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#21
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Commuting Alternative?
On 2007-01-25 19:29:47 +0000, "Grolch" said:
"Buck" wrote in message news:2007012517590116807-SPAMTRAPian@trikesandstuffDOTcoDOTuk... On 2007-01-25 17:47:19 +0000, "stratrider" said: On Jan 25, 2:33 am, Buck wrote: I do not think 30mph average is an unreasonable figure for a fully faired velomobile ridden by a reasonably fit pilot. Not too many years ago I jumped into a pace line during a century ride on my 1999 Stratus. We covered 24 miles in the first hour of this FLAT ride. We were flying! I was a strong rider with no baggage on a course with no hills or significant wind plus I had the draft advantage of the pace line. I cannot imagine how much additional power it would have taken to add 6 miles to that first hour of riding without adding real world conditions. Jim I can maintain 23.4 mph average for three hours on a Catrike Expedition unfaired while riding alone and I am 40 years old. I'm goosed after three hours but I am working on it. On a velomobile with much less wind resitance I expect 30mph over a similar time would not be an issue. -- Three wheels good, two wheels ok www.catrike.co.uk I'm calling bull****. I ride a Catrike Road with the small fairing. Granted I have Big Apples, racks and mudguards but my averages are in the 22 - 25km range over a 40 km ride. Granted also that this is somewhat hilly and I'm 46. But I ride 7000km plus per year and I am in very good shape. I can't imagine anyone pushing over 23mph for over three hours, that's about 37kph. Unless of course it's all downhill and/or with a good wind pushing. Hey, there's always BionX units... that would work to get the avg up there. Grolsch I have a customer with a Speed that can cover his 19 mile commute in 30 minutes, I ride about 25000 to 30000 km per year, I go to the gym three times a week and consider myself moderately fit, perceptions? Of course if you cannot do it perhaps no one can. -- Three wheels good, two wheels ok www.catrike.co.uk |
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#22
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Commuting Alternative?
Grolch wrote:
I can't imagine anyone pushing over 23mph for over three hours, that's about 37kph. Unless of course it's all downhill and/or with a good wind pushing. Try a bigger imagination... Andy Wilkinson, taking the UK end to end record, averaged slightly better than 20 mph for /over 40 hours/. Pete. -- Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/ |
#23
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Commuting Alternative?
On 2007-01-26 10:58:08 +0000, Peter Clinch said:
Grolch wrote: I can't imagine anyone pushing over 23mph for over three hours, that's about 37kph. Unless of course it's all downhill and/or with a good wind pushing. Try a bigger imagination... Andy Wilkinson, taking the UK end to end record, averaged slightly better than 20 mph for /over 40 hours/. Pete. And not fully faired either. But pretty slick. -- Three wheels good, two wheels ok www.catrike.co.uk |
#24
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Commuting Alternative?
On Fri, 26 Jan 2007 10:58:08 +0000, Peter Clinch
wrote: Grolch wrote: I can't imagine anyone pushing over 23mph for over three hours, that's about 37kph. Unless of course it's all downhill and/or with a good wind pushing. Try a bigger imagination... Andy Wilkinson, taking the UK end to end record, averaged slightly better than 20 mph for /over 40 hours/. Pete. Comparing apples to oranges to bananas. First of all, going from 20 to 23 mph is a siginificant increase, and doing 20 mph all day by a person setting a record is different from an average fit cyclist riding any significant distance. Both are way different than how most people ride while doing a daily commute. You may as well say that racers can train at over 25 mph for several hours. None of it is relevant to most commuters. Based on the 12 or so years that I commuted, I can't see a fully faired recumbent being the answer for a commuter, except for short city commutes where the person has access to a locked ground level space. I've rolled diamond frames down a couple of flights of stairs and wouldn't do that daily at 6:00 am with my unfaired Vision SWB. I had a 20 mile commute for a while and that meant that in spring and autumn, the ride would or cdould change dramatically from the start to the finish (crossing from or into darkness). Same thing: I would prefer a diamond frame or possibly an open recumbent and a jacket to pull on than a fully faired recumbent.There were rough roads in some areas, overcast days when I wanted maximum field of view etc. Interestingly, if I could do 40 mph in the fully faired recumbent, it would not have cut my time in half. It doesn't work that way. Maybe it would take 10-15 minutes off of the commute on a good day, if you assume that I could roll the sucker into the office building at the end. And I had a large office in a three story building with a freight elevator (the building, not my office). Wouldn't work at all where I work now. So unless you have a roll out point at home, a roll in place at work, job security enough to know that all that won't change, and a commute long enough and smooth enough to make it all work to the maximum, I think I would put my $ 3,000 into something else. Maybe a Catrike 700... Curtis L. Russell Odenton, MD (USA) Just someone on two wheels... |
#25
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Commuting Alternative?
"Buck" wrote in message news:2007012610513675249-SPAMTRAPian@trikesandstuffDOTcoDOTuk... On 2007-01-25 19:29:47 +0000, "Grolch" said: "Buck" wrote in message news:2007012517590116807-SPAMTRAPian@trikesandstuffDOTcoDOTuk... On 2007-01-25 17:47:19 +0000, "stratrider" said: On Jan 25, 2:33 am, Buck wrote: I do not think 30mph average is an unreasonable figure for a fully faired velomobile ridden by a reasonably fit pilot. Not too many years ago I jumped into a pace line during a century ride on my 1999 Stratus. We covered 24 miles in the first hour of this FLAT ride. We were flying! I was a strong rider with no baggage on a course with no hills or significant wind plus I had the draft advantage of the pace line. I cannot imagine how much additional power it would have taken to add 6 miles to that first hour of riding without adding real world conditions. Jim I can maintain 23.4 mph average for three hours on a Catrike Expedition unfaired while riding alone and I am 40 years old. I'm goosed after three hours but I am working on it. On a velomobile with much less wind resitance I expect 30mph over a similar time would not be an issue. -- Three wheels good, two wheels ok www.catrike.co.uk I'm calling bull****. I ride a Catrike Road with the small fairing. Granted I have Big Apples, racks and mudguards but my averages are in the 22 - 25km range over a 40 km ride. Granted also that this is somewhat hilly and I'm 46. But I ride 7000km plus per year and I am in very good shape. I can't imagine anyone pushing over 23mph for over three hours, that's about 37kph. Unless of course it's all downhill and/or with a good wind pushing. Hey, there's always BionX units... that would work to get the avg up there. Grolsch I have a customer with a Speed that can cover his 19 mile commute in 30 minutes, I ride about 25000 to 30000 km per year, I go to the gym three times a week and consider myself moderately fit, perceptions? Of course if you cannot do it perhaps no one can. Saaaay, you're not from Texas are you? You expect me to believe that you ride an average of over 80km a day, every day of the year AND go to the gym three times a week AND have time to bull**** on cycling groups. Buck, quick call Dr. Phil this is a story the nation wants to hear. Of course, if we gave you a laxative we could bury you in a shoe box. |
#26
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Commuting Alternative?
On Jan 26, 9:52 am, Curtis L. Russell wrote: Interestingly, if I could do 40 mph in the fully faired recumbent, it would not have cut my time in half. It doesn't work that way. Maybe it would take 10-15 minutes off of the commute on a good day, if you assume that I could roll the sucker into the office building at the end. And I had a large office in a three story building with a freight elevator (the building, not my office). Wouldn't work at all where I work now. So unless you have a roll out point at home, a roll in place at work, job security enough to know that all that won't change, and a commute long enough and smooth enough to make it all work to the maximum, I think I would put my $ 3,000 into something else. Maybe a Catrike 700... Interestingly enough, I've got most of those things down. Roll in/out @ home is covered. The building I work in would make it easy enough to get a small car into my office (garage doors & freight/shipping elevator included). I've got an extra "cube" where I just store extra drawings, etc. Plenty of room for it. Still, I would just lock it to the railing just outside my office 10 feet from my desk most days. The commute is 37.92 miles long. Mostly back roads as well. Seems like my only concerns would be if it's too hilly, and if it's too hot in there to deal with the power output I'd need. Unfortunately, those are pretty heavy concerns. If only I could rent one for a day or seven... |
#27
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Commuting Alternative?
Curtis L. Russell wrote:
Comparing apples to oranges to bananas. First of all, going from 20 to 23 mph is a siginificant increase, and doing 20 mph all day by a person setting a record is different from an average fit cyclist riding any significant distance. Quite true, but the point was that saying a "merely" hard feat is /beyond imagination/ doesn't give very much scope for credit for the range of things people can do.. Based on the 12 or so years that I commuted, I can't see a fully faired recumbent being the answer for a commuter, except for short city commutes where the person has access to a locked ground level space. Why limit it to city? I'd have thought an open road, where one could maintain the possible speeds without traffic and signals bringing you down all the time, would be much better suited. Also more likely to have parking for it. Pete. -- Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/ |
#28
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Commuting Alternative?
"Buck" wrote in message news:2007012610445316807-SPAMTRAPian@trikesandstuffDOTcoDOTuk... On 2007-01-25 18:18:23 +0000, "stratrider" said: On Jan 25, 12:58 pm, Buck wrote: I can maintain 23.4 mph average for three hours on a Catrike Expedition unfaired while riding alone and I am 40 years old. Buck, now I am really feeling bad! That is remarkable! And on a trike no less? Do you think you could ride flat out for 30 miles (not kilometers right?) in one hour on your tirke? Jim Not much faster to be honest but I could break the hour I imagine, it is down to maintaining a steady cadence, once you get past the initial muscle burn it is ok, It has taken me a long time to train my cadence to this point and has really only kicked in this winter, although really long hills mess it up a bit, after three hours riding my knees are physicaly very hot for about an hour, I have discussed this with the doctor but she says it is fine. -- Three wheels good, two wheels ok www.catrike.co.uk This link will take you to the photos and results of a 100 mile measured challenge in rural Illinois. The only streamliner configured for HPRA Superstreet (without the canopy) did the course in a bit over 3h36min. Two tailfaired lowracers (Jester and RazzFazz) did it in under four hours. Three of the riders are probably in the top ten US recumbent racer community. It's not the kind of thing mere mortal riders can do. -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com |
#29
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Commuting Alternative?
"gotbent" wrote in message ... "Buck" wrote in message news:2007012610445316807-SPAMTRAPian@trikesandstuffDOTcoDOTuk... On 2007-01-25 18:18:23 +0000, "stratrider" said: On Jan 25, 12:58 pm, Buck wrote: I can maintain 23.4 mph average for three hours on a Catrike Expedition unfaired while riding alone and I am 40 years old. Buck, now I am really feeling bad! That is remarkable! And on a trike no less? Do you think you could ride flat out for 30 miles (not kilometers right?) in one hour on your tirke? Jim Not much faster to be honest but I could break the hour I imagine, it is down to maintaining a steady cadence, once you get past the initial muscle burn it is ok, It has taken me a long time to train my cadence to this point and has really only kicked in this winter, although really long hills mess it up a bit, after three hours riding my knees are physicaly very hot for about an hour, I have discussed this with the doctor but she says it is fine. -- Three wheels good, two wheels ok www.catrike.co.uk This link will take you to the photos and results of a 100 mile measured challenge in rural Illinois. The only streamliner configured for HPRA Superstreet (without the canopy) did the course in a bit over 3h36min. Two tailfaired lowracers (Jester and RazzFazz) did it in under four hours. Three of the riders are probably in the top ten US recumbent racer community. It's not the kind of thing mere mortal riders can do. -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com Let's try the link again. http://www.wisil.recumbents.com/wisi.../Sub4-2003.htm -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com |
#30
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Commuting Alternative?
On Thu, 25 Jan 2007 09:36:15 -0500, Curtis L. Russell
wrote: On 24 Jan 2007 16:24:00 -0800, "JimM" wrote: Based on my albeit limited experience, unless you commute in an especially hilly area, you should average a higher speed on a recumbent, all things being equal (fitness, quality of bike, etc). I was able to sustain average speeds of well over 25 mph on an Easy Racer Gold Rush along the Erie Canal trail. In average physical shape at the time. I could have hit upwards of 30 mph w/ additional effort. YMMV I knew a person (via an older email group) that commuted on a fully faired recumbent and his biggest problem was not hills, but the combination of too many trucks 40 mph or better combined with too much side wind. Controlling his recumbent brought his effective speed way down. Well here's a blast from the past. I commuted on a fully-faired recumbent (a P-38 with an Ed Gin inspired fairing). It was pretty fast but there was no way that I could approach the average speed the OP was looking for in city traffic. And it was ultimately crazy drivers and scary crosswinds that made me abandon the commute altogether. Now I get to sit back and see if anyone even finds this post in this garbage-strewn NG. But first I'll kill file the obvious candidate and see how many posts are left!! :-) Dave Clary Texas P-38 Squadron (Retired) |
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