Our friend Lucia Parker went on her first bike camping trip last summer, taking a Cruzbike Sofrider. She recently posted this well-written blog entry with beautiful photos of the trip. She also mentions yours truly by name, and that’s always a good way to get my attention.
Many people ask me about taking Cruzbikes on bus racks…and on dirt roads and mountain bike trails. Her entry and photos may put some of those questions to rest, but it raises yet two more:
Lucia, you mention getting ice cream. Excellent. A required element of any outdoor adventure. But what flavor?? The only thing more important than that is…
What about chocolate? Was there any chocolate?!?
Great photos! Thanks for sharing, Lucia!
Oh, and, bike travel rule of thumb, because I just can’t let this one rest:
5% of total expedition weight should be dedicated to chocolate. Others would say, “coffee.” Others would say, “toast.” Still others would say “bike tools” or “spare tires” or that sort of rubbish. Alas. You simply can’t please everyone. 🙂
“I was sipping a beer, my second, at an alumni gathering in Denver when I accepted a new friend’s invitation to join her on an overnight bike-camp trip. This trip was comfortably abstract at the time and two beers in, overnight cycling adventures fit well within my self-perception as both a Coloradan and a Cruzbike tribe member. So, “yes,” I said, “count me in!”
“When the official email invitation arrived not too long after that conversation, I felt the reality of my inexperience a bit more keenly. I had, in fact, never been on an overnight bicycle camping trip. Nor had I logged anything but asphalt miles on my Cruzbike. This would take some preparation and would be an adventure, as any totally new undertaking is bound to be.
“Good thing this is Cruzbike and I knew exactly who to turn to for advice (and pep talks). First, my mom, Maria Parker, the reigning queen of Cruzbike adventures. She confirmed the worthiness of the undertaking and said she was jealous, that it would be a great time and that YES either of my Cruzbikes would be up for the challenge. Pep talk, check. Next up was a call with Robert Matson of NYC Recumbent Supply. Robert is the guy to talk to if you like the sound of words like expedition, adventure, fun and outdoors and want to know more about how to make all of them possible in your life. He talked me through what to carry and how to carry it. He gave me some great tips including: how much weight I should aim to carry (no more than 20 pounds), to pack early and go for a test ride (felt great), to use Ziplock plastic bags for things like toothpaste and sunscreen to save space and weight (brilliant!), to make sure that shelter and repair kit essentials were covered within the group…. (more)
Cruzbike racers Rob (16th overall) and Jason Perez (4th overall and first American) at the finish. Photo copyr. 2015 Cruzbike
New Cruzbike race reports just arrived.
These well-written, entertaining and informative stories contain great tips for riding Cruzbikes in general, and the Vendetta in particular. (These tips apply to the Silvio as well.) They also describe some easy customizations these riders made as a normal course of making the Vendetta optimally fit their bodies. Another thing both these stories illustrate, because both riders were new to Cruzbikes, is that the muscles involved are nearly identical to those needed for running and cycling on a standard frame bike, removing one of the barriers to “going recumbent,” namely, the long period of building recumbent-specific muscles.
Rob placed 16th overall after only a few months riding his Cruzbike Vendetta V20. Rob is taking on Solo Race Across America 2016 on the V20, representing Cruzbike and racing to beat brain cancer for 3000 Miles to a Cure.
Some people are under the impression that you need to be named “Rob” or “Robert” to ride a Cruzbike. Strictly speaking, that’s not true, however it does seem to help.
Next weekend, I’ll be at the Philly Bike Expo (in Philadelphia) and so will Cruzbike and Rad-Innovations. You’ll be able to find me with the Cruzbike team at their booth. And, on Sunday, if you want to ride with me, I plan to do the 7am group ride if it works out in terms of timing and competing demands. Come and join us!
HP Velotechnik accessory mounts: rear light without rear rack, water bottle, computer
I’m posting this short e-mail conversation with a customer because these questions get frequently asked.
Hi Robert,
Question: If I get the B&M Dymotec light system, do I need to also get the rear rack to attach the rear light to? I was thinking of skipping the rack for now, but think I will get the lights.
I worked up a configuration using HP Velotechnik’s configurator. Would you check it for me? It’s # 7—-.
Thanks,
F—
Hi F—,
For all HP Velotechnik light systems, incl. the B&M Dymotec, you do NOT need a rear rack in order to attach the light. The factory mounts the rear light on the seat-back if there is no rack (the wires are connected by way of a plug so you can remove the seat). No problem.
The advantage of the seat-mounted light is that it drops the weight and expense of the rack. I have some nice carrying bags from Radical Design that don’t require a rack so you can still carry stuff. And a rack can always be added later.
I like your configuration. I think you’ll appreciate having the disk brakes. The pearl orange color is really nice.
Notes/questions about your configuration:
You specced the Mirrycle mirrors, left and right, which mount on the handlebars. They both include a strong mount that can be used for an odometer, or smart phone attachment, etc. You also listed the $12 computer mount. It mounts near the front of the bike and is good for an extra light, cadence sensor or odometer display. But if you only need an odometer display, that mount isn’t necessary if you get the Mirrycle mirrors that you are ordering.
Water bottle mount and bottles: The price, which probably appears high, actually includes the custom CNC-machined mounting plate, two good bottle cages, two good water bottles, and all mounting hardware. Even if you don’t think you’ll need two water bottles, you can use one cage to hold your wallet, keys and a repair kit for short rides and the other for a bottle. If you still decide to forego the water bottle mounts, there is one other place to mount a water bottle cage: under the frame, underneath the seat.
New York Times article “Cycling 101 Needn’t Be Collision Course.”
Many of the cycling injuries described in the article (ouch!) might be avoided by riding a recumbent bike or trike instead of a standard frame bike. Just sayin’.
New York Cycle Club ride with great hills and good dirt led by April. NYCC Prez Neile (Bachetta Ti Aero), Robert (Cruzbike Silvio), April (nice 10-year old black box standard frame) and Joe (invisible, Felt standard frame).
Did a fun ride with the New York City Cycle club last weekend led by the incredibly strong April Tam who also designed the route. Enjoyed some great hilly roads and some wild hilly dirt roads. Rode a Cruzbike Silvio. There’s nothing quite like taking a road bike on dirt roads. A great group, a great bike club and a great bike.
Cruzbike racers set several new records at the Hoo Doo 500 (2015)
But first, and most importantly, the overall winner was Mark Skarpohl.
“In the 500-Mile race, top prize goes to Mark Skarpohl who wins both the overall and 50+ categories while breaking the prior 50+ record by nearly 2 hours. His time of 31 hours 24 minutes set a new, and very high standard.” See source here.
The Achilles heel of recumbent cycling has always been climbing performance. Maybe that’s why recumbents flock to the flat races like Bike Sebring and Calvin’s Challenge, but no recumbent racer has yet attempted the epic climbing challenge of the Hoodoo 500 in the eight-year history of the race. The route, 519 miles with 30,000 to 41,000 feet of climbing (depending on your reference source), peaks in thin air at an altitude of 10,600 ft. This is not the typical event that recumbent racers win… or even dare to enter.
Recumbent bike division winners at the Hoo Doo 500 (2015):
Solo Women Recumbent: Maria Parker – 46 hours 30 minutes
Riding: Cruzbike Vendetta
Solo Men Recument: Ben Tomblin – 44 hours 12 minutes
Riding: Cruzbike Vendetta
View from a Cruzbike during a mountain bike camping trip in Colorado.
A Cruzbike friend in Boulder, Colorado recently went on her first bike camping trip. She had asked for advice about packing and mounting panniers on a Quest and I sent her my bike touring packing list and blog post about using Radical Design panniers.
I followed up to ask how it went. It turned out the route consisted of single track, not much pavement, steep ups and downs, and generally a roller coaster of a dirt ride. She decided to take her Cruzbike Sofrider, but it sounds like she could’ve taken her Quest 26 if it had more appropriate tires.
She sent me this note and photos. I thought it was a great story about how a 26″-wheeled Cruzbike handles off-road riding.
# # #
She writes:
I ended up choosing the Sofrider because the route was mostly dirt – just a bit of pavement climbing at the beginning. There were some very challenging segments. When I say very challenging, I mean mountain bike material – very narrow rocky/rooty tracks through the woods up and down mountains. That part was not what I’d hoped for at all, but I made it through! Also at the end, there was a long 14% grade descent which terrified me. So, I braked hard. I also blew my rear tube, had to learn to change/patch it on the side of the road. ADVENTURES. Perhaps a bit of a “death march”* by the end, but I’m glad I did it and wouldn’t have been prepared without your advice. [*There’s a tradition at Cruzbike that we go for “death marches” every morning of the bike conventions. So far, Jim and Maria Parker have gone easy on us and I’ve been able to keep up.]
Check out the Cruzbike on a bus rack!
Here are the few photos I took on my phone! We rode the bus out of Boulder to Nederland the first evening, biked/climbed (literally scaled a mountain side pushing/carrying my loaded Sofrider) to our campsite which we reached at sunset then biked back all the way down to Boulder the next day.
All the important stuff: sleeping bag, water reservoir, change of shoes….
As for the mountain bike trails, I think the Sofrider sans 20 lbs of load could have faired even better. The problem I ran into was front wheel slip climbing on very steep, loosely packed surfaces.
A more experienced/daring rider could have done more than I did out there – I tend to play it VERY safe especially when speed is in the mix. I’d rather test my limits climbing than descending any day. On the pavement, no one could keep up with me on the climbs!
Tom B. in Colorado with HP Velotechnik Street Machine in foreground.
One of our customers recently completed a cross-country bike trip on an HP Velotechnik Street Machine Gte. He wrote me this nice note. If you’re considering an SMGte, I thought you might enjoy reading it. I included his bike specs, below, after his note. – RM
———- Original Message ———-
Subject: My Cross Country Bicycle Trip
From: “Tom B___
To: “Robert Matson”
——————————————
Robert-
I wanted to send out a message to you for your guidance in helping me prepare for my cross country bicycle trip…which I finished about a month ago now. When I came out to see you…about 2.5 years ago, I hadn’t owned a bicycle since high school. I was then 49 years old… it had been a long time. As I planned my trip, I wasn’t tied to any particular bicycle and thought a lot about the type of bicycle I wanted to ride. I decided that riding that long distance on a diamond frame, on a small seat crammed up my but and staring at the ground wasn’t the posture I wanted. I also wasn’t in a race with anyone and my goal was to ride and appreciate the beautiful country as I peddled across it. I decided that I wanted to ride a recumbent, which I knew very little about. As a matter of fact, even just 2 years ago, there wasn’t much literature on them either. My daughter got your information for me at a bicycle event she attended in NYC. She also knew I was looking for a recumbent style bicycle and when she found you and your bicycles, she was excited to get me your contact information. I called and set an appointment with you and we spend a lot of time talking about how I was going to use the bike. We talked about what was important to me and considered a few options you had. You kept talking about the HP Velotechnik being the Mercedes of the recumbent bicycles. It’s actually the bike of choice for many national, international and world wide bicycle travelers. It’s durable aluminum frame, light(er) weight and plenty of paniers and storage space to accommodate such a trip was beautiful. Due to my error during my first week on the road, I slid off the shoulder of the road and fell down a rut going about 15 mph. I jacknife’d the bike and it flipped head over heals. Outside of a few scratches on the bike, it was perfect and I got up to ride as if nothing had just happened. It’s built like a tank.
It was extremely comfortable to ride. Spending all your time laying on your back, perched up so you can see the landscape as you peddle through different scenes and around new bends…while literally staring at the horizon was unbelievable. It kept me pedaling and wanting to see more. I was never exhausted and my body never ached. Unlike many of the friends I met along the way who suffered from saddle sores, put this sticky stuff on their butts to avoid chafing…. all issues I never had to even think about. No sores, no aches and a fantastic experience.
As you can imagine, we hit some pretty windy weather heading across Kansas, Colorado and the mid west. Since we were heading west, the winds were mostly out of the west and we battled the wind at our faces a lot of the time. The wind at your face is always a factor, but it wasn’t that bad for me. The posture I ride in on the recumbent makes me incredibly aerodynamic and the wind rode over me with significantly less drag compared to the diamond framed bikes, which acted like a parachute….or they had to squat down real low, stare at the road again to get through the rough parts. I really didn’t miss a beat and was present in my trip, enjoying the day and the ride all the way to the end.
The other thing I enjoyed about this bike was just how fast it was. This bike loves to roll down hills and on the flats. I would often have to put my brakes on and hold myself back while rolling down a hill if I was in conversation with someone else….or others would be peddling hard just to keep up with me as I coasted down hills. There is something else I noticed. I call it rolling stamina…. Even as we leveled out at the bottom of a hill…. My bike kept on rolling and slowing down on the flats much slower than any other bike. It would keep rolling and rolling. Often times, I would roll up a hill to the next down hill and laughed to myself while others would be pedaling to climb the next hill I just rolled up. I was asked several times if I had a motor on my bike…. and of course I didn’t.
I think I won over several people that were asking great questions about my bike and conceding they would look into a recumbent like mine. It was such a superior bike and made the trip so much more enjoyable for me. I was able to ride the entire Trans America Trail from start to finish without once stopping to rest or push up a hill. I did have to work a bit more climbing hills on a recumbent, but the low gear ratios helped out significantly and any time I lost during a climb, I more than made up for on the down hills or flats. To give you an idea, my cruise speed on a flat road, no wind was about 20-22 mph. This was cuising. Not pushing…. medium effort and enjoying my ride kind of effort. This bike is incredable. I max’d out at 53 MPH out east, in the blue ridge mountains. The bike wanted to go faster… and I would have let it if wasn’t for the switchback turns.
I had a blast and wanted to thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge with me. We picked the right bike and I’d never ride another bike. I’ve grown fond of my HP Velotechnik Street Machine.
Tom’s Street Machine Gte while I was building it. I was smitten by the gold-yellow custom paint.
If you’re curious, these were Tom’s bike specs. This is a factory build with the standard factory upgrades. We didn’t do anything particularly unique for him.
HP Velotechnik Street Machine Gte
Custom color: RAL 1018 Zinkgelb
with derailer tube
Body Link seat
Airflow seat cushion
USS handlebars 60 cm bent ends
Front Suspension: Meks Carbon AC >100 kg
Rear shock: DT Swiss XM180
Drivetrain: Shimano XT 27 speed
Crank set 3 speed Truvativ Elita 30-39-52
Crank length: standard 170 mm
Chainwheel disk light, chainwheel protection
Pedals: Shimano PD-A530 clipless
Disk brake Avid BB7 mechanical
Tire upgrade: Marathon Plus
Light system: hubdynamo SON 20R Disc Edelux
Rear rack
Mudguards: SKS black
Mirror: 2x Mirrycle, both sides
Kickstand: Pletscher, rear swing arm
Hydration: water bottle set
Microbag for BodyLink seat
Recumbent Panniers: side bags Moonbiker
Radical Design Rackbag extended
Just wanted to thank you for the link to my story about learning to ride a [Cruzbike Quest] bent. It’s bringing in several visitors a month. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but every visitor is of value.
Also wanted to let you know that I’ve been riding more than ever and enjoying it more than ever. Interesting too is that I started with the seat back in the upright most position. A few of months later I moved it to the middle position. This summer I moved it back to the third hole. We’ve gotten a new bike rack that the bikes’ tires cradle into, and a bracket holds the frames. Much easier to secure. Still can’t ride hands-free, but I’m slowing working on it.
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