Graeme arrives in the USA to challenge Human Powered Vehicle Speed Record

Seweryn

Can't wait to see him having a go at it. He wasn't ready last year due to not being able to make his bike ready for the challenge, but looks like he is going to take his chance this year.

More info here:

http://obree.com/obree-news.html

Go on Graeme!

Beasty

Just remember it's not all about Graeme - Beastie is equally important to this attempt;)

Seweryn

Beasty wrote: »

Just remember it's not all about Graeme - Beastie is equally important to this attempt;)

Sure, he wouldn't be there without Beastie .

TheBlaaMan

He's surely not just turning up to 'make up the numbers' or without some idea of his likely performance? I don't doubt that the track/conditions in Nevada will be far above anything he has tested on, but I'd love to know what he has managed to get out of Beastie (and himself!) in practice. I know he posted some initial videos of this build/tests, but did anyone see any reference to what he ultimately managed??

happytramp

TheBlaaMan wrote: »

He's surely not just turning up to 'make up the numbers' or without some idea of his likely performance? I don't doubt that the track/conditions in Nevada will be far above anything he has tested on, but I'd love to know what he has managed to get out of Beastie (and himself!) in practice. I know he posted some initial videos of this build/tests, but did anyone see any reference to what he ultimately managed??

Nope, he's keeping his cards close to his chest on that one. His training was quite extreme though and he had to lose 3kg just so he could get inside the machine. Because it's powered by a pumping movement like a piston rather than a circular pedaling one he's been hill riding just using the upward stroke of the rotation to pull himself up the hills in order to build up strength for the upward stroke in beastie.

Seweryn

TheBlaaMan wrote: »

I'd love to know what he has managed to get out of Beastie (and himself!) in practice. I know he posted some initial videos of this build/tests, but did anyone see any reference to what he ultimately managed??

I would love to know more either. The whole story is very interesting, but there is limited trace of information on the web about Graeme's progress with the programme.

Seweryn

Some updated news...

http://obree.com/obree-news/325-battle-mountain-hpv-update.html

and here:

http://www.humansinvent.com/#!/13398/graeme-obree-arrives-ready-to-be-fastest-man-on-the-planet/

Let the fun begins .

The Crunch

I hope he has fun, meets new people, exchanges ideas and goes as fast as he can.
If that turns out to be very fast, well that would be a bonus.
This whole project isn't really about chasing records...

Seweryn

http://www.humansinvent.com/#!/13453/i-need-to-focus-on-my-eyeballs-coming-out-of-my-head/

I like his head / jaw support strap:

Lumen

I hope those aren't Ultremos.

mistermatthew

Lumen wrote: »

I hope those aren't Ultremos.

Why not?

GoTilUBlow

mistermatthew wrote: »

Why not?

Most puncturable tyre in the world.....

Seweryn

GoTilUBlow wrote: »

Most puncturable tyre in the world.....

I doubt this would be Graeme's main issue on a couple of miles run on a perfectly smooth and kept clean section of road prepared for the event .

Seweryn

Some tough day yesterday:

http://obree.com/obree-news/328-51-mph-despite-bad-weather-and-mechanical-issues.html

Planet X

52.9mph.
"Smoke me a kipper I'll be done in 10 minutes"

jinkypolly

Planet X wrote: »

52.9mph.
"Smoke me a kipper I'll be done in 10 minutes"

He's well off the pace at the moment. A Dutch team with 78.38mph seems to be the fastest speed so far.

Biopace

Nice interview here, it's a steep learning curve!

http://www.humansinvent.com/#!/13470/out-here-in-the-quantum-world-of-cycling-its-really-different/

jinkypolly

Biopace wrote: »

Nice interview here, it's a steep learning curve!

http://www.humansinvent.com/#!/13470/out-here-in-the-quantum-world-of-cycling-its-really-different/

Very good interview. He sums it up will at the end;

Fundamentally, I need humility, I have done the best I can in terms of relying on first principles, but in reality, it is very mediocre in terms of the years of experience that these other guys have brought to the table.

Guy's a legend.

check_six

Can someone tell me what Obree is doing differently with his bike this time around?
As I understand it, he is lying face down with his head near the front wheel with an aero fairing, but what other Obree-isms has he brought to the party? Was there something weird about the pedalling motion?
The other guys are using some kind of faired recumbents, yes? I'm interested in this competition, but there is not much detail I can find about the machines themselves.

Seweryn

check_six wrote: »

Can someone tell me what Obree is doing differently with his bike this time around?
As I understand it, he is lying face down with his head near the front wheel with an aero fairing, but what other Obree-isms has he brought to the party? Was there something weird about the pedalling motion?
The other guys are using some kind of faired recumbents, yes? I'm interested in this competition, but there is not much detail I can find about the machines themselves.

His pedalling system is different to competitors. Here are his first tests of the Beastie machine:

http://vimeo.com/45034602

jinkypolly

Bit of an update;

http://obree.com/obree-news/329-graeme-captures-prone-human-powered-vehicle-record.html

In the Morning run Graeme secured a time of over 53 mph which is a World Record in the Prone 2 wheeled category.

Also he gets a go on another team's machine.

Yesterday Graeme was offered a ride on another bike 'Vortex'which is a bike designed by a team from the University of Toronto and has a good record in terms of spped and stability. Graeme is scheduled to run a qualifier on Vortex at 0940 this morning.

Seweryn

Beasty wrote: »

Just remember it's not all about Graeme - Beastie is equally important to this attempt;)

I like your Avatar .

Seweryn

News update...

"Speaking from Nevada, Obree told BBC Radio Scotland: "The timekeeper announced it was a new world record and that is a strange feeling. I've not heard that for 20 years, so I'm still absorbing it, that's nice and anything else is a bonus"."

Good man Graeme! :cool:

mcgratheoin

Just saw that a Dutch team beat the world record and clocked 133.78 kph in Nevada.