pavedwave longboarding

pavedwave · Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 1120 Location: seattle wa usa

While it is true that the pavedwave.org html pages don't see much updating (yes, even the home page is behind the times now) the one page that does see some action is the Cyber Mile. And it is getting interesting again...

But what a lot of people might not know is that I've been keeping up a notification tradition that NCDSA started with their Cyber Slalom entries, although this system is not scripted, it's done manually. Whenever someone sends their details about their Cyber Mile attempt, with some confirmation of 'due diligence', I update the page of record, then post to two other places, NCDSA to pay tribute to the place that originated the idea, and silverfish because from time to time there will be some interesting discussion around the topic.

Cyber Mile page
http://home.comcast.net/~jampet99/rides/cyber.html

NCDSA
http://www.ncdsa.com/50/Cyber-Slalom-Skateboarding.htm

Silverfish
http://www.silverfishlongboarding...arding/28391-3-minute-mile-7.html

So just to keep up to speed on this forum as well, this thread will be updated whenever a new attempt is made. I intentionally post "just the facts" like the setup, the time and date, whatever the riders volunteer to send my direction.

The way these are reported might come across a little dry but the purpose is to play down the hype and lend legitimacy to these hard-earned records. I see so much B.S. posted on other places online where people claim to be casually skating flatland at "20mph" -- yet for people who ACTUALLY do the Mile as specced out, the reality becomes quite obvious, quite fast. It takes serious cojones and focus just to get under 4 minutes, folks. This ain't no disco!!

pavedwave · Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 1120 Location: seattle wa usa

Ian Tilp usa 4:07

clearwater FL, asphalt quarter-mile track

Stiff Mermaid, longest WB, 7* wedged Bennett 5.0 w/ Khiro red cone/blue barrel/red bitch, 13* dewedged Airflow 130 w/ green Eliminators, 83a 77m Vents. 34/m/6'0"/200lbs

4/4/09

pavedwave · Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 1120 Location: seattle wa usa

Greg Fiess usa 3:42

clearwater FL, asphalt quarter-mile track

Subsonic Pulse with longest WB, Seismic 155 rear, Bennett 6.0 front. new orange BZigs in front, older coned orange BZigs in rear. Splits: :53; 1:50; 2:46.

4/4/09

Ian the Groove Worshipper · Joined: 03 Dec 2008 Posts: 79 Location: Largo, FL

This week's quest for a kick butt Cyber Mile resulted in the following setup changes:

I drilled a new WB for my Mermaid, 1" in front of the front truck. This makes the WB 30.5". We are finding that longer WB is faster. It made my Mermaid flexier too. This feels good, but I'm not sure if it is more flex than is ideal for Cyber Mile efforts.

This week I also somewhat begrudgingly went from my Airflow back to the Seismic ST130. Bottom line is that the Seismic gets better traction. An added benefit is that it gives me about 1.25" added WB. The Seismic also feels like it gives me more direct power transmission, without any loss due to the hangar floating around the kingpin and pivot cup, each time it changes direction. The Seismic feels like a pivot bearing truck.

On a tangent, I cracked my Seismic baseplate bolting into onto a soft riser with a little to high of a torque setting on my cordless drill with the 3/8 socket attachment. Lesson learned - Seismic needs a hard riser immediately beneath it. Fortunately only $10 for a new one, who awesome guy Dan Gesmer shipped immediately.

This week I went from 7 degrees, to 11 degrees wedging up front. Then to 9...then all the way down to 5 degrees. Its amazing how much turning I'm still getting out of a mere 5 degrees. I'm going to play with even less up front this week.

This week I also brought my HR monitor to the track. I maxed out at 175. This tells me I can still work a little harder. Ideally I'd be maxing out at around 185.

All of my setup changes are based on copying Greg(Stocago)'s setup on his "track" board, the Pulse with the longest wheelbase. We are finding that long wheelbase, tighter than normal bushings up front, and lower amounts of wedging up front are faster for the Cyber Mile efforts. Greg likes wide hangars - I haven't tried that yet, but might have to at some point.

I've got some 73mm 84a SpeedVents coming this week. I'm curious to see if their lighter weight and smaller diameter will result in faster acceleration at the moment the trucks change directions, and if this will be enough of a benefit to outweigh the possible slower top end due to the smaller diameter.

I ended up with a 4:00 mile, achieved in a pursuit race with Stocago, going opposite directions on the 1/4 mile track at a local high school. I'm happy with the improvement, and enjoying learning more about setup and pumping technique, and getting a nice workout at the same time. I'd like to see more of you go hop the fence at your local high school, time an official mile, and share your experience with the forum, as this would provide useful observations based not only on subjective impressions.

More to come...

Ian the Groove Worshipper · Joined: 03 Dec 2008 Posts: 79 Location: Largo, FL

This week I made played with adding further dewedging to the Seismic. It is crazy how my tastes have changed - a dewedged Seismic used to feel so dead, but now I dig it. The trick is getting up to speed. It seems that the more dewedging lets me do really wide power pumps, without losing forward momentum due to excessive side to side turning. When I have a turnier rear truck I end up doing more "rabbit" style pumps to keep it in the center. The wider, power pumps are my preference and seem to generate more thrust.

This morning Greg(Stocago) and I met at a local high school track. It was so windy that we almost bailed out on doing any Mile attempts. Each lap would have half where you'd be flying with the wind at your back, then half that was absolutely brutal and demoralizing riding into the wind. It was good training, nonetheless.

We ended up doing timed 1/4 mile efforts, switching boards, wheels, and eventually swapping out my hangars for the wider ones that Stocago prefers for his timed efforts. This revealed that the wider hangars are faster. I have been resisting the switch to wider hangars, but I'm to the point where I have to give in.

My best 1/4 was 54 seconds. It is insane to think that in order to break Munson's 3:33 you'd have to do four 53 second laps. There is no way that I could have kept up the pace for 4 laps.

At the end of our session we did a pursuit mile. I ended up doing a 3:55 mile on the following setup: Stiff Mermaid with custom 30.5" WB, 10* wedged Bennett 6.0 with Khiro red/blue/blue, 11* dewedged Seismic 155 w/ green springs, 73mm 84a Vents, Biltins. This is a new PB by 5 seconds.

Given the less than ideal conditions, I was pleased with the effort. Greg and I discussed going back next weekend and bringing our tools and several wheels to do more 1/4 mile efforts to work on making some further set-up fine tuning using the clock as our guide.

Greg this week did a 3:08 wind-aided mile on a one mile section of good pavement. On his return trip into the wind he did a 4:05, for an average of 3:36.5. 3:08 for a mile is an average of over 19mph. Sick! Yet Greg is a purist and doesn't feel it counts due to not happening on a track, so I'll post it for him. We have mapped it on G Maps Pedometer, and double checked it with my GPS which confirmed the distance. Yet I do agree that there is something more legit about doing the Mile on a track, and I think it will be a moot point as Greg will beat that time on the track, shortly.

aschmidt · Joined: 03 Jul 2008 Posts: 56 Location: Bakersfield CA

Ian and Stocago...good stuff, great info! You guys are way out of my league but I've started playing with some of your setups and I like them.

One word of warning for other wannabes like me- beware of 70mm wheels up front with highly wedged bennetts on less than perfect pavement. There will be kingpin contact... I have a shredded camelbak to prove it.

Keep it up guys!

-Alan

stocago · Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Posts: 227

I don't know if anybody reads this stuff, but I just wanted to encourage people to get out there and challenge yourselves. Before trying to set up a makeshift LDP deck, I couldn't break 5:00 for a mile. By using the info from James in the gear section I was able to break 4:50. After getting a dedicated deck I started to make further improvements.

I have a background in long-distance running, but before that I was a skateboarder. I learned to pump back in the '70s by reading about it in a how-to book. After a long layoff from skating, I picked it back up two years ago. Having been a runner for so long has helped me aerobically/anaerobically and psychologically.

Breaking four minutes for a mile seemed impossible to me and only recently did I believe I could do it. I've made gradual improvements, taking about 10 seconds off my time every few months. My training has not really been structured, although I have been more focused in the last few months.

Other than tweaking setups and experimenting with new equipment, I can only attribute my improvement to intensity and frequency. In my running days I would have speedwork days, or high quality training. My skating, although not structured, seems to turn into hammerfests where I just punish and test myself. This may not sound fun to you--although it definitely is to me--but it's nothing like running since it's (usually) non-impact. Wink

I'm just into the speed!

aschmidt · Joined: 03 Jul 2008 Posts: 56 Location: Bakersfield CA

I think I have a little bit of that same thing in me...every time I go out to ride I tell myself "I'm just going to cruise today, take it easy and smell the roses" and then end up going hard as I can trying to keep up with the pesty cyclists... and loving it... this is a great sport!

pavedwave · Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 1120 Location: seattle wa usa

Ian the Groove Worshipper · Joined: 03 Dec 2008 Posts: 79 Location: Largo, FL

James, based on my recent switch to larger hangers (begrudgingly) due to their clear timed speed advantage, I'm now looking at your 3:49 with the Splitfire (110? plus it shortens your WB) and Tracker offset setup and wondering how much faster you might go with a 6.0/155 setup, too. I know you had posted earlier about the 6.0 and not really dug it, but I'd love to see you try it. 3:49 with those narrow little hangars might go into the 3:30 range.

Greg just ordered a Seismic 180 to experiment with. How wide is too wide? We plan on meeting at the track this weekend, so hopefully we'll find out.

Tonight we went for a hammering session at Lake Seminole which has an awesome 2 mile fitness trail loop with nice pavement. I shattered my old PB, putting up a 7:41, yet once again Greg bested me with a 7:38. My time also was helped by drafting Greg for the time I could stay close to him. My HR was at about 200 trying to keep up, so I was proud of my effort. I did, however, begin to question this wide hangar setup when we were in the 2nd mile and I was hanging on for dear life to keep from getting dropped, if indeed the 6.0/155 setup does take more effort. But maybe I was just being a lazy quitter and making excuses for being too slow. The jury is still out on the wide hangars for general LDP use.

We are finding that stiff decks put the power down better for Cyber Mile efforts. Yet flexy decks are preferred for distance.