What a great day! I spent 8 hours on Glenmore Reservoir today pedalling WiTHiN-24 human powered boat around the lake. It was a perfect day - very little wind, a clear sunny sky and a high of 26 degrees. I got fried, but I was loving every minute of it.
Good news though - I think I may have resolved the numb foot issue by increasing my seat back angle. I lowered the seat back and opened up my hip angle. This puts less pressure on my butt by transferring more load to my upper back. It seemed to have solved the problem which is great, but I have introduced new muscles that have not been training for this particular geometry. When ever you open up the hip angle, you introduce more hamstrings, so they were pretty sore at the end of the day. Also my knees were a bit tender do to this new position. I really hope that the 3 weeks I have remaining to train for my attempt at the 24 hour human powered boat record is enough time for my body to adjust. This is NOT ideal, as I would prefer 3 months to train rather than 3 weeks, but it's the only time that works into my summer schedule, so I'll have to just suck it up and go for it.
I have created an information page for the 24 hour record attempt on June 2, 2007 (yes, only 3 weeks away!):
http://www.adventuresofgreg.com/HPB/24hour.html
And here is a map of the reservoir showing my planned route. It's an out and back dog leg that is approximately 2.5 km long. My home base and support will be staged at the Glenmore Sailing School dock at the south end of the reservoir. My route goes North and turns around at the Glenmore Trail bridge. There is a location on the bike path near the bridge for an official observer. The current HPVA record is 168 km, so that would be about 33 1/2 laps.
We require 2 observers aside from Rob Hitchcock the HPVA official that I am flying in to act as head official. If you are local to Calgary or willing to fly in from Vancouver or somewhere equally convenient, and would be interested in acting as an official observer, then please contact me.
The new propeller that Rick Willoughby made for me just arrived from Melbourne, Australia by MAIL yesterday. It took less than a week to get here!!! That's better service than UPS ground from the states. I'm anxious to install it and see if WiTHiN will be any faster. I still think that majority of the slower than expected speed is due to the Nimbus sea kayak hull shape which was designed for stability, not speed. This is perfect for the ocean version of WiTHiN, but not ideal for a record attempt. However, it is probably good enough and the experience and publicity stemming from the 24 hour event is great for me and the ocean crossing expedition.
Labels: boatbuilding, expedition, training
Greg,
Nice ride! Pretty good day!
I have two questions for you:
1) the kayak doesnt have gears, right?
2) What is that noise that cames from the pedals we can rear in the video? Is it the chain noise? is it touching any metal part?
The reason i am asking is that it occured to me that a motorcicle gear belt could be a good idea instead the chain. The chain can break and if it does, you will spend precious time to change it during the 24h attempt. With the flexible belt you would never have that problem and i think it is a little lighter than the chain. Just another thought!
Good luck!
Yuri/Brasil
Hi Yuri:
The chain noise is caused by the chain rattling against the stainless steel chain tubes that run down to the 11 tooth gear on one axle of the right angle gear drive.
I think that belt drives are less efficient than chain drives - however it might be worth considering if it means that it would be easier to service.
gk
Greg,
It was good to watch the video, it really gives an idea of the speed. It looks like you are SMOKIN. I'm sure that some of the unpredicted drag is due to the fact that the hull was never expected to go at that speed.
I still think you should take a piece of flat lexan and make it into a windshield to give your body and instrument cluster some streamlining. Simple, light, quick to intall.
Nick
I did some calculations and I was surprised to find that if you are pushing through air *only*, then to go from very unstreamlined to very streamlined could almost DOUBLE your speed at the slow speeds I am going (9 km / hr).
However, I am MOSTLY pushing through water so I'm not sure how much difference streamlining for the air would make. ???
Hi Greg,
Enjoying your reports.
I hope the 24-attempt is successfull, at least at getting the necessary PR for the sea attempt.
I am sorry to say I can not see the video's: in what format are they recorded ?
I think from Linux formats like MPEG are viewable, windows formats (WMA ?) are not.
Guus Bonnema, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Guss - it's just a YouTube video. Try this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0NqHE0R7cQ
Greg,
Check this out: www.foilkayak.com
I saw a documentary were the one person kaiak won over a 4 people kayak a 500m race by almost 2 boats of distance. Top speed of 28km/h and the boat waiting only 6 kilograms.
Yuri/Brasil
Greg, I am curious if you gave the Hobie Peddle Drive a try before using a propeller. I bought my girlfriend a Hobie Mirage Sport and she rules the water when it comes to speed.
Good luck, Robert