Katron
Member
Day 1: September 1 I drove from OKC to Houston to buy a used Vendetta, my first recumbent bike experience. The seller was great. He included a lot of accessories and helped me get everything packed up in my truck.
Even though I kept hearing how difficult it is at first, I was totally amped up to get on this puppy. Of course it starts raining on the way to my hotel, so go to grab dinner.
There is a break in the weather after dinner, so I took the bike over to the school parking lot behind the hotel. I then proceed to endure one of the most awkward 10 minute spans of my life.
I was cautious enough to wear running shoes instead of cleats. I duck walked with my chest pressed against the handlebars and coasted the first couple of minutes. I wasn’t comfortable, but I was trusting the learning process.
Being my own teacher , I immediately promoted myself to pedaling. I spied a storm drain that I used to locate a slight grade in what was an extremely flat lot. I duck walked with with the handlebars once again buried in my chest. As I coasted, I found the courage to raise my feet to the pedals and SUCCESS! The pedaling is awkward, but I made it safely across the lot. Since the drain was in the middle of the lot, I was able to repeat the process without walking the bike to the other side.
After going across back and forth twice, my chest had red marks from the handlebars. That didn’t seem right. At that point I recalled that the boom was adjustable. After shortening the boom, my chest found relief and the little bit of steering I was doing became easier. Once again, my teacher promoted me. I had officially graduated to steering.
I weaved my way through lot and around a sparse population of vehicles. My pedaling wasn’t fast nor my steering graceful, but it was effective for a recumbent hatchling.
Then the first scare occurred. As I was turning, it felt like the bike was coming from under me. The sensation was similar to when you lose focus when using rollers on an upright bike. My trained response was to pedal faster. After bike returned to vertical, I really asked myself, “Did that really work?”
Just as My teacher was about instruct me to attempt tighter maneuvers, a student driver in a pickup truck arrives to practice in the same lot. That was more risk than this newb was ready to assume, I took the bike back to my hotel room.
I browsed the Cruzbike website that evening and came across a video on adjusting the boom and the chainstay. After following the video, I was amazed at how drastically different my setup was from the seller’s considering we are the same height. With that she started to feel like MY bike.
Even though I kept hearing how difficult it is at first, I was totally amped up to get on this puppy. Of course it starts raining on the way to my hotel, so go to grab dinner.
There is a break in the weather after dinner, so I took the bike over to the school parking lot behind the hotel. I then proceed to endure one of the most awkward 10 minute spans of my life.
I was cautious enough to wear running shoes instead of cleats. I duck walked with my chest pressed against the handlebars and coasted the first couple of minutes. I wasn’t comfortable, but I was trusting the learning process.
Being my own teacher , I immediately promoted myself to pedaling. I spied a storm drain that I used to locate a slight grade in what was an extremely flat lot. I duck walked with with the handlebars once again buried in my chest. As I coasted, I found the courage to raise my feet to the pedals and SUCCESS! The pedaling is awkward, but I made it safely across the lot. Since the drain was in the middle of the lot, I was able to repeat the process without walking the bike to the other side.
After going across back and forth twice, my chest had red marks from the handlebars. That didn’t seem right. At that point I recalled that the boom was adjustable. After shortening the boom, my chest found relief and the little bit of steering I was doing became easier. Once again, my teacher promoted me. I had officially graduated to steering.
I weaved my way through lot and around a sparse population of vehicles. My pedaling wasn’t fast nor my steering graceful, but it was effective for a recumbent hatchling.
Then the first scare occurred. As I was turning, it felt like the bike was coming from under me. The sensation was similar to when you lose focus when using rollers on an upright bike. My trained response was to pedal faster. After bike returned to vertical, I really asked myself, “Did that really work?”
Just as My teacher was about instruct me to attempt tighter maneuvers, a student driver in a pickup truck arrives to practice in the same lot. That was more risk than this newb was ready to assume, I took the bike back to my hotel room.
I browsed the Cruzbike website that evening and came across a video on adjusting the boom and the chainstay. After following the video, I was amazed at how drastically different my setup was from the seller’s considering we are the same height. With that she started to feel like MY bike.
