osco53

So your on your first bent and you feel slower. You have saddle time now and you got your 'Bent' legs but still you feel slow.

Now you think, 'I need a lighter bent', 'I need better faster tires, etc.
Shure lighter and lower is faster but what you really need is better engines and lungs.

I stepped away from my recumbent and got on a mountain bike, what a wake up call that was I tell ya !

Out there in the sugar sand, rocks, roots, climbs, and drops you need much more powerful engines.
20 miles on jeep trails and single tracks works your body far more than the bents even with hills.

I did not have the time to devote to the hours needed on a recumbent but I can now tell you from personal experience that
20 miles on a mountain bike at 10 mph average will show you the light, If you don't pass out or have a heart attack.
Hard Intervals happen constantly in the woods. You simply must do crunches and upper body workouts, It becomes a matter of safety.
You must become more agile and light on the bike to keep from crashing.

Now when I get on my Tour Easy I can fly.
Getting more than just a little stronger on a bike or bent is hard work, remember that everything about a bike's design
is made to conserve and use as little energy as possible. So If you want to be a better faster stronger rider Diversify ...

Ok I'm done.

BlazingPedals

I don't know if diversity is required, but it sure can't hurt! As for getting faster, you only get out of a workout what you put in. Without a hard number flashing at us, most of us will overestimate how hard we're working; which is why a heart rate monitor is a good idea for anyone who wants to get faster.

delcrossv

In dealing with training of the kids (who have both DF's and bents) I've noticed that riding a bent makes you faster on a DF but NOT the other way 'round.
Huh.

osco53

I also noticed this, my problem was I needed more time in the saddle and did not have it....

I only got faster on my bent because I could crush myself in the dirt in as little as 2 hours. For some reason I settle in a 'pace' on the bent, mile after mile until I run out of time. And If I 'Crush it' I only burned out my legs.
I needed to condition ALL of myself, especially abs and chest and back and arms . A stronger core was what gave me more power in my legs.

Getting my heart rate up there was very hard on the bent, simple in the dirt, very simple....

Just sayin...

delcrossv

Yep. All true. A bent won't do much to strengthen your core.

BlazingPedals

Don't forget that being in a recumbent position will naturally lower your MHR; so your zones have to all be recalculated for riding a recumbent vs an upright. It's about a 15 bpm hit for me on my lowracer. You'd think that the lower number would be easier to hit, but it don't work that way... Nope, ya gotta work HARDER to hit the lower number.

tctdvm

I find my HRower correlation identical on both platforms.

I feel my legs burning more on the bent, though.
Similar FTP on both machines, too.
After 2k hard training DF miles this year, I have a short term power advantage on the DF, from being nearly equal at 20 min to being about 10-12% stronger on the DF at 5 sec.
Mostly because I can toss in a handful of out-of-the-saddle efforts that tax my heart and lungs on not my legs as much (in the short term). Otherwise, single-position efforts tend to be a lot closer in power.

T

tpy2010

I agree with the original poster re: workout intensity. In a addition to a stable of trikes and a LWB, I have a single speed redline mountain bike. Taking that off road is a major workout. You are standing constantly and spin like crazy. You are lifting the front end and the rear end frequently. THis is in addition to twisting and bending at the waist. I so prefer my trike or LWB some much more, but when I feel like I need to be punished, I take out the MTB.