Wet weather riding

After couple days cooked up at home I could stay no more.

I got my rubber/neoprene riding shoes (Keen Commuters), synthetic REI stretch pants and synthetic long sleeve top, and I was off!

At first I was ecstatic. I was riding, and there was pretty much no one on the beach. Figures, it was still raining, but not hard.

I rode North, towards Malibu.

As I approached Santa Monica Pier, I expected some flooding. Well, "some" turned out to be a lot, and I ended up riding through what I think was up to 4 inches of water. I figured I could just downshift and power through the water. The concrete path was still there, just underwater.

Riding through water feeling was great. There was increased resistance, but I knew where the path was so I was not concerned with road disappearing. Good thing, it did not, and I safely forded the water barrier.

After my water experience, I decided to test my weather resistant disc brake.

BB7 brake has turned to mush. There was no fiction to stop, then the calipers started to drag on the rotors, then the lever would not spring back to neutral.

Slowly, the brake sponged back to semi neutral so it was not making scraping noises, but whenever I tried to use it to slow down the bike, it was pretty much useless.

If I was touring with a load and going downhill, and that was my only brake option, I would be in deep trouble.

So much for "improved wet performance" over rim brakes. On my front wheel I had Avid V brake, and it was still functioning. Granted, it took a moment for the brake to start breaking, but the friction was still there.

My dry lube (right now I had Finish Line dry lubricant, in the past I used Boeshield T9 with good results) got washed out and I could hear sand crunching on my chainring and middle drive chainrings. I stopped at the shower and tried to wash the sand, and that helped for 30 yards, then the sand was back.

I think I pair of fenders would have slowed down the sand working it's way from the water and sand slury into the chain. Also, I will use wet lube for my next wet ride.

What did work extremely well was the Shimano LX derailleur. It did not skip a beat through my shifting, no problem whatsoever. I was waiting for sand induced noises, but all was in vain. Noises were coming for lower bracket/chainring area, but not from derailleur.

Lessons learned:

1. Riding in the rain could be fun. Way better than being cooked up at home in front of the computer!
2. Horses for courses. You have to have wet weather clothes and wet weather lubricants on your bike. Fenders don't hurt either. You have to keep sand laden water out of the drive train!
3. Brakes that work in wet, not only in dry. I always thought of my BB7 disk brake as my best defense against weather. Not so - it has failed to live up to it's expectations. On my next bike I am sticking with rim brakes.
4. I am very impressed by Shimano LX derailleur. I was set to get Rohloff Speedhub for my next bike build, but now I feel I need to rethink my convictions. I still think if money is no option Rohloff is the way to go, but my newly regained respect for Shimano keeps them in the running.
5. My hat is off to all of you in Northern climates - snow and ice are not cyclists friends. I do have a friend who moved from California to New England and was riding his bike (with studded tires and all) through the winter. Go Winston!

How important is weather to riding?

Weather is very important.

When I think about riding and I go outside and it is drizzling, ride is probably not happening.

Luckily I live in Santa Monica, where weather is sunny and mild most of the year.

Today, however, it is raining and I am staying at home. Sure, I could still go out there, but the joy is just not there. Why suffer?

Rainy weather gets me scrambling for a "rainy day" solutions.

I start thinking about fenders and rain gear, but today I will just take bus.

If I was on my "world domination" bicycle tour, I would have to be prepared for rain.

How would I deal with rain?

If it is raining cats and dogs, I would just try to wait it out. A day or two of rest is always good.

If it is just ongoing drizzle, I would ride through it. Bicycle with fenders, waterproof luggage, rain clothes.

Rain clothes for me a clothes that are designed to get me  wet, but still allow to breath. I don't want waterproof clothing - you just get steamy inside and get wet from your perspiration. I like microfiber tops and stretchy pants. They are both synthetic fiber, so the water doesn't accumulate. If it is cold, I would add a fleece top. I am wet, but still warm. I wear a synthetic fiber hat and gloves too. You have to dress appropriately for climate conditions you are in.

In my waterproof luggage, I would have a dry clothes to change once I arrive to my destination (work, campsite, etc.)

The wet clothes should be hung to dry if possible. Not too much fun putting on wet clothes in the morning, but it is possible.

Rear suspension - coil vs. air

The biggest advantage of the air suspension is in weight savings. Second, as the shock is more progressive, there is less chance of bottoming out. Also, it is easier to adjust amount of preload on an air spring - just pump in more air.

Performance wise, coil gives more linear, smoother performance. Bottoming out is more of a possibility.

The bad thing is that if valve in the air shock fails, you are in trouble. There are kits to rebuild the shock, so it is possible.

Bottoming out is more of the MTB issue, where riding and jumping is much more aggressive. On a recumbent, that is not an issue, as long as the spring is in the ballpark of the load.

In my opinion I will stick with a coil shock.

Elliptical chainrings vs. round; standard cranks vs. short

After doing a lot of computer research I came to conclusion that elliptical chainrings either help you climb or help you spin - that depends on orientation.

Old Shimano Biopace was designed to help you climb mashing your feet, on a recumbent that is not a good thing. Your knees will remind you later. New Rotor Q rings are better, they are designed to help you with spinning. But the effect could be also mental, so I will save my money.

Crank length of 170 comes from diamond frame bikes. Longer cranks can help you power up when you are mashing up the hill. That is not happening on a recumbent, so the benefit is lost.

Shorter cranks of 155 will flex your knee less, thus will reduce the wear and tear on the joint. For most of the people shorter crank on the recumbent should result in increased comfort and thus would prolong performance. Sound like a win win to me.

So, I am sticking with circular chainring and adding shorter cranks.

Light solutions for commuting bent

I have multi decade commuting experience between my "safety" and recumbent.

In Santa Monica streets are illuminated enough for you to see without any lights, so the main goal of light is for you to be seen.

I have had a CyGo twin lens contraption years ago with lead acid battery, it was pretty weak but much better than a single bulb 4AA setup I used before.

In LED era I have had my Cateye  for over 5 years. It is not too bright, so you will not be blinding anyone, but enough of a light to get you noticed - especially for casual riding. However, if you want to ride beach path at night, there are spots with no illumination at all, and Cateye just falls short lighting the road at speed.

I have purchased Trailtech HID lamp system 3 years ago. My model only has on/off feature, but the new ones has variable brightness as well. Eventually, the lamp started shutting off after a short time, so it went. What I liked about this light was that it put out a lot of light. What I did not like was that the light was put out in circular pattern and would blind the upcoming riders/drivers. If the reflector was improved, it would be a killer light.

Now I am looking at LED light from Lupine - Tesla is already plenty, but for you who want to thrash down the mountain in the dark, there is Betty. Both lamps put out quite a bit of light, but I wonder how well are reflectors designed?

There are quality lights designed for bicycles too. B&M from Germany have a line of lamps to match their hub dynamo - SON. It sounds good on paper, but with current battery technology I can have a decent commuting light without additional drag of a dynamo. The claimed drag is very little, but there are reports of annoying resonances at certain speeds, so why bother? There are battery powered versions of those lights as well, but I just have not dealt with them.

Looking for a new bent

From research stage I am moving into a locating stage for my next bent.

I am set on a Streetmachine by HP Velotechnik. Recent GT or GTe would do nicely.

The problem is that I have champagne taste and beer budget.

Nicely equipped brand new SMGTe tips scales at $6000 - that is more than my several cars worth combined.  I am more thinking $2000 and couple years of gentle use.

I think the bikes are out there - in peoples garages and sheds collecting dust and slowly rusting away.

I can promise to give them a good home and ride the hell out of them.

Another option is to buy a base model and over time to upgrade it.

However, most of the times when I got a bike, bike stayed the way it was purchased.

So best is to find as close to the desired bike used and ride ride ride!

Impulse Buys

Some folks want something so desperatly, they do not think through their purchases.

I wanted a Westfalia camper van for a long time, but thinking out the scenario where I did not have parking, using the van only seldom I decided against it.


Now my neighbor got an exact van I was thinking about.

He is in the same shoes as me and he is parking on the street. At least once a week he needs to move the van for street cleaning, keep it insured, registered. He needs to WORRY about it.

I want to have the least amount of things on my mind. Everything I bought on impulse I usually regretted later and lost money in the long run.

Now-days I try my best to take time to think through my big purchases.

I don't buy new unless there is a significant benefit to it. New car? No way. New bicycle? Maybe, especially if I want something special and the price is right. But usually, with enough patience, you can always find the same item on the market again and again, and as the item gets older the deal gets sweeter.

Transportation does not appreciate as it ages, and that includes bicycles as well.

So I would advice to hold your horses on that new purchase and wait out for a special deal. I am glad I do, and money in the bank feels so much better than a debt on a credit card.

My yoga teacher kept on saying "No hurry". It is so true in so many ways.

Cycle progression

I have noticed that a lot of people start with a DF bike, then a recumbent bike, and then comes a trike. After that a fast high/low racer might come. I was trying figure out why such succession is popular?

I look at trikes as a very specialized vehicles - not popular for city commuting duties (I have seen no trikes on the streets of Santa Monica for past 20 years), but more of weekend/bicycle path/outside town riding. You could take it on the tour as well, but with our busy lives that is a very small of our total riding time. I did try Scorpion FS & FX, they were fine on an empty streets, but I would not want to be doored or cut off by the car driver with "I did not see you".

CLWB (I have Cannondale bent 1) does make a decent city commuter, and I ride it pretty much every day. Lately I have tried several SWB bents, and liked the way Streetmachine felt the best, so that might be my next commuter. I plan to do touring on Streetmachine as well, but realistically it will be 90% commuter, and 10% tourer. I could justify that.

So my conclusion is that the trikes are mostly a recreational vehicles, while bikes could be more utilitarian.

And then there is a need for speed.

I wish I could go faster when I am cruising on the bicycle path - both trikes with skinny high pressure tires and high racers leave me in the dust. I do like an idea of being able to go faster, but not at the expense of the utility.

I did have a drastic idea of using a trike for commuting, but I think I will come back to this idea after velomobile market matures a little more or oil price jumps to $300 a barrel. Right now there is a flood of innovation on suspended trikes, but that's just a first wave. I am willing to wait it out and buy a more mature product.

In conclusion, when my commuting needs are met, I might experiment with trikes or racier bents, but SWB seems to be the best bent for busy city streets.

Long Trip - a conversation with travelers

Couple weeks ago I was riding on the beach path in Santa Monica.

I saw two cyclists with full camping gear pass me. Later I saw them pulled over talking.

I stopped and asked them where they were coming from. Two guys - Pip and (name to be inserted later, when the brain comes back from vacation) where from Rotterdam, Netherlands. They started about 5 months ago in Toronto, rode across the continent to San Francisco, then spent a month coming down to L.A. They were leaving LAX for home in 3 days. And now they were looking for a motel to stay at.

I was able to recommend a local motel on Pico blvd. and 11th street in Santa Monica. I showed them which way to go. Later I was going by and saw their bikes, so I asked them if they had any plans. They did not, so I offered to show around L.A.. Later we met up, and I took them out for Mexican food (La Playita on Lincoln blvd. near Rose), then drove them around - we went to Beverly Hills and Hollywood. It was at night, so we could not see Hollywood sign, but still my guests were excited. They haven't been in a car for over 5 months!

I was very interested in their trip. I asked them what they would change if they had to do it over again, and first thing they said that they might bring warmer clothes. Also, they would wash their sleeping bags more often - after 5 months they felt very dingy.

They tried budgeting themselves to $40 per day. They camped - outside California costs were about $5 a person per night, inside California the costs doubled. They ate a lot of Top Ramen and hot dogs. At first they bought firewood, but later they started collecting fallen branches around the campsites. Later they acquired a saw to cut more wood.

Pip had 3 flats, Yelle (memory is back) had 7. One broken spoke. Because they were running ahead of schedule, they were cycling slowly. Some days they rode only 7 or 10 miles - from one campsite to another.

They said that their trip was not hard. Most important was to find a place to camp. Then, to get fire going - it was getting dark pretty early, and you had nothing else to do if you had no fire. Last, get the food going on the fire you started. Everything else was non essential.

So, what did I learn from their experience?

You need to have a clothing to protect you from the elements.
You need a roof over the head (tent + site).
You need food.
You need transportation.
You need destination.

Everything else is optional. Yellu and Pim did not have laptops, hell, they did not have cell phones. They had no gps, they were traveling "old school". Their bikes were just simple 24 speed mountain bikes with fenders and racks. They did have some maps and guidebooks, but most communications were done through internet at local libraries. They were living "off the land".

I feel they were living at most basic level, yet it was very satisfying. Sometimes, less is more.

To trike or not to trike?

On BentRiderOnline there was a post for a HP Velo Scorpion for sale.

The trike offered was a base model Scorpion with some options - airflow seat cushions, 50 tooth rotor Q-Ring, Crankbrothers Eggbeater pedals, four sets of various tires. Although SRAM DualDrive is not my favorite, I was intrigued. I exchanged quite a few emails with the owner, and made an offer. I figured if I did not like the trike, I could sell it later, meanwhile I could have some fun on a beach path. If the trike grew on me, I might consider upgrading it to a full touring trike, but then again I might not, especially after I liked testriding Streetmachine so much.

Well, it seems that the trike deal is not going through - somebody else local offered little more money than I felt comfortable with. I didn't want to overextend myself financially and I feel very comfortable with or without a trike.

This is working out to my advantage - if I can not get the trike at the price I am comfortable, I could use the money towards a bike that I really liked - Streetmachine GTe. Now all I need is to find one in good condition. New price still makes me cringe, but next year is my 40th birthday, so maybe I will splurge...