speed, wheels, and inline skaters

wrote:

Tom Sherman wrote:

: Tom Blum wrote:

: One racer, when my friend and I passed him with malice, at about 20 ( Hey!!
: I didn't say WE were faster!!) , accellerated, quickly caught us, skated
: alongside and said "Trying a breakaway, huh?"
:
: Believe it, my friend.

: Just find some good chip seal or freshly milled asphalt concrete [1],
: and the inline skaters will be out of luck.

Isn't it unsporting to attack on the chipseal sections?

As always, ask yourself, WWFD? [1]

On a more serious note, when passing through a small East-Central
Illinois town on a club ride, a group of teenaged inline skaters decided
to give chase to our group. A girl in the group went flat on her face
trying to traverse a rough spot in the pavement. Fortunately, her
injuries were minor enough to not require medical attention.

[1] What Would Fabrizio Do?

Tom Sherman - Near the confluence of the Mississippi and Rock Rivers

Tom Sherman wrote:

: Tom Blum wrote:

: One racer, when my friend and I passed him with malice, at about 20 ( Hey!!
: I didn't say WE were faster!!) , accellerated, quickly caught us, skated
: alongside and said "Trying a breakaway, huh?"
:
: Believe it, my friend.

: Just find some good chip seal or freshly milled asphalt concrete [1],
: and the inline skaters will be out of luck.

Isn't it unsporting to attack on the chipseal sections?

--
Risto Varanka | http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/hpv/hpv.html
varis at no spam please iki fi

Tom Sherman wrote:

: Tom Blum wrote:

: One racer, when my friend and I passed him with malice, at about 20 ( Hey!!
: I didn't say WE were faster!!) , accellerated, quickly caught us, skated
: alongside and said "Trying a breakaway, huh?"
:
: Believe it, my friend.

: Just find some good chip seal or freshly milled asphalt concrete [1],
: and the inline skaters will be out of luck.

Isn't it unsporting to attack on the chipseal sections?

--
Risto Varanka | http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/hpv/hpv.html
varis at no spam please iki fi

"Mike" wrote in message ...
I think you should check your speedometer, I have never seen a roller blader
moving that fast.

Check out the movie "Airborne" sometime. The last 20 minutes in
particular. Of course, they're racing downhill but they're still
haulin boody. I'm a fat old fart and I can still cruise along pretty
good on the flats and being heavy I can smoke my son on the downhills.
The problem with that is not only stopping but also KEEPING from
stopping. I hit a small piece of white rock once while zingin down a
hill and I was like a Heywood Banks tune: YEAH TOAST!!!

"Mike" wrote in message ...
I think you should check your speedometer, I have never seen a roller blader
moving that fast.

Check out the movie "Airborne" sometime. The last 20 minutes in
particular. Of course, they're racing downhill but they're still
haulin boody. I'm a fat old fart and I can still cruise along pretty
good on the flats and being heavy I can smoke my son on the downhills.
The problem with that is not only stopping but also KEEPING from
stopping. I hit a small piece of white rock once while zingin down a
hill and I was like a Heywood Banks tune: YEAH TOAST!!!

I have been enjoying my new Corsa and am able to cruise in the low to
mid 20's but I am always amazed when I encounter inline skaters on the
trails. They can move right along in the hi teens and low twenty's
(mph) without the mechanical advantage of a gear system. The top
racers run at 27 mph. How do they do that? Many people on this forum
think bigger wheels are faster but these guys are on micro wheels. I
can't believe their bearings are that much better and they certainly
are not more aerodynamic in their body position. So, does the answer
lie in hard wheels or is their some incredible power in their leg
stroke? I wonder how fast a fully suspended recumbent would be if it
rode on hard,ie.,noncompliant, wheels?. Perhaps that is why the more
psi the faster. Any thoughts?

Skott


Hi Skott

Glad you are enjoying your Corsa, it is a great bike!

Big wheels are most definitely lower rolling resistance than small wheels
if all else is equal (width, construction, pressure) with research going back
well over 100 years in train, car, and bike wheels. Rolling resistance is
inversely proportional to diameter on smooth surfaces, but can get
proportionally worse as the wheels get smaller on rougher surfaces. Bicycling
Science, High Tech Cycling, and Bicycle Design are a few books that cover that
research in bicycle tire rolling resistance.

Can very fast bikes be made that use small wheels? Absolutely! Its more
complicated than just rolling resistance, with aerodynamics being the majority
of the drag over about 10 or 11 MPH on most fast upright racing bicycles.

I could only find the inline ~~ hour record at about 24 MPH for a little
over an hour (without drafting) by Derek Parra (did'nt he win a Olympic medal
in ice speed skating?)

A very fast time by a world class skater and athlete, but just not in the
same speed class as can be acheived by much lower capacity athletes on
non-faired fast bicycles.

How much is due to the skaters aerodynamics, higher rolling resistance, or
ability to deliver power to the ground efficiently I just don't know.

Enjoy your bike, and it sounds like chasing the fast bladers will be good
training in your area!

Tailwinds
Rich Pinto
Bacchetta Bicycles

I have been enjoying my new Corsa and am able to cruise in the low to
mid 20's but I am always amazed when I encounter inline skaters on the
trails. They can move right along in the hi teens and low twenty's
(mph) without the mechanical advantage of a gear system. The top
racers run at 27 mph. How do they do that? Many people on this forum
think bigger wheels are faster but these guys are on micro wheels. I
can't believe their bearings are that much better and they certainly
are not more aerodynamic in their body position. So, does the answer
lie in hard wheels or is their some incredible power in their leg
stroke? I wonder how fast a fully suspended recumbent would be if it
rode on hard,ie.,noncompliant, wheels?. Perhaps that is why the more
psi the faster. Any thoughts?

Skott


Hi Skott

Glad you are enjoying your Corsa, it is a great bike!

Big wheels are most definitely lower rolling resistance than small wheels
if all else is equal (width, construction, pressure) with research going back
well over 100 years in train, car, and bike wheels. Rolling resistance is
inversely proportional to diameter on smooth surfaces, but can get
proportionally worse as the wheels get smaller on rougher surfaces. Bicycling
Science, High Tech Cycling, and Bicycle Design are a few books that cover that
research in bicycle tire rolling resistance.

Can very fast bikes be made that use small wheels? Absolutely! Its more
complicated than just rolling resistance, with aerodynamics being the majority
of the drag over about 10 or 11 MPH on most fast upright racing bicycles.

I could only find the inline ~~ hour record at about 24 MPH for a little
over an hour (without drafting) by Derek Parra (did'nt he win a Olympic medal
in ice speed skating?)

A very fast time by a world class skater and athlete, but just not in the
same speed class as can be acheived by much lower capacity athletes on
non-faired fast bicycles.

How much is due to the skaters aerodynamics, higher rolling resistance, or
ability to deliver power to the ground efficiently I just don't know.

Enjoy your bike, and it sounds like chasing the fast bladers will be good
training in your area!

Tailwinds
Rich Pinto
Bacchetta Bicycles

There's an older type of racing roller skate that has one-way
rachets on the wheels, like the freewheel gear clusters on a bike. You
don't have to draw them back sideways to catch some forward thrust, but
you can pull straight back. The wheels are in a 2X2 configuration
rather than inline. They are often used with ski poles and I've seen a
few expert skaters going faster with them than any inline skater could
do.

They are only rarely used in the U.S. and are more expensive than
most inline models. All the people with who I've talked at inline skate
shops, knew nothing about them. They got blank looks on their faces
when I tried to describe them and how fast they could allow a person to
skate. Nothing could possibly be faster than their inline skates,
according to them.

A couple of guys used them on our bikepaths to commute the 10 miles
from their residence to the university in past years. They could outrun
all but the fastest bicyclists. The one-way ratchets are especially
effective when skating uphill, compared to the inline two-way wheels.
The ski poles would be handy instruments to wield against harrassing
motorists or attack dogs, ne c'est-pas?

Steve McDonald

There's an older type of racing roller skate that has one-way
rachets on the wheels, like the freewheel gear clusters on a bike. You
don't have to draw them back sideways to catch some forward thrust, but
you can pull straight back. The wheels are in a 2X2 configuration
rather than inline. They are often used with ski poles and I've seen a
few expert skaters going faster with them than any inline skater could
do.

They are only rarely used in the U.S. and are more expensive than
most inline models. All the people with who I've talked at inline skate
shops, knew nothing about them. They got blank looks on their faces
when I tried to describe them and how fast they could allow a person to
skate. Nothing could possibly be faster than their inline skates,
according to them.

A couple of guys used them on our bikepaths to commute the 10 miles
from their residence to the university in past years. They could outrun
all but the fastest bicyclists. The one-way ratchets are especially
effective when skating uphill, compared to the inline two-way wheels.
The ski poles would be handy instruments to wield against harrassing
motorists or attack dogs, ne c'est-pas?

Steve McDonald

(skott) wrote in message . com...
I have been enjoying my new Corsa and am able to cruise in the low to
mid 20's but I am always amazed when I encounter inline skaters on the
trails. They can move right along in the hi teens and low twenty's
(mph) without the mechanical advantage of a gear system. The top
racers run at 27 mph. How do they do that?

Well, I guess there's skaters, and then there's SKATERS. I seem to
remember when Eric Heiden was skating in the olympics he had 29-inch
thighs. How many cyclists do you know with that much muscle mass?
Heiden skated the 10,000m in a world record time of 14:28.13 back in
1980. That's 41.468 km/h or 25.676 MPH average over a 6.25 mile
course. Not bad. Of course, ice is a lot slicker than chip-seal, but
he also had to negotiate a lot of turns. No doubt he could go even
faster on a straight course.