My Most Recent Ride 2010 (Part III of the series)

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

I set out to get a personal best on a metric. My goal was 21.0 and my plan was to ride a nice flat route with one section repeated a couple of times. Was working perfectly until the wind became brutal. I was holding onto the 21 mph until right at 60 miles when I began to cramp a little in my thigh. Still, 20.9 mph average for 62.4 miles with no drafting.

I must admit John, my goal was to try and knock you out of 2nd place in the notables on the metric thread.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

I think you should try shooting some video of one of your club rides. On BROL a guy from London filmed his ride to work where this DF'er pushed hard to catch and pass him. The 'bent rider eventually caught the DF'er and left him in the dust as well. To make things interesting he had two cameras, one mounted on his helmet and the other on his bike but facing rearwards.

I'll try to find the link to the video and post it. It is pretty cool with all the left hand driving and double decker busses.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

That would be cool to see.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

As sort of a special request I went trolling for DF riders tonight. I got out around 6pm knowing that the "Peloton" would be gathering and move out around 6:30. The group ride is always HUGE this week in conjunction with the Tour de France. Lots of Lance wannabee's shave their legs and come out in their favorite team kit. My plan was simple....total humiliation of the Peloton.

I rode out to where the group would turn around with a friend of mine and we took our time simply warming the legs up. The timing was perfect as we slow pedaled around the big group of 20+ was milling around in the middle of the road as they too turned around to head back.

We sat well behind them as they regrouped and slowly picked up their speed. They were moving about 21 mph and one rider had gone off the front alone when I launched my attack. I quickly picked it up to about 26 mph shifting up onto the big 55t chainring and the 11t in back so as I cruised by the pack I was turning a nice comfortable cadence of 50. One hand in my lap i asked how everyone was feeling looking to see if anyone was going to take my bait. No Go, everyone was doing alot of looking down at the road purposefully looking away. Okay, no problem I kept the power on and went after the lead rider.

Closing on him I couldn't help but see the local racing team stenciled on his butt. Perfect! He was moving about 23 or so and looked somewhat surprised when I passed wishing him a good ride. He was alot younger than I so I kept the speed up and hoped like **** I could hold it until the road ended. I almost did, slipping down to 23 just as the turn came up. The group was still out of sight, so I turned around and slow pedaled back towards them. the lead rider had been absorbed by the pack I noticed as they approached. I also noticed that no one would look at me. All eyes were downcast. Ahhh Nothing like good clean fun. I rejoined my friend and we had a nice easy ride back.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

Aaah! What a thrill to read.:s5: I have to say my legs are twitching...I need to get out and ride. That was awesome... the adrenaline was surging as I read that post. A 55t charin ring eh...I can see myself passing out at that speed.:s4: Aah, Ward you are something else. Good job and thanks for posting!!!:s1:

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

Jon,
Keila and I have only been hitting the Sunday ride but the tandem will be up again after this weekend. I figure a couple rides to get back used to the new improvements and we should get together. Looks like it will be you , me, Keila, and Rob. My friend from high school is coming down to ride with us in October. He is a former mtb racer (in Germany) so will be riding a DF though he is in the market for a recumbent.

 

Fujin lowracer vs DF clip

I found this clip on BROL. This guy is flying through the outskirts of London on his Fujin and then humiliates a poor DF'er.

 

Re: Fujin lowracer vs DF clip

That was pretty cool. DF'ers are not "poor", if they're going to spend the funds on a bike like that and wear the get-up...they have an agenda and that agenda needs to be SMASHED! There is no mercy!, unless they've had an accident and at that point, one must be kind to them...show a little compassion, that 'bent riders really are kind and loving people, even to cyclist who enjoy riding on a stick.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

GREAT!!! Can't wait! I will be training seriously starting next week.

Jon

 

Re: Fujin lowracer vs DF clip

One word splains my feelings 'bout that......D***

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

I've been having fun, learning the roads here in my new neighbourhood,
Falling Waters, part of the Chattanooga Tennessee area.
Lots of DF riders ride by my front door... but as yet, I've only spotted one other recumbent.


Chasing the local peleton ought to be a good workout....


-Steve

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

Maiden metric on the Venom trike. A very tough route with 3000 feet of climbing in the first 35 miles over old pot-hole strewn chip seal. The Venom rode very well and the springs that I have put in the seat stays worked very well.

After my first 50 mile ride on the Venom I was ready to switch out the seat, however, with the springs the seat was very comfortable on probably the worst roads in my area.

We were lucky in that the SUN stayed behind clouds and the temperature stayed bearable. After the first 35 miles of torture we were rewarded with a wonderful smooth long downhill which culminated at an intersection with the first store we had seen. A leisurely stop, I drank a Nesquick Strawberry milk and ate a Kitkat. It doesn't get any better than that.

Back on the road we chose the easier route home. Almost as long but much fewer climbs and smoother road offset by more traffic. We finished with 63 miles in 4:55 ride time. 5 hours something total time.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

Saturday was the One Helluva Ride, out of Chelsea Michigan. Lots of small hills, but by most Tennessean standards pretty flat. I took the M5. On the way out of town, I passed a large paceline of Wolverines (Wolverine Sport Club) and quickly dropped them in the rollers. I was feeling pretty good, so I rode ahead of Chris on his NoCom. After 15 miles or so, I pulled over and waited for him at a turn. He showed up with the paceline in tow, so I hooked in behind. I don't know if they were going any faster than I'd been going, but it was easier at the back. Thought I had some nice video, but the camera was in picture mode instead of video mode so all I got was a couple of stills like this:

Anyway, we were going so fast that we lost two guys around one corner - they couldn't hold the turn and literally went off into someone's front yard, barely missing a tree. No compassion, the group kept going. Shortly after that, we turned onto a road with very rough expansion joints every 30 feet. There was cross traffic coming, so I waited while the group got away. One other guy waited too. His jersey had a custom side panel which read "frankieandreu.com." I dumped him and caught the group. Then, with the first rest stop in sight, the rough road knocked my chain off the idler and I had to stop for a few seconds.

The big group lined up to get rid of coffee at the line of kybos, but when Chris rolled in, we kept going. Chris dropped behind again, mostly due to losing ground on every hill. I waited up for him once, and we rolled into the lunch stop nearly together.

The stretch between lunch and the last rest stop was boring.

Lots of flat ground, but very open and hot. A few miles before the stop, the Wolverines caught me again. The pack was somewhat whittled down by then - probably only 15-20 guys. By then my legs were getting tired and when we got to a couple of short steep hills, they gapped me.

I was really getting overheated by that stop, so I spent extra time in the shade and drank as much as I could hold. When Chris and I took off on the last leg, we resolved to take it a little easier. That worked, until we turned onto the final leg, which had good road, small one-downshift rollers, a bit of shade, and a slight tailwind. I started setting 'em up and knockin' them down, topping a lot of the hills at 24-25 mph and passing dozens of hapless uprights. Chris stayed within sight, at least. We were passing bikes right up until the end of the ride.

I finished the ride with 94 miles and 21.3 mph average, which should knock Ward out of first place in the "WOW Metric" list. Unfortunately, Beer Truck squeaked past both of us. His avg speed is well short of what I showed at mile 78 (the last rest stop) but I tend to really slow down after 60-70 miles.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

Great ride John, I figured I would get a reaction out of you. Maybe I need to get out for a fast group ride hmmm.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

I've got a new front tire on order for the NoCom, and if it comes in I'll take that on the Holland Hundred next week.