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.