Waiting

I have been riding the Corsa lately. The White Rabbit is in the shop getting a new front wheel and new brake pads. I miss the raptobike greatly. With the rear rack on the Raptobike I have a much higher carrying capacity and can take my laptop home which I cannot do confidently with the Corsa. The internal hub and easier start off the line makes the Raptobike a much better commuter as well.

The new rim is in and Kirkland Bike Shop is doing their normal stellar job of building me a new front wheel. So soon I will be back to this:

Raptobike vs Corsa

I have had the Raptobike Lowracer for almost one month. I have put a few hundred miles on it. These past few days I also have been riding the Bacchetta Corsa since I have the Raptobike at the shop. This enabled me to compare the bikes a bit more faithfully. This comparison is specific to myself, I am a bit small for my Corsa in that I can't easily put my feet down. The Raptobike lowracer is nice and low so getting my foot down is easy.

Ease of Use
The Raptobike is easier to start and stop. I do a Flintstone start on the Corsa, skittering forward before getting my feet into the clips. The Raptobike is very easy to just place one foot on the pedal and push off from a standing start. I find stopping similarly easy. With the Raptobike when I approach a right turn or area where I need to consider a stop, I just loosen one foot and continue to pedal with it. On the Corsa I unclip and lower the foot while sitting forward. That is also how I do sharp turns on the Corsa, I unclip and sit forward to make turns. With the Raptobike I just turn. All of these issues are due to my 5'8" height and 30" inseam. I am just too short to be totally comfortable on the Corsa. With the Raptobike I had to cut the boom to fit me, but once adjusted everything has been great.

Shifting and Gearing
My Raptobike has a Rohloff SpeedHub. This isn't standard but my Raptobike was purchased as a frame kit and I had my LBS build it up for me. This is my first Rohloff and the Raptobike has never had any other shifting setup. I also have Q-rings on the Raptobike and the Corsa. The Corsa has 22-117 gear inches and the Raptobike has 16-88 gear inches today (soon 20-109).

I absolutely love my Q-rings, they are great and really help me climb. The Rohloff on the Raptobike is greatly superior to my triple front + 9 speed rear derailleur setup on the Corsa. I have never had a triple that shifted seamlessly from low to middle to high and back, on any bike. Triples generally have trouble shifting from either middle to low or middle to high. One of those shifts will always be a bit hard with a triple. My Corsa with Q-Rings has this issue, Q-Rings make it worse and so shifting from middle-low causes me difficulty. I have to preplan that shift and can't do it while on a hill. The Rohloff is just amazing, I can shift at a stop sign, I can shift while coasting down hill. The gear range I have at the moment is a bit lacking in the high end but the convenience of it is hard to convey. When I have the 13T cog installed the range should be corrected.

The shifting and gear range are great on my Raptobike. The Rohloff also adds greatly to ease of use.

Speed and Performance
My Raptobike is faster for me. The more inclined seat combined with the much lower height makes a significant difference at the 16+ MPH I cruise at on the flats. I accelerate faster and more confidently on the Raptobike, part of this is due to the simplicity of just changing from gear 8 to 9 to 10 on the Rohloff compared to fiddling with front ring, rear ring position on the Corsa. Climbing speed is faster on the Corsa though. The more upright position and lighter bike make a difference in climbing. I hope to improve my pedal stroke and technique to compensate for this on the Raptobike. Additionally I am losing weight, with my goal to lose 30lbs this Summer, I want to be faster, lighter and stronger by the end of the season. I expect this to make quite a difference since the Raptobike only weighs 31lbs as configured right now.

Downhill I have taken the Raptobike to 40mph so far, it is stable, comfortable and fun to ride. I feel more comfortable with my Raptobike on grass, gravel and bumps then my Corsa. My Corsa has 23mm tires and my Raptobike has 28mm tires. I am sure that the extra width plays a part and a Corsa can be set up with 28mm tires, though that is the limit for a Corsa. The Raptobike can go to 38mm (1.5") tires easily.

Cornering on the Raptobike is much better for me. I have big thighs and I had to work around thigh handlebar interference with both my Corsa and my Raptobike. The Raptobike has tiller steering and the Corsa has superman/open cockpit steering. My preference is the tiller steering. When I turn with the Corsa I need to sit up, and drop a leg, I don't have to do this with the Raptobike. The Raptobike holds a line in curves like it is on rails, I find myself taking curves with confidence that I slow down for on the Corsa. Many of these issues are related to fit and for a taller person the Corsa may be better in these respects.

Comfort
Both of these bikes are performance recumbents. They are both comfortable and I am very happy to ride either for five hours or more at a time. The euromesh foam pad that comes on the Corsa does compress a bit too much on longer rides and comfort starts to suffer. I have a Ventisit pad on the Corsa now and it is much better for longer rides now. I don't have any problems. On the Raptobike I run a hard shell carbon seat and the zotefoam seat pad that airxxxwolf makes. The Raptobike with zotefoam pad is a firmer ride but over hours of riding it is more comfortable. I also feel more connected to the bike. Fit wise I feel better on the Raptobike. It is easier to adjust the boom vs moving the seat on my Corsa. When I move the seat up, I am both closer to the pedals and higher up off the ground. When I shorten the boom on the Raptobike I am just closer to the pedals. That made it much easier to adjust the Raptobike for my short legs.

Visibility
The lowracer is the loser in this part of the equation. It is lower so cars will have difficulty spotting me when obstacles are in the way. So if I am crossing an intersection with hedges on the side of the road, a car might not see coming. Conversely, when I am at a light and there are hedges along the side of the road I have difficultly knowing when the way is clear. The Corsa places my head above that of most drivers so it doesn't have this issue. The Raptobike puts my head at or below the position of sports cars drivers. There is a Lotus Elise in town and my head is lower than the driver of an Elise.

Carrying stuff on the Bike
Both the Raptobike and the Corsa can be fitted with racks. A rear rack on the Raptobike and the Terracycle underseat rack for the Corsa. On both bikes I use a Fastback double century set of bags and Radical Designs Lowracer Panniers. They fit on both bikes easily mounting to the seats. I have no problems on the Raptobike with the Lowracer panniers but they tend to swing into the rear wheels spokes on the Corsa, rubbing a bit. The Raptobike can also be fitted with a tailbox. For my purposes both bikes are fine for everything but full on self-supported cycle touring. I would take either bike on a credit card tour or on brevets. I think with a tailbox the Raptobike edges out the Corsa in this category.

Conclusion
I find both bikes excellent. For me the fit issues leading to more confident stopping and starting as well as better handling makes the Raptobike a clear winner. For anyone else I would find it more of a toss-up. Additionally I didn't mention the FWD of the Raptobike at all, I did that because I found it is a non-issue. I ride 13% hills in the wet and dark often because I live in the Puget Sound region. I have never had an issue with the FWD, I wouldn't make it a subject of concern if you were considering the Raptobike.

May 1 - first day of Bike to Work Month

Today is the first day of the Cascade Bike to Work challenge. Team M had 50% turnout today at 3 bikes on the rack. Not wonderful but one of our team members is out of the office, one sick and the last one will ride back to work after lunch.

I plan on cheerleading for our team and reminding people to log their miles, etc. As the month goes by we will see how we do.

Commuting on the Corsa today.

I commuted on the Corsa today. I dinged my rim on the Raptobike when I hit a pothole hard yesterday morning. So the Raptobike is at the shop and they are trying to smooth out that ding, put on the new 13T cog and other random cleanup. Since it is spring the shop is very busy and I won't have the Raptobike back until Monday.

Additionally today is the day I need to pick up the "Bike to Work" team packet for Team M, my work team in the Group Health/Cascade Bike to Work challenge for May. I will have to visit REI tonight. I need to remember to tell Kristin as we have other plans that I need to postpone.

My Corsa misses me.

My Bacchetta Corsa has been feeling melancholy. I have been paying all this attention to my new Raptobike and ignoring the Corsa. I even removed accessories to install on the raptobike. My Fastback Double Century bags, my Radical Design lowracer panniers and Dinotte 400L headlight are all on the Raptobike.

I am trying to decide what to do about the Corsa. I am considering selling her, I would need to make a few changes to the way she is set up but I could tune her up and get her in tip top shape for resale.

Rainy commute

Today I rode the 23 mile route to work. David rode with me and we made good time, we took 1h:50 minutes today with an average speed of 11.9 mph. It was a chilly morning and it rained on us the entire time. When I showered at work I had a couple of rosy spots from the trauma of heating chilled Duncan.

The ride itself was pretty pleasant though I did have issues seeing clearly on the downhill section of Juanita Dr. David and I saw a number of cycle commuters and a few runners. Overall the ride was pretty though cold.

Strength

Today on my commute I was noticing how I use higher gears on the climbs to work. I get to the top and feel better and more in control as well. I am very pleased as climbing is the only real obstacle to long distances. As I gain strength for climbing I can take longer rides, see more scenery and go to more interesting places. I want to ride over some of the nearby mountain passes and go to Eastern Washington this year. I think it will be beautiful as well as an accomplishment.

All in all I am feeling very happy about my training. I will log 300 miles this month and have broken the 100 miles per week boundary as well. I am feeling great and shedding pounds as well. STP here I come!

90 Mile Weekend

I rode 90 miles this weekend. This is a new milestone for me as I rode both Saturday and Sunday. I am feeling good about the rides and my condition afterword. Neither Saturday or Sunday wiped me out.

Saturday I rode 50 miles with Russell. We did the Lake Washington Loop; it was 40 degrees F and raining the entire time. Even with the crappy weather and trying to stay warm in it, the ride was great. I was on the bike four hours and 12 minutes or so, which isn't bad at all. Russell is a pleasure to ride with and we had fun. Sunday I had plans to meet some co-workers at Marymoor to ride the West Sammamish River trail. The weather was perfect, 50 degrees (F) and sunny. David joined me though our other co-worker canceled. Still the ride was excellent, we did 38 miles in under three hours.

Both days were nice, I always indulge in the sights and people watch while riding. The scenery is great in both cases and we passed more people than passed us. Especially on Sunday, because on Saturday we didn't see many people to pass or be passed by. In both cases I was happy, riding makes me smile and I love to do it. Seeing all the diversity of Seattle and enjoying the sights and smells of Lake Washington is very enjoyable. I am very glad that I let cycling take such a large part of my life again, because it has made me happier. When I was playing computer games to pass the time, I was not happy. The contrast is huge, and I am glad to be healthier and happier now.

Training Thoughts

I feel like I finally have the Corsa dialed in. I rode 54 miles yesterday and 100 miles for the week. I had no problems with pain or numbness the whole week. The only issue I had was some muscle tightness and that is all an issue of stretching and fitness not fit. No joint agony, no tendons pain, no foot cramps, this is good news. I can now focus on my pedal stroke, on distance and on speed.

Russell said that I seem stronger than 2 weeks ago after our trip around Lake Washington yesterday. I know that I felt stronger, I have been taking most hills in gears above my granny gear and am slowly increasing my climbing speed. Climbing is a recumbents weak spot as well as my own. Like most weak spots, improvements in it come fast for comparatively little investments. I feel that if I get my climbing ability to the point that I don't fear 10,000 ft climbs on a 125 mile route than the entire US will open up to me. So by working on climbs I can expand the territory that I ride in quite a bit. Considering how amazing the views around Lake Washington are, I have been limiting my enjoyment by repeating the same rides over and over. I want to explore more. Russell did me a huge favor by suggesting the Lake Washington loop.

Lake Washington Loop

Today I rode the Lake Washington Loop with Russell. He started in Gas Works Park and rode around to Kirkland and I joined him there. Russell had a bit of an incident with his Lightning Phantom so he was riding his Salsa today. The ride was great for me, Russell did 21 miles before reaching me and about 1200 ft of climbing, this had the nice effect of putting me in the lead for most of the ride. This was both of our first time riding the Lake Washington Loop, so there was a bit of navigating and exploration. The ride itself is not too hilly, probably the worst part is Juanita Dr and I got to ride that alone. It is a very nice route for a 40 degree day in the sun. The views are excellent, the traffic light and there were quite a few cyclists out there. One of the high points for me was running into an group ride of novices on the SW side of the lake. There were about 15 or so of them struggling up a hill. I had the distinct pleasure of passing the entire group while climbing up this hill. Quite the ego boost though they were obviously novices. Recumbents don't get to pass uprights (normal) bikes on hills very often. It was about a 6% grade if my Garmin is to be trusted. The ride was a great experience and I felt great throughout, my left leg was a little tight but I had no problems completing the ride. Overall 54 miles, 2600 ft of climbing and my heartrate stayed in Zone 3 almost the entire ride.

Proposed Saturday Ride

Lake Washington Loop

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

The classic Lake Washington loop is something I have never attempted but looking at the bikely version I see that it is only 2250 ft of climbing. I can do that, my 26 mile commute route is 2000 ft of climbing, so 2250 over 54 miles shouldn't be too horrible. Russell suggested this route so I will meet him as it passes my Condo and accompany him on a little over half the route, he will leave me to slog up Queen Anne hill and I will then ride the rest of the way around the BG trail to slog up Finn Hill on Juanita Dr.

This will probably take 5 hours of riding but I won't need the car so I don't have to strand Kristin. I will need to pack a lunch and snacks. Lets see how this goes.

Morning Commute

Today I rode my normal 3 mile morning commute, it was a nice ride as my legs stiffened up a bit after yesterdays 26 mile version. I need to learn to stretch and cool down properly to prevent that. I pushed up 7th Ave which is the hardest part of my commute, after that the 14% grade drops down to 4-6% as I head up 112th. I normally recover a bit on the 112th section as I push over the RR tracks at 6mph which is the steepest part of the climb.

My normal residential encounters were nice, saying "Good Morning" to walkers and dog walkers, waving at commuters, etc. After I crossed I405, as I reached 124th Ave, I saw a cycle commuter cross me. Perfect! A rabbit for the last 1/2 mile ride. I pushed up to 20mph and closed the gap a bit on the nice -1% grade but he still was about 200 ft out, I kept him at that distance through the mild rolling hill (15mph) and managed to build up a pleasant burn in my legs for my turn-off to work at 90th St. I haven't seen this particular cyclist before but he was perfectly positioned to get me to work hard on my final 1/2 mile.

Commute on Corsa and thoughts (Map)

View Larger Map
Today I rode in using my longer training route that goes up Juanita Drive. This route is 23 miles and I was using it last year. After the winter break I built up the difficulty of this route in my head. Other times I have used this I had difficulties with foot pain, after I adjusted my seat I find that I have zero foot pain, just gradual numbness after 30 or so miles. That is easily handled by moving my toes a bit and brief breaks when it gets too much. Today's morning ride was great, my moving average was up, my cadence was up, my time on bike was improved. I had no issues with the hills and didn't stay in my lowest gear the entire climb either. It was nice to have more lower gears in reserve.

I believe the seat and positioning changes have helped, as well as the fact that I had a decent breakfast before heading out. I had a nutragrain bar, a bottle of vitamin water and a banana for breakfast and I think it made a huge difference. I had no energy concerns at all, at 18 miles into the ride I was at the bottom of Old Redmond Way and felt great, the climb ahead of me was of no concern and I was on schedule.

My odometer on the Corsa rolled over to 500 miles on this ride as well which is a good time to feel that the bike is dialed in. All in all a good ride and very pleasant.

Seat positioning on my recumbent

I adjusted my seat last night as noted in my blog here. As always this becomes a bit finicky. I changed the recline by adjusting the length of the seat stays pictured above. Then I had to push the seat forward so I could still reach the pedals. This also raised the seat and increased the incline. After my commute today I realized I had the seat too far forward so I moved it back just a bit, which also lowers the seat and reduces the incline. Every change adjusts three parameters, I can't adjust one at a time. It gets tricky.

But my impression so far is good, I love the comfort of the new incline. I just need to dial in the pedal distance. I can see why some designers prefer a sliding boom to adjusting the seat back and forth. I know there are trade-offs there as well but both sliding seat mounts and sliding booms have issues. I will adjust my seat for the ride home and see how that works out.

Corsa seat adjustment

I keep going back and forth on my seat adjustment. Today I reclined the seat more and pushed it forward. I need to push it forward to keep my distance to the cranks the same. Though I actually need to decrease it as I think my legs are too extended. One side effect of this is that the seat goes farther forward on the monotube and as a consequence gets higher off the ground. It also means my knees are closer to the handlebars. This gets to be a series of trade-offs but I do want to recline the seat more as during the Chilly Hilly and my ride with Russell, my not so dainty derriere completely compressed the foam near the edge of the seat. This resulted in some discomfort and I reason that having the seat farther forward and my position more reclined will move the point of contact farther back on the seat and spread the weight more evenly.

Tomorrow and this next week will be the test of this hypothesis.

Open Cockpit vs. Tiller (preying mantis) Steering.

One of the debates about recumbents is which type of steering is best. Lately Open Cockpit aka superman style steering is getting all the attention. The other common alternative is tiller steering aka preying mantis style steering. Open Cockpit tends to be more comfortable and less twitchy. Tiller steering tends to be more aerodynamic, less comfortable and more twitchy. But that is only the broad strokes of the differences.

Here is an example of an high bottom bracket open cockpit design, the Bacchetta Corsa:

Corsa - Open Cockpit steering

Now as you can see the rider pictured here (myself) has fat sausages for legs. Because of the high bottom bracket (the height of the pedals from the ground basically) and the reclined position the thighs get in the way of the handlebars during turns. This means that when I want to make a tight turn I have to drop the inside leg off of the pedals so I can get the angle needed. This becomes annoying and prevents me from pedaling during turns, which means if I am going slow or uphill the turn is not easy.

Raptobike - tiller steering

Above is the Raptobike, with tiller steering. It also has a high BB relative to the seat height but the tiller steering won't hit my inside thigh. I have a Rans Vivo with tiller steering and I find it very easy to use. Though my elbows are in a closed position with the Vivo. This isn't as comfortable and my elbows sweat a bit over time. For a picture of how this looks, here is a rider on an M5.

Anja on M5 Shockproof in Norway

This can be changed by cutting down the stem, moving the handle bars closer to the legs and increasing the reach needed. There are pros and cons of this approach as the stem also moves in the direction opposite of the turn like a boat tiller. So by increasing the reach you also limit the final angle of the turn available due to reaching the limits of a given persons reach.

The net result of all of this verbiage is that due to my desire for high BB recumbents and my sausage legs, I find tiller steering more to my liking. But like all things in recumbent land, adjusting the particular steering to my own fit and expected usage is key to satisfaction.

Commuting Continues

From Corsa Commuter

I am still commuting though my bike is lonely at work. The East Side of Seattle and Kirkland in particular still has a ton of gravel on the roads. The temperatures during my commute range from the upper twenty degrees F to the lower thirties. Today it was 30F on my ride in. There is some pretty dense fog which tends to stay around all day. Even with the highly impaired visibility I was passed by 6 cars in a row on 124th that didn't have any lights on. I am strongly considering getting a video camera with a bike mount. I am tired of drivers being so unsafe.

I suppose given the conditions I understand why my bike is the only one in the rack at work. The gravel situation on the East Side is pretty poor. Yet another reason to have a camera to document the conditions. But with all of that said, I feel great riding. I have already noticed my weight loss has resumed now that my cycling as returned.

Commuting on the Corsa

From Corsa Commuter

My first commute of the year on the Corsa. The roads are finally clear enough and I am so happy to be back on the Corsa. Kiley (the Corsa) has better lighting as far as "can you see me" style than my trike, and has much better reflectivity due to the tape and bags I have on her. The ride is higher which has upsides and downsides. I am more visible in traffic but also less stable at lights, starting and stopping. She is still (ordered in early Oct) missing her SON dynohub and IQ Fly headlight, I am currently relying on some cateye LED light which is fine as a backup but not great for primary "can I see" light. I have my cateye LED helmet light as well so I am doing well but I want a wider beam.

I am faster on the Corsa and push myself more. This is good since commuting is also training for me, I can shower at work. I have been dealing with some left leg extension when riding the trike, my Achilles tendon has been feeling stretched when riding the trike. I had zero issues with that on the Corsa, which is a welcome change. I really don't want to end up damaging my Achilles tendon. I will need to work on the trike to fix that problem, I need to move up the seat which requires some new aluminum stays to attach to my rear rack.

All in all, I feel good and that is wonderful.

Pedals

I have been thinking about the pedal issue. I think I am going back to the SPDs for the short term and waiting for better weather to get used to the speedplays. I don't want a rash of more falls to screw with my confidence and the bike.

Dialed in

It has been 231 miles give or take on the Corsa and I feel like I have the bike dialed in both for fit and handling. Fit wise I feel very good, and today during the ride home I was very confident navigating stop and go traffic as well as tight turns. I was day dreaming a bit, thinking about making the Vivo a test project for a fairing, and just naturally turned left through a traffic circle with traffic coming on three sides. It was a nice tight turn and easy confident movement, I then had to wait for an oncoming car just after I descended the hill and was going to turn left into my complex. These were nerve racking moments before that I would have tried to avoid by preemptive braking or otherwise scheduling my arrival at this decision point to avoid conflict. Now it just feels natural.

This is a big deal for me as I was a bit nervous before, twitchy you might say. Now that confidence I feel on an upright bike is also there for my Corsa. Kiley and I are good friends now at 231 miles. This is good since I will now do group rides and training rides with both SIR and Cascade Cycling.