What a beautiful day for a ride!

Tandems in front, then velomobiles, then 100 milers, etc., etc..

Just kidding - but there does seem to be this zone of velomobile respect in effect going on (do they think it is going to explode?).

Packing up for the Trip

The Quest is its own packing case. Friday afternoon I load everything I’ll need while riding the Quest into the Quest itself. Then I load the Quest into the minivan. I’ll also load into the minivan an ice cooler of drinks and a couple of chairs for relaxing after the ride. Now the big tire pump and small box of tools and loading the minivan is complete. The Quest is easier to pack and load into the vehicle for a trip than any other bike I have.

The Start

It was slightly overcast the whole ride which made for a cooler ride than usual. Even then, once when grinding slowly up a really steep hill, the garmin inside the Quest recorded temperatures of 100.4 degrees - but the average temperature was 82.3 so it was pretty nice the whole ride.

Lots of people came by while waiting for the start to talk about the Quest. Several people of talked with me a HHH came by to talk with me again today. Ron Swift stopped for a few minutes and I congratulated him on his Texas Time Trials performance - just amazing. Sunday when doing this write up and looking at my Strava numbers I would find out that Ron would finish today’s ride in first place in 4 hours and 28 minutes. Darn, that’s fast.

The ride starts in downtown Waco right next to Baylor university and the ride was well attended by many university students. I would say the most popular comment was “That’s cute!”. The most popular question today was “Did you make that your self?” (because surely nobody would buy something like that?).

The beginning of the ride was pretty fun. Initially I started immediately behind the tandems. That did not last for long. A very fast tandem couple stayed in front of me for a couple of minutes but then it was just me and the pace car for a while doing about 23 mph.

After about a mile (three minutes into the video) the fast “A” group catches me as I’m fiddling trying to put on my music. There are some serious looking faces in the group. They are not huffing and puffing - but they’re not gabbing and talking either. I had slowed down to 24 mph by the time I finally get the music going (Kings of Leon) then it is time to retake the group and see what they got. When I slow down at the intersections and they catch up, on the straight and level or slightly downhill I pull away. I think they finally had enough of me around the 5 minute mark and they lay down the hammer passing me doing about 25 mph. Ron comes up on the left side of my to warn about rough rode just up ahead and then he tucks in behind the last guy on the fast pace line.

My heart rate is getting up around 150 and I know I cannot sustain this effort for 100 miles - but man I’m having a blast riding with these guys.

We hit a little bit of a down hill and I bump up to 27 mph and pass the whole pace line. They catch me again a few minutes later on the next slight uphill. I tuck in behind them right on Ron’s tail and try to keep up with the group. This lasts for a couple of minutes but it is just too much effort for me on the uphills to keep up. Eventually, around mile 4, on a long sustained uphill, they finally drop me and I slide back to the “B” riders.

A Beautiful Day

This video taken just outside Crawford TX is what most of the ride looked like. Nice rolling country side. Always having a couple of riders around.

Although the road is rough chip-seal the three wheel independent suspension of the Quest really smooths out the ride. Any little downhill and the Quest quickly zooms up to 30 mph. Around the 4:40 mark Jackie Swift (Ron’s wife) passes me on her Bacchetta high racer. She is with the pace line group averaging 20 mph for the ride. We are about 30 miles into the ride at this point in the video.

The first 42 miles where mainly uphill and a lot of the fast hundred milers passed me.

Here you can see that the first 40 miles was mainly uphill. My strategy was to push hard for the first forty, conserve for the next twenty miles, and then starting around mile sixty, really pour it on to gain some time until I hit the big uphill around mile 78. Going up the long hill at mile 78 was tough. Lots of people were off their bikes walking. But then after the long uphill it was basically coasting the next 20 miles to the finish. Well, ok, mostly coasting.

Here you can see my average speed and heart rate for the ride mainly matched my pre-ride strategy.

Looking back at other 100 milers I have done this graph of speed and heart rate says that this is the fastest, least effort, 100 miles I have ever done. The Katy Flatland 100 mile ride two years ago was just 5 minutes faster on the Baron with about the same heart rate but the amount of climbing was just 10% of what is was on this ride.

Downhill

Here is a nice little video of a short 30+ mph downhill on a really smooth road on the ride. I wish all the roads were like this.

Check out the reflections of the clouds on the front hood of the Quest.

Rest Stops

I only quickly stopped at two rest stops to use the restroom. Time off the bike was only 10 minutes.

Every 10 to 12 miles there were well manned and supplied rest stops. At the time it seamed that at every rest stop the same large family was waiting for me and as the Quest approached they would stand and cheer and wave. After several stops I started looking for them at the next one.

As I finished the ride the family was there to cheer me on. The dad came over to talk to me and said their 15 year old son was in the ride and happened to always be just a few minutes behind me. They saw him off at the start and then drove to the first rest stop and waited for him to pass. I would always go through the rest stop a couple of minutes before he got there. After the son would leave the rest stop the family would drive to the next rest stop and wait again for the son. Again, I would arrive at the rest stop a couple of minutes before their son. He ended up getting ahead of me in the last 20 miles but around mile 90 the route was mostly downhill and I ended up passing ton of rider him included. He finished about 5 minutes behind me.

In this short video just after the rest stop on the left side of the road you can see the son on his bike getting his water bottle refilled from his family.

Screen shot of the family on the left side of the road with the son on the bike.

Finished!

And then before I knew it the ride was over!

Weekly Maintenance

The Quest has some peculiarities when it comes to maintenance.

Since on almost every ride I’m frequently going faster than 40 mph, I get very obsessed with making sure the Quest (especially the tires) are in excellent shape. I’ve developed this routine that every Thursday I roll the Quest on it’s side and examine the tires and drive train in minute detail.

Pump the tires up to full pressure. Slowly rotate the wheels while examining each tire for bulges, cuts, rips, or anything that looks suspicious. I always have spare tires and tubes in the garage and I replace anything that even remotely looks suspect.

Also, on Thursdays I wash and wax the body. A clean, slippery, body makes a big difference on the top speed of the Quest. I did not know this and I waited for three weeks before I washed it the first time. I was putting about 200 miles per week on the Quest and after 600 miles the surface of the Quest was all rough like it was sand blasted.

Well, there are two parts of the Quest body that really need washing.

If you are riding your bike, and you hit a bug, the bug will bounce off, and just maybe, leave a little mark on the bike - but most likely the bug just bounces off. When riding the Quest and the front of the Quest hits a bug at 40+ mph the bug is obliterated all over the front of the Quest, just like when a bug hits the windshield of your car.

When slowing grinding up a steep hill, a good technique is to hang your arms out over the side of the Quest. This opens your chest allowing easier breathing and exposes your upper body to more air flow for greater cooling. Well, you are still sweating like mad so after the ride, down both sides of the Quest, are streams of salt crystals from your running sweat as it evaporates while running down the outside of the Quest. Hint: you should also have a towel laying in the bottom of the Quest to soak up the puddle of sweat that is accumulating at the same time you are making salt rivers on the outside of the body. These salt crystals on the side of the Quest are hard to see, but just run your hand over the outside of the Quest side and it will feel like course grained sandpaper.

So, every Thursday wash and wax the Quest.

Strava:

http://www.strava.com/activities/200307944

Garmin:

http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/600323083

Another beautiful day for a ride in the Quest.

Sometimes Robyn thinks she is funny - but she’s not. I found eagle feathers stuck in the Quest’s (AKA Yellow Eagle?) seat back this morning.

Of course, they could be buzzard feathers.

Strava:

http://www.strava.com/activities/188836318

Garmin:

http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/581145174

Started out early. Legs felt good. Lots of targets.

Heading north on Ronald Reagan, just as I was approaching 195, I notice a dot receding in the distance at a pretty good pace.

So I decide what the heck, lets chase down another rabbit. Took me over 2 and 1/2 miles to catch them. It turned out to be two really fit guys on a high end tandem.

The best part was I got the strava KOM for the 3.2 mile segment - 29.8 mph average. They were a little surprised I caught them :)

Today marks the one month anniversary of getting the Quest. My first Quest ride was August 2nd and I’ve ridden 801 miles this month. All on the Quest except for 12 miles I did yesterday on the P-38.

Strava:

http://www.strava.com/activities/187990818

Garmin:

http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/579579163

Pushed the legs some today - 29.6 miles @ 20.4 mph and 1,088 calories.

Felt good the whole time.

Average temperature 90.6, max temp 100.4 degrees.

Strava:

http://www.strava.com/activities/186978917

Garmin:

http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/577781938

When I was at the Catrike Rally earlier in the spring of this year I saw a Carbon Trike and took a couple of pictures.

Click the pictures to enlarge to full size to see how beautiful the trike really is.

Upgrades to the Quest.

Racing Hood

There are two hoods to choose from. I’m really leaning towards the Schermer 2 piece hood because of the ability to remove it and store in the back of the Quest. Austin TX has a lot of days that start out in the low 50s and then by early afternoon are in the low 80s.

The other challenge is that a lot of charity rides (all?) around here require the use of a certified helmet. How does a helmet work with these hoods?

Sinner Hood	Schermer Hood

Risse Shock - completed 19 Aug 2014

I ordered a Risse Shock from http://www.backcountryrecumbentcycles.com who are just down the street from http://www.risseracing.com/velomobile_dampers.shtml who make the shocks - about $200.

Took about 15 minutes to replace the standard shock that shipped with the Quest when it was new 4 years ago.

Wow! What a difference this makes in the ride! No more yo-yo-ing when peddling hard. The Quest really tracks around corners now and the rear wheel just sticks to the ground like it is glued there.

If you don’t have one of these on your Quest you really need one.

Another beautiful day for a ride. Getting more in shape - 55.7 miles @ 18.1 mph. Met Robyn at the biker bar afterwards for lunch and a beer.

Strava:

http://www.strava.com/activities/186149139

Garmin:

http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/576426926

Getting hot outside.

Note: Do not configure the Garmin to show you the temperature when riding. “It is better to think you are hot than to know you are hot.”

Saw a trike on Williams heading south from Ronald Reagan towards the entrance to Sun City. Was moving about 30 mph when I passed him but waved hi anyway.

Pretty fast time today because of all the targets heading back on RR towards Williams.

Strava:

http://www.strava.com/activities/4344284646

Garmin:

http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/575529969

People cannot believe that the Quest fits in a Toyota Sienna Minivan so Robyn took some pictures of me loading it up.

The way I load it up is a one person operation.

Prep the minivan:

• take the two middle seats out of the minivan.
• put a sheet of 4’ by 8’ coroplast on the floor of the Sienna.

Load up the Quest:

• Roll the back of the Quest up against the bumper of the Sienna.
• Put a small strip of coroplast just under the front of the Quest for the nose to slide on.
• Lift the rear of the Quest and slide it into the Sienna until the rear wheel is resting on the floor of the Sienna.
• Balance the Quest gently with one hand while walking to the front of the quest.
• Lift the front of the quest and roll the quest into the Sienna.

The rear of the Quest will fix between the two seats. The seats can be all the way back for tall drivers (like me). The rear of the quest will ride up and sit on the middle console between the two seats. Make sure to leave the arm rests down. Keep pushing the Quest until the rear wheel bumps against the center console between the two front seats. There will be about two inches of extra room between the front of the quest in the back of the minivan and the rear door of the minivan.

Remember to lock the brakes on the Quest or the thing will be sliding back and forth those two inches banging against the rear door (don’t ask how I know).

The quest is 9 feet 5 inches long. The rear of the quest hangs over the center console by 1 foot 5 inches - see the last picture.

With the quest in the minivan there is room for another bike next to the quest. When traveling to Hotter n Hell this year we put Robyn Catrike Expedition (on its side) next to the Quest along with all our luggage, coolers, helmets, shoes, camping chairs, tire pump and other biking paraphernalia.

Getting to Wichita Falls

Thursday Robyn and I loaded up the minivan with the Quest and Catrike Expedition and headed to Wichita Falls to stay with Gary and Gay Bradford in Iowa Park.

After a nice relaxing meal Thursday evening Friday morning saw us getting up bright and early to start getting Gary’s stable of bikes ready for people to ride. I rode so many recumbents Friday morning I don’t know if I can remember them all!

Bike-E, Bacchetta CA2.0, Longbikes tandem, Rans Screemer tandem, Cartike 700, Bacchetta Cafe - I’m sure that there were a couple more but my mind went foggy after the first couple of hours of riding.

Packet Pickup - Vendor Show

Early afternoon most others start arriving and we head into Wichita Falls to pick up our registration packets. The place is definitely hopping with most of the 15,000 riders streaming through in the afternoon to also get their packets.

If you have never been to HHH100 before make sure to visit the vendor booth’s inside Thursday afternoon. There must be a few hundred vendors selling everything you could imagine that is even remotely bicycle related.

I picked up several little doodads I’m been wanting - you know, those things you just have to have but are too lazy to get unless they are just sitting right there in front of you.

But the thing I really wanted was the cryogenic unit. It is some kind of stand up thingy that you walk into and it covers you up all the way to your neck. I’m not sure how it works but it seems to freeze the lower part of you body for just a brief few minutes rejuvenating your entire being. They showed a lady entering the unit about my age and then coming out a few minutes later looking 20 years younger. I figure I’ll need about 4 hours in the thing then I’m golden to go hang around the buff 20 year old triathletes.

Robyn and I make the local news channel at the vendor show. We get our 15 seconds of fame around the 56 second mark.

Friday Night Spaghetti Diner

After a fantastic spaghetti diner at the Bradford B&B we spent the early evening loading up all the vehicles with bikes, trikes, the Quest and the big four wheeler. Shoes, helmets, water bottles, every must go in the vehicles tonight because we have to leave bright and early in the morning to get to the starting area by 6:30am and we don’t want to be fumbling around in the dark at 5am in the morning trying to get everything together.

It was predicted to be a typical summer day for the HHH100 - in the low 100s for temperature and winds of 10 to 15 mph directly for the south making for a difficult headwind the last last 10 to 20 miles.

It sure is hard to sleep the night before the ride knowing that Saturday will probably really be ‘Fry-day’.

The Start!

The ride starts just at daybreak. We got to the parking area a little late but were able to thread our way up to the front area where the recumbents were stagging. Talked to lots of other recumbent riders I knew. Jim Reeves from RBent we just ahead of me when I finally parked and he came back to talk to me. A friend of Karl Murdock came by to say high before the start. Lots of people walked up and took pictures of the quest.

I think I was the only velomobile and I did not see any F-40s either.

Before I could get everything set inside the Quest they were already starting the ride.

I’ve only had the Quest about 3 weeks now and had put just over 550 miles on it, so I thought that I had everything sorted out ride wise. But, alas, just a couple of miles into the ride I notice several issues that I would need to sort out in order to have a successful ride.

First, I left my un-thawed sports mix back in the cooler in the minivan. Bummer, I pulled the frozen bottle out of the back storage area of the Quest, took the top off to let it thaw out, but it still took about 2 and 1/2 hours to thaw enough that I could start drinking the sports mix. I ended up immediately also pulling out my emergency packets of high energy chews and endurolyte pills which I started downing on a regular basis to make sure I consumed enough calories to not bonk.

The second problem was that I crimped my camelbak hose when I was inserting it into the 64 oz vacuum insulated stainless steel beer growler. Lots of iced down liquid but nothing coming through the straw. I slowed down midway to Iowa Park to to unscrew the top of the growler and pull the camelbak hose out of the top which is when I discovered the crimped hose. I had filled the growler to the brim so liquid was sloshing all over while I’m rolling down the road at 18 to 20 mph, weaving all over the place, trying to straighten the hose out. No deal, the bottom of the growler was one big frozen block of ice and the the hose could not be inserted into the growler without being kinked. Well, I had another backup 50 oz vacuum insulated stainless steel packed into the back of the Quest so I swapped tops on the two growlers and only used the smaller growler for the rest of the ride. The big 60 oz growler still had a block of ice in the bottom of it three days later. Notice the reoccurring theme here - the Quest can hold lot of stuff.

Good video here of lining up at the start, meeting lots of other recumbent riders and the first several miles of the ride (sub-titled Jane!).

The Pelotons

The fast riders form groups to try to achieve certain timing goals.

Of course, the fastest riders are going as fast as they can. At HHH this usually results in a ride of around 4 hours. You can pretty much plan on a 25 mph pace for these really fast riders and then figure out where you are going to be on the course when pass you going at a blinding speed. There is at least 50 to 60 riders in this group. Very impressive as they pass your. Last year they passed me at when I was at the 22 mile mark. This year they passed me at the 23 mile mark. Maybe I’m a little faster this year at the start :) As the group is going by Ron Swift on his Carbent leans out the side of the pack and says hi! I talked to Ron Swift (who finished first?) after the ride and he finished in 4 hours and 6 minutes just ahead of professional rider Ricardo Hincapie.

The next big peloton group to pass you are the ones trying for a sub-five hour 100 mile time. This is a pace of 20 mph (for 5 hours!), and again like clockwork you can work out the math to determine where they are going to pass you. This group passed me at the 27 mile mark and there in the middle of the pack my neighbor Justin Eggemeyer leans out and yells hi!

HHH100 High Speed in a Quest

The first 31 miles of ride are slightly uphill with a couple of long accents where lots of riders passed me. But starting after mile 31 it was my turn to have some fun.

Here I’m doing pretty much 30+ mph for several miles passing lots of really good riders like they are standing still.

The last few minutes of the video show me cruising slowly through one of the rest stops. The ride is always the best supported ride in the state of Texas.

HHH100 High Speed 2

This is probably the only time I’ll ever pass Mark Leuck on his Baron. I’m on a slight downhill run with my speed varying between 20 and 40 mph and at 2:40 into the video come upon a group of riders where I notice a low-racer also overtaking them on the left.

I can tell that it is Mark because he is wearing his signature Prison garb. Because the uprights are strung out across the road I have to stop peddling and I run up onto the rear of Mark, who is also held up, I have to apply the brakes and slow down to 29 mph until there is a slight opening on the extreme left.

Needles to say the group was very surprised when both Mark and I blew by them. Mark was on a 20 mph average for the ride so I know this group thought they were hot stuff. Really, on the slight downhill, they were no match for a Baron low-racer and a Quest.

Hell’s Gate Shortcut

Since I was missing one bottle of sports drink I decided that I should not do the 100 mile and instead take the Hell’s Gate Shortcut which ends up returning to meet up with the 50 mile route and making the total mileage for my ride about 72 miles. If you don’t get to the gate by 12:30 pm they force you to take the shortcut anyway so that you can actually finish the ride at a reasonable hour.

When I tried to go through the gate two hours early the policeman was very surprised, but after a little hand waving on my part he eventually let me though. Three or four miles later I rejoined all the riders who were riding the 50 mile route.

Billy and Tyler

Soon after joining up with the 50 miles I catch up with Billy Younts riding his Musashi and Tyler (Bradford?) riding a Catrike 700. Tyler had just realized that he had dropped his phone somewhere prior and was coming to the conclusion that even if he turned around he would never be able to find the phone. Bummer.

Sheppard Air Force Base

Part of my motivation for taking the cutoff was that the 100 mile route does not go through Sheppard Air Force Base. Last year I missed the AFB because I did the full 100 miles. This year was able to go through the base and take some good video.

They have jets lined up and down the taxiway with the pilots available to answer your questions and take pictures with you.

Of course the pilots were a big hit with the women.

The four wheeler was a big hit also:

Here is some video of entering the base, riding through the jets. And then at the end of the base route was the best part - they have airmen lined up in a gauntlet cheering you on as you ride through!

Make sure you view the last 30 seconds of the video!

Finishing the HHH

It was now over 100 degrees and everyone had been riding for almost 4 hours. The route was heading directly into a 15 mph headwind and you can tell the 50 milers were really suffering.

I’m on the last few miles of my 72 mile route - the wind does not affect the Quest at all.

Make sure you watch the video at the 1:50 mark to hear all the people yelling out about the Quest. (captioned)

Finished!

At the end I’m still feeling pretty good! Lots of people asking questions. Robyn meets me and takes this photo.

Ron Swift’s Carbent

I met up with Ron after the ride and we trading sitting on each other’s bikes.

Ron in the Quest. Ron finished the 100 miles 20 minutes faster than I finished the much shorter 73.9 miler!

Me on Ron’s Carbent. (Maybe it’s not all about the bike?)

By the numbers:

My longest ride so far in the Quest.

Strava:

http://www.strava.com/activities/184915279

Garmin:

http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/573115534