I guess I clearly don't share the same desire to be riding what is considered a cutting-edge bike in terms of technological development.

At this point I'm just splitting hairs. If all those "ZOMG I SMOKED A ROADIE" threads had titles like "HEY, I JUST CONFIRMED THE FACT THAT A 'BENT IS MORE AERODYNAMICALLY EFFICIENT THAN AN UPRIGHT BY SMOKING SOME UNSUSPECTING ROADIES!" I wouldn't really care. It all comes down to semantics for me.

I've got no problem with that so long as the bike in question complies with all of the rules set forth by the sanctioning body of the race.

Honestly this has been fun. I'm mildly amused that our visitors from the other forums have got their shammies in a wad over it. But the consensus six months ago was that it wasn't a race and that the roadies in the original video weren't trying to make it one. Neither were *most* of the upright riders in the Hilly Hundred videos, which were not much more than raw footage showing what it's like to be on a lowracer.

One thing I've noticed over the years is that the 'roadie smoking' posts have decreased in direct proportion to the decreased number of "get a real bike" or "dork" comments I hear. Coincidence? Probably not.

I remember see'ing a super fast tandom ahead of me and trying to catch up on a giro20 , ( NOT ) but I would sure like to try again with my hurricane , maybe I won't peuk this time lol :D ,,note: a few roadies passed me by the side of the road and said nothing while a tri rider slowed down l and asked if I needed help , I laughed and said thanks no worries

lol casually passing 2 roadies on the hoods in a race they don't know about because they're on a recovery ride. bents make me lol..thanks for the thread

Yeah, some people are rude. As a cyclist, I'd never chastize another cyclist because of their choice of bike. Recumbent or upright, we're all cyclists.

I'm with you on that, BP. Someone took the trouble to post in the road forum so reinforcements could come over and argue with us............... because Greg on a lowracer enjoyed passing some folks. Funny stuff.

You can put expensive components on a bent. As far as using aerodynamics goes, it's only considered cheating if your equipment gives you the edge.

If you get an aero advantage by riding behind someone else (i.e. you rely on them pedaling hard so that you can move fast), that's called strategy. Remember: ride smart, not hard. Your ability to report a decent cruising speed may depend on it.

Totally agree. I would not chastise anyone because of their choice of bike. What they do while they're on that bike, however, is another matter entirely. For example, if they shot video of themselves "smoking" other riders who were not aware of a race going on, I would think that person was pretty dorky, and I might be inclined to say so, whether they were riding a recumbent, upright, or even unicycle (unicyclists are people, too!).

Smoked Roadies? :D

http://www.sacredrock.com/Nowicki's%...smokehouse.jpg

Sorry, the title of this thread just put a really strange image in my head ;)

That's way off. Not enough spandex. Also there is not a recumbent sausage in front of them with a video camera.

Spandex is removed prior to smoking.......synthetics adversely affect the flavour ;)

are you lowracers becoming elitist snobs like the FG/SS crowd...?...kinda what it feels like in here.

you gonna start letting your bike dictate the kind of music you listen to and the people you hang out with soon too huh, or maybe get into an argument about how bikes are about aesthetic beauty and not function...?

Crash, I ride a Diamond Frame Road Bike. I am one of those spandex wearing riders. I was just having a bit of fun with the mental picture. We ALL ride, bent, DF, Single Speed, whatever the flavour.:D

(Now my beloved spouse....a Granola Munching hippie bent rider ;), but she's a cyclist still :D )

:shrug:

I figured flavor (taste?) wouldn't matter to someone willing to go through the trouble of "smoking" someone, only to get that withered, depilated skin and the tough under-saddle meat.

Just lookkin at that makes my hinny hurt

yeah, pretty much seems that way to me too.
Not all of 'em of course, but enough, unfortunately.

Crash,
This is my "Smoking Roadies" recumbent bike concept. It incorporates splitter technology to go real fast and smoke every single roadie I see on the road and bike path. The #1 advantage of this recumbent speed machine is the integrated carbon porcelain toilet seat. I can go on the fly and keep spinning while I pass thousands of roadies at century races and bike tour races. I can do century races and bike tour races nonstop

My next roadies smoker recumbent concept will have dual video cameras, GPS, umbrella, XM radio with big speakers and flag. I want to race in style while smoking up the roads with my high tech recumbent.

http://bp3.blogger.com/_3vzB3gabkDs/.../Got2GoCom.jpg

The "Hilly Hundred Stampede" lowracer made that little girl in the trail-a-bike cry when he dropped her.;)
http://lh5.google.com/jim859n/R1C4AG...trailabike.jpg


Seriously, I like racing videos. I'd like to see a video of a lowracer taking on a group of racers that actually know about the race, especially if the course had some hills and some cornering, to make it interesting.

Lame, and boring.

Everyone there knew it was a race. What fun is that? No sneak attacks! And only 32 MPH? Wussy.



:D

Excellent, as usual. I've seen many a time when I could have used that bent. :D

Oh!

Big News!!!!

Something for Bentlingers to gloat about for the ages.


A recumbent won several hill climb events. Not just "hilly hundreds", but pure hill climbs, no flats, no downhills.

Check it out: http://lowkey.djconnel.com/2007/overall/

The overall winner won on a 'bent! Isn't that amazing!?!?!





















Oh....did I mention he had a 500W electric motor? That is why it says "Hybrid" for his category. That's still cool though, right? I mean, a 'bent beating roadies is never un-cool!?

I wonder........
 

I wonder if the bent racer rode one of these beauties to win those competitive hill climbs. This is the bent ticket for flying up hills when the hunt is on to smoke roadies

http://bp3.blogger.com/_3vzB3gabkDs/...prop+steed.jpg

Riding like a triathlon, no drafting?
There's no difference between using a bike that has better aroedynamics, and drafting. The big question should be, would the winner of RAAM do better on his upright, or on an aerodynamic ride? Same rider, different bikes. Muscle groups adjusted to both types of ride would tell which one was better.

There's a Huge difference.
Drafting introduces all sorts of tactical elements into the equation - when do I take a pull, how long, when do I jump & try to break, etc. How many races have seen loooong breakaways amount to nothing because the two knobs at the front start playing mind games with each other as the peloton closes in? That's what makes it fun to watch!

And beyond that, better aerodynamics and drafting are not mutually exclusive.

It really is a lot like sailboat racing. Hobies are fast, except they don't point well (by contrast AC boats aren't all that fast, but they point obscenely well). But in general, Hobies are fast enough that the tactical games of covering don't have much meaning. It's a different game. A fast guy on a Laser or even a Sunfish is going to know how to optimize his boat and himself to beat the other guys on that kind of boat. It doesn't matter that the Hobie skipper comes in and says "Ha, I smoked a 'fish today."

It doesn't matter because it's irrelevant.

now that's funny.