Handcycle winner, Boston Marathon -- but slow?!

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

Quoted message said:

There were 3 handcyclists that I saw, at the 19-mile mark today of the Boston Marathon. Two were
in very low rider trikes and 1 seemed to be pedaling inside an extremely small submarine. Didn't
see any TV coverage later of their finish, but later I found this on the bostonmarathon.org
website:

1 finisher: Corrado. of the Bronx NY. Age 42. Time: 1:52:__ I can't figure this out: it took him
almost 2 hours to pedal 26 miles? Does

anyone

Quoted message said:

know how to find out more info? For example: how many handcycle

starters?

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Was there a crash, flat tires? I mean, even <I> could ride 13 mph

pedaling

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with my hands.

Are you just thinking that you should be able to from conception or have you actually handcycled?
That doesn't seem slow to me at all. I've never ridden a hand cycle, but I have used a wheel chair
and it is very hard. There are a lot of people that couldn't pedal a bicycle 13 mph for two hours.
There is an 11 mile time trial course around here that handcyclists take about 50 min to complete
(although it's a pretty hilly course with around 800 feet of climbing). I believe they are
accomplished hand cyclists.

Quoted message said:

The projected handcycle finish time, I believe, was about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

What gives?

C.C.

Carol Cohen <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

? I mean, even <I> could ride 13 mph pedaling with my hands. The projected handcycle finish time, I
believe, was about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

What gives?

C.C.

Carol, 13 m.p.h. would have been very very good for me. I built a handcycle (mid '70) with only 5
gears, but riding it was an unexpected workout. The best I could do is about 5 m.p.h., and the next
day I was so sore: I either gave it away or trashed it. In an hour, I bet someone would have to call
an ambulance for me!

Chris Jordan Santa Cruz, CA.

Carol Cohen <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

There were 3 handcyclists that I saw, at the 19-mile mark today of the Boston Marathon. Two were
in very low rider trikes and 1 seemed to be pedaling inside an extremely small submarine. Didn't
see any TV coverage later of their finish, but later I found this on the bostonmarathon.org
website:

1 finisher: Corrado. of the Bronx NY. Age 42. Time: 1:52:__ I can't figure this out: it took him
almost 2 hours to pedal 26 miles? Does anyone know how to find out more info? For example: how
many handcycle starters? Was there a crash, flat tires? I mean, even <I> could ride 13 mph
pedaling with my hands. The projected handcycle finish time, I believe, was about 1 hour and 15
minutes.

What gives?

C.C.

Have you actually handcycled for any distance or are you just assuming you could do it? It is far
more effort that most people realize.

Handcycling, to the untrained, is bloody hard work, but the *wheelchair* winner of the London
Marathon the other week did 1:32:02, which is about 17 mph. I've found a Dutch page with the results
for a 10 mile TT for handcycles; winner averaged 29.5 km/h / 18.3 mph; the arm-powered Hour record
is 20.58 miles / 31.11 km.

Dave Larrington - legslarry.crosswinds.netlegslarry.crosswinds.netOpen ↗
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
bhpc.org.ukbhpc.org.ukOpen ↗
===========================================================

Quoted message said:

From: "Dave Larrington" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Handcycling, to the untrained, is bloody hard work, but the *wheelchair* winner of the London
Marathon the other week did 1:32:02, which is about 17 mph. I've found a Dutch page with the
results for a 10 mile TT for handcycles; winner averaged 29.5 km/h / 18.3 mph; the arm-powered
Hour record is 20.58 miles / 31.11 km.

Hi, Legs--

I did some research too, on U.S. handcycling sites. Found the L.A. marathon handcycling results, and
it turns out that Ricardo Corral (sorry, I got the name a bit wrong the 1st time) came in at 1:55,
so he is consistent, even improving, at 1:52 for Boston. But the L.A. winner achieved a time of
1:18; and the first 3 or 4 cyclists all came in at under 1-1/2 hours. Corral came in 12th out of a
field of 24 handcyclists. (If I have this straight.)

I wasn't disparaging the cyclist, I was trying to figure out why his finish time was so high. 1.5
hours for the 26 miles is more typical of winners.

So what happened yesterday at the Boston Marathon? If you read local newspapers and watch TV news,
you'd have no idea that there even existed a handcycling contingent in the race.

C.C.

Carol Cohen <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

There were 3 handcyclists that I saw, at the 19-mile mark today of the Boston Marathon. Two were
in very low rider trikes and 1 seemed to be pedaling inside an extremely small submarine. Didn't
see any TV coverage later of their finish, but later I found this on the bostonmarathon.org
website:

1 finisher: Corrado. of the Bronx NY. Age 42. Time: 1:52:__ I can't figure this out: it took him
almost 2 hours to pedal 26 miles? Does anyone know how to find out more info? For example: how
many handcycle starters? Was there a crash, flat tires? I mean, even <I> could ride 13 mph
pedaling with my hands. The projected handcycle finish time, I believe, was about 1 hour and 15
minutes.

What gives?

C.C.

When it comes to Hand Cycles, the Southwest Rocks!!! I rode in the Tour de Phoenix 10 days ago. It
was a 70 mile event with hills. The elevation went from 1190 to 1940 to 1380 to 2085 to 1340 to 1550
and back to 1190. The last hill is called King Kong where you climb 200 feet in about 1/3 of a mile.
There were three recumbents on the ride. Two fast ones and me.

There were 7 hand cycles on the ride. I just barely managed to beat four of them.

308 471 KEVIN HALE M 28 3:25:11 20.5 H NM 479 19 GREG HOCKENSMITH M 30 3:58:54 17.6 H AZ 639 56
ARNOLD MCCLINTOCK M 74 4:55:13 14.2 ! H CA 651 531 HAROLD WARNER M 53 5:07:23 13.7 + H AZ 661 23
STEVE ZUCARELLI M 45 5:26:32 12.9 H AZ 675 484 MITCHELL ROBINSON M 64 6:01:05 11.6 * H AZ 681 210
PAT CONNELL M 52 6:16:37 11.2 + H AZ

It is incredible to watch them fly. Very impressed.

Complete times are at: pbaa.comp70m 03.htmOpen ↗

Bill Meacham Mesa, AZ