Date: Sunday, August 13, 1995
Location: Vancouver, BC
Distance: 110km
No better way to get used to a new recumbent than by doing my first metric century. I finally picked up my LWB Vision RU-40 a couple days ago, which was ordered back in June; ATP must be doing a booming business. This bike is my first bent, and it has been very little problem getting used to it. I'm still a bit wobbly getting started sometimes, but on the way home today I was steering through some pretty tricky spots with little difficulty. The grip shifts are also very nice.
Anyhow, I went out for a short ride this morning, but after 20km and
breakfast out at UBC I felt great, so I took a ride out to the airport
and ran into the MS Society bike ride (forgot that was on today). On
the way out to Iona Beach, some guys taking pictures of the ride from a
car had to come along and snap a few of me. I didn't have the heart to
tell them I wasn't officially there.
After riding to Iona Beach and back, I was still feeling great, dropping lots of "real" riders into a moderate headwind on the way back, so I headed south into Richmond. This also gave me the chance to see how the bike handles on gravel, as a wide gravel bike/ped path runs along the the ocean on the western edge of Richmond. It handled just fine, though pavement is certainly more comfortable -- speaking while riding a bent on gravel sounds sort of like you're talking into a fan. At the 65km mark I stopped for lunch at a restaurant by the docks in Steveston.
Then it was east along the north shore of the Fraser River, back up along Number 5 and 6 roads to River Road, then east and over the Queensborough Bridge into New Westminster. From there it was the usual easy ride along the 7-11 trail to the Vancouver/Burnaby border, followed by Kingsway to King Edward and a couple more blocks to where I live.
Total distance of 110km, the longest ride I've ever done, and it wasn't even planned. While I'm not climbing hills as quickly as at the start, I don't think I'd have much trouble with another 50km, so things look good for the VBC Second Sock Sentury in mid-September. The real test will be how my legs feel on the commute to work tomorrow morning. The main thing to remember for next time is sunscreen...
As expected I answered lots of questions en route. A couple people's first question was about the price, so they got the "same as a good MTB" answer -- one thought that would put it at about $300. For fun I sat on a bench for ten minutes after lunch, near where I'd locked the bike up and anonymously watched the crowds reacting to the bike as they went by. It's fun to watch people for a while without having to answer the same set of questions. I think I'll print up copies of Kathy's bent FAQ to hand out.
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August 13, 1995: My First Metric Century