RecumBum

I took Sunday off, after my longest ride of the year on Saturday, then did a medium-length, rather fast ride today. The weather was great — 72°F and almost no wind. I headed east on 175th, then south on Metcalf to 199th, intending to head back west. Instead, I found the road closed for construction, [...]

With temperatures in the lower seventies and lots of sun, it was a glorious day for the Johnson County Bike Club‘s annual early season ride, the Spring Classic. Several hundred cyclists were already milling around as I arrived at Shawnee Mission Park around 7:30, and after a few minutes registering and setting up the bike, [...]

The weather finally appears to have tilted toward spring, with temperature into the sixties and lower seventies. I managed to get in a few miles this week: 22 on Sunday, 36 on Monday, and another 20 yesterday. I may even sneak in a short ride this afternoon. I’m planning to take Friday off, then for [...]

It’s been a long ten days since my last ride, days of unseasonably bitter cold, wind, and rain. Tomorrow it’s supposed to turn cold and rainy again, with Saturday more of the same, perhaps even snow. This afternoon was a short respite, a brief window of opportunity where the sun shone between the clouds, the [...]

I saw an interesting article today (Short Cranks: Slicker, Quicker and Easier, by Thad Sitton, originally published in Recumbent Cyclist News) that discussed the use of short cranks for recumbents. For the purposes of this discussion, a long crank (the crank being the arm that the pedal attaches to) is in the range of 170-180mm [...]

After deciding that my old cyclocomputers needed replacing, I did some searching for their successor. I wanted a cadence display on the new computer, and ideally I wanted both current cadence and average cadence. But I couldn’t find a mid-range computer with average cadence. I wasn’t willing to pay $150 for a higher-end computer with [...]

I have a new cyclocomputer on the way for my Burley, so it’s time to say goodbye to my old computers. Yes, that’s “computers”, as in two. The first is a Bell SpinFit (the one on the right in the photo), which is what came with the bike when I bought it. It’s a pretty [...]

Being able to map out a ride, either before or after you do it, is a very useful (and fun) capability. Here are a few of the online bicycle route mapping services I’ve tried: Gmaps Pedometer – One of the oldest and the best; elevation capabilities are crude Routeslip – Can add turn-by-turn directions to [...]

Today is supposed to be nice (about 80°F), then the rest of the week is supposed to get much cooler (around 50°F high Wednesday thru Saturday), so I figured I better get some miles in while I can. I started off thinking I’d do the Bucyrus route, then changed my plan on-the fly twice before [...]