Hare and Hound

[MrSteve]

Climbing hills, interval training, learning to involve your upper body and the other techniques discussed in this thread are useful:
And I use them.

The most fun I have on my bike is chasing down the bicyclists I find on our local country roads and, hopefully, passing them.
Almost as fun is trying to keep away from a strong cyclist catching up to me... playing my favourite game.

'Hare and Hound' was my second choice for the title of this thread. It is more descriptive than my first choice:
'Catch and Release.'

This 'Greyhound brain' tendency of mine has trained me to spin, climb, power through the red zone and
has given me some sprinting speed.
You know, if I had access to a velodrome, that's where I'd be working out a lot of the time.

How about you?

 

[JOSEPHWEISSERT]

I can't do recovery rides outside because of the same problem. So I ride my recovery rides early in the morning, in the basement, in the summer.

 

[ratz]

The new "segment" alerts on the Garmin are equally problematic on recovery rides. I admittedly went "that a way" last night because I was way ahead on a segment without trying so I figured I'd go for it; so much for the Z1 recovery ride.

 

[DavidCH]

The majority of roadies, not a problem. I find the best taking manoeuvre is to accelerate 20 metre behind them so I can overtake them at full pelt. Then I watch with anticipation to see if they take the bait. If they do then I move up a gear and go for it. Its a great way of getting fit. I know there is a recumbent rider with a low racer M5 coming from Madrid. I expect to see him this weekend. He is one of the riders that I am very aware of. Lets see how things go.

 

[jond]

Climbing hills, interval training, learning to involve your upper body and the other techniques discussed in this thread are useful:
And I use them.

The most fun I have on my bike is chasing down the bicyclists I find on our local country roads and, hopefully, passing them.
Almost as fun is trying to keep away from a strong cyclist catching up to me... playing my favourite game.

'Hare and Hound' was my second choice for the title of this thread. It is more descriptive than my first choice:
'Catch and Release.'

This 'Greyhound brain' tendency of mine has trained me to spin, climb, power through the red zone and
has given me some sprinting speed.
You know, if I had access to a velodrome, that's where I'd be working out a lot of the time.

How about you?

chasing the next target is fun so is passing and burning them off. but it is hardly fair........ it just feels so good. tsk tsk testosterone. ahem.

velodromes are ho hum boring round and round and did i say round. but a trainer and a velodrome are great for a workout if this is what you want as a constant guaged effort can be had easily.

but i say cycling should be fun first second third and fourth. that is why i cycle mainly on the fernleigh track and i am blessed to have such a fantastic resource to cycle through native bush here in australia. despite the thousands of miles i have cycled on the track i am never bored of it. (might be saying a bit much about myself there )

that is also why sometime i deliberately do not take my garmin and ride for the sheer joy and pleasure of it in the sunshine at a speed that i get passed...... occasionally. let it go let them go... it feels good somehow worthy of calling myself a cyclist rather than a poseur even though i re-assure myself that if i really wanted to i could take "mission" past them again. but that would hardly be fair would it. tee hee.

 

[SamP]

I do get umm... annoyed? motivated? when I get passed, but I know there are lots of very strong riders out there that can leave me in the dust. For example, Hains Point Gate to Gate, holy cr*p, 32.6 mph over 2.5 miles?

 

[JOSEPHWEISSERT]

chasing the next target is fun so is passing and burning them off. but it is hardly fair........ it just feels so good.

I disagree about what is fair. Those who have seen what the new technology can do in the hands of a strong rider, spend a lot of money on really expensive bikes with aero everything and lightweight components to make them go faster, and still insist on being Luddites (opposing new technology) anyway, are going to find it difficult to compete. Why don't I see road riders riding 50-plus-pound comfort bikes on group rides? Because a road rider on that type of bike cannot compete. One newbie did ride a comfort bike to a group ride one time this year. He tried to ride with the A group. He lasted a few seconds and was in the dust. Is that fair? Apparently, all of the A riders thought it was fair because they dropped him like a hot potato. What would the roadies tell the comfort bike rider if the comfort bike rider complained about carbon frames and aero wheels not being fair? They would laugh at him. By the way, I don't hear roadies talking about fairness. Instead, they talk about how fast recumbents are.

The V isn't even close to the weight of a normal upright bike, so climbing still takes more power for the V to keep up on hills. And the V is totally human powered, which is a legitimate concern when considering fairness. The V has no fairing, so that isn't even the issue. The difference with the V is that it has taken one aspect to a relative extreme. While DF riders bend way over in their aerobars to reduce wind resistance, the V is designed to give the same advantage, but all of the time. And without the potential damage to the lower back.

There is an old problem with the acceptance of new technology in cycling. But things are changing. For instance, the National 24-Hour Challenge recently decided to include recumbent riders within the other classifications, instead of considering recumbents in a class by themselves. Now DF riders in this event will be competing directly against one more new technology. I expect this type of competition to drive the evolution of the recumbent design.

 

[JOSEPHWEISSERT]

Hare and Hound: I did 70 miles today as part of a group ride. There were only three of us on the ride back. I pulled about 18 miles at about 24 to 25 mph. I really could have gone 26 to 28 mph, but I kept my speed down so I wouldn't drop the two guys that were drafting off of me. One is a high-placing ultra cyclist and I didn't want to damage his ego too badly. I made sure I didn't pull away by limiting my speed when I started to gap him. Toward the end, there was another cyclist up ahead (the hare) that appeared to be going for the stop ahead sign. All of a sudden, my speed went up past 30 mph and I dropped my drafters like a bad habit and blew past the other cyclist (the hare) and took the sign. My only excuse is hare and hound disease, most definitely.

 

[jond]

I disagree about what is fair. Those who have seen what the new technology can do in the hands of a strong rider, spend a lot of money on really expensive bikes with aero everything and lightweight components to make them go faster, and still insist on being Luddites (opposing new technology) anyway, are going to find it difficult to compete. Why don't I see road riders riding 50-plus-pound comfort bikes on group rides? Because a road rider on that type of bike cannot compete. One newbie did ride a comfort bike to a group ride one time this year. He tried to ride with the A group. He lasted a few seconds and was in the dust. Is that fair? Apparently, all of the A riders thought it was fair because they dropped him like a hot potato. What would the roadies tell the comfort bike rider if the comfort bike rider complained about carbon frames and aero wheels not being fair? They would laugh at him. By the way, I don't hear roadies talking about fairness. Instead, they talk about how fast recumbents are.

The V isn't even close to the weight of a normal upright bike, so climbing still takes more power for the V to keep up on hills. And the V is totally human powered, which is a legitimate concern when considering fairness. The V has no fairing, so that isn't even the issue. The difference with the V is that it has taken one aspect to a relative extreme. While DF riders bend way over in their aerobars to reduce wind resistance, the V is designed to give the same advantage, but all of the time. And without the potential damage to the lower back.

There is an old problem with the acceptance of new technology in cycling. But things are changing. For instance, the National 24-Hour Challenge recently decided to include recumbent riders within the other classifications, instead of considering recumbents in a class by themselves. Now DF riders in this event will be competing directly against one more new technology. I expect this type of competition to drive the evolution of the recumbent design.

my point was that aero beats weight. so nothing stopping anyone buying a superior bike right like our vendettas.
however it does not change the fact that i am now "beating " superior cyclists because of the bike rather than my improved performance. i can like all of us ride a vendetta faster than a DF no matter how expensive aero or light the DF is. that is the "unfair" part not comparing apples with apples. dont get me wrong i love my jonathan apple. especially when she passes those granny smiths imagine the tour guys on vendettas. you know what i am saying. which is just to re-iterate the whole purpose of the bike. to go faster being more aero whilst comfy and heads up. faster than any TT DF.