[NMCycling] Mari Holden trivia

Wed Jul 20 14:40:27 MDT 2016

I was at the turn-around that day (I was too poor to afford the entry fee).
I very well remember the long line of traffic that was held up just before
the "big guys" (Frey, Bostick, etc.) came through the turn around just
north of Estancia, including some very slow-accelerating, heavily loaded
trucks.

Now, having been there myself, I know how much a truck moving at speeds in
the 40s (mph) helps when you're averaging 34 mph yourself.  I've had a lot
of long car trips with Kent Bostick to hear the inch-by-inch replay of that
day. Many factors were at play, but the bottom line is that Frey was the
only guy who could pedal that fast that day (on a fixie, no less...).
Recall that Frey also win the national TT championship at the 1988 Olympic
trials, ahead of arguably one of the most talented group of American TT
strong-men ever assembled (Norm Alvis, etc.).

I've been on Frey's wheel in many hard races, and the guy was the master of
the "big wind-up," where everyone else was completely spun out, or maxed
out, and he could always reach for more with just a little more RPM that no
one else could muster.  I can vividly remember the look of his pedal stroke
and the back of his legs, and how he would actually sit up straighter and
higher on his bike to do it (vs. the famous "Bosti-meter" head tilt and
full spasm body crouch of Kent Bostick).

Besides Jim Warsa, anyone else remember the "Great Vaughn to Roswell Road
Race" the day we had that tailwind and did 90+miles in like 2:45? Classic
John Frey conditions...
On Jul 20, 2016 1:15 PM, "Warsa, James S" <warsa at lanl.gov> wrote:

> Weather. Double-tailwind that day.
>
>
> --
> Jim Warsa
> Transport Methods Section
> Computational Physics and Methods Group, CCS-2
> Computer, Computational and Statistical Sciences Division
> Los Alamos National Laboratory
> 505-667-0214
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Bike-racers <bike-racers-bounces at mailman.swcp.com> on behalf of
> George Tapley via Bike-racers <bike-racers at mailman.swcp.com>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, July 20, 2016 12:19 PM
> *To:* paul; Craig M. Doolittle; Craig Denman; Clay Moseley; Chad
> Patterson; NM Bike Racers
> *Subject:* Re: [NMCycling] Mari Holden trivia
>
> Chad,
> Back in the fast days before the shoulder there was the tire wear strip.
> That was the fast line.
>
> I know I have spoken with a number of people over the years on the record
> and many will not attempt it because the
> course is not closed.    One team manager actually said that Frey had to
> be drafting the day he set his record.
>
> Yeah, Steve Wood had just graduated from Highland High.  I think he is
> still the youngest winner of road nationals
> and may still have the largest winning margin.   A ride legends are made
> of.  Flatted 2x caught back solo both times.
> Went through the field and attacked after the second lap.  Tom Doughty was
> the only one to go with him.  Then he dropped
> Doughty on Watertower hill.   Solo'd in for the victory.
>
>
>
>
> On Wednesday, July 20, 2016 8:36 AM, paul via Bike-racers <
> bike-racers at mailman.swcp.com> wrote:
>
>
> ...and the alibaba face mask, gigantic spoke protector (disk wheel
> precursor), Schwinn Ashtabula forks, 12 spokes(?), ...
>
> On 07/19/2016 05:26 PM, Craig M. Doolittle via Bike-racers wrote:
>
> And on the bottom of his shoes!
>
> *From:* Bike-racers [mailto:bike-racers-bounces at mailman.swcp.com
> <bike-racers-bounces at mailman.swcp.com>] *On Behalf Of *Craig Denman via
> Bike-racers
> *Sent:* Tuesday, July 19, 2016 5:21 PM
> *To:* Clay Moseley; Chad Patterson; NM Bike Racers
> *Subject:* Re: [NMCycling] Mari Holden trivia
>
> I remember John Frey's first TT record because I spent so much time
> looking at the stenciled 51:57 on the back of his seat tube -- and recall
> the 600-grit sandpaper on all of the tube leading edges placed there for
> the hype of speed.
> Craig Denman
>
> On 07/19/2016 03:53 PM, Clay Moseley via Bike-racers wrote:
>
> John Frey once held the national record at around 52:00 early in his
> career with RGRT.  I remember when it was still above the 50:00 mark around
> 1987 or so, then came the "fast years" from 1988 to recent.  I think Kent
> was the first one to go sub-50 with his Ten-Speed Drive Guercotti, and
> within a year he got that down to 48:44 or so, when Frey did his thing in
> 1990 (47:35?).  On that same day, Kent also went 47:40-something.  I only
> recall one other person going sub-48 on the Moriarty course, and that was
> Colby Pearce with his high-dollar Lotus and Superman position.  In recent
> years, it seems that the 50:00 minute barrier has become harder to break.
>
> All that being said, I think the Brits were the first ones to make the
> 25-mile time trial a famous distance that was focused on for speed
> records.  Our times compare closely with theirs, but it wasn't until
> Boardman came along that the 47-minute barrier was broken.  Then there was
> a string of them as well.
>
> Anyway, back to your original question, Mari Holden's time is pretty
> killer.  Many top-level (Pro/Cat-1) men can't time trial that fast on an
> equitable course with the same conditions.  That time will stand for a
> while.
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jul 19, 2016 at 2:37 PM, Chad Patterson via Bike-racers <
> bike-racers at mailman.swcp.com> wrote:
> Can anyone tell me the last time a 51:36 would've been the outright winner
> of Record Challenge?  I'm just looking for something that will illustrate
> to the average sports fan how ridiculously fast that is.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
> _______________________________________________
> Bike-racers mailing list
> Bike-racers at mailman.swcp.com
> http://mailman.swcp.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/bike-racers
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> Bike-racers mailing list
>
> Bike-racers at mailman.swcp.com
>
> http://mailman.swcp.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/bike-racers
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Bike-racers mailing listBike-racers at mailman.swcp.comhttp://mailman.swcp.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/bike-racers
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Bike-racers mailing list
> Bike-racers at mailman.swcp.com
> http://mailman.swcp.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/bike-racers
>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.swcp.com/pipermail/bike-racers/attachments/20160720/93baa048/attachment.html>