"I can't believe you did all that on a recumbent."

[chicorider]

So this past Saturday I rode the Eastern Sierra Double Century, with a bit over 10,000 feet of climbing, on my V20. Great ride; loved it. I rode it solo, but at the end, shared a table with a group that I had played tag with for a while on the route. The group had matching jerseys that read Pain Train.

Man 1: You sure are fast on that thing.
Me: Thanks. Of course, riding recumbent is cheating.
Man 1: Is it an aerodynamic thing?
Me: Yeah, pretty much. It's really efficient.
Man 2: If it doesn't have a battery, it isn't cheating.
Me: All right, I can work with that. I'll take it.
Woman: Well, I just can't believe you did all that on a recumbent.
Me: It invites lots of miles, and in total comfort the whole way. [pause...] I rode upright bikes for almost 30 years, and I wouldn't have ridden today's ride on a regular bike. I mean, hats-off to you guys for doing it. That's impressive.
Woman: Well, we'd never ride today's ride on recumbents.
Me [with a shrug and a nod]: All right, there you go.

There is a fine art to proselytizing. You've found (cycling) Nirvana and you want others to know about it...when asked. But you don't want to come off as an overzealous kook either. You give it an honest go, and when one of them says, "We'd never ride today's ride on recumbents," you could ask, "have you ever ridden one?" But you don't because you know better (five years ago, pre-V20, I might have said the same thing). You end up feeling like you're sitting on a secret that you want to share, but others don't really want to hear it because it would force them to examine a pretty major cycling paradigm. All I know is, I'm glad I wasn't on the Pain Train. The Train's average speed? 16.1 mph (no, I did not ask; it just came up in conversation amongst them). My pain-free average speed? 20.1 mph (no, I did not share that because I didn't want to sound like I was gloating or bragging). Yes, I'm preaching to the choir here, but just sayin'...

 

[jond]

You know choir practice over 300 klm is tantamount to audaxian behaviour. I foresee sandals hairier legs and a beard in your future as you pedal past singing the cruzbike jingle.

superb gutsy effort. Congratulations. Especially On that thing. Lol.

Well done on sitting with pain train survivors.

You see they the df riders don’t see anything except what IS to them. Your bike may be the first bent they have ever seen.

well done on sowing seeds and not trying to plough the field into submission.

for the majority the df is a bike as it should be.

we must remember the first time we saw a bent. Not everyone is curious enough or open minded enough to let a bent enter their mind.

all we can do is ride our bents a lot and encourage youth with their open minds.

It’s always young ones who ask for a go. A couple rode straight off on the sofrider.

I love my df bike still. It’s very stoic in its abject loneliness.

the vendetta deserves to be ridden by all demographics

if the pain train got on board they could change their name to really inflicting pain train on others. Or .......look mum no butt cream.

 

[benphyr]

Wow. So understated that I had to come back a few minutes later to recognize the wow factor of 200 miles. Wow.

 

[Frito Bandito]

Massive effort Chico, especially with 10,000' of climbing! I wish I had that ability to not come off like a fan boy on the Vendetta, but someday I hope to be able to reply as gracefully as you did.

 

[cpml123]

Wow 200 mi with 10k ft climb average 20.1 mph... that's fast!

 

[DavidCH]

Yes, very gutsy effort. Congrats

 

[ak-tux]

So this past Saturday I rode the Eastern Sierra Double Century, with a bit over 10,000 feet of climbing, on my V20. Great ride; loved it. I rode it solo, but at the end, shared a table with a group that I had played tag with for a while on the route. The group had matching jerseys that read Pain Train.

Man 1: You sure are fast on that thing.
Me: Thanks. Of course, riding recumbent is cheating.
Man 1: Is it an aerodynamic thing?
Me: Yeah, pretty much. It's really efficient.
Man 2: If it doesn't have a battery, it isn't cheating.
Me: All right, I can work with that. I'll take it.
Woman: Well, I just can't believe you did all that on a recumbent.
Me: It invites lots of miles, and in total comfort the whole way. [pause...] I rode upright bikes for almost 30 years, and I wouldn't have ridden today's ride on a regular bike. I mean, hats-off to you guys for doing it. That's impressive.
Woman: Well, we'd never ride today's ride on recumbents.
Me [with a shrug and a nod]: All right, there you go.

There is a fine art to proselytizing. You've found (cycling) Nirvana and you want others to know about it...when asked. But you don't want to come off as an overzealous kook either. You give it an honest go, and when one of them says, "We'd never ride today's ride on recumbents," you could ask, "have you ever ridden one?" But you don't because you know better (five years ago, pre-V20, I might have said the same thing). You end up feeling like you're sitting on a secret that you want to share, but others don't really want to hear it because it would force them to examine a pretty major cycling paradigm. All I know is, I'm glad I wasn't on the Pain Train. The Train's average speed? 16.1 mph (no, I did not ask; it just came up in conversation amongst them). My pain-free average speed? 20.1 mph (no, I did not share that because I didn't want to sound like I was gloating or bragging). Yes, I'm preaching to the choir here, but just sayin'...

Wow! That's fast!

 

[Gary Hudson]

I wish one of them had asked you your average speed, but then it would've been a quiet, awkward table from that point forward.

 

[DavidCH]

Any chance of looking at it on strava?

 

[chicorider]

Posting a Strava ride here is a new trick for me. Here is my attempt. If if doesn't work, let me know and I will try a different approach.

https://www.strava.com/activities/5420660046

 

[Don1]

Being metric ... 20mph doesn't sound that fast but converted Its 320km at 32kph... Seriously?! That's Awesome. Respect dude respect

 

[DavidCH]

You seem fearless too. That top speed is like crazy. If I was going that fast , I think I would be very nervous in using the brakes. LOL

That ride is worth bragging rights... you ought to be on the blog. That's 10 hours in the saddle. That is a ride of a lifetime. I can't believe you just did it with one bottle of juice. You don't even have a race case. Did you use a hydration bladder? Did you do it on keto and beer??? Tell us... there is some magic in the mix.

 

[Frito Bandito]

I have been up to 72kph on a downhill on my DF bike and I don't think I would attempt to put my rim brakes through that torture test hahaha

 

[Gary123]

63mph is crazy. What doesn't that even feel like?

 

[chicorider]

I don't tend to think about the speed until after, and then I think, "well, that was a little nuts." Probably not the smartest approach, but it sure is fun!

I had two bottles behind the headrest, but at mile 80, the bolt holding the CB bottle cage bracket snapped in two, dropping the bottles and cages to the tarmac (the same thing happened last year with the same style CB bracket on my S30. Now I have stronger stainless steel bolts in both). I had an open bottle cage under the seat pan, so I slid one bottle into that, stuffed the other bottle down the front of my shorts (that was uncomfortable), slid one of the empty bracketed cages over the top half of the bottle under the seat, and rode on. A few miles later I found a support vehicle, dropped the cages and one bottle with him to take to the finish, had a Coke while we chatted ("magic in the mix": caffeine), and headed into the heat of the day with one bottle, stuffed where I couldn't reach it without stopping. Sigh... Bishop, where the ride started and ended, would go on to hit 101 degrees (a little over 38 degrees C).

Cruel joke: I made it back to my motel room pretty torched. The start/finish was about 30 yards away and I had already passed it, so the ride was done. Mileage? 191. But there was Larry's %#@&*$! 3000 mile challenge, with him keeping track of people who put in 100, 200, 300 (yikes!), and 400 (now you're just being ridiculous!) mile days. I was only (but still) nine miles away from Larry checking the 200 mile box for me. I sat in front of the air conditioner in my room with my gear still on, pondering mortality and the evils of pride while eating peanut butter pretzels and sipping water. "If I finish this second water bottle and some pretzels, and haven't recovered at least a little, then forget it." Alas, I did recover some by the end of that bottle, got back on and finished it out at 203 miles ("give me my sticker, Larry!" ). Those last miles weren't nearly as bad as I thought they'd be, and the barbeque feast afterward was excellent.

 

[BikeGary]

You seem fearless too. That top speed is like crazy. If I was going that fast , I think I would be very nervous in using the brakes. LOL

That ride is worth bragging rights... you ought to be on the blog. That's 10 hours in the saddle. That is a ride of a lifetime. I can't believe you just did it with one bottle of juice. You don't even have a race case. Did you use a hydration bladder? Did you do it on keto and beer??? Tell us... there is some magic in the mix.

Me too.
I start to get real nervous at about 35mph on my S30. It feels squirrelly to me over that speed. Like one wrong twitch of my wrist and the front wheel will flip and I'll be cartwheeling down the pave. I have gone 40+mph on my DF but it has totally different characteristics at speed.

Anyway I'm super impressed with your climbing speed. I basically took last year off and this year has been a grind to get back in shape.

 

[cranky cyclist]

I was never nervous descending on the Silvio 2. The S 40 makes me nervous if there is a strong crosswind at 18 mph. I descend faster with a head wind or tailwind. I don't know why it makes me nervous.

 

[jond]

I’ve descended at 100 klm per hour plus a few times. Once over 80 it’s hang on don’t hit any rough please.

It’s trust. I would not do that in gusty conditions. Lack of belief , and trust. Getting blown onto the wrong side of the road is frightening.

Trust ......pretty nuts really when you do the risk assessment.

It’s the sheer thrill and be short changed on your prior climb if you don’t let the brakes off. Good judgement..... no.

Hope and prayer and trust. Because at those speeds brother you must have made your peace with man, machine and God.

hmm perhaps discretion is the better part of valour especially riding alone.......

over to you thrill seekers

 

[Mathew Fy]

Woman: Well, I just can't believe you did all that on a recumbent.

I just received an email from Cruzbike. This post/thread made the list:

“We've rounded up a list of race reports from the Cruzbike owner community that tell stories of appropriate use of Rule #5 below. If you're ready to HTFU to strengthen (not destroy) your body, check out our lineup of performance road bikes, including the fastest road bike in the world, the Cruzbike V20. Then get out there and HTFU the right way. There is no feeling like strength, power and speed increasing.

• Forum Thread: "I can't believe you did all that on a recumbent"
• Race Report: Jason Perez's California Triple Crown Victory
• Race Report: Maria Parker's Bessie's Creek 24 Hour Race
• Cruzbike Team Sets Race Across America Record
• Maria Parker's Solo Race Across America Victory
• Larry Oslund Sets 100 Mile Record on V20
• Ben Tomblin sets new recumbent record for Assault on Mt. Mitchell
• How to Ride a Cruzbike with Fast Roadies”

 

[jond]

Well done Craig. Into the pantheon of vendetta glory.