Neil_B

This morning, after riding to breakfast with Neil F., I decided on one of the false flats that surround this area to break out into a sprint. I hit 25 MPH! I passed Neil as if he were doing a track stand! Then the motor began to conk out and he caught up to me. :-{ Still, it was a good sprint.

epcolt

It would be nice to have a "turbo motor" for sprints.

Tom Stormcrowe

The right amount of beans in the diet and you can have rocket assist if you want.

(51)

I don't believe my bike has ever gone that fast. How long did you keep that pace?

Neil_B

About a minute. My fastest sustained time trial was in June, 3 miles at more than 16 MPH on Excelsior, the Navigator. Today's sprint was on my new ride, Roark.

guybierhaus

Hmmm. Cars get a boost with Nitrous Oxide (I think), wonder if a small oxygen cylinder in a tyre inflater could do the same thing? Would this be doping?

Pupsocket

I do my best sprints downhill while coasting.

How did you come up with the names for your bikes?

Neil_B

Excelsior is from the poem by Longfellow. Roark is the name of the protagonist of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead.

bdinger

Whoa, NICE Neil! I take it you are likely quickly getting enamored with the new toy then, eh?

Neil_B

Once I work out the fit and saddle issues, yes. The narrow saddle is going to take some getting used to.

Pupsocket

I've named my cars in the past (full-sized Caprice wagon: Farnsworth; 20 year old Crap-deVille: Regis). I'll have to come up with a name for the 'bent.

Neil_B

Here's the quotation that spurred me to name my bike for Howard Roark. It comes in the first part of the novel. Roark is being expelled from an architectural training school for his refusal to blindly copy past styles and models. He's arguing with the Dean over the poor design of the Parthenon:

"Every man creates his meaning and form and goal. Why is it so important - what others have done? Why does it become sacred by the mere fact of not being your own? Why is anyone and everyone right - so long as it's not yourself? Why does the number of those others take the place of truth?"

I can't be like other riders for physical reasons. I'm a Clydesdale, and a crooked one at that. So on the bike I must create my own meaning, form, and goals. I can't accept that something will "work" for me in cycling because it's worked for others.

bdinger

Ah yes, I remember when I switched from the waaay-to-small-for-me late '90s Raleigh MTB with the big padded Bell seat to my Hardrock. That was... different. It took a serious dose of getting used to, that's for sure!

Then I went from the Hardrock to my 7.3FX, a switch that still is weird to me. Both have a fit that I enjoy, but they fit terribly differently. I, however, could never get used to the stock saddle on the FX. That thing is just sheer pain, something I hear echoed by other owners. However, I hear that they changed the saddle for '08? Initial reports are that it's much better, or just as bad, depending on who you talk to.

Anyway, good luck with it! Sounds like quite the rocket