Jacques Fortier » Cycling

More bicycle physics

Jacques — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 18:06:44 +0000

A moving bicycle without a rider is asymptotically stable. The best way to explain it is to just watch the movie below. Shoving a moving bicycle will cause it to oscillate back and forth, but it’ll eventually find its way back to its stable upright orientation. No deep insight, just something that’s kinda cool.

There’s all kinds of bicycle related physics here.

Maybe there’s something to this fitness thing after all

Jacques — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 00:19:07 +0000

Just finishes doing the Minuteman Trail again, and in my best time ever. The first time I did a full round trip on the trail, it took me two hours and five minutes. Today I worked really hard and pushing as hard as possible on the uphill sections and did it in 1h48. That three and a half hour ride last weekend with a bunch of steep hills probably didn’t hurt either.

Also, did you know that to turn right on a bicycle (or motorcycle) you actually briefly turn the front wheel to the left? Steering left causes you and the bicycle to lean to the right, which then makes you turn right. This is called countersteering. You don’t even notice it at slow speeds because it happens automatically, but word is that it can save your life at high speeds.

Getting Better

Jacques — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 11:23:00 +0000

I haven’t been cycling as much as I’d like lately because I’ve been traveling a lot and the weather has been pretty rainy. I started up again this week with the goal of getting past 25 miles.

I did my usual route along the Minuteman trail, but kept going when I got to the end (after a 2-3 minute break). There’s a cycling club called the Cambridge River Wheelmen that does some group rides in the Carlisle/Concord/Chelmsford area, so I just used one of their routes once I got to the end of the Minuteman.

One of the plusses of riding on rail trails is that they were designed for trains so they have nice and low grades. Roads are a different story. There were times when I was crawling up hills at 7 or 8 mph. On the brighter side flying down the hills at 30 mph is lots of fun.

Anyway, I ended up doing 39 miles in 3.5 hours (3 hours of pedaling) at an average speed of 12.6 mph. Next goal: 50 mile ride. Other goal: Pedal faster.

Map after the jump.

View Bike Route 2009-09-08 in a larger map

Minuteman: Did it again

Jacques — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:23:53 +0000

I made it to the end of the Minuteman trail again. Looks like I need to find a new goal for myself. It would be nice if I could do this in under two hours.

View Larger Map

Made it!

Jacques — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:55:02 +0000

I made it to the end of the Minuteman trail today. 24 miles in just over 2 hours.

View Bike Route 2009-07-03 in a larger map

Cycling

Jacques — Sun, 31 May 2009 00:45:55 +0000

I decided to take up cycling. After looking fruitlessly on Craigslist for a few months, I splurged and bought myself a bike. It’s a 2009 Gary Fisher Wingra. Hopefully I keep up the motivation to get $600 (once you include accessories) out of this guy.

Sure there’s a nice picture of the bike on the Gary Fisher website, but the crappy low-light iPhone picture proves it’s my bike.

My new bicycle, a 2009 Gary Fisher Wingra