As anyone who has read this blog knows I have had issues with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. This has led to me riding my trike which is great fun but a little slow and, for me, not really the road bike replacement that I was looking for. There is, as ever, another solution. It comes in the form of a two wheeled recumbent bicycle. Unlike "normal" diamond frame bikes there are a multitude of different types. Feel free to use the internet to see them all.
For the purposes of this post suffice it to say that David at
Laid Back Bikes in Edinburgh did another great job of helping me choose one to buy. Here it is in all its glory in David's shop.
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| Hmm, it looks the business... |
And one of me on it, on the day I picked it up. I'm not looking very confident....
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| .... maybe not with me on it though |
It's a mid-racer, somewhere between a low-racer and a high-racer but has the advantage of twin 700c wheels, just like my road bike. So is should roll more easily, and maybe more comfortably, than the trike over our less than perfect roads. It is also lighter. The loss of the third wheel, though, does lead to a lack of stability as you might imagine. I could, so easily, have called this post "Learning to ride".
First steps
I bought the bike on trust really. Despite his help David had only managed to get me to wobble a little way on a recumbent under my own steam and that with a good push to start and him running up the road behind me. It must look odd, but I guess he's used to it as are the inhabitants of Edinburgh near his shop. He assured me that if I could do that then I could learn to ride. So I picked the bike up in December and brought it back to my garage.
I put it on the turbo (another advantage of the wheels and configuration) and found the space between the odd looking bars less spacious than the term "open cockpit" would suggest. Either that or I have enormous thighs. A distinct possibility that. A bit of fiddling gave me enough space between the cables and gear shifters to actually pedal and I was happy. Then the bike sat in the garage for a while until the weather was better.
Eventually in February I could put it off no longer and the contraption had to come out of the garage or I was never going to try it. It's not easy. The pedals are a long way off the ground and convincing myself to get even one up there while freewheeling the bike down the slightest of slopes was difficult enough. Actually, freewheeling the bike down that slope was hard enough to start. I did manage on that first day to get both feet on the pedals, after stabilising a freewheel start, and I did achieve a few revolutions of those pedals. It's been a while since I've been so happy with such a minor success.
Next time out it was more of the same, roll down the slope, try to pedal some revolutions and then walk the bike back up again. Then, as it was quiet, I decided to turn out of the junction and go around the block. Wobbly! I got some odd looks from some pedestrians but, hey, I'm used to those from the tandem and the trike. Twice round the block had me feeling like a recumbent rider. The only issue was that I couldn't start the bike from stationary. I needed a slight slope to get me going first.
Starting
Next time out I made the concious effort to attempt starts. And, in the end, I managed it. It's rather like the tandem. You need to commit and take your hands off the brakes. Simple really but oh so difficult to do. Unlike the tandem (and other upright bikes) you do need to be very careful about the gear you are in. Too easy a gear and you can't get enough speed into the bike to get rolling and too hard a gear and you can't get the wheels turning easily enough. I'm sure the range of starting gears will increase as I get better at it.
This time I went around the block a few more times and had to deal with traffic. That's something that's still quite scary although as I get more confident and have more control it is becoming better. I'd still like more space though. Even more on this bike as it is easier to wobble a bit and less easy to bring it back. There's less ability to use your whole body as a steering mechanism.
Improving
I'm not going to take you through all my baby steps rides - you can find them in the Strava links below. I am improving and, after commuting to work one day (traffic fun), I have now ridden the bike up to Strathkinness and back a couple of times (changing gear and everything). Out on the big roads as I say. It's easier there in some ways. Fewer junctions, fewer cars and other distractions (I nearly crashed once when I got sidetracked by a pedestrian) all lead to being able to just ride. Of course the downside is that the traffic there is, is generally going faster. The two rides to Strath do indicate a certain amount of speed is attainable on this bike. So it is definitely a contender as a replacement road machine. I'll do my best to keep you posted. In the meantime here's a picture of the bike at the turnaround in Strathkinness.
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| Wow! I rode it to here! |
