Time warp

Things I haven't posted about but should have:
Heartland MTB series, friggin awsome!
A week and a half in Colorado, granny gear fun! Really.
Lisa and Jeremy had their first born, Reed Sievers!
HPRA wins at Northbrook and Kenosha, suprise! Really?
Iowa Games RR, sandbagging as a cat3.
Cordova 40K 54:53, slow. Damn corner.
Loomis mtb, 2nd expert.
Still killing the Oval, even when not expecting to.
Elkhart 12K 15:41, slow again.
Target: UMCA record book.

Maybe someday

Waterford

Another fun year at the Waterford raceway. This year a premier 50 mile hpv race was scheduled on Sunday instead of the shorter lap races of the past. The 200foot flying sprint, hillclimb/coastdown, Kilo, and 12lap race made up Saturday's events. The thought was to draw out the serious competitors eager for the bigger race, unfortunately only a handful of us made it out. Truly a shame as this course is a blast.

Once again I'm racing a borrowed bike, many thanks to Rick Gritters for loaning me his #4 race bike. Its nice to be in the same slipstream as my competition. I've come to the realization that I just don't have the free resources mid-season to build, so the projects will have to wait til this fall.

Saturday's events went well with placing strongly in the top three in every event, finishing second overall in Stock class. The twelve lap race was a good indicator for races to come, with a four bike paceline for the majority of the race. A little strange having to use USCF tactics during an HPRA race, as they are not typically pack racing venues. And just like a USCF race I did too much work and lost 1st and 2nd to the sprint.

Sunday's race was a little different as well. Sean asked if I was going to do anything stupid like go hard from the start, well someone had to, and since Frank couldn't make it, well... Seemed to work pretty well. I just kept my pace high for the duration, hit the hill hard every time, and squeezed every inch out of the track that I could. Warren caught up to me after several laps and we shared the work load best we could, but eventually the hill took its toll on Warren. Sean was trying to conserve his energy from the start and payed for it by being gapped off quite a bit right off the line. Before Warren popped Sean was slowly catching up, but afterwards they both slid way back. Had the race been a couple laps longer I would have lapped them both as they were only about 100 feet ahead of me at the finish. Too bad Northbrook doesn't have a hill.

FAST 50 Results
(1) Rick Gritters, Age40-55, Streamliner, 36laps, 30.29mph, 51.16miles
(2) John Simon, Age40-55, Streamliner, 36laps, 30.18mph, 51.16miles
(3) Dennis Grelk,Age39under, Stock, 31laps, 25.84mph, 44.06miles
(4) Sean Costin, Age40-55, Stock, 30laps, 25.13mph, 42.64miles
(5) Warren Beauchamp, Age40-55, Stock, 30laps, 25.13mph, 42.64miles
(6) Dave Balfour, Age40-55, Streamliner, 30laps, 24.87mph, 42.64miles
(7) Tony Leland, Age40-55, Streamliner, 30laps, 24.87mph, 42.64miles
(8) Jeff Hunn, Age40-55, Stock, 29laps, 23.63mph, 41.21miles
(9) Mike Mowett, Age39under, SuperStreet, 28laps, 23.41mph, 39.79mile
(10) Rich Sadler, Age56over, SuperStreet, 27laps, 21.90mph, 38.37mile
(11) Paul Pancella, Age40-55, Stock, 25laps, 20.41mph, 35.53miles
(12) Paul Bruneau, Age39under, SuperStock, 24laps, 19.86mph, 34.11mile
(13) Bruce Gordon, Age56over, SuperStreet, 23laps, 19.51mph, 34.11mile
(14) Wally Kiehler, Age40-55, SuperStreet, 23laps, 22.98mph, 32.69mile
(15) Jim Iwaskow, Age40-55, Stock, 23laps, 18.61mph, 32.69miles
(16) Bill Frey, Age56over, SuperStreet, 21laps, 16.87mph, 29.85miles
(17) Maria Castrejon, Women, SuperStock, 16laps, 13.03mph, 22.74miles


Anyway, this wasn't the full test I was expecting without Frank and Alan present, but it was an encouraging result. Especially considering that I was racing with a bruised hip and ribs from last weeks mtb race, and about 500miles training on a bent this year(368 of that being at the Sebring 24h). So maybe I'll get a few more miles in before Northbrook, and hopefully we'll get a few more fast people to race against.
See ya in July.

Storms brewing

So my race seasons are in swing.
So far:
24th overall 24 hour finisher and age group course record at the Sebring 24 hour RAAM qualifier, liner testing. (I can do better than this, sheesh)
4th place finish expert level XC mtb race
3rd place finish 6hour XC mtb race
32 place of 150 at the Ouachita Challenge mtb enduro(7,000feet of climbing, 60 miles, 1 broken frame)
4th place cat 4 RR finish

Tomorrow starts the full effort sprint training at our local Night at the Oval series at Hawkeye Downs Raceway. I'll be double checking my course setups for the HPRA race this September, ironing out a few details. You can check that out at my race site: www.midwesthpv.blogspot.com

Wednesday will be my first TT of the year. I'm definitely stronger now than I was last year at this time, but how much?

Will I be able to keep up with super Rick, Alan, Frank, Sean, Mike? Guess we'll find out soon enough.

Still working on equipement, light and low is the goal. Sounded simple enough. More details on that latr. Dang carbon shortage.

Results

So I competed in the Sebring 24 Hour RAAM Qualifier in my homebuilt streamlined recumbent on February 18-19 in Sebring, Florida. This road event started at 6:30 am with three 3.7mile laps on the Sebring International Road course, followed by an 89mile out and back long day loop, then laps on the 12 mile short day loop till dark, then they move you onto the track again to do 3.7 mile laps until 6:30am the next morning. The RAAM Qualifier is a non drafting category, in order to qualify for RAAM you must complete 450miles in a 24 hour non drafting race. Not that I have any intentions of doing RAAM.

So that was pretty fun.

I guess I lapped the field during the three starting laps on the track and then held a one mile lead till the turn around on the long loop at 48 miles out. Averaged well above 25mph on the way out. Then the sun came out and I fried. My support vehicle didn't catch up until after I had made my first lap on the short day loop, this means I cooked the whole way back on the long loop with the windsheild on and my camelback on my chest at about 17mph. I ditched them as soon as I got to the second checkpoint, but all my food was still in the support vehicle. I made twelve laps on the short day loop, two less than the leaders. It was not exactly a flat course, I was using all 9 gears on the day loops. However, the hilly sections were where I seemed to catch the most people. They would coast down the hills where I would be winding up the momentum to shoot over the next one.When nightfall finally came thats when the real fun began. Hot laps on the Sebring International Road Course, in the dark, wee! It cooled down enough for me to put the windshield back on, and my speeds came back up. The HID lit the corners and straights up quite well. All was well other than the fact that I couldn't stay awake. 27mph for three laps and 15mph on the next as I swerved all over. Still had some of the fastest lap times though, just couldn't stay in the bike as long as the leaders. Darnit.

Not my fastest, but I spent more time building the bike/fairing/trailer than training so thats about what I expected. Good amount of streamliner training here, bike handles good, and I finished. No crashes, although I did fall over twice. I weighed the bike today. 55lbs dry. No wonder those little hills hurt....still. Deep tissue massages are darn painfull, but they work. Time to build something lighter. Time to start training for Ouichita.

All times include stops
366.7 miles in 23:49:57
First 101.5 miles in 4:24:45
3rd fastest 3.7 mile night loop at 8:45
24th of 79 overall 24 hour finisher16th of 41 overall RAAM Qualifiers(nondrafting)5th of 8 overall recumbent RAAM Qualifiers

Jim Kern won the 24hour event overall on a Bacchetta recumbent with a new course record of 516 miles. The Bacchetta people were my best cheerleaders, great folks.

Finishing placings here and splits here
http://altavistasports.com/results/2006results/bikesebring24hour

Times up

Dave Balfour and I will be leaving for the Sebring 24 Hour (www.bikesebring.org)in Sebring Florida tonight, along with Dave's girlfriend Becky and my parents as support crew. You can check out the track here http://www.na-motorsports.com/Tracks/FL/Sebring.html The videos give you a pretty good idea what I'll be riding around all night. Should be pretty fun.

The trailer is tested, loaded, and ready to go. Graphics came out well.

My streamliner is functioning now, finally. Worked through a few bugs in poor chainline and draggy components, as well as a few ground clearance issues. Scrapped the dolly wheels when they bent at the end of a test ride, better off without the added complications and weight anyway. No Rotor cranks for now, replaced the Primos with Comp Pools, new chain and derailieur, eliminated the chain rub, the bike is much faster now.

The shell isn't as pretty as is it was, now that it has holes carved in it for a dolly wheel system that is no longer being used, and now it has foot holes in the bottom for starting and stopping. I hacked the top off to make it more streetable for the Sebring 24 hour, as the all the daytime riding will be on public roadways. I would say the bike now fits into the HPRAs Superstreet category better than the Streamliner category, but it was built for ultra events and that seems like the better route to go for that.

I did my first streamlined ride last Saturday. About 75 miles in 3 1/2 hours. Hilly route, 12-14mph winds gusting to 22mph. Kinda like a cross between sailing and bobsledding, pretty fun. The thing just coasts forever and 30mph is rediculously easy to hold on the flats. My current gearing has me spinning out at 37mph and grinding the steep hills at 9mph, fine setup for my local river valley riding. I should gear it up for flat course racing but I figure I'll leave it this way for the 24 hour. If I finish the race averaging above 25mph I will be more than happy, especially considering the number of long rides I have done in preparation.

It'll be fun scaring people on the night loop. I should be moving considerably faster than most people and the HID lighting may have them looking for a car to pass them. Lucky for them it's only a Twinkie on wheels.

So lets see if I can break 500miles in 24hours, eh?

Getting closer

Well at least I've ridden the Tour Quickly a couple of times now. I've got to get a good distance ride in on it sometime this week to make sure all is well and fix that annoying chain to fender rattle, otherwise so far so good. The trailer is finished and functions quite nicely. A little heavier than I was hoping, but so is the bike. The car seems to pull it just fine and hey, it matches...sorta.

Nose is on and reinforced, using Pex tubing as reinforcement. Two hoops and lateral reinforcement bars on the sides. Now how to make the the front wheel turn without ruining the aerodynamics, hiding the jockey wheels, mounting the tail, and woking on lights.

Front pex reinforcement tube.

Pinstripeing with Plastidip. Sticks to Zote, flexes, doesn't rub off immediately.

Epoxy painting the frame.

Recommended reading: Hoerner's Fluid Dynamics, Tamai's The Leading Edge, The Paterek Bicycle Framebuilding Manual. Masses of knowledge in an understandable format.

Secret weapons: 12Ah 14.8v polymer Lithium Ion battery, tiny superlight 13W Metal halide helmet light, all the bits and pieces to wire up the bike with flashers ect.

Inside the trailer. Home away from home, eh? I don't have any daytime pics of the outside yet, just happy to have it finished at this point.

So my friend Dave Balfour, his friend Becky, and I attended the 2006 HPRA race directors meeting last Saturday. I am now officially directing an HPRA race at Hawkeye Downs Speedway September 16-17, 2006. And now I've got to work out the details...coming soon....Warren :)

Tour Quickly

Okay, so I finally got my butt in gear and brazed a bike together. Wasn't sure what to build, but I wanted a test mule for front wheel drive, rear wheel drive, different seat angles/positions, handlbar configs, ect,ect. I needed something cushy for ultra endurance events that would fit inside my foamshell, and turn around on a two lane road for time trials. And I needed to build it pretty quick and easy, since I'm just practicing up on my brazing. I'd never seen an ultra low long wheelbase so thats what I settled on.

The design:
73" long wheelbase
dual 406 wheels with room for tires 2.1 and smaller
135mm spacing on both ends for various drivetrain setups
5.5" seat height at 25-40 degrees
80 degree HT angle with about 2" trail
Remote steering with about 7" of tiller
Using a single front ring, step up pulley to raise my final gearing, and a short cage rear der with a wide range cassette in hilly areas /close range for typical race venues.




I used .049"thick 1" square tubing as my main frame tubes to help simplify layout and speed the build process. Not the light option, but it sure makes mitres easy. I triangulated the crap out of the front of the frame to help counter pedaling forces and ran the main tubes under the seat side by side to maintain vertical compliance while countering lateral movement as well. A bit of triangulation on the seat braces also to eliminate lateral movements.


I used dual steering rods to keep them under tension at all times. I'm not a real fan of indirect steering, but a three foo long tiller doesn't work too well in a shell. And I don't like trusting small steering rods under compression, so a little redundancy eases my mind.

It ends up looking like a really low version of a Tour Easy, hence the name Tour Quickly. The fenders were a late night addition, stolen from an old Stingray clone. Lowrider, eh? They are really there to keep the tires from rubbing the shell and avoid spray of course.

Believe it or not I can turn this bike around on a 10' wide lane. It turns real sharp, this was a bit of a suprise. With a little practice I should be able to whip it around real quick for TTs

The ride is very cushy as planned, maybe too cushy. I don't have enough ride time on it yet to truly tell.

Weight. I'm scared to weigh it. Just trying to keep it lighter than the Varna with the shell at this point. Lots of tubes and big brazed fillits means lots of weight.


The bike seemed rediculously long until I put the shell on it, then it's not too bad. The wheels are all the way to the ends of the shell. This puts the spare room within the shell closer to me, which is a good thing for ultra endurance where I will be carrying water bladders, food, and lighting systems.

As you might have noticed from the earlier pictures, I'm using a dual dolly wheel setup. I figure I don't want to be having to think about which side the dolly is on at the Nth hour, and they're set wide to keep me from just flipping on over anyway. Might be handy in heavy winds as well. The controls for these are still in the build phase. I know they work good when deployed and good when retracted, hopefully they work good while deploying and retracting :)

I've also got a fair bit of work to do on shell attachment, hope to finish that up this coming weekend.



These are pictures of my handy dandy fixture table at work. Nice chunk of scrap from the shop.


Here's my good friend and racing competition Rick Gritters of Pella, IA welding up my fork. Prolly the strongest part of this bike.

Another good friend, Richard(Deke) Gosen of Decorah, IA. He operates Oneota River Cycles in Decorah, great shop. Deke is my parts source and wheel man. He also puts on some the greatest mtb races in IA.

A note about the wheels on this bike. They are the nicest things on it. DT 240S disc cassette hubs, laced to Velocity Aeroheat rims with single butted 14/15 ga DT Comp spokes. Nice, light, fast, stiff, bling.
Trying out the huge Primo Comet HD tires in the pics. 406 2.1"110psi smooth tread just like the normal Comet, only bigger and beefier.

The seat I'm using is a Dave Balfour special. Very nice carbon hardshell, lightest part on the bike. Step one of conquering the world.

Anyway thats all for now. Back to building.

First shell and lowracer mockup

So, I have my first Zotefoam shell molded, albiet unfitted, hence unfinished.

As soon as I get my lowracer finished I will fit the shell to myself and the bike, and do the final trimming. I am not happy with my first seams as they are not all that straight and kinda lumpy. However, I am improving with each seam as I have found new ways to ease, speed, and improve construction.

The shell came out quite nicely. Suprisingly self supporting, I should not have to reinforce the shell much at all. All in all, it is quite smooth, and should make for a smokin fast HPRA/TT/Ultra marathon 'liner.

Next up is finalizing and buiding the lowracer, molding a Vivac windscreen, and thinking about bombay doors or jockey wheels for starting and stopping.

Toolroom setup

This weekend I've been working on getting things setup for Zote foam shell molding. Namely getting a stand built for molding over the Varna, building an overhead trolley system for the radiant heaters, and building a Zote foam welder.

Zote foam (aka: cross-linked polyethylene) is a semi ridgid, rubber like, durable foam that can be heat formed to fairly complex shapes. It has several advantages over other various shell construction methods.

Zote vs Composite shell
1. Much lighter
2. Much cheaper
3. Much quieter
4. Doesn't slide as far. Takes crashes much better(no lost paint, composite layers) only scuffs a bit.
5. Not quite as fast above 30mph due to shell wind deflection and rougher surface texture. This may be fixable, we'll see.

Other shell options would be thin sheet aluminum, which has similar performance to composite
including crash characteristics.
Coroplast, which is quite durable and cheap, but doesn't conform to complex shapes, and isn't all that light or cheap compared to Zote.
Or Dacron cloth, which shares Zote's characteristics except for the fact that it is harder to create complex shapes with, doesn't offer much crash protection, and isn't all that durable.
I may play with a Dacron/Zote mix shell design later.

Zote is a very rider friendly shell material. Light for climbing hills, fast enough for most race events, and cheap/durable enough to commute in.

This is the molding stand for the Varna. Zote foam will be draped over the top of it, pulled down by the bungees, and carefully heated to shape by radiant heaters.

These are the radiant heaters. They are hung on an overhead trolley system that runs about half the length of my shop. The heaters are counter balanced by the window weights on the far side of the trolley. This way I can float the heaters over and round the shell to get the heat where its needed and away from where its not.

I ended up having to guy my pulley system off of the end poles of the building, as the hanging weight of the heaters was twisting my rafters more than I was comfortable with. I built the pulley system about 15' long to accomodate longer projects I have in the works. I still need to finish the cross cables so that when you pull one side of the trolley the other side will follow without twisting. Should have that finished up midweek.

This is the sketch of the Zote foam welder, a blatant copy of John Tetz's. John is the Zote foam master, all of what I know about foamshells has come from him. We also have a set of shell molds that will be used later from John. Thank you John. You can check his projects out at http://www.recumbents.com/mars/

The welder is nothing more than a soldering gun with a flattened tip (so as not to leave bulges in the foam) that melts the foam together. I need to fill the gap in the blade as it still tends to catch a little.

The table and mechanism is necessary to keep from bending the thin blade over, to keep from melting things you don't want melted, and to aid in the welding process. In order to weld two peices together, you step on the petal(which raises the blade and turns on the gun) and push two peices of foam across the blade while holding them together. Takes a little practice to get a nice seam, but when done correctly, creates a very strong bond. This is pretty important since pretty much no adhesive seems to work on the stuff.

Well, back to work. And training. Gotta have an engine for this HPV, right?

Freehub body

This is a custom 15 gear freehub body that I wire edm-ed out of A2 steel. The fit came out real nice. I was suprised that I guessed the geometry right the first time around.
I still need to make the alloy slider that goes inside to hold the cluster together and house the bushings. This Freehub body is for a sliding cassette shifting system I'm working on for a streamliner project. Similar to the Mango's (http://www.kingcycle.co.uk/hpvs/Kingcycle.html)shifting system, maybe.

Intro

This is a site dedicated to the worst sort of bike nerds. The sort who eat, sleep, and dream everything bike. A few of us have even figured out how to braze and think outside the box, beware.