Wow, it has been a long time. Nearly two years, in fact, since I rode a recumbent.

So what have I been doing for all that time? Riding gravel on the Long Haul Trucker, for the most part. Check out DirtBum if you’re interested in reading more on that…

Both of my recumbents (the EZ-Sport and the Django) have been hanging from my garage ceiling for a long time, unused and unnoticed, for the most part.

But lately they’ve been catching my eye.

And yesterday I actually brought the Django down and rode it.

It wasn’t a long ride — about 17 miles — and it wasn’t a particularly fast ride, but it was a ‘bent ride, and that’s a good thing.

However, before I could ride I had to get the machine set up again. Of course, after so long, the tires were largely flat. I aired them up, then had to transfer a couple of water bottle cages to the Django, hunt down 20″ and 26″ tubes, locate my pump, and reattach it to the bike.

And that’s about it. The chain was still well-lubed, and once I started riding it again, I found the shifting was still crisp and sure.

That was more than I could say about myself, at least at the beginning.

After over two years of riding an upright bike, the ‘bent felt weird, seriously strange. But it soon came back to me, and as I got a few miles down the road, I remembered all the things I loved about the bent:

  • I could wear any old shorts — no padding required
  • I could wear any gloves — no padding required
  • No pressure on the hands
  • Lower wind resistance than the upright
  • Smooth and comfortable on pavement

But of course I also found a couple things I didn’t care so much for:

  • The darn seat still squeaks
  • Harder to climb hills
  • Skittish on loose or soft surfaces

Yes, I took the Django on gravel, for about a mile and a half, and on a crushed limestone trail for a quarter mile or so. Neither was really pleasant. The center of gravity is just too low to feel comfortable on gravel, particularly in turns and with loose rock. The upright bike is far better in those situations.

One thing I found interesting was that my “natural” cadence was really low. Previously, when I rode the bent exclusively, I kept the cadence above 90 most of the time, and often above 100. Now, after riding the upright, my cadence was slow — 75 to 80. By the end of my ride, I was holding it consistently above 80, but that still felt really fast.

Guess the upright just doesn’t need that fast of a cadence…

Here’s the Django at Lone Elm Park, in Olathe, KS:

Today, a day after the ride, I halfway expected to be sore, due to the different muscles used on the bent, but that’s not the case — I feel fine. Pleasant surprise.

This was a fun little ride. Not sure how much I’ll be riding the bent going forward. I think it’s still a great bike for long rides on smooth and flat roads, but I love unpaved surfaces too much to make it my main ride for the foreseeable future. I don’t like the constraint of riding only pavement; I want the flexibility to ride just about anywhere.

But I haven’t hung it back on the ceiling again, so perhaps there’s hope after all…