Thursday, July 28, 2011

You have seen the best, now the rest

I agree, that 88 MPH on Tyler Farrar’s Stage 3 win seems questionable – even fantastic.  But if you look at the speed chart it is not even a spike – there is a large block at the end of the stage that is 70+ MPH.  INCREDIBLE. -

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/97231307

Now for the rest.  I decided to jump on the Wednesday Night Race Ride.  I rode these most weeks last year but this is the first time this year.  This is the “You better know your way home because your gunna get dropped” ride.

And you know what?  I had a fantastic time.  I sat in, didn’t take any real pulls until the end and finished strong.  Here are the stats:

Distance:  34.39 miles
avg speed:  21.7 (22.1 for just the group ride)
max speed:  35.3 MPH (??? seems high)
elevation gain: 876 feet
Not as impressive as the Garmin Cervelo crew but a good effort.

6 comments:

Patrick Mahoney said...

Look at the elapsed time. Someone forgot to hit "stop" because they were too busy celebrating the win.

I'm always questioning the top speeds of my Garmin results too. And even if he didn't hit that speed, Tyler was still probably the fastest guy in the world on a bike that day.

Tri4Success said...

Impressive ride! I have one of those "gonna get dropped" rides too. I have yet to hang with them past a specific set of hills.

As for the Farrar data .... notice prior to that he was going 2mph for a stretch. The stage was over. The Garmin then accelerated to 60mph UPHILL! (Look at the elevation mapped over time.) Yeah, the bike was definitely on the car at that point.

Tri-James said...

Good catch gumshoes! Your PI skills are impressive.

I think I will try that trick the next time I want to post some mad top speeds - don't hit stop, put the bike in the back of the truck and speed home! I might top out 40MPH - not 88 though.

Nelly said...

I forget the exact figures, but during the final stage on the Champs de Elysses, the camera pointed to one of the motorbikes, and the speed it was going to keep up with the bike field was just insane. I believe that they could hit 60-70 mph, but 90 seems too high.

I remember a stage in last year's tour de france, Andy Schleck told the motorbike to get out of the way because it wasn't going fast enough haha

Ransick said...

If you want some crazy data, take your garmin on a plane with you. Just hold it next to the window and it will pick up the satellites.

Jennifer said...

Wow, your slow James. ;o)

I always go for the never get dropped rides, those are my favorites!

Good to see you on Wednesday morning. Ginny and I will be out again this coming Wednesday if you want to join us!