May 17, 2007

Schlitter triumphs in turnabout recumbent race
Equipment failure halts field leader

By KATHY GRAY
of the Chronicle

     The British champion winged up the wheat-country hill near The Dalles, wind in his teeth, empty pavement stretching in front of his wheels — the Wasco Wild West 75 victory and a course record within his reach.
     Cresting the top of the hill on his second lap, Rob English (yes, the British one-hour challenge record-holder’s name is English) was expecting an easy coast down the other side.
     That’s when his secondary drive chain came off.
     “I was already going close to 40 miles per hour at this point,” English said, headed downhill toward Kelly Cut-off. “Fortunately, I was able to grab the flapping chain with my hand and hang onto it, whilst riding the bike one-handed down the rest of the descent.”
     Stopping at the bottom of the hill to put the chain back on, English discovered that the chain had hit the spokes of his custom-built “Kingfisher Hachi” recumbent bike, and they were badly twisted.
     Just like that, he was out of the race.
     “I estimated my lead to be in the 15-20-minute region,” English said, noting the difference in lap time between his run and those of the other front runners.     “Very frustrating.”
     English gave proof to organizer Clay Smith’s statement, “The fastest bike doesn’t always win.”
     Ten minutes back, the battle for second became a dogfight for first among three equally notable riders, last year’s winner Michael Wolfe, record-holder “Fast Freddy” Markham and John Schlitter. The three had been nose to tail through most of the 75-mile race, and stayed that way rounding the final turn.
     “At the last corner, about a quarter-mile from the finish, last year’s champion, Michael Wolfe, was in the lead,” Smith said.
     But on the dash to the finish line Schlitter edged ahead, with Freddy Markham a bike length behind, and Wolfe settling for third.
     The gusty gorge winds kept this year’s Wild West 75 out of the record books.      The cyclists, riding recumbent bikes, tandems and trikes, fought the wind as they climbed the hills.
     But spectators got their share of drama.
     Schlitter’s winning time was 3 hours, 50 minutes, 23 minutes off the course records, and well out of the running for the $450 prize that the first cyclist breaking the three-hour mark would have won.
     Schlitter said the event was his “first true recumbent road race,” in a message on OHPV.org, short for Oregon Human-Powered Vehicles.
     “After four laps, you have earned this race,” he wrote.
     English was on track to beat the three-hour mark, averaging 26 miles per hour on his sleek, elemental Hachi until the breakdown.
     Further analysis revealed that the freewheel mechanism at the hub of his bike had seized, causing the chain to dislodge.
     “The hub is a custom time that I built — and it was never designed for extensive freewheeling,” said English, who recently relocated to Eugene. “This is the first time in the five years since I guilt the bike that I have ridden it on the open road.”
     The bike was designed for circuit and track racing, where the rider pedals continuously.
     “I suspect that the long descent on the first lap caused the clutch to overhead, and thus it locked up when I next tried to freewheel,” he said. “If I’d realized what was happening, or the chain hadn’t got damaged, I could have continued and just kept pedalling.”
     The race brought together cyclists from around the Pacific Northwest, with some from California, Kansas and Florida added to the mix.
     The sport of recumbent and tandem racing rewards innovation and diverse cycle choices, noted Smith. Jane Machamer, winner of the women’s pro classification, rode a cycle that used by hand and foot pedals. Saturday’s race represented a broad range of cycle styles.
     “Is it going to make it go faster?” Smith asked. “Then build it.”
     The result is a sport that outruns conventional diamond-frame cycles and continues to get faster, as English’s performance indicates. His racer was unusual in the field. It was a low-racer where the rider sits between the wheels, just a four inches from the ground.
     “This type of bike offers an aerodynamic advantage over the ‘high racers’ that a lot of the other riders were using,” English said, including the winner.
     The rules for the race require the vehicle to have two wheels and be human powered. It can be driven by the front or the rear wheels.
     As Schlitter noted, the undulating road race is unusual in the recumbent bike arena. This is the fourth year Smith has organized it, with corporate support from Comfort Inn and Craig Office Supply, as well as the help of about 20 volunteers.

2007 Wasco Wild West 75 bike race winners:
Tandem man: John Hatfield, Gerry Ellis
Tandem mixed: Sal Collura, Martha Walsch; Steve Hertel, Donna Hertel; Henry Abel, Amy Mitchell (2 laps)
Pro men: John Schlitter, Freddy Markham, Michael Wolfe, Rand Milam, John Climaldi, Keith Kohan, David Nelson, Rob English (DNF)
Pro women: Jane Machamer, Laura Minor, Sara Kay Carrell
Sportsmen: Denton Goetzee, Keith Garvis, Gregg Burke, Bill Burke, Tony Tortora
Sportswomen: Cindy Van Dusen, Diane Wills, Edna Van Gundy, Marilyn Haywood
Junior: Alex Kohan

On the Net:
www.wasco75.com
www.ohpv.org