Correcting misinformation about wheel discs that I started

[Doug Burton]

Hello Folks,

I'll be blogging later about lessons we learned abouth the Silvio during Maria's incredible performance in the 12-hour.

But first I must correct a misdiagnosis I made prior to having all facts in hand.

During a nutrient handoff at about midway through the event, Maria had a nasty crash. My assumption (mostly because I was worried about it at the time) was that Maria had changed directions very quickly during the handoff because it was a bit blustery at the time, and I attributed this to the wheel discs.

After our post-race discussion at the Parker's, and after getting the download from Maria, we now can say that the wheel discs and wind had nothing to do with it. The bike was in the wind-shadow of the chase vehicle, shielded from sidewinds at the time. Maria said that she was not affected by side winds during the handoff. Quite frankly, it looks as though several things came together at the same time (limited road clearance, speed differential, a difficult-to-handle nutrient container), and we quite frankly just botched the handoff.

The wheel discs contributed strongly to Maria's outstandingy fast initial laps, and those laps bought us time to deal with the challenges of the later going. And I continue to feel that the Silvio is capable of using these discs to advantage on both wheels due to the dynamics of the steering of an MBB bike.

Wheelbuilder was reluctant to provide us with covers for front and rear wheels due to their safety concerns, but provided us an excellent product at our request, and excellent service as well.

I would hate to see my incomplete diagnosis interpreted as a slight on their excellent product.

Sorry...

Doug

 

[WhiteSilvio]

Hardtailcruzer wrote: Hello Folks, (snip, snip)

The wheel discs contributed strongly to Maria's outstandingy fast initial laps, and those laps bought us time to deal with the challenges of the later going. And I continue to feel that the Silvio is capable of using these discs to advantage on both wheels due to the dynamics of the steering of an MBB bike.
I would hate to see my incomplete diagnosis interpreted as a slight on their excellent product.
Sorry...
Doug

Hi Doug,
It was indeed interesting to see Maria's split times for those first laps on her yellow stallion. I missed reading about Maria's crash on Jim A's blog, so I wondered why the yellow bike was retired. I reckon that the yellow machine is much better aerodynamically than Jim's machine (I thought that the black Silvio was the one you made up for BROL, but obviously that would have been superfluous with Jim's bike in the wings), and of course the disc wheels would have contributed to this, but I believe that the other differences, particularly the handlebar type and position would have contributed a great deal to Maria's early speed. Shame the yellow machine had to be retired.
Have you done any comparison "roll-down" tests changing just the wheels? And compared with the wide bars on Jim's bike with the narrower 'bars on Maria's bike? (Same wheel-set)
I was thinking Maria may have come close to eclipsing the Men's recumbent record, (Maria really gave it a "good shake") if everything had gone just a little smoother. Just shows the potential of the Silvio. Not forgetting Maria's immense athletic ability!! Huge CONGRATULATIONS Maria!
Anyhows, regards,
John R.

 

[jalexartis]

Cycling Experiences... Blog clarification is published. Thanks Dog, Maria and Jim for your input. Now, get some rest. Doug, I look forward to your complete analysis. --jim

 

[jalexartis]

WhiteSilvio wrote:

Hardtailcruzer wrote: Hello Folks, (snip, snip)

The wheel discs contributed strongly to Maria's outstandingy fast initial laps, and those laps bought us time to deal with the challenges of the later going. And I continue to feel that the Silvio is capable of using these discs to advantage on both wheels due to the dynamics of the steering of an MBB bike.
I would hate to see my incomplete diagnosis interpreted as a slight on their excellent product.
Sorry...
Doug

Hi Doug,
It was indeed interesting to see Maria's split times for those first laps on her yellow stallion. I missed reading about Maria's crash on Jim A's blog, so I wondered why the yellow bike was retired. I reckon that the yellow machine is much better aerodynamically than Jim's machine (I thought that the black Silvio was the one you made up for BROL, but obviously that would have been superfluous with Jim's bike in the wings), and of course the disc wheels would have contributed to this, but I believe that the other differences, particularly the handlebar type and position would have contributed a great deal to Maria's early speed. Shame the yellow machine had to be retired.
Have you done any comparison "roll-down" tests changing just the wheels? And compared with the wide bars on Jim's bike with the narrower 'bars on Maria's bike? (Same wheel-set)
I was thinking Maria may have come close to eclipsing the Men's recumbent record, (Maria really gave it a "good shake") if everything had gone just a little smoother. Just shows the potential of the Silvio. Not forgetting Maria's immense athletic ability!! Huge CONGRATULATIONS Maria!
Anyhows, regards,
John R.

I announced [top of the blog] "rider down" and followed with photographs with an explanation on the bike switch-out. My focus was on the event and her accomplishment rather than her spill, thus not blog article. The announcement was probably up for near 2 laps. --jim

 

[WhiteSilvio]

jalexartis wrote:
I announced [top of the blog] "rider down" and followed with photographs with an explanation on the bike switch-out. My focus was on the event and her accomplishment rather than her spill, thus not blog article. The announcement was probably up for near 2 laps. --jim

Hi Jim,
Great job with the coverage.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to follow the whole of Maria's ride, mainly due to the time difference. So I missed the announcement "rider down" and all the explanation, and when I got there at about 6:10pm NC time (8:30am my time Sunday morning) I was just trying to piece together what had happened, and wondering what went on.
My comment(s) were in no way a criticism of the way you conduct your blog. I think it is/was fantastic to have anyone on the ground there, supplying the rest of the community with what amounts to "real-time" updates.

As I said before in several posts, I was curious to know what happened to Maria's yellow machine, and I wasn't even aware Maria had had some sort of mishap until I saw your photos with the evidence of the fall. I could clearly see that Maria was riding a different bike, and if Maria had sustained some major injury she wouldn't have been riding at the 11 and a half hour mark.

Are your explanations of the "bike switch-out" still on your blog somewhere? I'd still be interested in hearing what happened after Maria's mishap.

Regards,
John R.

 

[jalexartis]

Hi John,

I did not take your comments as criticism. Thanks for the explanation. The best trail of what happened is in my flickr photoset for Maria. My Update #03 shows something happened. I noticed she was 3 minutes off pace and then we saw the black bike. I did not dwell on the other factors. I knew she was nauseous, but said nothing of it. Her crew was acting on it and her lap times were constant. If they had fallen off, then I would have commented. I took no pictures of her light-headed moments after the group pictures, nor commented. The full story is coming forth but from the players.

My comments here are also for my readers and I trust they are okay with that. I understood my readers were in and out and took that into consideration for coverage, thus the 4 updates. I'm glad you were able to catch up through my blog and that you are a Cruzbike supporter. Take care John. --jim

 

[John Tolhurst]

Well, my little part of the story is my phone call to one of the people in the car, I was calling skype to cell phone from Australia into the suburban which was following Maria. I made the call at 12:34 and it lasted 1:22. I was told to hang on, as they were going to go alongside Maria, I waited, then a bang and a scream of 'oh my God' and then 'click' as the connection terminated. I waited. I was terrified. I decided to call another phone so at 12:36 I called Doug's cell and got an answering machine. So I was still beside myself with worry and anxiety. ... how long should I wait before calling knowing I can't actually help but could only impede? I waited an eternity until 12:47. I figured that whatever had happened the immediate responses would have been made, and I got through. Oh wow, then I heard that she was fired up and riding again. I called again at 1:30 PM, which was 1:30 AM my time and decided to sleep some. I woke at 3:45 and checked Jim A's lap time posting and felt very reassured at the consistent times she was still posting. I slept another 2 hours and again woke to good news on the lap times. But that 12 or 13 minutes knowing something aweful had happened and not knowing was pretty intense. Next morning my wife asked why I looked so tired - ah dear lady - she does put up with my eccentricities nicely.