Mile 500

I've been building leg muscles for the past 3 hundred miles now. Mostly flat riding with some rolling hills. Tried to stay off Old La Honda's 4 mile climb but failed 4 times now. I love this bike on the down hills so I have to get up to the top somehow. I haven't timed my hill climbs but I'm sure I'm cutting off time. Still not sure what the upper speed limits are for fast cornering. I keep pushing the speed up each time I enter my favorite corners on Highway 84 and I'm not topped out yet. These bike can corner! I know I've mentioned the before but it's so true, this recumbent is much faster and now more stable than my road bike on fast descents. I should stop pushing it so I can finish this write up for you from my couch not the hospital

I'm about as comfortable as I can be with the handleing now and the only issues I can see as negitives are the following:

1) You have got to have a mirror, turing your head back to see traffic behind you is not easy

2) People look at you all the time

3) Road bikers just don't get it yet

4) Hopping over a pot hole is not going to happen, you've got to scan the road surface if your on a road suspect for holes. You can do some real damage to the rims if you slam into something big. I guess that's the same for upright riders that have never learned to lift the bike up and fly over the suprise pot hole.

5) When someone asks you what you like about recumbents. The answer is endless, leaving you with less time to ride

 

600 Miles

Out for a ride on the Santa Cruz side of the hill today. This will be the second timing of the hill climb I did during the first week of recumbent riding. I was 20% slower that day and that did now feel good. I could not see myself selling recumbents and always haveing to admit that they are quite a bit slower up hills..."but but but you make it up on the flats and downhills". In the back of my mind I knew if you are riding with friends and they drop you on the hills, making up that 20% could mean alot of miles on the chase. You will be able to keep up with friends on flats and downhills but you will be dropped up long hill climbs. Well I'm excited to report after 600 miles, and I'm not in top recumbent form yet, I'm only down 8% on the hills. Over the past few rides the strength in my legs is noticeably improved, especially on the hill climbs. I can now see matching my road bike time on hills could be possible or at least close enough. Now the big question will be if I ever ride my road bike again. I'm going to give the recumbent another month of rides and then hop pack on the Madone. For now all I can tell you is that I'm thrilled and I"m dieing to scream down another fast decent and to even climb another hill.

1600 Miles

Well I'm back. Another month has gone by and I've been on my Madone road bike three times and my recumbent 18 times. The first time back on my road bike I was riding with a friend and thought I should save him from any shame of riding with a recumbent type. 35 miles and I didn't love it, in fact it was a bit odd what I felt. The weight on my saddle and hands was a suprise. I never gave it a thought over the past 30 years, but here I was 30 years later and I think it probably felt a bit like my first day on a real road bike. I remember feeling bent over the bars, a bit heavy on the seat and hands but I was younger and that is all anyone serious about the sport was riding. Anyway, I put up with it long enough to get use to it and spent the next 30 years thinking it was just fine. But I'm in trouble now. I think I may not go back. I love the look of the Madone, I feel like one of the gang out there while riding it, but I can't find enough reasons to stay on it. I didn't head out on this recumbent experience to actually become a recumbent rider. I wanted to be able to talk to people about them, know what a recumbent rider feels and how the bike handles, not become one.

Today was my third road bike ride. The first ride I just mentioned and one a few weeks ago that I wanted to ride easy and try to enjoy it again... I lasted 1/2 mile and turned back to get my Corsa. This was a truning point for me. I never turn back for anything, but the seat and hand pressure was very noticeable, and being bent over the bars was odd now. I thought about it and wondered why this ever became the proper way to ride two wheels.  Hey, why isn't a standard road bike called a bent, I sure felt bent over. I wanted to be comfortable. I wondered why the recumbent hasn't become the bike for most of the public all these years. Well it's not really that big of a mystery I guess, but I think things are changing. I think the new design of these Bacchetta's is key. Slick simple and lighter than the old style. They have a cooler look and for sure are faster and quicker steering than the old long wheelbase recumbents. For me to love this ride is big, I'm a roady, I like the look of a road bike, it's my history, it's in my blood...I'm ruined or is it that I'm saved?

Anyway, my third ride was today. Kings Mountain to Summit Rd. and then scream down Woodside Rd. Well after today I'm not ready to admit it but it may be over for the road bike. It even hurts a bit to jot this down here. The ride over all today was harsh. That discribes most of the feeling. All the usual perviously mentioned points of pressure bothered me again and that visual issue was there. The Madone still faster on the uphills by about 4% but who cares. My racing days are well over, so why do I need to be as fast up hills. I still get higher speeds on the straights and downhills and the views, the comfort, the relaxed position with no pressure points at all, rules. I'm still building my recumbent muscles . I figure this will take about 10 to 15 thousand miles to get to my maximum fitness on a recumbent. It did when I first started to ride road bikes seriously. I was fit earlier but didn't level off for at least a year into it. My racing peak was more than 5 years into the sport, so I won't be suprised if I reach my road bike hill climbing speeds. I'll let you know

I can now ride my recumbent on a straight section of road and look up at the sky for about 10 seconds with no waver at all. It's beautiful. Watching the trees rushing by over head while traveling down the road is a very cool sight. I mean, I'm sitting on a couch with an otaman, staring up at the sky and getting a workout. Is this still cycling? Most of what I saw today on my road bike was asphault. Could this really be the end of the Madone...?

Next Day

I had swaped my road bike for the recumbent this morning in hopes that I might have time to do the same ride today. After yesterdays not so enjoyable ride I thought what a great test it would be to ride the same route a day later on my Corsa. I never ride two days in a row so I thought this could be a bit tough, but I had time so I went. Same ride, up Kings Mountain across Summit and down Woodside Road. I timed the hill climb yesterday on my road bike and today on my recumbent. Road bike 32 minutes Recumbent 33.30. Less than a minute and a half off on a half hour up hill climb. I passed a roady on the hill and he complained that recumbents were supposed to be slower on hills, I laughed and said this is not your fathers recumbent. Hung with him for a bit and slipped away to finish the hill alone. The recumbent was unbelievable comfortable. I was relaxed and noticed how much more I enjoyed the view. All the same things I've mentioned before but the contrast was dramatic. I finished the ride in less time than my road bike time and if I had more time I would have gone for another loop. That's it...I'm off the road bike for good. The beginning of a new era for me, and I'm hoping alot more cyclist give these bikes a try. It takes time but once you get it and have the muscles developed, recumbents are by far more enjoyable, faster overall and more relaxing. If anyone out there has back neck shoulder or wrist problems this is the way to go, and I'm convinced that most of the cylist out there would love the ride if they gave it time. Even diamond frame riders that don't have any issues would find they like this ride so much more than they could imagine. Look at me, ex road racer with no health issues, sold my Madone last week...it's gone gone gone. One more time I tried to ride the Madone, got home and new it was over and clearly the end of an era. Love the look of a diamond frame but looking is one thing, riding it is another and I love to ride and why not ride with more comfort, speed and better views.