# Don't try this at home



## bikeolounger (Jun 7, 2012)

I'm a little surprised that I didn't break anything.

I've hauled some big loads with my Dummy and Bikes at Work trailer. I've even mentioned one or two of them here before (500 pounds of cardboard hauled to a recycling place).

I've hauled bags of mulch before, too. I didn't do the math then, to figure out the weight, so I didn't have anything approaching an accurate weight figure before doing this.

It's a personal record I don't really want to outdo.

Thirty bags (2 cubic foot) of pine bark mulch, at about twenty-seven pounds a bag.

That's roughly eight hundred pounds of payload.

I'm glad that the steepest thing I had to climb was about two percent!


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## Cleared2land (Aug 31, 2012)

Did you have any problems getting started (rolling) and how was the effort to keep it rolling?


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## formula4speed (Mar 25, 2013)

I don't know how he did it, but I would put it in the big ring, small cog, then yell "By the power of Grayskull" and then ride off effortlessly.


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## bikeolounger (Jun 7, 2012)

Cleared2land said:


> Did you have any problems getting started (rolling) and how was the effort to keep it rolling?


The route home trends downhill, but there are some small climbs (1 to 2% grades).

Getting started was tougher than usual, which was my clue that this load was heavier than any I had hauled. I've pulled a few four-hundred pound-plus loads, and could usually get started with them on level ground in the middle ring and 34-tooth cog, but I never left the little ring with this load.

I had to pedal downhill at a small output (guessing thirty watts or so) (again, 1 or 2 percent grade), which proved to me that I had a LOT of rolling resistance.


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## NordicNorm (Jul 25, 2014)

Bravo!


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## str8edgMTBMXer (Apr 15, 2015)

That's it...I quit!!! (No more whining about climbs I encounter)

Holy Crap....I would also be afraid to try to stop that load....at any speed!


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## Cold Trigger Finger (Aug 4, 2015)

Wow

Sent from my E6782L using Tapatalk


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## bikeolounger (Jun 7, 2012)

sXeXBMXer said:


> That's it...I quit!!! (No more whining about climbs I encounter)
> 
> Holy Crap....I would also be afraid to try to stop that load....at any speed!


The increased rolling resistance meant that I couldn't coast far without things coming to a halt on their own. Life at three times walking speed (at best) gives us lots of time to predict whether others' movements will have affect on our own paths (one of the reasons cycling is relatively safe).

No, I wouldn't want to have to stop suddenly. I rarely have to use quick-stop training (although I keep practicing quick stops), though.


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## Gritter (Dec 21, 2010)

The long wheelbase of that Dummy is probably really great for towing with. I think that load on a shorter bike would have kept lifting you and the bike off the ground, over bumps.


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## robertaboone100 (Jan 11, 2018)

Wow! I am really surprised. I just think what a crazy thing you have done.


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## bachman1961 (Oct 9, 2013)

Very impressive.
I'd have felt the pucker of danger for any pathway obstacles or interference that potentially needed braking force applied but your explaination of rolling resistance seems to put it all in perspective. Well done.
By the look of that trailer, your use and experience of towing by bike looks solid. 

Any other adventures planned ? 
Camper conversion or kit for the frame .... Parade float ?


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## Crankyone (Dec 8, 2014)

I think the night factor is one more nail in the coffin, crazed, but really off the hook! Seems like tractor pulling on a human scale! Don't wear a helmet on this kind of run!
How far did you run with this load!


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## dundundata (May 15, 2009)

Bravo, we salute you.

my fav water bottles


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## XJman (Mar 5, 2018)

I would have died.


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## jamiedyer (Jun 24, 2008)

Excellent effort! 
Great work and another amazing load to put tick off the list. 
Legs of steel for sure  

Jamie


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## loudbeard (Feb 21, 2018)

Definitely the dumbest thing I've seen today (but's it's only 9:45 am.) Nice physical accomplishment but...

Local landscape supply delivers mulch at $30 per yard, delivery fee waived if I buy 3 yards. I paid $90 for 3 yards.

You bought 30 bags at approximately $3/bag (low end) for $90 and pedaled it like a fool for 2.2 yards. And not to be too much of a granola, but you also contributed a decent amount of single use plastic to our landfills.


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## Cleared2land (Aug 31, 2012)

^^^ Loudmouth has everything figured out. Chill out.


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## loudbeard (Feb 21, 2018)

Everything? No. This? Certainly.


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