March 21st, 2006 | categorizilation: all categories,recumbent bike
I arrived back in Beppu yesterday from three days riding around Oita Prefecture (and a wee bit into Miyazaki). The event was the Annual Oita Charity Bike Ride, organised by the Oita JET group. The charity was raising money for schools in Vietnam (www.roomtoread.org).
The total distance of the ride was 270km. 100km the first day, 90 the next, and 70km the last day. Weather was rain on the first day, fine the next two. For me, this ride was a good opportunity to test out the new recumbent to see if all the hype about them being good for long distance riding is true. It certainly lived up to expectations on the route that included some very hilly costal sections. Here are my findings:
Minuses:
Pluses:
My pet phrase for the three days was ‘I remember the days (of sore bottoms, wet feet etc)’. Riding a recumbent really does make cycling a no-brainer.
As for the one minus that I noticed over the course of the trip, I’m confident that this is just a matter of strengthening my legs in the new movements of riding a recumbent. Also, so long as you change into a low gear and spin, the hills aren’t that big a problem.