March 18th...Tuesday...On the road again.

      Felt good to get out on the open road with the Carbent today. No fast blistering speeds to report today as met with with Dave Miller..."Startle" on BROL...at Starbuck's to catch up on the latest. It's a 10 mile ride into SB's and then, after perhaps 90 minutes, I rode back w/Dave to his house. BTW, he commutes 30 miles daily in every imaginable weather condition on his Rans Stratus.
      Dave lives in the foothills south of Philomath, OR, and there's a number of good bumps in the road along the route. We arrived at his house where he switched bikes from his Stratus to his Challenge Fiero. We then left to tackle the infamous Decker Ridge route. It's pretty much just 10 minutes of climbing 5-7% with a real sweet downhill on the other side.
      Dave and I took it pretty easy on the  climbing disregarding our competitive instincts to drop each other. I noticed the Carbent, even weighted down to a 26lb. rolling weight climbed better and easier than any bent I've ever ridden. That says something right there. On the the last 200 yds of the climb, which had settled down to 3% or so, Dave and I sprinted. A well regarded climber in the bike club, it felt good to walk away from him in that stretch where I topped out at 20.2 mph. Faster, by far, than I'd ever gone on that stretch. Seriously, thinking back, I'm good if I manage 14mph through that part.
      OK....the downfall of the Carbent, IMHO, is the top-end speed in comparison with other bents I've ridden over the years. Example: The Carbent's spun out top speed on this infamous hill was 43.9 mph. Granted it didn't have a rear disc in all fairness. But it was an honest 43.9.

Other bents on the same hill under similar conditions for a ball park comparison:
Faired GR w/head tucked down: 45mph
Socked Gr: 53mph!
Home-built luge bent: 54mph
Quest: 56mph w/braking before reaching terminal speed as there's a sweeping left hand curve at the base of the hill. Did I mention the road was also we
      Like I said, nothing climbings like the Carbent and perhaps it would be the fastest TransAm bike?
However, it's going to be the socked Gold Rush. I feel i'd just be giving up too much in cruising speed and cockpit access not to mention the choppy stiff ride. With the Carbent, I'd probably be looking at an 18-20mph cruising speed on the flats under favorable conditions. With the socked GR I'm thinking 22-24mph might be possible. With a 9mph difference in descent speed between the CB and GR, some of that has to translate into cruising speed enhancement. And then there's the added speed benefit of riding into headwinds. I'm just saying...
I'm currently assembling the GR back together with some really sweet high performance but reliable parts. Hope to have it finished by this weekend possibly.
Stats:
56 miles
Easy pace w/some intervals in the mix
New HR monitor worked out well

Splitting wood with my brother can be dangerous;)