Its done. I got the Day 6 today. I was jacked up for it and could not wait till tommorrow or to get the camera's and stuff ready so I took it out. rode about a mile 1/2 mile out and back. felt good. anthony came out so we did a 3 mile run.
so did 4 miles on my first ride in 5+ years or so. it felt very very very good to be on a bike again. the tires and tubes this bike uses hold up fantastic even in turns no visible "distortion" like the MTB tires/tubes did.
so far the bike it holding up. I will check for stress fractures and cracks during daylight hours but it "felt" good.
the seat it way too low. I have trouble getting my knee's "bent" enough for the upward portion of the pedal arc and my knees hurt after I was done
but NO pain in my hands. NO pain in my back and NO pain in my butt. a bit numb (I am fat thats 400 pounds pushing on that seat) but no pain.
I "think" I could have gone more. maybe not another 3 miles but for sure another mile or so but I feared pushing it too hard the first time. long term goal not short term. got to keep the long term goal in mind.
what do you guys suggest? how hard should I push? how far should I go? how do you tell when your pushing the edge and should stop?
the bike comfortably maxes at 12-13mph. I can do 15-16 but the rpm is really high for my massive legs :-) I have more torque left but no gears left. for now thats ok. I don't want to push too hard and damage the crank.
I don't even try to push on hills just gear down up the rpm and climb nice and slow. far too much risk of shredding the crank. I even fear a standing take off. I use the curb I fear if I roll foward and "hop" on one pedal I will break it.
I can't quite "walk" it forward because that requires me to sit on the edge of the seat for which at some point I will have to support my weight on my feet to lift my butt and slide back into the seat. this means the pedals would be taking 100% of my weight and I just don't want to do that. SO will use the curbs to take the strain off the pedals/crank.
I REALLY REALLY love this bike. its squirrely as all heck at low speed. I think thats ME though. the trek was the same way if I "unloaded" the front wheel and the nature of the semi recumbent is that the front wheel is always unloaded so its squirrely till I get some rpm's into the wheels (around 5-6mph is smooths out)
I assume as I lose weight this will get better. I hope I can stick with it. I hope it works. I hope it saves my life.
will start a separate thread tomorrow and get some pictures :-)