First ride on upright after weeks of riding the recumbent…weird!
what a strange feeling! to be balancing on these huge disks. to have the butt so high! i wanted to keep tipping forward…it was very easy to ride in the drops. my arms didn’t like being part of the support architecture as well as the steering apparatus! (dual use of arms seems one of the oddest things of uprighting…the support part made obsolete by the ‘bent.) rushing headfirst so high off the ground. looking *at* the ground. cranks low and far back. narrow, peculiar bars. …all these were my first impressions and seemed very strange. control was a bit shakey at first! but after 20 minutes, i was back in the saddle (har). maintaining momentum on hills was a breeze. fun to get out of saddle. totally smooth ride continuity… minimal speed/effort flux. (i am always thinking of the phrase used here by someone awhile back: “winching up hills” while riding uphill bent!!! i’m looking forward to bentier legs and liter wheels!) riding at medium intensity seemed to result in similar speeds as bent. but with the 21# uprite i could accelerate to beat the band, and kept up w/ cars better. …also noticed dual role of the legs in upriting: spinning *and* becoming slightly rigid to absorb bumps…this is tricky biomechanics! also noticed much higher heart/breath-rate on uprite. probly faster spin, too. didn’t time my route, dang. but i was flying like the wind. 52×15 6 mi there. 42×14 home. benting hasn’t seemed to hurt my uprite ‘bike legs’…yet. (as if i had them…haven’t ridden more than 30 mi/wk.) on the bent i seem to use 48×13/15 a lot. lessee…that gives 93-81″ typical for uprite in ‘charge’ mode. 96-83″ for bent in styley-jam mode. hmm, a little steeper. will have to time someday. on uprite i’m in speed mode usually, while bent i’m smiling so much i haven’t even thot to time myself yet!—–jeff
(ps: it seems funny now that such an *odd* bike as the uprite has such a grip on all that is considered ‘traditional,’ ‘cultural,’ ‘honorable’ and ‘artful’ in cycling. its only riding advantage seems to be ease of momentum, otherwise it’s as peculiar as a bent if seen objectively.)
