North Meets South

Last Saturday I did my long bike ride (53 miles) after a week or so of non-riding. On this bike ride I rode with a recumbent cyclist that I met online at one of the cycling recumbent forums.


His name is Ray and we scheduled to do a ride together at our local bike trail. He lived north of the trail and I usually start my ride at the very southern end of the Little Miami Bike Trail. I met Ray on my return ride from Morrow Ohio. From South Lebanon we both rode south.


The ride started early in the morning and it was still dark. I forgot that the days were getting shorter and sunrise came around 6:40 AM instead of 6:00 AM. I took off from Newtown, with lights on, to Morrow Ohio. I was the only cyclist on the trail until I arrived in Loveland Ohio. I did met a group of runners coming towards me in the dark, carrying a flashlight. Their bobbing light gave me the clue that it was a runner and not a cyclist coming towards me.

By the time I met Ray my legs were almost spent. We rode between 18 to 22 mph. I didn't drink allot of fluids this time around and I guess that was my mistake. At times I couldn't keep up with Ray when he went past 20 mph.

Here is Ray getting set to turn around and head back up north to his car. Just 3 more miles south and Ray would have reached the southern most part of the trail.

Ray rode his Bacchetta Aero, a titanium frame recumbent. It had carbon fiber wheels that made a "whoosing" sound as he rode past. He recently bought the bike several weeks ago and is looking to upgrade it some more.


On the last half of the ride my legs were done. I didn't have an ounce of energy left to draft off a roadie that pasted me. The grade of the trail was at a decline and I could only get it up to 18 mph, that's how tired I was.

Video recording the ride, I passed by a cyclist with only one leg. I've seen him before on the trail, but this time I was luckily enough to capture him on video.


Ray Bent Ride from glenn m on Vimeo.

You may have to wait a minute for the video to fully buffer or download. It's about a minute long.

New Orleans Bicycles

It's been a while since I've posted something. School season has started and time riding on the bike has been rare. The only quality times that I can log some mileage are either in the late evenings or the early mornings. This is where a couple good quality lights come into play, but that's for another future post.

I've been out of town for several days down in New Orleans. A friend of mine is getting married in September and his bachelor's party was in the French Quarter. Other than drinking, shopping, sightseeing and drinking I was able to take photos of the local bikes.








The one impression that came to me was that most or all of the bikes were your so called Walmart type bikes. Not very expensive, but that's a benefit when you're in the French Quarter or any large city. I would assume if you were to leave a semi-expensive bike it would grow wings and fly.






The school of thought was that, so long as the bike can get you from point A to point B, it was darn good enough. There were bikes from the 50's rust bucket to bikes off the display shelves from Walmart. These are what you would call city bikes, no nonsense, Cinderella sister ugly, but will get you to where you want to go. They are the mutts of the cycling world, a true utilitarian, but with characteristics to start a conversation.

Test riding the new upgrades on the Strada

Last Friday and Sunday I had a chance to test ride the Strada with the new upgrades. 650c wheels, racing tires, new seat, new seat bag, and cassette gearing gave the bike about 2 mph extra speed but also, took away the plush ride characteristic with the old parts. I'm fine with loosing the smooth ride, so long as I can squeeze out some extra speed. It's a recumbent so the bumpy ride will not be as bad as a regular diamond frame bike.

Friday's ride I met Mike, a 7 Hills Cycling Club member. He was out riding his Litespeed road bike. He caught up with me doing around 22 mph. We road together towards Loveland until my water bottle fell off my bike and I had to stop and look for it. With the jarring ride it finally wiggled off and no I didn't find it.

Sunday's ride I met Mike again when I turned around half way on the trail. He was doing his long recovery ride. He had already had gone around 80 miles when I met up with him again. Mike had another 25 miles to go to finish off his 105 mile ride.

I had hoped to follow a fast roadie on the way back on my half way point. It was fortunate for me to meet Mike again and be able to chat on the way back as well. When you're riding with someone your speed seems to pick up and not such a chore to maintain. We were doing around 20 mph on the way back.

I learned more about Mike on the ride back. He belonged to a racing team in his club and is quite a competitor. His work environment and home life allows him to spend allot of time on the bike. I'm so jealous. I forgot to ask him what his ranking was with the USA Cycling Organization. He had to be at least a Cat 3 or 2.

Latest Upgrade to the Strada

I finally acquired several key upgrade parts to my Bacchetta Strada. The wheels I switched out to a 650c size, the seat I replaced with the Bacchetta Euromesh, added a Bacchetta Brain Box seat bag and replaced the 11-23 cassette cog to a 11-34 cassette.

The 650c wheels allowed me to ride with thinner road tires. The Velocity Spartacus wheels I won off of eBay. They came with cogs, tubes and tires. The tires alone equaled the amount I paid for the wheels. So for the price of two racing tires I got two racing wheels that would normally cost around $300.

The seat and seat bag I purchased off the bike's manufacturer's website. The seat is not as light as a high end carbon seat, but it's lighter and narrower than the normal standard Recurve seat. The new seat finally allowed me to place two feet on the ground while seated. The wide seat pad of the original Recurve seat didn't allow me to do that. Also, it was lower and allowed me to move the seat backwards. The original seat's lower padding was at least two inches high which increased the seat height.

The seat bag mounts to the top back of the seat. The bag stores up to 600 cubic inches, which is allot of space. It stores all the necessary items, such as tubes, tire repair kit, tools, pump, power bars, cycling glasses, bottled water, wallet, cell phone, etc.

But the most important upgrade was the changing of the original cogs to a 11-34 teeth. This is the same cog number that is on my Baron lowracer, which works well for me. I immediately noticed a two mph speed increase.

Newtown to Morrow

Last Saturday was my second time riding a very long bike ride. My route took me from the very southern tip of the Little Miami Bike trail (Newtown, OH) to Morrow, OH. It was roughly a 53 mile round trip.

I start the ride by getting up early before dawn (5 AM). Purchased a breakfast meal at McDonalds along the way and arrived at the trail before 6 AM. Just at dawn I set out on my long ride. Riding in the morning hours keeps me from the heat and humidity of the day. By the time I get back it's still a couple of hours before noon. Also, there are not allot of cars on the road where the trail intersects, plus it's not congested with other people.

The first time I rode the long route, it took me about 3 hours and 20 minutes riding time and doing 12 to 19 mph. After the ride my body was spent, legs were aching and lungs exhausted. It took me the rest of the day just to recover.

The second time on the trail I faired better. On the way up to Morrow I felt quite sluggish, only doing 15 to 19 mph. I had to make up some time on the way back if I wanted to do better from my last ride. Luckily, there were a couple of cyclists that were going south. Middle age gentlemen, but fit enough to go fast. I drafted behind them as they did an average speed of 21 mph. Surprisingly, riding in a group somehow gives a person a mental boost into going faster. I didn't feel sluggish at all compared to my ride up. It also helps to be drafting behind someone.

We kept up the pace of 21 mph for about 10 miles until Fosters Road. One stopped to rest while the other split to go on the road. I continued my ride south to my truck, doing only about 18 mph. I wished those guys would have gone a bit more further south, but I was glad of the company while it lasted.

Reaching my truck I was about 5 minutes less from my last ride (3 hrs, 15 min). I would have gotten a shorter time had I kept the pace faster on the way up. The good thing was that I didn't feel exhausted. I had enough energy left to cut the lawn for an hour once I got back home.

Weather permitting, I plan on making this a regular regiment on my cycling schedule. Long rides are good for one's body. Maybe not the first one, but the one's after definitely are.

Meeting Cyclists on the Trail

During my time on the trail I've met allot of people that share the same passion of cycling or even more, like me. It's great to chat with someone that has the same interests. The last encounter was a guy on his Foldable Greenspeed Trike. 

Last Wednesday's ride I met Charlie from Indianapolis Indiana. On my way back from Loveland, Charlie caught up with me at Camp Dennison. We were just six miles away from our vehicles. I tailed Charlie for about a mile or so, doing around 20 to 24 mph. Once we passed Milford I asked him if he liked his Trek 1200, which was about 12 years old. I still have my Trek 1000 road bike from the early 90's, the one's with the down tube shifters. He said, "yes" and we struck up a conversation on cycling and the condition of the trail.

Oh, by the way he told me that he bought his Trek from a very wealthy person that was moving to Florida. The price $20! And it had only been ridden a couple of times. Some people have all the luck.

Charlie's job takes him to Cincinnati twice a week and he tries to get on the bike trail around 7:30 PM. He commented that the Little Miami Bike Trail was a very nice one compared to the ones he rides in Indiana. He does some serious milage on his bike, riding from Newtown to Morrow (about a 50 mile round trip and averaging around 20 mph). Charlie looks to be late 40 to 50 years old, but fit as a fiddle. 

He was making me work on my Strada trying to keep up with him. Granted my Strada is fitted for touring and not equipped to keep up with a conditioned guy on a road bike. I often noticed that I had to work a little harder on my Strada than on my lowracer Baron doing the same speed. I guess I'll have to upgrade to some racing wheels in order to get some extra speed on my Strada.

2008 USA Cycling Masters National Championship

Louisville Masters Race '08 from glenn m on Vimeo.

Photos of the event.

Last Thursday, July 3rd, Louisville hosted the 2008 USA Cycling Masters National Championship event. My friend Jack came up all the way from Alabama to race in the event. I decided to meet him there and take a few photos of the event. I brought my son Shawn to watch and meet Jack again. We haven't seen Jack since his wedding a few years ago.

Jack was racing in the tandem event. His partner Randall was his teammate. Randall came with his wife and son Wes, all were very nice people. I met Jack at his hotel and well all drove down together for the race.

The race was held at a park. The terrain was hilly, but all through the day it had rained on and off. At it's worst, the race course was drenched by drizzling rain. The length of the race was expected to be 2 hours long.

Randall's wife video taped the event. I also, took some digital footage with my handheld camera. I also took photos with my high end digital SLR.

The pace of the race was quite fast. They were probably averaging 25 mph, up and down the steep course. Jack and Randall stayed in the back to conserve energy. Jack wore a helmet cam to capture video footage from a racer's point of view.

On the 8th lap, with two laps to go, Jack and Randall turned a sharp corner past the finish line and wiped out. It seemed that a patch on the road became very slick after a constant drenching by the rain. They were the second team to fall at the same spot. I yelled to the organizers that two teams where down and they soon rush to pick them up.

Jack had a bloody arm and leg. His teammate Randall took the brunt of the fall, bloodied arm, hand and leg. The worst part was that one of his finder nail was just hanging by a small section. We drove them to the Emergency Room. Jack had to get his arm stitched up, but Randall had to get his finger nail surgically removed and had to say in the hospital longer while the rest of us went out to eat. 

By this time it was around 9 PM, but we soon found a chili restaurant that Jack loved, since there isn't one down where he lives. We followed a GPS directions that seemed to have taken us all over Louisville, some sections were very shady. At one point the lead vehicle turned into a one way street going the wrong way, but we all survived.

Jack and I updated each other on current events. Shawn played with Jack or rather Jack played with Shawn. We soon said our goodbyes and I drove home with my son Shawn in the back sleeping away.