Originally Posted by recursive
He said his commute was 20mi each way and something like "this thing is putting out 200 watts". I may have made a phrasing error in my post above, but it sounds like it was definitely Mike. I didn't mean to imply the distinguished Stokemonkey wasn't capable of more, I was just trying to repeat what he said.
And if you're out there reading this: Hi Mike!
Hi recursive (and Todd et alia)
Yes, that was me. When I saw you ahead of me I wound the Stokemonkey to the top (450watts) and my ~200 watts (tempo pace for me) to catch you. It looked like you had good form, and I like catching interesting looking riders. As I approached I saw the fixie, and the creative head gear, so backed the stokemonkey off a notch and kept the tempo pace. I could see your shadow in the headlights of cars, and figured you were a serious rider, so took my own pace to superthreshold but throttled the stokemonkey down a bit. I didn't want to drop you, as that would be really unfair, but thought I could give you a nice semi-motor pace through the bumps on our route. It was a kick riding through that area at the same pace as the cars. I hope some of them enjoyed the show. It certainly looked interesting from the shadows we were casting.
The 200 watts referred to what I guesstimated it was putting out at the time--we were cruising along the path at a leisurely 15mph or so, and I was enjoying our conversation (and also doing a bit of a sales pitch for the Stokemonkey and the Xtracycle). The Stokemonkey can put out a consistent 450 watts for over an hour with the big battery, propelling a 100lb bike/gear combo to a 20mph average through city traffic.
Bikebuddha--Sell the scooter. An X/SM is much more fun, and more practical.
Side note: I was also almost run off the road last night. I have 2 headlights, 2 taillights and a reflective vest with flashing tube--I look like a freakin' christmas tree on wheels--but some DWS (driving while stupid) person on the phone decides to make a right turn immediately in front of me, I mean ~1-2 feet in front of me. I was able to bring 270lbs of organic and inorganic matter to a dead stop w/o hitting the car, or being hit by the car. I love disc brakes. I read the driver the riot act, and demanded they get off the phone.
