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The Drag Coefficient of a Banana Costume

AndreAndre Posts: 103
Damn, that's ugly!



[image]local://2655/E7A4C8DBA0474E6BBDB7EBED962717F4.jpg[/image]

Comments

  • AndreAndre Posts: 103
    And the less said about this one... ahem!



    [image]local://2655/296C2AC42763445BA9B8B25F38147ADA.jpg[/image]
  • AndreAndre Posts: 103
    So, yesterday the company I work for arranged a 'Beat the Banana' race in aid of World Cancer Research and guess who was volunteered to be the banana?



    According to everyone at this office, I'm supposed to be super-fit. Yes, I'm a triathlete; yes, I don't drink, and yes, I exercise most days. Oh, and I've run a marathon, which seemed to the final nail in the coffin! Now, I can say this here because you'll all know it's true: as an athlete, I'm mediocre at best and down-right attrocious at any other time, which is almost always. I didn't quite like the pressure that was being put on me, but - as they say - it was for charity, so what else could I do, but give it my best shot?



    I actually found it quite a challenging run, being over rough and bumpy ground. I clocked it at 2.49km with a total ascent of 73m, and although I've never been that good over shorter distance, I was still quite disappointed with my time of 9mins 5secs.



    Now, I'm sure my workmates are just doing it to wind me up, but everyones saying just how close it was. The next competitor was some 70 meters, or 14 seconds, behind me and another some 20 seconds behind him.



    So, does anyone think I can legitimately claim the costume was affecting my performance - and if so, how much difference do you think it may have made? Or should I just accept it, be happy that I won (I've never won anything else in my whole life!) and move on?



    A couple of dubious photos for your deliberations:

  • Ron99Ron99 Posts: 237
    errr - I reckon you could probably say that had some effect on your time...
  • julesojuleso Posts: 279
    That looks a bit wrong in a number of ways!
  • BlinkybazBlinkybaz Posts: 1,144
    There are a few things here to help you out.



    1. The drag from the black ended thing between your legs will take off 20 seconds a K

    2. The temperature in the yellow Banana suit must have been high, so dehyfration is a factor.

    3. Yellow is not a fast colour.



    Does it come in jnitted RED?



    Well done for being a good sport though!
  • Jack HughesJack Hughes Posts: 1,262
    The temperature/humidity thing is probably quite significant. The swinging thing interfering with your natural gait is also a bit of a drag.



    As you work, heat is generated. Your body wants to maintain it's temperature within quite narrow limits. You have a load of cooling mechanisms to achieve this. If these don't work as expected, your body will make you work less hard, so you don't generate so much heat. The result is that you don't run so fast. This is all pretty autonomic, so hard to influence. A key cooling mechanism is to squirt out a load of liquid and get that to evaporate - err.. sweating. If the atmosphere is humid, then it is harder to evaporate the water, so your cooling mechanism is impaired.



    In short, if it makes you hot and sweaty, you can't run so fast.



    Anyway, at least you won! And we have got some good photos as a result [:)]. Well done.
  • Andre wrote:


    And the less said about this one... ahem!



    [image]local://2655/296C2AC42763445BA9B8B25F38147ADA.jpg[/image]



    hehehehehehe, damnit why is it the first thing i notice is the phallic appearence

  • jon_gjon_g Posts: 318
    that is going round our office, and i'm gonna use it as me desktop, that is hilarious!!![:D][:D][:D]
  • AndreAndre Posts: 103
    The office was in fits this morning and no doubt it'll only be matter of days before all 15,000 employees have asked themselves just what the hell it is I'm doing in that photograph.



    I'm glad you all think it's funny, and if I'm able to knock another 50 seconds off the time, then I don't feel quite so pathetic!
  • JulesJules Posts: 987
    And what size would sir like the codpiece on his banana suit? "small", "medium", "large" or "obviously not true"?!



    Sterling work there Andre, a very good cause, and you managed to hold your colleagues at bay despite the suit.
  • garyrobertsgaryroberts Posts: 869
    absolute class.



    Yellow might not be as fast as red but banana's are very very slippery, therefore next weeks race is pool based and you'll wipe the floor with the lot of 'em...!



    seriously, you're a legend Andre, its stuff like this that reconfirms in my mind that triathlon type dude's and dudette's are special.



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