[CFBlue]

A collaborative effort among many fixed gear riders has resulted in final rules for a fixed gear division for the Furnace Creek 508:

" F. Fixed Gear - Classic Division: Bikes must use the same fixed gearing (ring/cog) for the entire event. Bike frames shall be steel, traditional double diamond design (forks are unrestricted) and wheels (maximum 25 mm rim depth) with 32 spokes minimum. Aerobar/Spinaci attachments and aero-designed parts are prohibited. Wheel switches are permitted only for wheel failures, and must be identical or essentially identical to the failed wheel. Bike switches are not permitted. Riders may not coast with feet off the pedals. Riders must declare their gear (ring/cog) choice at check in, which may not be changed thereafter.

Fixed gear division riders may abandon that division and switch to a multispeed bike in the "open" division, then complete the race on the multispeed bike, provided that they or their crew notifies an official as soon as possible; they will then be treated as having ridden the event up to that point on the multispeed bike."

http://the508.com/intelligence/rules.html

What do you think? Sounds like fun, assuming the knees hold up.

 

[Dave Hickey]

What do you think? Sounds like fun, assuming the knees hold up.

Ouch. That's too much pedaling for me. I'd have to coast in an event that long

 

[Spiderman]

How many other fixed riders (that you know of) will there be? Have many people expressed interest in this?

 

[CFBlue]

too much pedaling

Ouch. That's too much pedaling for me. I'd have to coast in an event that long

It's 159,766 crank revolutions in a 41x17 gear.

 

[CFBlue]

hard to say

How many other fixed riders (that you know of) will there be? Have many people expressed interest in this?

There have been many expressing interest, but that's not the same as showing up and doing it. Only one person before has done it on a single speed (w/ freewheel). The hills on this course are among the biggest (but not steepest, thank goodness) in the United States, so get both up and down in the same fixed gear will be tough. There is 35,000 feet of climbing in 508 miles, which is equivalent of 5 centuries with 7,000 feet climbing each. Some hills go on for over 20 miles, and you can have a headwind on them, too.

I want to myself, but don't know if I can get the training time in and ensure I won't hurt my knees too much. I'm sure others are in the same boat. Then there is the 48 hour cut-off, too. I did it in 36:47 last time, but I figure that even all else equal, which it isn't, I'll lose 2-3 hours on the descents alone (at 25 mph instead of 50-60).

I could be the only one or no one at all. The bailout provision is incentive to give it a try, though, and if the knees can't handle it, switch to the triple bike and finish.

 

[bsdc]

Imagine

That conjured up an image of a bunch of guys flying down a mountain at 55 mph with their legs sticking straight out to the side while their crank arms are spinning at 200 rpm.

 

[Spirito]

dude that is extreme ..... it can't be good for you

but us humans are kinda strange and capable of many extreme things just to get our kicks ....

Frequency of orgasm has, like most other male sexual parameters, often been taken as defining sexual worth. The more orgasms the better, has been a general cry. It would not help the ego of most men to learn they can generally be beaten in this area by young boys. In the Kinsey data, in a series of 182 observed cases, 81 of the preadolescent boys achieved orgasm only once. 17 achieved it twice, 42 achieved it three, four or five times in succession, 30 achieved it from six to ten times in succession and 12 achieved it more than ten times in succession. The undisputed record was twenty-one orgasms in a row. One eleven-month-old baby boy managed fourteen orgasms in thirty-eight minutes, one eleven-year-old had eleven orgasms in an hour; a fourteen-year-old had eleven orgasms in four hours, and so on and so forth. It should be remembered that such startling multi orgasmic capabilities are generally lost at the time when orgasm is accompanied by the ejaculation of semen. At the same time there are some adult men who achieve high orgasmic performance over a long period. Kinsey records the case of one man who had three orgasms a day over a period of thirty years, and one who averaged 33.1 orgasms a week over a thirty-year period.

kinda makes 508 miles on a fixie seem like a doddle doesn't it? i start thinking where on earth do people come up with data & studies like that but then again 508 miles up & down serious climbs on a fixie is just as incredulous to me as well.

whatever floats your boat i guess - vive le difference

ciao


From The Illustrated Book of Sexual Records.

 

[Kram]

????????

I was wondering where you were going with that

 

[CFBlue]

coasting strictly forbidden

That conjured up an image of a bunch of guys flying down a mountain at 55 mph with their legs sticking straight out to the side while their crank arms are spinning at 200 rpm.

That would seem the obvious solution, but definitely cheating (read the fine print). I've tried that, and getting your feet back on the pedals is not fun, nor safe. It would be very tempting, though, as you could coast at 50-60 mph instead of spinning your butt off to get 25 mph, and be a lot more rested at the bottom of the hill. Even if you had to come to a complete stop at the bottom to re-clip, you'd still save about 30 minutes on some of these descents. It would be a very easy way to cheat, but then it would be darn obvious if an official pulled alongside ;-)

 

[bigrider]

Why only steel frames?

 

[FlatlandRoller]

Yeah. And what about steel with carbon stays?

The wheel sort of make sense but some of us are on non-steel fixies-I feel so left out

Oh yeah, I guess I don't really care because there is just no figgin' way! If it isn't the 500 miles thru the desert that kills you it's the 20 mile climbs. If you somehow survive, you still have 20 mile leg-flailing descents. Clearly the "restrictions" are the least of the problems.

"Yeah dude, I would have made it if I could have just run my disk wheel!" <-sarcasm...

Would you happen to know the gearing of the guy that did it on a single speed?

 

[joe friday]

man-o-man! that ride would be grueling in a Chevette, i can't imagine it on a bike!!!

waaaay back in the day-- when fixed was the only technology available, the riders had foot pegs on the front axle as a solution to the 'descent problem'.


Then, in 1947 engineers were able to more fully develop the the concept by widening the foot platform--and removing the bike ride, creating what's known today as "the Lazy-Boy". hehee..

 

[Dave_Stohler]

....you must be nuts.......

 

[Dave Hickey]

....you must be nuts.......

Speaking of nuts.....In your movie, how did you clamp your knees to the top tube and raise your hands if you were riding a fixed gear track bike?

By the way, you have one of the most clever screen names. I wonder how many people think your name is really Dave Stohler?

 

[CFBlue]

single speeds

Speaking of nuts.....In your movie, how did you clamp your knees to the top tube and raise your hands if you were riding a fixed gear track bike?

By the way, you have one of the most clever screen names. I wonder how many people think your name is really Dave Stohler?

If you are referring to the Little Indy, I'm pretty sure they were single speeds, not fixed gears. Lots of coasting going on, especially in the transitions. Just watched it again a couple of days ago and specifically remember thinking about that.

 

[Dave Hickey]

If you are referring to the Little Indy, I'm pretty sure they were single speeds, not fixed gears. Lots of coasting going on, especially in the transitions. Just watched it again a couple of days ago and specifically remember thinking about that.

Did they coast or skid during transitions? It's been a long time since I've seen the movie. At the finish, I remember thinking " Hey if that's a track bike, how did he clamp his knees to the top tube?".

Not that it makes a difference, I still enjoyed the movie....

 

[innergel]

Interesting observations in sports movies

I love watching movies and trying to pick out the incongruities (sp?) between the action on the screen and what would happen in real life. Sports movies are particularly guilty in this respect. I would have never picked up on this little aspect in that cycling movie, but now I'm going to have to go get the DVD (if they have it) and watch it again.

One really bad instance was in Tin Cup. On the first day of the US Open he shoots an 83 or so, which would be about 13 over par for a US Open. Suddenly he's making a run at the top of the leader board on Saturday. With the average cut at the US Open being maybe +6, this would mean that he had to shoot a 62/63 on Friday just to make the cut. He'd have to shoot another 62/63 to get to even par and near the top of the leader board. Kind of doubtful the way they set up a US Open course. And there is no way that he gets enough spin on a 3-wood to back it off the green on 18. Maybe with a sand wedge, but not a 3-wood.

Sorry to turn this into golf talk

 

[joe friday]

what movie are you guys talking about, and yes, i thought it was his real name

 

[innergel]

Breaking Away (nm)

((nm))

 

[CFBlue]

steel frames

Why only steel frames?

The promoter came up with that one. I think he envisioned a more classic or pure division here, even more so than the final rules shows. He had also once considered only drop bars, steel fork, 25 mm or wider tires, and no wheel switches allowed, too. There was a fair amount of compromise in the rules, but the steel part stuck. No weight weenie or tri-geek bikes allowed. ;-)