Gabriel DeVault <
[email protected]> wrote:
> Anyone know?
Steve Delaire on his coroplast/lycra faired Pursuit.
Oh, I can come up with a host of excuses.
Steve and I were close most of the race, though I was ahead most of the time, perhaps a tactical
error on my part. At the end of lap 3 the official at the finish line held up 3 fingers and yelled
out "3 to go!." I thought that seemed a bit early, but maybe they decided to cut the race short to
get back on schedule--the program was running late, so I pressed on a bit harder on the next 3 laps
and gave it my best sprint on the uphill finish at the end of the 6th lap. When I got to the finish
line the official held up 4 fingers indicating "4 to go". I won't repeat here what went through my
mind just then. I was spent and could only keep pace for the next 4 laps, all the while tasting
blood in the back of my throat and feeling like I was about to vomit. On the last few laps I was
reduced to soft-pedaling on the downhill section to recover.
The Cherry Pie criterium is approximately a 1-mile circuit with 60 feet of climbing on each lap,
making it fairly hilly as far as crits go. Pavement conditions were improved on the fast right-hand
corner at the bottom of the hill, but there were still a few rough spots of pavement on the course.
My faired extra-long frame Gold Rush weighs about 43-45 lbs as raced.
http://www.sonic.net/~bushnell/bike/pictures/GoldRushSide_CPcrit.jpg
Steve's faired Pursuit weighs about 30 lbs.
<picture not available>
Looking at it on the bright side, I still got a pie, Steve's winning margin was a bit narrower than
last year, and my average speed for the race was significantly higher than last year under nearly
identical race conditions of moderate temperatures (low-60's F) and a light breeze:
25.3 mph this year vs. 23.83 mph last year, although my average heartrate was lower: 163 vs. 169
bpm. I rode my Gold Rush with the stock body sock last year. Instead of playing catch-up the
entire race as I did last year, I felt it was a closer contest this year. So, in spite of the
extra weight and the hill, the fairing seems to make the bike faster overall on a moderately
hilly course when the downhill can be taken without braking. The spoiler was that Steve was a
little faster this year, too!
--
Bill Bushnell
