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| Recumbent Seat's View |
With a couple days recovery from the Flat Fourth Fiasco I found myself back in the saddle or should I say recumbent seat. I woke up early with the hopes of beating the heat and getting a nice road ride in the log but it was already 90 degrees when I left the driveway. Even though it was sweltering I felt like hills so I pointed my cranks to the east and started off on one of my favorite local circuits -The Clear Fork Loop.
Since I've made this ride sort of an annual feature on the blog I chose today for this years installment. That's the reason for the "3" in the title. After leaving the outskirts of town I must cross a few miles of flat lands before the hills come into view. This leg of the journey was uneventful until these two characters came out to the road to greet me. I saw right away I couldn't outrun them so I stopped and made friends. The big guy was laid back and friendly but little blackie had an attitude. The little ones always do.
Here's a rare self portrait of me at the base of Orweiler Hill. Soon I would be cranking up that hill in first gear moving at a whopping 3 mph. To climb on a recumbent requires a triple crank with a granny gear. Contrary to what you might have heard climbing on a recumbent is very possible. Smart gearing choices and in my opinion a hard shell seat to push against are the recipe for success. I love climbing and have never had a problem on the bent.
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| il Tricolore |
As I travelled along the route I watched the temperature indicator on my cycle-computer climb from 90 to 00. It only has two digits in the readout so it was not able to read the full 100. I saw it fluctuate as high as 07 and it sure felt like it. One of the bicycle's great attributes is it's ability to keep it's rider cool as a side effect of locomotion. No matter what the air temperature is if I keep moving I generally feel pretty good. Stopping or slow climbs are another story altogether.
I noticed a little colorful symbol painted on the road as I climbed up out of the valley to the south. It looked like an Italian flag and probably was as I was just around the corner from the famous Mid Ohio Sports Car Course.
A few revolutions further up the road I spotted this rusty horse shoe. I'm not a superstitious guy but with my recent run of bad luck you can be sure I picked up this talisman.
As soon as I got home I tacked up the horseshoe above my workbench. The open end goes at the top -to catch the good luck. The shoe still had a few square nails so I straightened them out and reused them.
Clear Fork Loop
Distance: 28.16 miles
Ride Time: 2:20:00
Average Speed: 12.0 mph
Max Speed: 32.7 mph
More great photos from previous rides on this loop:
http://kd8jhj.blogspot.com/2011/05/clear-fork-loop.html
The horseshoe was a nice find. I love how you incorporate small and appropriate historical momentos into your world of modern efficiency.
ReplyDeleteAlways looking to the past to make sense of the crazy present. I think you can relate.
DeleteThe black dog reminds me of the one that bit me last year. I can see the hair standing up on his back...better watch him next time you're in the area.
ReplyDelete*high five* nice work getting a respectable ride in, in such sweltering temps! I can also relate to picking up items while riding. I've got a rusty bottle cap affixed to my fridge with a magnet, that I found while sitting trail-side in pueblo, Colorado. Great post man.
ReplyDeleteYou may be digging the blue sky where I live but I'd trade you some blue sky for the beautiful roads where you live.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Or so they say. What I really like about cycling blogs is seeing pictures of different places people ride. That motivates me to find the nice views for my posts.
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