Breakin Story - Melo Velos MV Gazette

I've been covering Dave and his conversion to Recumbent's since the beginning and now look...

http://www.mvgazette.com/PDF1/VineyardGazette120310-1.pdf

Here he is showing off his new wheels last summer at MV Family Campground!

Dave you're just awesome!

Register for my ride early and come ride with us!

The Ride to Martha's Vineyard

Quest On Time!

Shelly

Here is the official race report.

We have all heard of Bike Porn but XX?  Holy Crap.....LOL

David

**********************************

Cyclists,

Our impromptu Time Trial in Katama worked out much better than expected with 9 riders participating...

We plan on continuing this series every Thursday night until further notice, so please spread the word and come join in, help out, or spectate...it's all good!!!!

I took the liberty of placing participants in classes based on time.

XX Class

David Whitmon holds the record for fastest time under human power with a blazing 12:54 in his aerodynamic velomobile.  Congrats David!

Class A (Under 14 minutes)Lee Greathouse 13:22
Greg Berks 13:26
Frank Jennings 13:30

Class B
Rodrigo Morales 14:17
Chris Sykes 14:40
Jim Miller 14:50
David Murphy 15:00
Fergus Henderson 17:28
The unofficial course distance is 5.4 miles but has not been certified yet...
Very little time separates the riders in each respective class so this should provide some spirited competition over the summer!!!!
If you are interested in racing, volunteering, or for general information, please contact David at trigeekmv@yahoo.com or via cell 508-326-8479.

Come join us for some friendly competition.  All levels are welcome!!!!!!
A special thanks goes out to our VOLUNTEERS who made this event a safe one...thank you to Nikki, Jim, Sarah, Aaron, and Greg for assisting us.  The only thing we need to work on is our bike holding skills right Greg?

Ride safe!

I flew by the finish line and went about a half mile down the road before turning around.  I got back to where everyone was gathered and climbed out.
I walked up and asked, "Who won?"  There was a mass "You Did."

I was looking at the times and said "Holy Shit."

Frank had left 60 seconds ahead of me but by half way up, heading north on the right fork I could see him in the distance.  A longer course and I would have been passing folks.

I beat Frank by 36 seconds. When I said "Not bad for a 80 + pound pedal car" he took a look at my Quest and wanted to know just what kind of watts I was putting out.

I hit that 180 degree turn just right. The right approach,  the right gear at the right time.  I don't know how fast I was going through that turn but I slingshot right through it.

"There was one fellow who I thought wasn't to happy with my win but the rest of the guys were all having a blast."  

Lee, the young man who came in second was riding a steel framed road bike.   There were some VERY high end Time Trial Bikes on the course, carbon fiber and titainium and one Merlin made of both materials with a very expensive TT rear wheel. I beat that one by over 2 minutes.

I'm hoping this will bring more folks out.   I can see it now. "Beat the hippy in the pedal car".....LOL

David

Shelly

Here is the official race report.

We have all heard of Bike Porn but XX?  Holy Crap.....LOL

David

QVMMV

Quest Velomobile -MS Ride Martha's Vineyard

Today was the much anticipated MS Ride.

The 100 km ride that I participated in in my velomobile Quest started at 9:00 AM this morning.
I started in a bad place in the huge mass of riders and had to work my way through the group. I don't know how many cyclists were in the 100 km itself but there were a total of just under 700 riders for the whole event with the three different length rides. It wasn't until 6 miles of the 62 mile course that I was finally off the front. I even passed the police cruiser that was leading out the pack. About 12 miles into the ride and my second granny gear climb, a strong group of roadies and their hangers on caught and passed me. They would pass me on the hills and I would scream down the hills and pass them in return. At 22 miles it was just me and an especially strong group of 8 guys who rode together like the workings of fine Swiss watch. All other riders in that initial group were way back. At 26 miles I had passed the group of 8 but hit the last big hill that necessitated the use of my granny gear and they flew past me and up that hill and they were gone. At 30 miles I crested the last hill of any worth (Abel's Hill) for the ride and did the next 10 miles on rollers at 25 to 35 mph in the big chain ring. At 42 miles I caught up with the 50 km ride that had left at 10:00 AM. The 50 km course is the last half of the 100 km course and pretty flat. Working my way through the 50 km riders my average speed was dropping. This was a section of the course on windy narrow roads for about 3 miles which slowed me down even more. Once past that I was able to open it up again. Where most riders were on the available bike paths I stayed to the road the whole ride and except at one point around 55 miles I was in the big ring the whole way.
Between 35 to 50 miles I had been experiencing severe cramping of my inner thighs. I couldn't turn the pedals at full power with out cramping.  I just kept eating, drinking and spinning out the miles and attempting to massage the cramped muscles as I went along.
I stopped at the water stop at around 56 miles to enquire as to how many 100 km riders were up front when a line of 50 km folks blasted by and I went after them. It was about 3 miles after that that I had finally dropped the last of them. At 62 miles-100 kilometers, I pulled back into the start/finish at the Island high school.

I rode the 100 km in 3 hours and 6 minutes with a maximum speed of 43 mph and a 19.9 mph average for the entire ride.

I wanted to get it under 3 hours but there is always next year.  With a better start and no cramping I will do much better next year.

I was the 9th rider to finish the 100 km.

It wasn't a race but there were a whole bunch (including me) who gave it everything they got.

Not bad for a 56 year old, middle aged Old Fart in an 80 lb pedal car..

It was an absolute blast.

I didn't stop at any of the main water stops but to see people I've known for so many years out there on the side of the road cheering me  on brought to mind in a big way what a great community we have on this Island. An Island wide community beyond the individual towns.

David





Hey Gang

Here are a couple of shots of me passing the Youth Hostel at just over  55 km/34 miles into the 100 km/62 mile ride last Saturday. Note the lack of other cyclists around me.  There were close to 400 cyclists behind me stretched through out the course.

This is what most riders, if they even got the chance,  saw of me during the ride.....(-;

Enjoy

David

New Toyota Banana!

 Wow Does it have a TOP?

Hope its front wheel drive.

 credit to Bill Ewart Jr,

Lets not forget General Motors slick entry into the new ECO Market!

  

Hopefully it will still be parked right where you left it!

New concept car from  

Chrysler 

Breaks all the rules!

Shhh...!

 

Comes with custom made pants , so your change won't fall out.
Drinking coffee must be quite challenging,eh.

Not bad!

O% financing to boot!