Jen-Yoo-Wine Mark B Report

[Mark B]

This probably should have been in the "Commute to Work" thread, but I felt it necessary, for some reason. :lol: :lol:

It was quite a ride this morning. First of all, it didn't get off to a great start. I went to bed pretty early last evening and remember distinctly setting the alarm. I had some troubles because I inadvertanly ran right past my ride day wake up time to my non ride day wake up time and had to start over. Now, this is where it gets fuzzy. I'm not sure if I actually turned the alarm on, or else shut it off when it alarmed me this morning. The details are not known to me at this time, but I do know I woke up and lay there thinking it must be about time to get up. A quick check of the wristwatch revealed that I was half an hour past wake-up time and panic ensued. I actually made pretty quick work of preperations, got some breakfast and some coffee in me and was out the door in respectable time.

The morning was brisk and I was glad to have put on my arm and leg warmers. I was sort of wishing I had put on a few other things, but checked myself by admitting it will get much colder in the months to come. Besides, from years of cyclling, I know full well you want to begin the ride chilly so as your body warms from the work, you don't overheat. True to form, as I pedalled along, I warmed up and was content. When I turned north on Arrowhead avenue in San Bernardino, I was actually quite comfortable and doing well on time. All of a sudden, it was like somebody flipped a switch. The temperature jumped up 10-15 degrees immediately, making it necessary to roll down my arm warmers. A few minutes later, I noticed the wind. I knew the farther north and west I went, the more wind I would encounter as they were calling for Santa Ana wind conditions. They were right. It wasn't too bad going east to west, but whenever I turned north, I got hammered. So, when I turned west onto Rialto Avenue, I started pushing harder to make up for time I knew I would lose on northbound streets. This was going great until I crossed E street and encountered about three blocks of freshly milled pavement. :shock: This is where they grind off the layer of asphalt on top and leave it super rough so a new layer will have something to adhere to. If the rough street wasn't bad enough, all the dust from the milling was in the air, in my eyes, my nostrils.... You get the point, not fun! The good news is, by next week, this section of street should be smooth as a baby's butt and it needed some help, so it's a good thing. Just as I suspected, the wind worsened as I got closer to work, which is closer to the foothills. I've actually ridden in worse winds, where I actually rattled gravel out of my clothing upon arrival. This wasn't too bad and I should get a fair amout of assist on the ride home.

Tomorrow, though, I belive I will alter my route. I want to skip the milled streets and get my trip north out of the way before I head west, so I will follow my alternate route. It will mean more dark streets and even a remote section across the river wash, which I don't mind during the daylight, but dread the thought of it in the dark. It will be fine, of course, just something to fuss about.

Mark

 

[MrSteve]

Nice ride report, great Subject line too!


My name is Steve, and I Approve This Message.
:lol:

 

[Mark B]

As a follow up to yesterday's report, I did alter my route as described and WOW!!! I may keep my alternate as my main route! It's entirely possible it was just the change of scenery that made it fun, but I really enjoyed today's ride. The streets were, for the most part, in good condition with wide shoulders and relatively light traffic. I started north almost immediately, heading out across Boulder Highway. This is kind of a narrow road that cuts across the Santa Ana River wash and is kind of a freeway bypass, especially in the afternoons. Going south on this road in the afternoons is quite perilous, so I avoid it at all costs. Going north, however, there is ample shoulder and there was no traffic at that time of the morning. I could have ridden right down the middle of the highway most of the time! I made west on 5th street into San Bernardino. This street, too, was quiet and enjoyable, save for a two or three block stretch where you had to hunt for a smooth spot. The rest was plenty wide and nice to ride. Downtown San Bernardino looked different in the twilight hours, it was nice! I cut up to ninth street and again made west. The wind still was not a factor as I headed in this direction. There is a hefty climb up and over the freeway overpass on 9th street. This is one of those old school overpasses where you don't really get much of a run at it; you just come up to the wall, gear down and grind over it. As I climbed, I got a whiff of the smoke from the wild fires around and noticed ash in the air. As I descended on the other side, I rode back out of it. 5th and 9th streets seem to be a shallower grades than Rialto Avenue, the street I normally take on my westerly part of the ride. I kept a pretty good pace up as I went up to Medical Center, where I turned north again. Still no wind to speak of, so I hammered up the few blocks to Baseline, where I again turned west. Baseline is ordinarily a really busy street, but at this time of the morning, traffic was light. Heavy traffic is OK as long as the shoulders are plentiful and this street has plenty of room. The downside of it was a pretty hefty climb up into Rialto, but it was short, so no big deal. Shortly after getting to the top of the climb, I resumed my normal route. The thing I noticed that really stoked me was; at this juncture of the trip, I felt much fresher than I ordinarily do. I usually pay very close attention to what time it is when I get to certain turns, so I have a running idea in my head of what time I will arrive at work. I left my house at 5:15 this morning. Usually, I am out the door at 5:05. This morning, I got to the corner I usually like to be at by straight up 6:00 and this morning I was there at 6:03. So, despite leaving the house ten minutes late, I was only three minutes behind where I normally like to be. The thing I said about feeling fresher at this point than normal? Well, I got to work about ten minutes sooner than usual, so I apparently picked up another minute or two! Oh yeah, I did finally hit some wind from the north about five miles from work. Not as stiff as yesterday, but it still slowed me down some.

I'm pretty pleased with the new way to work. I actually had a faster average speed than normal and most of all, enjoyed the ride. Perhaps it was just the different route breaking up the routine, who knows? All I know is I can't wait to ride it again tomorrow!

Mark

 

[Mark B]

I had a nice weekend of riding.

I went out Saturday, itching for a long ride. I really wanted 80-100 miles, but only if I could find a sucker to go along with. I'm not above doing those kinds of rides by myself, but prefer to have somebody along, for saftey's sake. I arrived at the ride start location, where the day's destination is usually picked by consensus. That can be good and it can be bad. The group can lock onto one or two locations and not be able to imagine anything else. :roll: Saturday was one such day. It's funny because you get the people that have to be back early to wash their cat, or something, those that want to stop and eat, those that want to go really fast and those that want to cruise. Of course, there are many combinations therin, as well. We all decided a quick out and back to Citrus Park in Riverside was the destination. Some of us, we decided would extend the ride around Lake Matthews. Try as I might, I could not get anybody to go any farther, so I decided I would ride it pretty hard. I missed an opportunity to ride with the real fast boys and girls and this is one time I probably should have. Oh well, the group I went with was mixed levels, so we required many regroups to stay together. Once at Citrus Park, we divided up and five of us continued up and around Lake Matthews. When I say up, you can imagine there was some climbing involved and there was. The first climb is a long, drawn out affair. Parts are steep enough to warrant the triple, but most is just 3-4% grade, I suppose. Two riders got out front of me at the start. I was a little slow in making up my mind to work hard. I stayed within striking distance of the first rider and eventually reeled her in. I slowly gained ground on the leader, that had taken off hard from the start. I made my biggest gain the last half mile when the road flattened out enough to go back to my middle 42 tooth chainring and began hauling him in. He actually cheered me on as I went flying around him and gave the bike props as we waited at the corner for the rest to arrive. I went back down the hill and fell back in behind the last two riders. So, from this point, we go up a really steep grade on La Sierra, to get above the dam, then continued on around the lake. On the backside, the pavement was new and smooth, so I let it all hang out. I got to the next turn well ahead of everybody else and was completely recovered as they arrived. The ride dropped down, from there, into Riverside and we pretty much just backtracked home. I hate out and backs, but it was OK. I got home with just a hair under 75 miles for the day. One of the riders and I stopped for a sandwich when we got back to Redlands. He asked me if I would ever go back to a "regular bike" and then, without waiting for an answer, made the comment that I was already riding pretty good on my Cruzbike. He went right into another blunder saying the only reason he could think of for me to switch would be for better climbing, then turned around and said, "But you already climb damned good on "that thing"". :lol: :lol: So, it was a good day of riding, even if I didn't get the miles I was looking for.

Sunday was our normal breakfast ride. It had sprinkled during the night, so the ground was damp in the morning. Ten of us braved cloudy skies to ride for breakfast. A couple times on the way to the restaurant, we got drizzled on. Not enough to soak you through, but enough to cause you to wipe your glasses off. The rain waited until we were eating and graciously wet the ground while we remained dry. One rider left the group before we got to the restaurant, hoping to avoid the rain. I bet he got wetter than we did!

For the weekend, I ended up with 107 miles. Good weekend.

Mark

 

[Mark B]

Another pretty decent weekend of riding.

Saturday, I was again hoping to find a longish ride to go on. Try as I might, the most anybody wanted to do was a ride out to Perris Airport that I reported about a few weeks ago. I was OK with that, knowing I would get ~70 miles on the bike. It was a beautiful morning to ride and looked as though the day would shape up to be one of those days you live for to ride. It did not disappoint. We started out with a pretty large contingency, but a few stated they would turn back before the objective. No matter, we took off and I don't know if it was me, or if everybody was tired, but I thought the pace was terribly slow. I found myself in the middle of the paceline on a narrow road, unable to break out and take off like I might have. I bided my time until my turn at the front and when it came, it must have been obvious I was champing at the bit. As the rider in front of me pulled off, the rider behind said, "Easy there, Mark..." Once the slipstream was gone, my wattage increased enough to keep the pace with ease. We came to a rise and I started to inch away from the pack, even though they were standing and working. I eventually opened a pretty decent gap, which I allowed to close so as to do my share of the work. When we got to Redlands Blvd., which is a pretty decent climb, I fell in behind the group thinking they would outclimb me. Within minutes and before we even got to the steep stuff, a gap opened up between some of the riders and I felt like I was bogging down. I went around the first group and rocked right up to the front riders. One of the gals made a comment about, "Here comes Mr. Stealth the Low Rider", which prompted me to bust out in my best rendition of "Lowrider", followed by some bad Cheech and Chong jokes. I had them rolling, though, which allowed me to go around them and haul butt to the top of the climb. YEAH!!!! I was the first one to the top, by a long ways!! Not that we were racing, or anything of the sort, but I have lost a few pounds since the last time I did this ride and.... I could tell it! I'm climbing in a higher gear and keeping my heart tucked firmly in my chest. No need to use my pump to tamp it back down! The next climb was going up to Lake Perris, south of Moreno Valley. It's short, but has some double digit grade to get over. The last time I did this, I thought I might have to walk and in fact, slipped my front tire a little. No such story this time. In fact, without aid of hitting an expansion crack, or something else that unweights the front wheel, I rarely slip the front tire on climbs anymore. I suspect this is due to the weight loss, as well. I'm thinking my weight bias has tilted slightly more to the front wheel, now. Once again, I was the first to reach the top of this climb, where we regrouped. The first rider to join me made a comment that I was tearing it up today, which made me feel pretty good. When we arrived at the airport, the skies were clear and people were skydiving. It was pretty cool to watch them coming in to land. As soon as everybody was on the ground, a couple more planes would take off. Pretty neat to watch. We had a bite to eat, refilled our water bottles and began the journey back. Breakfast must have been good, because the pace picked up on the return trip. I was content to sit in the back and cruise, because the pace was such I was content. No need for me to push as it was just about right. I did get humbled on the climb over Moreno Beach Drive on the return. One of the riders took off, standing and pushing tall gear over the top. I had him in sight, but no way I was going to close. I caught him on the other side, though and passed as we continued on, looking for a place to regroup. An SUV passed at this point and somebody in the vehicle said something like, "Get a real f&*king bike, you f&#k!" They turned to get on the freeway, so I knew I would be passing them as they went the other way on the on-ramp. I smiled big and waved in a real friendly gesture. Nothing pi$$es them off worse than when you do just the opposite of what they expect, or hope you'll do. We climbed the backside of Redlands Blvd. on the way back. I was first to the top again, but had another rider right on my back wheel. The descent on the other side opened up a huge gap, of course. We stayed together on the return up San Timoteo canyon and got back to the ride start in good shape. We had a glass of iced tea and visited for awhile, afterwards. One of the guys and I got to talking about how nobody likes to do extended rides anymore... How hard it is to get people to commit to doing centuries and such. I rode on home from there and ended up with right at 70 miles for the day.

On Sunday, I woke up, looked outside and the patio was wet. It was dark skies all around, so I resolved it was not a riding day. When it got closer to time, a couple people called and I said I was not riding. When it got to be time, the skies had cleared over Redlands, but dark clouds still hung to the east and over the mountains to the north. I drove over to the ride start, thinking nobody would show, but low and behold, people showed up. They shamed me into returning home, changing out and riding out to meet them along the way. It ended up being a nice ride, after all, so I was glad I did it. I picked up another 30 miles for my trouble, giving e a 100 mile weekend.

Later Sunday evening, the gentleman I had spoken to about longer rides Saturday afternoon telephoned. He asked if I was really and truly interested in doing some longer century rides and such. Since I am trying to gear up for the double century season in the spring, I answered withoug hesitating, "heck yeah!" He has another victim to ride with us and asked me if I knew of anybody else that might be interested in tagging along. I know of a few, but I also know they aren't ready. I guess we'll see! Anyway, this could be one of those "be careful what you wish for" scenes, but I don't think so. I believe this is just what the Dr. ordered.

Mark

 

[MrSteve]

You mentioned that, "nothing p!$$@$ them off like smiling and waving, when they expect something different".

I paraphrased, but you said something like that.

Well.
I found a response that sends some borderline personalities off the deep end.
(Do not attempt, unless you wish to determine your new enemies' stance on second-amendment rights.)

The response to the ubiquitous, flipped-bird middle-finger gesture is:
the, "O.K." sign.

I did that a few times, and boy, some drivers get really red in the face.
No one ever got the joke.
One guy (I'll never forget him) actually was slamming his fist on
his dashboard, door, window: in my general direction.
Yelling.
Face contorted with fury.
Had he been armed, I would not be here now.

Think about it.

-Steve

P.S.

Nice rides, by the way:
it's almost like riding a Silvio, reading your reports...

 

[Mark B]

On Saturday, myself and a couple other people were supposed to do a century. I was at the ride start location, fully prepared to ride 100 at the pre-arranged time. While there, a fourth person said he would ride with us. Lou is a grizzled cycling veteran for many, many years and an all around good guy, so I was pleased to learn he planned to go with. As we waited, one of the original committed riders announce she was bailing out because it was supposed to be too hot for her. :roll: So, I made fun of her mercilessly for a few minutes, when it dawned on us the ringleader had not yet arrived. I called his home and it turned out the wind was blowing where he lived and he thought it was going to be too windy to do a century, or ride at all. :roll: :roll: Good Lord, what is this world coming too? "It's too hot, it's too windy, ooh, it's too nice, my panty hose are wrinkled, I need to wash my cat, I can't ride because my bike is dirty!" For crying out loud! I guess we only ride if it's 75, completely still and our bowels are relatively happy. :roll: [/rant ]

Surprisingly, there were a decent number of riders there that were willing to ride, but the standard "gotta be back early" excuses were prevelant. Lou and myself decided we were going to man up and go the distance. Most of the group decided to ride out to Perris Lake, so we went part of the way with them, heading out San Timoteo Canyon, just like last week. Remembering how it was with the slow paceline up the canyon last week, I decided I wasn't having anything to do with it this week. I had no allegiance with that particular group, other than tagging along for part of the ride and they were soooooo slow. So, I took off up the canyon... not necessarily going full-tilt boogie, but running a fast cruising speed, for me. The group faded in my mirror pretty quickly and I just concentrated on spinning the Silvio up the canyon. I had every intention of waiting for the group at the top of Redlands Blvd., anyway, so I didn't give it much of a thought. Before long, though, I saw a yellow blip in my mirror, so I knew somebody was trying to close. I slowed down a little and let them close some more; it was my buddy Lou, the guy that was going to do the century with me. He made a comment that he would do the century with me, but not at that pace, so I agreed to back down a little. We got to the top of the climb and waited for the group. The first rider got there and began asking us what we had for breakfast! He had been trying to chase us down and said that everytime he would look up, we were farther away! The rest of the group arrived and we all headed down the back side of the Blvd., headed for the lake. Lou and I didn't go up and around the lake, instead, we opted to break off and take another route to conserve energy. As we dropped down into the city of Perris, the wind was picking up a little. You could see dirt in the air all around us, so we knew we were going to get it. We decided to take a break at Perris Airport, just to see what was going to happen and to weigh our options. The wind blew up pretty hard for awhile, then levelled off to what I considered a tolerable level. I was ready to press on, but it would have been a long haul back into a head wind from Lake Elsinore, so Lou got kind of scared off. I was leery of continuing, only because neither of us were 100% sure of the route. I had done it before, but it had been years, so while I thought I could find my way, the wind was also a determining factor in bailing out. Instead, I suggested another route that would take us further west, instead of south and mean less fighting the wind. Lou was agreeable to that, so we took off and were doing really well. I could sense that Lou was getting nervous about not only the wind, but the time. Lou's retired, not married, lives by himself and has no external reason I'm aware of to be concerned about time, so I was kind of confused. My plan was to go along the south side of Lake Matthews, drop down into Riverside, head west into Corona, then make north into Norco. From there, I wanted to head east along Arlington Avenue back through Riverside and then head home. Instead, Lou decided we should cut back down into Riverside from the east end of Lake Matthews and proceed directly back. I was tired of fighting it, so I backed down. The wind was an issue, but not that bad. The biggest thing, to me, was drying me out. I was going through water pretty quickly and my lips were dried considerably. I wished I had a lip balm, or chap stik, to keep my lips moist. We stopped at a fast food place for a drink break, downing three or four glasses of iced tea, then filling our water bottles with ice and water. I had one disconcerting thing occur on the way home in Grand Terrace. I stopped at a light, put my left foot on the ground, only to have my left hamstring cramp up! :shock: WOW! That was the first time in a long time that had happened and testament to the fact the wind was, in fact, dehydrating our bodies. I was not in a good place to stop and get off the bike, so I grimaced, clipped in and pedaled across the intersection. As soon as I spun the pedals, the cramp went away, so I continued on! I never had another instance the rest of the way home, even though we climbed a bit. I didn't get my century, but I got 76, so I didn't worry too much about it. Maybe next weekend.

Sunday was our Sunday morning breakfast club "challenge ride". The plan was to do 50 miles to the Glen Avon area, which is right smack dab in the middle of the wind tunnel. We usually get large groups out for the breakfast rides, even the challenge rides. This time, we only had four. We went on the ride and had a great time. True to form, though, the wind kicked up as we approached Rubidoux and continued west. We stopped and had a great Mexican food breakfast before heading home through Fontana. The wind was a factor and I stayed on the guys to make sure they were drinking plenty of water. We stopped along the way to fill bottles and got back to Redlands without any issues.

Despite the wind, we had a great weekend for riding. We could see smoke from the fires to the west, but it had no effect on our riding, as the winds were in our favor. I just feel badly for the people that are losing their homes and property.

Mark

 

[Peder Torgersen]

Good ride report also good to hear you aren’t affected by the fires. We have seen it on the news here.

Peder

 

[JonB]

Mark B wrote: On Saturday, myself and a couple other people were supposed to do a century. I was at the ride start location, fully prepared to ride 100 at the pre-arranged time. While there, a fourth person said he would ride with us. Lou is a grizzled cycling veteran for many, many years and an all around good guy, so I was pleased to learn he planned to go with. As we waited, one of the original committed riders announce she was bailing out because it was supposed to be too hot for her. :roll: So, I made fun of her mercilessly for a few minutes, when it dawned on us the ringleader had not yet arrived. I called his home and it turned out the wind was blowing where he lived and he thought it was going to be too windy to do a century, or ride at all. :roll: :roll: Good Lord, what is this world coming too? "It's too hot, it's too windy, ooh, it's too nice, my panty hose are wrinkled, I need to wash my cat, I can't ride because my bike is dirty!" For crying out loud! I guess we only ride if it's 75, completely still and our bowels are relatively happy. :roll: [/rant ]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obdd31Q9PqA

Your friend Lou should get a Silvio too.

Please consider using the enter/return key more. It is easier to read text when it is divided into smaller sections.

 

[MrSteve]

Mark -or, for that matter, any of you other Silvio pilots-
what's your average speed on these long weekend rides?
Go ahead and guesstimate, I'm just curious.

My average speed, on my Cruzbike "mid-racer"
is about 16.1 MPH for longer rides and 17.4 MPH
for shorter (20 miles or so) rides.

 

[Mark B]

yakmurph wrote: Mark -or, for that matter, any of you other Silvio pilots-
what's your average speed on these long weekend rides?
Go ahead and guesstimate, I'm just curious.

My average speed, on my Cruzbike "mid-racer"
is about 16.1 MPH for longer rides and 17.4 MPH
for shorter (20 miles or so) rides.

So much depends on who I'm with and where I'm going. Obviously, on climbing rides, my speeds will be slower. I did a pretty flat century and averaged 17.7, but the other day, when the wind was blowing and we were doing some climbing, I only averaged 16.4 for 76 miles. I still have another 30-40 pounds I want to lose off the pilot, so to tell the truth, I look at average speeds with only passing interest. I tend to focus on how well I do on climbs, getting in good base distance miles and doing interval training.

I'd say you're doing just great!

Mark

 

[Mark B]

Today, I headed out with a group of three that intended to do a century ride. Lots of others decided to tag along and do a turnaround in Riverside. Those of us that intended to continue on (3) were going to head on towards Green River and the Santa Ana bike path to see the fire damage from last weekend. It was a huge group that left out, but it became obvious that the pace was again painfully slow. I was content to hang on in the pack for awhile, but it got ridiculous after awhile. I decided to jump out front and see if I could incite an amp in the pace. All I accomplished was riding by myself, for awhile. Soon, though, I was joined by a few that wanted to go harder. We jumped on the SART at Waterman in San Bernardino and six of us broke away and hauled a$$ away from the rest. We ran about 23 for a long time with Clint at the front of the paceline. I was content to sit on the back, but two dropped out of the paceline as we rolled along. Clint would not pull off and nobody wanted to get hard and pass him up, so I wheeled up, thanked Clint for the pull, then proceeded to drop the group! I ran 26 and 27 until we caught another group from our club and had to pick our way through their group. We eventually made our way past them and got our pace back up to where we wanted to run. We got to the regrouping spot and waited for everybody to arrive. We sat forever before a few people arrived and told us that one of the riders had a flat. It was one of the riders that was supposed to be doing the century.

We sat forever.... All of a sudden, one of the riders that had come up after us discovered he had a flat. After awhile, the others rolled up and believe it, or not, we sat there while five people discovered they had flats, including the person in our century group that had already had a flat. She wasn't even packing patches, which seemed incredible to me. My buddy Lou and I decided this was a comedy of errors and if we were to do a century, we needed to get moving. We made apologies and got rolling.

Most of the ride was uneventful; the goal being to go out to see the damages of last week's fires,that were reportedly right down by the Orange County portion of the SART. Unfortunately for us, getting from the Riverside County portion of the SART to the Orange County portion of the SART, meant going across city streets through Riverside and Corona. Fortunately, the trek wasn't too bad and before you knew it, we were back on the safety of the bike path. Almost right away, the fire damage became evident. At times, the bike path rolled through nothing but devestation. We could see where the fire rolled up to multi-million dollar homes up on top of the hills. Fortunately, the bike path itself was unscathed, but the landscape was kind of eerie. We rolled into a shopping center for a bite to eat and to gaze up the hill above at the multi-million dollar homes that narrowly avoided disaster.

After our respite, we took off and headed back toward home. We got back into Corona, fought our way through traffic and opted to take Victoria Avenue back through Riverside. Victoria Avenue is a very scenic, tree lined street that dates way back in the day. It's a gradual climb and we took turns pulling. Lou would run 16-17 and I would cruise 20-22. Lou is real strong and would sit right on my wheel, without trouble. We stopped at a stoplight and as we waited for it to turn green, a couple roadies pulled in behind us. I guess they were being friendly, but I thought they were a little smart-a$$ed about my bike, so when the light turned, I blasted off. We dropped the pair like a bad disease and when we turned off, I apologized to Lou for amping up the pace like that and explained why. He said he wondered why I was rolling 26 and 27 mph and thought maybe I was trying to kill him!

As Lou and I approached Grand Terrace, Lou told me he thought I was riding as strong as I ever had as long as he could remember. While I appreciate the compliment, I think it's more just because he's slowing down but I did not say that. We got back to Redlands and I showed only 95 miles. Lou was content with that, but I wanted 100, so I continued up and around the airport. I turned the corner to come back down to my house and saw a friend of mine out in his front yard. He offered me a beer and I accepted. I rolled into my driveway with 101 miles. It was a great day and a great ride!

Mark

 

[MrSteve]

Mark B wrote: ... I turned the corner to come back down to my house and saw a friend of mine out in his front yard. He offered me a beer and I accepted. I rolled into my driveway with 101 miles. It was a great day and a great ride!

Mark

Wow.
From wheezing flats, acres of ashes, through hare-and-hound games and finally ending with a friendly beer:
the lengths some of us will go to to get that beer!

Great ride!



-Steve

 

[Mark B]

A little bragging here..

Yesterday, I went out on an overcast morning that promised rain. I thought the promise was hollow, but as I was riding to the ride start location, I caught my first whiff of the rain in the air. I knew then it was just a matter of time, so I wanted to do something short, fast and hard. The concensus of riders seemed to be the same idea, so we decided to do Greenspot backwards, which is an easy grade, but long, grinding climb of a ride.

We started out by heading west into Loma Linda, then north into San Bernardino to get more of the uphill grind thing going. I could tell right away if i stuck with the group, it was going to be slow, so I peeled off the front to see how many stuck. It started out with four of us, quickly depleted to three. We were the club president, myself, an old friend with whom I had not ridden with in years on a CF Trek and another acquaintance I had ridden with on our breakfast ride, who sported a ti Serrota. The pres dropped off, recognizing what was coming. The other two had no clue and blindly followed.

By now, after a couple stops to regroup, we decided it was going to be all day and we would get wet if we waited for the group. We pushed on mercilessly and I had no idea how merciless I was being! I was watching my computer and climbing as we were, I was pushing high 19s, the other two riders in tow. We had incredible luck with traffic lights and I kept the pace real steady.

Finally, we hit a red light and had to stop. The Serrota gent was relieved; said I was killing him. When the light turned green, he groaned as we headed off. We continued pounding up fifth street in San Bernardino, which turns into Greenspot. Not long after the light, I got a flat and had to stop. Serrota had no complaints about the repair stop, saying he needed the rest. Both were questioning me to no end on the Silvio, asking about the materials, how it was to get used to, etc. There seemed to be a good deal of appreciation for a fine design. We got going again and Serrota eventually peeled off and headed home, which left me and my old friend on the CF Trek.

We caught up with the group, who apparently took another route, passed them and continued up the climb. As the grade steepened, my friend dropped farther and farther back. At the top, I waited for him and he told me I was an animal. We finished up the ride with only a little bit of drizzle on us.

The Silvio continues to impress upright riders. This is the third recumbent I've owned and the first one that impressed roadies so easily. Honest to goodness, this bike is the real deal.

Mark

 

[MrSteve]

You sure you ride a Cruzbike Silvio?
It sure sounds like you're riding a Cruzbike RB (Roadie Bagger)!


Good ride, good report, great bike and I'm a wee bit envious.


-Steve

 

[Peder Torgersen]

Mark B wrote: A little bragging here..

Finally, we hit a red light and had to stop. The Serrota gent was relieved; said I was killing him. When the light turned green, he groaned as we headed off. We continued pounding up fifth street in San Bernardino, which turns into Greenspot. Not long after the light, I got a flat and had to stop. Serrota had no complaints about the repair stop, saying he needed the rest. Both were questioning me to no end on the Silvio, asking about the materials, how it was to get used to, etc. There seemed to be a good deal of appreciation for a fine design. We got going again and Serrota eventually peeled off and headed home, which left me and my old friend on the CF Trek.

We caught up with the group, who apparently took another route, passed them and continued up the climb. As the grade steepened, my friend dropped farther and farther back. At the top, I waited for him and he told me I was an animal. We finished up the ride with only a little bit of drizzle on us.

The Silvio continues to impress upright riders. This is the third recumbent I've owned and the first one that impressed roadies so easily. Honest to goodness, this bike is the real deal.

Mark

This is a quote from Brians report on the Silvio;

“Climbing on the Silvio is also a full-body experience. You push with your legs and pull with your arms to get the most performance out of the Silvio. The Silvio can use a triple chainring crankset but unfortunately ours came with a double. This allowed me to climb a lot of my local hills but some of the really steep stuff was pretty much off limits. Fortunately, I was still able to make a pretty good judgement of the Silvio’s climbing ability since I happen to have one the best climbing recumbents in the world, a Carbent Sea Dragon, on hand at the moment. When comparing the two on the same climb, I found the Silvio to be a bit behind the Sea Dragon but definitely in the “elite” league. This is a pretty good showing given the Sea Dragon’s considerable eight pound weight advantage. It’s definitely close enough that one could overcome the slight disadvantage with more training in the Silvio’s unusual riding position.
I found the Silvio’s “whole body” dynamics to be a more of an advantage when sprinting. Of course it’s harder to perform an objective test in this regard but it the Silvio feels like a great sprinter. The suspension is definitely not sucking up any power. The Silvio also performed very well on flatter rides. More aerodynamic machines like the Carbent have a slight advantage here though.
I’ve ridden a lot of front wheel drive recumbents and the Silvio’s small amount of front suspension really does help it hold the road better than the others I’ve ridden. Every other FWD bike I’ve been on had at least a moderate amount of wheelspin when sprinting or climbing on less than perfect road surfaces. I was still able to make the Silvio slip but I had to be REALLY trying.”

The underline (or red statement) more training on the Silvio must be a good description of you and your good climbing ability well done Mark! :lol:

Peder

 

[Mark B]

I went down to today's ride looking for somebody to ride some miles with. It was a cool morning, 45 degrees, so I put on an undershirt, armwarmers, legwarmers and toe warmers. It was none too much! It was kind of foggy out, a bit of moisture in the air and even though it was supposed to get mid sixties, it was fairly obvious it would be awhile getting there.

I was pleased to see my friend, Russ was there. He can usually be talked into some longish miles, but had some chores he needed to get done, so we had to compromise. We ended up doing a route that would give us around 80. We left the parking lot with the hotshots, our group four. These are the ex racers, racer wannabees and generally the fastest crowd. We rolled with them all the way into Riverside. We were content to take our place at the back of the pack and let me tell you.... It was the best seat in the house! Even on the climb up into Grand Terrace, I could have gone around the riders on the back, but there was no point... The view was that good.

When we peeled off, we started climbing straight away. I pulled away from Russ a little and was feeling pretty good! It got steeper as we went, then leveled off a little. We ended up south of Lake Matthews and Russ was telling me about this climb that was super steep. I was feeling great, so I said, "Bring it on!" Me and my big mouth! This thing was a wall! My 30/23 was nowhere near enough and when I tried to muscle it, I spun my wheel. I don't know what the grade was, but I say it was in excess of 20%... Had to be. I ended up walking up the worst spots, then getting on and riding the 10-17% spots, then we'd hit another nob that was in excess of 20% and I'd walk. Russ was tacking up the hill and I was walking as fast as he was riding. That was the worst of it, there wasn't much that was greater than 7-8% after that.

We wound our way across country and ended up in Perris, CA. There, we decided to stop for some munchies as neither of us brought much in the way for food. The sun was finally out, so after we munched on some fruit and trail mix, we decided we should get our cold weather gear off. We no more than got on the road and we rode into a cooler stretch again, then wind. As we proceeded, we got back into the marine layer we thought we had ridden out of. Eventually, we had to stop and put our arm warmers back on.

We got back home in pretty good shape. We did a fair amount of climbing and got a total of 75 miles in (83 for me because I rode from home). It was a great ride and despite the weird weather, I really enjoyed myself.