Mark B
Zen MBB Master
Today was the inaugural ride of the Silvio II. The plan was to take it on a 20 mile ride Wednesday night, but that didn't happen. So, the shakedown run ended up being today! I found four suckers that were willing to tag along for the adventure. We decided to head out for Christo's in Riverside, CA, a small greasy spoon restaurant for breakfast. We cruised up the bike path through San Bernardino, Colton and into Riverside. Along the way, we ran into a friend and fellow club member going the other direction riding a recumbent. She got a Bachetta Cafe and is trying to get used to it. She was a little wobbly and a lot slow, but it was cool to see another recumbent in the club. She turned around and rode a few miles with us before turning back at the potty stop. We continued on to the trailhead and from there, took to surface streets south through Riverside, then west almost into Corona to our destination. We had a light breakfast, refilled our water bottles and started back.
Our return trip stuck to surface streets, which featured Victoria Avenue, a local favorite tree-lined street. If has a few ups and downs and along this street after one of the climbs, one of the riders complained that he had to work like the dickens to get up the hill while I was gaining speed and pulling away. Another rider complimented me saying she couldn't believe how smooth I was on it. A couple of the riders started falling off the back about this time, so we had to regroup a few times. At one such stop I was reprimanded (jokingly) saying that I'm not allowed to commute by bicycle to work any more! They made me feel pretty good! As we got closer to home, the climbing was intensified. Not a lot of steep stuff, just the gradual grind that beats you down mentally. At this point, the two that had been straggling were now struggling to even stay in sight. Finally, we decided we had what would be our last regroup as we were only about 6 miles from the ride start location. I urged the two people that had been staying with me to go ahead, but they stayed. As the stragglers approached, the guy announced he was peeling off to go another direction and to avoid the big hill, an old favorite called "hospital hill". I didn't want to leave the lady behind, so now I ordered the other two to ride ahead and I would stay back. My new riding partner bravely tried to pick up the pace and I told her to back off and ride at her own pace; I would stay with her. She was worried about slowing me down, but I explained that I get enough miles during the week and beat myself up enough that I could slow down for a few miles. As we approached hospital hill, she told me she would have to go up quite slowly and I told her that was fine, I would wait at the top. Well, as I began climbing and shifting and climbing and.... oops, no baby chainring.... It just clattered and chattered and would not shift down, so I just resigned myself to climb it on my 42/23. I was amazed that I made it pretty easily! I sure would have liked to have my triple, but I crested it just fine! We made it back, I filled one of my water bottles and finished the ride to my house. My shakedown cruise ended up being 63.5 miles! The only issues I had with the bike besides the triple chainring, was a mysterious creak somewhere in the front end. It was kind of weird because it would not do it when hammering, or climbing a hill. But just cruising, it was annoying! So, I'll double check all the bolts and everything, see if I can't nail it down.
It was a great ride, a great day and so much fun to be back on a Silvio again.
Mark
Our return trip stuck to surface streets, which featured Victoria Avenue, a local favorite tree-lined street. If has a few ups and downs and along this street after one of the climbs, one of the riders complained that he had to work like the dickens to get up the hill while I was gaining speed and pulling away. Another rider complimented me saying she couldn't believe how smooth I was on it. A couple of the riders started falling off the back about this time, so we had to regroup a few times. At one such stop I was reprimanded (jokingly) saying that I'm not allowed to commute by bicycle to work any more! They made me feel pretty good! As we got closer to home, the climbing was intensified. Not a lot of steep stuff, just the gradual grind that beats you down mentally. At this point, the two that had been straggling were now struggling to even stay in sight. Finally, we decided we had what would be our last regroup as we were only about 6 miles from the ride start location. I urged the two people that had been staying with me to go ahead, but they stayed. As the stragglers approached, the guy announced he was peeling off to go another direction and to avoid the big hill, an old favorite called "hospital hill". I didn't want to leave the lady behind, so now I ordered the other two to ride ahead and I would stay back. My new riding partner bravely tried to pick up the pace and I told her to back off and ride at her own pace; I would stay with her. She was worried about slowing me down, but I explained that I get enough miles during the week and beat myself up enough that I could slow down for a few miles. As we approached hospital hill, she told me she would have to go up quite slowly and I told her that was fine, I would wait at the top. Well, as I began climbing and shifting and climbing and.... oops, no baby chainring.... It just clattered and chattered and would not shift down, so I just resigned myself to climb it on my 42/23. I was amazed that I made it pretty easily! I sure would have liked to have my triple, but I crested it just fine! We made it back, I filled one of my water bottles and finished the ride to my house. My shakedown cruise ended up being 63.5 miles! The only issues I had with the bike besides the triple chainring, was a mysterious creak somewhere in the front end. It was kind of weird because it would not do it when hammering, or climbing a hill. But just cruising, it was annoying! So, I'll double check all the bolts and everything, see if I can't nail it down.
It was a great ride, a great day and so much fun to be back on a Silvio again.
Mark
