[OHPV-list] Coast down testing party

[Curt]

Pat,
One of my favorite downhills is S Harding Road in Clackamas Cty, east of
Oregon City and southeast of Carver.  It is a straight, north-south road
between Springwater and Harding Mill roads.  The north end of Harding is
about 100 yards west of the south end of The Barton Bridge and park.  The
south end is an area called Logan, which consists of a few houses.



The Road is about 2.3 miles long with the top of the hill one mile from the
south end.  The downhill portion (northbound) is about a half mile long, and
drops from about 470' to 300' over that distance.  The first 1/4 mile of the
hill has an average grade of about 11%, peaking out at 13%.  The run-out is
about 8 tenths of a mile.  Visibility is very good from the top of the hill.
Approaching from the south, you cannot see the hill until you get close to
the beginning of the hill.



I have ridden it dozens of times and can easily exceed 45 mph.



Traffic is usually nil, as there are only residences and farms along the
way.  There is a road intersecting from the west, south of the hilltop, and
a cross road about a quarter mile from the north end.  That road dead-ends
on both sides, so traffic is not likely to appear there.



I have a profile view of the hill, but this email/forum system will not let
me send message with attachments greater than 40KB.  I edited and re-edited
the picture, but could not reduce it sufficiently.   If you want to see the
profile, let me know and I will send it to you off list.



There are other good downhills in the area - but most of them have more
traffic on them.



Curt

  -----Original Message-----
  From: OHPV-list-bounces at ohpv.org [mailto:OHPV-list-bounces at ohpv.org]On
Behalf Of Pat Franz
  Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2005 10:28 PM
  To: ohpv-list at ohpv.org
  Subject: [OHPV-list] Coast down testing party


  Hello All-

  We've been working on new tailsocks here at TerraCycle and would like some
help doing some real world testing on them. If you might be interested in
helping, here's what we have in mind:

  - find a nice, steady hill with very little traffic, where most bikes can
reach 25-40mph just coasting
  - have people coast down the hill several times, with and without
tailsocks and possibly other fairing components
  - have a lot of fun coasting, put yout bike on a rack, and motor back
uphill to do it again- no climbing required!
  - record the the max speed, as reported by cycle computers, for each run
  - chart everything out and see what the effects are

  Here's what we're looking for help with:

  - finding that nice hill to coast down. Any ideas? We're thinking about a
mile long or so, maybe less, with room for runout at the end; little
traffic, especially coming in from the side; room to stage things at the top
and the bottom. Somewhere within 30 miles of Portland would be ideal; the
closer, the better. Oh, and smooth would be great!

  - riders who'd like to test their bikes. We're looking for a good sampling
of configurations, from SWBs to highracers to LWBs. We don't have any
fairings for trikes yet, but might have something by test time. If you've
ever wanted to try a tailsock, this is your chance!

  With setup, 3 or 4 runs in each of 2 or 3 configurations, and getting
bikes back to the way they were, it'll probably take about 2 hours. We're
looking for 10 or so riders; if a lot more people are interested, we'll try
to expand things.

  - ferry vehicles, 2 or so, with versatile racks, able to carry different
kinds of bikes

  - help recording speeds/bikes/riders/configurations

  - course marshalls, if the course calls for it

  - bike safety inspectors

  - radios to help coordinate things

  - help installing and removing tailsocks and who knows what else on
people's bikes.

  Tentative date: September 24, 9AM (the Saturday after Cycle Oregon is
over)

  What do you think? I'm hoping for a "speed party" atmosphere, where people
can explore what makes their bike go faster, and how bikes compare. Since no
pedalling is called for, it should be easier to trade bikes and see what
other bikes can do. Sound like fun?

  --Pat Franz

                           TerraCycle, Inc.
   Recumbent Upgrades & Accessories- Bike Parts Manufacturing
  www.terracycle.com info at terracycle.com 800-371-5871/503-231-9798(USA)

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