The Recumbent Animal
by Bill Dowling.
(Reprinted from Recumbent Cyclist News – reviews, photos and profiles of everything ‘Bent. $5 per issue. $25/10 issues. POB 58755, Renton, WA 98058-1755)
I bought the Vision R-40 for one reason: comfort. Boy did I get my money’s worth. On my old hybrid I could only go for about an hour before sore butt set in. My wrists hurt after 2 hours. My typical ride was about 25 miles. Now I do 50 to 65 miles each weekday morning. On weekends, I “go long.” Nothing hurts! I weighed 250 pounds when I got the R-40. Now I’m down to 220 lbs.
I’m 47 years old and it shouldn’t matter to me if I get passed by another bike. But the Vision has changed me. Over the last 6 months, I’ve been seduced by speed. My attitude now is “no bike passes me.” It all started innocently enough, while riding the Pinellas Trail bike path with Bob on his home-built recumbent. Some roadie would not respond to a “good morning” hail, and Bob would remark “Well, there’s another one you’ve pissed-off, Bill.” On my old bike, I just let faster bikes pass. On my Vision, I found I could easily catch up to any that passed me. Then, I discovered that I could actually re-pass anyone who passed me back. One thing led to another and now I have this whole new attitude.
We were doing about 18 mph when a 4-rider pace line passed us. Bob was just about to say we didn’t have to chase them, but he had already seen the look on my face and knew it was useless. I joined the back of their pack in about 4 minutes. They were doing about 22. After catching my breath, I gave them the old “on your left” and spun up to 24 mph, which is about all I’m capable of. As I passed, I could see the look on their faces. The lead guy said “Look at that recumbent animal go!” Somehow I found enough to increase to 26 mph. After nearly killing myself with the exertion, I vowed to drop my new attitude and go back to being a mature adult.
Then one morning a guy pulls up to Bob and me on the shoulder. It was the lead rider from the week before. He said the other 3 riders were pro mountain bike racers. He said they were out on a fast training ride before I “attacked.” He said they were shocked a recumbent could go so fast. Well, as you could imagine, this put me over the top, and from that point on I was “The Recumbent Animal.”
No one passes me! I bought a heart rate monitor. No one passes me! Bob says I need professional help. No one passes me!
Bob says I hide in the bushes and attack the first pace line that goes by. Not true. I sit in the shade to eat my Power Bars and drink my Gatorade. It simply appears I’m waiting to ambush a pace line. OK, one with three tandems and two singles did out-run me, fair and square! Now, if I can just find some room on my credit cards for the new R-45 racing model, then all the roadies in Florida are gonna’ be in real trouble!
