This was a great weekend for riding. I ended up doing a couple good road rides, plus a cyclocross ride on the new course down in Solon.
Saturday, I did a loop down through Chagrin Falls and back up Caves Road. Today, I did a loop down the bike path and out around Kile Road and Clay Street. (Kile Road was just resurfaced, so the pavement is butter smooth.)
There were lots of riders out on the trail today, and I was riding a pretty decent tempo so I was passing people on a regular basis. I came up behind a couple of guys on faired recumbent bikes who were loping along at an easy pace. I thought, "oh good, they'll see me in their rear view mirrors, so I don't need to say anything".
The one guy spotted me, and started accelerating, by the time I was passing he was up to my speed, so of course, I started to accelerate. I thought I'd just be able to lift the pace a bit and be on my way, but pretty soon we were going 25 mph. I doubted he was going to continue at that pace for long, but he kept it up for a mile and seemed to be having a pretty easy time. I really had to crank it up to get around.
I was pretty amazed by that. I guess the aerodynamic drag of a faired recumbent is only about 1/4 of a road bike, so for the same power, a rider should be able to go about 58% faster on a flat road. So if you can easily cruise at 22 mph on a road bike, you would easily be able to cruise at like 35 mph on a recumbent. But of course, you wouldn't be able to bunny hop obstacles, and being stuck in the same position for hours at a time would get old fast.
2 comments:
Kevin,
I've been following your blog for awhile and really enjoying it. I live in Chardon and for the last 5 years my primary bike has been my RANS V-Rex recumbent, so your latest post piqued my interest. I'm not the guy that you saw on the bike path, but I think I know who he was, and he is pretty fast. It's easy for a bent rider to beat a diamond-frame rider on a downhill grade, but we suffer on hill climbing because of bike weight and the inability to stand up on the pedals. I've been an avid cyclist all of my life, and at 52 years old I still get in about 4,000 miles a year. I didn't buy the bent because of any physical ailment...I just thought that they looked really cool (I like the short wheel base models) and fun to ride. I have to say that riding the V-Rex is a blast. With its low center of gravity, it takes a curve like you wouldn't believe, you can bomb down hills, and the relaxed position makes it easy to ride long distances without getting a stiff neck or numb fingertips. Definitely the bike I would chose for a long tour. When I miss honking up hills or riding a lighter bike, I get out my old Fuji or better yet, my Surly fixie. If you ever want to try out a bent, let me know!
Thanks again for the interesting blog and the updates about the road conditions in Geauga county. We really live in a great area for riding! One of my favorite loops is to ride out on Bass Lake Road to Punderson State Park, and then come back to Butternut and head east to Chardon Windsor Rd, up into Huntsburg, and back on 322 to the Bike Path. I'll have to check out Kile Rd!
There are a handful of cyclists around Geauga county that are iconic since they are out on the road so much and are easily recognizable. "Recumbent guy" is definitely one of those. I've seen him out riding all over the place, and every time I've seen him he's smiling, so riding that fast without the suffering must be a lot of fun!
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