Question:
There were 3 handcyclists that I saw, at the 19-mile mark today of the
Boston Marathon. Two were in very low rider trikes and 1 seemed to be
pedaling inside an extremely small submarine. Didn't see any TV coverage
later of their finish, but later I found this on the bostonmarathon.org
website:
1 finisher: Corrado. of the Bronx NY. Age 42. Time: 1:52:__ I can't
figure this out: it took him almost 2 hours to pedal 26 miles? Does anyone
know how to find out more info? For example: how many handcycle starters?
Was there a crash, flat tires? I mean, even could ride 13 mph pedaling
with my hands. The projected handcycle finish time, I believe, was about 1
hour and 15 minutes.
What gives?
Answer:Are you just thinking that you should be able to from conception or have
you actually handcycled?
That doesn't seem slow to me at all. I've never ridden a hand cycle, but I
have used a wheel chair and it is very hard. There are a lot of people
that couldn't pedal a bicycle 13 mph for two hours. There is an 11 mile
time trial course around here that handcyclists take about 50 min to
complete (although it's a pretty hilly course with around 800 feet of
climbing). I believe they are accomplished hand cyclists.
Handcycling, to the untrained, is bloody hard work, but the *wheelchair*
winner of the London Marathon the other week did 1:32:02, which is about 17
mph. I've found a Dutch page with the results for a 10 mile TT for
handcycles; winner averaged 29.5 km/h / 18.3 mph; the arm-powered Hour
record is 20.58 miles / 31.11 km.
