It’s old news that the chief cause of serious injury or death amongst cyclists in an urban environment is being caught on the inside of vehicles moving or turning left. Rarely is fault attributed to the driver, despite their self-evident failure to ensure their nearside was clear before manoeuvring*.

As part of a new series of articles I decided to perform CCTV junction monitoring using my HD headcam in central Edinburgh.

The first aim was simply to get an idea of how often motorists actually advertise their intentions in a situation where there is a clear need to indicate: changing from the right lane to the left lane, where cyclists are often to be found.

Think bike! by Beatnic, on flickr.

I picked a busy main road junction with a bus lane almost to the lights, but which has a (rarely used) right filter, to ensure a reasonable sample of motorists changing lane. Recordings were made over two rush hours on consecutive days.

Only a short sample of footage was captured on each day as a proof of concept, but the results are already quite startling:

Just under 4% of motorists changing from the right to the left lane at this busy junction used their left indicator, including 0% of bus drivers.

For much of one observation period the bus lane was blocked by an illegally parked motorist. Surprisingly, none of the Lothian Buses observed during this period signalled left to re-enter the bus lane, even though it would have been easy (given the low traffic speed) for multiple cyclists to pass the parked car and end up on the inside of the driver’s vehicle.

The high fatality rate of left-moving vehicle incidents makes it difficult for investigators to determine exactly where fault lies (unless a camera is worn – see Video Protection On The Roads). However, the idea that these collisions happen due to cyclist negligence despite the best efforts of the driver is certainly not supported by observations such as these.

It’s probable that motorists are a little better at indicating when they actually turn left, but this junction had too high a proportion of straight-on traffic to get a significant sample.

I will follow up with video monitoring of vehicles which actually turn left, taken over a longer period at another suitable junction.

Also, the reader should be aware that one junction on just two days isn’t exactly cast iron evidence (although I have no doubt that long term monitoring would give the same sort of outcome).

Watch this space.

* There are (at least) two recent local examples, one where an academic riding to the University of Edinburgh was crushed by a left-turning Neil Williams Haulage truck, the other when a left-turning Edinburgh Council bin lorry crushed a young man on his way to work: both in broad daylight. I’m not aware of the driver of either vehicle being charged with any offence, but of course it’s possible this was not reported. Whether those drivers would find themselves in the 96% who don’t indicate or the 4% who do is purely speculation.

The post Traffic surveys: left indicator use (I of II) appeared first on Dave McCraw.

Last year at the end of April, Scotland was rocked when up to three thousand people shut down central Edinburgh, riding between the Meadows and Parliament to ask the Scottish Government to get serious about cycling.

Just a couple of hundred were expected to attend, but it turned out to be the “biggest ever demonstration on any subject to take place in the public arena outside the Scottish Parliament”!

This year, Pedal on Parliament will take place on closed roads and organisers expect to see an even greater number of families participating after several Edinburgh schools agreed to promote the event.

Formal feeder rides have been established to help get you to the event without hassle, and these are coming from as far away as Glasgow and Kirkaldy if you want to make a big day of it – otherwise there are plenty from different parts of the capital. So you don’t even need to worry about getting to the Meadows!

Plenty of families in 2012 – more this year…
by Paul Morris, on Flickr

Taking part in the first Pedal on Parliament was a formative experience for me, one of the greatest things I’ve done in the twelve years I’ve been living in Edinburgh.

Fun, friendly, socially significant – and you’ll never see central Edinburgh in quite this way again.

Spread the word – Sunday May 19th. It’s a must for your diary.

Please see the official Pedal on Parliament website too.

The post Pedal on Parliament: Sunday May 19th appeared first on Dave McCraw.

Join the rapidly increasing number cyclists who both protect and educate themselves on the roads with the Contour Roam 2, an excellent quality, robust and easy to use high definition video camera.

Picture: Toby Williams via EEN

Other cameras are available, but my experience is that cheaper ones tend to be unreliable; you can also pay more, to enjoy extra features – but none of them are essential for cycling and the price jump can be huge.

Why a camera?

There are lots of articles about this online (including at least one by me), but to cut a long story short:

• in the event of a collision or near miss, you’ll have extremely strong evidence on your side
• you can watch back footage of yourself to learn from mistakes, such as riding too close to the kerb or failing to take a strong enough line through a pinch point.
• if you want to put pressure on your council over infrastructure, video footage of the current failing setup will make them squirm
• It keeps you calm and relaxed when riding – although it won’t directly block physical injury, knowing you’re recording may give you the confidence needed to interact assertively (and thus safely) with other road users.

Why the Contour Roam 2?

There are bargain camera options available for under £100, but my experience is very much that you get what you pay for. Cheap cameras tend to be flimsy; to attach badly to your helmet or bike; to cut out unexpectedly (usually when knocked – so at the worst possible moment).

They often fail to hold a charge, while controls leave much to be desired and there is no easy way to get the camera status without plugging it into your PC. Some aren’t even waterproof!

Can you tell I’ve tried a few? Good money after bad!

In contrast, the Contour Roam 2 will keep working when dropped; it is waterproof without a case and has a very secure method of attachment. The battery, although integral, has enough charge for plenty of riding and there are multiple status LEDs to help you with the camera in the street.

Key adjustments such as the 270 degree rotational lens (with laser marker to help get it straight) are worlds ahead of fixed lens cameras where you have to spend ages fiddling with a mount before riding.

YouTube makes a mess of the quality anyway, but use the cog icon to switch to 1080p high definition and you’ll see it’s pretty good:

Obviously, don’t try that at home A demonstration under controlled circumstances by an expert is not the same as best practice for every day riding!

Modes and controls

The Contour Roam 2 records either in 720p or 1080p full high definition. Quality is great for such a small camera – easily enough for evidence purposes, but also good enough for broadcast in some circumstances.

Other than that, a switch from 30FPS to 60FPS (when shooting 720p) is the only option you’re likely to worry about (setting these can’t be done on the road, but it is straightforward indoors).

Out on the road you just move the chunky sliding button on the camera forward and it starts recording immediately – do the reverse and it stops. There’s an “instant on” That’s more or less it – enjoy great footage!

The Roam 2 connects with a standard USB cable and this both charges the battery and mounts the memory card for easy access from your computer. Files are pretty big: going on for 1GB per 10 mins, so you will want a large SD card and you won’t want to keep old footage hanging around for too long!

Conclusion

The Roam might seem expensive, but it’s not so much compared with the cost of replacing your bike (or your teeth!) after a hit and run or contested insurance claim. Even better if this up front investment allows you to improve your cycling enough to anticipate or deter a collision from happening in the first place!

Use of these cameras for ‘crowdsourcing’ evidence to use in campaigns against local authorities and politicians (as with the QBC video above) is still in its nascency, but it’s only going to get more and more common.

I highly recommend you get yours here – Wiggle do free delivery but also free no-quibble returns, so even if it’s not for you… it’s not the end of the world.

I seriously doubt you’ll regret it though.

I’ll leave you with a couple of frames from a video I chose at random, to demonstrate the sharpness:

The post Contour Roam 2 review appeared first on Dave McCraw.

I recently had a near miss at the hands of a driver I subsequently filmed tapping away on their mobile phone; I might not have been so bothered had they not waved their phone under my nose while telling me it wasn’t their problem.

I rang it through on 101 – something you’d think would be an open-and-shut case but which Police Scotland could hardly have been less interested in.

Out of sheer frustration I posted footage of the incident on YouTube and, amongst other channels, it looks like this is going to run in tomorrow’s Edinburgh Evening News [edit: now updated with link - a very positive piece by Jen Lavery].

Although I’ve featured numerous videos on the site I haven’t yet discussed the actual act of filming the streets and thought this might be a good time to do so.

The truth is good for everyone

The main person who is being filmed by drivers with dash cams and cyclists with headcams is the driver/cyclist themselves. From the moment I start the ignition the film starts rolling and my every move is precisely detailed until the moment I park up.

Ditto on the bike. Another driver or cyclist may feature for a few moments but then they’re gone and (mostly) forgotten. Should I hand over footage to anyone the feature attraction is my own speed, positioning and attentiveness.

It might sound daft, but watching video footage of yourself on the roads has a massive impact that you just can’t get any other way. For instance, you keep getting cut up at a particular junction but when you watch the footage back it’s obvious that you’re too close to the kerb and inviting a dangerous overtake.

You slow down to half speed on a cycle track (like the North Edinburgh paths) but you still get a couple of tuts – you can actually watch back and decide whether you were out of order, or if it’s just a spot of NIMBYism from a vexed pedestrian.

A camera also protects you (or condemns you) when things get more serious. I hit an uncontrolled dog recently and there was nothing stopping the owner claiming he had it on the lead and I was “speeding” except the cold hard truth of the video reel. At the same time, if I do nail someone on the paths and we both get carted off to A&E it’s just as possible that the video might be used the other way.

While cyclists seem to get all the press when it comes to cameras on the road, widespread use of recording equipment is coming fast across all vehicle classes.

More than six hundred buses in Edinburgh city centre are continuously filming from multiple angles and this has helped Lothian Buses’ drivers attain an enviable reputation for sensible driving. Goods vehicles, fleet vehicles and an increasing number of private vehicles are following suit. Everyone’s a winner (so long as it’s not your bad habit of texting and driving that’s getting an airing).

Out-grouping and survivor’s justice

Cyclists in particular face a massive uphill struggle for safe treatment on the roads and do not often enjoy the protection of the legal system when things go wrong.

In the worst case scenario, the authorities are left with a corpse and a driver who insists they did nothing wrong (“he came out of nowhere!” “he was in my blind spot” “he swerved and there was nothing I could do”) and as you might expect, justice in these scenarios is in extremely short supply.

Some drivers actually manage to kill twice, such as lorry driver Joao Lopes in London, or Edinburgh’s very own Gary McCourt, and it’s not impossible (in fact, odds are it’s likely) that these two are just the tip of an iceberg of bad driving that often – thankfully – doesn’t have terminal consequences for innocent passers by.

Ask any accident investigator what they’d give for high definition, 60FPS footage of any driver’s actions in the moments leading up to a crash and I wager they’ll bite your arm off.

Infrastructure and public comment

While life is too short to bother with every dangerous manoeuvre you see on the road, video footage can still be very useful for more mundane tasks like harassing your local councillors over a dangerous or substandard section of road, as I’ve tried to do with Edinburgh’s ridiculous “Quality Bike Corridor” and also in the campaign on the redesign of Leith Walk.

A growing number of drivers who speed through Edinburgh’s southside 20mph pilot zone are, unknown to them, being archived in high definition video. Sure, Police Scotland aren’t keen on enforcing 20mph limits but you can bet they will be interested in establishing a pattern of behaviour after any collision (as will drivers’ insurance companies).

This type of crowdsourced data may also be invaluable for targeting any enforcement or infrastructure efforts that come along at a later date.

That awkward thing – evidence

As the number of cameras on the roads increases they are steadily being cited in more and more convictions (and uncounted insurance victories), but the real problem is not the use of video footage in court – the Metropolitan Police have gone on record to say that video footage is helpful in encouraging people to “plead guilty rather than trying it on” and that they have “reduced a lot of time at court”.

Rather, the issue is getting the police and prosecutors to accept and act on documentary footage when it is presented to them – in London a scheme has been established which allows direct video submission from the public that in turn may lead to targeted enforcement or prosecution (with variable enthusiasm) but this has not been widely adopted.

As my own experience shows, it can even be difficult just to get your footage aired despite making a direct allegation to the police. It’s not like these things have to result in masses of paperwork or someone going to jail (there are options like cautions, fixed penalties and the s.59 antisocial driving marker that can be easily applied).

Cracking down on dangerous driving is a no-brainer and a road which is driven on with care is a road that all of Edinburgh’s citizens can enjoy living around and travelling along.

But before that can happen, Police Scotland (amongst others) need to start taking road safety much more seriously.

The post Video protection on the roads appeared first on Dave McCraw.

Although this review is, as ever, courtesy Edinburgh’s Laid-Back-Bikes, unlike most reviews this particular bike is not available for purchase. That’s because, after almost two years, I finally found something to replace my RaptoBike Lowracer…

The split rear stays will be immediately familiar to anyone who has seen the classic Baron low-racer, but the resemblance ends there, with a full size carbon fork and 700C wheel up front.

Perhaps because of its “low racer with a big front wheel” geometry, the High Baron has amazingly smooth and steady handling. While both the Bacchetta Corsa 700c and MetaBike 700c distinguish themselves with handling sharp to a fault, the High Baron strikes a great balance, combining a light ride quality with a feeling of sure-footedness – twisting through narrow descents it feels like you’re riding rails.

(One man’s twitchiness is another’s lively handling, so I’m prepared to be shot down by Bacchetta and MetaBike owners who feel otherwise! )

The High Baron is very stiff and accelerates strongly with minimal sign of flex. This is crucial for high efficiency riding – there’s no point having a bike that is lighter if it loses out transmitting power to the road, and this bike gives up absolutely nothing to the opposition here:

The gusset on the [High Baron's] head tube is actually a huge internal gusset, what you see on the outside is the tip of the iceberg. This is what gives our frames so much strength.

Mick Sims, Optima

A very rigid cockpit setup and extremely straight power side chain help with the feeling that every ounce of pressure is converting into forward motion, while the big 700c wheels (with tyres up to 28mm wide) steamroller over imperfections.

Despite the big wheels, the High Baron’s seat height is a very agreeable 57cm – easy for the shorter legged amongst us to handle. However, do note the x-seam implications of a big front wheel: Optima say that this needs to be 42″ for a double chainset (at just under 5’10″ in height, my x-seam is around 43″).

You can partly work around this with shorter cranks, as these require a longer boom extension for any given rider (155mm cranks need the boom to be extended by 20mm compared with conventional 175mm cranks). The effect on tyre clearance is actually doubled, as not only is the bottom bracket 20mm further away from the wheel, the crank pointing back towards the bike is also 20mm shorter…

The High Baron makes few compromises to flexibility and this is where it chiefly loses out to rivals, with no possibility of running 26″ or 650B wheels, no disk brakes, no easy facility for mudguards (unless running thin tyres, at least) and no luggage options beyond seat-slung bags.

Whatever; within its domain the High Baron is a sensational performer – so much so that it carried me to 21st in my category on the epic Tour o’ the Borders… not because I am particularly mighty, but because the bike is simply as efficient as can be at converting sparse watts into forward motion.

As with all high recumbents, you’ll face a greater learning curve than a low bike if you’re a novice, and that’s definitely something to be aware of (and a good reason why you might still opt for something like the Nazca Fuego).

Weight

I don’t normally dwell on the weight of bikes as I think it’s overemphasised just because it’s easy to measure. However, I’m making an exception here since I’ve made the bold assertion that the High Baron is pretty much the winning package.

The High Baron frame weighs a little over 2.8kg and to this you should add the weight of a carbon boom – circa 450g – to make a fair comparison with other bikes – total 3.25kg

All other parts of the bike -frame, fork, seat, idlers, etc – are standard and can be excluded when making a comparison (at least between 700c bikes).

By contrast, I’ve ascertained that a Bacchetta Carbon Aero 2.0 frame weighs around 1.7kg. What’s the effect of this 1.55kg weight penalty on the High Baron’s performance?

With test conditions comprising climbing a sustained grade at 250W, we might expect the following results:

* ‘rider weight’ here refers to the complete payload: rider, clothes and shoes, tools, water and food carried, if any.

So, depending on the payload the bike must carry, we can see an advantage to the Carbon Aero 2.0 of between 0.1mph and 0.19mph (for me weight is around 90kg, once I add the gear I need for an ultra endurance event, so it “costs” me around 0.12mph ).

Say I was to climb solidly with my long-lost twin for an hour – the version of me on the CA2.0 would nose ahead by around 0.13 miles, or 208 meters. To combat this, the version of me riding the High Baron would need to average 254W instead of 250W (unfortunately this is not much above the 1% quoted accuracy of most power meters, so let’s not take the test to extremes).

Please don’t misunderstand what I’m saying here: if you enter the World 1 Hour Recumbent Hill Climb championship you’d be pretty annoyed to lose by one meter, never mind 240 meters. A lighter bike also has intrinsic subjective value to many people, as their wallets will tell you – and that’s all fine.

However, given the cost difference between an aluminium High Baron and a carbon alternative, and given that there are other, much more important factors (seat height, handling, durability, looks!) in its favour, I am very comfortable recommending the High Baron to anyone who is interested in high performance.

PS. If you’re wondering about the implications of the frame weight while riding on the flat, it’s somewhere under 25% of the advantage while climbing, so perhaps 1W of power difference between the two bikes. The High Baron might easily have an aerodynamic advantage of 20x that (or maybe not).

For further reading  I highly recommend the following two articles:

• Bike weight and performance
• Optimising long distance speed

Adjustment, Comfort and Suspension

The High Baron has a rigid frame and the ride is relatively hard as a result – although the long wheelbase does help attenuate shocks compared with more compact designs.

Ultimately tyre choice is what really defines comfort on bikes such as this; the Baron’s ability to accommodate 28mm tyres allows it to tackle rough road surface with great efficiency.

The seat recline is adjustable, but only from “pretty laid back” to “even more pretty laid back”.

Optima quote this as 23-28 degrees but it feels lower to me. In common with most hardshell bikes, changing where you drill the seat allows you to modify this whole range in either direction, subject to the limitations of the hardshell’s curve and whether or not you’d consider cutting any part of it.

Seat adjustment is performed with a QR, but be careful – the first time I tried this I was sitting on the bike (during the build process) and the bolts through the seat itself were long enough to tear into the paint on the frame when the seat bottomed out – oops!

The front seat mount is also QR, so removing the seat entirely is tool free. However, because this bolt is shared by an idler in the stock drivetrain configuration, it’s not quite as simple to free up the front bolt and doing so will interfere with your ability to perform simple drivetrain maintenance as the idler swings about wildly… just something to be aware of.

Seat, Bars & Controls

The Baron takes a hardshell seat, either glass or carbon fibre. My particular Baron is re-using a spare carbon Nazca seat so I won’t dwell on it (this means I can’t comment on either seat option from Optima. If it’s any consolation the Nazca one is very comfortable!)

The stem and handlebars are very rigid and substantial – there’s no hint of the flex that I often find irritating on folding stem bikes. The bar clamp incorporates a neat cable guide to keep the cable runs away from the thighs, a feature I very much appreciate.

That said, it’s not perfect. My hands don’t sit in a neutral position as they do with RaptoBike’s superb handlebars, and there’s quite a weight jump too (the RaptoBike stem and bar combination is 180g – or the best part of half a pound – lighter).

Cables do not run internally with the exception of a short stretch of the front derailleur cable, which enters the frame near the headtube and exits the boom, keeping the front of the bike very clean.

Braze-on cable runs are provided however and keep the bike looking neat to the rear:

As you’d expect, the boom includes the nearly weightless mounting tab for a front light that is standard across most Euro bikes. This keeps the bars free for sundry items like GPS.

Idlers

By default, the High Baron runs with a three-idler drivetrain – one on the power side and two on the return side to lift the chain above the wheel.

Even the foremost idler is nicely tucked away and won’t come into contact with your leg, although this does mean (with the outer ring of a triple crank especially) there can be quite a bend on the return side of the chain between chainring and idler.

The power side idler, in contrast, barely deflects the chain in either dimension. This actually leads to one of my very few complaints about the High Baron, and it’s a fairly minor one – because the toothed power idler hardly deflects the chain at all it is relatively noisy. A chain which is pulled onto an idler over a reasonable range of deflection can be quiet (even silent) but that’s not the case here, where it feels like the chain is running so freely that it’s not dampening its own motion across the cog.

Of course, having an axle-axle-axle deflection of just nine degrees is great news for efficiency, just not if you want an absolutely silent bike.

It is possible to drop the return idlers, perhaps retaining a tiny length of floating chain tube to avoid excess slap, but the jury is out on whether the friction of these idlers is at all significant, so I haven’t (yet) bothered to do this.

Drivetrain / Brakes

In the current setup both brakes and gears are crisp and smooth, but it wasn’t easy!

Built from a frameset, I’m currently running a respectable carbon crank (donated from a Fujin SL) and SRAM doubletap flat bar shifters with a ten speed cassette. The shifting is absolutely sublime – better even than the friction-shifting bar-ends I was so happy with on the RaptoBike.

Although the High Baron is set up OK now, it was a huge battle (see my ‘sneak preview’ series [1] [2] [3] for the gory details) to arrange the brakes.

I consider the provision for brakes on the High Baron to be flawed, and the simplest thing to do is insist on Optima’s intended brakes (I think the Tektro R730) as even the Miche long drop calipers we selected had to be bodged on in an ugly fashion. I even needed to dismantle a Dura Ace front caliper for parts to help me assemble a hybrid that would work properly… £££

In common with other 700c recumbents, gearing choice is completely standard on the High Baron.

I’m currently running a 53/39 with an 11-32 cassette, but you can fit anything from a racing ‘corn cob’ to a triple up front and it will match an upright bike in every way.

Tyres and clearance

There’s space to accommodate 700x28c front and rear, but clearance at the back is probably too tight to go larger (due to the brake bridge).

As the High Baron is not disc compatible, it’s not possible to fit 26″ (559mm) or 650B (584mm) wheels, as you might on something like the RaptoBike Midracer or Metabike.

Neither will you easily fit full length mudguards. This won’t be a problem at the rear if you fit the excellent Radical Aero bag, which catches everything flung up by the rear wheel. A different fork could be fitted if a front mudguard remained a priority.

Comparison

My previous reviews have generally included two or three roll-over images and a little commentary comparing each bike to its rivals. In this case I’m putting together a single article to look at all dual 700c bikes at the same time, so I won’t duplicate that information here.

Suffice to say, I think the High Baron is the real deal, although there are some convincing reasons to go for the other bikes, depending on your requirements.

Conclusion

The High Baron delivers on every level.

With dual 700c wheels it rolls easily over rough terrain, but it maintains a very agreeable seat height for those who value accessibility and the (small) aerodynamic advantage that accrues when your wheels are shaded by other parts of the bike.

The frame is exceptionally stiff and this gives it a feeling of tremendous acceleration - reinforced by the very stiff cockpit to create an environment where you feel every ounce of pressure is translating directly to the road.

I wasn’t sure if you were real or a hallucination! You blitzed by me…

rider report, Tour o’ the Borders

Wide tyres for optimum efficiency and a drivetrain which is about as straight as can be achieved on any bike makes this a superlative long distance platform. The relatively long wheelbase gives the High Baron great stability and helps make it the fastest and most reassuring descender I’ve ridden.

Although the clean cable runs promote crisp shifting and powerful braking, the actual provision for brakes is, based on my experience trying to use anything other than the OEM calipers, frankly a disappointment. You can work around this by using the OEM calipers, so let’s not make too much of a meal of it, but it’s not caused by some understandable design compromise… it just looks like it was welded together wrongly at the factory.

The High Baron is not as light as a feathery carbon wonderbike, but it’s vastly cheaper. It looks gorgeous (although the finish is fragile) and providing you’re happy without suspension and with only rim-braked 700c wheels, will be hard to better.

My advice to you is: look no further until you’ve tried one.

Available to demo now via Laid Back Bikes.

Related articles

• My main Laid-Back reviews page – all recumbents on one page

The post Optima High Baron review appeared first on Dave McCraw.

You’ll likely be wanting to find something you can be abusive about. You’ll probably enjoy my recent article Video Protection on the Roads.

If you’re here looking for a great compact HD video camera, that’s the one I use.

Original article

T-boned by a driver using their mobile phone, who is completely unapologetic even when he realises the whole thing is on video, and waves his mobile in my face while claiming he didn’t see me in my bright cycling gear…

This is what it means to cycle in Edinburgh.

Update

I called this in using the 101 non-emergency police number, but while they did ask me for the registration number, they were seriously disinterested (they didn’t even ask for the time of the incident) and told me that regardless of video footage they would not proceed against the driver.

Update 2

This ended up forming the basis of quite a positive piece in the Edinburgh Evening News.

There is some movement in terms of dialogue with local elements of Police Scotland.

Defies words, really.

Now with video posted (click the cog for high quality):

The post Cycling in Edinburgh: in photos appeared first on Dave McCraw.

Background

I haven’t ridden many recumbent miles since the 200km Erit Lass last September, but I have kept up my five mile commute on my upright hack bike that whole period. I consider myself to be quite badly out of recumbent-specific conditioning (despite coming in 21st in my category on the Tour o’ the Borders).

The new Optima High Baron cleans up the field on the Tour o’ the Borders…

As I recently started getting serious with the Optima High Baron, I thought it might be interesting to benchmark my power on the two platforms now, and look at whether it converges over time. In my opinion it’s also an interesting window onto the experience of novice recumbent riders who try to transition from their upright bikes expecting a gain in performance.

I’m going to display the data from two PowerTap stationary trainer intervals. The sessions were uncontrolled except that I tried to shoot for my highest average power in each case over a 12.5 minute interval (interestingly, in both cases I ended up picking things up at the end – bad pacing?).

The intervals were on different days, first thing in the morning before work. For what it’s worth the recumbent went first…

A 25% drop in power means that on a climb the upright would pull away one mile for every four miles the recumbent rider travels – it’s a pretty big gulf!

Context

[edited to add this section, as I felt the article originally was lacking in context]

Consider this: received wisdom often tells us that recumbents do not climb as well as conventional bikes because they are heavier, and/or because they are less efficient due to some combination of frame flex, or drivetrain friction due to the idler systems involved. However, I believe this is demonstrably false.

In the first case, we can categorically evaluate the impact of extra weight using simple science, with or without a power meter (see my article on bike weight and performance).

However, with a power meter it’s possible to precisely define both limiting factors of weight and power output and, as in this case, I believe climbing performance will always turn out to be limited by reduced power output and not by increased weight.

However, by measuring power at the wheel and not at the cranks we do leave open the possibility that the drivetrain is consuming 50W or more in increased friction, however unlikely that may sound. My answer to this (and ultimately to all questions of inefficiency in the recumbent bike proper) is that if the same work is being done by the human body, but it’s just being lost somewhere en-route to the road, we should see a very similar physiological impact to the activity.

This is manifestly not the case, as in the two intervals discussed below: the recumbent one is not only far fewer watts, it had manifestly lower cardiovascular demands (even though it was as hard as I could push the pedals), relative to the upright session.

I’ll follow this up as promised with something that includes HR, although that’s of only limited use in evaluating demands on the body, as we’ll see…

[back to the original article:]

Torque vs cadence

Comment

Don’t read too much into a sample size of one, however, counter-intuitively the power gap increases with duration. You would expect proportionally greater failure to generate power over short periods if the upright position simply allowed a greater mass of muscle to be recruited (albiet inefficiently), as many hypothesise.

As I’m sure the difference between recumbent and upright riding position tends towards equality in the very longest events, this initially suggests a reverse-U shape. Clearly more investigation is required… I personally think this is showing both a fundamental difficulty in producing recumbent power but more importantly a significant and specific lack of conditioning in a couple of key muscles that is inhibiting overall performance.

While it’s tempting to blame inefficiencies in the physical recumbent drivetrain, I don’t think this is a significant issue because my cardiovascular reaction to these two intervals was very different – the upright session left me feeling nauseous and faint where the recumbent one left me a bit sore but after a short break, I felt able to match it again.

Exactly not what you’d expect if the power output was actually the same in both positions, but the recumbent frame was losing it to friction ‘upstream’ of the PowerTap.

I’ll make an effort to do proper 20 minute max efforts on both platforms and keep an article update with how the figures change and (hopefully) converge as I start to assume better form.

Upright stationary trainer interval – 12.5 minute best effort

Edit: I’ve added a screen grab from Golden Cheetah to the one from Ascent (I had to crop the latter quite aggressively to get it to fit):

Recumbent stationary trainer interval – 12.5 minute best effort

Edit: I’ve added a screen grab from Golden Cheetah to the one from Ascent (I had to crop the latter quite aggressively to get it to fit):

Food for thought! I’d love to hear any thoughts in the comment section below:

See also discussion on this post in BROL.

The post Recumbent position power loss appeared first on Dave McCraw.

I knew the weather was going to be taxing before we even got the start line on Sunday’s now-legendary Tour o’ the Borders. Although there was no question of missing out on a great day on the bike, little did I suspect I would soon be fording a flooding river sweeping knee-deep across the road while the wind conspired to make it almost impossible to stand!

Photo courtesy Tour of the Borders (via Facebook)

The event was based at Peebles High School which provided welcome shelter from the rain, and of course the canteen was doing a roaring trade in coffee and bacon rolls! The organisation of this sportive was first class – it was the work of moments to register, get my pack of goodies and ride essentials- race number and timing chip. No queues!

As my first sportive, I had a few concerns about the type of riders or reception we might meet but the whole day was very friendly. The Tour o’ the Borders did have plenty of roadies but there was no shortage of normal (ish!) looking people – flat bars, tandems, recumbents welcome! I even saw one chap with his helmet on back to front, which is always reassuring (I’m sure someone told him before he tried to start the route…)

The atmosphere was great (even if, on the course, it’s been suggested there was more of a “blitz spirit”)… we’ll definitely be back next year!

The Route

The Tour o’ the Borders has two routes, long and short (although at 50 and 70 miles, the main thing that separates them is actually the number of climbs!)

Each takes in the long winch over Paddy Slacks (in both directions), the steady grind up Berry Bush, and the lovely Witchy Knowe climb from Kirkhope back over to the Yarrow valley. In addition, the long route throws in a couple of climbs between the Ettrick valley and Ashkirk as well as “the Wall” which rears up between Ashkirk and the feed stop at Kirkhope.

Whichever option you choose, the roads are near deserted (next year they will actually be closed) and the surfaces are OK (compared with, say, Edinburgh’s roads!) – a great day out is all but guaranteed…

Not that the hills would be the main challenge this year…

Out on the course

9am came around and it was still raining buckets with a fierce wind as we regretfully left the warmth of the canteen. Lined up in the starting paddock together with a group on normal bikes, the wind was already strong enough in the car park that I had to unclip to keep myself upright!

Once out on the course, the sheltered few miles to Traquair had me lulled into a false sense of security. When we turned onto Paddy Slacks, the wind was absolutely hammering through the pass accompanied by stinging hail.

At this point the Baron started to shine and I picked off an endless stream of riders on the ascent, despite keeping my power low. The most challenging thing was negotiating the huge amount of debris that had been washed onto the road (while trying not to get blown off it!), as well as the steady stream of abandoning riders coming the other way.

I actually had to pedal downhill to the Gordon Arms!

Photo courtesy Tour of the Borders (via Facebook)

Berry Bush was probably the worst headwind of the ride – totally exposed and relentless. It took twenty minutes to climb averaging just 10mph and often had me wishing my inner ring was a bit smaller than 39t!

Surprisingly few riders were working together, although just before the summit a group formed that came through and gave me a welcome boost to the top (thanks!)

The respite on the descent into the Ettrick valley was delicious. The roads here are absolutely fantastic – narrow and twisting but not so much that you’re worried about what might be coming the other way… just perfect for bikes.

However, with only two of the route’s seven climbs completed we came across a marshal flagging riders down to warn of flash-flooding on the long route, and recommending we cut it short. As an audax rider I’m used to a bit of weather and decided to push on, but was admittedly unprepared for the sight of the river Ettrick bursting over its banks and running across the road… did this put paid to my chances of getting a time on the long course?

Photo courtesy Tour of the Borders (via Facebook)

In a past life I used to kayak these rivers for fun (preferably with fewer fences though) so I decided to go for it.

Fortunately it wasn’t too deep to stand – it only came up to knee height – but even so I had to use the bike as a rolling tripod to let me lean into the wind and current. And I’d been thinking that sportives were a soft option – how wrong!

Photo courtesy Tour of the Borders (via Facebook)

As the air temperature wasn’t too low, I warmed up immediately on the other side, and started to enjoy the huge tailwind which swept me around that half of the course. I didn’t bother pedalling above 20mph so needless to say I didn’t do much pedalling until I hit the short climb from Alemoor reservoir, just before the turnoff to Ashkirk.

The road to Ashkirk passes over a high moor and was extremely fast despite the conditions – by this time it seemed that I’d been going for about an hour without really having to pedal. From Ashkirk the riding got tough again as I turned back into the wind and hit “the Wall”. This climb was too steep for my 39t inner ring given the conditions, with one ramp at 1:6 (over 15%). Still, the rain was letting up now and this made things much more cheerful.

Course highlight – a tree had fallen across the road but the branches were hacked away to allow you to ride underneath (not by the organisers, I’m sure!).

Around this time I started to pick up the slower riders who had made it through before the flood, although none of them were going as fast, so I missed out on any sort of draft from here to the finish.

The feed stop in Ettrickbridge was fantastic – a full range of soup, sweet and savoury food at the foot of the event’s toughest climb and shelter from the rain too! Thanks so much to all the locals who were manning this…

By this time, riders were being rescued from the flooding by tractor (!):

Photo courtesy Tour of the Borders (via Facebook)

The climb up Witchy Knowe was a steady grind and I was finally papped by a photographer at the summit (I haven’t seen any of these photos online though, at all?) before the streaking descent to the Yarrow was testing my brakes.

The sun was out now and the ride up to the Gordon Arms was refreshing despite the headwind – I was steadily passing riders from the short course now which kept me motivated. Birling up Paddy Slacks with a gale at your back is fantastic, and the descent seems to go on for an eternity!

Last but not least was the return from Traquair to Peebles – I’d hit my stride now and averaged 20mph (the wind was doing funny things) right through to the finish. There were a couple of huge puddles to hammer through – again one had photographers at it, although I haven’t seen any shots from there either.

Then it was on to welcome food and dry clothes.

Mission COMPLETE!

Photo courtesy Laid Back Bikes.

Summary

270 finished the long course and 360 the short course – an impressive number considering the conditions. Some went round the long course in 3:40 which is quite incredible given the wind (3:20 would be evens!)

I was 21st in my category. No doubt complemented quite a lot by the fact that few riders were foolish enough to follow me through the river… although my Garmin says I lost ten finishing places due to the delay, so who knows…

Next year with closed roads and (hopefully) better weather we’ll see what’s what!

Don’t miss this event in 2014. Friendly, well organised, and great roads. It’s going to be fantastic.

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Last weekend saw the first riding of the ‘More Passes than Mastermind’ brevet in south-west Scotland.

A strong field of around 35 riders assembled at Symington to tackle a route that criss-crossed the Lowther hills between Nithsdale and the valley of the Clyde. Top of the billing was an ascent of Scotland’s highest tarmaced road, but a late fall of snow (or just a late winter!) necessitated an change of route:

photo courtesy Russell Carson

Riding south from Symington on empty roads we soon crossed the M74 and reached the first pass, into the valley of the Crawick (a tributary of the Nith). Some sections of this descent had ‘interesting’ surfacing, compounded by almost all of the group still being in a paceline – but by and large it was a lot of downhill for hardly any ascent – winding down beside the river under blue skies… perfect!

A quick cafe stop at Sanquhar allowed the temperatures to rise a little under the morning sun, and after a short hop on the deserted A76 we turned left and began the ascent to Wanlockhead, Scotland’s highest village.

The Mennock Pass is another extremely scenic route and this time there was no question of a free downhill – you have to earn every inch on the ascent! Fortunately it’s not overly steep, and the fine weather continued to keep spirits high. There was, as advertised, quite a lot of snow about:

photo courtesy Russell Carson

Leaving the control at the mining museum we enjoyed a screaming descent to Abington (the village, not the service station for a change!) before turning south, into the wind, for the section to the head of the Dalveen pass.

I spent this section as part of a group of three, taking turns to pull into what was becoming quite a stiff headwind. The roads were still virtually deserted though, with just a few vehicles passing and the sun was giving a good bit of heat. Good times!

photo courtesy Phil Tomlinson, on Flickr

Sooner than we realised the road turned to the west and we found ourselves descending at terminal velocity towards Thornhill – I averaged 22mph for almost eight miles virtually freewheeling, and there’s nothing like free distance on an audax ride!

Thornhill was packed with cyclists (more than could readily be accounted for – the locals must have good taste in pastimes) and has an amazing bakery which provided much needed pie and cake.

From there, the route wound through the wonderful Forest of Ae, turning to the east again on deserted roads that kept their interest. The wind, quartering from behind, was still pleasant and the ascent was nothing to speak of.

Oops! Forgot the recumbent this time… I’d feel this error later!
photo courtesy Russell Carson

I had set out from Thornhill alone, as this was my first ride since the Erit Lass 200km (see ride report) almost six months before, and my legs were quite stiff.

I kept a steady 200W and expected to be swept up by a group at any moment, but this was not to be – little did I realise I’d be riding the rest of the route solo.

The return to the north was on a new road to me (the B7020, rather than the more common choice of the parallel B7076, the former A74). It was altogether more pleasant and time whisked by as far as Moffat in a haze of blue skies and forceful tailwind.

photo courtesy Phil Tomlinson, on flickr

Regrettably all this descending had to come at a price, and that was in the form of the infamous Devil’s Beeftub, a long steady climb from Moffat that took me a hefty forty minutes to complete. I really expected to pick up a group here, but suppose the tailwind had lessened the disadvantage of riding solo. I largely freewheeled to 20mph on the descent from the Beeftub to Broughton where the village shop was pleased to provide essential athletic nutrition of a packet of crisps and a bar of nougat (!).

An acute turn in Broughton meant that suddenly I was receiving the full power of the wind, no doubt determined to crush me after such a straightforward and pleasant 190km. The final 16km were an agony of headwind made all the worse by the fact that I was stuck on an upright bike, knowing how little it would normally effect me!

photo courtesy Phil Tomlinson, on flickr

I was really quite glad to see the hall and finishing line approaching. Amazingly I was first back despite my pedestrian effort; I can only imagine the others stopped for a far more substantial lunch!

Excellent soup and pie followed at what proved to be a very friendly arrivée. Others soon arrived (I should have run the risk of stiff legs to share a draft those last few kms!) and unanimously agreed that it had been a great day out on a great route.

Congratulations and thanks to Russell and all the helpers on what was a great route debut, and an event that we hope to see in future years!

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A few weeks ago I posted an in-depth review of the Continental GP4000s after they appeared on a wicked 35% discount on Wiggle.

Last weekend I posted an in-depth review of the Schwalbe Ultremo ZX … this time, it was Chain Reaction doing the honours with a tasty 33% discount.

These two tyres are very much targeted at the same audience. As a long-term GP4000s rider and a more recent convert to the Ultremo ZX, I decided to put together this overview to help you decide which tyre is right for you.

Comfort / handling: Ultremo ZX

I can’t fairly compare these two tyres on comfort as I don’t have matching sizes to ride side-by-side at the same time.

However, in my mind there’s absolutely no question that the Ultremo ZX wins in the comfort stakes. Measuring up slightly wide on a given rim (where the GP4000s measures slightly narrow) means the Ultremo simply holds more air than its Continental rival, and that translates directly to improved comfort on the bike.

Don’t underrate this. For all but the shortest events, and especially at the amateur end of the spectrum, comfort translates directly into greater performance (only in cycling are people mad enough to question this).

Combining width with tacky rubber gives the Ultremo wonderful handling over rough ground and into corners (regardless of whether or not Continental’s Black Chilli rubber is actually more tacky).

Descending confidence on Ultremos is unparalleled in all weather.

Durability: GP4000s

There’s no question here really: according to all sources the Continental GP4000s is significantly longer lasting than the Ultremo ZX, although estimates as to the lifespan of both tyres vary wildly online.

I can’t be conclusive personally; though I’ve run through many sets of GP4000s tyres and get around 2500 miles on the rear, I’m still on my first set of Ultremos. They’re looking brand new and uncut after several hundred miles on rough roads, but until I wear them through to the carcass my own jury has to remain out.

That said, I’ve got nothing to indicate that world+dog is wrong on this one.

Weight: Schwalbe Ultremo ZX

Let’s be completely honest here – the handful of grams separating the 205g GP4000s from the 195g Ultremo ZX won’t make an appreciable difference to you, regardless of the fact that it is rotating weight.

10g is just not a significant component of your power-to-weight ratio given that the mass of rider plus bike for the average reader of this site is probably going on for 100,000g (100kg).

That said, I won’t deny it’s nice to have light parts. If you’re one of the growing number of wide tyre affectionadoes, you may be interested to know that the 28mm Ultremo ZX  is virtually the same weight as the 25mm GP4000s…

Puncture Protection: tie

Both tyres are race models and not designed for riding over fields of glass or thorns. That said, the GP4000s features a Vectran fibre breaker layer which does an excellent job defending the tyre from unwanted penetration.

The Ultremo ZX features a similarly advanced fibre layer (called “V-Guard”) and by all accounts this does a respectable job. I have not found any significant difference in cutting of the tread between these two models of tyre; my experience of the GP4000s is that it tends to be fine until a spate of punctures near its end of life – my Ultremos are still looking box-new after a few hundred miles.

Sidewall protection: GP4000s

In contrast to general puncture protection, the GP4000s clearly edges ahead when it comes to the sidewalls. While I’ve even ridden on unsealed surfaces on the GP4000s I would be extremely hesitant about doing so with the Ultremo ZX!

Schwalbe have made a conscious compromise here (you can buy the Ultremo DD if you want heavier sidewall protection at the expense of rolling resistance) and for me, it’s just something to be aware of.

That said, many’s the tyre that has been consigned to the bin after sidewall damage when the tread still had months of life. Your choice!

Rolling resistance: tie

There’s no question that Continental hit the ball out of the park with the GP4000s – a recipe that has remained unchanged for years but still performs at the highest level when it comes to the all-important figure of rolling resistance.

Schwalbe make life difficult by recycling and tweaking their model names; historic tests typically show the Ultremo edged out by the GP4000s in equivalent conditions, but this often refers to older versions of the Ultremo (or even previous versions of the Ultremo ZX) so it’s unclear how useful these comparisons really are.

Also be wary of comparisons which use an arbitrary tyre pressure for all tyres (rather than finding the lowest rolling resistance for each model and using that as the basis for comparison). These may seem like small quibbles, but when the difference between “best” and “worst” in this case is under 1W per wheel, in my mind you either need to be hyper picky or decide that other aspects of these tyres are more important.

Styling: Ultremo ZX

I know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but the GP4000s is a very plain looking tyre, not that this ever stopped me buying many sets of them! The Ultremo is much more bold aesthetically and, for me, screams performance in a way that the GP4000s doesn’t.

Not that cycling has ever been about looks, right?

Conclusion: Ultremo ZX (events), GP4000s (training)

Although the jury’s still out for me on the longevity of Schwalbe’s Ultremo ZX, it’s hard to ignore Continental’s track record of resilience with the GP4000s.

On the other hand, I love the feel of the Ultremo ZX – the silky ride over rough ground, the confidence in corners, the feeling that you’re giving nothing away.

In the end it’s a split decision from me: if all my tyres were stolen and I had to start over, I’d be buying the Ultremo ZX for a big day in the saddle but sticking with the GP4000s for high-mileage purposes, like training.

Cop out conclusion? Maybe…. but one thing’s for sure: you can’t lose with either of these great performers!

Looking for a good discount?

At the time of writing, both Chain Reaction and Wiggle have hefty discounts on the GP4000s and Ultremo ZX tyres. Take a look:

• Continental GP4000s: Wiggle have a 35% discount while Chain Reaction are doing 33% off.
• Schwalbe Ultremo ZX: Chain Reaction have a 33% discount while Wiggle are doing 29% off.

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