Today on my afternoon commute home from work on the Ti-General Purpose bike I found the conditions perfect for a ride. A pleasant 60 degrees F and a very uncommon for this time of year lack of wind. I got kitted up in my black stretchy pants and headed out for my first recumbent ride of 2014. And it's about damn time!
good time and for short utilitarian trips around town the diamond frame wedgie bike really shines. Once I got out on the open road though my old stalwart companion HP Velotechnik Street Machine proved to me once again that a longer ride can be a pleasurable, comfortable experience instead of the exercise in pain management that comes from sitting on a few square inches of traditional bike saddle and bent over holding those curly handlebars like they use in the Tour De France. It's not all about kicking back and relaxing on the bent. If you've got the legs and want to hammer you can certainly do that too.
I'm not sure what I like best about riding recumbents. One thing is for sure I love being able to easily look around at the country side as it slides by. Granted things are pretty much dead and brown looking but that's soon to change. One of the best things about living and riding in Ohio is experiencing the change of the seasons from the back of a bike.
The first few rides out early in the season are always great. Even on familiar routes that I've ridden many times always seem fresh and new. I didn't have enough time to head over to the local rail trail so I picked the medium sized route leaving from my driveway. The southern part of my ride took me down through a bit of Morrow County. This area is pretty much rural and you never know what you might see along the way.
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| Ford Ranger - Manure Spreader Combo |
This fine country gentleman has his own observatory!
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| Really, there is a telescope mounted up under that dome. |
Later I encountered some gravel. No worries and no gravel bike needed. My dual suspension recumbent took it all with aplomb.
So nice to get back out there!
Iberia Loop
Ride Time: 1:18:30
Distance: 17.35 miles
Average: 13.2 mph
Max: 29.4 mph
Very nice. You, more than just about anybody, make me want to try a recumbent. Hmmm.
ReplyDeleteAwesome ride! I love (hate?) the color scheme the observatory guy has going on there. Wow. Also, I'm pretty sure that a Ford Ranger is not the ideal vehicle to use for spreading manure. If you want to keep the ground in tact, anyway.
ReplyDeleteHey Rantwick! I know what you mean....I've had my peepers set on a really sweet tadpole trike recumbent for a while now.
NICE!!!
ReplyDeleteJust how old does one have to be to ride a bent?
ReplyDeleteHey Steve, The point I always try to make is you don't have to be old at all to ride and enjoy bents. Certainly most active cyclists who ride diamond frames think recumbents are just for old people. For sure most of the people I see riding bents are older folks who for whatever reason enjoy the laid bike way on two or three wheels. For someone suffering a medical condition the bent is sometimes the only way they can continue to ride. That's the great thing about recumbents but there is absolutely no reason a younger cyclist can ride bent or someone just getting into cycling for that matter. One of my purposes with this blog is to put my story out there and show how enjoyable the bent ride is and anybody could do it.
ReplyDeleteI switched at age 54, seven years ago - but I wish I could have done it many years earlier, since I enjoy it so much more than upright biking.
ReplyDelete