Remember "The Monkeys" on TV? Specifically, remember where one of them would ride a tricycle, come to a complete stop and then fall over, just fall over. Well, that was me today.

I got up this morning, ate an egg sandwich, drank some orange juice, some coffee, filled my water bottle with Gatoraid and water, got all bundled up, put air in the Stratus XP’s tires, jumped on, set the GPS, and headed toward the Long Leaf Trace. About a half mile up the road I turned around, using all 3 lanes, and headed back home. Boy was Jeanne surprised when I walked in.  I nonchalantly said: "Great ride, just a little too short". Actually it was a lot too cold, i.e. 44 degrees. I know, some of you think 44 is a sunny day for this time of year. You are welcome to your opinion, and your weather.

This afternoon it was much warmer and I repeated the preparation, substituting turkey for the egg and no orange juice. I headed out, concentrating more on spinning and trying to ignore my speed. It was a great ride; mostly. I arrived at the turn-around and paused to enjoy the view and take a few photos. I took my red gloves off to better handle my shirt- pocket camera; started to lay them on the banister and then thought better of it, i.e. thought how I might forget them; laid them on the seat instead, where I would be sure to see them.  That story next.

I took a few photos, then put my camera away. My bike was leaning against the banister, facing the wrong way. I picked it up, swung it through 180 while walking it to the path. The bike is really long but only weighs about 30 pounds, nude. So, it is a lot easier picking it up and swinging it around than trying to ride it in a sharp turn. I got on, anticipating a most enjoyable ride home, compliments of a slight down grade. Off I went, but about 3/4 of a mile down the trail my hands started getting really cold. Yep. You guessed it. No red gloves. At that point I was doing about 16 mph when I came to a quick stop. I was thinking about the gloves and hoping they would still be there. My intuition was to stop, reach down between my legs, grab the bike, stand up, turn 180 and accelerate. This would have been much faster than backing it up a couple of times in a riding/walking turn. Well, I did part of that, i.e. I came to a complete stop. However, since I did not first unclip my feet they were firmly attached to the pedals.  I slowly, slowly fell over on my left side. "Thump", the sound of a college professor becoming a monkey.  I unclipped, finally, checked for witnesses, none, checked myself and the bike, put the chain back on where my foot had dislodged it (I unclipped while in an unnatural position) and headed back. I got up to 21 mph in my rush, already regretting the possible loss of my red gloves. You can see they are a perfect match to my seat-back storage bag.

As I approached the pond I could tell there was something in the middle of the path, and as I got even closer I could see that the something was red. Oh, joy, joy. I would celebrate when I got home and eat a banana.

When I take a training ride, as today, I usually don’t stop and enjoy my nature, which is to enjoy nature. So, I recently put the GPS on autopause so that my stops don’t count against my ride time. After all I am not interested in the overall time but rather in pedal time. Today I worked on spinning, not speed. My cadence is up some but 80+ still seems so un-natural.

I think this 32 mile round trip to Sumrall will be my default ride, with the 26 mile round trip to Epley being the alternative. If I see that I can do this 3 times a week then my goal next year will be 100 miles per week; otherwise it will be about 60.

It was mostly overcast today but cleared in the afternoon. The storm yesterday was a little more fierce than I realized. There was an eight foot branch on my van this morning but it was only an inch or two in diameter and did no apparent damage. There was also a tree across the trail being removed. It wasn’t blown down but must have been a leaning hazard because I saw them fell it as I approached. It must not have been the only one removed from the look of the logs already on the truck. And the flag now has a serious rip, as you can see. I wonder who put it up in the first place and if they will replace it. I enjoy riding under it and would replace it myself but it is out of reach. No, I am not going to climb a tree.

I stopped and watched a hawk fly from tree to tree a bit and enjoyed it. Its circling pattern kept it on the move but never very far from where I first saw it; seemed like territorial behavior. I also stopped at Sumrall just to eat my peanut butter sandwich and a few pecans but generally do not need to rest on such a short ride. It is actually hard for me to slow down, much less stop. However, recently I was encouraged by some recumbent blog comments about enjoyment-riding. My competitiveness screams "more speed" in my ear and is hard to ignore. Today I rode while listening to podcasts on my iphone which helps to drown out that little voice. My max speed was 22.5 mpg. Whoops, where’s my iphone?

I rode 60 miles to Bassfield and back yesterday. Bassfield is a neat little town with a neat little city hall and a superb city park that the LLT runs through. And the people are really friendly too. See the birthday ride post (link soon) for more photos. 

I woke up this morning feeling great; and I still feel great. My legs actually feel better than before the ride, at least my left one which was a little sore (I twisted it in a parking lot a month or so ago). I feel so good my body is screaming for more and I am going to let it have a little more in the morning. Jeanne and I, maybe Kurt, plan on a causal ride. But back to just me.

I rode the Stratus XP with the fairing on, photo below. Although I particularly appreciated the fairing during a short sprinkle its not there to keep the rain off, nor the bugs, but to give me a little more speed. And I can tell exactly how much by glancing at the Garmin  Edge 305 GPS at the center of the cross piece. It also tells me the current time, how long I have been riding, the distance traveled, my maximum speed, my heart rate, max heart rate, elevation, grade (as in slope), and more. When I connect it to my home computer I get a map of the ride plus a chart with any or all of the above, as appropriate. The second image below shows some of the data for this trip. Check out the calories expended.

Note: I look over the top when riding; I just held the camera low for the shot.

One thing I noticed right off was the average speed. Last Saturday I rode 30 miles (Sumrall) with an average of 14.1 mph (I have ridden this same path with a 16 mph average). It seems that whether I ride 30 miles or 60 miles lately  the last mile is about as fast as the first, although not arguing that it is actually fast.

This ride was somewhat relaxed and I did not pay a lot of attention to the speed but did to cadence. My natural cadence is about 60  but according to forum discussions should be 80+. So I practiced gearing down to keep my cadence up. This is supposed to place less pressure on your knees. (I did say my legs felt really good, Humm.) I need to install the wireless cadence sensor that came with this version of the Edge 305 so it will display and track cadence for me. As it is I have to count for 15 seconds and then multiple by 4. Well, it doesn’t require calculus.

This was my first ride with my new shoes (Thank you Jeanne). I do like the way they feel but I have trouble clipping and unclipping, actually the biggest problem is clipping in. The problem is finding the sweet spot while the bike is moving. I circumvented any unclipping embarrassment by making a point to unclip far in advance of a stop. I can understand people falling over when they make an emergency or quick stop. I think everything will be fine as soon as my feet learn what to do, and where to do it.

The ride was good, the day just about right; warm, not hot, overcast and not too much sun. I saw very few riders. I guess real people were at work. (Apologies to you shut-ins for having so much fun, I am practicing retirement.) Didn’t even see much wildlife, just a couple of squirrels, including the one I almost hit when it darted in front of me instead of going the other way. I did notice some work on the trail in Lamar County, i.e. extending the equestrian path that runs parallel to the people/bike path. They were cutting trees and moving a little dirt. The guy in the following photo seems to be watching me. I wonder if he wants to swap rides. Tempting, but no.

“You Looking At Me!”

There was one significant event I witnessed, but did not know at the time. I passed Doug Morgan as he was setting a new LLT record, i.e. the 80 mile round trip in 3 hours 56 minutes. That’s about a 20 mph average. He was going in the opposite direction on a recumbent exactly like this; but I already said I passed him so you probably guessed the direction. Congratulations Doug, you have got to be feeling really good.

Disclaimer: This is not an add for the Garmin Edge 307 and I receive no monetary or other gratuity from mentioning it. I just happen to like it a lot.

First there were wrap-over-the-top toe clips, either similar to the one on the left or with just a single strap placed diagonally across the toe. Then someone came up with the idea of a receiving bracket on the pedal and a cleat screwed to the bottom of the shoe.  Normally you would always have to wear the special shoes with clip-in pedals, however I selected a pedal with the clip receiver on one side and a flat surface suitable for regular shoes on the other. 

I like to let people try out my bike, e.g. house guests or strangers that take an interest when they see me riding. Also, it is possible that I could go (drive) to an organized ride and forget my shoes. Could happen. (I read in a forum where a guy took off his front wheel for transporting the bike, common to do, and forgot the wheel.) I like the regular-shoe option.

Back to the clipless name. Since this design does away with the toe clip they are called "clipless", even if you are still said to "clip in". Here is what the shoes look like. Notice that there is a ridge to either side of the cleat to protect it when off the bike. Because of this bottom design and the fact that the sole is very stiff they are not comfortable to walk in.

• Better power transfer since shoe and pedal are locked together.
• Stiff sole so you do not waste energy flexing it.
• You can pull as well as push (although some say that the "pulling" adds very little to the results)
• Since you don’t have to apply pressure to just keep the retreating shoe on the pedal you don’t have to overcome that pressure with the other foot.
• The bottom line is that you go faster.

Disadvantages:

• Expensive (typically $60 to $90 for the pedals, $100 to $250 for shoes). You are locked into a given style or, in some cases, brand, but the most popular style is supported by more than one brand.
• You fall over if you don’t unclip fast enough.
• Walking at rest stops can be awkward.

There is much more to consider and there is a better read at cycling-review.com.

How do shoes relate to the topic of this post, i.e. "This is exactly how it starts"? They don’t. However, what’s next does.

Jeanne on the move, a 4MB movie.

People on the move on the LLT

The introduction of healthy, uplifting activities to young people, what a rewarding endeavor! They were all so charming. (However, I think they need to keep an eye on that young fellow. He seems a little bit of a “smarty pants”*; kind of reminds me of me.) Have a good ride folks, plus many more.

* Origin of the term “smarty pants”