Keeping an eye on the TransAm race

[Jim Parker]

Dave Lewis is in a lightweight CF velomobile about 1200 miles into the race and sitting in 10th place.
And... Kansas is coming. This is pretty amazing considering the hills he just climbed.

http://trackleaders.com/transam18f.php

While he's not riding a Cruzbike, velomobiles are a recumbent cousin of ours. Someday I'd like to see a velomobile powered by our drivetrain, but that's somewhere in the distant future.

In the meantime, I'm rooting for Dave and I hope he gets a lot of attention. I bet he'll fly into first place soon.

Jim

 

[Jim Parker]

Wow. Thanks for that info. I didn't know there was another velomobile in the race. Here's a Facebook photo of Marcel.

 

[RAR]

Dave Lewis is in a lightweight CF velomobile about 1200 miles into the race and sitting in 10th place.
And... Kansas is coming. This is pretty amazing considering the hills he just climbed.

http://trackleaders.com/transam18f.php

While he's not riding a Cruzbike, velomobiles are a recumbent cousin of ours. Someday I'd like to see a velomobile powered by our drivetrain, but that's somewhere in the distant future.

In the meantime, I'm rooting for Dave and I hope he gets a lot of attention. I bet he'll fly into first place soon.

Jim
View attachment 6827

Jim , Thanks for putting that up...I didn't know it was happening !

 

[CruzLike]

Marcel is in first and Dave Lewis in 6th and gaining on the riders ahead of him.

Just a few minutes ago I learned that Dave was the pilot of the velo that passed me a "couple" times at Sebring. He cranked out 647 miles in the 24hr event.

 

[super slim]

Marcel is 1st in a 15Kg Milan SL Mk 4 prototype velomobile 105 miles ahead of David Lewis in a 20 kg Alpha 7 velomobile, then 1 mile to a DF rider..

http://trackleaders.com/transam18f.php

The videos at the Newton Bike shop of Marcel and Dave
https://www.newtonbikeshop.com/tabr-race-live-stream.

GO Recumbents!!!

 

[Jim Parker]

Looks like Marcel will finish today in under 17 days. Amazing! I just took this screenshot. He has 112 miles to go to finish. Dave Lewis is in 4th.

 

[LarryOz]

Looks like Marcel will finish today in under 17 days. Amazing! I just took this screenshot. He has 112 miles to go to finish. Dave Lewis is in 4th.

Amazing. And from the looks of it, he can just about coast there!
I am not sure what happened to Dave. He was holding pretty constant 150 miles or so behind Marcel, but then he just stopped moving for a really long time. He might have had a bad mechanical issue that he had to get fixed. I think Dave is really in 3rd. I think the "Ed" flag represents the "fastest historical Male" time from all previous attempts.
I'll would love to do this some day - guess I'll have to wait for a Cruzbike Velomobile first! haha

 

[Frito Bandito]

I just recently found out that the Trans Am race organizer changed the route to include some dirt or gravel roads for the 2025 race, which means that I am not likely to attempt to enter on either my V20 or on my Streamliner project being built. The organizer isn't banning recumbents, but by making some pretty large chunks of the race on trails he is severely limiting the type of 'bents one could reasonably attempt the Trans Am on.

In effect, he hopes someone will organize their own event for recumbents.

 

[cruzKurt]

I just recently found out that the Trans Am race organizer changed the route to include some dirt or gravel roads for the 2025 race, which means that I am not likely to attempt to enter on either my V20 or on my Streamliner project being built. The organizer isn't banning recumbents, but by making some pretty large chunks of the race on trails he is severely limiting the type of 'bents one could reasonably attempt the Trans Am on.

In effect, he hopes someone will organize their own event for recumbents.

So are the DF road bike folks allowed to change tires mid race to accommodate gravel?

 

[Frito Bandito]

So are the DF road bike folks allowed to change tires mid race to accommodate gravel?

I didn't see anything about that, but it looks like there are several sections of trails that I don't think are continuous. So, either riders would have to ride 1 set of do-it-all tires, or swap them out as the terrain changes. I get that it is a "ride" and not a race, but a lot of the focus is on the leaders and who is going to win. Forcing riders to ride trails may stay true to the original intent, I get it, but I would want to see how fast I can do it, not turn my ride into a sight seeing tour stopping to smell the roses. However, my goals might be quite different now that I am pretty much out of the TA. My goal was to show that an oldish geezer on a 'bent and in decent shape could hopefully make the front runners a bit nervous.