Peddlers Pass Lap Times

[AntonioGG]

1 hour ago, Morealice said:

I am clearly not made for racing; however, I am looking forward to seeing what the fastest time overall is so I can be dumbfounded as to how anyone can ride it that quickly. 

Also looking very forward to the KOM rework. 

+1 I'm totally looking more forward to watching the fast guys almost as much as I am about riding.

[throet]

2 hours ago, Morealice said:

In NO WAY am I poo pooing the race or racing in general, but when I did the 17:15 and was kinda half trying...all I could think is “why would I wanna hammer around this loop only to lose?” 

Funny thing is, my fastest time of 17:09 was on a second lap and is a minute faster than the times when I was out there trying to hammer it. Last time out, having seen that the QOM was now 16:43, my worst Bobby Riggs' mentality kicked in and I gave it everything I had to get my best time possible. A male-female couple took off ahead of me and so I waited like 8 minutes to give them plenty of cushion. Well 3/4 of the way through I passed the female who was graciously standing on the side of the trail. Not sure if she was resting or saw me thundering up on her, but I was happy to speed past. Then as I was coming hard around a turn right before one of the bridges, I washed out and skidded on my knee and shin for several feet right in front of where the male rider was waiting on the side of the trail for his female companion. I of course hopped back on my bike like it was nothing, cringing in pain with every pedal stroke. He graciously asked if I was alright, and I replied that I was, which of course I wasn't. As I was "limping" across the finish line, I said to myself, "this used to be more fun when I wasn't trying to see how fast I could go".

 

[Yosmithy]

30 minutes ago, throet said:

Funny thing is, my fastest time of 17:09 was on a second lap and is a minute faster than the times when I was out there trying to hammer it. Last time out, having seen that the QOM was now 16:43, my worst Bobby Riggs' mentality kicked in and I gave it everything I had to get my best time possible. A male-female couple took off ahead of me and so I waited like 8 minutes to give them plenty of cushion. Well 3/4 of the way through I passed the female who was graciously standing on the side of the trail. Not sure if she was resting or saw me thundering up on her, but I was happy to speed past. Then as I was coming hard around a turn right before one of the bridges, I washed out and skidded on my knee and shin for several feet right in front of where the male rider was waiting on the side of the trail for his female companion. I of course hopped back on my bike like it was nothing, cringing in pain with every pedal stroke. He graciously asked if I was alright, and I replied that I was, which of course I wasn't. As I was "limping" across the finish line, I said to myself, "this used to be more fun when I wasn't trying to see how fast I could go".

 

stop doing that

[tomreece]

My Old record: 17:57

My new record: 17:10

[throet]

38 minutes ago, tomreece said:

My Old record: 17:57

My new record: 17:10

That's a big jump! Your training is paying dividends. 

[Morealice]

The trail is getting much faster on the new new stuff too. Crazy how quickly it has worn in. Good stuff. 

[RedRider3141]

On 3/30/2019 at 9:36 AM, DesertNomad said:

One thing I am planning on doing ahead of the race, probably late April or into May, is put on a cornering clinic free for registered racers on a first come basis.  I can help guys struggling to find some speed to cut a lot of time for less effort.  

Thanks again for the clinic this weekend! It was great! I definitely learned some new techniques and strategy to help my times. Now if I can just get my heart/lungs in shape enough to use them on a whole lap!

[AustinBike]

On 4/3/2019 at 11:36 AM, cxagent said:

Your post does not surprise me at all. I have found that the HT single speed is not as much of a disadvantage as I thought. There are only a few places that I can ride the geared FS bike that I can't ride on the SS. My fastest time *UP* Pump House is on the single speed. I thought it was wrong but then I figured out that I have ride a pace that I can keep pedaling  the SS so I have to go faster. Now that I am older and fatter, I may have to gear the SS lower. Or lose weight and get in shape. (I will order that new sprocket now.)

My other comment is that I have also found that I can spend a LOT more energy for not much gain. If I ride smooth and flow I feel like I am not going that fast. But if I try to go faster I end up braking more into corners and trying to recover speed on the exit. I spend TONS more energy but not change my lap time by much. Same thing riding Thumper. Find the flow and just hold it. Thumper is great fun that way. If I can't find the flow then Thumper punishes me.

The point to all of this is that smooth is fast and less effort. The trick is to find what works best for you.

Yeah, I agree with this. My SS has made me a faster rider because I needed to learn how to carry speed into climbs. With gears I would see the climbs and my brain says "oh god, not this..." and I was actually slowing down a bit. On a SS I have to charge the hills. And the HT is less forgiving so my handling skills are infinitely better. So much, as a matter fo fact, that I built a geared HT; I don't ride the squishy that much anymore, maybe once a week out of the 6-7 rides I get in per week.

[rbetzing]

I just got into the sport about 8 weeks ago and I am absolutely hooked. By far the most fun I’ve had with my pants on. I’ve got a single speed hardtail 29er and I’m still learning how to ride. Best time at PP is currently just over 22 minutes. I went ahead and signed up for the race, fully expect to be DFL but I don’t care cause it’s gonna be a blast. 

In other news...anyone tried riding it at night? I rigged up a pretty solid light setup and gave it a whirl a few nights ago. Totally  different world out there in the dark lol . 

Edited April 24, 2019 by rbetzing

[biga9999]

Peddlers at night is a blast. 

[4fun]

8 out of the 12 months I find all the trails in the area more enjoyable at night!

[cxagent]

14 hours ago, rbetzing said:

In other news...anyone tried riding it at night? I rigged up a pretty solid light setup and gave it a whirl a few nights ago. Totally  different world out there in the dark lol . 

 

I tell people that around Austin we night ride two times a year - Summer time and Winter time. In the summer it is too hot to ride when the sun is still up. Winter it is dark when I get off work. So we mountain bike with lights at night.

Your picture makes me think you have one light. I strongly encourage you to ride with two lights. First - the new lights/batteries don't get dimmer and dimmer as the battery runs down. They stay near full brightness until they shut off. At night, alone, in the dark when your one light suddenly shutting off can be a disaster. Second, my eyes can't judge distance and speed with only one light. A handle bar light seems to never point where I need to see when I need it most. So I put the light on my helmet so the light is always pointing where I'm looking. Then the light is so close to my sight line that it does not throw a shadow. I never knew how much that shadow is used to give depth perspective until I tried to ride with just a helmet light.

You can find decent lights/batteries on Amazon for around $30. One good crash saved is worth that much. Of course it is your choice.

[rbetzing]

11 minutes ago, cxagent said:

I tell people that around Austin we night ride two times a year - Summer time and Winter time. In the summer it is too hot to ride when the sun is still up. Winter it is dark when I get off work. So we mountain bike with lights at night.

Your picture makes me think you have one light. I strongly encourage you to ride with two lights. First - the new lights/batteries don't get dimmer and dimmer as the battery runs down. They stay near full brightness until they shut off. At night, alone, in the dark when your one light suddenly shutting off can be a disaster. Second, my eyes can't judge distance and speed with only one light. A handle bar light seems to never point where I need to see when I need it most. So I put the light on my helmet so the light is always pointing where I'm looking. Then the light is so close to my sight line that it does not throw a shadow. I never knew how much that shadow is used to give depth perspective until I tried to ride with just a helmet light.

You can find decent lights/batteries on Amazon for around $30. One good crash saved is worth that much. Of course it is your choice.

I agree, could definitely see riding a lot at night when the Austin summer sets in.

Thanks for the advice...I actually ride with a helmet light, as well as two flashlights mounted on my handlebars, and a handful of spare batteries in my backpack.  Shut off the helmet light for this pic.  It would absolutely be a disaster if I lost my light somewhere in the middle of peddlers pass, especially on the west side. 

[HoneyBadger]

Has anyone noticed their times decreasing following the machine building?

[AntonioGG]

1 hour ago, HoneyBadger said:

Has anyone noticed their times decreasing following the machine building?

I felt faster but my times show slower.  I'm sure most of it is the high temps (I usually ride around lunch time) and also still building fitness after a couple of weeks of sickness.  The couple of tiny berms on the east side make a huge difference.   On the West side, I'm still getting used to the new berms but.  Today was only my 3rd time riding them and I'm already getting more confident leaning the bike more.

[Yosmithy]

I lost 1 minute over the last week, but I'm sure you're not measuring Glacier flow as a unit for success

[Txduc]

4 hours ago, HoneyBadger said:

Has anyone noticed their times decreasing following the machine building?

I've not noticed much difference but I've not pushed for a fast lap recently.  I do however think the heat/humidity has  impacted my exertion levels riding overall. 

[Chief]

The two times I've ridden with the new improvements I wasn't pushing just to get used to the trail, but times weren't too far off from best. It's much easier to maintain momentum without as much effort as before. Been trying to rebuild my endurance by riding gravel bike. We'll see this weekend weather permitting🤞

[biga9999]

My first two attempts were significantly slower. 

 

Next to each out was 3 sec off my best time. I think I just need to ride it and get familiar with the changes. 

[Barry]

I haven't put a hot lap on it since the changes. But the fastest times certainly have gotten faster in the past 2 weeks. 

Edited June 4, 2019 by Barry
no hats

[First-Blood]

30 secs faster with less effort put in.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[HoneyBadger]

I increased my best time by about 50 seconds. 

[cmc4130]

Any of y'all ridden "old" vs "new" Trail geo on PP?   

It seems like longer/lower/slacker would not be faster on PP. 

https://www.singletracks.com/blog/mtb-gear/how-trail-bike-geometry-has-changed-over-the-last-2-seasons/

[FJsnoozer]

He or she who can corner we and accelerate 100 times with some massive repeatable 5 second and 15 second power will win. The bike geo is whatever works better for that individual.

 

I may take my old geo 71 HTa hardtail just to see how fast it goes Because it accelerates like a rocket ship at 21 pounds

 

To answer Honeybadger:

 

I never got to ride it in it’s current configuration before the work. Anecdotally, it’s definitely faster. Some of those Berms RIP. Even the flat corners on the west side hook better with the uprooted rocks to push against.

 

Strava is highly inconsistent in that 4.0 loop as to where it picks up the lap.

 

The 5.0 is the only segment which is remotely accurate and it’s still off by about 20 seconds depending upon the rider. The KOM of that segment is legitimate fast Open/Cat1 rider. Most everyone else in the top ten is super fast except me. :)

 

Here are some samples of top ten times and wildly inaccurate pickups.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

[4fun]

15 minutes ago, cmc4130 said:

Any of y'all ridden "old" vs "new" Trail geo on PP?   

It seems like longer/lower/slacker would not be faster on PP. 

https://www.singletracks.com/blog/mtb-gear/how-trail-bike-geometry-has-changed-over-the-last-2-seasons/

I’ll let you know tonight! Just put a larger fork on my steel hardtail 150mm vs 130mm making it slacker and a longer stem 50mm vs 35mm making it longer! I’ll see if I’m slower or faster!🤪

Edited June 4, 2019 by 4fun