Saturday April 4 I rode a 52 mile non-competitive ride (yeah, right) called the Redbud Classic in Oklahoma City, OK.  The day before the event I received a neon yellow body sock to add to the fairing on my Rans X-Stream.  After SEVERAL adjustments I tested and retested the fairing/body sock arrangement with successful laps around the neighborhood.  The morning of the ride I awoke to the sound of gale force winds in the trees outside.  Uh oh.
 
The ride began at 7:00am in a westward direction with south winds from 25-35 mph.  At first this was a minimal issue.  The winds were somewhat blocked by buildings and other city obstacles.  After about 5 miles we turned north for 1/4 mile then west again across an interstate bridge and then north for 3 miles on the access road.  Somewhere on this northward leg I hit 44.3 mph.  Nice.  I had lost touch with the lead pack of wedgie squids as we began to hit the hills but I could still see them.  We turned west again into the hills (Oklahoma hills of 6-10% grade) and still the wind was a minimal issue... for the moment. After 5 miles of hills the terrain began to flatten into a flood plain for a small river with less cover from the wind.  Suddenly the south winds were slamming into the side of the body sock and deflecting it in toward my foot.  Eventually my foot would go below the bottom of the sock on the down stroke allowing it to deflect inward and then as my foot rose on the upstroke it was now on the outside of the sock and trying to tangle in it.  Arggggh.  To solve this I reached down with my right hand and held the sock away from my foot, steered the bike with the left hand and leaned the bike into the wind .  It was all I could do to stay in the correct lane!  
 
After about 7-10 miles of this nonsense we turned south directly into the wind.  Ahhhhhhhhh.  Much better.  At this point I began to reel in and pass small groups of 2-10 riders that fell off the lead pack. After 5 miles of this we turned west again into some rollers with moderate side winds.  As we descended out of the rollers into the open plains the side wind issues returned for about a mile.  Just as we were about to turn north I came up on a group of six strong riders.  With the wind at my back I easily passed them but apparently they would have none of that.  They organized themselves and came charging by.  I throttled back and waited for them to pass then latched onto the back for a breather.  After a minute or so of barely pedaling I became bored and shot by them at about 35 mph.  I left them far behind until we turned back west into the rollers for a few miles and then hills for several more miles.  I was now having the same tangling issues with the body sock only on my left side.  At one point my shoe and cleat ripped a four inch hole in the lycra sock on the left.  Dangit.  I continued the one-hand-steering and one-hand-holding-the-sock routine as long as there was a crosswind with no further incidents.  
 
The pack caught me in the hills but I stayed with them through the rollers and hills until we hit 8% grade when I lost them.  I had just installed a 26 tooth granny the night before which worked fine in my  neighborhood on a test lap but under real conditions on 8% grade the derailleur would not shift into it.  Argggh.  I gutted it out and mashed as best I could which began to fatigue my quads.  Later I figured out I could shift into the granny by putting less force on the pedals for a few revolutions but this also lead to nearly doing a track stand due to minimal forward movement.  It must have been funny to watch.  After 3 miles of this nonsense, fighting cramps all the way, we finally turned back south directly into the wind and I began to pick off stragglers that were falling off the main pack up ahead.  At this point the gusts were up to 40 mph but I was undaunted.   I watched with amusement as the main pack tried to ascend a hill about 1/4 mile ahead.  The combination of fatigue, 8% grade and strong head winds had some of the roadies zig zagging trying to inch forward without falling over.  After 5 miles of this we turned west toward home.  The next five miles consisted of long pulls up hills of 3-8% grade to the finish with one handed steering again.  No problem.  No more foot tangles in the body sock.
 
Several kind roadies came over to check out the bike and were curious and nice.  During the ride, others were not so nice.  At the point the pack caught up to me in the hills after I had passed them going north on the flats, we were approaching a three way intersection which was not very well marked with the expected red arrows to indicate the correct path for the 52 mile event.  Some of the lead roadies in the pack were just coming up behind me and began shouting "turn left".  The ride official standing at the intersection was not answering my call for directions until I began to slightly turn left.  As you may have guessed, the correct path was to proceed forward and not turn at all.  Stupid roadies.  Other than that,  many were interested in the X-Stream and very congratulatory, especially with their inability to catch up to me on the flats or with the wind or against the wind.
 
I finished with a 19.7 mph average which is pleasing considering the wind and the granny gear issue.  I'll put the 30 tooth Q-ring granny back on and change the rear cassette for hill climbing needs.  Right now the largest rear ring is 26.  Fighting the winds was somewhat exhausting but I'll  solve that by choosing more wisely when to employ the sock and also by getting a sock that extends lower to avoid tangling in my  foot.
 
 
Trey
 
 

Great report. I'm surprised you didn't pick a bike with a more upright riding position and lower bottom bracket to fair and sock. They're the bikes that benefit most from a fairing and sock, and as you've seen, a higher bottom bracket tends to cause foot and pedal interference with a body sock.

Quote from oumed on Apr 5^th, 2009, 1:28pm:

 
 
I have had this issue with every single bent I have ever owned with a high bottom bracket.  Every lowracer, the carbon aero, and I still have it with the carbent.  Can't shift under load.  If I could figure out a way to fix that, I'd be a much better climber.  I've learned to hit the small ring early but in a solid gear and work my way down.
 
So probably not the best day to test out the sock, but it looks like you did a good job overall.   How much of a difference do you think it made in the headwinds?  Obviously you're going to continue the experiment.  Have you done any control loops with and without the sock to see if it's making enough difference to be worthwhile?  How's the visibility over the fairing?

Nice!  If they need a precedent, tell them that there is an event held in North Texas that allows recumbents in a seperate category, and this event has always gone very well.
 
http://www.ic3-ntx.org/horsecountrytimetrial.htm
 

Quote from oumed on Apr 5^th, 2009, 2:02pm:

 
 
Very nice setup...  May I suggest you send the photo (and maybe another, sans sock and fairing) and a short blurb about how you're enjoying the bike to Kim at RANS, for them to put up on their photo board?
 
Paul