How irritating is that?

General
1

usual training ride, usual route, weather cool and overcast, and hardly a breeze. All day thinking I could be ‘on’ for a Personal Best. (Me, obsessive?)

‘Butterflies’ on the way to the start of the ride. This is getting silly. But now I know how much a fast hour hurts, and I really don’t want it to go wrong after 55 minutes… or to UPD flat out on tarmac.

Fortunately, I do a full pre-flight check, and discover the computer isn’t reading. I adjust it as necessary. An hour and 12 miles later would not be the time to have discovered that little surprise!

11 miles in an hour is ‘acceptable’.
12 miles in an hour is ‘good’.
12.44 miles in an hour is my Personal best.
12.5 miles in an hour is my target.
13 miles in an hour is a holy grail.

The conditions weren’t far off ideal. At the hour, I stopped and read the computer. I knew from landmarks that I had done a PB.

And it read…

12.95 miles.

How irritating is that?

0.05 miles short of the next mile up. 88 yards short. 4 cricket pitches short. 75 metres short. 3 swimming pools short. Ooooooooooooooooh! :frowning:

Aha! But miles are arbitrary and old fashioned. Let’s see what it is in metric. Er… 20.84 kilometres. 160 metres short of the next big number.

If only… there hadn’t been that family of geese on the track; I hadn’t slowed down to avoid that rowing boat (yes, really! it was being carried); I hadn’t had to swerve to avoid the maldirectional bicyclists; I’d had a Camelbak so I could drink as I rode…

Now I’ve got to do it all again, because for 88 yards, i know it can be done.

Of course, hours are pretty arbitrary, too… ;0)

On the other hand, it’s over a ‘whole half’ mile up on my previous PB.

To celebrate, I ride some extra little hills, and explore some interesting single track and bits I’ve not seen before. I find a small steep slope. A few years ago, my brother took me out in his Series 1 Land Rover and drove down this drop, and I went, “Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!” Today, I rode down it on the Coker. :wink: I finish with a cruise along the river bank past the Forest ground (‘City Ground’) and over the world famous Trent Bridge.

At 2 hours, I’d done 21 miles, almost exactly, and at the end of the ride, I’d done 23.84 miles in 2:10.13 riding time, or 2:15 real time. An average of 10.6 mph or 17kmh. All this on a standard steel-rimmed Coker with 150s. The only improvement is the pinned pedals.

You know you want one.

2

Congratulations, looks like you’ll soon be on 13 miles/hr; I hope I do as well tomorrow on my uphill race against the cyclists.

3

Congratulations Mike, that’s a great effort! How often do you go out on these rides/time trials?

Andrew

4

Re: How irritating is that?

You can always round that figure up. Then you’re being mathematically
correct.* People don’t say “How many miles can you do in an hour, without
rounding up,” so take advantage of that!

Liam

*Or any other excuse to round it up, really.

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5

Liam-------------

You can always round that figure up. Then you’re being mathematically
correct.* People don’t say “How many miles can you do in an hour, without
rounding up,” so take advantage of that!

Mike would never round that figure up, he’s a unicyclist and doesn’t operate by the same shoddy standards as other people.
He’ll persist until he achieves a genuine 13 miles in an hour.

6

Re: How irritating is that?

,-(

7

Re: How irritating is that?

Not at all I would say. You upped your PB significantly. It would be more irritating if it were 13.01 miles, because there would be no realistic round goal to strive to. Although I believe, judging from the progress you’ve posted over the last few months, that you will have conquered 14.00 miles before the end of the summer.

Klaas Bil

8

Re: How irritating is that?

Mikefule wrote:
> usual training ride, usual route, weather cool and overcast, and
> hardly a breeze. All day thinking I could be ‘on’ for a Personal
> Best. (Me, obsessive?)
>
> ‘Butterflies’ on the way to the start of the ride. This is getting
> silly. But now I know how much a fast hour hurts, and I really
> don’t want it to go wrong after 55 minutes… or to UPD flat out on
> tarmac.
>
> Fortunately, I do a full pre-flight check, and discover the computer
> isn’t reading. I adjust it as necessary. An hour and 12 miles later
> would not be the time to have discovered that little surprise!
>
> 11 miles in an hour is ‘acceptable’.
> 12 miles in an hour is ‘good’.
> 12.44 miles in an hour is my Personal best.
> 12.5 miles in an hour is my target.
> 13 miles in an hour is a holy grail.
>
> The conditions weren’t far off ideal. At the hour, I stopped and read
> the computer. I knew from landmarks that I had done a PB.
>
> And it read…
>
> 12.95 miles.
>
> How irritating is that?
>
> 0.05 miles short of the next mile up. 88 yards short. 4 cricket
> pitches short. 75 meters short. 3 swimming pools short.
> Ooooooooooooooooh! :frowning:
>
> Aha! But miles are arbitrary and old fashioned. Let’s see what it is
> in metric. Er… 20.84 kilometers. 160 meters short of the next big
> number.

Au contraire! 840 meters PAST the big number. 20K, woo hoo!
>
> If only… there hadn’t been that family of geese on the track; I
> hadn’t slowed down to avoid that rowing boat (yes, really! it was
> being carried); I hadn’t had to swerve to avoid the maldirectional
> bicyclists; I’d had a Camelbak so I could drink as I rode…
>
> Now I’ve got to do it all again, because for 88 yards, i know it can
> be done.
>
> Of course, hours are pretty arbitrary, too… ;0)
>
> On the other hand, it’s over a ‘whole half’ mile up on my previous PB.

Another landmark.
>
> To celebrate, I ride some extra little hills, and explore some
> interesting single track and bits I’ve not seen before. I find a
> small steep slope. A few years ago, my brother took me out in his
> Series 1 Land Rover and drove down this drop, and I went,
> “Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!” Today, I rode down it on the Coker. :wink:
> I finish with a cruise along the river bank past the Forest ground
> (‘City Ground’) and over the world famous Trent Bridge.
>
> At 2 hours, I’d done 21 miles, almost exactly, and at the end of the
> ride, I’d done 23.84 miles in 2:10.13 riding time, or 2:15 real time.
> An average of 10.6 mph or 17kmh. All this on a standard steel-rimmed
> Coker with 150s. The only improvement is the pinned pedals.
>
> You know you want one.

I’ve got one. I want your talent.

–
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion,
butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance
accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders,
give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new
problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight
efficiently, and die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
–Robert A. Heinlein, The Notebooks of Lazarus Long

9

Re: Re: How irritating is that?

sod talent
if i could buy his work ethic, i’d get a case!

10

Mike ,

You hammer king!

Must be flat as a pancake where you ride.

I like your stories,man you really haul.

Where do you get the power/pressure?

11

Re: How irritating is that?

On Wed, 28 May 2003, onewheeldave wrote:

> Mike would never round that figure up, he’s a unicyclist and doesn’t
> operate by the same shoddy standards as other people.
> He’ll persist until he achieves a genuine 13 miles in an hour.

How accurately has he calibrated the computer? Was that while
the wheel was loaded or unloaded? Just 0.4% out (very likely)
could put this over 13 miles.

Cheers,

Stu

12

Re: Re: How irritating is that?

The figures are so arbitrary as to be meaningless except as a measuremoent of my progress. A change in tyre pressure could make a small difference, but add up to several metres over a long ride.

Joking apart, I’m pleased with my progress. However, my immediate reaction on reading the computer wasn’t, “Wow! I beat 12.5!” it was, “B***er! Just short of the 13!”

KEANER wrote:<<Must be flat as a pancake where you ride…
Where do you get the power/pressure?>>

It is flat. I do these tests on as near a perfect route as I can - laps of the rowing lake, which has a tarmac prerimeter track which is almost level. (The first couple of miles to the lake is a bit more varied.) Power/pressure? I certainly know where I feel the pressure! :astonished: The thing I need for these 1 hour time trials is determination or stamina. I have a highest recorded speed of 15mph (on this set up) so 13mph over an hour means sustaining a high percentage of my maximum.

GILD wrote: <<sod talent. If I could buy his work ethic, i’d get a case!>>

I claim no great talent. I’ve seen too many pictures on here to dissuade me from that view. I suppose it is a sort of work ethic, but I am specifically training for one event. I don’t normally ride like this. After the event, I may well try a couple of rides on 125s or even 110s for comparison. It becomes an obsession.

SCOTT wrote:<<Au contraire! 840 meters PAST the big number. 20K, woo hoo!>>

Yes, but my previous PB (12.44) just crept over the 20kmh mark.

Klaas Bil wrote <<judging from the progress you’ve posted over the last few months, that you will have conquered 14.00 miles before the end of the summer.>>

Unlikely. With a maximum speed of 15mph, averaging 14 is unlikely. On shorter cranks, it may be possible, but then there’s the chicken factor to consider. :astonished:

ANDREW asked: << How often do you go out on these rides/time trials? >>
At the moment, once a week, Tuesday evenings.

Sorry if I go on about it. Really I’m just trying to convince the rest of the team I’m taking it seriously. Back to the whimsical tales in due course.

13

1/20th of a mile short of the holy grail, and you’re irritated? Get a grip, man! The holy grail is so within-your-grasp, you’ll have to move it to a higher number. You weren’t expecting that to happen so soon, were you?

How about this for annoying:
I used to race the Obstacle Course every year at the USA and IUF conventions, trying to beat my personal best time, as I held the course record from the course’s redesign in 1989 until last summer. At one point I had done it in 20.01 seconds. A few years later, I did it again, in 20.01 seconds. Ouch!

For those who are interested, the IUF/USA Obstacle Course is described, like everything else, in the competition rulebooks:
http://www.unicycling.org/iuf/rulebook/iufrules/2racing.html

The official record before UNICON 11 was 19.80 seconds. Marc Haelfiger from Switzerland toasted my old record with a time of about 19.50, though I can’t remember the exact time.

14

Ok, for one thing, I’ve never even ridden 12 miles without dismounting. I blame it on the unicycle (old school schwinn 24"), but still, almost 13 miles at all is impressive.

Second, 20 seconds on the obstacle course is AMAZING.
19.80, that’s INSANE. My best time on the course (uni mentioned above 5" cranks) is about 25 seconds or more. WOW.