Author Topic: Wacky races survival rates  (Read 10780 times)

Re: Wacky races survival rates
« Reply #25 on: 27 August, 2019, 05:10:47 pm »
Triplet was three Germans. F073,4,5. Finished in 86:24

Phil W

Re: Wacky races survival rates
« Reply #26 on: 27 August, 2019, 05:16:29 pm »
You can see a fair few on this link nicked from the cheating thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjwTdXo3-1w&feature=youtu.be

I took picture of quite a few of the wacky races at the start, but was really bad at getting the frame card in the shots. Would be good to match  bike make / model / design to times. 

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Wacky races survival rates
« Reply #27 on: 27 August, 2019, 05:31:21 pm »
i went to see the concours bikes on friday - some had very interesting solutions! e.g. what to do with a redundant left sti gear lever on a 1x setup? use it for hi-low beam switching for your dynamo light which is mounted on a custom fulcrum/lever!

I've seen that done (well, not with an STI) on velomobiles, where it's a royal pain in the arse to tweak the lighting angle to compensate for the suspension shifting when you add/remove luggage.

Re: Wacky races survival rates
« Reply #28 on: 27 August, 2019, 07:09:08 pm »

The French were a little less stressed, as the 1,500 of them had the same size of barn to cater for them as the 5,000 etrangers, albeit that the support vehicle documents were handled on that side.

I am not French, but got to be in the waiting queu with them. There was barely anyone standing outside the international barn whilst french side at least 50 of us where eying the clouds very suspiciously around 5 pm.

Phil W



Re: Wacky races survival rates
« Reply #31 on: 30 August, 2019, 09:01:02 pm »

The French were a little less stressed, as the 1,500 of them had the same size of barn to cater for them as the 5,000 etrangers, albeit that the support vehicle documents were handled on that side.

I am not French, but got to be in the waiting queu with them. There was barely anyone standing outside the international barn whilst french side at least 50 of us where eying the clouds very suspiciously around 5 pm.

From one of the security guys I heard on thursday that in on saturday morning there was an enormous line outside for the international barn, while in the afternoon it was quiet for international riders and very busy for French (most of them leaving home on saturday morning and choosing an afternoon bike check time).

Re: Wacky races survival rates
« Reply #32 on: 01 September, 2019, 02:04:16 am »
What was Drew Buck riding this time? I saw photos of him but could not see the bike very well.

Re: Wacky races survival rates
« Reply #33 on: 01 September, 2019, 06:31:16 am »
What was Drew Buck riding this time? I saw photos of him but could not see the bike very well.
It was a modern bike, but a little unusual. It was the one he qualified on. Not sure of the model but it had swept back (north road?) handlebars, wooden mudguards, an enormous cassette. It looked pretty nice, just a bit different.

JonB

  • Granny Ring ... Yes Please!
Re: Wacky races survival rates
« Reply #34 on: 01 September, 2019, 07:44:15 am »
What was Drew Buck riding this time? I saw photos of him but could not see the bike very well.
It was a modern bike, but a little unusual. It was the one he qualified on. Not sure of the model but it had swept back (north road?) handlebars, wooden mudguards, an enormous cassette. It looked pretty nice, just a bit different.
Think it's a Spa titanium frame, maybe the audax one. It's running a 1x set up with a MTB chainset and as noted above a very wide range cassette. Swept back bars, wooden mudguards with a jaguar on the front one.

Re: Wacky races survival rates
« Reply #35 on: 01 September, 2019, 02:51:44 pm »
I wouldn't be surprised if the wacky racers did better than average.  There's a certain confidence required to deliberately make things difficult for yourself like that.

It can easily be misguided confidence based on getting round shorter easier rides on home territory.

Ultimately in most cases you’re just riding a bike that’s 10-20% slower than otherwise (for fat bikes, Bromptons, etc). Unless you’re a +20% rider there isn’t enough margin in PBP (especially with this year’s headwind) to allow for that.

I'm not sure that's true for recumbents.
I suspect that some played the VS card to get an earlier start and still have the full 90 hours. All the earlier start times seemed to go first on pre registration.

Re: Wacky races survival rates
« Reply #36 on: 01 September, 2019, 02:58:46 pm »
What was Drew Buck riding this time? I saw photos of him but could not see the bike very well.

Covering PBP was a bit odd. I suspect that St. Quentin's PR people used to drive the press information, and they'd hand out a list of people to look out for, and a breakdown of nationalities, youngest and oldest riders etc. Drew would be on that list, and that's what drove a lot of the interest. We didn't get any on that this time.

I asked his son Byron what sort of bike he might have when I saw him at the Mersey Roads 24. I saw Drew at the bike-check and after the document pick-up, and Heather saw him at the end. We didn't encounter him on the road.

The lack of media briefing is reflected in the coverage. About the only things that stood out were Fiona Kolbinger, and expectations of a good performance from Bjorn Lenhard. The last thing anyone expected was for the fastest vedettes to be displaced by a velomobile.

Here's what we have of Drew. He's wrong about the Jaguar, Cheetahs are faster.

https://youtu.be/RG427h8kQh8

Phil W

Re: Wacky races survival rates
« Reply #37 on: 01 September, 2019, 04:36:09 pm »
I took quite a few pictures of the specials start but did not get the frame card in most of the shots. I was hoping to look at the bike type and timings. The rider obviously matters a lot as well.

Fastest non velomobile time I can spot is Jerome. He completed this time round on a Zockra low racer which is 622c rear and 451c (20") front. It weighs around 8.5kg built without mudguards etc. His time this year was 52 hours 41 mins. A bit slower than his time in 2011 which was 51 hours 27 mins. Some riders on M5 high racer normally pop up with some times in the 50 hours bracket but didn't capture the numbers of those riding them this time round. I did see a nocom and a home made equivalent but didn't note their numbers either. These latter ones, which make low racers look high, are not practical outside of events

I didn't spot many suspended recumbents this time round, less than half a dozen. Did spot some home made, or ones with home made fairings.

Smattering of times in the 50 hour, 60 hour, 70 hour ranges then quite a few over 80 hours with a number coming in on 86 hours. Plus some out of time but finished.

Edit there is a second recumbent rider Jerome from France, over an hour behind at Villainess but caught Belgian Jerome by the finish. So both 52 hours 41 mins. See from Ivo's photos a M5 rider finished in 64 hours 58 mins.

Phil W

Re: Wacky races survival rates
« Reply #38 on: 01 September, 2019, 05:06:19 pm »
Suspended 20" wheel low racer, under seat steering, heavy recumbent. Out of time by Brest

Phil W

Re: Wacky races survival rates
« Reply #39 on: 01 September, 2019, 05:18:55 pm »
Schlitter Encore High Racer, 79 hours 56 mins

Non suspended mid racer, 24" wheels 85 hours 56 mins

Non suspended low racer, 559 (26" ) rear, 406 (20")  front , mudguards and twin panniers, 86 hours 18 mins

Triplet - 86 hours 24 mins

zigzag

  • unfuckwithable
Re: Wacky races survival rates
« Reply #40 on: 01 September, 2019, 09:05:02 pm »
without knowing riders' fitness (e.g. w/kg) and their motivation to push for their best time, finishing times are pretty much meaningless.

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: Wacky races survival rates
« Reply #41 on: 03 September, 2019, 01:39:01 pm »
without knowing riders' fitness (e.g. w/kg) and their motivation to push for their best time, finishing times are pretty much meaningless.


This is true. Many PBPers are looking to finish in the most-comfortable way possible. That means they ride (and stop along the way) with an eye on the control closing times and finish with just a few hours to spare. The faster finishers take a different approach, usually.
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

Re: Wacky races survival rates
« Reply #42 on: 03 September, 2019, 03:37:02 pm »
I think they had had 10 mins sleep by the time they were at mortagne on the return.
Their hallucinations would be having hallucinations by then....

You're spot on there! We packed at Mortagne-au-Perche on the return, somewhat by accident. I'll try to describe all of it properly in a bit, but basically, I had lost the capacity to make any kind of decision. We're still kicking ourselves, TBH. So close, and we still had the legs. If we'd had the sense to just sleep 3 hours there I think we'd have done it in time.

j4

Re: Wacky races survival rates
« Reply #43 on: 03 September, 2019, 03:47:42 pm »
If we'd had the sense to just sleep 3 hours there I think we'd have done it in time.

(Other half of the Pino, delurking...)

Even if we'd been hors delai that would have been better than abandoning, & I am extremely kicking myself too. But by that point I was making bad decisions for two, when I had long since lost the capacity to make bad decisions for one. It turns out that after 90+ hours without significant sleep, humans go weirdly broken.

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: Wacky races survival rates
« Reply #44 on: 03 September, 2019, 04:04:00 pm »
Too true. For many riders, PBP is an exercise in pedalling vs. faffing vs. sleep management. I think the last is at least as important as the other two.
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

Re: Wacky races survival rates
« Reply #45 on: 03 September, 2019, 04:07:12 pm »
If we'd had the sense to just sleep 3 hours there I think we'd have done it in time.

(Other half of the Pino, delurking...)

Even if we'd been hors delai that would have been better than abandoning, & I am extremely kicking myself too. But by that point I was making bad decisions for two, when I had long since lost the capacity to make bad decisions for one. It turns out that after 90+ hours without significant sleep, humans go weirdly broken.

If only I could have found a throat brush a bit faster in Mortagne, we could have got going again.

rob

Re: Wacky races survival rates
« Reply #46 on: 03 September, 2019, 04:10:51 pm »
without knowing riders' fitness (e.g. w/kg) and their motivation to push for their best time, finishing times are pretty much meaningless.

This is true. Many PBPers are looking to finish in the most-comfortable way possible. That means they ride (and stop along the way) with an eye on the control closing times and finish with just a few hours to spare. The faster finishers take a different approach, usually.

There's some middle ground also.   I suspect I could do a much better time now but I chose to 1) ride briskly and 2) build in some sleep time and finish as fresh as I could after that distance.

It worked a treat but I felt a little deflated having not really experienced much of the atmosphere.   

Phil W

Re: Wacky races survival rates
« Reply #47 on: 03 September, 2019, 11:22:23 pm »
If we'd had the sense to just sleep 3 hours there I think we'd have done it in time.

(Other half of the Pino, delurking...)

Even if we'd been hors delai that would have been better than abandoning, & I am extremely kicking myself too. But by that point I was making bad decisions for two, when I had long since lost the capacity to make bad decisions for one. It turns out that after 90+ hours without significant sleep, humans go weirdly broken.

I thought you were doing brilliantly and hoped the tracking was just broken at the end.  Wiser folks than me have said don't abandon before you have slept and / or eaten.  Easy enough to say when compos mentis and fresh, harder to remember when you are broken and / or delirious. Even harder when two of you aren't thinking straight, and full of fatigue.

There is only one thing for it, you'll have to try LEL in 21, then return for PBP in 23. I plan to join you in the wacky races categories in both of those, and hope I don't get a repeat of the equivalent of dysentery next time.