Myqul

Might be cuz of the squished knackers

garysol1 

Sorry guys....I just got here. Can someone fill me in on what I missed.....the condensed version preferably.
Thank you for your time

umd

It is untrue because it is not true for me. I am part of "anyone", and I can ride for 8 hours without experiencing discomfort, so your claim is false. I cannot prove to you that I did not experience discomfort short of dragging you on a ride with me and showing you that I am still comfortable at the end, but similarly you cannot prove that every single person in the world would experience discomfort after riding a DF bike for 8 hours.

I see, guilt by association. I can't refute one bogus claim of yours without assuming the position of everyone else in the thread? I am not "everyone" (although I am part of "anyone"). I viewed this thread because I was bored and wanted to see what all the commotion was about. I found your claim to be patently ridiculous and felt the need to refute it. That is my contribution to the thread, to try to correct misinformation. You would do the same regarding misinformation regarding bents.

I used profanity? Ass? I was referring to my body part. If it was profanity, it would be censored, as they are very heavy handed with the asterisks around here. Anyway, If ONE PERSON (e.g. ME) can ride without discomfort, that disproves your "fact" that "anyone" would get discomfort. It doesn't really matter if it applies to everyone. I never claimed that everyone can ride for 8 hours without discomfort. Some people can't ride for 8 minutes without discomfort.

neilcooper

No worries.

I'd agree that's usually the case ... e.g. From here;However it's by no means unheard of for it to start well before 300 miles.

umd

This is getting silly. Psimet and I are talking about 8-11 hours. RAAM takes days. You are comparing grapes to watermelons here.

Anyway, here is the winner of this year's solo RAAM. Does this look like a man suffering from neck and back pain?

Myqul

There's a big argument/discussion/fight going on between members of the recumbent community and members of the road bike community about who's penis, sorry, bike is better/bigger/faster than who's. Some people are taking it way more serious than others.

neilcooper

I'll be nice for now, because you seem to have been one of the more sane posters up til now. So, a simple question. Did you read my post #329 before posting this?

umd

Considering that we both posted at nearly the same time (you posted before me, but while I was typing), I'd have to say no, I didn't see it.

However, I agree with psimet that it still doesn't apply to us. Again, we aren't saying nobody could have issues riding a DF bike. And I don't think anybody would reasonably claim that nobody could have issues riding a bent. Our point (psimet, I hope you don't mind me typing for you), is that a properly conditioned and fit rider can be comfortable and not have any problems for time periods up to 8-11 hours of riding. A double century takes 10 hours at 20mph and 12 hours at 16.7mph. At those speeds, 300 miles would take 15-18 hours, so even if you are talking "less than 300 miles", it is still signfiicantly more than we are talking about. Could you point to links or articles where people got this "Shermer's Neck" in less than 300 miles? In a few minutes of googling I didn't see anything other than the "typically between 300 and 1000" that you mentioned before.

chipcom 

1. Hammocks are for wobbly, slow, bearded, fat guys who can't ride a wedgie without sitting on their Johnson.

2. Wedgie riders are elitist snobs who cling to obsolete technology and wear funny clothes.

3. Tandems are for wussy looking for divorce.

4. Sitting on a saddle for 8 hours causes massive amounts of pressurized hot air that needs to be released.

5. Hammock drivers need HRMs to ensure their hearts are still beating.


I think that about covers it.

Pedaleur

Better to be upright and a maybe even a little sore than just, you know, just lying there.

Oh, wait, I didn't see where you changed it to 'bike'.

Reynolds 

In cycling it's not about who has the bigger one, but the lightest, right?

neilcooper

Agreed. Except for saddle sores and perineum damage.


I recall hearing about a 24 hour racer suffering the first twinges of it before the half-way point. Whether his experience has made it to the realms of the www is another story. Probably a little obscure to hope that it would. When I have more time I'll try & find examples that have made it to the net. In any case the article says TYPICALLY between. Doesn't that mean you can't rule it out occurring earlier? I mean, as you said earlier these are exceptionally fit & well trained athletes. They also train with weighted helmets to lessen the chance of Shermer's neck developing. Are you willing to advise every person who is considering entering their first 12-hour that they have no chance of developing Shermer's neck, relying purely on your own anecdotal experience of cycling for 11 hours on the odd occasion?

Finally, if you can ride a DF with no discomfort whatsoever for 8 hours, and then when you ride 11 hours you have the same experience, what's to stop you one day trying 14 hours? What's to stop someone, emboldened by your anecdotal experience doing likewise. I mean, it's only a few more hours right?

umd

I've never had a saddle sore, and I never had numbness. Everything I've seen about this talks about poor fitting, numbness, etc. I believe that there has been enough research into this that the current saddle designs to a lot to aleviate this. One of the biggest problems is the cushy seats that put a lot of pressure on the soft tissue. When I sit on my saddle, I'm sitting on the sit bones.

Hey now, I didn't said it could never happen. Our bodies are complex and it doesn't take much sometimes to bring a pre-existing condition to the fore. Anyway, I still maintain that it is possible to be comfortable on a DF bike for periods up to 11 hours (and that I don't have experience past that). You brought "Shermer's Neck" into the discussion, but as a condition that typically doesn't affect people until 300-1000 miles, it is not particularly relevant. Whether or not it could or has happened before 300 miles does not affect whether or not it is possible, or even likely, for people to be able to ride 8-11 hours without any discomfort. I am not making recommendations to people, I am only offering my own experiences. But I would believe that it would be highly unlikely for someone doing their first double century to get the condition. It certainly hasn't happened on any of the doubles I've done.

I would also wonder that if somebody doing or training for RAAM got the condition before 300 miles, if it was because they had already weakened or fatigued their neck due to prior training without proper recovery.

neilcooper

I have no problems with that statement.

Very good point.

BTW did you see the paragraph I added/edited to my last post?

wanders

Bent riders don't get saddle sores, they get bed sores.

umd

No, I had not seen it.

I would hope that nobody is using me as a role model. I still believe that the condition you are describing is exceedingly rare, even among ultra-marathoners. Not saying it could never happen but I would be surprised if it happens much if at all in distances up to 200 miles. As for the brevet riders, those loonies are in their own little world, I make no claims for them.

I will say that anyone who increases their distance too quickly is ripe for pain and soreness. That is why everyone advises working up to a century or double slowly. Maybe a bent could potentially have an advantage there, but I'd bet that someone would get sore and uncomfortable riding one all day without the conditioning as well.

neilcooper

Maybe so, but there's a fair chance that this unconditioned hypothetical person would be less sore & uncomfortable on the bent than if they'd done the same time/mileage on a DF.

umd

I'm not going to get sucked into a comparison, but nice try

SingleSpeeDemon

I am faster on my road bike but happier on my recumbent.

neilcooper

Well it's 11:14 pm here so I'm off to bed.

Enjoyable chat.

Here's a random, irrelevant pic to ponder as I leave.

Rutnick

I am so freaking tired of hearing about saddle problems and shermer's neck from bent bearded riders.

Get a freaking fit on a DF, have your sit bones measure and buy the appropriate saddle for YOU. I've spent 10 hours + in the saddle and never had issues.

Shermer's neck? Yeah, I've heard of it but never and I mean NEVER in 30 freaking years of riding met anyone that suffers from it. Plus, I have two fused vertebre in my neck unrelated to any cycling issues and never have neck problems. NEVER.

gruffydd

Maladroit cretins, all. Ride whatever you want. I find it humorous that the OP is afraid, of me? I do ride a bent. I also race my other bike.

Rutnick

well, stop freaking wobbling on that bent and stay off the MUP.

Terex

A fellow that I ride with had to drop out of Paris-Brest-Paris (1200 km) last year with that problem. He has also done the Mt. Washington Climb a few times. He did it again this year. I wonder what the percent of recumbents entered in those events were? (Sorry if this has been addressed already)

gruffydd

I'm a bit dodgy mate, but I don't wobble. You been spying on me?