Gears To Ya'

It's another chilly day in Morgantown, but the streets are mostly clear at least. That's Jefferson Street straight below in the photo and it's sure in better shape than yesterday.

I got myself signed up for the BROL forum inspired by this thread on gearing, but haven't posted yet. The emphasis of the thread is on low gears, and I was pleasantly surprised at the number of people willing to give up some high end for a real stump-pulling low. It seems like all I usually here about is bigger and bigger gears.

I've got lots of chainrings and cranks laying around and have been anxious to experiment with a bit lower gears, but it has been just too darned cold to work in my unheated garage. So, in the spirit of experimentation, I went the other way and tried some of my usual hills in the middle ring on my Canto. That gives a low of about 33.5 gear inches as opposed to about 24" in the small ring.

Well, that was fun for a few minutes. Hills that I could hit with a bit of steam were fast and easy-if they weren't too long, but I bailed out before I got as far up Jefferson Street as you see in the picture here-where it tops 16 percent (I did make it as far as the slippery picture at the end of yesterday's post). At that point a tiny bit of common sense trickled in and I tried one cog up in the back with the granny ring in front (about 27.5" gear). That was just doable, and I finished the ride without needing (well, without using) the lowest gear. I didn't go up Theresa Drive which hits 20 percent, and I would not bother trying; I like my knees to much.

What did I learn? Maybe not a whole lot, but it took my mind off of the cold :-)

Lower gears are bound to be more fun.

Winter Riding Tips for Wimps (like me).

Winter is here. Our 10 Day Forecast looks like things are going to stay chilly, so it seems like a good time to offer a few winter riding tips. If you're an all-weather rider, commuter, or tourist, you sure don't need my advice and probably won't find anything useful here (but you do have my admiration).

I'm a wimp. I don't like to be cold. But I have to admit that I'm enjoying my attempt to get out on the bike every day. The view from my window may look like a snow globe and I think I'll just pedal as far as the end of the block, then when I get out, it is always kind of fun and I end up messing around for a while taking pictures and riding up a couple hills.

I finally did break down and dig a balaclava out of the closet in honor of the colder temperatures. Kind of looks like chain mail doesn't it? Order the real thing here. I pull mine down off my mouth too for hills, then I look just like the gent on the web site.

Four "S's".

1. Short - Keeping the ride short solves most problems. You won't have time to get all that cold, and you won't get so far from home that you have to worry much about stuff like flat tires.

2. Simple - Make it easy. I just change shoes, put on my vest, helmet, and gloves and go (plus balaclava or ear muffs if it's much below 35F). I work out of my house and I keep it chilly here (every dollar that doesn't go to the gas company is a dollar toward another bike), so I just wear what I've got on - sweatpants, sweatshirt, wool undershirt, and wool socks. Cotton (like sweat clothes) is the least appropriate fabric for cold weather, but the wool undershirt and Tip#1 keeps it from being a problem. Woolies, or high tech cloths are great, of course.

Have your bike ready to go; you don't want to get chilled before you even start.

3. Steep - Nothing warms you up like a good hill.

4. Slow - Speed is the enemy when it is cold out. Get your aerobic excercise going up hill, then take it slow coming back down.

Number 5 would be "safe", but that is common sense and not really a winter riding tip. Winter riding is fun, but use good judgement. I ain't your doctor, and I haven't got a clue what your weather or your health is like. And, of course, don't go where you're going to get smooshed by a car, or where your frozen corpse won't be found until spring.

So there you have it, straight from a cold weather wimp's balaclava-covered mouth.



Slip-sliding up Jefferson Street on the EZ-1.

Defeated :-(

I was getting a little chilly riding along the Mon River Trail yesterday when I realized that I was coming up on Sixth Street. Nick Hein of Positive Spin had mentioned to me that his Bachetta Giro 26 wanted to wheelie on him going up to his shop at the top of this street. Bachettas are not generally known as wheelie bikes, so I was curious to see what this street was like.

The first block was about 10 percent and the second stayed in the 14 to 16 percent range. Up ahead the road narrowed, the surface got worse, and the sidewalks disappeared. It also got steeper-much steeper. That is the underside of an oncoming car you see at the top. I could read the bar code on his oil filter (it was a Fram). I bet he has good visibility of idiot bike riders pulled off to the side of the road taking pictures.

My inclinometer was not much help here since it only goes up to 20 percent. I made it to about where you see the guard rail at the side of the road (it keeps cars from landing on the house to my left), then I panicked and had to get my feet back on the ground. I was also about ready to blow a gasket.

I plan to go back ASAP on the EZ-1 which not only has a slighty lower gear insignificantly lower gear--I was wrong, but the pedals are closer to mother earth. Nick does ride up this thing on his Giro though even he admits that his mountain bike is handier in this situation. Wamsley Cycles is at the foot of this hill and this was actually the first place Nick rode his Giro when it came in.

Just to rub salt in my figurative wounds, as I was about to head back down I spotted a bike at the bottom and decided to wait in case it was Nick coming up to the shop. I didn't have to wait long; he cranked right up, standing and rocking the bike all the with very nice form. The rider turned out to be Jeremy who works at the bike shop. He lives at the top, which is actually still a ways above this, he and rides this street almost every day . And just in case you're curious, he's running a compact double with a 38 front/27 rear low for about a 38" gear (I had a 24" low on the Burley).

Advatage--upright bike (no wedgie here-you won't be on the saddle anyway).

Update-Last night I realized that I had owned a bike a few years ago on which I might have kept up with Jeremy up this hill-a BSA 441 Victor Special.

Good Neighbors

I rode a fair bit of the nice paved section of rail trail in Morgantown over the last couple days. The snow's been melting with only the bridges holding onto a bit. Except, that is, for a spot behind this one office building where it sure looks like the occupants have been plowing some of the snow from their parking lot onto the rail trail.

Who are these poor neighbors?

Why, it's the W.Va. Division of Motor Vehicles. Insufficient evidence, but conspiracy theorists -have at it.

Listed in the humor category, since you need a good sense of that to ride a bicycle around here.

A Little Utility With That Bike?

Two Celeste grocery haulers. Mine's cleaner.

Most of my rides are recreational, but I also find it handy and fun to be able to use my bikes for practical reasons. For me, that is mostly light shopping and runs to the bank and post office.

Recumbents aren't always easy to fit with bags that carry enough to do much more than a sandwich run. I have a Carradice saddlebag mounted to the back of my Burley Canto's seat. The link shows a Carradice Barley, just because I thought it looks quite handy. I think mine is a Junior, but special ordered with side pockets; anything bigger would rub the tire unless the bag were supported or the tire fendered. On my EZ-1 I just slip a small backpack over the seat and secure it with a bungie.

Those bags are fine for a post office run, but when you really want to haul the groceries, nothing beats a trailer. Mine's a BOB Yak. I haven't done any reasearch on trailers and I realize that double wheeled trailers can have some adavantages, but I wanted one of these cool single wheel trailers from the first time I saw one zipping through town with a load of packages. I haven't regretted it. Not only does it haul the goods, but it is even fun. The BOB seems like a perfect match for a recumbent. Once you have a BOB axle on the bike it takes about as long to attach as it takes to put your helmet on. It runs stable and secure, though bounces around a bit while empty (you hear that more than feel it).

The summer before last I delivered my mother's groceries to her apartment each week with my BOB. It amazed me what a load you could haul up even steep grades that way. I can get most of the way to her place on the rail trail but there is one 16 percent grade on the way from the trail to her apartment. I won't claim that it was a breeze to get up that but it was an easier pull than you would think. Seeing me humping up the steep driveway on that weird bike pulling a trailer full of groceries was very entertaining for the folks in my mom's retirement complex.

The weather was warmer today (low 40's), so I took the Burley and BOB down to the International Food Store which conveniently sits right off of the Mon River Trail. Before stopping for groceries I rode on down the trail a couple miles. The riding was mostly fine but things did start to get a bit squirrelly in the slushy snow as I got further from town. The single track on the left is me on the way down (well, upriver actually).

A Plan, and a Confession

I thought I should explain a bit better some of my ideas for this blog. I started 2007 with a desire to get out on the bike more, and for me that means getting better at climbing hills on the recumbent. I went to recumbents 7 or 8 years ago when I bought a used Infinity (LWB, USS) from a friend. I wasn't able to ride a standard road bike comfortably any longer, mostly due to wrist problems (and of course those bikes can literally be a pain in the butt).

I thoroughly enjoyed the Infinity, but couldn't make it go up hills worth a darn. While I still owned that bike, I also got a long term loan of an older V-Rex. I got up hills better on it, but I'm not a lightweight and struggle to keep up on hills on any bike. At about the time I started to go on more club rides I discovered Rivendell and Sheldon Brown on the web and was able to use some of their ideas to get fairly comfortable on a wedgie again (tall stem, laid back seat tube angle, wide bars, Brooks saddle). I had a couple great years on the uprights and did keep up much better on hills, but wrist pain has steered me back to recumbents.

Everybody has different needs. If you are commuting, then total time is really what matters. Racers often have that same goal, but mine is a little different. I want to ride with my buddies and that means keeping up better on hills, but even hills and hilly rides come in lots of flavors. My usual rides range from rail trails like the Deckers Creek Trail (less than 1000 feet elevation gain over about 10 miles) to Mt. Davis, with a fair bit of climbing, some of it fairly steep. so a lot of different types of riding to explore.

I realize that it is the person spinning the pedals that makes the bike go up the hill, and that is one of the things I am working on. Weight loss and training will certainly help, but I think bike fit, position, and technique come into play on recumbents even more than on uprights. Then, of course, there's everyones favorite-equipment. All gain with no pain, well, except in the wallet. High racers, low racers, Easy Racers, trick cranks, oval rings, fairings, and general bike layout. I'm interested in all of that and hope to explore as many things as possible here and to bring in opinions from folks in the know.

You may live where it is flatter or hillier but I hope you'll find something useful or interesting here.

Oh, the confession. If all of this leads to a new recumbent in the garage, well I'll just have to live with that ;-)

A Pretty Bike For Jay

The roads had dried off today, so it seemed like a good chance to test ride the bike I'm building up to give to my friend Jay. I'll probably explain in my next post that I'm clearing out some bikes in anticipation of a new arrival to the family. A new recumbent isn't even quite a gleam in my eye yet, but I want to be prepared just in case.

This is an '83 Trek, my favorite year. They still had the classic, fairly relaxed geometry and long chain stays, but offered this nice British style paneled paint job only that one year (click the image for a bigger view). Check out the Vintage Trek website if you want to know more about these great bikes. Components include TA cranks with 44T ring, 16T Dura Ace cog, Nitto stem and bars, Lepper leather saddle, and a couple of old 700C wheels that were laying around (original equipment was 27").

I expected it would need a few adjustments, but I just got on and rode. What a nice bike! I didn't want to come home, and I don't normally care much for riding in 25 degree weather. Even that skinny saddle felt great--or maybe my butt was just numb from the cold.

Maybe Jay won't see this and I'll just keep the bike.

A Few Hillclimbing Tips

Hopefully, I'll have a lot more tips from a variety of sources in the future, but we might as well start off with a few things I've noticed that are helping me get up my steep neighborhood hills on my recumbents.

1. Riding Postion seems to play a big role in getting power efficiently to the pedals. I have two recumbents at this time, an original, EZ-1 made in Freedom, CA (thanks Nick!) and a Burley Canto (convertible S or LWB).

I recently decided that I had the seat on my EZ-1 considerably too far back and am amazed at the improvement moving it forward made (heel just touches the pedal at full extension now). There are people who can just look at you on the bike and know exactly what needs to be done. I understand that the late Gardner Martin was a master of this and I suspect that Larry Black, Peter Stull, and others can do it to. Seek out and take the advice of experts like these if you have the opportunity, otherwise keep an open mind to small changes that might add up to a difference-leg extension, seat angle, bar height and angle.

2. Check your seat back for tautness. I found that the mesh on my Burley's seat had loosened up considerably and I could really feel it soaking up my pushes on steeper hills. Spinning can largely alleviate this issue, but is not always posible.

3. Pushing against the seat back for more power is certainly one of the advantages of a recumbent bicycle, but the higher you put the pressure on the seat back, the more likely a portion of your energy is going into flexing the seat. I'm finding that putting my force toward the bottom of the seat back makes for a more solid platform to push from. This seems to help even with the very rigid Cobra style seat on my EZ-1.

4. Handlebars. This is the one I still understand the least, but I feel something useful so I'll put out some tentative thoughts. I'm finding that on the steepest grades (over 16 percent) I feel more powerful hunching forward a tiny bit, probably not even enough that you would see it. This is really very similar to what I was mentioning in #3 about focussing your force farther down on the seat back, but it still feels like a bit of something else is going on. I'm using the bars when doing this, but not putting much real force on them (you really can't pull hard on most recumbent bars). Just a slight pulling forward and focussing your pressure from the base of the seat back down your legs. Maybe someone will have some ideas of what is going with this, but I only know that I feel like I'm getting a little extra power. This is probably not a technique for places where you could be spinning. Fast Freddy Markham had some rider position pictures and discussion on the Easy Racers Forum, but they seem to be updating their website and the forums don't seem to be available right now.

Update-I thought some more about this today and do think that there is more going on than just a more solid spot to push from (the base of the seat back). Also, I think I'm understanding the roll of the handlebars a little better. I don't think that this slight hunching forward would work as well with USS (underseat steering); I think the handlebars are providing something to balance on (not the right word, but as close as I can get right now).

5. Spinning is certainly the way to go where you can do it. I want to work on this more when we get some warmer weather here and I'm willing to go farther from home. I do hit a grade somewhere around 14 percent where anything remotely resembling spinning circles is only a memory and that is the type of climbing I've been working with lately.

I hope you find something useful in these ideas.

The Sky Mounti

Well it's another beautiful day in the neighborhood. And the neighborhood is about as far as I'm going until it gets quite a bit warmer. I hope you're not getting the idea that I'm some sort of macho all weather rider. Actually I've tried unsuccessfully to get myself to ride through the winter for years. I've bought lights, booties (2 or maybe 3 years ago, still unopened), gloves, ... , but until now I've seldom made it out the door when the temperature dips much below 50. But for now I'm enjoying the challenge of trying to ride the bike everyday.

Getting myself out the door and up the neighborhood hills everyday this year, I've already come up with a few thoughts about hill climbing on recumbents, but I wanted to get an objective idea of the steepness of the various streets I'm riding since that has a big impact on what techniques seem most useful. I have a Sky Mounti inclinometer on my Burley Canto, so headed out on that today.

I've got to warn you that the Sky Mounti is pretty low tech. It is just a fancy bubble level that uses clever markings and the wheelbase of your bike to give what seems to me to be a pretty good reading of the percent grade for any spot on a hill. I got mine from Wallingford Bicycle Parts, a great shop. Check out their selection of Brooks, Caradice, and Gilles Berthoud products, the nice stainless steel King bottle cages (a bargain), and even Velo Vision magazine.

One handy thing about the Sky Mounti is that for only $25 you get a convenient excuse to take a breather on a hill--it definitely works best when you're stopped. I was a bit surprised at the readings, but rechecked them later while heading back down. Doing it both directions verifies that the inclinometer is leveled properly on the bar. Jefferson Street showed 14 to 16 percent over several blocks.My legs (and lungs) had already told me that Theresa Drive was the steepest and it showed 20 percent.

Tomorrow I'll tell you the few things I've found that are helping on these hills. Of course steep hills are a very minor part of normal riding, but this is a handy thing to explore during the cold weather. It keeps you warm anyway.

Welcome!

I'm here to talk about bicycling, recumbent bicyles in particular, and especially about climbing hills on recumbents. There are bound to be a lot of detours along the way.

Living in West Virginia, hills are an issue whatever you ride, but just a bit more so when you are on a recumbent. This year I want to tackle those hills with all the resources I can muster.

I've started with a goal of riding my bike everyday-no time limit, no mileage goal, but every day. Just knowing that you are going to be on that bike sometime during the day shifts your thinking around. It is winter here and so far I'm staying close to home, great for experimenting with bikes, technique, and adjustments. I'm having fun exploring hill climbing and have plenty of opportunities starting just down the street.

Today was a recovery day, so I decided to check out conditions on the local rail trail on my way downtown to pick up some soup for dinner. Things didn't look too bad from the bridge over Decker's Creek, just a light intermittent snow cover. Who would have thought that thousands of frozen footprints would add so much interest to the day? I'm surprised to report that inspite of a lot a crabbing (the bike pointing in a different direction than the travel direction), I made it the mile or so to town with nothing but my feet hitting the ground.