Bud_Bent
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On this hot, but finally rain free, evening, I rode the Texas Wheels Thursday evening club ride. It was a small turnout, with just 12 riders. I did 28.3 miles at an average of 19.7 mph. That's just .1 mph less than my best average on this ride, but comparisons to my other Texas Wheels evening ride averages aren't really valid, and I probably wouldn't even be doing a report on this ride if it weren't for The Experiment.
For some time now, I have been considering trying to engineer a setup that would let me adjust my Corsa's seat height on the fly. I really enjoy my aerodynamic laid back position on the Corsa, but a more upright position would be better for climbing, and if you could instantly adjust the seat, you could have both. I believe I have figured out enough about small pneumatic cylinders to let me create an instant adjust system, and I've ordered the parts. Shortly after I made the order, it occurred to me that I should have tested on a known ride with a more upright seat position for comparison, before I ordered anything (DOH!!!). I figured, better late than never, and before tonight's ride, I raised the seat three holes on the seat stays. That's 1 1/2 inches, which is the adjustment total the pneumatic cylinders should give me, and WAY more than you would ordinarily adjust a seat at once, but I wanted to try this known hilly ride at the potential maximum position of the instant adjust setup. It was an interesting ride, but there are three major reasons why comparing this ride to my other Texas Wheels rides doesn't mean much:
1. I forgot my heart rate sensor tonight. The best comparison would have been a combination of speed versus heart rate on each of the seat positions. Without my heart rate sensor, that comparison was out the window.
2. I have been doing this ride on Tuesday evenings for several weeks. I've not been well recovered from weekend riding on those Tuesdays, so my average has been down. This week, I rode on Thursday, and since I wasn't able to ride either Tuesday or Wednesday, my only ride this week was a slow ride Monday with Rose. I was well recovered today.
3. Mockingbird Road, part of the usual route, has had the pavement stripped off, and is gravel. I am unwilling to ride this gravel stretch, and adjusted the route because of it. I ended up with 3 1/2 miles less than usual, and rode some different roads.
Despite not being able to do very direct comparisons, there were lots of interesting things from the evening. First, I was too close to the pedals after making this much seat adjustment. I expected that; when you raise the seat, you need to slide it back. But, if my instant adjust system does actually work (notice how confident I sound), it won't allow any sliding adjustments, so I decided I would live with being too close to the pedals this evening, and made no sliding adjustment.
The next big surprise was the first part of the ride with the peloton down Lake Ridge Parkway. I immediately realized I liked the upright position for paceline riding. The biggest thing I haven't liked about paceline riding is the fact that, in my usual position, if I'm as close to the rider in front of me as I should be, I can't see the road. This makes it difficult to see and dodge road cracks and holes. In this upright position, I could actually see the road under the rider in front of me, and better avoid things. Being less aerodynamic in this position means nothing in a paceline anyway, so if I create the system, this will be my peloton riding position.
There is no doubt that this position is better for climbing, and got me up hills faster. I often get dropped on the first hill. I had no problem staying with the paceline tonight. On Texas Plume hill, not only did I keep several riders in sight, I actually passed one while still climbing Texas Plume. Less than a mile after Texas Plume, on the first decent downhill (on Mt Lebanon Road, just past the Hwy 67 underpass), I passed 5 of the other riders. I have never caught that many riders that soon after Texas Plume. I never did catch the other 5 riders (no miracles tonight). I turned off to avoid Mockingbird Road, so I don't know if any of the 6 riders I passed would have caught me on the long inclines in that part of the ride, or not.
If I was faster going up the hills, I was definitely slower at the end of the ride on Lake Ride Parkway. This is 6 1/2 miles of flats and downhills, and is where I usually shine. Jerry Austin admitted that on the Tuesday before last ride, he spent this entire 6 1/2 miles trying to catch me, and couldn't do it. This is the same Jerry Austin who had to slow down enough on the last 50 miles of my first 200k so that I could keep up with him. But tonight, I was 2 mph slower on this stretch. There is usually a south tailwind on this stretch, and tonight there was no wind at all, so I think the average difference would probably be more like 1 mph.
Being closer to the pedals made it hard to pull on the pedals, and gave me more of a tendency to mash. My left leg always wants to cramp if I mash too much, and it kept tightening tonight. I struggled so much trying to pull, the back of my legs were trying to cramp, too. I got the feeling that this position gave me the potential to produce a lot more power, but I was unable to take advantage of it. Seeing how strong I felt on the hills, but how much I lost aerodynamically on the flats, makes me think this experiment is worth pursuing. Stay tuned...
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The Experiment (Read 3505 times)
