IHPVA World Championships

[Robert Stewart]

Hi all,

This year, from 16-17th August, the IHPVA world championships are coming to Bentwaters Parks: an ex-airfield in Suffolk, England. I am planning on attending with my Silvio. Here's the website:

http://www.wc2008.org.uk/

It looks like it should be a really good chance to meet and greet the bright lights of the recumbent racing scene, and of course to show off the Silvio design.

I am also considering trying my arm (or should that be legs) on one or more of the events:

http://www.wc2008.org.uk/event.aspx

I expect I will still be running unfaired at that point, and I would probably mostly be up against lowracers. I would need to get my Silvio kitted out with a chainguard to enter - any suggestions on one that would work?

So what do you think - can a Silvio compete with the best lowracers on the track?

Cheers,
Rob

 

[Doug Burton]

Hi Rob,

Good on ya for racing the bike. You should have a great time with the lowracers - giv'em 'ell.

This chainguard should meet the organization's reqs...

http://hostelshoppe.com/cgi-bin/readitem.pl?Accessory=996696771

I think Optima used to supply this from their store on your side of the water, but I don't see it on their webstore site anymore.

It's an HP Velo part, so there should be a UK supplier?

Do have someone take picturesof you in full flight, eh?

Great stuff, wish I could be there.

Be well,

Doug

 

[Robert Stewart]

Hi Doug.Thanks for the encouragement. I spotted that hp velo part in a quick google search but wanted to be sure it would fit (not that I was with the rack, or the rack bag!). I'm not sure about a uk supplier, but I'll probably just order direct. I've found items I order from Germany generally get here pretty quickly. If the guard fits ok, I will most likely leave it on generally for protection in the bike shed, and around the communal racks at work. With the front end of the Silvio pivoting so freely, I do often find it comes to rest with the chain/chainring leaning on something.

My Silvio is in the shop today, getting some softer elastomers fitted. They are also going to try fitting a spacer in between the fork and cassette to fix my chain rubbing problem. I need to have all my gears working smoothly before I go racing.

 

[Mark B]

I'll chime in with a "good luck" and a "make us proud"!


Mark

 

[Rick Harker]

Hi Robert,
Great news about the ride and for your entry. You can be sure we'll all be cheering for you to give it a go.

I've seen also there is a great bike exhibition in England for the first time. Of its kind i think. At this address.

A National Bike Try-out Event and Exhibition
Sun 25 & Mon 26 May 2008 Nottingham Racecourse, England

http://www.getcyclingshow.info/

Of course, as Doug mentioned, photos please.

Regards and good luck.

Rick.

 

[Kamatu]

Good luck on the racing.

 

[John Tolhurst]

The bike makes more power available to you, but not more oxygen.

The criterium track looks interesting. The more braking and accelerating, the better perhaps, corners etc possibly give you an advantage.

Very exciting. What is the Criterium format exactly?

 

[JonB]

johntolhurst wrote: The bike makes more power available to you, but not more oxygen.

Then make an assisted breathing device, such that the faster you go, the more air are forced into your nose/mouth.

 

[Kamatu]

JonB wrote:

johntolhurst wrote: The bike makes more power available to you, but not more oxygen.

Then make an assisted breathing device, such that the faster you go, the more air are forced into your nose/mouth.

Hmm, would that make you partly or fully faired?

 

[Mark B]

Kamatu wrote:

JonB wrote:

johntolhurst wrote: The bike makes more power available to you, but not more oxygen.

Then make an assisted breathing device, such that the faster you go, the more air are forced into your nose/mouth.

Hmm, would that make you partly or fully faired?

That would be fully aired.

Mark

 

[Robert Stewart]

Well, the event is this weekend and, with my hands-free hydration solution on the seat back working well, I'm just about ready to go. However, after waiting almost two months for the HP Velotechnik chainring guard (one useless supplier never sent it out), I got it earlier this week only to find it wouldn't fit to my bottom bracket because I have ultra-torque cranks. Not to be deterred, I reasoned that with a bit of modding I could clamp the guard to two of those four holes elevated from the bottom of the front tube. Having attacked the guard with a hacksaw and drill, I now think I'm ready to clamp it in place. The only remaining issue is the lateral positioning, which I'll try to get right using washers.

Anyway, I will report back with how that works, as well as race reports and general event feedback in due course.

Cheers,
Rob

 

[Mark B]

Good luck and God speed!

Mark

 

[Robert Stewart]

The event!

Well, I just got back from the event so here's my report. Let's start from the beginning:

We set off in the camper van just before 9am on the Saturday and arrived at Bentwaters Park just after noon. The weather was glorious - wall to wall sunshine. In fact, it felt a bit hot for serious riding, but I thought better that than the alternative (most of the country was getting heavy rain that day). We pitched the tent (the camper is actually a microbus with rows of seats rather than a bed and kitchen) and I re-attached my rear wheel and got my tyre pressures up.

The only remaining race on that afternoon was the big one - a three hour endurance slog. Having checked the weather forecast, I knew there was rain due on the Sunday, so I had already decided to go for this one. Race HQ was some distance from the camp site, and I walked over with my girlfriend (she's not into bikes) so it took a while. There were all sorts of recumbents around, and I was just checking them all out so the walk wasn't arduous. Over at race HQ, there were many more riders and recumbents. This being an international event, there were quite a few riders over from the continent - I heard plenty of dutch accents, there were some italians, some germans, and one or two french competitors.

There was quite a bit of immediate interest in the Silvio. Lots of people came over to have a look and a few commented that it looked very nice. There were apparently a couple of other home-brewed fwd bikes there, but mine was the only production one, and I think the only one with a moving bottom bracket. Some comparisons were made with flevobikes (the ones that pivot in the middle).

Anyway, I went over and signed up for the three hour race, received my transponder and numbers and had a quick warm up ride. Here I am in pre-race condition, with numbers and transponder attached. If you look carefully, you can see the transponder attached to the front left chainstay. You can also see my hydration solution on the seat back.

 

[Robert Stewart]

Start 0

The three hour race was considerably delayed. It was initially scheduled for 2pm, but had already slipped to 2.30 by the time I received my transponder at 1.30. At 2.25 we all assembled on the track, but nobody seemed to know which way we were setting off - there were bikes pointing in three directions! Here are a couple of pictures of what I will refer to as start zero. At this point there was some concern over the organisation...

 

[Robert Stewart]

Start 1

After a few minutes of everone milling around at start 0, asking each other what was going on, the race organiser finally appeared and told us there was a further ten minute delay, and that we had to re-assemble further up the track. We duly did so. Here are a couple of pictures my girlfriend captured of the massed start ranks at the second location, with transponder lines out in front. See how many recumbents you can spot...

 

[Robert Stewart]

Start 1 and the pace lap

We were held for some time at start 1, while some further adjustments to the course were made (they were coning off dangeous areas on some of the corners). The organiser stood in front of us and told us we would ride a first lap behind a pace car to learn the course and test the transponders before re-assembling at the start line. For what seemed like the next ten minutes there was a question and answer session while everyone worked out the details of the rules and organisation. More on that in the next post, but here are some more pics. Note - in the first picture here, you may just spot someone quite famous directly behind me...

The pace lap finally got underway at about 3pm, and was great fun - massed ranks of recumbents riding round an airfield together in marvelous sunshine. The lap was about four miles in length. The course was very flat and the surface was smooth over 95% of the distance - there was a general feeling it was going to be fast. There was a steady breeze that was pretty stiff to ride into on a couple of sections, but I didn't make much of it on the low speed paced lap.

 

[Robert Stewart]

Start 2

Having completed the pace lap, we re-assembled in ranks of ten - unfaired bikes at the front; fully faired and velomobiles at the back; children (there were two girls riding fully faired kingcyles) and handbikes further back and off to one side. Here we are at start two. There's that famous face again in the first pic. He should be easy enough to spot this time. The final photo here actually captures the start of the race proper.

 

[Robert Stewart]

The first lap

Having finally got underway, the race itself set off at a blistering pace. I should state at this stage that I have no prior experience of racing and hadn't been able to do much in the way of serious training for this event. I was relying on basic fitness and my innate competitive nature to get me through it. At first I tried to keep up with the fast semi-faired guys, but they all just seemed to slowly get away from me over the course of the first lap even as I went to higher and higher gears. About a third of the way through the lap, the first of the velomobiles came by me - it was a bright yellow quest and it made me feel like I was standing still as it sailed by. A succession of other fully faired vehicles shot past me on the next few straights and by the end of the lap I realised I was out of my depth trying to keep up with the faster riders. The flat surface and stiff breeze both strongly favoured more streamlined and heavier vehicles relative to lighter unfaired bikes. Anyway, I gritted my teeth and pushed on. Here's a picture of me gritting my teeth - not sure what lap it was taken on but you get the picture...

 

[Robert Stewart]

Laps 2-5

Laps 2 and 3 proceeded similarly. I was working hard, but gradually falling back another couple of places. I felt my position in the race had stabilised somewhat on lap three, and that was when the first fully faired vehicles started to lap me (which was a bit demoralising). On the other hand, I started to lap the slower bikes.

At the end of lap three I was riding with a group of three other riders for the first time - two low racers and a high racer. They had all caught me up after starting more slowly and seemed to be going at about my pace. I came up with a theory that there were four classes of riders/vehicles in this race - the fully faired stupidly quick class that had already started lapping me; the fast class that had ridden away from me on lap one and would be lapping me at some point; the moderate speed class of which I was a member; and the slow riders.

I think it was later on lap four that the first semi-faired guys started to lap me. By this stage my pace had dropped considerably from lap one, and I was getting some pain from my right groin - not good. I began to doubt my ability to complete the three hours, which was demoralising. I was still trying hard, but I got dropped by the three riders I had been travelling with and I was on my own again, with just the odd lapping either of or by me. I completed lap four in some pain, but continued into lap five. At this stage, I started to get pain in my right glutes and my pace dropped further. The straights into headwinds had been an effort even at the start of the race but now they were gruelling.

At the end of lap five I decided to call it a day and dropped out, rendering me a spectator for the remainder of the race. I was pretty disappointed with my performance and, on reflection, the learning curve had been rather steep. If I were to tackle a three hour race again, I would have gone out much slower at the start. I think my first two laps here set me up for failure as I pushed myself beyond my limits. Hey ho, never mind. For the record, I managed five laps in 53 minutes, at an average speed of 20 mph. Before I try something like this again, I think I'll want to get a disc wheel or two sorted, but that's another thread... I will finish here with a few more pics.

 

[Robert Stewart]

More pics

Some yellow fully faired vehicles (they were going pretty fast, so they may be slightly blurry as my camera is of the point-and-click variety).

 

[Robert Stewart]

More pics

White fully faired vehicles. In the last pic you can see the race 'organiser' (she of the lack of organisation) in shorts and a visibility jacket on the left.