05 Oct 2013, 11:43

F-40 Video of Strava KOM 5.1 mile segment @ 28.1 mph

Started out the first nine miles pretty easy averaging 18.6 mph. Once I reached Ronald Reagan Blvd I knew I was feeling strong. I had the video camera mounted on my helmet and turned it on just before rounding the corner to head north on Ronald Reagan. I had seen an upright bike cross the intersection about 1/2 mile in front of me so I started pouring it on to see if I could catch them.

I’m starting to acclimate and really understand how to ride the F-40.

Once I got the bike speed up to 27 mph I put the front chainring into the big 60 tooth gear and just kept mashing those big 175 mm cranks at 80 to 90 rpm for all I was worth. A little bit of coasting once the speed got about 35 mph to catch my breath - but it was pretty much an all out effort most of the way.

11 minutes and one second for the KOM. A full 30 seconds faster than the last time I tried it and a full minute faster than the 2nd place professional triathlete! The best I ever did on this segment with the Musashi with fresh legs and wind at my back was 21.1 mph giving me 49th place on the KOM.


Today was a very fast day!

Two days of rest combined with a small amount of time to ride (work commitments) makes for a very fast ride.

Four KOMS and two 2nd place finishes!

bordered

http://app.strava.com/activities/87060471


Here is the Strav KOM of the 5.2 miles segment that I average 28.1 mph.

bordered http://app.strava.com/activities/87060471#1799414316


The next KOM was a little shorter at 2.2 miles.

bordered http://app.strava.com/activities/87060471#1799414306


This is also my first time having a garmin one mile lap split averaging 33.1 mph.

To the garmin split lap info

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/385948794

02 Oct 2013, 20:39

F-40 Easy ride 30 miles @ 18.6 mph

Easy ride today. Got started late because of rain in the morning. A little breezy. Winds from the south 10 mph.


bordered

http://app.strava.com/activities/86489710


bordered

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/384740200

01 Oct 2013, 19:37

F-40 Another easy ride 51 miles @ 18.5 mph

Beautiful ride today. 51.2 miles @ 18.4 mph. View from the top of a hill heading north on Ronald Reagan about 2 miles north of 29.

pict


bordered

http://app.strava.com/activities/86246017


bordered

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/384262987

30 Sep 2013, 20:21

F-40 Videos from ride today

Just went for a relaxing spin today. Mounted the Contour+2 video camera on my helmet. Kind of an interesting perspective.


Heading south on Williams (FM 2338) approaching the corner of Ronald Reagan I happened to have the camera on when a 1950s Porsche 356 pulls up to the intersection and makes a right hand turn to pace me for a little while. We stare at each others yellow vehicle admiringly.


High speed coasting is a lot of fun with the F-40. Here I’m maintaining an easy 20 mph at a 100 bpm heart rate when I get to the downhill at Ronald Reagan and the back entrance to Sun City.

I stop peddling and just coast up to 36 mph.

A Prius starts to turn right pulling out in front of me. Once I take the lane they realize immediately how fast I am really going and quickly come to a stop.


garmin

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/383755277


strava

http://app.strava.com/activities/86004008

28 Sep 2013, 01:47

F-40 Video testing

Finally mounted the video camera to my helmet. Just a short, quick ride today to test it out.

Need to point it down just a tad.

Hopefully the weather will be good tomorrow for the Wac Wild West ride.

26 Sep 2013, 22:49

F-40 Easy training ride

Easy ride today after two medium effort days of riding.

Saw the ICE Vortex trike again heading the other way. Since it was an easy ride I turned around and rode with the guy a little bit to gab. The rider is Brian P Buckmaster who lives in Sun City Georgetown TX. He just got the Vortex early September. Nice looking machine!


garmin

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/381598929


strava

http://app.strava.com/activities/85063804

25 Sep 2013, 23:17

F-40 - Is it meeting my expectations?

A FB friend of mine asked me today - ‘Is the F-40 meeting your expectations?’

Well, I had to think about it some.

I now have a total of 647 miles on the F-40 and another 236 miles with the fairing off as a P-38.

The total miles are a combination of training miles and four charity rides (two with each bike):

Date Bike Miles Charity Ride
Aug 4 P-38 50 Tour de Jalapeno
Aug 17 F-40 60 Copperas Cove Classic
Aug 24 F-40 101 Hotter 'N Hell Hundred
Sept 21 P-38 66 Conquer the Coast

P-38

Of all the three 2-wheel recumbent’s I own (Optima Baron, Catrike Musashi and Lightning P-38) the P-38 is now my go to bike for easy, relaxed riding.

The one negative with the P-38 is you cannot have an aero-belly. Because of the closed riding position, any aero-belly will be bouncing off the tops of your legs as they rotate through the closest position while cycling. I have lost 10 pounds since getting the bike and now no longer seem to have this issue.

The Baron and Musashi are each probably slightly faster. The P-38 is more refined with a lot less quirks. I’ll probably end up selling the Baron and the Musashi.

I wasn’t really expecting to get a P-38 when purchasing the F-40. Regardless, the P-38 is an outstanding bike.

F-40

Although I have ~650 miles on the F-40 I still have not acclimated to the bike. Additionally, I still do not have the bike tuned correctly.

It probably took me about 1,000 miles to get the Musashi setup, tuned and myself acclimated. I was hoping that I could do it quicker on the F-40 because of my prior experience with both the Baron and Musashi. Alas, that turns out not to be the case - the F-40 is so much different that the other bikes that whole new skill sets and tuning are required.

Streamliner Expectations

Every hot, fit, young rider on a high-end time-trial bike sees the yellow fully faired streamliner as a target. You can, and will, go faster then them. The problem is that around the Austin TX area there are a lot of high end road bikes. You will be constantly challenged by uprights and riding pretty fast all of the time. This is definitely making me stronger. My average speeds and distances are improving. My legs ache all the time.

Acclimating to 30+ mph

Life above 25 mph is interesting. Life above 30 mph is frightening. I have not yet learned how to relax at greater then 25 mph. Above 30 mph I end up having a death-grip on the handle bars. I know this is probably a mental thing, but I really need to figure it out. Maybe I need to do upper body workouts to improve my arm strength.

The Wind

The wind turns out to be manageable. I don't yet have a complete reflex action to passing traffic.

Riding Easy and Relaxed

I have yet to manage a long distance (50+ miles) easy paced relaxed ride. The F-40 rides always seem to turn into races. A couple of times I have started out to do an easy 50 mile ride where I ride 25 miles out, have lunch, then ride 25 miles back. These have always turned into racing efforts.

The Magical Ride

With each bike there comes a ride where everything just clicks - and the ride is incredibly special. I've had a couple of training rides like this on the F-40.

Early one Saturday morning is was pretty cool temps and no wind. I captured an incredible Strava KOM averaging 26.6 mph for 5.2 miles beating several professional triathletes. It was a magical ride.

I have not yet had a charity ride that was magical. The first charity ride (Copperas Cove) had very bad road conditions and ~3,500 feet of climbing. The second charity ride (Hotter ‘N Hell Hundred) had the last 1.5 hours in temps over 105 degrees.

Overall Impressions

IT IS VERY FAST. I ride the brakes a lot.

The F-40 is a very demanding bike. In many ways it has exceeded my expectations. I have come to realize that my personal capabilities need to increase to meet the performance capabilities of the bike.

25 Sep 2013, 22:40

F-40 30 miles @ 20.5 mph

Another beautiful day for a ride. Hit three stoplights - 30 miles @ 20.5 mph.


garmin

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/381207904

24 Sep 2013, 22:25

F-40 Medium effort, good speed

Nice ride on the F-40 streamliner this morning. I’d forgotten how fast this bike really is.

30 miles @ 21.4 mph.

Had a hard time getting motivated to ride this morning. Finally decided to just go for an easy ride. Just a few minutes into it I realized again just how fast the F-40 really is.

Time to push is a little bit and have some fun.

Looks like I’ll have this Strava KOM for awhile.

kom


garmin

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/380723174


strava

http://app.strava.com/activities/84620738

23 Sep 2013, 02:04

P-38 Easy ride to Blue Hole

bluehole

Beautiful day for an easy recovery ride to the Blue Hole today.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/380238674

Put the fairing back on the bike for tomorrows ride.

Removed the dual kickstand.