200 km brevet on Trice XXL

A friend took these photos Saturday 29 January 2005 on the San
Francisco Randonneurs 200 km brevet. I am shown in some of the photos
riding my Trice XXL. I rode the trike rather than the Bacchetta Aero I
normally use for long rides for two reasons. One was because I was
staying in San Francisco the night before which happened to be the last
Friday of the month and thus I had an opportunity to ride in the San
Francisco Critical Mass. This is a low speed ride with a high cyclist
density and lots of starts and stops so much easier to do on a trike
than a high bottom bracket SWB recumbent. The other reason for taking
the trike was it was raining Friday with a chance of rain Saturday and
I knew some of the shaded descents would still be wet and slippery.

The brevet started in San Francisco at the south end of the Golden Gate
Bridge and went north through Sausalito, Mill Valley, Corte Madera,
Larkspur, San Anselmo, Fairfax, Olema, Inverness and out to the first
control at Point Reyes lighthouse. Then it went back through Inverness
to Point Reyes Sation to the second control in Marshall. It returned
back through Nicasio and then on through Fairfax to San Francisco. The
ride was fairly hilly with 2200 metres of climbing including my ride to
and from the start which made it a total of 218 km.

It nice being on the trike on the wet, twisty descent from Mill Valley
to Corte Madera where I hardly had to use the brakes but the rest of
the roads were fairly dry and well into the ride when I was suffering
fatigue and knee pain I was wishing I took my Aero instead. Some guys
in my bike club who I'm normally faster than when I'm on my Aero were
passing me and that was dissapointing but predictable. I was not doing
this ride for speed, more just for the fun of it and sight seeing.
Still greater efficiency is always appreciated. I actually knew many of
the people on the brevet and normally ride with them on club rides. It
was a bit lonely not being able to ride with them because I was on the
slower trike, kind of an interesting roll reversal since some of them I
am significantly faster than when I ride my Aero.

It took me a total of 10 hours, 20 minutes to complete the 200 km
brevet. Last year it took me 7 hours, 16 minutes to complete a 200 km
brevet on the Aero though that was on a less hilly course. For a
lightweight, low powered rider like myself the vehicle weight really
makes a big difference in overall performance and the Aero is much
lighter than the XXL along with having less frontal area and lower
rolling resistance. It is good to do a long ride on a trike every once
in a while for a change of pace and to help me appreciate the greater
efficiency of a bike. My last long trike ride was Seattle To Portland
in one day last year, also on the XXL. Once again I have respect for
those who have the strength and determination to do 600 and 1200 km
brevets on trikes but for rides longer than 200 km. More power to them
(you know who you are).

Here are the photos:

http://www.sonic.net/~bushnell/bike/....29/index.html

Or:
http://tinyurl.com/6vxhv

--------------------------------------------
Zach Kaplan Cycles
Alameda, Northern California, North America
510-522-BENT (2368)