John_V 

I don't ride a recumbent, but my wife does. She has an new aluminum frame tadpole style recumbent that weighs in at 32 lbs., without accessories. She has signed up for a 50K charity ride in September which, for the most part, is pretty much flat, city streets. There are, however, several bridges that she has to cross on this ride. Her longest ride on her Sun EZ-3 (60 lb bike) was 24 miles at 9-10 mph and she was able to climb overpasses and small bridges. She has been working to get more leg strength and learning to use the gears in her favor. Her average speed on the new bike at this point is around 12-13 mph but we are working to increase that to around 14-15 mph average by the time of the event. Another issue may be her age as she just turned 64 and she also has artificial hips. I know she has a lot of hurdles to overcome, but she is really determined to do this ride. Never having done any climbing on one of these bents, how are they for climbing? Any suggestions as to what she could do to make climbing easier for her?

runner pat

Climbing depends on the incline, length, gearing and the motor.
My handcycle (delta trike) is about 40 lbs. all up and I can do 2.5-3.0 miles at a 5-6% grade @ 5-7 mph. This is with mountain bike gearing and I need to use every one of those low gears.

Gear down and winch your way up. At least you can't tip over if you too too slow.

mchell

+1 to runner pat. Spin. Climbing requires easy gears and a good spin. It's not a race and on a trike, one can stop and rest whenever. Mike

mobilemail

Not to mention that she has already been riding a bike up hills that is some 25lbs heavier. I say keep working hard, but the day of the ride let her set a comfortable pace and throw a target average speed out the window. I would hate to see her walk a hill because she used herself up on the flats for a "target speed". That being said, I walk a hill now and then and have lived to tell about it.

rydabent

Dont overlook the greatest thing about riding a trike. On a climb, if one really tires all they have to do is stop. Trikes dont tip over, you dont even have to unclip, and you can just start going again.

Btw with the trike that much lighter, and a few good training miles she should have very little trouble at all.

Peter_C

As a Trike rider with a bad 'motor' - I can only say make sure she has low enough gearing that she can *spin* up all hills. You do not want her having to mash up hills, as on a trike (since you can brace against the seat) you can easily hurt the knees by pushing too hard.

I have had one knee and one hip replaced and do love my trike, but normally, no one is as fast on a trike as they can be on a bike, they are just more comfortable doing it.

VegasTriker

What's the hurry? 12 to 13 mph is not too shabby if she were to achieve that for 50 miles. A lot depends upon where you are riding. If you have a lot of stop signs and traffic lights, that will slow down your average speed no matter how fit a rider you are. If she could do hills on a 60 pound trike, then she is probably going to enjoy a hill or two on a 32 pound trike. The problem with being a flatlander is finding some hills to train on. I remember talking to some racers from North Dakota who used the bridges over the interstate to train for hills. When they entered a race west of Madison, WI most of them had to walk up the last hill into Blue Mounds State Park because it was far steeper than anything they could find at home.

gcottay

Even though trikes with appropriate gearing are great for slow climbers, you and your wife may want to tackle some grades before the event even if only overpass repeats to help her gain some confidence and conditioning. To avoid injury you might want to start with a gear that seems too low.

Retro Grouch 

That's what I was thinking too. My bet is she'll be fine.

John_V 

Thanks for all the replies. They are going to be very helpful in how we approach this ride. I'm confident that she will make it as well and not too concerned about not reaching the 14-15 mph average by the time of the event. She just wants to be able to get to that average speed on the MUP (pretty much all flat) we ride by then for whatever reason she has (I don't argue with her).

There is a MUP at the other end of town that has an overpass over a 4 lane highway. I want to get the bike tweaked some more and get her some more riding time on this new bike before we go there. She has climbed that overpass several times before on the heavier trike but it was a different drive system. The two wheels in the back did the pushing on the old trike, now she is pushing with one wheel and a different posture on the trike, which involves different muscle groups. The Sun has a more upright posture with legs pedaling straight outward, the new one is more reclined with the legs pedaling upward. As we get closer to the ride, we will most likely try yet another MUP that spans several counties and ride an area further north of us that has rolling hills.

My concern is her hips and the fact that I won't be riding with her to help her out if she needs it. I am doing the metric century ride on a road bike with my cycling team. The 100 meter branches off the main route in order to get the doubled miles. We will also be going a lot faster as the police are stopping traffic at the intersections for the cyclist. I am trying to talk my brother into doing the ride with her so she has someone there if she runs into trouble. He averages the same speed as my wife. Maybe I'm just worrying too much. I guess I'll be more relaxed with this after she does the overpass and a few hills.

Leisesturm

Even if your brother does not or cannot ride with your wife it doesn't sound like she will be out there on her own. Get her trained and you've done your part. My wife is totally blind and very independent. I have learned not to worry about her when she is off on her own. We moved to a new city together and I had to map out routes for her and dry run them with her but once I started working she was on her own. Not exactly often but not exactly rarely she will forget a turn or miss a landmark and wind up someplace weird. A stranger will have to be the one to get her back on familiar territory. It does no harm to assume that everything will go well and your wife will have a wonderful ride experience. Peace.

H

John_V 

We're getting the distance portion of this ride pretty down pat. This past Sunday she did 22 miles, with only two short stops, at the park that we normally ride. I think this weekend we are going to try the overpass at the MUP on the other end of town. I'll see how she handles that before planning a ride on rolling hills.

She is still having a small issue with the shifting as she doesn't have the orientation of the shifters down pat yet. Her old bike had grip shifters on a horizontal handlebar and this new one has the grip shifters in a vertical position on the drive arm. She's still learning which way to twist to up and down the gears. We'll work on that this week while doing our neighborhood rides.

bjjoondo 

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You might check out Utah Trikes Website, I believe they have "extensions", they make that could put the shifters where she use to have them making it easier for her, FYI.

Trikin'

Is a Scram DualDrive out of the question? I have a Catrike Trail with the 27spd it comes with, the DD is an added bonus for hill climbing. (27low 27mid 27high) and I've never spun out on downhill's (if I do...I'm going too fast)