Great Roads to Ride

jobst.brandt@stanfordalumni.org

http://thrillingwonder.blogspot.com...rld-part-2.html

Jobst Brandt

Ron Wallenfang

On Jan 26, 12:32 pm, jobst.bra...@stanfordalumni.org wrote:
> http://thrillingwonder.blogspot.com...roads-of-world-...
>
> Jobst Brandt

Jobst, some of the passages you describe crossing in the Alps are
quite frightening enough to suit me, I think I'll especially take a
pass on Nepal. I got scared enough going down the east side of the
Donner Summit on I-80, for Pete's sake!! I panic as my speed
approaches 40 mph and then, IIRC, read your an account of you passing
a house trailer at 50.

Mike Jacoubowsky

"Ron Wallenfang" <rwallenfang@wi.rr.com> wrote in message
news:17420c87-e829-4d52-8ae5-f640d933f401@e25g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
> On Jan 26, 12:32 pm, jobst.bra...@stanfordalumni.org wrote:
>> http://thrillingwonder.blogspot.com...roads-of-world-...
>>
>> Jobst Brandt
>
> Jobst, some of the passages you describe crossing in the Alps are
> quite frightening enough to suit me, I think I'll especially take a
> pass on Nepal. I got scared enough going down the east side of the
> Donner Summit on I-80, for Pete's sake!! I panic as my speed
> approaches 40 mph and then, IIRC, read your an account of you passing
> a house trailer at 50.

Any sort of "panic" is probably more related to relative speed. I've done
better than 60 a couple of times, most notably once heading down 50 towards
Carson City, drafting behind a big rig. It really didn't seem like that big
a deal, and it was pretty much straight out of the scene from Breaking Away
where the driver is letting us know what our speed was (we got the
opportunity to pull even with him at one point, when we moved briefly behind
an even-faster truck in the fast lane). 64mph, so he said. And it really
didn't seem all that fast.

Until... until we hit the bottom of the grade and started slowing down, and
the adrenalin hit me and I got pretty shaky. I remember looking down at the
pavement... shouldn't have done that! I was riding with someone Jobst might
remember from back in the day, Larry Rairden.

My point is that, while drafting behind the rig, it just didn't seem like
all that big a deal. No real feeling of speed. You knew you were going fast,
but not recklessly so. The reality is that a puncture at that speed and it
would have been all over.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA

Paul O

Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
<snip>
> Any sort of "panic" is probably more related to relative speed. I've done
> better than 60 a couple of times, most notably once heading down 50 towards
> Carson City, drafting behind a big rig. It really didn't seem like that big
> a deal, and it was pretty much straight out of the scene from Breaking Away
> where the driver is letting us know what our speed was (we got the
> opportunity to pull even with him at one point, when we moved briefly behind
> an even-faster truck in the fast lane). 64mph, so he said. And it really
> didn't seem all that fast.
<snip>

64 mph, that's crazy! What were you trying to do; catch up with Bill
Baka?

--

Paul D Oosterhout
I work for SAIC (but I don't speak for SAIC)