Alex Apostolou
New Member
Today they opened a new section of freeway and before letting the cars on it, they let some bikes have a play. There were about 1,000 cyclists and three recumbents, and one Silvio. It was my first official outing on the new bike and I believe it went very well and I learnt some useful things along the way. Firstly, upon arriving at the starting area, the commentator, short for words and stature, announced: "the lounge chair with disk wheels has arrived. Where's the television mate?" Finding my way to the back of my group (mistake number 1: never go to the back as by the time you get to move off, the fastest riders have left the slower ones behind and you'll never catch them), I heard the commentator ask where had the lounge chair fellow gone.
To get to the starting area, which is 40 km from Perth, I thought I'd park a few kilometers away and warm up on the final section. The section happened to be 20 kilometers away and as a result, I had to step on it, so arrived warmer than I would have like (it goes without saying that this was mistake number 0).
The ride started fairly fast, the commentator called out "there goes the guy on the longe chair", and we settled into about 45km/hr (I was in the second group of about 50), this was all ok, as on the easy descents, I would have to brake to avoid colliding with the cyclists in front who were pedalling hard, and the merest touch of the brakes (those gorgeous new Ultegra ones), about 5 people would call out "Slowing", so that kept us all entertained.
Approaching the 20km mark, with the leard pack about 200-300 metres in front (it was getting a bit tiresome waiting around and I don't know what the heart rate was, but I was feeling very relaxed), so I decided to make a move to the front, and having done so (and the fact that we were on the outside of a very wide and sweeping curve, when we could have easily have taken the inside path and cut a good 50 metres off our distance), I thought I would lead the group onto the inside path and save us all some hard work. When I checked the mirror, there was nothing but storm clouds (Mistake Number 2: safety-bike cyclists do not like initiative, especially if its to do something not officially signposted and approved). So, I came out of the curve and into the head-wind alone, and by the time I was allowed back into the pack, I had lost, well, around 50 metres.
The sprint home was the up a slight incline and by then I was back in the seat, my heart was back in my chest and thinking, there's no time like the present, I pulled back on the handlebars and cranked the ol' Silvio up to about 50 km/hr and crossed the line. The average for the distance was 42.1 km/hr which I was very happy about.
Now. the bike was a gem. Riding in a pack was very comfortable because of the visibility forward. I might need to get a mirror on the right hand side too, as there was one time I was invited to move back a touch, but otherwise, the manouvering was very easy. I had put disk covers on (front and back) from the WheelBuilder and I can't say how they went as these were the first time I had used them and the first time I had really ridden the bike, so I'll reserve judgement on their performance, except to say that in the strong cross-winds on the way back, the steering was almost neutral, but my forearms ached as though I'd just stepped out of the Arm-Wrestling tent at a Mack convention. So, there must have been a lot of unconscious shock absorption going on. The tyres were 145 psi Ultremo's and they were very nice and fast, but again, first time use is hard to tell. One thing I do need to do is get better advice on fluids and nutrients and perhaps fit a sucker tube to save the arm around the back business.
So, all in all, this is another one of those "Silvio gave me a stable, low air-resistant platform from which to really belt out some power and delivered me a comfortable and safe ride at a great speed" kind of report. And apart from having ridden 100 kms all up for the day, I feel remarkably motivated to get out again tomorrow.
Cheers,
Alex
To get to the starting area, which is 40 km from Perth, I thought I'd park a few kilometers away and warm up on the final section. The section happened to be 20 kilometers away and as a result, I had to step on it, so arrived warmer than I would have like (it goes without saying that this was mistake number 0).
The ride started fairly fast, the commentator called out "there goes the guy on the longe chair", and we settled into about 45km/hr (I was in the second group of about 50), this was all ok, as on the easy descents, I would have to brake to avoid colliding with the cyclists in front who were pedalling hard, and the merest touch of the brakes (those gorgeous new Ultegra ones), about 5 people would call out "Slowing", so that kept us all entertained.
Approaching the 20km mark, with the leard pack about 200-300 metres in front (it was getting a bit tiresome waiting around and I don't know what the heart rate was, but I was feeling very relaxed), so I decided to make a move to the front, and having done so (and the fact that we were on the outside of a very wide and sweeping curve, when we could have easily have taken the inside path and cut a good 50 metres off our distance), I thought I would lead the group onto the inside path and save us all some hard work. When I checked the mirror, there was nothing but storm clouds (Mistake Number 2: safety-bike cyclists do not like initiative, especially if its to do something not officially signposted and approved). So, I came out of the curve and into the head-wind alone, and by the time I was allowed back into the pack, I had lost, well, around 50 metres.
The sprint home was the up a slight incline and by then I was back in the seat, my heart was back in my chest and thinking, there's no time like the present, I pulled back on the handlebars and cranked the ol' Silvio up to about 50 km/hr and crossed the line. The average for the distance was 42.1 km/hr which I was very happy about.
Now. the bike was a gem. Riding in a pack was very comfortable because of the visibility forward. I might need to get a mirror on the right hand side too, as there was one time I was invited to move back a touch, but otherwise, the manouvering was very easy. I had put disk covers on (front and back) from the WheelBuilder and I can't say how they went as these were the first time I had used them and the first time I had really ridden the bike, so I'll reserve judgement on their performance, except to say that in the strong cross-winds on the way back, the steering was almost neutral, but my forearms ached as though I'd just stepped out of the Arm-Wrestling tent at a Mack convention. So, there must have been a lot of unconscious shock absorption going on. The tyres were 145 psi Ultremo's and they were very nice and fast, but again, first time use is hard to tell. One thing I do need to do is get better advice on fluids and nutrients and perhaps fit a sucker tube to save the arm around the back business.
So, all in all, this is another one of those "Silvio gave me a stable, low air-resistant platform from which to really belt out some power and delivered me a comfortable and safe ride at a great speed" kind of report. And apart from having ridden 100 kms all up for the day, I feel remarkably motivated to get out again tomorrow.
Cheers,
Alex
