Re: Bicycle physics question

AMuzi <am@yellowjersey.org> wrote:

 
That all seems right to me, assuming CG means distance to
tire contact and not height.

The potential energy represented by the bike is the work
needed to raise the bike's CG against the force of gravity.
PE is mass times gravity times height measured along gravity,
not along the bike..

Part of what makes the problem confusing is that the rider
is in a non-inertial frame, leaning and turning along with
slowing down and speeding up. That may be confusing my
senses

ISTR a flying rule of thumb that when banking an airplane
it's necessary to increase power to maintain elevation.

Bicycles have some kinship to aircraft in their dynamics,
maybe a pilot could chime in.

An example would be riding figure-8's. I feel like I have
to "pedal out" every half cycle if the 8's are tight. Is
it just my imagination? If it _isn't_ my imagination, where
is the extra work going? Tom thinks it's into friction. I
can't tell. .

Thanks for writing,

bob prohaska