Mark B
Zen MBB Master
We had some unusually hot days last week, but the weatherman said this weekend would be nice. That sounded like a good reason to plan a long ride, so I called around and got some people to do all or part of the ride.
The plan was to leave early and get back early. Dan, a fellow that had been talking about riding unsupported to the beach and back said he would like to ride with. We would leave at 6:30 in the morning, head toward the Orange County SART, like we were heading to the beach, the pedal until we hit 50-55 miles and turn back. On Friday night, my old friend, Larry called and said he would like to join us in Riverside, then ride with us from there. The weather prediction had changed a little during the last couple days; the weatherman calling for 20% chance of rain, but I said there was no way that was going to happen. The last call I got was from Billy Bob and Don, two regulars from the Sunday morning group. They were going to get a late start riding on Saturday, so they wanted to meet up with us in Riverside, on our way back. Sounded like a plan!
I got up and had my pre-ride breakfast/coffee. As the sun came up, there were some ugly clouds around, but the ground was dry. I was going. I had trouble getting out of the house. One of those mornings where you keep forgetting things, you know. I finally got down to the ride start location where Dan was waiting. I guess I wasn't alone, because Dan almost forgot to change his shoes. Then, when we were two miles down the road, it dawned on him he forgot his water. So... That's kind of the way the day started. We took surface streets through Grand Terrace, into Riverside to pick up Larry. From there, we continued into Corona where we hit a bad stretch of surface-milled street. Here's where the Silvio''s suspension really helped. Because of the construction, traffic was a little worse than we expected, too, so we decided we would take another route home on the way back.
We made our first pit stop at a gas station/convenience store for drinks, munchies and bathroom. We continued on and got onto the bike path. As usual, there was a plethora of runners, walkers and other assorted numbskulls on the path, wired up to their ipods and oblivious to anybody else around them. It does no good to communicate your presence to them, as they couldn't hear you, anyway. Along the way, we met a Tour Easy and some flavor of Trike. We passed a couple geezers on road bikes and they apparently didn''t like it too much. They jumped onto the tail of our paceline and followed for quite awhile. We eventually let them go around, as Dan was having difficulty hanging on into the newly acquired headwind we suddenly found ourselves in. I was intent on turning around at the bathrooms across from the Honda Center, but Larry convinced me we were good at 53 miles. So, I agreed and we turned our train around and headed back.
The one thing I always dread about this ride is going back up Green River, after leaving the bike path. It's a pretty good climb up out of there and knowing that Larry is a good climber (great climber, actually) I had already subscribed to the notion I would take my place behind him going up the hill. To my surprise, I found I had to go around him and motor ahead. I was shocked, but decided he would probably pass me going up. I kept checking my mirror and I would see him standing up, pedalling hard, but falling back! I couldn't believe it. It bugged me all day and finally last night, I had to call him and ask if he was taking it easy, or if he was riding hard up the hill. He said he was riding like he normally does and was surprised at how well I climbed. I gave props to the bike. Still do. The Silvio climbs way better than any recumbent I've ridden and I think it's on par with most road bikes.
We got back to the same convenience store for another brief potty break, a Gatorade and a banana. I made contact with the two late starters and it sounded like we would just meet up on the Riverside portion of the SART. Larry showed us a way to avoid the milled streets on some quiet, out of the way streets in north Norco and Corona. We made it back into Riverside and joined the bike path there, where we ran across Billy Bob and Don, as we had planned. By now, Dan was starting to fade fast. We had about 90 miles in and he had been slowing for quite some time. Now, as we neared home, we picked up some fresher legs that wanted to go faster, but we stayed with Dan and towed him home. Larry peeled off and headed home, so it was just the four of us continuing on into Redlands. I got home with 110 mles in. We had an overall average of 16.5 for the day. I felt OK after the ride. A little tired, but not too bad. As usual, the Silvio stood out as a fine long-distance machine. All day comfort, great climber and cuts through the wind so very nicely.
Mark
The plan was to leave early and get back early. Dan, a fellow that had been talking about riding unsupported to the beach and back said he would like to ride with. We would leave at 6:30 in the morning, head toward the Orange County SART, like we were heading to the beach, the pedal until we hit 50-55 miles and turn back. On Friday night, my old friend, Larry called and said he would like to join us in Riverside, then ride with us from there. The weather prediction had changed a little during the last couple days; the weatherman calling for 20% chance of rain, but I said there was no way that was going to happen. The last call I got was from Billy Bob and Don, two regulars from the Sunday morning group. They were going to get a late start riding on Saturday, so they wanted to meet up with us in Riverside, on our way back. Sounded like a plan!
I got up and had my pre-ride breakfast/coffee. As the sun came up, there were some ugly clouds around, but the ground was dry. I was going. I had trouble getting out of the house. One of those mornings where you keep forgetting things, you know. I finally got down to the ride start location where Dan was waiting. I guess I wasn't alone, because Dan almost forgot to change his shoes. Then, when we were two miles down the road, it dawned on him he forgot his water. So... That's kind of the way the day started. We took surface streets through Grand Terrace, into Riverside to pick up Larry. From there, we continued into Corona where we hit a bad stretch of surface-milled street. Here's where the Silvio''s suspension really helped. Because of the construction, traffic was a little worse than we expected, too, so we decided we would take another route home on the way back.
We made our first pit stop at a gas station/convenience store for drinks, munchies and bathroom. We continued on and got onto the bike path. As usual, there was a plethora of runners, walkers and other assorted numbskulls on the path, wired up to their ipods and oblivious to anybody else around them. It does no good to communicate your presence to them, as they couldn't hear you, anyway. Along the way, we met a Tour Easy and some flavor of Trike. We passed a couple geezers on road bikes and they apparently didn''t like it too much. They jumped onto the tail of our paceline and followed for quite awhile. We eventually let them go around, as Dan was having difficulty hanging on into the newly acquired headwind we suddenly found ourselves in. I was intent on turning around at the bathrooms across from the Honda Center, but Larry convinced me we were good at 53 miles. So, I agreed and we turned our train around and headed back.
The one thing I always dread about this ride is going back up Green River, after leaving the bike path. It's a pretty good climb up out of there and knowing that Larry is a good climber (great climber, actually) I had already subscribed to the notion I would take my place behind him going up the hill. To my surprise, I found I had to go around him and motor ahead. I was shocked, but decided he would probably pass me going up. I kept checking my mirror and I would see him standing up, pedalling hard, but falling back! I couldn't believe it. It bugged me all day and finally last night, I had to call him and ask if he was taking it easy, or if he was riding hard up the hill. He said he was riding like he normally does and was surprised at how well I climbed. I gave props to the bike. Still do. The Silvio climbs way better than any recumbent I've ridden and I think it's on par with most road bikes.
We got back to the same convenience store for another brief potty break, a Gatorade and a banana. I made contact with the two late starters and it sounded like we would just meet up on the Riverside portion of the SART. Larry showed us a way to avoid the milled streets on some quiet, out of the way streets in north Norco and Corona. We made it back into Riverside and joined the bike path there, where we ran across Billy Bob and Don, as we had planned. By now, Dan was starting to fade fast. We had about 90 miles in and he had been slowing for quite some time. Now, as we neared home, we picked up some fresher legs that wanted to go faster, but we stayed with Dan and towed him home. Larry peeled off and headed home, so it was just the four of us continuing on into Redlands. I got home with 110 mles in. We had an overall average of 16.5 for the day. I felt OK after the ride. A little tired, but not too bad. As usual, the Silvio stood out as a fine long-distance machine. All day comfort, great climber and cuts through the wind so very nicely.
Mark
