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Getting One-Off handcycle up stone steps Published on 1 Apr 2013 In preparation for a mountain bike hand-cycle attempt on Cadair Idris, our local mountain, we have been working out how to negotiate the big stone steps on the upper route. Here we use Tracmat fibreglass waffle board sand ladders to ride steps at least 50 cm tall. The sound is a bit on the quiet side in places. Watch out for use of "front wheel drive" to reduce the load on the drive wheel, and also the random appearance of dogs and chickens |
One-Off Hand Cycle on steep gradient Published on 1 Apr 2013 The low gearing on the One-Off hand-cycle means that the limiting factor is usually traction. Here we have used Tracmat fibreglass waffle-board sand-ladders to climb a 70% grassy slope. Sound quality a bit on the poor side again, with additional contributions from Kip the dog! Smooth application of pedal power and use of "Front wheel drive" both play key roles here. |
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One-Off: climbing steep, rocky and loose trails Published on 16 Apr 2013 In preparation for an attempt to ride up Cadair Idris, we have been looking at strategies for tackling the loose and rocky climbs on the upper mountain. Here we work on some ideas on a rock strewn track in the forests of Coed y Brenin with an overall gradient of around 30% (the maximum sustained gradient on the mountain. "Front wheel drive" remains an important technique for dealing with low-grade traction loss, but this gets less effective with bigger rocks and steeper trails. The ladders are effective at overcoming traction loss and are excellent for negotiating big steps, but are slow to deploy over long distances and are hard on the support crew. The biggest surprise was the effectivensess of the "bungee pull." Here, the assistant kept the bungee cord under tension with putting it under full load (hence not calling it a "tow"). This kept the bike moving nicely and more force could be quickly applied when required. The assistant reported negligable effort, and thought it hugely more efficient than deploying the sand ladder. We doubled our overall speed up this section of trail using this technique. |
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Coed y Brenin |
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TC handcycles the MinorTaur at Coed y Brenin Published on 3 Apr 2012 TC hand cycles the MinorTaur Trail at Coed y Brenin with 'Challenge your Boundaries' |
One Off hand-cycle on the MinorTaur Trail Published on 24 May 2012 OK, so it felt like big air to me! |
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Coed y Brenin: Green Loop around the new skills area Published on 14 Aug 2013 We took a Hase Trike for spin around the Green and Blue sections of trail around the 'Y Ffowndri' skills area at Coed y Brenin. What a treat; nice flowy trail with big sweeping corners. A real boon for the 'Challenge your Boundaries' adaptive mountain bike project. |
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Other Videos by Colin |
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Challenge your Boundaries: Momentum Ride #2 Published on 27 May 2012 An adaptive bike try-out day on the Mawddach Trail in sunny Snowdonia. Our thanks to Cycling Projects and Quest88 for supplying many of the bikes |
Mush! Published on 13 Sep 2012 Take one One-Off hand-cycle, the prospect of a long day cranking up a mountain, one handy dog and a length of bungee cord |
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Challenge your Boundaries & Rough Riderz Published on 27 Jul 2012 A visit to the new DH trails at Antur Stiniog in North Wales by aMTB riders from Challenge your Boundaries and Rough Riderz. The trail is "Drafft" and was filmed from a One-Off handcycle (fully rigid, head first, 30 cm off the ground), including my snake-bite puncture. The image stabilisation has tried its best, but there is only so much technology can do :) |
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