Cycling Experiences…

Nineteen photos have been uploaded…

Thanks!

Jim

Ride links:

Of course, the Vendetta is the Cruzbike Vendetta ridden by Maria Parker Monday, 07/19, around the White Oak, North Carolina Loop where she set 3 records riding her “Yellow Bike” a Cruzbike Silvio. She did that 10/10/09. Today, her performance was impressive! Watch for the resetting of records this fall. I will, and I hope to be there to cover it. But, this is not about past records or records to come. This is a movie [albeit, rudimentary from a phone (an iPhone 4) no less] about Maria Parker and her ride on John Tolhurst’s newest Cruzbike creation—The Vendetta. Anyway, here is Maria… SD video on YouTube.

Ride links:

Ride links:

Maria plans to ride to break her 100-mile record [100 Mile, 4 hr 47 min 56 sec, 4:47:56, 20.84 mph] this fall.

Today, on the new Cruzbike Vendetta, Maria rode [having only ridden the bike once before] the course in about 51 minutes, with an average speed of 23.2 mph.

I say she will reset her ’09 record. I hope to cover the event. Congratulations Maria!

I’ll have video up later today of the ride.

Ride links:

…and, Maria Parker makes it go.

How exciting, and I got to witness it all. John, one of the Cruzbike’s Co-Founder and Design Director, from Perth Australia, is in North Carolina visiting the Parkers, also Cruzbike founders. You may recall my article last September of John’s Vendetta Prototype. Well, here is what my eyes see today.

Today, Maria rides a lap of her record setting 12-hour ride, but not on the “yellow bike” as we know it. This time, it is on the Vendetta, Cruzbike’s new offering—another “yellow bike.” Well, soon to be a new offering. Production is projected to begin in about a month, pending suggestions from Maria. The Vendetta is coming folk!!!

Dr. Jim Parker invited me to visit with them in Lumberton during John’s stay. Given Maria’s ride today, he asked If I’d join them in White Oak. I agreed and here we are.

I have more exclusive information that I’ll publish as a comment to this article. Hey, Maria will race again this fall [on the Vendetta] and I’ll be there to cover it. I even got to see a sneak preview photograph of the bike. Thanks Jim & Maria and John!

Video & more pictures to follow…

Ride links:

November 30, 2008, marks the date that we started blogging here with a single blog versus the multiple blogs I published at blogger.com for several years. November 30, 2008, ended with 70 pageviews. It has now been a year, and 97,966 pageviews later [during standard time, my statistical day ends at 11:00 p.m.]. Thank you for your loyalty and support during the year. I hope that I continue to merit your viewership.

In reflection of the year, here are your top-10 stories:

2,839 Pageveiws Luv my iPhone, but what to do in the rain This story is about a no-cost alternative to protecting an iPhone from the rain. The photo was picked up by Gizmodo and the rest is history.	1,683 Pageviews 46-seconds of Maria Parker in action This story is about Maria Parker’s ride to a world record as she rode a Silvio Cruzbike for 12 hours and 241+ miles. Amazing that I captured 46 seconds of her ride with my iPhone, posted it and the rest is history.
1,596Pageviews Catrike 700 [Silk] This story is about my Catrike 700 [CT7225] named Silk and the fascination with it. This is a static page on my blog. It was #1, until bumped by the 2 stories above.	1,239Pageviews iPhone 3GS mount for 2 of my 7 cycles This story is about mounting and adapting my iPhone 3GS to two of my seven cycles using two different types of mounts. The mounts are both functional and secure. The photos helped the story.
1,229 Pageviews Velokraft VK2 My beloved low-racer and another static page is now 5th on the all time pageviews list.	1,193 Pageviews Maria Parker’s World Record Quest ~ 10/1 Maria Parker’s accomplish is simply amazing and I was there to cover it as a blogger. I am not surprised the 2 of the top 5 stores are about her ride. Congratulations MP!!!
1,128 Pageviews Reasons to buy a Catrike This story expresses my reasons to buy a Catrike Trike. My trike is a Catrike 700, shown above in a touring mode. So many times we read what we do not like about a product. I decided to do the reverse. This picture is of Silk in her touring mode. Now she sits with  a tail fairing [two pictures up].	1,120 Pageviews So, you want a Crank Forward Bike… Intro: For years the bicycle industry has been searching for a way to mainstream recumbent bicycles; to make them simpler, easier to ride, easier to sell—without hand-holding, explaining and education that dealers must endure. Some recumbents have gotten less rider-friendly over the years with more reclined seats and higher pedals. The bike industry needed a more comfortable bike — thus the “flat-footed” bike or “crank-forward” bike was born. This story pre-dates my RANS Citi Crank Forward [called Faye] and gives links to other articles on the Crank Forward bicycle.It has truly been a joy to ride this bike, particularly as a single-speed.
1,114 Pageviews RAAM ’09 Team RANS This story is about a 4-man recumbent team who Raced Across America [RAAM] in 2009 and placed first in the 4-man category, getting to the destination before the team riding Diamond Frame bicycles.  They rode the RANS Xstream recumbent bicycle—new to racing.	1,059 Pageviews RANS Stratus XP This is my “Cadillac.” It is smooth and very comfortable to ride—great for touring. As originally setup, I used it primarily for touring. Now, it is set as a bit of a hotrod.

As we celebrate our 1st year, we move ever closer to the 100K Pageview Milestone. One of our viewers has the closest prediction to the date that will occur and will receive $100 to mark the occasion. Thanks to those who made the 21 predictions. Stay tuned for results of that contest.

Again, thank you for all you do for me and this publication. You make blogging interesting and fun.

Jim

Related Posts:

• CE Top 20 of all time ~ since 11/30/2008 ~ 10/13/09

• STATS: Top 10 Referrers & Hits ~ 04/19/09

• Top 10 Posts [as viewed by you] since moving to WordPress on 11/30/08 ~ 03/08/09

Photos from my iPhone 3GS, using the OWLE Bubo showing images with no cropping.

Standard Lens 37mm Wide Angle Converter Lens 0.45x/w Macro 37mm 0.5x Wide Angle Lens 37mm 2.0x Telephoto Lens

I took this series of photographs to show one function of the OWLE Bubo—lens holder. It adds versatility to the phone—oh, it is a phone. As a reminder, I received a call during the photo shoot. I did not answer. It was a 888 caller anyway.

The reason for these pictures is that I replaced my initial Creative Labs Live! Cam Optia AF WebCam with a Logitech Webcam Pro 9000. It has superior resolution and frame rate. In addition, I can zoom, and have other nice to have features. What to do with the original WebCam—use it to take vids of the AutoMate [the robot] at work. I have a 29-minute video on Livestream that shows the movement of the AutoMate Robot as taken by the little Creative WebCam. Actually, they can take vids of each other—cute.

This preparation is to give me the capability to live blogcast cycling events such as the Trifecta of World Records in Maria Parker’s 12 hour ride. Next week, I hope to integrate my Tablet PC for WiFi connection with SCEPTEER. The TPC will run both boom WebCams.

SCEPTER Photoset at flickr

‘BentRider Online Post

Well, my unofficial spreadsheet now has the UMCA OFFICIAL RESULTS [lap 13 above--bolded]for Maria Parker’s ride October 10, 2009. Congratulations Maria and crew. Now we knew [unofficially] she had ridden more than 241 miles. Here is what we did not know for sure [the other 2 records]:

• 100 Mile               4 hr 47 min 56 sec             4:47:56                  20.84 mph
• 200 Mile               9 hr 55 min 34 sec             9:55:34                  20.15 mph

I think there are many who would love to complete a century that fast. most would love to just finish a double-century. These records are a remarkable achievement by a remarkable person.

Thanks to Dr. Jim Parker for providing me the official results [e-mail addresses removed].

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