My 70 mile bike ride

About two years ago Jon and I road our bikes on the Little Miami Bike Trail, Newtown Ohio to Yellow Springs Ohio a 70 mile bike ride. It was an adventure. This year I did the same thing.





It was Jon's idea to do the ride again. He was to leave his car up in Yellow Springs and ride down and meet me at Newtown. Then we would both ride up north to Yellow Springs. 7o miles for me and 140 miles for him. Some how at the big day he was no where to be seen. Cell phone calls were routed to the mailbox. As I said before in the video, "If you learn to be disappointed in Jon, you will not be disappointed". So instead, I re-adjusted the route. I would ride 35 miles up and back. Where the mid-point would be, I had no idea.

Of the whole week, that Sunday was the best day to ride. Forecasted for in the lower 70's, sunny the first half of the day and overcast the last half.

A beautiful fall day.

Larry Varney, Bent Rider Online Co-Editor

Two miles into the ride I encountered about ten or more fellow recumbent trike riders going the opposite direction. At the head was Larry Varney, a well known recumbent rider among the US recumbent circles. He took a photo of me as I passed by.

Photo by Larry Varney

Trail side view.

I-71 Bridge

Near the halfway point the skies turned overcast. But, that did not diminish the sight of the I-71 bridge. The first time I rode under the bridge I was amazed on how high it was. Driving up I-71 I always wondered what the bottom looked like and I wasn't disappointed.

The halfway point.

The landmark of the 70 mile halfway point looks to be at the Little Miami River Canoe Rental.

The halfway point.

Looking south for another 35 miles.

Heading south again underneath the I-71 bridge.

The trail north of Morrow, Ohio seem to be lightly traveled. It's quite rural and any breakdowns out here would be a problem. Just south of the bridge is an entrance to the Fort Ancient State Memorial Park.

I took a 15 minute lunch break at Morrow and met again a cyclist that started in Loveland. We were doing between 16 to 18 mph back to Loveland. He was the guy in front of me (on the video) as the two recumbent riders passed by. He was doing his last leg of his 54 mile ride.

Hunter's Moon

On the last 10 miles my legs started to feel fatigued. I believe, that if I kept a better track on drinking regularly I would have faired better. That day sunset was around 6:44 PM. I was ready with my 900 lumens bike light. The first 70 mile ride Jon and I got caught without any lights on our last 10 miles. From that day we made sure we had the best lights to illuminate the trail.

On the way back to Newtown's parking lot my truck was the only one left. Arriving back around 7 PM, it took me around 5 hours to finish my 70 mile ride. Would I do this again next year and maybe do a longer ride? The answer would be yes.

Commemorating 53rd birthday

Last Sunday evening I met a fellow cyclist on my way back to my truck. Since I ride a recumbent, it initiates people strike up a conversation with me.

Asking me where I was going and I told him, "Back to Newtown.", which was the same place he was also going. He was riding a Litespeed road bike. Well versed cyclists would know that this type of bike is not cheap. Titanium frame and high end components would put this bike past the $2,000 mark new. Just the frame alone on some models would cost around $5,000.

Back to the cyclist. I learned that he was completing his 110 mile ride (Newtown, Ohio to Oregana, Ohio). This was basically a recovery ride for him. His previous ride on Saturday was his 190 mile ride on the Little Miami Bike Trail. That ride was to commemorate his 53rd birthday.

He was also impressed by my cycling lights, since the sun was setting and we had 20 minutes left to go on our ride.

Time, time, time

MTE SSC P7 900-Lumen 2-Mode LED Flashlight (18650)

About 19 years ago I was reading an article in Bicycling magazine. It was about finding the time to ride if your life or schedule was full, be it family or work. The article suggested riding at night or early in the morning, which to me sounded crazy. I was still in college at the time and my schedule was more flexible than now.

Now having kids and a full time job, I fully understand. I scrape any time I can get to ride on the trail. It's normally in the evenings or before dawn in the weekends.

Riding when light levels are low or non at all brings the problem of getting the right equipment to ride safely. Enter bike lights. In my previous posts I have experimented with several lighting solutions. Through trial and error, I have narrowed it down to a few lighting equipment that is affordable and puts out an enormous amount of light.

1. For a compact flashlight I found the MTE SSC P7 900-Lumen 2-Mode LED Flashlight (18650) to be adequate. For around $35 you get a nice 900 lumen LED light. Unlike another LED flashlight that I have, it will not change to the next mode when jarred. When your riding your bike it will be a bumpy ride. This particular model will not jump to the next mode unless you fully click it to the next mode. The downside is the battery life, on high it would only last for about 50 minutes.
   
2. For an affordable dedicated bike light the HA-III SSC P7-C (SXO) 3-Mode 900-Lumen LED Bike Light Set is a good investment. For around $80 you get a good flood type 900 lumen LED light. On high mode the battery life is around 3 hours. Several times on the trail people often tell me how bright the light is. The beam spreads out quite generously (about 20 or more feet) and illuminates a good 100 feet down the trail.

These lights are all sold online from "dealextreme.com". Shipping is free, if you don't mind waiting 14 days for your items to arrive. It's a Hong Kong company and paying with PayPal, the buying process is quite secure.

HA-III SSC P7-C (SXO) 3-Mode 900-Lumen LED Bike Light Set

I can't tell you how many times I've helped out fellow cyclists caught on the trail with little or no bike lights. Just before typing this post I've helped a dad and his daughter get back to their car with my lights illuminating the trail.

I've also met a fellow recumbent rider named Mike, whom I've seen quite often on the trail, but never had the chance to talk to. He was riding an older model Sun bike that his wife bought him. His house is just about a stones throws away from the trail.


I love riding on my local bike trail, because I'll never know who I'll meet or help out.

My Old Road Bike

Old road bike with new moustache handle bar

Sore butt, wrist, neck, and back. It must only be that I ridden a regular road bike this past weekend. Yup, that's what happened. I upgraded my old road bike from college with a new moustache bar and seat.

The reason for this madness is that when hauling my kids around, in the child trailer, it's hard to stop and go when coming to a complete stop on a busy intersection on the trail. Hopefully, with riding a regular road bike I can do a track stand as the cars go by and not have to unclip from my pedals.

The plan worked. I can come to a full stop, track stand and them go. The down sides are that the familiar aches and pains that come with riding a regular road bike are back. These things I can live with, since it's nothing new to me. It will only be once a day a week, just for hauling kids. The other problem is that normal road cycling shoes are good for cycling, not good for walking around in. I'll have to find some pedals that my mountain bike shoes would fit in.

The moustache bar gave me more leverage in towing something heavy. Not as many hand positions as the normal noodle handle bar. I still like them though.

After every heavy down pour there is always the chance of trees uprooting due to soggy ground. This is what happened to this tree, across the the trail.

It was a very nice sunny day. A bit cool temperature but still nice.

"Than" with his silver Baron lowracer. Notice the homemade storage above his rear tire.

On the trail we saw a caravan of 8 trikes and 1 tandem trike. "Than" was in the group.  Also in the group was Larry Varney, a recumbent cyclist well known in the Recumbent websites for his reports and critiques on trikes and other recumbents.

Prelimenary LED light tests

Two great weekends in a row is a blessing. I did my normal long ride (54 miles) last Saturday, but I soon realized an energy drink would help me avoid bonking out near the end of the ride.


Saturday night I fell victim to my kids' common cold, so my Sunday bike ride with friends and family was postponed. The weekend was not a total lost. The weather and home situation allowed me to go on a field test of my two LED 900 lumens flashlights.

This was a quick setup, mainly to test out how the testing process should proceed. I gathered all my equipment that I would use.

• two led 900 lumens flashlights100' long measuring tape
  
• markers for 100' sections (I used white water bottles)
  
• digital slr camera
• tripods (1 for camera & 1 to hold the flashlight)
• velcro strips to hold the lights in place on the tripod

Picking out a straight path on the Little Miami Bike Trail I setup the test and the results are below. I marked 100 and 200 feet with white drink bottles.

(click on image to enlarge)

Aurora AK-P7-3 SSC P7-C 900-Lumen 2-Mode LED Flashlight. Wide spill area, long throw (spot) area, a bright center area of illumination, middle area not as bright as the middle and outer. The 200 feet marker is easily seen. The Aurora uses (2) 18650 size batteries, runtime around 1 hour and 20 minutes on high.

(click on image to enlarge)

Aurora AK-P7-3 SSC P7-C 900-Lumen 2-Mode LED Flashlight set on low mode.

(click on image to enlarge)

MTE SSC P7 900-Lumen 5-Mode Super LED Flashlight set on high mode. The 100 feet marker can be easily seen. The 200 feet marker is not so easily seen, but still slightly visible. The MTE uses (1) 18650 battery, runtime around 50 minutes on high.

The things that I learned was that I forgot to bring pen and paper to record the camera setting. It took a while to get the right exposure settings and a second set of eyes to verify. Hopefully on my next test I will have it down correctly.

The results:

• The Aurora model gave out a wider spill, while the MTE was a bit narrower
• Both flashlights illuminated the trail visibly at 100 feet.
• The Aurora model had a much great throw towards the 200 feet mark.
• The Aurora model, being around 9 inches long, would be too long to be efficiently mounted on the handlebars.
  

For the cost of around $80-$110 (including batteries, charger, bike mount) these flashlights would make a handy and economical way in getting you through your night ride. For more information on the Aurora flashlight, please see my old post on this blog.

Keep in mind that these are 900 lumens flashlights. A Surefire U2 Ultra, rated at 100 lumens, would cost you around $295.

Note:
The images seem to be a bit darker a Macintosh.

First 54 mile ride of the season.

1.6 miles South of Morrow, is Morrow-Cozaddale Road

Saturday mornings are normally my individual long rides. The ride begins in Newtown Ohio (before sunrise) and the turn-around point is Morrow Ohio, a 54 mile ride. This was my first long ride of the season, so finishing under 3 hours was not likely.


I rode my red Bacchetta Strada recumbent. The bike weights around 30 lbs with all the necessary equipment and other items.

I wanted to leave Newtown around 6 AM, but really didn't hit the trail until 6:45 AM. It was a cold 39 degrees at the start, but with long cycling tights and three layers of clothing it wasn't much of an issue.

15 mph was my speed until I arrived at Loveland. I was fortunate to draft behind a rodie that was heading north at 18 mph. From Loveland to Morrow we sustained this speed, my only worry was if I was fit enough to keep up.

Riding by yourself it's sometimes hard to get motivated to riding at a high speed. When you're drafting behind someone that somehow gives you the mental push to keep up.

Looking south from Morrow

On the way back from Morrow I waited on the trail for a few minutes, like a guy waiting for the bus, for a roadie heading south. Even though I didn't luck out in drafting behind a roadie, the ride was a bit bearable since the trail slopes down.

Trail at Cozaddale Road looking south. Even though it was a very chilly morning, a beautiful sunny day in the upper 70's was in the works. I was able to remove one layer of clothing on the way back.

Intersection at Fosters Road. The photo above is a bar-restaurant called "The Train Stop". Sadly, there use to be a caged chimp outside in the summer time, drinking beer and smoking a cigarette.

It wasn't until I hit Milford that a fast roadie passed by. We kept a pace of around 21 mph. That little fast spurt helped reduced the time getting back to my truck. If I latched on to this roadie earlier in the ride, I don't believe I would have the energy keeping up. First of the season long ride it was a good start.

Bikes and Dogs

Dog clip art created by Dog-Paw-Print.com

Riding on the trail I've seen allot of dogs, with their owner and without. This evening's ride was one of those rides where I've encountered two dogs without their owners.

The first half of my 21 mile short ride I saw a small Terrier. It just barked at me and ran into the woods, hopefully home or it's Coyote food. It had a collar, so it was a house dog.

On the way back, there was a large, long haired, brown dog. It was loose and running along side a rode parallel to the trail. There was a Good Samaritan walking his small dog trying to get a hold of it. But, as soon as it saw me pass by, it clicked into chase mode after me. It was 15 yards away and closing. I yelled out "Get Off the Couch!", which confused it for a second and that gave me enough time to accelerate from 15 mph to 20 mph.

Nothing gets your adrenalin going than seeing a loose dog running after you. I kept the 20 mph pace for about a mile. The dog chasing me disappeared from my rear view mirror after 10 seconds from first contact.

Every ride has it's own characteristic. This one I will title "Two Lost Dogs".

Trailers and Kids

Jon's new HASE Trets child trailer.

This past Sunday marked the first Sunday bike ride with kids this season. So the friends and family cycling weekends have officially begone.

This was my daughter Maya's first ride on the trail. I waited until she was a bit older before taking her out on the trailer. She did quite well, sleeping half way until we neared Loveland Ohio. 

Shawn and Maya enjoying the swings.

The kids always liked the part of playing at the local park playground once we reached Loveland. This gets them nice and hungry for lunch.

The season would be different for me, since my buddy Jon will not be hauling his daughter Violet and my son Shawn on his old trailer. He recently bought a very high end single seat child trailer for his daughter. It's more like a trike but without the front wheel. So now, I''ll be hauling my own kids up the trail.

On the way back, Violet was fast asleep. I'm surprised that she was able to keep her foot on the pedals.

Hauling two kids and a trailer is a chore. The weight combined is around 90 lbs. My speed varied from 10 mph to 13 mph on the flats. On a slight grade going down I can probably get it to around 14-15 mph.

Here I am with my son Shawn inside the Trek GoBug trailer.

On the way back Maya rode home in my wife's car, while Shawn enjoyed the ride.

At the end my lungs were the ones tired instead of my legs. I have to find a way to hook up a child carrier to my wife's Trike, in order for her to share in the load.

Trets and Trailers from glenn m on Vimeo.

It's not the bike, it's the engine

Today I took out my RANS Zenetik crank forward bike. The factory handlebar was replaced with a Nitto Albatross handlebar, twist shifters replaced with bar end shifters and pedals with Crank Brothers clipless pedals.

The Zenetik was my latest acquisition for hauling my kids around in their TREK Go Bug trailer. I figured that it would be much better and safer than hauling them on one of my recumbent bikes. The Zenetik sports 700c wheels which are designed for less drag on road surfaces, meaning a faster ride. But it also depends on the engine; I could be riding a $5000 road bike and still not keep an average speed of 18 mph, at my current fitness state. Plus, the design of the Zenetik sits me in a more upright comfortable riding position.

When hauling my kids around I’m not looking into breaking speed records. It’s all about enjoying the ride.

The issue I had was adjusting to the different seat position. On my recumbents my weight is mainly distributed on my back, but on the crank forward seat it’s on my butt. Constantly changing my seating position allows the blood to flow and relieves the aches.

My Zenetik rides smooth and feels like it’s on rails. Accelerating quickly on the bike was no problem at all. The bike itself weights around 20-24 lbs.

Night Ride 20090316

I decided to ride my Baron lowracer this time around.

Another night ride, but with some company. This time, on my night ride, my buddy Jon and his friend Brian joined me on an evening ride. We rode from Newtown, Ohio to Loveland, Ohio. The pace was a bit faster this time around (18-20 mph). Round trip 27 miles.

On the way up we spotted three deers. We almost hit them as they stared at us coming towards them. The term "deer in the headlights" was true that night. Jon had his Light and Motion Arc light and I used my smaller 900 lumens led flashlight.

Images are references only.

On the way back we saw a large owl. Probably the same large owl Jon and I saw a year ago. Several rabbits and two coyotes ran across the trail from us. The coyotes were the first Jon and I have seen on the trail.

Jon on his Cervelo TT bike.

Brian Duffy (location Milford, Ohio)

The photo comes close to illustrating the type of illumination my small 900 lumen led flashlight gives off.

Another warm day not wasted

February 25th was another Indian summer (61 degrees) and the second ride of the 2009 season for me. This time I had 45 minutes of sun light left before dusk. I used that extra time to ride a bit further on the trail before it started to get dark.

There were allot of cars in the Bass Island parking lot in Newtown. A good clue that there were allot of people taking advantage of the warm weather on the trail. On the way up to Milford I passed a fellow recumbent rider going the opposite way. We both recognized each other and exchanged salutes.


At Milford I saw a roadie just coming on the trail heading north. I decided to tag behind him. From 15 mph I slowly accelerated to 18 mph. For about half a mile we road together until I couldn't keep the pace at 23 mph. Maybe next time when I'm on my Baron lowracer I'd be able to give him a run for his money. The roadie turned off the trail and took the road towards the hills of Indian Hill.

At Miamiville I rode past a couple walking their dogs (pit bulls). Two were on their leash, but one was let loose. Luckily the dog was doing a number two when we both locked eyes on each other. Then I heard the sound that I and any cyclist dreaded, the sound of an owner yelling at her dog to come back. Well I didn't wait to see how far little razor blades with legs was behind me. Two quick clicks on the shifter and an accelerated heart rate soon got me back up to 23 mph again.

I turned around just before the I-275 Bridge and met Terrence on his way back from Xenia Ohio. He called in sick from work so that he could take advantage of the warm weather. Starting his trip at around 11 AM and spending several hours to recover at his halfway point, Terrance got back to his car at Milford around 7 PM. I said goodbye to Terrence at Milford and rode on.

Taking advantage of the sloping downward grade past Milford I pressed to get my speed to around 20 mph. By this time it was pitch black and my LED flashlight was nicely illuminating the whole trail. I soon came across Michelle who also parked her car at the Bass Island parking lot. We talked about the great weather and taking every opportunity to ride. Her bike light died on her while we were only a mile away from our cars, but mine was still going strong.

Every ride is an adventure and every cyclist that I'm lucky to meet is a blessing.

First ride of the 2009 season

First night ride of the season and testing out my 900 lumens flashlight on the trail.

February 13th, 2009 was another Indian Summer. 50 degrees temperature and sunny, days like this are rare in winter. I jump at every chance to ride.

By the time I got home from work, get ready and park on the bike trail I had only 15 minutes left of sun light left. But, that doesn't stop someone that is prepared for a night ride.



The temperature dropped 10 degrees by the time I ended my ride. I was prepared in clothing as well. Lycra long riding pants, cycling short sleeve shirt, cycling long sleeve shirt and a light hooded sweater kept me warm threw out the ride. I didn't wear the hood over my head though, the helmet would get in the way.

This would be only a short 1 hour ride round trip. Being the first ride in two months I took it easy, keeping it between 13-15 mph. Parts of the trail had several trees blocking the way, casualties of a huge wind storm that came a few days earlier, leaving me with only 10% space to ride threw.

I started in Newtown, Ohio and turned around in Camp Dennison, a 14.8 miles round trip. 1 hour and 3 minutes was the time duration that read on my cycling computer.

The leaves were still off the trees and it was interesting seeing the landscape off the trail that would be hidden by the foliage. The trail also had allot of rabbits. I must of counted around 12 that I saw and 2 white tailed deer. Dust is when these creatures would usually become active. I made sure to make allot of noise to get the deer off the trail.

On the way back I noticed a yellow headlight behind me. I decided to slow down and let the cyclist catch up to me. On the way up there were about 5 cyclist, a few walkers and runners. On the way down I seemed to be the only one on the trail. It was already pitch dark, but my 900 lumens flashlight lit the trail in front of me.

The cyclist with the yellow tinted headlight caught up with me and we struck up a conversation. He just started his ride from Camp Dennison and would turn around at Newtown. He was riding a normal mountain bike and wearing nylon athletic pants and jacket. After a short side-by-side ride together he said he had to get along before his light went dead on him. He pushed his bike up to 20 miles an hour until he got to Newtown. I stayed close behind him and was amazed that he could keep it up that fast. It was about 3 miles of this speed until he reached his turning point.

It's always fun chasing someone and made the ride more interesting. We both said goodbye to each other, I reached my truck and drove home. It was a good quick ride for the new season. On my next blog I'll talk about what to bring for a night ride and hopefully have some photos of my flashlight illuminating the trail.