EPIC Recumbent Rides Reports

Wow is right! Ward, you make me tired.haha, I have decent endurance for something like a MS150 two day ride or high miles tour over a period of DAYS!, but there is not way I could do what you or that gal did. In a single day. My hats off to you man. That is incredible. Oh and i loved the sunset/sunrise pictures. Those were just awesome. Thanks for making them available.

 

Ward, it sounds like it was a tough one but you still made it. I'm sure you did not make it as high on the ladder but you still were able to finish under not quite as good of conditions. That is a bear when you don't have support and bonk is usually what happens then. But I'm glad to hear you rode it this year.

 

glad ya'll liked the report and the pictures. And Dennis best I can tell I have the record for longest time for a male

 

To finish a double century when you are bonked is a major achievement. Most people would lay down by the side of the road and wait for the broom wagon. Way to go!

I once did the Davis Double Century back in '81 but I was only 20 years old then. They had major feed stops all along the route including a huge lunch buffet so it was impossible to bonk. I was riding a DF and I do remember my rear end hurt for days after that ride.

 

I'm just now putting my DALMAC adventure into words. "Epic" would be a good description. The weather was unprecedented. Anyway, here's my write-up:

DALMAC offers 5 routes from Lansing to Mackinaw: the 4-Day West, the 4-Day East, the 5-Day Petosky, the 5-Day UP (Upper Peninsula,) and the Quad-Century. Every 5 years, and this was that year, a Quint-Century is offered instead of the Quad. This year, Lowracer1 and I did the 5-Day Petosky route. The ride started on Wednesday September 1st, 2010. Evening stops were in Mt Pleasant, McBain, Elk Rapids, and Petosky, and ended in Mackinaw City. As we usually do, we started at my house and picked up the route near Dewitt.


This year, there were no others in our group. We both rode our NoComs, which are built for speed but are surprisingly comfortable for long distances, AND have the advantage of internal storage for at least some gear..


We took off from my house at about 7:30 am, and immediately went to breakfast at McDonald's. We took the long way there, to avoid riding on a busy, roughly-paved highway. By the time we got on the route, we had about ten extra miles compared to the riders who started at the official ride start. The SW wind was a headwind for most of the trip onto the main route, and we did a nice 20 mph pace.


Once on the route and northbound we took advantage of the quartering tailwind. Somehow the tailwind didn't seem to aid everyone else as much; the other cyclists were mostly going 15-17 mph while for us, 22-24 mph was a sedate pace and 27-30 mph fly-bys were common. As the terrain flattened out between Perrinton and Alma, we were able to hold 26-27 mph for most of the way. By Alma, we were ready for lunch. It was turning into a warm muggy day, and I'd already emptied my 70-oz Camelbak. Lunch was at Wendy's. Note for the future: Don't eat lunch at a place which sells bottled water and doesn't let you refill your own drinks. I had to buy water for my Camelbak. Which is just wrong considering a Pepsi refill would have been free.


Refreshed, we sprinted from there to CMU in Mt Pleasant, with only a short detour to check out the 5-Day UP route's campsite in Shepard. We were among the first ten riders to our campsite, so we had to help unload the trucks. Rather than sneak past and hit a quick-stop for a drink, we decided to stay and help just in case a bout of sprinkles turned into something more wet.


Dinner was in the Rose Center's most remote basement gym, and consisted of cater's tins of chicken, pork loaf, green beans, potatoes, and salad, with ice cream bars for dessert. After a hard day on the road, it tasted great!


The evening was uneventful. I never heard the train or the 3:00 AM street cleaner. After a nourishing breakfast, again in the furthest recesses of the basement, we headed out at about 8:30. By then there was less than a dozen cyclists left in camp. The morning was cool and damp, but there was no fog. We warmed up at an easy exertion level, but pretty soon we were setting them up and knocking them down. After a rest stop in Farwell, Lowracer1 took off on me – the only time on the trip that he did it. I finally met back up with him at Lake George.


At Lake George, he described a 'kid' of 14 or so that was keeping up with him. THE KID must have been keeping an eye on us, because when we took off, he was right there. With his father drafting him like his life depended on it! Lowracer1 was right – that kid stuck to us like glue. We'd pull away on downhills, but if we eased off at all, he'd winch his way right back to us. At one point he was right on my wheel as I cruised down M-61 at 30+ mph. A short burst of 35 mph got away from him temporarily, but when I dropped back to 25 mph, he caught right back up. In another spot, I took a roller the 'recumbent way' by building speed in the downhill and using it to crest the uphill. The downhill was 44.5 mph and I crested it at 24 mph. Lowracer1 and I soft-pedaled for ¾ of a mile before, sure enough, THE KID popped up over the crest. We could have dropped him there, but we were merciful and from there we took it easier on him.


As we rolled into Lake City, we realized we'd missed our cutoff for McBain and had ridden with THE KID to the 5-Day UP's layover town instead of ours. We ate lunch before the 12-mile trip back, and while we were there, we met up with one of the SAG drivers. He was an acquaintance, and we prevailed upon him to give us a ride in the van.


We were about halfway there when the skies opened up. There wasn't much wind, but the rain came down in buckets for about 2 ½ hours. It finally quit while supper was being served. We set up our tents first, then went in to eat. Dinner was hamburgers and baked potatoes, with salad. Plain, but filling. After dinner, we cleaned up the bikes. That always draws a crowd, especially after two days of passing every bike on two routes. I finally got to bed at 10:00.


It rained for about 3 hours during the night; but there was no wind. I slept through most of it. By morning it was mostly cloudy, with blue sky showing here and there. The temps were pleasantly in the high 50s, and with little wind. I wore my windbreaker. We took the first few climbs at an easy pace, but like yesterday, pretty soon we were gearing up.


On one series of larger hills, Lowracer1 convinced me to use my middle ring and take it easy. Eventually I comprehended the foreign language and followed suite. Of course, that's when a lone upright rider chose to make his move. I swear, when you ride a lowracer, there's always a target on your back! We chased him up the rest of the hill, then for the next three miles, out across the flats, sometimes at speeds of over 30 mph. We finally caught him right before the morning's rest stop, where I stripped my windbreaker.


From there we picked up our speed more, except for a stretch of incredibly bad pavement that just about bounced me off the road in spite of my 60” wheelbase and carbon frame to soak up the bumps. After a nice downhill, we stopped in Fife Lake for an energy drink, then got back on the road for what is one of my favorite stretches: up Supply Road and Williamsburg Road to Elk Rapids. By now a wind had built up, and it was at our backs! We started on Supply doing an easy 22 mph, then gradually built up until we were doing 30-35 mph down Williamsburg Road. At one point a car tried to pass us, then re-thought that idea once the driver realized how fast we were going.


Lunch was in Elk Rapids, then we continued on to the high school were we would be camping. THEN the weather started to get unpleasant. The wind, which had been building all afternoon, reached 20-30 mph, with 50 mph gusts. The temps dropped, and then it started raining. Squall after squall blew in from Lake Michigan, less than a mile away. Tents were flying, rain was being blown under rain flys and into the tents, and I FROZE! After dinner, Lowracer1 and I hit town, looking for warmer clothing. Can you believe, that tourist town only had ONE place that sold clothes? I got what I could find: a $20 cotton sweatshirt for $52. It was barely enough under two windbreakers.


That night, I slept on the downwind side of my tent, with my baggage trying to hold down the upwind side. Gusts would regularly flatten the tent to the point the rain fly would press against me and wake me up. It's amazing that the tent survived! By morning Lowracer1 and I had both had enough. He called his girlfriend to come rescue us and we bailed out. She had a motel room in Mackinaw City and we all crowded in that night.


Sunday dawned partly cloudy and breezy, but nothing like the previous day's winds. It would have been a nice finish to the ride, IF we'd been in Petosky for the start of the day, which we weren't. My wife came up to rescue me, and we arrived home about an hour before my bus ride would have left Mackinaw City.

​

Pics from the trip are here:
http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e135/blazingpedals/Bike Rides/DALMAC 2010/

 

John,

GREAT WRITE UP on a great ride. Really enjoyed the pictures and the videos. You go by DFs like they are standing still!!! (Wonder why my V Rex doesn't do that? Must be something wrong with the engine!!!)

I did notice all the dark clouds in your pictures., Riding in the rain is no fun. Camping in the rain is even LESS FUN!!

Thanks for taking the time to share your adventure. I really enjoyed it!!!

 

Pretty nice...enjoyed reading.

 

There and back again

The forecast was sunny with a high in the 60's and mild winds. Liner was up for a long ride as was I. There was a guy in town that we had not ridden with that had just bought a Performer trike and was itching to give a shake down ride to. I called Scott and asked if he was up to the distance, "No Problem", he replied. I gave him directions to the Country Store on the ridgetop of Pine Mt. and the die was cast.

32 degrees when I arrived at the over look.

As you can see we had great color, right at peak for the year. Liner had a flat right as we were taking off, easily fixed and back. This road is a beautiful downhill right into the Valley. We didn't pull out until around 9am and it had warmed up to around 40 I guess.

I wanted to warm up the legs so I cranked it up going down the hill pulling away from Liner and Scott, I then waited for them before we turned. I could already see that Scott wasn't as strong a rider as he had claimed, so I cut a few miles off the route which brought us right back to the first gap heading north over Pine Mt. Its a nice climb on good pavement but right at the end it cranks up to about 8 or 9 % for a short 30 or 40 yards. This proved to give me an even better idea about Scott's fitness level as he was already hurting on this climb after only about 6 miles. Liner had pulled away from us on this climb and I joined him to mention my concerns as we were planning an 80 mile long narrow loop which would put us about 35 miles away from our vehicles at its longest point. We decided to just take it easy on him and see what happened.

A blistering downhill run from there and then we turned onto a very nice road nestled on the north side of the mountain.

We now hit a series of short little rollers, my favorite. We were now riding into then wind (which wasn't too bad) so I worked with Scott on drafting me and he got the hang of it pretty fast. With him tucked in close behind me we were running 18-20 along here.

We stopped in the huge town of Greenville, Ga Pop 907. They were slightly amazed at the two trikes. A quick Kit Kat and a YooHoo and off we went. After 25 Scott was beginning to really suffer. I realized that I had pushed him too hard and now we were hanging around 11-12 mph with a slight cross-wind. I consulted my hastily written notes about the ride and selected what looked like a likely short-cut to hasten our return. Around here my chain broke, I fixed it pretty quickly this time (getting to be a pro) but I hadn't brought any extra links so I would not be able to use my two lowest gears. Mile 38 and we were at a cross-roads. A left would in 3 or 4 miles, take us back to hook up with our out-going path. However, there was a very likely looking road directly in front of us, and the compass said it went directly to Pine Mt. So we took it!

It was a beautiful road with a canopy of golden and red leaves suspended over our heads. Long sweeping downhill curves we blasted along at 22-24 enjoying our luck at finding such a treasure. Our glee was short-lived though as we came around a corner at the bottom of the hill we were greeted with dirt. Yep, a dirt and gravel road stretch ahead of us. After consulting we decided forward was the best way, for none of us wanted to climb the hill and go around.

Scott was really hurting now, as was suffering with leg cramps on each hill, but he soldiered on.

We came to an intersection on the dirt road just as some kids 4-wheeling in a truck came up. We checked with them to make sure we were still heading in the right direction (which we were). Two miles to go was the reply, so we moved on, as the beating continued.

This last picture was taken as Scott and I climbed a rather brutal hill. We were having trouble maintaining traction here and the path between the gravel was narrower and we couldn't keep both front wheels on the smoother dirt. We were rewarded with more dirt at the top, but after crossing two very narrow bridges and an extremely rough RR crossing we reached pavement.

More short rollers, Liner disappeared into the distance and Scott and I forged ahead. We would hit 18-20 something on the downhills and carry the uphills at 6 or 7 as he fought the waves of cramps in his legs. Mile 58 we arrived at a little shopping center where Liner waited for us. We still had 5 miles to go with a brutal climb and we debated the best path to get Scott home the easiest. Fortunately for everyone, my wife had been driving around kinda looking for us. We were over an hour longer than my estimated and she was getting worried. She spotted us and we got her to give Scott a ride to his truck as we watched the vehicles. She did and 10 minutes later Scott was loaded up and heading home, swearing to us that he would never ride the trike again.

One very steep climb left for us, about 1 mile long with grades between 6 and 15 %. We had just reached the bottom of the climb when my chain broke again. The problem this time was just not enough chain left. We couldn't manage to bring it together, hold it and fasten it with the chain tool I had. Luck was with me, a guy stopped and offered me a lift and I took it. Thus ending my day with almost exactly 60 miles in just shy of 6 hours total time. Liner ended with about 64.

Back on the mountain top glad its over. A beautiful view as the SUN was beginning to sink.

 

Always enjoy reading your reports. Poor Scott. You should console him that on your worst day he wouldn't be able to keep up, as neither could most of us. And a dirt road for a shakedown cruise sounds cruel at best. "Never" is a long time, and "always" is hard to live up to.

Your last pic: Is it a panorama of several pics, or just cropped to look like it was very wide angle?

 

Ward,

You break chains like I have been having flat tires lately. Even with new tires and new tubes I went to ride yesterday and was greeted with a flat back tire. I patched it. Then half way through another flat. I changed tubes this time. Same back tire. Made it home. I am afraid to look at the back tire this morning!!!

 

Scott has recovered and say he is ready for a 70 or 80 mile ride.
I promise not to hurt him as badly next time.

the last picture is a panorama my phone/camera puts together as I slowly move it from one side to the other. I think it came out pretty well.

Jon, I'm glad to had over the flats to you my friend. Last year I had my share of those. The chain...something about the routing on that trike has GOT to be the culprit. I have taken off chain tubes, put chain stay protectors on both the chain stay and the place where the chains go through the frame. I'm afraid I am going to have to go for the TerraCycle idlers. Maybe that will help.

 

I replace the idler with terracyle idlers on EVERY bent I own. They are great and much better quality than the RANS idlers.

 

I bought but haven't yet installed a Terracycle idler for the Rocket's rear idler. From comments, I'll probably get one for the front idler as well. A broken idler out on the road can shut you down or at least slow you down.

Flats I can fix. But I've stopped carrying a chain tool. Ya gotta nail that one and get it out of the way.

I've heard of cameras that do panoramas, but your pic is the first I've seen. Good shot. I have to PhotoShop several frames together when using my D5000; it's a pain and taxes the 'puter's memory.

Be nice to Scott... until he doesn't deserve it anymore.

 

Spent some time at the bike shop today with my mechanic going over the trike. He just can't seem to find any likely cause. After thinking for a while he asked me about the specifics of my last ride. I told him about it including the long stretch at 18-20 into the wind. He asked about my cadence, 50-60 in the high range. It seems I am killing my chain mashing. I guess I am officially a monster masher .

Dave, the phone I have is the LG touch. My wife had to have it and then hated it so I inherited it.

 

Hate to say it, but sounds to me like your mechanic is grasping at straws. Maybe if you are a world-class weightlifter that can leg press many hundreds of pounds... Maybe the search should continue. We use the 5 Whys to investigate industrial incidents. Ask "Why?" five times and you will usually get to the root of the problem. The first two Whys are usually just to get past the excuses.