castlerobber
Zen MBB Master
A ride report for us shorter-distance types:
Had fun riding the "25-mile" route at the 100 Miles of Mayhem Saturday in Madison County, Miss. Nice rolling course, no flat stretches to speak of. Cavalier Hill is the high spot, with about 130 feet of climbing over a half-mile. I remembered what some of y'all had said about how to ride the rollers, and that made them a lot easier.
This ride confirmed that I need to start farther up in the pack when riding the Silvio, instead of at the back, as I used to do on the Q451 or the TerraTrike. Several times, I got stuck behind small groups of DF riders who were slogging up the little hills, two or three abreast, and lost momentum. As I went around one cluster of bikes on an uphill, one of them commented jokingly, "You're not supposed to show us up like that!"
At the turnaround rest stop, I met a rider on a Rans V-Rex. When I told him I'd had trouble catching up with him, he started poor-mouthing about how out of shape he is, how he was riding the V-Rex so he could go slower to stay with his DF-riding friends, how much faster his Bacchetta Corsa is than the V-Rex, and so forth. I rode with him for a mile or two on the way back, but got out ahead of him on a downhill--me coasting, him pedaling--and he apparently decided to drift back to his group.
Cavalier Hill was a lot of fun to go down. I hit 32.7 mph, my fastest yet on the Silvio. The return trip wasn't quite as enjoyable, but not nearly as tough as I had expected. Definitely glad I had that 36T cog, though!
Near the top of Cavalier Hill, with the V-Rex in the background. (Photo credit: Jackson Metro Cyclists)
I averaged 13.7 mph for 22.2 miles. Not very impressive numbers; but I could see improvement in how I'm handling the Silvio, and I expect both the speed and the distance to increase with experience.
Next up: Bikes, Blues and Bayous, a dead-flat ride in the Mississippi Delta, on August 1.
Had fun riding the "25-mile" route at the 100 Miles of Mayhem Saturday in Madison County, Miss. Nice rolling course, no flat stretches to speak of. Cavalier Hill is the high spot, with about 130 feet of climbing over a half-mile. I remembered what some of y'all had said about how to ride the rollers, and that made them a lot easier.
This ride confirmed that I need to start farther up in the pack when riding the Silvio, instead of at the back, as I used to do on the Q451 or the TerraTrike. Several times, I got stuck behind small groups of DF riders who were slogging up the little hills, two or three abreast, and lost momentum. As I went around one cluster of bikes on an uphill, one of them commented jokingly, "You're not supposed to show us up like that!"
At the turnaround rest stop, I met a rider on a Rans V-Rex. When I told him I'd had trouble catching up with him, he started poor-mouthing about how out of shape he is, how he was riding the V-Rex so he could go slower to stay with his DF-riding friends, how much faster his Bacchetta Corsa is than the V-Rex, and so forth.
I rode with him for a mile or two on the way back, but got out ahead of him on a downhill--me coasting, him pedaling--and he apparently decided to drift back to his group.Cavalier Hill was a lot of fun to go down. I hit 32.7 mph, my fastest yet on the Silvio. The return trip wasn't quite as enjoyable
, but not nearly as tough as I had expected. Definitely glad I had that 36T cog, though! Near the top of Cavalier Hill, with the V-Rex in the background. (Photo credit: Jackson Metro Cyclists)
I averaged 13.7 mph for 22.2 miles. Not very impressive numbers; but I could see improvement in how I'm handling the Silvio, and I expect both the speed and the distance to increase with experience.
Next up: Bikes, Blues and Bayous, a dead-flat ride in the Mississippi Delta, on August 1.
