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#1
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speed, wheels, and inline skaters
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 |
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#2
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speed, wheels, and inline skaters
I think you should check your speedometer, I have never seen a roller blader
moving that fast. "skott" wrote in message om... 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 |
#3
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speed, wheels, and inline skaters
I think you should check your speedometer, I have never seen a roller blader
moving that fast. "skott" wrote in message om... 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 |
#5
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speed, wheels, and inline skaters
In article , says...
I think you should check your speedometer, I have never seen a roller blader moving that fast. Then come on out and ride my Saturday AM ride. Part of our ride passes through Houston's Memorial Park. There, you can find the "picnic loop" a 1.2 mile meandering loop. Mostly closed to vehicular traffic on Saturday mornings, it is frequented by the speed types both on bike and blade. While waiting for the others in my group to catch up, I do loops with the other cyclists. I try to maintain 20-24 mph. The roller blade pace lines often match my speed. Last Fall there was a little 12-14 y.o. girl that would leave almost anyone (bike or blade) struggling to keep up. You can easily identify the serious bladers. They are the ones in full tuck, arms behind the back They are about as aero as a serious DF and without the extra 19 lb of metal. -- Cletus D. Lee Bacchetta Giro Lightning Voyager http://www.clee.org - Bellaire, TX USA - |
#6
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speed, wheels, and inline skaters
I believe that the record for 1 hr inline is about 23 miles/hr, and
the 6 hour inline is about 17.5 miles/hour. I would guess that they can get up to sprint speeds of what most of us can do on our bikes. I've seen some pretty impressive speeds of skaters, but didn't have a radar gun handy. -- -------------------------- Posted via cyclingforums.com http://www.cyclingforums.com |
#7
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speed, wheels, and inline skaters
I believe that the record for 1 hr inline is about 23 miles/hr, and
the 6 hour inline is about 17.5 miles/hour. I would guess that they can get up to sprint speeds of what most of us can do on our bikes. I've seen some pretty impressive speeds of skaters, but didn't have a radar gun handy. -- -------------------------- Posted via cyclingforums.com http://www.cyclingforums.com |
#8
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speed, wheels, and inline skaters
I see skaters on the Van Fleet trail, in central florida, who easily cruise
at 15. 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. -- Miles of Smiles, Tom Blum Winter Haven, Florida Homebuilts: SWB Tour Easy Clone Speed Machine Clone High Racer Clone www.gate.net/~teblum |
#9
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speed, wheels, and inline skaters
I see skaters on the Van Fleet trail, in central florida, who easily cruise
at 15. 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. -- Miles of Smiles, Tom Blum Winter Haven, Florida Homebuilts: SWB Tour Easy Clone Speed Machine Clone High Racer Clone www.gate.net/~teblum |
#10
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speed, wheels, and inline skaters
I believe it has more to do with "impedance matching" than wheel size.
The concept is this. Your body has speeds with which it is naturally able to move. You can't really extract power from biking at a cadence above 150 rpm, for example, and you aren't going to extract much at 15 rpm either. Your muscles and bones and such have natural speeds with which they can effectively expend power. This is one reason you can bike much faster than you can walk or run, too: you just can't move your legs all that fast when running, even if you were suspended in the air by a rope, for example, how fast could you move your legs back and forth pushing on nothing? Bicycles "gear up", giving you something to push against even when you are already moving fast, without having your legs move faster than their natural power region. Similarly, skaters "gear up," but in a way that may not be so obvious. They mostly push sideways, angling their skates out a bit so that a sideways thrust becomes forward motion. Now if they have their skates at a large angle, they accelerate quickly but don't go very far (low gear). If their skates are nearly parallel to the direction of motion then they go a long way on one thrust, but don't accelerate much (high gear). So until losses set in from the air, rolling resistance, etc., skaters and cyclists have the same sort of force/acceleration abilities. Wheel size changes rolling resistance, but it's not a huge factor at lower speeds. Of course, different muscles are used, and skaters probably do have much higher rolling resistance from those small wheels, but they sure can go fast on smooth pavement, same as you. Alan Weiss NJ Gold Rush, E2 tandem, and Leitra rider and ex-physics major skott wrote: 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 |
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