RecumBum

For a long time, before thinking about a ride, I’d ask myself, “What do you want to ride today?”

For the last several months, the answer has been: “The mountain bike.”

Yesterday, for the first time since mid-August, I found myself answering, “The bent.”

And so, once I got the tires aired back up, and pedals attached, and the bag filled with supplies, I set off on the recumbent for the first time in over two months.

I was a bit unsteady for the first hundred yards or so, but then I was fine. And it felt pretty good.

I remembered all the things I loved about riding a recumbent:

• No need for padded gloves or padded shorts
• No hand numbness
• No saddle pain
• The improved aerodynamics
• The ability to hold the handlebar with one hand and just cruise
• The luxurious ride over smooth roads

It wasn’t all goodness and light. For the longest time, I felt simultaneously stretched out and cramped for space. By the end of the ride (a short 16 miles), my legs and hips were sore, and I’d enumerated all the things I didn’t like about the bent:

• The jarring ride over rough roads
• The difficulty in climbing hills; even the smallest rises had me gearing way down and spinning madly
• The feeling of being the oddball; sometimes I revel in that, but other times I just like to blend in

In the final analysis, I think (hope) I’ll keep riding the bent. It is fun, and once I get my recumbent legs back, I’ll be fine.

But, for the types of roads I’m wanting to ride right now (a mixture of paved and gravel), the bent is not the right bike. The mountain bike’s not event the right bike. For that type of riding, the bike I’m looking at is a cyclocross bike. For now, I’m just looking, but at some point I’ll pull the trigger.

Stay tuned…

Totals for October: 578 miles (562 of them on the mountain bike), 5600 miles year-to-date.

No recumbent rides in September. But other than that it was a good month!

Sometime early in the month, I surpassed my yearly goal of 4500 miles, and I’ve now rolled past the 5000 mile mark.

The big ride of the month was the R&R Century that took place on September 21st. This was a reprise of last year’s Loop Le Loup Century, except this time with a new route and a few more riders. Like last year’s ride, it turned out to be a gorgeous day and a fun ride.

There was also a fast gravel ride on September 1st, and a repeat of last year’s Tour of Missouri Pre-Pre-Ride.

Most of the other rides were of the less-the-50-mile variety, some paved, some on gravel, but all on the mountain bike. Oh well.

For the month, 665 miles at a 13.97 MPH average. I haven’t set a new mileage goal for the remainder of the year, and I don’t know that I will. But I wouldn’t be surprised to get another 1000 miles or so.

August, as predicted, was my lowest-mileage month in awhile — 466 miles. For the year, that puts me at 4356 miles, within shouting distance of my 4500 goal.

Recumbent-wise, it was again a pitiful showing, with only one ride of 21 miles, with everything else coming on the mountain bike.

Guess I’ll have to admit it: I like riding the mountain bike, and for now at least, I like it more than riding the ‘bent.

Am I giving up on the ‘bent for good? I don’t think so. I still think a recumbent is an outstanding touring machine, and it’s the natural machine for multi-day tours. The mountain bike is not really optimized for long rides, day after day.

At least I don’t think it is — I haven’t actually tried that yet.

But, for now at least, I’m going to keep on keeping on, riding the bent or the upright as the mood strikes me on a given day. Which way that’ll fall, time will tell….

Just got back from ten days or so in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and as the title indicates, I didn’t get much riding in.

It was a family vacation, after all (and in this case, extended family plus friends — eleven people in total), and I was the only cyclist, so I succumbed to mob rule and didn’t force my wishes on the group.

It was still a good time, and I did manage one quick stop in a local bike store (Hawaiian Pedals / Bike Works in Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii) and scored a new cycling jersey:

I also picked up a Specialized Deflect Jacket on clearance for half-price, which I thought was a pretty good deal.

I did see quite a few folks riding in Hawaii. On the Big Island, I saw road bikes, mountain bikes, and cruisers. The western portion of the island is lightly populated and the landscape is primitive (primarily exposed lava rock as far as the eye can see, with very few trees or plants), but the roads are excellent — smooth and clean with wide shoulders. However, elsewhere on the island, roads are less bicycle-friendly. They’re generally in good shape, but the shoulder comes and goes, and traffic is heavier.

It’s ironic, but the prettier parts of the island — i.e. the best places to ride — have the worst roads, but the ugly side has great roads.

On Oahu (the most populous island, containing the capital of Honolulu and famous attractions such as Waikiki Beach and the North Shore), road cycling appears to be a complete disaster. Traffic is heavy, roads are narrow and twisty, and shoulders are slim to none.

In the city and near the beaches, bicycles appear to be a popular form of transportation, but most of these bikes are of the clunker variety. I saw an occasional Specialized, Giant, Cannondale, or other familiar name, but the majority were Next, Murray, Huffy, Schwinn — department store bikes.

Once home, after spending most of a day on planes, I wasted no time in getting back in the saddle, riding to the grocery store to pick up some milk and bread. It felt good to ride again!

As predicted, it wasn’t a big month, mileage-wise, with 544 miles in the books. That was less than April, May, or June. Blame the heat, I guess.

But I hit my goal for the month, and I’m way ahead of my projected pace for the year. So that’s all good.

The big news of the month was that I rode the mountain bike about 95% of the miles, and only got out on the Django once. That’s pretty pitiful, and I hope to strike a better balance going forward.

My intention (after the Cider Mill Century, at least), is to ride the recumbent on the road, and the mountain bike on dirt. Seems simple and straight-forward enough. I’ll have to see how that works out.

The other big news of the month was the launching of DirtBum, my blog for mountain-bike-related riding.

I don’t expect August to be a particularly big month for mileage. I’ll be out of town on vacation part of the month, and although I hope to ride a bit then, I may get shut out entirely. In either case, by the time I get back I’ll probably be jonesing for some time in the seat and saddle, so may rack up a few miles regardless. We’ll see.

This Sunday is the annual Cider Mill Century, rolling out of the Louisburg Cider Mill onto the roads of Miami County, Kansas.

Last year, the Cider Mill Century was my first 100-mile ride, and what a glorious day it was.

This year, I’m trying to decide whether to ride the recumbent or the mountain bike. It’s kinda coming down to what I ought to do vs. what I want to do.

I know, with probably 95% certainty, that the recumbent is the better tool for the job. On the bent I’d probably ride faster, certainly ride more comfortably, and mostly likely end up with fewer aches and pains at the end.

On the other hand, I’ve been there, done that, and doing a century on an upright bike is uncharted territory. Granted, I’ve done an 80-mile day on the mountain bike, but I haven’t hit triple digits yet.

In an effort to make up my mind, I did a recumbent test run today. I’ve been riding the mountain bike a lot lately, and the recumbent hardly at all — do I still have the legs for it?

Turns out … maybe. One mile in, and the bent still felt awkward. Ten miles in, and I was cruising and feeling great. By the end of the ride, 23+ miles total, I was feeling it. The recumbent really does use slightly different muscles than the upright, and I could tell.

Could I make the hundred on the recumbent? Yeah.

Could I make the hundred on the mountain bike? Probably.

Which one excites me more? The mountain bike. There, decision made.

I have a confession to make. I’ve been unfaithful. Many times over.

The last month or so, largely since I got back from BAK, I’ve been riding the mountain bike almost exclusively. It’s not that I’ve given up on the recumbent — far from it — but my interests have expanded.

I haven’t been writing about it much because that content really doesn’t fit here. This blog is about recumbents.

Solution: A new blog, one dedicated to my mountain biking identity.

Hence, DirtBum.

Check it out. I’ve added the feed to the sidebar, so you can, if you like, see what I’m writing over there.

I still expect to ride my recumbent, and still expect to write about it. But it’s no longer a monogamous relationship.

Wow, what a month!

My goal for the month was 500 miles. I ended up with over 1000. Good grief.

Actually, the total was 1056 miles, with 638 of those on the Django, and 418 on the mountain bike. Year-to-date, I’m at 3346 miles, well over my target goal of 2050 miles.

Highlights:

• Lone Star Century on June 1st. I didn’t get to do the full century, due to family commitments, but I got in 66 miles at a 15.9 MPH pace.
• Biking Across Kansas June 6-14
• A night-time ride on June 17th — full moon, clear sky, cool temps — sweet!
• A road ride on the mountain bike with two friends — 51 miles
• A road ride on the mountain bike, partially with a group, partially solo — 80 miles
• The Mullet Ride in Baldwin City on the 28th — 25 miles of hilly gravel for the ride itself, plus riding there and back, for a total of 68 miles, mostly gravel

I’d planned and trained to do a dirty century on the 29th, but my riding partner had to bail, so I’ll get that accomplished some other time. It was a little disappointing, as I felt I was ready for the ride (even though the route was supposed to be 118 miles, not just 100). But in the end, I was just as happy not to have to make that road trip (which would have been over 400 miles of driving), and the Mullet Ride was an excellent alternative.

The remainder of the year should see somewhat saner monthly totals. I’ll be out of town for a weekend in July, and for two weeks in August, so that’ll definitely cut down on my mileage for those two months. Still, I’m well on my way to meeting my yearly goal of 4500 miles, perhaps as early as August, probably no later than September.

Now that the 2008 edition of Biking Across Kansas (BAK) is in the books, here’s a quick summation of the trip.

I’d rate this as a “good” tour. Not great, certainly not bad.

The distance (a total of 503 miles, including the ride to the Colorado border) was just fine. The daily distances were quite manageable — 50’s and 60’s most days, on 70+, one 80+. By the end of the week, I was a bit fatigued, but definitely not exhausted. (After getting back from the trip, I took one day off, then rode again for 7 days straight.)

The route I’d also rate as good-not-great. Taking Highway 36 basically straight across the state sounds like a good plan (and it is designated as a cross-state bicycle route by the Kansas Department of Transportation), but it’s rather boring when the directions for the day can be summed up in a single sentence: “Head east on 36 all day.” The scenery on 36 wasn’t bad, and the traffic, for the most part wasn’t bad, but it was just kind of mind-numbing to ride straight and never turn for days on end.

That probably explains why my favorite parts of the ride where when we deviated from the “stay on 36″ routing. I far preferred the days where there were some twists and turns to the route, and where there was less traffic, and it was slower.

The scenery along the route was consistently good. There were only a few short sections where I found flat roads and endless similar-looking fields to be tedious. The rest of the trip, from the rugged high plains in the west, to the fertile farmland and rolling hills in the east, I found very enjoyable to look at, with plenty of variety and interesting things to see.

The two areas where I knock this particular route down a couple pegs are with regard to traffic and degree of difficulty.

Traffic in the western part of the state was mostly light, and mostly considerate. Sure, there were a few motorists who passed too closely or who didn’t slow down as much as I’d like, but that’s typical (and to a degree, understandable). But as we moved into the eastern half of Kansas, particularly on US-36, traffic became heavier and more aggressive. In places, it felt like we were riding along an interstate. There were wide shoulders, but they were often in poor repair, and featured sometimes-nasty rumble strips. And where there were wide shoulders, the passing traffic didn’t slow down much. It was OK, but just not particularly pleasant riding.

As for degree of difficulty, the tour was just too easy! I’m sure that sounds like a really stupid thing to say, but that’s how I felt about it. With helpful winds most days, moderate mileage, and no-turns routing, the first few days were just not very challenging at all, either mentally or physically.

I think it says it all that my favorite day was the most difficult — the 85-mile day through winding, hilly roads with a wicked crosswind. And my second-favorite days was the next-to-last day, with lotsa hills and turns.

I’m sure many people (most, probably) appreciated the low degree-of-difficulty, but I was kind of disappointed. Not that I wanted the full-on headwind-fest that was BAK 2006, but I would have liked a little more challenge.

Still, all-in-all it was a good tour. The scenery was great, food was great, people were great, and I enjoyed camping out for 8 nights straight.

I wouldn’t mind doing BAK again — there’s still plenty of Kansas I haven’t seen!