My Most Recent Ride 2008 (Part I of series)

Re: My Most Recent Ride

Oh come on!!! What about that meal at the Mexican restaurant I took you out to after the ride??????

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

And what is wrong with that Power Bar anyways? And then Bill took you to a Mexican resturant afterwards? Wow!!!!

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

whoops, looks like I started something

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

BLOG FIGHT !!! BLOG FIGHT!!! Hmmph. Just dosn't have the same affect as when you holler it out the bathroom door at school..Doesn't even have the same ring as "C.B. fight"..Hmmmph..:

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

Uh hunh, I see trying to make look like an ungrateful hussy eh? Well, I was only talking about the power bar...the other junk was granola bars about 2 inches long and some cheap nutrigrain bars. No good for energy while biking. The mexican was pretty good though I wasn't knocking that. So don't get your jockies in a bunch.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

HUH-OH! Ward you have let the wild cat outta the cage now...

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

Well, like Honeybee, I ate some Power bars today. Nice day for riding and I went 75 miles. I intended to go 100 but because it was starting to cloud over I turned around sooner than planned.

Temperature was mid 70's and the wind wasn't bad. Traffic was heavy for county roads. Don't know why as I've never seen traffic that heavy where I went.

75 miles and I went through one small town. Even Gene rode through there last year. If you read this Gene, it was Ithaca. That is 22 or 23 miles from where we live. That is one thing I like about riding here is that we don't have to go through many towns and no cities.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

I remember the town but i don't remember the traffic..

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

Well I went downtown with my wife, on thur nigts she dances (ballet and jazz) for almost 4 hours. So I stocked lots of that great trail mix with the cranberries and chocolate drops, some mandarin oranges and 70 oz endurance gatorade and off I went.

My plan for this ride was to try and do a metric but I wanted to keep my HR below 120 in order to increase my aerobic base (at least thats what the training people tell me). It was hot, about 92, with no breeze but south of town where I was heading I could see a few clouds building up and I felt certain I would get some cooling rain before it was over.

Not much traffic out on the Riverwalk except for one rider I have seen alot over the past few weeks. I usually pass him pretty quickly but as I was keeping my HR down so was my speed and it took me almost 5 miles to catch him. We both said hi and as I pulled ahead of him he suddenly sped up and started asking questions about my bike. "Is that faster than a regular bike?" First question, I liked it. "Absolutely!" After we finished talking I did open it up a bit just to remind him of what the bike would do.

I passed Carter sitting on his shade bench that he uses during the summer and waved as I passed. He had found somebody else to ramble on to.

After about 10 miles the clouds were getting thicker and it was feeling much nicer. I would guess the temperature was down around 80 now. Interestingly no wind with the clouds. A nice flat section I was moving along about 18 mph with a HR of 115. They say if you mix in some of these aerobic rides that your overall speed will increase when you also do interval work and rides at lactic threshold too.
I feel that is True, that this is sort of the pace that I settle into on a long/tough century in the last 20 miles or so and I'm running down. Not a bonk but just nothing left in the afterburner.

Out to the hills, about 1000 feet of climbing over 15 miles. Not bad but two very steep short sections with over 10% grades. I just took em real easy and spun my way up. HR did spike on the second one to 147 shortly.

Now I'm on my way back and I'm feeling the raindrops. A nice little shower, I did hear some thunder but didn't see any Lightning. Feeling great, temp in the 70's now, shower over 40 miles down and my time is looking perfect.

Coming back in on the Riverwalk, two riders pass me then turn around right behind me and I see them get out of the saddle to chase. Okay, I should have done plenty of the aerobic riding today now its BUNNY time. Right ahead a stop sign at a t-intersection. I turned right and went about a quarter mile knowing they would turn left staying with the Riverwalk. I let them get onto the walk before I turned on the jets. They were running around 20 was my guess so I eased up beside them said hi, punched it up to 24 and dropped em pretty quickly. hehehe

Low and behold I came around a corner and there was another BUNNY. He is moving slower than they were but he has his nice bike and his Tour de France team jersey on and I'm sure he is thinking he is riding strong. Just up ahead is one of my favorite spots, a quick little downhill of 5% grade into a section of little S curves where you can disappear from sight real fast. I ease up behind him just before the downhill coast and let him hear the ticking of the pawls in my Spinergy rear wheel. He gives a brief glance over his shoulder and then he is out of the saddle as we hit the downhill. "ON YOUR LEFT" I shout as I spin up to 32. I love wearing a mirror so I can see the dejected way they sink back onto the seat knowing they have been spanked. I havn't had this much fun since I sold my GTO.

Anyway, finished with 62.1 miles in 3:39 with a 16.97 adverage. Adverage HR was 118.

Ward

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

Thank the Lord for youth and ego. hehe We love you
Ward. I always enjoy the presence of greatness.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

Wednesday evening I was out for a ride on my Linear, riding some horse trails in the Fullerton area. I want to start building up for riding in the Sierra’s this summer, so trying to ride hills as much as possible and preferably on dirt trails.

The trail I was on went around a golf course and at one point I had stopped to put my chain back in place as it had slipped off. A guy in his late 30s or early 40s stopped to make certain I was OK and then we ended up talking for about 15 minutes or so. He was asking about the recumbent, and how it did, was it hard to ride, etc.

One of the questions he asked was about climbing hills. I told him I appreciate the ability to use the gears and let myself be pushed into the seat back when climbing. I’ve found that I can climb some pretty steep hills that I couldn’t climb on my mountain bikes. But now for the irony, after talking with Al, I had turned around to head back to my truck as he continued down the trail. As I start up the hill, I hear a “crack” and my pedals move far too easily. There is my chain starting to be laid out on the ground. Thankfully, Al had already gone around a bend, so I pushed my Linear up the hill (about a ¼ mile), and from that point it was either level or slightly downhill back to where my truck was parked.

From this incident I’ve learned that I need to carry a master link in my bike bag in case I break another chain. I will get the master link and put in my bag right after I install a new chain on the Linear (according to a friend’s son-in-law, my chain was at least 13 years old, as that brand hadn’t been made in quite a while).

My ride on Wednesday was just over 8 miles, of which about 1 mile consisted of a ¼ mile push and a ¾ mile coast!

Curtis

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

Curtis, could you also take along a chain breaking tool, just remove the bad link and refasten it? Or a master link would also work.

13 years on a chain is pretty darned good! Don't think I've ever got even half that out of a chain.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

Buddy, Nothing great about me. I just got enough money to buy a great bike and put great components on it like Rotor Cranks and Spinergy wheels. You and Gene, ya'll are the real inspiration. H***, I hope I am still able to lift the remote control when I am your age

Ward

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

Curtis, I am interested in learning about how the Linear handles offroad. I have plans on getting a recumbent setup for single track. How do you find the USS steering works, is the turning radius limited by it. Do you have a 20/26 set up? Suspension or non. Tires/ gearing, you said you climb better on the Linear than on a MB why? have you tried any other bents offroad?

Sounds like you have a good ride. I know 8 miles of singletrack on my MB and I was pretty tired. Thanks for the ride report

Ward

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

Ward,

As both a mountain biker, Trek dual suspension Y-bike (yes, I've had it for a long time), and a recumbent road biker I am curious about how you plan to single track with a recumbent.

I can't see how to unweight the front and/or rear wheel, bunny hop, clear logs, or negotiate 'baby heads' or ledges on a 'bent.

I have ridden my 'bents on fire roads and double track (like the Virginia Creeper Trail) just fine but technical single track eludes me.