(Brent Hugh) wrote in message . com...
Just for our own amusement, my son (6 yrs. old) and I, riding our Rans
Screamer the other evening, did a 2.5 mile time trial on the circle
drive around the nearby sports stadiums.
We did it in 8:04 (18.6 MPH). (OK, neither of us is exactly Lance
Armstrong.)
So I stripped all the excess junk off my Rans Rocket & rode the exact
same course.

Result? EXACTLY 8:04, again.

So a couple of nights ago I figured if I tried it on the Rocket again,
pumping up the tires to 100 lbs, it would certainly make a difference.

Result? 8:06.

I did have one pannier on, with 5 or 6 lbs worth of stuff. Supposedly
a pannier increases aerodynamic drag by about 6%; see

http://damonrinard.com/aero/aerodynamics.htm

On a cheerier note, I continued and completed a 6-mile time trial
around the track. Time was 19:57 (just a hair over 18 MPH).

Last summer, almost exactly a year ago, on a similar machine (Trek
R200) I did the same route in 23:57 (a hair over 15 MPH).

Considering that my training routine is "go for a ride whenever you
feel like it and go as far as you want and as fast or as slow as you
want" that seems to me to be pretty decent progress for a year.

--Brent