Originally Posted by
smoline
I was averaging about 65 miles/day until I got to the hills. Keep in mind there were hilly portions along the entire 1400 miles, but in Texas the hills became relentless and afforded no breaks or opportunities to recover. It was up (and down) one hill right after another. My mileage dwindled to about 40 miles/day.
Well, there's a reason they call that part of the state the "Hill Country". %^)
It's a challenging area to tour regardless of bike geometry. 40 miles a day there especailly on a fully loaded touring bike would be quite respectable in my book. And 1400 miles is a good long tour. Sorry it didn't work out to make it all the way across country.
I have three very different recumbents when it comes to hill climbing unloaded. No surprisingly, the lightest one is easiest to climb on, at least for shorter hills. But when doing long uphill climbs loaded for touring, I think I'm limited more by my ability to spin at moderate to high cadence than I am by the bike. I spent a good bit of time going up mountains at 4 mph in NM.
Jon