Ride with COGS

I rode out from Kirkland to Gas Works Park to ride with the COGS to Alki Beach. It was a blast. I haven't ridden the raptobike with an organized group of upright roadies before. This route was not very hilly and I found it easy to stick with the pack. The group was advertised as Moderate pace (15-18mph) but for much of the ride it was Brisk or 18-20mph.

I really enjoyed this ride and adding my 40 miles to it proved excellent training. The COGS really kept my heart rate up there and I got quite the workout. When I got home after riding 70 miles and 2400ft of climbing I had an average speed of 14mph. I am very pleased with this as it is nearly a 1mph improvement of my normal speed.

Fun Training loop

Today I did my 5 mile speed loop twice for training. It has been a while since I used this loop but I was pleased to see my speed was up compared to the last time. I hit 49.5 mph on the downhill section, the raptobike really moves when you let it. I am noticing that I could use more top end gearing, 109 gear inches is a bit low. Maybe later I will get a larger front ring for the Raptobike.

14.5 mph average including the hills and traffic. I can deal with that, it needs work but it is a good point to be at right now, more than enough for the stp.

STP and Flying Wheels

I received my STP number 677 and my Flying Wheels rider packet arrived with number 1287. I am getting the STP jersey pictured here as well some time in June. My STP packet is also going to be mailed to me. I am very excited about my first STP. The hills on the STP are easier than the Puget Sound hills I ride every week so I am just not worried about the ride, I plan on enjoying it.

This Sunday I will be riding with COGS (Cyclists of Greater Seattle) and some co-workers to Alki beach. My round trip will be ~70 miles. COGS published a pace of about 15-18mph for the ride so this will be good practice for me. I want to get my average speed up and the COGS group will push me on the hills.

I think my training is on track and now I just need to keep it up and focus on weight loss for improved climbing ability.

Free of Cycle Lust, I love my Raptobike

When planning to go to the Human Powered Challenge at PIR I expected to drool and lust after a number of bikes, trikes and velomobiles. When I was there I saw the Quest velomobile, the Carbent Sea Dragon and Raven, numerous Bacchettas, streamliners, the M5 Carbon Lowracer, a Challenge Fujin SL2, various homebuilts, lots of trikes, Easy Racers Gold Rush LWB, Rans LWBs, Lightning F40s, etc. Yet even though I sat on a number of bikes and even rode a few, I was unmoved. In fact my velomobile desire is now lower than it was pre-event.

I think this is due to a number of factors. First, the raptobike is wonderful, it performs well and is very reliable. I raced in a number of events and the only thing holding me back was my own performance, the Raptobike was eager to move as fast as I could give it. In fact during the criterium style road race I was first off the line. The raptobike just jumps into action as soon as I apply power. Secondly, velomobiles are higher maintenance than my raptobike. There are lots of finishing touches that I would want to do and most of those touches are custom work.

There were no performance style mid-racer recumbents there or I might not be able to get away with this statement. A performer hi-racer such as this one below would be harder to resist.


As would the soon to come Raptobike Mid-racer. But that is neither here, nor there. I am currently free from cycle-lust and very happy with my beautiful and very fast Raptobike "White Rabbit"

Duncan Racing Collage

Duncan Racing Collage, originally uploaded by Watson House.

I have been going through the photos from PIR and making a few collages to give more of the sense of the event in one picture. Here is one I did of myself.

My Race Report from PIR

Duncan #303 chasing Joe #315 on the straightaway

I had an absolute blast at PIR for the 10th Annual Human Powered Challenge. I have never raced before and it is a lot of fun racing on a recumbent lowracer. The two events I enjoyed most were the 5 lap (~10mile) Time Trial and the 1 hour mass start Road Race. The picture above is me chasing Joe on the straightaway, I was unable to catch him though a mechanical issue did sideline him later.

The time trial was more about solo effort just hammering away on the course to get your best possible time. The road race was more interesting. It was set up to be a 15 lap course for the leader, estimated at roughly 1 hour of time. Once the leader finished 14 laps we were all given the white flag to indicate our final lap had started.

The start was cool, we all spread out at the starting line, the count down started and we shot off the line. I darted out right away, the small drive wheel on my raptobike accelerates very well. I had the lead momentarily for about 100 ft, Michael Wolfe and Phil came by me on the outside, they were hammering away fighting the headwind. I was unable to latch on to them, they dueled the entire race finishing within 1 second of one another. Rob English screamed by on the outside as I was watching Michael. The Kohan father and son team must have passed me at this point but I didn't see them. The headwind right out of the start point was hurting me so I latched on to Jeff Willis and Todd Harley on their front faired LWBs. Jeff was pulling so I just joined the train. I had my heart rate monitor on but wasn't watching the data during the race, instead I was just keeping an eye on my speed. But looking at the data afterword I can see exactly when I passed Jeff. Jeff bonked at around the 3rd lap, he had been riding with the Velomobiles earlier and hadn't eaten or hydrated well. I pulled hard to catch up to Todd as he had pulled away while I talked to Jeff for a second.

I pushed hard to catch up to Todd and really enjoyed the relief from the wind when I got behind him. We stuck together for one lap and I then pulled away when rounding the corner into the straightaway. The raptobike accelerates on turns so I used it and Todd and I rode side by side passed all the observers waiting at the start of lap 5. From this point onward I was on my own. Startle caught up to me on the backside of lap 5 putting a 6th person ahead of me. I wasn't able to keep up with him on his Fujin. I tried for a bit but he was too strong and pulled away. I kept an eye out for targets and focused on the next target and catching up as I raced. Trikes, Faired LWB (though I never saw Jeff or Todd again), one VK2 with a tailbox, all fell behind. I got passed a few times by Rob English and by Michael Wolfe and Phil. I was very talkative, I said a word or two as I passed people and always shouted something out to Lonnie as I passed him at his corner position on the far side. I screamed, grimaced and performed as I passed the spectators. I wanted their encouragement as it really helped me push myself.

Around lap 10 the Kohans caught up to me a second time, they rocketed by but I managed to push myself to latch on for 1 mile (1/2 a lap). They were organized and were sharing pull duty as we turned into the wind. I lost them as we entered the straightaway just before the start line. I was surprised at the end as I saw a couple of trikes to pass that I hadn't seen before. These guys were hammering away on three wheels. Very impressive riding but I managed to reel in all the trikes before I finished the course. In the end I finished 7th in my class with a time of 1h:05m and 13 laps.

I have caught the racing bug and now need to work on my diet and training more. This is a huge amount of fun that I recommend to anyone.

Human Powered Challenge at PIR - 2009

Todd with Lonnie's Streamliner
I just got back from the HPC event at PIR. It was a huge amount of fun. I got to meet more people than I can remember. Both my wife and I took a ton of pictures most of which are up on Flickr right now.

I participated in the Stock/Super Stock time trial, the 200m sprints, the autocross relay and the 1 hour mass start stock/super stock road race. I place 8th in the time trial in the stock class, 7th in the road race. I am not sure where in the list I show up for the 200m sprints.

My speed was approximately 21.9 mph for the TT I completed 10 laps in 25m.57s. I averaged over 20.8 mph for the Road Race as well. Since this was my first time trial and my first road race they are both personal bests. I will post the offical results after they are up on the OHPV site.

My two favorite parts of the event were getting sprinting advice from Rob English which he had received himself from Sam Whittingham and the Road Race. I drafted off of Jeff Willis and Todd Marley on their faired LWB bikes for about 4 laps, then I chased Todd when Jeff bonked, eventually passing him. I then just chased anyone who appeared to be in front of me for the rest of the event. I managed to draft off the Kohans when they both passed me but I could only stick to them for 1/2 a lap. I was very surprised how fast the time passed during the road race. It was a lot of fun and very exciting.

Power computations

A fellow recumbent rider passed onto me some of the formulas used to compute power output. His formula's figure in rolling resistance, cda, % grade as well as weight of the bike and rider. I find the data very interesting. It seems while climbing I generally put out about 180-200 watts of power and when the grade gets steep I am forced to push it to 300 watts or so. This matches my power on the flats, I put out about 180 watts when going 21mph and push it up to 308 watts when hammering it at 27.9 mph. By the way it will take me 376 watts to hit 30.45 mph, a worthy goal for this weekend.

I am very pleased with these computations as it puts me in range of your basic athletic rider, 200 watts. Training can only increase my output.

Some highlights from the spreadsheet, results of this are metric because doing physics in imperial measurements is silly.

Alice in Wonderland - Red Queen

Something about this picture reminded me of that classic picture of Alice painting bushes red for the Red Queen.

Traveling

I am packing my bags to go to the HPC event at PIR. This means I won't be blogging over the weekend though I will be bringing my laptop and taking a lot of pictures. Should be fun and I will post again on Tuesday.