My Most Recent Ride 2011 (Part IV of the series)

Now you're cooking with Carbon

 

Nice carbon/composite Bacchetta high racer; painted in my fave. colour.
Congratulations!


Which reminds me... this happened to me a few weeks ago now:

Near the end of my hilly ride, about 2 miles away from my house and the end of the ride, I was slowing at the end of the flat(ish) road.
I think I was doing 20mph: when struggling flat-out, I can do 27mph on that road.
But, you know, after all those short, sharp hills.
-And it's been swelteringly hot'n humid.
Well, 20mph felt like a big effort!

So, anyway, near the end of the ride, I spotted a low bike ahead.
spinning feet visible, ahead of the rider, at chest-height.
A recumbent!

I caught the guy on a slight uphill, where I like to pedal at about 16-18mph.
Trailed him, clocking 11-12mph for a few hundred yards, to both
look over his ride and, oh-by-the-way, catch my breath.

It was a nice red Bacchetta Corsa (I think: both wheels were low spoke-count 700c., with very narrow high-pressure tyres.)
-being pedaled by an old guy, like my age, with tired-looking legs.

I passed him:
accelerated by him on a short, sharp, steep uphill section.

Like a fool, all I could say, besides "Good morning":
-"Can't catch a decent draft behind those things!"

And so, feeling foolish, I accelerated up to 20mph and
sped on home, watching the pretty stick-bike shrink rapidly
in my rearview mirror.

-----

I love the clean, cold concrete slab in the garage, where the bike is parked.

After a furious final sprint, the concrete cools me off quickly...
because without the slipstream, I overheat pretty easily.

-----

 

last ride in TN

Hello All, Just want to say I have had a great time while here in TN and have met some really fine people. Thursday afternoon I did my last ride and although it was not long it was one of my most memorable. Loaded the Tango up and headed out to the Greenway in Lenoir City. Unloaded and set up the trailer with the help of my newest biking buddy, my grandaughter Keely Jane (2yrs old). This was her first ride and we had a blast. She kept alternating between, "faster bagdee, faster" and "too fast bagdee, too fast" but she did not stop talking for the entire trip. (we have no idea where it came from but she calls me bagdee)
She commented on every bridge and ripple in the creek and especially enjoyed the break and checking out the small waterfalls. On the way back we stopped at a small park where she checked out every swing, slide and merry-go-round there.
By our finish it was lunch time so we continued through the parking lot and up Main St to the Sonic drive-in. We stayed on the sidewalk but I am sure we were a sight. Fat old guy on a recumbent towing a little cutie in a trailer. We ordered and sat outside for our meal which had to be cut a bit short due to some really foul looking clouds and a sputtering of rain.
Although short it was one of my most memorable rides in TN or anywhere. I hope the spring rally gets worked out and you can definitely count me in. Maybe with the addition of a small passenger.

jerry

 

Red says it was probably a Strada. Pretty close to the Corsa except steel vs. aluminum. Glad you got to see another bent on your ride.

 

West to East across London

Out today for a short ride across London, piloting my friend's Greenspeed Recumbent. West London to the East end for a cholestrol heavy All Day Breakfast and then back home again. 42 miles in total, taking in a few of the tourist sites and mixing it with the Traffic and a troop of mounted cavalry !

 

Refreshing

Nice to hear from the other side of the pond. Thanks

 

Good miles..Whats up with all the foot traffic on the sidewalks?

 

Great video teamonster!

 

Enjoyed the video from England. I have never had to wait for a horse parade while riding my bent!!! WOW!!!!

 

Hi Jon, It was a first for me too, still I guess you have to wait for the grizzly bears instead, or is it alligators in your part of the states !

 

Horse crossing!

Well Jon, let's ride!

 

Actually got out for a ride today. Just the river loop, but I didn't have time for more. It was the first day in ages since it's not been broiling out. Very, VERY windy.

Oh! I forgot to mention while Jens and I were driving home from Norway we passed a recumbent trike. It might have even been an ICE model.

Terii

 

After what seems like a month of grey cold days, another great summmer's day here in UK with temperatures up around 80F. Got the call asking me to pilot the GTT again, so another 40+ recumbent miles under the belt. This time out West from London along the Thames. Short video below if you want an idea of suburban London riding.



Definitely got the recumbent bug now, hoping by the Autumn to have ordered a shiny ICE trike, but we'll see.

No Horses on today's ride, just a couple of geese !

 

I haven't been around in a while, but have been riding to work regularly and did more than usual this weekend. Also ran into Keila, but I'll get to that in due time. (Well, I didn't actually run INTO her, but... I said I'd get to that, okay?)

We had been planning to go ride Old Walland Highway for a while. Since we live in Oak Ridge and it's about an hour to drive to the standard launch point at Coulter Bridge and we like getting an early start, the procedure we've evolved is to drive to Townsend the day before, ride from our hotel (we've used the Highland Manor Inn several times now and been happy with the accommodations) to Coulter Bridge and back, have lunch at Subway, and head on home after that. Doing it this way also makes for a more substantial ride since the distance from the hotel to the bridge across Little River adds five or six miles to the round trip.

Well, I got to thinking. I've been wanting a 60 mile ride. Checked google maps and that was about what it said the distance was from Oak Ridge to Townsend. So I asked Karen real nice if she'd be willing to drive the truck with her trike in it down to Townsend on Saturday and let me ride my bike. She said okay.

I figured if I could manage a 10 mph average, it would take me about 6 hours to make the ride, so I planned on riding from about 9:00am to 3:00pm. Didn't actually get going until 9:30. Sometimes things are like that. Karen was going to leave about 2:00 and get to the hotel around checkin time at 3:00.

I rode down the hill from our subdivision to Bethel Valley Road and followed it to where it T-bones into highway 95. Turned right and climbed up the first hill and stopped in the shade. That was the first 12 miles. Took about an hour and it was already getting hot. Had a little snack and some water, then pushed on.

The ride down 95 to Lenoir City was uneventful. I stopped at the Weigel's north of Lenoir City, used the facilities and bought a couple more bananas. While I was there, two different fellows ask whether "that rig is hard to ride." I said, "Not after the first couple of falls," but I grinned real big when I said it. I used my favorite line, that it's like riding an easy chair.

At a stop light in Lenoir City, I spoke to a couple on a motorcycle out for a ride. I think I may have seen them again in Maryville.

Next time I go over the bridge south of Lenoir City, I'll take the time to lift my bike onto the raised sidewalk that runs alongside the traffic lanes. I felt just a little squished between the curb and the traffic on the bridge.

Riding along route 321 between Lenoir City and Maryville, there's a nice wide shoulder but not much in the way of stores. I was glad I had a collection of water bottles (3) and plenty of snacks. I stopped as needed to rest and replenish. At 30.5 miles, not too far over the line into Blount County, I stopped at the top of a hill with nice views in both directions under a patch of shade.

After that, I had a couple more stops but nothing of interest happened until I got to Cycology and went in and soaked up some air conditioning. I bought a couple more water bottles (I had started out the ride with a couple of refilled Dasani bottles and one "real" bicycle water bottle I had bought the week before at that same store). Got rid of the Dasani bottles and filled my three "real" bottles and got back on the road. The guy at Cycology said it was about 16 miles to Townsend. He must have been thinking of the other side of Townsend cause it only took me about 15 more miles to get to the hotel.

Around mile 53, alongside the road into Townsend, I took another rest and finally dug out the grapes I had brought. As tired as I was, they were really sweet and juicy. Maybe the best grapes I've ever tasted.

At the Apple Valley cafe just before entering Townsend, I stopped to get some apple juice to make my water taste a little better. There was a long line of folks buying lunch (at 2:00 in the afternoon!) so I got to practice my patience. There was just one lady behind the counter waiting on this horde of people. The person ahead of me in line said, "They need more help." I said, "We're the help. We help by being patient."

As the line crawled forward, I watched the lady struggling to serve everyone. She was out of sweet tea and didn't have anymore of this and hadn't had time to clean up the latte maker (or some kinda device like that) and restart it, but she was just taking orders and ringing them up and doing what was needed to keep things moving just as fast as she could. I could tell she was getting frustrated. Her temples would bulge when she clenched her teeth and she was punching the keys on the cash register harder and harder. So it was a lot of fun to see her face brighten when I finally got to the head of the line and, as she was ringing up my apple juice, said, "You're doing a good job." She said "Thank you!" and smiled at me and I hope her day got a little better after that.

I got back outside, doctored my water with apple juice and enjoyed the sweetness and coolness it added, and continued my ride.

I arrived at Highland Manor Inn at about 3:10pm with 58.5 on my bike's computer. Not quite 60, but close enough. If you've never been to this hotel, you won't know that their driveway goes up the hill at what seems like about 45 degrees. I know it can't be that steep but it sure seems like it. I cranked myself up to the office to see what was what. Karen had arrived a few minutes before and the lady behind the desk told me our room number over on the other side of the property. She said she had passed me on her way to work earlier and had said a prayer for me because it was so hot. It sure is nice to have good friends.

By the time I rode to the other side of their parking lot, my distance had peaked out at 58.64 miles. Pedal time was 4:35. Elapsed time was about 5:40. Support and insurance was provided by Karen and I'm grateful I didn't wind up needing it but I'm also grateful it was there in case I had.

We hung out for the rest of the afternoon and evening and got an early bedtime so we'd be ready to ride bright and early the next morning. I think we turned out the lights about 8:00pm.

I woke up about 1:00am and couldn't get back to sleep. Finally, around 3:00 I got up and went and sat outside for a while. A little gray and white cat came to visit and we entertained each other for a while. She was a cute little thing. About 4:00 I got drowsy enough I thought I might sleep some more and went back to bed. Sure enough, I dropped off and slept until the alarm went off at 6:30.

We ate our breakfast and saddled up and got ourselves launched about 7:15. We rode down the 45 degree driveway to where the Townsend greenway trail cuts across it about half way down the hill and turned left to head for Old Walland Highway.

We went under 321 at the middle underpass to get on the right side of the main road, scaring a baby rabbit off the trail. By the time we got to the bridge across Little River, we had gone about 3 miles. The last time we were in Townsend, the old narrow bridge hadn't had barriers across the ends of it that are there now.

Almost as soon as we got across the river and started along OWH, we encountered the first folks riding from Coulter Bridge. We love doing this ride on Sunday mornings because the traffic is light. We did notice that a lot of the rental properties along the river are for sale and wondered if that had to do with the current weakness of the economy.

At one point, Karen saw a groundhog by the road but by the time I got there, he was out of sight.

Up near Coulter Bridge, there are corn fields on both sides of the road. The later in the season you ride, the higher the corn gets. This year, we noticed vines climbing up the corn stalks. After a while, Karen figured out that they were morning glories. We saw some purple, some white, and some white with purple decorations. Very pretty.

On the way back, we laughed when an upright rider passed us and said his back would be happier if he had a ride like ours.

About halfway back to Townsend, we found a young box turtle stalled on the yellow line in the middle of the road. Seeing a car approaching slowly from ahead of us, I jumped off my bike, scooped up Mr. Turtle, and hustled him over to the side of the road he was pointed at. The driver very graciously waved me back to my side of the road before driving on. Mr. Turtle hissed at me (Karen says girl turtles don't his, so that's why we think he's a Mr.), but that's okay. I feel better knowing at least he didn't get run over while I was around. I hope he made it back across the road if he tried it again later.

At the intersection where Chilhowee Inn is, Karen spotted a large white bird wading in the river. We sat and watched it for several minutes. I think it was an egret.



Several cabins along the way had pretty pink day lilies growing outside.

We made it back to the hotel about 10:30, in time for a quick shower before checkout time. For today's ride, my computer says 23.12 miles and 2:53 pedal time. Our elapsed time was about 3:15.

After cleaning up, loading up, and checking out, we hit Subway for lunch. It's almost directly across 321 from the hotel. Finally, we headed home.

Remember I said we ran into Keila? Okay, it's time for that part of the story. As we were driving west on 321 on our way out of Townsend, we spotted about six trikes on the side of the road in front of a store. I had passed the store by the time we figured out what we had seen, so I had to turn around and go back. We weren't aware of a recumbent oriented shop in Townsend.

The store is the U-Man Power bike shop. It's Bill and Keila's shop! I didn't realize they had opened one. Keila was behind the counter and we chatted for a little while, reminiscing about the time several years ago when Keila and Bill introduced Karen and me to the ride along Old Walland Highway. It was great to see her and I hope the bike shop is very successful. It's nice to know where to find recumbent experts when I need one.

So there you go -- my latest recumbent adventure. Thanks for reading.

 

Great story Tom. Even though it means you continue to get more miles than me!!! (Tom, Ed & I are within 100 miles of each other. Me being LAST!!!)