Your Speed Is...

Cathy Kearns writes:

The one on the Parkway is on a slight downhill, so you do get this
benefit. My husband and I rode past it on our tandem -- woo-wee!

I got a single, and have been tracking my speed...so I finally
convinced my husband to move the speedometer to the back of our
tandem so I can watch. I always asked him if we ever hit 40mph, he
would always say nope. Well, on our normal route we do every time,
but apparently he was too intent watching the road to notice...
Yep, those tandems can haul on the downhill, ain't gravity
wonderful.

You could get a speedometer that captures max speed and I'm sure
you'll find even higher speeds because you don't always look at the
display at such moments.

On Thu, 24 Mar 2005 00:08:43 GMT, "Cathy Kearns"
wrote:


"Claire Petersky" wrote in message
...

The one on the Parkway is on a slight downhill, so you do get this
benefit.
My husband and I rode past it on our tandem -- woo-wee!

I got a single, and have been tracking my speed...so I finally convinced my
husband to move the speedometer to the back of our tandem so I can watch. I
always asked him if we ever hit 40mph, he would always say nope. Well, on
our normal route we do every time, but apparently he was too intent watching
the road to notice... Yep, those tandems can haul on the downhill, ain't
gravity wonderful.


Hi, you need to get a computer that records max speed, then you don't
have to pay much attention when hammering.
With the tandem, why not just get another computer, wire one to the
front wheel and one to the rear.

Would having cadence, be helpful? I've never rode a tandem, so I have
no idea. If so, there have been some good prices on Cateye Astrale 8.


Life is Good!
Jeff

Cathy Kearns writes:

The one on the Parkway is on a slight downhill, so you do get this
benefit. My husband and I rode past it on our tandem -- woo-wee!

I got a single, and have been tracking my speed...so I finally
convinced my husband to move the speedometer to the back of our
tandem so I can watch. I always asked him if we ever hit 40mph, he
would always say nope. Well, on our normal route we do every time,
but apparently he was too intent watching the road to notice...
Yep, those tandems can haul on the downhill, ain't gravity
wonderful.

When the speedometer was working on the yellow tandem, and my daughter and I
did the big long downhill on the Lake Hills Connector. The speed limit is
35. We were coming down the hill, and I asked her how fast she thought we
were going, considering the speed limit. She did not even come close to
guessing the correct answer, which was about 42 with me feathering the
brakes the whole way down. I don't have the confidence as captain to really
let it rip down a hill like that -- yet!


--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
Home of the meditative cyclist:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
See the books I've set free at:
http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

Claire Petersky writes:

When the speedometer was working on the yellow tandem, and my
daughter and I did the big long downhill on the Lake Hills
Connector. The speed limit is 35. We were coming down the hill, and
I asked her how fast she thought we were going, considering the
speed limit. She did not even come close to guessing the correct
answer, which was about 42 with me feathering the brakes the whole
way down. I don't have the confidence as captain to really let it
rip down a hill like that -- yet!

I believe the road condition is more important to worry about than raw
speed, as us the runout at the end of a steep part and the probable
consequences of a failure, such as rock walls or an adjacent abyss.
In Northern California we have the east descent of Tioga pass that
isn't steep enough to achieve unaided 60mph but is wide, straight,
with has broad shoulders. In contrast Sonora pass has smooth pavement
with greater than 20% grades but without enough straight road to get
50mph even with hard cornering into the straight runs.

The east descent right after the summit has a dip that reliably gets
53mph followed by hard braking up an 18% grade in order to not fly off
the road on the gentle curve at the crest of that rise.

It's not all speedometer. Don't push your safe limits.

Claire Petersky wrote:

The city has put up radar signs where there are problems with speeding. I
now go by one of these just about every day.

I know these are to get the cars to slow down, but it has the reverse effect
on me. Even if my spedometer wasn't on the fritz, I'd still be pedalling as
fast as I could, such that my speed could be flashed in lights to everyone
on the road.


Definitely fun...

Hey -- maybe some century organizer should consider putting one or two
out on a course...

Smith