Recumbent - Workout

When I first told some folks about getting a recumbent, they made comments like, "No, you're too young to have that kind of bike! Only old, fat men ride those." Or, "Sitting like that, I'd fall asleep!"

:eek:

Well, I'm here to report that, after about a week of riding this bike, it's a great bike for a WORKOUT. Developing the spinning & hammering muscles I need are really challenging me on the hills I have around here!

No, I don't think this bike is for lazy folk...

:D

When I first told some folks about getting a recumbent, they made comments like, "No, you're too young to have that kind of bike! Only old, fat men ride those." Or, "Sitting like that, I'd fall asleep!"

:eek:

Well, I'm here to report that, after about a week of riding this bike, it's a great bike for a WORKOUT. Developing the spinning & hammering muscles I need are really challenging me on the hills I have around here!

No, I don't think this bike is for lazy folk...

:D

Well, fat old men need to ride too! :p Serioiusly, I would not consider any bike to be "for" any sort of person. I am not fat, but at 56 some might consider me to be old. (I don't, by the way.) I ride a bent for pleasure, but I hammer on my vintage Bianchi made in Italy, totally Campy racing machine. So much for stereotypes and generalizations. I only wish I had a bent when I was younger. When I was in my 20s and 30s they lacked the profile they have today. Anyway, we are all getting older. The immediate post war demographic is inching into retirement. Here in the People's Democratic Republic of Cannuckistan, the "baby boom" accounts for 60 to 70% of the population. Who's going to be on bents in a few years? You bet! (I'm looking forward to the opportunity to go 'benting with Lance!) :D

Charles

Well, I'm here to report that, after about a week of riding this bike, it's a great bike for a WORKOUT. Developing the spinning & hammering muscles I need are really challenging me on the hills I have around here!

No, I don't think this bike is for lazy folk...

:D

I too get a workout on my bent, I'm just more comfortable doing it. ;)

Hey! I'm not old! :)

People that don't ride bents don't know, and the ones that do ride bents don't care.

I had mine in the LBS, and the Wrench commented on how nice it was, and that he wanted to try riding a bent someday.
Then, out of nowhere, he launches into a "Bents can't climb" speech and that's why they all must have triple chainrings. (Mine doesn't, ha ha )

If he has never tried one, how does he know?

I had mine in the LBS, and the Wrench commented on how nice it was, and that he wanted to try riding a bent someday.
Then, out of nowhere, he launches into a "Bents can't climb" speech and that's why they all must have triple chainrings. (Mine doesn't, ha ha )

If he has never tried one, how does he know?
It's true, bents can't climb.

At least not without a rider. :D

I told a friend I was slower on my bent, now. He said, "What's wrong with the bike?"

I said, "It's not the bike. It's the motor!"

One of the reasons I'm slower on my bent, is that I've been able to ride less due to other commitments. When I did ride as much on my bent as I did on my hybrid I was just as fast.
I'm hoping to tune this engine up this year to get up to speed.

Nice, LittleBigMan. :)

Tell the roadies to flip it around: Hey man, there's a bike called an upright that will goes marginally faster uphill. But you have to shove a minature seat up your A**, and while you ride, your back/neck/wrists/hands/butt are in awful pain! Wanna try it?

Oh, yeah, and recumbents will smoke you on the downs and flats!

I was off the bike since last April and rode an easy ride with the club two Sunday's ago. I suddenly remembered that I had "gotten used" to my seat. :eek:

Hey LBM, have you started growing a beard yet? I'm already looking for a propeller for the top of my helmet.

Hey LBM, have you started growing a beard yet? I'm already looking for a propeller for the top of my helmet.
He, he, last time I grew a beard, there was so much grey in it I thought I was my Dad!

But now, even the eyebrows need plucking once in a while...eventually, looking for a normal-colored hair will prove fruitless...

:D

I kind of take the same tack as MaxBender. Rather than emphasize that a bent is slower on uphills, I emphasize that an upright is slower everywhere else. I mean, would you want a bike that can't go fast on downhills? Granted if the terrain is hilly enough, the climbing speed will dominate any speed contest, but that'd be a lot of climbing, more than I see in the midwest! Additionally, the speed profile of a recumbent is the same as the speed profile of a tandem. So why don't naysayers use the same arguments against tandems? The answer should be obvious - a tandem still looks like 'their' kind of bike, and entrenched biases are in force.

The other point I make is this: I don't see a recumbent as a compromise. I got it because I deserve it, and I got it at this point in my life because I don't want to wait until I'm too old to enjoy it.

Rather than emphasize that a bent is slower on uphills, I emphasize that an upright is slower everywhere else.
I remember a review by a guy who was a fairly fit racer who tried a lowracer. He said he liked it but wasn't as fast on it. The big question that loomed in my mind was, "If you spent years training to ride your upright bike, what makes you think you can go as fast on a recumbent after only a few rides on it?"

Of course, it may be true that I'll never be as fast on hills on my bent, I don't know. It doesn't matter, I'm not in a race. :)

The other point I make is this: I don't see a recumbent as a compromise. I got it because I deserve it, and I got it at this point in my life because I don't want to wait until I'm too old to enjoy it. Too right - way to go :)

I can't wait to see Little Big Man in a beard!

I like the line of thinking that uprights are "slow everywhere else"...The truth hurts.