Commuting Alternative?

Peter Clinch said:

Grolch said:

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

Peter Clinch said:

Grolch said:

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...

"Buck" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:2007012610513675249-SPAMTRAPian@trikesandstuffDOTcoDOTuk...

Quoted message said:

On 2007-01-25 19:29:47 +0000, "Grolch" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

"Buck" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:2007012517590116807-SPAMTRAPian@trikesandstuffDOTcoDOTuk...

Quoted message said:

On 2007-01-25 17:47:19 +0000, "stratrider" <[email hidden]> said:

>
>
> On Jan 25, 2:33 am, Buck <[email hidden]>
> 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 [censored]. 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 [censored] 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.

Curtis L. Russell said:

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...

Curtis L. Russell said:

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..

Quoted message said:

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 [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

"Buck" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:2007012610445316807-SPAMTRAPian@trikesandstuffDOTcoDOTuk...

Quoted message said:

stratrider said:

On Jan 25, 12:58 pm, Buck <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

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

"gotbent" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Buck" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:2007012610445316807-SPAMTRAPian@trikesandstuffDOTcoDOTuk...

Quoted message said:

stratrider said:

On Jan 25, 12:58 pm, Buck <[email hidden]>
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/wisil/racing2003/sub4/Sub4-2003.htm

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Dave Clary said:

It was pretty
fast but there was no way that I could approach the average speed the
OP was looking for in city traffic.

Sounds entirely reasonable: urban will often mean stop/start, where
high speed generally means an uninterrupted run. Without that
the sorts of mentioned are unlikely, I'd think.

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 [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

On Sun, 28 Jan 2007 00:09:58 -0600, Dave Clary <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

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!! :-)

Hey, I got it pretty close, now.

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...