I like to ride my bicycle

[kevingaustin]

Boring bike ride details behind the cut

My eventual goal is to be able to ride my bike to and from work each day, but I haven't been riding at all this year because my previous bicycle (the one that I broke my arm while riding) has been unusable. About a week and a half ago I bought a used BikeE recumbent bicycle from patcannon and I've been on three rides so far on it.

First ride - October 30, 2005

The first ride I wanted to stay mainly on the bike paths while I got used to the steering.
Second ride - November 4, 2005

For my second ride I went a little farther afield. Even though I was riding at 6:30 in the morning the traffic on 50th Street was still enough to make me nervous as I'm not completely comfortable with how the bike handles. On this ride I realized how out of shape I really am. Going up even small hills was enough to wind me and make my knees ache.
Third ride - November 5, 2005

The traffic at 7:30 on Saturday morning was much quieter than the previous day, which was something of a relief. Hills are still a problem, and I had to walk the bike up a couple of them and pause and rest on a couple of others.

Comments

[patcannon.livejournal.com]

Glad the bike has found a good home! Yeah, going up hills is the weakness of recumbents; you can't stand up but you can push against the seat back, but it can really put a load on your knees if you push it too hard. More than once I wished for a lower gear.

Incidentally, I happen to have the bracket to mount a Garmin eTrex Venture GPS unit to the handlebar - is that by any chance of use to you or are you already so equipped (as it appears)?

[kaustin.livejournal.com]

Nope, I don't have a GPS unit, so I don't think I'd have much use for a bracket to mount a GPS to my bike. Thanks for the offer though!