Earth day ride! Ride from home to work (Los Gatos hills to Apple headquarters in Cupertino, CA).
Time: 6:32 to 8:07
Riding Time: 1:33’06 (cycle computer), 1:35 minutes by my watch
Distance: 20.77 miles
Average Speed: 13.3 mph
Max Speed: 26.0 mph (holy crap)
ODO: 609.1 miles
Notes: 150mm crank holes. Geared nimbus 36 with KH hub. The uphill from my house is steel, and it took 25 minutes to go 2.2 miles. Then, down Old Santa Cruz Highway I was cruising at 19-20 mph on the straights and slowing down to 17-18 for the curves and bumpy areas. Past the reservoir it hits a nice gradual downhill, and I looked down and noticed I was going 24mph. I decided to push it a tiny bit; which was a bit scary but still felt good. I grabbed the brake to actually slow myself down to 20mph, and took a look at my cycle computer; 26.0 mph. Insane! I never thought I would go that fast on a unicycle.
Past that, there is a gravel road that parallel’s highway 17 till I hit Los Gatos town. In LG, there are some rolling hills, but once I passed Saratoga High, it was mostly downhill and easily cruising at 20mph. I think the first 2.2 miles at the really slow speed killed my average.
For the rolling hills did you just keep it in low gear, or did you shift a lot, or did you push through in high gear?
Have you ever done this route on a nongeared 36?
Sounds like you had a lot of various terrain and the geared 36 handled it all quite well.
26mph is insane! I need to get a cycle computer to see how fast I can go on my geared 29 on a slight downhill. Be carefull at those speeds…the idea of grabbing a brake while going over 20mph on a unicycle kind of scares me.
I push through hills, if I can, but for the sake of practicing to shift, I do like to shift when I can. This ride was mostly downhill, and nearly all in 1:1.5. I’d say maybe 5 miles were in 1:1 (or maybe even less). I have a feeling that my ride home will be about half in 1:1 - the ride out to the “hill” is relatively flat.
I haven’t ridden this entire ride before, but I have ridden each leg at different times (all on non-geared). Generally, I have preferred to use 150’s going up the hill that I’ll have to do on the way home, so it may work out perfect. Other people, (Nathan, AJ, Beau) have ridden up the hill (old Santa Cruz Highway, for reference) with 125’s, and I’d probably do it with 125’s now. I may actually drop my pedals into the lower holes (125) for the ride home, since I am anticipating more 1:1 time.
RE: grabbing the brake – it isn’t that bad! There is no way I’d do it with a magura, but with a cable brake…it is just so soft when it starts grabbing that it has made me much more confident to use it. Louise feels the same way (she also switched). But you are right; I do have to be very careful; the speeds are getting dangerously fast. But, the more I ride, the more comfortable I feel at speed (ie: 20mph is cruising, provided my legs can keep up the strength for the grade of hill – which is usually needs to be flat or downhill).
Why not invest in a GPS? I would think it’d be far more accurate and reliable than a cycle computer for determining speed, plus is has many more features like elevation, pace, grade %, waypoints, etc.
That’s actually incorrect; GPS is less accurate, especially in areas with lots of tree coverage (which I tend to ride). It would give me an elevation profile, which would be cool.
But the real answer is that I really don’t have an interest in spending a few hundred bucks on a GPS. I’m quite happy with a $30 cycle computer :).
Less accurate? Maybe the older versions of gps, but not the new models which employ “sirf” chip technology. You can ride all day in a tunnel or thick tree cover and the signal remains solid and unbroken. That’s what I have and it’s dead-on accurate. And mine was only about $150. It’s the wrist-worn Garmin forerunner 205/305. Fantastic!
WOW, Corbin, 26 is cooking! You definitely beat me! Cruising at 19 to 20mph on the flats sounds absolutely amazing. When we rode after we first got our hubs, we were cruising maybe 17-18, and hitting 19-20-22mph pretty frequently, but not cruising it. Sounds like you’ve gotten quite a lot better!
Also, I’m superly impressed by your 609 miles. That’s a fair lot of riding! My Coker only reads 380 for the same time period (I cleared mine right before we built your wheel)
Have fun riding BACK (riding out to your house on my bike from Cupertino was a real pain in the butt with all the hills). Keep on crankin! (jeez, 26 is fast!)
Yeah, I’ve definitely gotten faster, and my shifts are much smoother than that first weekend. The 609 miles includes Uninam; I got the cycle computer right before it, and put about 20 miles on before the trip. So, realistically, I’ve only written about 309 miles since I’ve been back. You have me beat for distance since then.
Hehe, my arm band worn sony am/fm jogging radio has the same battery since 2003, but it’s no comparison to the hundreds of songs (9 hours of music) I get from the vastly smaller Ipod nano I use on rides, even though the (rechargeable) battery life is much less.
So, hmmm, ok, I have no problem spending $1,300 on a geared hub, but $150 for a state-of-the-art GPS…no, that’s too much money! lo-freaking-l!
Terry, the GPS is good and accurate for distance and average sped, but not as much for an instantaneous speed. I also have the Garmin 205 and, I agree, the reception, even in deep woods, is excellent. However, cycle computers are quite accurate for speed and distance because they literally count each spin of the wheel. They’re pretty dead-on even for instantaneous speed read-outs. Or as accurate as the roll-out distance you enter into them.
Corbin - what is the roll-out you entered? It sounds like you are going to be flying at RTL.
Well I hope you’re wearing a full compliment of protective gear, including arm/elbow guards; if you upd at 26 mph, there’s no way in the world you’re going to run out at that speed!
2862 - for my Nimbus nightrider tire and stealth pro rim, 45-50 psi. I’m a 130 pound rider. I should do a rollout test to see how accurate the value is, plus the more miles i get on my tire the more off it will be. Realistically, it probably is smaller than that. I’m wondering how much of a speed difference that would make. The value would yield a 35.86" tire, which is probably too close to the real value to be accurate An inch of compressing is probably not unheard of, so the value should probably be closer to 2800. Anyone want to do the math to see what a speed difference that is?
Keep on crankin! (jeez, 26 is fast!)
