[HAMR] Tarzan (Kurt Searvogel)

[Mr Larrington]

Very close to Mississippi now.

[hillbilly]

Steve putting it down on the road enough now for you Hillbilly?

Not too shabby.  He needs more Crinklycare, it does him good.

[IanDG]

Kurt is currenlty near York. I do hope they can both be in a place of the same name at the same time at some point in the year 

Yes, for a second I got confused at what tracker page I was looking at.
You know, as he cruises up near that border line between Alabama and Mississippi, he's going through some pretty remote areas actually. There ain't much around where he is at the moment.
Bet the roads are quieter too.

Sorry I've got to say something that's irritating me a very little bit: I think Tarzan deserves this thread to be kept for discussions/observations about his attempt - and not so much hing else.
I think we were right to have a new thread each day for Steve [ would be a bit silly for Tarzan though].
It keeps the focus. 

He's visited Inverness a few times - closer to me than Steve's managed

[Revellinho]

Just had a look at the Google Streetview of the roads over there, heading for Aliceville.  If there is any amount of traffic, riding on 'the strip' at the side of the road does not look like it's much to write home about.

[Mr Larrington]

Looks like Missississississippi didn't appeal.  Must be bad if he's heading for Mordor AL instead.

[sg37409]

Equally, if not more, important is the time in hand Kurt has to play with because he is quicker than Steve.

I think this is right.  Kurt has time in hand, and if he's "following steve and a wee bit more" theres no reason to think that he won't do the same on time as he may or may not be doing on miles.
Steve has the pedigree and (early days still) shown that he can step his plan up to the next level: Still no sign of any panic reaction to the miles he's trailing tarzan, just seems he's in control and following his plan. 
Kurt must have the pedigree too, given what he's achieved, he's less well known to us yacf'rs.   Stuff like "kurt must now realise what he's up against" sounds daft.  *If* he was ever in doubt in 2014, by the time he started on Jan 10th he knew.

Go Steve. You can have my 20 miles from today if it helps. 

[mrcharly-YHT]

I'm sure it has been said before, but Steve is not racing Kurt

[Von Broad]

Looks like Missississississippi didn't appeal.

Looks like it could well do.

[Wowbagger]

He's approaching a bridge now. That is one hell of a lot of water.

https://goo.gl/maps/7mCMA

Edit: the big tease! He went right and stayed in Alabama.

[Von Broad]

Looks like Alicia could well be parked up in Columbus.

I see from the map there's a University for Women in Columbus.
Well there's an interesting thing. Looks as though it offers education for both men and women these days, but didn't originally, by a quick look at the web-site. Might have to have another look at that tomorrow. Tarzan, my old fruit, you're introducing us to new aspects of American Life along the way.

[Von Broad]

He's approaching a bridge now. That is one hell of a lot of water.

https://goo.gl/maps/7mCMA

Wouldn't take much to fall into it either after a few !

[Mr Larrington]

Might be planning a play on the Natchez Trace Parkway tomorrow.  Or going to Furryboottoon MI.

[Ningishzidda]

He's approaching a bridge now. That is one hell of a lot of water.

https://goo.gl/maps/7mCMA

Edit: the big tease! He went right and stayed in Alabama.

Its pronounced "Alibammi".

[Ningishzidda]

http://autoplusraceway.com/apcm/templates/tickets.asp?articleid=56677&zoneid=68&navsource=tickets

There's a motor race event in northern Florida this weekend.

He'd better steer clear. It attracts pistonheads and Hell's angels.

Note the small print.
"No glass, alcohol or weapons will be permitted."

[hillbilly]

Looks like he has left the rough biker gangs behind.  But he's probably got enough on his plate with Alabarmy rednecks.

Yesterday was interesting.  It was almost like Steve and Kurt swapped their normal routes.  Steve was flat and fast.  Kurt bumpy and not so fast.  Possibly a useful "calibration" of both that allows a modicum of comparison against recent past rides.

[Oaky]

Looks like somebody flagged Tarzan's 10th March ride on Strava.

Looking at the analysis tab, I wonder if it's to do with the section between ~89 and 100 miles where he's averaging 20 mph (in common with most of the ride) but his heart rate drops sharply to an average of 38 bpm?  The road there is predominantly downhill (Selection     11.3 mi     -89 ft     -0.1%     33:35), but much less so than e.g. ~125 - ~137 miles (Selection     13.2 mi     -282 ft     -0.4%     37:30) over which section his heart rate averages 102 bpm.

Does Strava hide segments for a flagged ride?  I think it must because if not, then he's found 200 miles of US road with absolutely no strava segments!

[geraldc]

Garmin has his heart rate at 0 for 3 points in the ride https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/716696361/share/0?lang=en

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

Looks like I might have a trip to North Carolina in August/September.  So maybe I will get the chance to ride with both Teethgrinder and Tarzan this year.

[Auntie Helen]

I often have interface issues with my Garmin HRM when it underreads or stops reading altogether when the connection to my skin isn't great (being female does not help with HRM positioning anyway) so perhaps this is what happened. If he's not sweating at all and doing a downhill then maybe his skin is too dry to give a good reading.

[Oaky]

Some pictures that will help with interpretation of my post above (clicky for bigness!).

Overall view



Zoom on anomalous section



Zoom on comparison section

[clarion]

Hope this gets resolved.

[Oaky]

The ride from the 26 Jan is still flagged on Strava because ofthe motorised transfer section, but that hasn't stopped the UMCA including it (I think, now, they might have discounted the motorised section, although the reports I read so far are conflicting on the subject and I haven't checked for myself yet. ETA: I checked it just now and the "official graph" shows 175.9 miles for that day compared to 181.9 in Strava and Hoppo's sheet, so it looks like they have discounted the transfer)

It will stop it from showing up in Kurt's monthly MTS stats etc. though.

[Ningishzidda]

I hope he's not a 'cling-on'.

[Jonas L]

I hope he's not a 'cling-on'.

As opposed to a 'gibb-on'?

Yesterday also had a section where the HR looks rather strange. My interpretation is that it's a problem with the HR belt. If this section would be "normal" the average HR would be well above 100.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/716696361/share/0?lang=en

[Oaky]

That's precisely the section referred to above.