StephenH

Something I just noticed in this clip. At about 5:56, the group passes a different recumbent (with windshield), and of course that recumbent is also passed by the roadie being filmed at the moment.

'nother

Quick! Edit the clip and post in the road forum!

STEEKER

I'll play nice.

'nother

Does that mean posting video, or not posting video?

STEEKER

Only video's that I made are from CriticalMass rides and HPV rides and solo stuff like driving my bent down forest runs or off road ,,

wink

You keep posting and you are going to hurt someones feelings.I ride a recumbent and the kid across the street took his training wheels off so now I don`t have any one to smoke.But with some of the girls that ride around here sometimes the view is better from the back.
Wink

Trsnrtr

I just posted this in the 50+ forum, but it works in this thread, also.

'nother

Wow, off road, too. Did you smoke any mountain bikers?

JanMM

Should we feel proud or ashamed when tandem-friendly physical laws help my stoker and I smoke lots and lots of folks* on the numerous Hilly Hundred downhills?
*Haven't smoked any lowracers.

Trsnrtr

Well, I ride a tandem and I feel good about smoking lots of folks on downhills, just as there are weasely roadies that make a point of putting on the coals to be sure and drop my tandem on uphills.

BTW, my tandem and my lowracers don't do all that bad going uphill and have humbled many a roadie going uphill, too.

'nother

Yeah, but do you have video. That is the important thing.

Trsnrtr

Nope. My videography skills suck, and besides, a camera adds weight and affects my aerodynamic position.

STEEKER

hmmm methinks nothing will be good enough, no video will be good enough , no proof will be good enough ..perhaps you get angry when cat1 or cat2 roadies drop you too

aikigreg

Ok, FYI, here are some real results:

Texas Time trials. 500 mile race, with 25000 feet of climbing for the course. 20 mile laps with 100ft of climbing per lap. It's probably laid up exactly the worst way possible for bents, with all the climbing at the beginning, and no elevation decrease until the end. I held the record for fastest lap for one day, until it was broken the next day by a professional (not cat) triathelete doing the 100 mile race only. 50:15 lap. My team, the reclining flyers, beat the previous record for the 500 mile by over an hour. We are an all recumbent team and I was the youngest member at 35. Oldest was 57.

You'll also note John Schlitter also raced this course and blew the entire solo 500 field AWAY, and he's in his 50's as well I believe. His team was 2nd in RAAM this year.

https://tt24tt.com/results/2007/2007T...LTS_100207.pdf

Link to the write-up: scroll down to October 1. I'm the one on the lowracer obviously. The guy on the right had only done 1 century in his life, and that was just a month prior. He got his bike in April.

https://www.recumbentblog.com/archives/2007/10/

I also have two gold medals from time trialing in the only local race I was allowed to enter, goinging against cat 1 through 5 riders. I of course have no CAT since they don't let bents join. Why is that, you think? No link for this one since the race doesn't have it's own website. I also won't bore you with bent wins at RAO or Sebring or any other top races. When they let bents race, they win. Pure and simple. Since bents have more Freds than roadies, but some of us are fast.

I'm even fast on my upright - I just hate riding the damned thing.

Finally, to the numb-nut who wants me to fly to california to challenge him. Who are you to bother with? I've already beaten some serious athletes, and you, sir, are no serious athlete. The Tejas 500 time trial is open to anyone in the world. See you there next year?

STEEKER

aikigreg
nice write up , I was looking at the picture and was wondering how side winds effect your low racer with the rear disc wheel or rear wheel cover , I could'nt tell from the pic which one it was

edzo

they are dangerous in crowds or a peloton of riders.
can't see a damn thing when you are on one, also can't be seen
can't jump potholes with them or maneuver quickly
can't take handups from team cars.

should I go on ? I can come up with a lot more reasons

STEEKER

I see plenty of pelotons that have crashs and a few needless ones so I agree pelotons are VERY dangerous. but on my low racer I see just fine , I see potholes and other things with no problems. I maneuver VERY quickly more than I did on my fixed gear, I ride all the time in CM rides with up to 250 people with no problems and I can and do pass things to my friends on DF bikes with no worries , I don't have to worry about hoping over potholes as I pay attenion when I drive my bike except at night when I am flying along and I do miss the odd one in the dark , you need a peloton to maintian the speeds that certain bents attain with no drafting and as for team cups well that won't happen because they won't allow bents in the tour dafrance because we would win all the time

Mooo

About half my annual miles are on a recumbent (not quite 3k bent this year). A non-extreme recumbent can be a good fit for social rides in the 18-22 mph range. I considered buying a faster recumbent once, but rejected the idea because I felt it to be kind of .... stupid.
I want to ride with my friends; I don't want to ride faster than them unless it's clear that I'm really working for it. A "traditional" SWB has about the same wheelbase and isn't a whole lot lower than my friends on df's when they're tucked. I can't tuck in as tight as a df when drafting, and that has some impact on group dynamics, but it isn't bad.
No doubt a fast recumbent would be fun, and if I had a number of peers that rode them I might be tempted.
But the whole roadie/bent thing... If it's the bike that makes you faster than the other type of bike, that's great. You now have a lot in common with an overweight kid on a moped. If it's your strength, dedication, and training that makes you quicker than the other guy, that's nice too, I guess, in a "14 year old arguing over Spiderman vs Darth Vader" sort of way.

STEEKER

Spiderman would kick Vaders butt ,

'nother

I'm not looking for "good enough". I'm looking for something else to laugh at.

I don't get angry when Cat 1, 2, 3, or even fellow 4 riders drop me. We normally don't race each other (apart from 4s, of which I am one), and they don't make video of themselves "smoking" me or other riders.

I recognize that there are plenty of stronger riders than I am, on all sorts of bikes. I did drop a Cat 2 rider, once, on a hill climb. I didn't make a video of it, though.

STEEKER

well if you want to laugh and have the time of your life then switch over to bents

'nother

So far, watching Bentlingers in this forum "defend" themselves and their equipment is far more hilarious than any time I could have actually riding one.

You guys totally miss the point. You think people are coming in here in disbelief that a 'bent can go faster than an upright bike, and that we need to be taught some lesson. So you'll quote statistics and hilly ride results, thus proving once and for all that bents actually can go faster.

But that's not the point of our (at least my) amusement...it's that some tool actually plotted out a scheme to make video of himself "beating" people in a "race" that they didn't even know they were in. And not just take video, but put it to some nice thrashy music and write out "scene" descriptions. That's what I find amusing, and pathetic.

So keep 'em comin' boys! Go fast! w00t w00t!

aikigreg

Never felt any issue at all, but the greater percentage of my weight is on the real wheel. I'm told having it on the front wheel can be dangerous with a 650c front wheel, but as mine is a 451 I also don't think it's so much of a problem.

...it was the suck-in front the oncoming 18 wheeler traffic that's scary, and that's all we had on the course.

aikigreg

Bull. You're repeating something you've heard but never experienced. I can mix just fine, and highracers can blend in perfectly. And the not be seen argument is the same one drivers use every time they hit ANY cyclist, so that's a pretty crappy argument for a cyclist to use.

The team cars thing might be a problem, but I've always been self supported for anything under a 130 miles, so I think I most of us could manage.

The potholes thing is true - but I've never hit one, and I can maneuver just fine.

aikigreg

the whole thing in tongue in cheek anyway, but I knew sooner or later it would stir someone up....looks like I was right!