Took one out for a spin this morning. It's a VERY impressive ride. Ready to ride, it registered 15.5 lbs on the scales, which is very light for an 56cm 'aero frame' bike. Seat of the pants impression suggested that it picks up speed very rapidly, but I couldn't be sure until I took it to a local drag strip. It's a straight one mile long paved trail that simply dead-ends in the middle of nowhere. I have no idea why it was built, but it's been a favorite with all the local speed freaks. I mounted my Garmin to the handlebar, got down in the drops, and did one fast run. Unfortunately I made the mistake of pushing far too hard at the beginning because I wanted to see how fast the bike would accelerate. By the time I could see the end of the trail, I was totally exhausted and gasping for air. I had nothing left to give, and could only watch in dismay as my speed steadily decreased. Still, my result tied me with two other riders for 4th place on the Strava leader board, one of whom is a local racer whose name graces the top of many a leader board. Though I was already tired, I attempted a second run, this time conserving my energy in the early stage. It worked. Though my time was 3 seconds slower than before, my speed from about the halfway mark to the end was 4 mph faster than in the first run. Had I used this technique when I had all my energy, I'm confident that I would have shaved off several seconds and likely ended up in second place on the leader board. We'll find out tomorrow. http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/categ...ew-specialized-s-works-venge-sram-us-11-44615
Well then, I don't feel so bad about backing out of the Honey Badger. Both of the guys I was going with cancelled earlier in the week. I ended up not really wanting to drive 3 hrs. to do a pretty tough ride with a bunch of strangers. So I wussed out, too. Instead, I went on a long solo jaunt, stopping at a decent little taqueria for lunch. :dg <IFRAME height=405 src="http://app.strava.com/activities/49990638/embed/e9c98efa9225e22ebc1fc46c5230a90091d339af" frameBorder=0 width=590 allowTransparency scrolling=no></IFRAME>
22 miles of two-wheeled therapy today. Although Druid Hill Lake was hosting some sort of dog festival. Talk about obstacle course.
Saturday's ride was wiiiiindy. Santa Ana's usually come out of the north in coastal SoCal, but the geography of the Santa Clarita Valley where I often ride on weekends does some strange things to the prevailing wind direction. This was one of those rides that manged to be 3/4 into the wind. And it was 88deg with nearly no humidity. Had to stop for two water bottle refills during our 40mi trek. This is Spring? Summer may be a killer this year.
Hope not, but those guys rule. Hillsides and riverbeds are green right now, but they'll be brown by the end of May. At the second water stop:
its BROWN out there already. I just rode my motorcycle from the central coast to the south Sierra, and it looked like July across most of the state, not April.
I've never been lucky... so I changed it after finding two more of those on the tire. It was the longest lasting rear I've ever tried on a road bike. Got that century coming up in less than two weeks.
I am considering going on an extended ride this summer. It will probably be about 1,200 km. I have gone on several 100km rides with the local cycling clubs. I have also gone on solo, multi-day, rides of about 400km here in China. The problem I have run into is that I, quite simply, end up in too much pain, from the saddle, to really enjoy the long rides. By the second day, and sometimes before that, I end up with my perineum (the skin between the anus and the scrotum) tearing and then chafing and bleeding the rest of the trip. It is not something I can “build up to.” I had this happen after several months of 100+km rides twice a week. When in the US I ride my recumbent most often (I say most often because I don’t feel that bents work well with multi-modal rides). I moved from a bike-E that I rode for several years to a Bacchetta. However, all I have had in China are DF bikes. You will not find a bent, of any sort in a bike shop. I have lived here since 2006 and make it a habit to drop into bike shops when I see them. On one of my long rides (400km in three days, two nights on the road) a shopkeeper got into a conversation with a friend who was with me. The shopkeeper recalled seeing a recumbent being ridden by a foreigner about two years prior; this is how rare they are. However, I have never seen one. Some of my friends are a bit concerned about my riding a trike because they look like a hand-cycle ( in general, Chinese people have very strong biases against the disabled). My only real concern is that my bike may need to ride as baggage on a train and a trike may be a problem. Cost is a concern for several reasons, one of the reasons is that I may need to leave the bike behind at some point; or, when I leave the country. Shipping a bike from china can be extremely expensive. Further, bike theft is so common that in one city I lived it was not even permitted to be reported to the police. One other issue is that, while on long rides, I have frequently found it necessary to “lift” my bicycle. One case is at toll booth. Bikes (and motorcycles) are permitted to take the sidewalk around the toll booths; but, there is often a bike barrier consisting of a pipe fixed about a foot off the ground. Other times I have had to cross bridges that have consisted of a series of planks placed across the top of a series of small boats. Further, bicyclists are frequently required to dismount, this is typical when going through a gate of any sort (and no matter how wide) and sometimes it is required while waiting for a traffic light. All this leads to me trying to decide on two or three wheels. If I stick with a DF I will probably go a couple hundred KM; but, no further. This leaves me looking at this two wheel model (there are a couple of vendors; but, they are all the same). From here I am also considering a few of the trikes. I will admit it, I kind of like the idea of being able to put up the canopy seen in one of them, on bright days; or, while napping. from here from here from here from here I really think I would like a trike better; but, I am concerned that it will be a never ending hassle because nothing here is set up with Trikes in mind. Any thoughts on any of these for long distance riding?
1. Have you tried different saddles? It takes some trial and error to find one that works. 2. Chamois cream. Get some now. If it isn't available off-the-shelf, there are DIY formulas online.
I rode a recumbent trike on a three-day trip across Missouri. I love my trike but the reason I won't tour on it is because you can't stand up on the pedals to take the lumps out of the road. You just have to ride it out.
There are far too many random variables in racing which contaminate the results: bad weather, equipment failures, accidents, getting stuck behind slower riders, etc. Strava eliminates all these, making it a much better indicator of performance.
