ride report

[kaylarudbek]

Wow. My new crankarms and new shoes meant that we averaged 15.9 miles/hour, went 31 miles, and maxed out at 35.1 miles/hour. Of course, we were riding with a group for a change, which is always inspiring in terms of increasing our speed. But 15.9 miles/hour as a average...dang. Of course, we are sadly slow compared to the really fast riders in the club, but still, to have improved our speed that much feels very good.

To make this HP-related, I think that riding a bicycle is the closest thing I can get to a broomstick ride. No box around me, the speed depends on the rider and the machine, and you can really scare yourself with how fast you can go on the thing. Hmm, I wonder if there's a wizarding equivalent to the European bicycle races? They can't all play Quidditch, after all...

Edited to add: The writing is not going well at all. My Muse is on vacation so that I will go take care of RL stuff...

Comments

[melannen.livejournal.com]

My parents have just discovered that tandem-riding works better if they pedal in synch. So I'm impressed!

I have an ongoing desire to write a story in which Lily talks the Marauders into trying bicycle Quidditch, and of course James and Sirius can't even stay on their bikes, much less toss soccer balls around meanwhile, and Peter and Lily get to taunt them and make them cry . . .

Actually I have an ongoing desire to *play* bicycle Quidditch, but sadly I'm not sufficiently suicidal.

[kaylarudbek.livejournal.com]

Heh. If they are having trouble with pedaling in synch, another solution would be to offset their crankarms by 45 to 90 degrees, so that somebody is always at the top of the powerstroke. If they want to hear yet more, there is a mailing list for tandem enthusiasts called tandem@hobbes.ucsd.edu. http://hobbes.ucsd.edu/tandem/ All the arguments about wheel size, etc. that you would ever want to see...

Playing bicycle Quidditch sounds like the sort of thing my husband and his brothers would have done when they were boys. But they played smash-up derby on their bikes instead...hmm. Michael Vector with a bunch of sons playing bicycle Quidditch...thanks for the scene bunny, Melannen...

[pauraque]

To make this HP-related, I think that riding a bicycle is the closest thing I can get to a broomstick ride.

I feel the same way. Sometimes, when I'm going downhill, I get an urge to grab the crossbar instead of the handlebars, just to see what it feels like. But so far, common sense has always overcome this desire. ;)

Hmm, I wonder if there's a wizarding equivalent to the European bicycle races? They can't all play Quidditch, after all...

At some point, someone mentions a particular model being a "racing broom", so I always figured they do have professional races. Just not as popular as Quidditch.

[kaylarudbek.livejournal.com]

Heh. The advantage of riding as stoker on the tandem is that I can go no-hands if I want to. However, I usually don't want to when we are swooping downhill at over 25 miles/hour. I wind up "death-gripping" the handlebars instead. I suppose I could try gripping the downtube...

Thanks for reminding me about the "racing brooms." I think that they must have long-distance, high-endurance races, as tests of strength, endurance, broom-handling skills, etc. Probably not as popular as Quidditch among the younger set, but I'm sure the races would have their own fans and participants.