Spring CNC ride
April 18, 2009 / Jim Parker
What a difference a couple years make… Seems lots of people know about Cruzbike now. As we rode around town, many people recognized us or yelled out a friendly “Hi-ho Silvio!” Maria and I set out this morning on our Silvios for a 68 mile ride leaving from Washington, NC. We rode this first 6 miles with Will, who rode on his Sofrider, and then Will split off on a 35 mile loop.
There was no set time to begin the ride, which we began at 9:30 am. At mile 28, there was a ferry crossing which required us to wait for about 45 minutes. This created an interesting consequence… about 200 riders started the last 40 miles at the same time. Maria and I were a little slow getting off the Ferry, but quickly started passing rider after rider. Very soon we were in with a fast moving group at the leading edge of the ferry cohort. As I passed a group of strong riders, one of them shouted “Okay, NOW I believe in recumbents!” and another road biker yelled “recumbents rule!”. I finally passed the front guy on a road bike. He passed me back, I hung on for awhile and passed him back. We were moving about 25 mph with a slight headwind. We went on like this for about 4 miles and soon everyone else was way behind. He passed me again and then pulled over to wait for his buddy. I pulled over with him to wait for Maria. The rider’s name was Alvin and we complimented each others riding skills. Alvin said he raced time trial bikes, and was comfortable riding in a full tuck position. This guy seemed to have no problem meeting a competitive recumbent rider.
Maria caught up sooner than Alvin’s friend, and we took off, not ever seeing Alvin again. About 15 miles later, we stopped at a convenient store to get a drink and the service was really slow. We saw four bikes go by as we were getting ready to start again. We caught 2 of them pretty fast. The other two took longer. When we all stopped at a rest stop, they were not friendly. The volunteers manning the stop said we were the first riders from the 12:00 ferry to get there. Back on the road with about 5 miles to go they passed us. I passed them and these guys didn’t like it. Maria says she saw them stand up and sprint like crazy to overtake me on a small hill. After they went by me, I let them settle down to about 25 mph. We had a little tailwind. I hammered past them at 32 mph. Then Maria passed them. If they didn’t like getting passed by a man on a recumbent, they really didn’t like getting passed by a woman on a recumbent. They finally passed Maria again.
Finally getting to the end of the ride, Maria and I had overtaken one of them, but we couln’t catch the stronger of the two riders before we got back to town and met Will. It’s interesting how some road bikers can’t accept a fast recumbent overtaking them. Overall it was a really great ride on a beautiful day.
What a difference a couple years make… Seems lots of people know about Cruzbike now. As we rode around town, many people recognized us or yelled out a friendly “Hi-ho Silvio!” Maria and I set out this morning on our Silvios for a 68 mile ride leaving from Washington, NC. We rode this first 6 miles with Will, who rode on his Sofrider, and then Will split off on a 35 mile loop.
There was no set time to begin the ride, which we began at 9:30 am. At mile 28, there was a ferry crossing which required us to wait for about 45 minutes. This created an interesting consequence… about 200 riders started the last 40 miles at the same time. Maria and I were a little slow getting off the Ferry, but quickly started passing rider after rider. Very soon we were in with a fast moving group at the leading edge of the ferry cohort. As I passed a group of strong riders, one of them shouted “Okay, NOW I believe in recumbents!” and another road biker yelled “recumbents rule!”. I finally passed the front guy on a road bike. He passed me back, I hung on for awhile and passed him back. We were moving about 25 mph with a slight headwind. We went on like this for about 4 miles and soon everyone else was way behind. He passed me again and then pulled over to wait for his buddy. I pulled over with him to wait for Maria. The rider’s name was Alvin and we complimented each others riding skills. Alvin said he raced time trial bikes, and was comfortable riding in a full tuck position. This guy seemed to have no problem meeting a competitive recumbent rider.
Maria caught up sooner than Alvin’s friend, and we took off, not ever seeing Alvin again. About 15 miles later, we stopped at a convenient store to get a drink and the service was really slow. We saw four bikes go by as we were getting ready to start again. We caught 2 of them pretty fast. The other two took longer. When we all stopped at a rest stop, they were not friendly. The volunteers manning the stop said we were the first riders from the 12:00 ferry to get there. Back on the road with about 5 miles to go they passed us. I passed them and these guys didn’t like it. Maria says she saw them stand up and sprint like crazy to overtake me on a small hill. After they went by me, I let them settle down to about 25 mph. We had a little tailwind. I hammered past them at 32 mph. Then Maria passed them. If they didn’t like getting passed by a man on a recumbent, they really didn’t like getting passed by a woman on a recumbent. They finally passed Maria again.
Finally getting to the end of the ride, Maria and I had overtaken one of them, but we couln’t catch the stronger of the two riders before we got back to town and met Will. It’s interesting how some road bikers can’t accept a fast recumbent overtaking them. Overall it was a really great ride on a beautiful day.
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