First Tour of 2011

This is the moment I have been waiting and training for. All preparations are complete - bike, gear, route, time. I am almost ready to hit the road!

I plan on rolling from San Francisco to Los Angeles on PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) or Highway 1.

I have been studying "Bicycling the Pacific Coast" by Vicky Spring and Tom Kirkendall. This is how my itinerary looks so far:

1st day: From Montara to New Brighton State Beach 2nd - Vets Memorial Park 3rd - Kirk Creek campground 4th - San Simeon State Beach 5th - Oceano campground 6th - Gaviota sate park 7th - Carpenteria state beach 8th - Leo Carrillio state beach 9th - Home Stretch! I have been packing and there is the list of things I am taking: Clothes: Lycra recumbent pants Synthetic jersey Long sleeve jersey Keen cycling sandals Socks (for evening campsite use with sandals)

Long sleeve shirt for campsite

Pants for campsite

Hat

Bicycle HP Velotechnik Streetmachine GTe Arkel T52 panniers Fastback Double Century with 3L bladder Bicycle maintenance: Pump 2 spare tubes (different sizes) Patch kit Tire levers Multitool Kevlar spoke kit Chain links Dry lube (2oz) Camping & Food Tent Sleeping bag Silk liner Inflatable pad White gas stove with .5l bottle worth of fuel Lighter One pot with lid One lexan cup One spoon Swiss army knife Paracord (to dry wet clothes) Multi use liquid soap (dr bronner's) Tea bags Instant oatmeal First aid kit Liquid bandaid Band aids

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.

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.

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.

Thanksgiving Day Ride

Yesterday was a nice day in Santa Monica for a beach path ride. The weather was in the 40s to start, and it warmed up nicely into low 60s in the mid day.

In Santa Monica beach path was fairly sand free. Once I got over to Venice area there were many sand drifts on the path, you had to be careful not to wipe out.

When I came to L.A. river, I rode inland (I was meeting my buddy for a ride, he comes from that direction). Once I ran into him, we turned back and rode west, then south towards Redondo Beach.

Once we reached Redondo Beach, we turned around and went back. My buddy had an early lunch engagement.

While on the path, I saw several 'bents. I saw 2 gentlemen on Rans Rockets, I saw a guy on a trice trike, and a couple on an eBike tandem. I talked to them for a moment, wished them happy Thanksgiving and pushed back towards home.

There some ride stats according to B.icycle app for iphone:

Trip time: 02:36:24
Distance: 27.8 mi
Average speed: 10.7 mph
Max speed: 19.2 mph
Climbed altitude: 778 ft
Total experience: Priceless

Which bent is right for me?

My current Cannondale Bent I is a smooth gliding bent. I just took it out for a 20 mile ride this morning, and that dual suspension soaks up road bumps with aplomb. I love the "cushy" ride. I am only wishing for something a little faster - I am cruising with Cannondale at average of 10 mph on a fairly flat bicycle path. Also, stability won't hurt it either - on a sandy patches on the beach bike path I had that "slipping" feeling couple times, it is quite unnerving.

I started thinking about Grasshopper FX - on paper it makes good sense. The 'hopper FX folds for transportation, should be fairly comfy and reasonably stable. Also, I hope it would be little quicker than my Cannondale.

My first attempt to try Grasshopper FX in SoCal turned out fruitless.

I went into Bentup Cycles wanting to try a Grasshopper FX, but they no longer carry that model. Hence I took couple trikes for a spin. I have tried Scorpion FX and Scorpion FS by HP Velotechnik, and they both felt smooth and nice,  FS even more so plush, especially when I was riding over the uneven ground.

This could turn out to be very dangerous to my valet.  But there were downsides as well.

What I did not like was inability to lean in while turning - that's what makes 2 wheelers so special.

This weekend I am going to Oakland to see Zach Kaplan who has Grasshopper FX and other SWB bents in stock to ride.

I'll be trying out Grasshopper FX, Streetmachine GTe and Speedmachine and see if any of them "talk" to me. If not, I might start saving for Scorpion FS.

Am I setting myself for a trike? Sure looks like that to me. If I go the trike route, there is a whole bunch more to try - Ice has a fully sprung machine (I got spoiled by a smooth ride, I don't even want to try non suspended bents anymore). Also there are deltas for Hase and Greenspeed - Kettwiesel and Anura. From looking at Deltas are kind of ugly, but I have to look beyond looks. It is all about what feels right.

Also, there are fully suspended Velomobile - one from Greenspeed looks interesting, but I think it is an overkill for SoCal "weather".

Most important is to try as many bikes, trikes and quads as possible.

So I am thinking with my brain, but going with my gut.

My take on bicycle shoes

I found out that riding bicycle for more than couple miles with soft soled running shoes quickly transitions into a foot pain.

I have purchased single sided Shimano PD-M324 SPD pedals for my Specialized Allez. I tried two different shoes - Sidi road shoe (over a $100 in 2008) and Cannondale mountain bike shoes ($40).

Sidi road shoe was a road shoe - on the bike they were ok but not comfortable, eventually giving me a knee pain. I tried riding them for about a month, after that they went back to REI.

Cannondales were more practical, but not that useful. Their soles were not stiff enough and after riding for a while my foot would start getting sore. So after another month, Cannondale MTB shoes went back to REI. I decided to continue using my Chaco Z1 sandals.

Chaco Z1s have pretty stiff soles so the pressure from the pedal gets distributed evenly and I would not get sore spots in my feet. They work very well in dry weather. When the weather got wet (doesn't happen too much in Santa Monica) the rubber becomes slippery, and you have to be careful not to let the foot slip off the pedal. Because my pedals are not that high on Long Base Compact recumbent, I did not have too much of a problem. But I realized that one slip could be my last, so I started looking for a better solution.

This is what I want: I would like to have Chaco sandals, but with SPD plates. Too bad Chaco doesn't have a product like that. Other sandals were made by Shimano ($99), Nashbar ($50) and Lake ($77) and Keen ($70).

I tried a pair of Lake sandals at BentUpCycles, and I did not like them too much. They were pretty hard on the top, just didn't feel super comfortable.

I did research on the net, and ended up ordering Keen Commuter Shoes.

Today they came in, and I was glad to notice that their soles had good traction and stiffness. I rode my Cannondale Bent to work and the soles almost felt glued to the pedals, even before SPD plates were attached. They were OK for walking too - I am sitting with them at my desk right now. On the downside they do not have the ventilation of Chaco Z1s- I can feel my feet getting clammy inside. I think I will wear them for riding, but will have a pair of real open sandals for walking and work.

I will take Keens on a longer ride on Saturday and see how they feel with SPD plates attached.

11-14-10 Update:

I have been using Keens all the time for commuting. So far - great cycling "shandal" - it is not quite a sandal due to closed toe box. But now as weather is getting colder, that is a benefit.