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

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

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

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 -

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 -

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

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

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

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

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