I took off this morning and rode my normal 30 mile loop. It was my first time doing my normal route in the Quest. I still need to do some adjusting on the shifting, but the Quest performed very well. One of the questions I had was about how the ride on these roads would be in a Velomobile. My roads are rough. And a trike rides rougher than a bicycle. It’s just a basic three wheels versus two wheels thing. And you can’t dodge holes and rough spots nearly as well with three wheels, either. But the Quest, with its suspended ride and wide tires, actually rode smoother on these roads than my bikes do. I was impressed. It’s pretty obvious that most folks around here haven’t seen a velomobile before. The reactions to the Quest were crazy.

It’s too soon to do speed comparisons, but I couldn’t resist doing them anyway. I’ve been wondering how the Quest’s speed would compare with my F-5. Recumbent bicycles have a different speed profile than upright bikes. If you compare a racing recumbent with a racing upright bike, the recumbent will be faster on the downhills and flats, but slower on uphills. The recumbent doesn’t gain enough on downhills to make up for what it loses on uphills, so the bottom line tends to be that on a flat route, the recumbent will be faster, but on a hilly route, the upright will be the faster bike.

With a velomobile, the differences are even more dramatic. It’s weight and superior aerodynamics makes it even faster on a downhill, but slower yet on an uphill. But, as with all pedal vehicles, the strength of the rider makes the biggest difference in how fast a particular vehicle will be. It’s even more pronounced on a velomobile. The reason is that to gain any advantage from the velomobile’s superior aerodynamics, you have to be riding 13 to 18 mph or faster. Below that range, rolling resistance is the biggest obstacle to speed, and with its heavier weight and wider tires, a velomobile rider will be slower in it than he would be on a bike. Yet, when above that speed range, the same amount of power on the pedals will move the velomobile faster than any other pedal vehicle.

So if you are a slow cyclist, you’ll actually be slower in the heavier velomobile than you would be on a bicycle. But a racer can gain a lot of speed in a velomobile. So, for me, somewhere in between a slow cyclist and a racer, I wondered how the Quest would compare with my F-5, a pretty fast recumbent, on the roads I ride. I don’t have a power meter on any of my bikes, but looking at my average heart rate, versus the speed it produces on the F-5 and Quest, should be a pretty good comparison. There can be a pretty wide variety of average speed and average heart rate on my rides. But a 15 mph average is pretty normal for me. On slower days, either I was at a recovery pace, or there was a lot of wind, or some other out of the ordinary factor. On days where I averaged faster than 15 mph, I was definitely putting out more than a normal effort.

I looked at the last few weeks of riding. On my 30 mile rides on the F-5, on the days I averaged 15 mph, my average heart rate varied from 123 to 135. On this first ride in the Quest, on the same route, I averaged 16.9 mph. But my average heart rate was 142. So, while I was faster, it was a harder effort that produced it. I need some more rides to do a more valid comparison. But it does look like the Quest will be at least as fast as the F-5, if not a bit faster. I’m thinking it will make an excellent winter ride.

But, considering I’m only working part time these days, the Quest is a bit more than I can afford for my long term winter ride, unless I run across an especially good deal on one. But even if I have to settle for a velomobile that’s a bit slower than a Quest, it looks like it won’t be very much slower than my normal riding. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. For now, it’s time to just enjoy riding Greg’s Quest.

The Quest.

The view from within.

I took off on the F5 this morning and rode my Martin Mills Metric route. Today’s 60 miles, along with two 30 mile rides during the week, gave me 120 miles for the week. It was 55 degrees when I took off this morning, with a brisk north wind. Fall is definitely in the air.

On FM 3080, about 12 miles into the ride. I hit a dog. It’s a large dog that’s been a problem for me for a while. It often gives chase as I pass its house, but worse than giving chase, it likes to run back and forth in front of me. I’ve come very close to hitting it before. With most of the dogs I’ve encountered, a spray in the face from the special dog training fluid (read: ammonia) in my spray bottle, and they don’t come as close again. This one has been an exception, and keeps coming after me. As I approached him this morning, he rose from his spot on the ground and ran toward me. I was still in the act of retrieving my spray bottle from the bottle cage with my left hand when I hit him with my front wheel.

It’s the second time I’ve hit a dog on the bike since I moved here three years ago. At least I wasn’t going nearly as fast this time as I was when I hit a dog in 2014. Fortunately, I didn’t run over him. My front tire struck him in the shoulder, knocking him off to the side. I quickly got my left hand back on the handlebar and brought myself to a wobbly stop, without going down. He jumped up and hightailed it back up his driveway and out of sight. So thankfully, we both survived. Hopefully, he’ll take a better lesson from this than he has from the spray bottle.

Today’s route.

I took off on the F5 this morning and rode a variation of my State Highway 19 Loop. The seven mile stretch of FM 1861 that I always ride has been repaved with fresh boulder seal, so I skipped it and came back on FM 2709 instead. I don’t much like it. It’s rolling hills have too many blind spots where drivers tend to pass too close. FM 1861 has so little traffic that it’s going to take that new boulder seal a long time to smooth out. One more rough stretch of road added to too many miles of rough road around here already.

I ended up with 52.3 miles today. With Wednesday afternoon’s 40 miles and Thursday morning’s 30 miles, that gave me 122 miles for the week. I had ridden 120 miles each of the two previous weeks, and finished the month of September with 510 miles. That’s a decent month for me, and keeps me on pace to make my mileage goal for the year.

It was 59 degrees this morning, and pretty cool on Thursday morning, as well. I wore shorts both days, but went with long sleeves. I hadn’t done that in quite a while; I’m glad to finally see some cooler fall weather.

Today’s version of the State Highway 19 Loop route.

I managed my usual two 30 mile rides during the week last week, but when I got up at 6:00 am on Saturday morning to do my planned 60 mile ride, there was a large storm bearing down on this area, so I went back to bed. It ended up not raining for long, and the roads were dry when I finally started my ride at 10:00 am. With that late start, I settled for a 40 mile loop out to Purtis Creek State Park. So, I was ready for a few more miles on Sunday, but I got them in a very different way.

I’ve been wondering what a velomobile might be like for a winter ride, so I made a trip to Fort Worth to visit Greg Gross, an old friend. There, I did my first test ride of a velomobile ever, pedaling just under 10 miles in his Quest. It didn’t disappoint, and was a blast to ride. Greg has been unable to ride it for a while, and agreed to let me bring it home for an extended test run. We’re supposed to start getting some cooler weather soon, and I’m really looking forward to getting some miles in it. I may have trouble getting my miles again this week though, with the forecast for later in the week calling for a lot of rain.

Velomobiles are pretty unique contraptions. They are very aerodynamic enclosures, built on trikes. Their weight makes them slow to climb a hill with, but on downhills and flats, they are faster than any bicycle. As I found out yesterday, there is a learning curve to handling one. They are hot to ride in in a Texas summer, but really nice in the winter. I’m looking forward to seeing what this one will do on my usual routes.

A very different ride for me yesterday.

And it came home with me afterward.

I took off on the F5 shortly after 7:00 yesterday morning, and rode my Martin Mills Metric route. It was 69 degrees when I left home, the coolest morning in quite a while. But it was sunny and warmed up to the upper 80’s by the time I finished at 11:30. Still, with a good north breeze, it was a really nice day to be on the bike. I ended up with 60 miles. That, combined with two 30 mile rides during the week, gave me 120 miles for the week.

Tuesday’s 30 mile ride was my last ride of August. I ended up with 542 miles for the month. That’s about what I would expect for August. I’m slightly ahead of the mileage pace I need to reach my goal of 5,500 miles for the year. I’ll need those extra miles when the weather gets tougher in November and December and I’ll have trouble maintaining that pace. Now that the Hotter ‘N Hell Hundred is done, I’ll start doing slightly fewer miles. This week’s 120 miles will be more the norm than the 140 miles a week I’ve been riding.

Martin Mills Metric route.

Yesterday, I rode the 100 mile route at the Hotter ‘N Hell Hundred for the tenth consecutive year. Like last year, I stayed at the First Christian Church the night before, sleeping on an air mattress in the gym. I joined a bunch of other recumbent riders for dinner Friday evening. (Thanks, Gary!) It was definitely an enjoyable trip this year.

The forecast had been for a cooler day this year, but it was humid, not many clouds, and as I started my drive home at 1:00 in the afternoon, it was already 93 degrees. So it wasn’t that cool at all. That said, it wasn’t nearly as hot as it has been in some years past. As I was driving home, I did notice that some storms had popped up at Wichita Falls, so some of those who were still on the course late likely got rained on.

The HHH people at the start let the recumbents and tandems start about ten minutes before seven. I stayed behind moderate speed tandems those first few miles, and managed to stay with one group or another for all but a couple of the first 30 miles. At that point, there were no groups to be found, and I was out in the wind by myself for the next 8 miles. On the stretch from Electra to Burkburnett, I only seemed to encounter faster groups on inclines where I really couldn’t keep up with them, so rode alone more in that stretch than I usually do.

I passed Hell’s Gate well before 10:00 am, but was feeling pretty tired at that point. I did a better job of staying with one group or another for quite a few miles after Hell’s gate, and seemed to get my second wind. It felt like I put out more effort this year than last year though, and there were several times where I was trying to hang with a group on an incline and watching my heart rate approach 170 before I had the sense to back off. But I think my fitness was a little better than last year, and I finished a bit faster, and never had anything approaching cramps, in spite of my effort.

According to my Garmin, I finished the ride in 5:19, a good time for me, about 10 minutes faster than last year. For only the second time in my 10 HHH rides, I rode the entire 100.7 miles without stopping at all. My bladder gets me up all the time at night, yet I can occasionally ride more than five hours without stopping. One of life’s great mysteries, I guess. It appears that my timing chip didn’t work this year. There was no official result for me on the timing website.

The start. That’s me, just to the left of the velomobile.

And we’re off.

Hell’s Gate at mile 60.

The medal waiting at the finish.

This morning’s reward at Denny’s.

My Garmin data.

I did my last July bike ride this morning. I took off on the F5 around 6:20 this morning, and rode my Ben Wheeler 80 mile route.The clouds from the last couple of days were gone, it was sunny and it got hot quickly this morning. I finished just after noon, and it was already 93 degrees. I had done two 30 mile rides during the week, so for the third week in a row, ended up with 140 miles total for the week.

I ended up with 620 miles for the month of July. That’s my best mileage month for the year, and finally puts me right on the pace I need to maintain to make my mileage goal of 5,500 miles for the year. My monthly mileage average needs to be 460 miles to reach that goal, but I likely won’t make my monthly goals in either November nor December, so from now to then, I need to stay on a pace of more miles per month than that average.

Today’s route.

I took off on the F5 just before 6:30 this morning and did my 80 mile loop out to Ben Wheeler. It was cloudy and breezy when I took off, but soon cleared off and was getting pretty hot when I finished the ride just after noon. I had done 30 mile rides Monday afternoon and Wednesday morning, so ended up with a total of 140 miles for the week.

Today was my first 80 mile ride of the year. The Hotter ‘N Hell Hundred is only six weeks away, so it’s time for some longer rides to get me ready. I was trying to do a brisk pace and wasn’t very happy with the 15.3 mph average I managed, but I battled a low rear tire for much of the ride, and I think that was the main reason I couldn’t muster a faster pace. I was pretty wiped out at the end. I’m still running tubeless tires, and they do successfully stop leaks, but not until the tire is down to about 40 psi, it seems. That’s enough to get me home, but much too low for a road tire, and makes for extra work to move the bike. Time to me to pull off that rear tire and patch it.

Today’s route.

I took off on the F5 this morning and rode to Martin Mills, adding some extra miles on State Highway 19, to end up with 70 miles for the day. I was on the bike shortly after 7:00 am, and finished well before noon, but it was still a hot day on the bike. I ended up with a 16 mph average on bike today, a very brisk pace for me. I did 30 mile rides on Wednesday and Thursday morning, so ended up with 130 miles for the week.

I ended up with a total of 520 miles on the bike in the month of June. That’s a good mileage total for me. I would like to get that much or more in July.

Today’s 70 mile route.

I took off this morning on the F5 and did my Martin Mills Metric route, adding another 10 miles on State Highway 19, for 70 miles. I did two 30 miles rides during the week, so had a total of 130 miles for the week. I started today’s ride just after 7:00 am and finished just before noon, so I was finished before the hottest part of the day.

And it is hot right now, heat training time in Texas, you might say. The last few days have seen temperatures in the 90’s with high humidity, so the heat index has been 105 plus. I finished up early enough today to avoid the worst of the heat, but both Wednesday’s and Thursday’s 30 mile rides were done after work, in the heat of the day.

By the time I ride the Hotter ‘N Hell Hundred in late August, I’m used to the heat. But this first heat of the year is always tough, with the body not being acclimated to riding in the heat yet, and I don’t think I’ve ever been as wiped out after a 30 mile ride as I was on Wednesday. But it’s good heat training, and that’s what I kept reminding myself as I was suffering on the road.

Today’s 70 mile route.