Why? Two reasons:

1. I had a friend who had injured his back, and was no longer able to ride his upright bike. So I let him try the Django, he liked it, and I let it go at a fair price.
2. I was no longer riding it. I hadn’t ridden it in over a year, and it didn’t look like I was going to anytime soon.

I kind of hated to see it go, but I’m happy that it went to someone who will ride it and put it to good use. I wasn’t doing that, and it deserved better.

So I let it go, but not before giving it one last short ride:

It truly is a sweet machine, just not for me any more, I’m afraid.

Final stats: About 7,000 miles, from 2006-2011. And a lot of great memories. <sigh>

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…

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.

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.

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….

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!

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.

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.

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.

I purchased a Eureka Pinnacle Pass 2XTA as a replacement for an old dome tent that must have been 25 years old. The old tent was still largely functional, though definitely showing its age. Here are the criteria I used when selecting the new tent:

• Easier to set up and take down – The old tent had three fiberglass poles that fed through sleeves in the top of the tent. The poles were constantly getting hung up as they passed through the sleeves.
• Better ventilation – The old tent had only two mesh areas: the top of the tent and the door of the tent. If the door of the tent was closed due to rain, and if the rain fly were attached, there was very little air movement within the tent.
• Smaller pack size – The old tent was about 26 inches in length, packed.
• Footprint/Groundcloth – The old tent didn’t have this (I could have used a tarp, of course, but never did).
• Lighter – The old tent weighed 5 pounds 11 ounces packed.
• Two-Person Size – Although I primarily wanted the tent for solo use, I didn’t want to be cramped for space. The dome tent is a two-person tent (I assume), but the octagonal shape didn’t seem to make the optimal use of space.
• Needs to be freestanding.

After shopping for tents for awhile, and considering models from various manufacturers, I settled on the Eureka Pinnacle Pass 2XTA. Here are the factors that led me to choose this tent:

• It’s a two-person tent, with 36.5 sq. ft. of space. I’m not sure how this compares with the dome tent, though the space is rectangular rather than octagonal, so should be better.
• It only used two poles instead of three, and aluminum instead of fiberglass.
• It has two large doors, rather than one.
• It has mesh on three sides of the tent, so ventilation should be better.
• The pack size was specified as 6″ x 18.5″.
• It is specified with a “minimum weight” of 4 lbs. 11 oz.
• It has two vestibules for outside storage that’s still protected from rain.
• It only has two short sleeves, and clips for attaching the tent to the poles, so setup/takedown should be easier and quicker.
• It is freestanding.
• The price was reasonable: $159.90 list.
• Eureka offers a “Floor Saver” footprint/groundcloth; there may be cheaper alternatives, but this one is sized to fit the tent.

I purchased the tent from CampingTeam.com on 05-23-2007, it shipped on May 25th, and I received it on May 30th. The total cost was $131.89: $109.95 for the tent, $9.99 for the footprint, and $11.95 for shipping. Eureka also offered a $20 rebate, which I sent in and received within a few weeks.

Setup is pretty easy:

• Lay out the groundcloth.
• Spread the tent on the groundcloth.
• Anchor corners if it’s windy.
• Assemble poles.
• Put the rounded end of the pole in one of the sleeves.
• Bend pole and attach the other end to the pin on the opposite corner.
• Repeat with second pole.
• Attach tent at intersection of the two poles.
• Attach clips.
• Add rainfly (note that the “!” symbol on the fly is at the opposite end of the “!” symbol on the tent).
• Connect the four corners of the fly to the tent.
• Attach fly to the poles with the velcro ties.
• Anchor the tent using the supplied stakes.
• Add additional guy-out lines if expecting storms.

Notes & analysis:

• The tent seams are pre-taped on the bathtub floor, which is about 6-8 inches in height.
• The two doors are both full-size, one on each side of the tent. There are two zippers per door – one on the bottom, and one on the side/top.
• The inside top of the tent provides attachment points for an optional “attic”.
• The inside of the tent has two mesh pockets at one end of the tent for storing small items during the night.
• Airflow with the fly installed is fair. Some air gets under the fly, but it’s really not enough, even with a moderate wind. There’s no easy way to adjust this. I was able to roll up one end of the fly and tuck the buckles into the guy-out tabs, but this didn’t really work very well.
• The fly doors and tent doors have nifty tie-back loops, but the fly door is so large that it’s difficult to tie it all back neatly. There is only one tie-back for the fly door, but two tie-backs for the mesh tent door (which is smaller). That doesn’t make much sense.
• The fly door is so large that it lets rain in with the fly door fully open. It’s be nice if there were a way to half-open the fly door so that you were protected, but could still see out, but there doesn’t seem to be an easy way to do this.
• When the fly doors are fully zipped closed, the end of the zipper is way out at the far point of the vestibule, close to the ground. This makes it very difficult to open the fly without half-crawling out of the tent itself.
• The two vestibules are not really big enough to cover a bicycle. They’d probably be good for packs, or as a convenient place to store dirty shoes.
• The weight of the tent plus groundcloth is 6 pounds 1 ounce, which is a bit disappointing. I’d hoped for something closer to 5 pounds.

Conclusion: This seems to be a good, but not great, tent. I was very pleased with the ease of setup and teardown, and I’m very happy with the size of the pack. I’m less pleased with the weight, and with the airflow.

I’ve tested the tent in various conditions, including heavy wind, heavy rain, and even during a tornado warning, and I remained dry and comfortable. I haven’t yet used the tent in cold weather.