jmcdowell

So I'm riding the morning, and I run into a couple of road bikers. One is obviously experienced and the other more of a beginner. They were riding the same trail so I sort of fell in with them.
The more experienced one would take off up the trail and stop for the other. It's the first time I've been around anyone else on a bike, so I thought it was a decent measure of my improvement since I started riding almost a month ago.
I was faster than the newbie, and I could almost keep up with the other. Made me feel great. I don't know how the etiquette works, so I was trying to seem as though I was just riding on my own and not trying to match the faster one's pace and kept my distance. When the fast one stopped to wait, I just kept going. Did I do that right?

Then later, I had detoured, so I wasn't near them anymore, and I see this guy pull out on some sort of recumbent bike. It had 2 wheels in the back, 1 in front. It looked cool, so I thought I'd ask the man about it. Yeah right. I couldn't catch him. I stopped spinning and started pumping the pedals as fast and hard as I could, and he was still losing me. A glance at my speedo told me I was going 22 mph, so he must have been going at least 2 or 3 mph faster, maybe more, and this was on a slight incline. Eventually, I gave up. 10 minutes or so later, he must have looped, because he came flying past me. I didn't bother to try again.

I had no clue those bikes were so fast. I was seriously impressed.

Tom Stormcrowe

Drop down a hill with my wife sometime on her recumbent trike. Where I hit 35 or 40, she hits 50 MPH. I have to hit the aerobars to be streamlined enough to keep up with her on a descent.

Ghoulardi

Realizing I'm about to sound like a wimp, I think I'd be terrified to go 50mph on a bike!

Tom Stormcrowe

It's fun! I've been up near 70 on bigger long hills out west. Here in Indiana, there are a couple of hills I can top 55 on, and it's really fun passing a cop on a downhill in a 55 MPH zone. The look on his face is priceless.

Mr. Beanz

Did it look like this? I believe it is some sort of trike. This is a member of the Socalforums (Pinoybentrider). I often run into him in the mtns and the trail. The other guy in the pic is a track racer (Chrome). Well this day I was riding with a group of guys on the trail. Chrome swung around and jolted off with 2 other guys. I missd the jump as I had my camera out. So I tired to close the gap (50 yards) I was holding 27 and somehow a head of Pinoybentrider. I'm not sure if he missed my acceleration but either way he was behind. I got close to the other 3 riders but couldn't close the gap.

I looked back to see where the trike was and he was gaining. He just about caught up when I kicked again. Happened about 3 or 4 times. I gave it my all to drop the guy. But even with speeds at 27, he kept creeping back up.. At the end of my ride we rode for a bit to say "later dude". He was sweating bigtime and I could barely talk!

If I hadn't been on a good day, he would have kicked my butt! Maybe he was having a bad day, I dunno but that sucker is fast! He also has a lowracer bent. Now he were on that thing, I never would have kept up!

jmcdowell

I'm with you Ghoulardi. I think I'd terrified to go that fast! The fastest I've gone is just over 30, and I was already having scary thoughts about brake malfunction.

Hey Mr. Beaner. It did look something like that, except it seemed like the back wheels were more behind him, and he looked small on the bike.
That's a great pic too. Probably sort of what it looked like this morning, except I'm sure I had a struggling grimace on my face, but I'm sure he was laughing.

Mr. Beanz

The other thing! He would have kilt me on this!

Mr. Beanz

Dontcha just hate them guys!

jmcdowell

I'm pretty sure I would fall over on one of those.

Hate em? No way, I was too intrigued and impressed. Besides, if he was laughing at me, I couldn't tell from the back of his head.

prxmid

Never been on one, but that just doesn't look comfortable to me

Mr. Beanz

I've heard they are great for long distances. Antother bud does rando-rides on them. He's got megamiles!

mkadam68

Just take 'em up a hill. You'll drop them.

hairnet

lately I've really wanted to ride a recumbent but I don't to taste something really good and feel bad that I can't buy it.

evblazer

You might or you might not. The 4 person recumbent team did a pretty good job dropping everyone in the mountains during RAAM this year.

Neil_B

Fastest I've ever been on a bike is 40 MPH, which I hit back when I was a novice. It was on my first organized ride - I bombed a downhill on a comfort bike!

Worst high speed experience I've had was last year on tour. When going down a big hill in Pittsburgh I noticed the bike was rocking side to side. Well, at 35 MPH my trailer loaded with camping gear decided to try to take over the bike. I took a little break once I stopped.

youcoming

If you get even two very strong riders on a tandem they will be hard to pas but they have to be really strong. An average rider on a diamond frame should and I say should be able to pass a tandem or bent up a hill but a 4 person team of experienced strong riders, not a chance. To, OP just keep having fun and if you want to get faster ride with someone faster than you.

cod.peace

Aerodynamics really comes in to play around 20 mph and up. If he was really reclined the more above ~19-20 mph you go the more of an advantage he has - despite the greater rolling resistance of the 3rd wheel etc. There are a few delta trikes (1 in front, 2 in back) on the market, most are tadpoles (the opposite). Let's see... the Hase Kettweisel, and the Rans Trizard are the only fast ones that come to mind.

My friend has a Bacchetta Corsa, which is more aero than my Rans V-Rex. If we race, we're neck and neck to 23 mph, at which point he slowly accelerates away from me and I can't keep up to save my life. We're pretty well matched in normal riding so I think I can blame this on the amount of seat recline.

'bent design is roughly 30 years old since the bikes had a revival in the 70's. Until then they were almost forgotten when the UCI banned them from racing in the early 30's for being too fast (again, aerodynamics) which led to a lesser rider setting world records. 'bent designs are still rapidly evolving more greater speeds and climbing performance. If you want ridiculous speed you can get yourself a fully faired bike like a Lightning F40and cruise around at 28-30 mph. "The F-40's cruising speed is 50% faster than a standard bicycle and 6-10 mph faster than an unfaired Lightning. So if you can cruise at 18 now, say hello to 28mph! "

Me, I'm slow on my 'bent because as we all know it's all about the engine!

jmcdowell

Thanks youcoming, I do plan on riding with some other people soon, I just wanted to build up a little strength before I even attempt it.

cod.peace, it looked alot like the Hase Kettweisel. Being so low to the ground, I'm sure he was a lot more aerodynamic then I was. But it was probably just as much "engine" related.

Mr. Beanz

Tandems, sheesh! There are 2 or 3 tandem teams in SoCal that SMOKE "everybody" on the big climbing rides. On a clmbing ride with 12,000 ft, one team took first place over riders that are superstrong climbers.

As far as bents, there are some riders that do mega miles, big longdistance rides (eg Paris brest Paris/funrace creek 500) and superfast century times. But on the climbing rides(10k+), even my big butt finishes ahead of them by 2 hours.