lack of practice (2 x 20min!) and the Icebyk still needing optimisation (which I’m working on of course!).

So how far will Carien skate on 9-Dec? The answer is 37.65km. Am I right Jillert? She could skate up to 38.5km but the conditions and preparation make that unlikely. I think Carien has a 70% chance of setting a new record but Erik Jan has a bigger challenge – his chances are 20% (absolutely worth a try though).

Good luck to both skaters, and let’s see if I’m right on 9-Dec!!

I used to have an East German coach in the ’90s who was of course obsessed with numbers and predictions and I have used a few of his methods to calculate my predictions. This graphic represents them quite well: