July 1st ride

Another nice evening for a ride I forgot to turn on the Garmin for the first 5 miles, oops!

Stats:

June 28th ride

Nice evening for a ride, 40 mile loop the last two miles were in town so they slowed my average speed down from 20.5 mph.

Stats below:

June 26th ride

Nice evening for a ride, I thought I would take an easy ride for the fun of it. I felt very powerful this trip, I was pushing up hills up to 4mph faster then usual. Not sure what was going on, perhaps yesterdays trip somehow boosted my strength. I found I could do some good bursts to push me up hills and even got up to 30mph on a flat, non-hilly road with no wind. Back in the day in my late twenties I could get my road bike up to 30 mph on a flat road, I think this is a first for me on a recumbent.

The first 15 mile loop had an average speed slightly over 21 mph. I practiced doing speed bursts for the rest of the ride, I even rode up to 26 mph up a short incline.

Direct link for details on this ride

Stat summary for the ride:

June 25th ride (first 60 miles under 3 hours with no stops)

The weather was perfect, cool with no wind. I started around 8:30 in the morning. I did the first 60 miles in 2:59:16, so I had a few seconds to spare. I should have stopped the computer at that time, since I completed the loop, but I was thinking of trying a 100K at 20mph. That thought was quickly dashed as I realized I didn't have a lot more to give. I did hit the lap button on the 60 mile mark, so you can see the average speed at 60 miles at 20.1, then the last 1.7 miles with an average speed of 15mph.

I'm very happy with this ride even though I felt sick afterwards.

New Cleat/pedals:
I had very little foot pain and numbness this trip, a very good sign.

Condition after trip:
I didn't feel very good after the trip my leg and foot muscles were wanting to 'charlie horse' for some time after getting off the bike. I also felt nauseated and had to rest a couple hours afterwards. Not sure what happened, perhaps it was caused by not eating anything during the ride only drinking water, plus I only had a bowl of cereal and a banana before the ride. I haven't felt like this after a ride since 2007.

Flat tire:
I had a strange flat this trip, one that didn't effect my time at all. I had just pulled into my driveway, stood up and dismounted the Musashi. I then lifted the Musashi off the ground to lean it against the house. As soon as I lifted the bike there was a loud pop and a PSSSSSSSSSSST. It was loud enough for my wife who was in the house to hear, since the windows were open.

Now that's a bike! Not only is it fast, it also knew how important this ride was for me so it actually held its flat until after I completed the ride, then not being able to hold it any longer it let go as soon as I dismounted. Unfortunately I actually blew the tire not just the intertube. Not sure why, since they are rated up to 145 PSI and I only inflate them to 120PSI. The hole is in the sidewall, I put a repair boot in but not sure how long that will last, I'll most likely be buying a new tire soon, the tire has around 1400 miles on it.

Direct link to ride details

Stat summary for the ride:

June 17th to 23rd rides with new cleats and shoes

I bought some new Cleats and shoes to try and solve the foot pain issue I am having. The pain seems to be caused by the intense pressure I apply to my feet, not a joint or muscle pain. I have been using regular Shimano SPD cleats which have a small connection footprint. I bought a pair of Shimano SPD SL cleats which have a much larger connection footprint plus 15 degrees of float. These cleats were too wide to fit on my old shoes, so I had to get new shoes, I got a pair of Serfas Podium Road shoes. I ended up spending close to $200.00, so I hope this works. Since my wife Debbie went with me, I now have the added benefit of having her asking how the new pedals are working, she seems to think it was a waste of money. So now I have a bit more pressure riding on the outcome of this purchase.

June 16th ride, my first ride with the new pedal/shoe setup:
I think this was about the most painful ride I've had in a long time! My left foot felt like I was pushing barefooted on a steel bar for the last half of the trip. On the plus side my right foot had no numbness or pain at all.
Direct link to stats for this ride

June 17th ride:
I tried adjusting the cleats a bit, also loosened the shoe straps. I brought the cleat adjustment tool with me so I could stop and make further adjustments during the ride. Lot more comfortable this time, only a little pain plus some numbness. This ride had the extra benefit of having a nice hill, it raised my max speed to 37mph for the Musashi.
Direct link to stats for this ride

June 23rd ride:
It has been a stormy week, so I haven't had many chances to ride this week. This ride was great even though there were some strong 13 mph winds from the West, they didn't seem to affect me much, which is a great benefit of riding a recumbent. I also had no foot pain even though I was pushing hard against the wind.
Direct link to stats for this ride

It appears the new cleat/pedal setup is going to work, now I need to test on a longer trip.....