Jeremy S
Dude
Until yesterday I had never ridden farther than about 25 miles in one go. Lately I've been riding my Silvio up and down the Minuteman Bikeway, which has gotten dull. When a friend invited me on a 60 mile ride, I was pretty apprehensive about the distance but I couldn't say no.
My friend drove his carbon fiber Kestrel road bike over to my place Sunday morning. We tried strapping my Silvio onto his car's rear-mounted bike rack, but the straps weren't quite long enough for the fat frame tube, so we gave up. We started riding from Somerville and traveled through various Massachusetts towns such as Arlington, Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Stow, Sudbury, and Marlborough (in no particular order, my friend did the navigating so forgive me for not knowing the route details). We stopped briefly at Walden Pond and looped around the Assabet River. It was cloudy and chilly (in the 40's, my toes were quite cold for the first half of the ride but thawed toward the end). My friend pointed out the scenery several times; I didn't quite appreciate it like he did, not having seen it in nicer weather, but it was still pretty fun getting out of the city and suburbs that I usually ride in.
The distance itself turned out to be no problem for me. The Silvio has been very comfortable since I got it this past summer (as was my Sofrider before that), and riding 60 miles instead of 20 didn't change that. My friend also seemed fine on his DF (but he is used to even longer rides). I only brought one water bottle, which turned out to be more than enough, probably due to the cold weather. If I did such a ride in warmer weather, I would definitely bring more water.
My one great failing was hill climbing. I don't blame the Silvio or recumbent platform for my troubles there, I blame myself for being out of shape and not having ridden any hilly terrain in a long while (and I've always been a weak climber, on any bike). For most of the ride, I cranked up the hills slowly as my friend kindly waited at the top. After about 50 miles the lactic acid burn in my legs was getting too intense for me. I made it most of the way up one hill, then my speed got too slow to maintain my balance and I very gently tipped over into a pile of leaves at the side of the road. I brushed myself off and walked the rest of the way up. I hopped off the bike partway up one or two more hills after that, before my leg muscles recovered a bit and I finished the rest of the ride on the bike. My favorite hill climbing technique was to race down an approaching downward slope at full speed (for me this just means resisting the urge to brake), then let my momentum carry me as far up the following upward slope as possible.
Despite my vast disadvantage on hill climbing, I did experience the expected aero (and probably weight) advantage on other terrain. I'm sure my friend was taking it easy, but going downhill, my Silvio would consistently overtake his Kestrel, even if I didn't pedal. I often had to choose between braking to stay behind, or passing (and then being passed again when the terrain changed).
At the end of the ride I was glad not to have to face any more hills, but keeping on flat terrain at moderate speed I think I could have gone quite a bit farther! I am definitely looking forward to more extended rides. Too bad winter is practically here.
My friend drove his carbon fiber Kestrel road bike over to my place Sunday morning. We tried strapping my Silvio onto his car's rear-mounted bike rack, but the straps weren't quite long enough for the fat frame tube, so we gave up. We started riding from Somerville and traveled through various Massachusetts towns such as Arlington, Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Stow, Sudbury, and Marlborough (in no particular order, my friend did the navigating so forgive me for not knowing the route details). We stopped briefly at Walden Pond and looped around the Assabet River. It was cloudy and chilly (in the 40's, my toes were quite cold for the first half of the ride but thawed toward the end). My friend pointed out the scenery several times; I didn't quite appreciate it like he did, not having seen it in nicer weather, but it was still pretty fun getting out of the city and suburbs that I usually ride in.
The distance itself turned out to be no problem for me. The Silvio has been very comfortable since I got it this past summer (as was my Sofrider before that), and riding 60 miles instead of 20 didn't change that. My friend also seemed fine on his DF (but he is used to even longer rides). I only brought one water bottle, which turned out to be more than enough, probably due to the cold weather. If I did such a ride in warmer weather, I would definitely bring more water.
My one great failing was hill climbing. I don't blame the Silvio or recumbent platform for my troubles there, I blame myself for being out of shape and not having ridden any hilly terrain in a long while (and I've always been a weak climber, on any bike). For most of the ride, I cranked up the hills slowly as my friend kindly waited at the top. After about 50 miles the lactic acid burn in my legs was getting too intense for me. I made it most of the way up one hill, then my speed got too slow to maintain my balance and I very gently tipped over into a pile of leaves at the side of the road. I brushed myself off and walked the rest of the way up. I hopped off the bike partway up one or two more hills after that, before my leg muscles recovered a bit and I finished the rest of the ride on the bike. My favorite hill climbing technique was to race down an approaching downward slope at full speed (for me this just means resisting the urge to brake), then let my momentum carry me as far up the following upward slope as possible.
Despite my vast disadvantage on hill climbing, I did experience the expected aero (and probably weight) advantage on other terrain. I'm sure my friend was taking it easy, but going downhill, my Silvio would consistently overtake his Kestrel, even if I didn't pedal. I often had to choose between braking to stay behind, or passing (and then being passed again when the terrain changed).
At the end of the ride I was glad not to have to face any more hills, but keeping on flat terrain at moderate speed I think I could have gone quite a bit farther! I am definitely looking forward to more extended rides. Too bad winter is practically here.
![whatchutalkingabout_smile.gif title="indecision](http://cruzbike.com/sites/all/modules/ckeditor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/whatchutalkingabout_smile.gif title="indecision)
