Any of you ever ride a bent???

[Stacy Smith]

I don't own a road bike but my boyfriend does and he rides a bent that was mentioned here. An easy racer. I have ridden it and those things are fast on the flats and going downhill. I did my first hills on it yesterday and today my butt is seriously sore. His doesn't fit me correctly but I'm sore because of the different muscles used.

They are a long ways from cheap but what a beautiful bike. I can see me on one of those down the road.

[emily_in_nc]

I hate to be a wet blanket, but I thought I'd share my bent experience.

I got a lovely Easy Racer Tour Easy in May of 2002. I was so excited and had done tons of research in preparing for this purchase. I'd subscribed to RCN (Recumbent Cycling News) and gotten totally into the whole 'bent thing. I'd also been going to the gym regularly for over a year so had a good base of leg presses/extensions and cardio workouts under my belt before I started riding. However, I was 41 and by no means an athlete, and had been off of all bikes for several years.

My 'bent experience was not good. I live in central NC where there are lots of rolling hills, and I was SLOW up those hills. I flew downhill and was pretty fast on the flats as well, but I lost momentum almost immediately on the climbs and suffered all the way to the top.

I went on some newcomer/beginner group rides my bike club put on and could not ride with people at all, which was so disappointing. I would fall WAY back on the climbs and would get dropped - or if they waited for me, I'd just fall way back on the next climb. I trained diligently all summer, eventually working up to a 50-mile event last fall, but my average speed hovered in the 11.5-13 mph range no matter what I did. I probably didn't give it enough time, but after about 6 months and several rides where I was almost brought to tears at my inability to keep up with people I was riding with and the difficulties getting up hills at more than 5-7 mph, I finally stopped riding the Tour Easy.

I should also mention that despite the perception that recumbents are much more comfortable than upright bikes, I had a new set of pains from mine. I actually had tailbone pain (NO fun) on long rides, despite the VERY cushy Koolback seat, and I also had absolutely burning quads that I never get on my upright on rides of the same distance over similar terrain.

So, I switched over to my older, entry-level Gary Fisher hybrid for a few rides, and even with flat bars, cheap components, and a relatively heavy frame, my speed went to 14.5 mph on my very first ride. And I could ride with the back of the "C" paced rides my club put on! Yippee!

Late last fall I invested in a lighter road bike (Terry Isis), and I gained another mph over my Gary Fisher. And I've improved even more since then, often even getting into the "B" range on rides (16-17+ mph).

After much thought about "what went wrong" with me and the bent, I finally realized that the main difficulty with it for me was its weight as a percentage of my body weight. I am really petite (105 lbs), and my Tour Easy with bag and accessories weighed 38 lbs! No wonder I couldn't haul it up a hill! My Isis weighed 23 lbs. all told, and what a difference that made to me.

Now, YMMV for sure, and I am truly not trying to knock recumbents. They are a perfect solution for some. There are much lighter recumbents than what I had, stronger riders who could handle them better than I, and people who simply have to ride recumbents for bio-mechanical/structural/health reasons. There are also those who place speed very low on their priority list and love the comfort factor. But I did want to share my experiences just in case anyone reading this might benefit from my experience and not make the same mistake I did.

The recumbent was traded back in to the shop where I got it, and my husband and I got a tandem bike instead - it weighs less than my single 'bent!

Keep on pedaling!
Emily