Baja Dreams

This year I want to ride my bent through Baja Mexico.

Years ago I met a cyclist who was crossing Baja on his bike (I was on a Green Tortoise Baja Beach Daze, we have stopped to see the cave paintings near Catavina). I had a short chat with the fellow cyclists. I asked him what was the hardest thing, and he told me that the supply of water was dictating where he could travel.

Lower back pain has stopped me from bicycling a few years back, but I have been fighting back with a recumbent. Suddenly, the dream is back and I have ways of achieving it!

I did not feel that my Cannondale Bent 1 was adequate - I had unresolved issues with midrive that would cause the chain jump chainrings and would sometimes jam, so I was looking for the "ultimate" touring bent.

I came to the conclusion of HP Velotechnik's StreetMachine GTe. I had some money set aside for the traveling, which I dipped into and placed an order for an orange Street Machine. I ended up placing an order with Zach Kaplan in Alameda, as my almost local dealer (BentUp Cycles) did not have a Street Machine in stock to try. My local dealer Victor from Bicycle Workshop in Santa Monica doesn't carry HP Velotechnik at all, but I see him doing most of the work I can not do for the bike.

After going to India and coming back I eagerly awaited my new "dream machine".

India and bicycles

I have been fortunate enough to spend time living in India.

Living outside the bubble can be very refreshing and an eye opening experience.

Bicycles here still play major role in transportation. On bicycles milkman delivers milk, construction worker brings piece of iron, vegetable seller distributes the greens.

Although there are other modes of transport available, nothing is as affordable and efficient as bicycle.

There are 4 wheel carts made here that use bicycle wheels. Many things are sold from these carts. Bicycle technology is everywhere.

Five years ago I did not see any bicycles other than a sinlge speed models. Now I see derailer mountain bikes, but they are not too popular. Why? I think because of maintenance required. The environment here is extremely dusty in dry season, and wet and muddy during the monsoon. The open derailers just can't cope with the conditions. Items for Indian market need to be simple, strong and reliable. And even then they fail - so the maintenance should be simple too.

I think if costs were low enough, India could benefit from internal gear hubs. They are sealed from the elements, and maintenance is minimal.

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.