I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Innovation is ugly, inelegant. By it’s very definition, it is carried out with almost a kind of contempt for The Rules. With no regard for aesthetics, it is a domain ventured into by the casually courageous and mentally frail. It comes in fits and starts, and success is punctuated by devastating defeats. The same personality that drives innovation thrives on the momentum of success and easily passes over seemingly insurmountable obstacles with hardly a moment’s notice, and is also irreparably upset by inconsequential setbacks.
On an afternoon ride with a friend, Graeme Obree decided to turn up the bars on his road bike in order to achieve a better tuck while riding. After a succession of iterative improvements to that core idea, he arrived at a bicycle that carried cycling into perhaps it’s most prolific period of innovation. When it comes to innovation, success also carries with it the singular distinction of changing the world and the way we operate in it.
If ever there was any question that innovation can be ugly, his trusted bike, Old Faithful – famously built out of bits of washing machine and scrap metal – definitively put the question to rest. However ugly the machine, uncompromising function can in it’s own right be beautiful, and Obree’s “I’ve been kicked in the boys” tuck exhibited only grace and elegance as he flew around the track in Norway to set the World Hour Record in 1993.
Obree led the charge in revitalizing interest in the Hour, fearlessly taking on much better funded pros such as Chris Boardman, Tony Rominger, and Miguel Indurain. I look back on this period as perhaps one of the most exciting times in our great sport, and it all started with one crazy idea.
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I feel that it is a fucking abomination and the recumbents should have been shot and the riders who allowed them in (and to live) shot as well! (Well, maybe not quite that bad, but pretty close! :)
@Ron
I would head the other direction and ride by myself.
You know what belongs in a road bike pace line? Road bikes.
No recumbents, no tri-bars, etc. Special dispensation can be made for cross bikes, provided they Rule 5 and keep up. And I know a few guys who can, BTW...
I look at recumbents they way I look at Segways, Elliptigo's, fixies (off the track), penny farthings and other ridiculous wheeled contraptions: novelty items. I don't care who rides 'em, I don't careto ride 'em.
I think tri bars are OK in a group (they are here in Belgium - and the groups I ride in are anything from Kermesse riders, superprestige CX's to Quickstep pros) BUT, you MUST ride holding the handlebars - period.
And because they assume you know how to TT if you have tri bars, you better bloody do the lead out for the sprint(s) - and that's 55kmh + here - wind or no wind. Otherwise they will consider you as a tagalong wimp.
We have anything from reccumbents (faired or not), supprisingly fast dudes on citybikes, people with 1960's CX bikes, 10 year olds learning the ropes to mopeds doing motorpacing all in the same place here - BUT people know how to ride. Everybody gets along great.
PS - I am a Triathlete and roady
@Cyclops
Do my eyes deceive me, or is the recumbent rider equipped with both handlebar-mounted mirrors and a helmet mirror?
To be fair to him he looks as though he is going to be overtaken often. He can't be in breach of Rule 66 because recumbents are not bikes.
It would be unfair to judge them on our standards. We are better.
For an idea of what it is to prepare for and ride the hour, read "The Hour" by Michael Hutchison. Really puts into perspective why no-one, at least not any "names", will take on the hour again. There is too much face to lose, even Fab wouldn't dare to try. Look how little distance Boardman put into Merckx's record and Boardman put his usual legendary research and preparation into the effort while Merckx just jammed it into the middle of his road season. The only advantage Merckx had was altitude.
But we digress, Obree was the master, whose home-cooked genius the UCI deemed so evil and dangerous that they changed the rules twice just to stop him stomping all over their glamourous sport from his shed. Not only did he break the hour record on his own bike, but he did it the day after he'd failed to break the record.
I hope one day the UCI will actually recognise his efforts* instead of denigrating them.
*Like fuck they will
That picture of the cyclops look-alike on the weird recumbent is great. It's not even a standard one, it's some crazy custom get-up that looks like it has a faux-leather "executive chair" from Staples for the seat.
I saw a weird recumbent this weekend where the person was pedaling with their feet AND their hands. Not sure what that was about, clearly they weren't paralyzed and didn't need a hand-cycle. Seems like it would make turning harder.
As for recumbents in a paceline? No fucking way. Whenever recumbent defenders talk about those vehicles, they always talk about how much more aerodynamic they are in that low position. OK, great. Well if your 'bike' (har) is so aerodynamic, you don't need to ride in a paceline with people on standard bicycles.
For the record: Recubedouche does NOT look like me.
I dunno, you both look strikingly similar to me: