HPV's in RAAM...

So what is going on that the HPV's in RAAM are so far behind the DF guys? I would have hoped they would have been faster, not 3mph slower almost 1000 miles into it ? Do you think they will gain after going across the CD?

There was a fair amount of discussion about this on the bentrideronline.com forum the other day. In all after the entire trip it is my personal belief that it will come out about a wash over that distance, but the 'bent riders will "suffer" less and perhaps fair better physically overall.

Hmmm I don't buy it. I am begining to wonder if the super low racers really are faster than a DF bike by a significant % like everyone claims. Even if you chaulk it up to better athletes on the leading DF team, they are going 15% faster! We will see in a few days I guess.

My reference to condition was to the effect the 'bent riders will not have to deal with saddle sores and the like. They should arrive at their destination in reasonably good physical shape given the lack of sleep, rest, etc. but they should not have nearly the physical problems (soreness, etc) that can plague the DF racers. Based on earlier info on BROL I understand that there were some setbacks due to flat tires, etc early in the race. Now we need to see if they can gain any distance across the plains. My guess is that these guys will finish somewhere in the middle of the pack, possibly a bit towards the front, of course barring any difficulties. It is interesting that the high racers are not too far off of the low racers. The race isn't over until the last rider has crossed the finish line. It is going to be interesting.

You do realize that the bent riders and on 4 man relay teams. The fatigue factor will not be as great as if there were doing a solo run.

Sorry I wasn't very clear, what I meant was that I don't buy all the claims of how much faster the NoComs are over low-racers and then the claims of low-racers being so much faster than DF. I totally believe that the bent riders are more comfortable, or at least could be with less conditioning vs. a DF bike.

They do have a lot of downhill from here, but they are more than 200 miles behind the leaders (4 man DF to 4 man HPV) and there is no way they will make this up... although the tragic death of Breedlove will add one more variable to the performances I guess.

By this point in the race, most of Johnny Whatshisname's claims regarding the speed of the NCs seem to have been disproven. The team's average is less than 20 mph. The last I looked, the Bacchetta team was over 200 miles ahead of them. I wonder if that'll prevent the trash talk from flooding the 'net next spring?