"Johnny Sunset" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:
[email protected]...
>
> Edward Dolan wrote:
>> ...
>> It will be close on the flats, but I believe an upright will win in the
>> end.
>> A windy condition is essentially the same as going uphill, unless it is a
>> steady tailwind.
>
> Ed Dolan makes no sense here - his comparison is only valid in that a
> rider on a closed loop will spend more time riding uphill and against
> headwinds (assuming steady wind) than riding downwind and downhill.
That is correct, but when you riding against a headwind or a crosswind, it
is as if you are riding uphill. Only a tailwind is helpful for an increase
in speed. To tell the truth, I would rather ride in hills than to constantly
have to put up with the kind of wind we have here in SW Minnesota.
> Saying that a recumbent that is slower than an upright uphill also
> means the recumbent will have a similar disadvantage against a headwind
> is so ridiculous that it does not deserve detailed rebuttal.
No, it is the same. I am not any faster riding against a headwind than I am
riding up a hill. Recumbent cyclists make way too much of the aerodynamic
advantage. It is very slight and is nonexistent in a headwind just as it is
in going up a hill. Even a fairing does not add much advantage although it
does help a bit in a headwind situation.
Mr. Sherman knows nothing of wind. You have to get out on the wide open
plains to know what wind is like. The one thing that has always ruined
cycling for me is the wind. It takes all the fun out of it. I would prefer
hills to the wind, but an upright is better in both those conditions.
Recumbents really suck on uphills. All bikes suck in the wind, including
uprights.
>> Recumbents slow down amazingly even on very slight grades.
>> I have to walk up 6% grades when I am riding a recumbent, but I know
>> several
>> upright cyclists who can climb 9% grades. Try that on a recumbent
>> sometime!
>
> Check out these results from a Masters National Time Trial. [1] Scroll
> down to "Sorted by fastest time ridden". Yep, the winner AA was on his
> carbon fiber composite splitter plate lowracer Velokraft NoCom [The
> Fastest Unfaired Bike in the Known Universe]. Note that many of the
> competitors were younger that AA.
>
> [1] <http://www.ambikerace.com/2005/results/masters.nat.tt.05.pdf>.
I am way too lazy to go to any links.
The fact is that recumbents are horrible climbing hills and everyone knows
this except for those few who have axes to grind for one reason or another.
I recommend that Mr. Sherman take his recumbent bike and go to near Jackson,
Wyoming and try to get up Teton Pass. That is a 9% grade. Lots of luck!
Regards,
Ed Dolan - Minnesota