Sunny Sunday ride ....

After a couple of grey days, the weather forecast predicted a really sunny Sunday for today. Last night, it rained until after midnight, but when I got out of bed around noon, the sun was shining and it felt like summer again !
Although I had planned to ride my Beemer in the afternoon, the weather was actually so nice that I decided to take the XP for a ride instead. Put on my short, T-shirt and bike sandals and off I went. There was a mild wind, but who cared ....

Rode up to Tilburg and Loon op Zand, where I crossed the Nationaal Park de Loonse and Drunense Duinen. It was pretty crowded on the bike paths in the park, lots of people got out on their bikes on a sunny Sunday like this.
When I left the Park, I rode untill I reached Elshout, where I enjoyed the scenery while riding on the dike.

All this for bicycles only !

When I reached knooppunt 87, I turned around and headed back home. I arrived just in time for supper with a little over 60 miles on bike computer. A nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon, if you ask me ;-)

The 2010 Limburg 100km ride

Yesterday, for the 4th year in a row, Edje C. from the flemish recumbent forum organised a 100km recumbent ride starting and ending in Helchteren, in the provence of Limburg. This provence is the most beautiful of all for riding your bike, not only because they invented the famous fietsknooppuntennetwerk, but also because it's a beautiful part of Belgium with plenty of well constructed bicycles paths. I participated in earlier editions so I was planning to the same for this year. Only problem this year was that I had to work a night shift from Saturday on Sunday ....

But I was going anyhow, so .... I managed to get a couple of hours of sleep before my shift started on Saturday. On Sunday morning I left home early (around 6.30 a.m.) with my XP. Again, it was a last moment decision to take the XP, since the weather forecast had predicted some heavy rain with thunderstorms throughout the country. But since they were supposed to be locally, I decided to take a chance with the XP.

I had a different route this year to get to Helchteren, since Jonathan A. and Wouter D. were meeting me a little over halfway on their rowing bikes to accompany me to the starting point. Around 8.40 a.m. they joined me at the canal intersection in Kwaadmechelen. Wouter D. had a GPS device attached to his rowing bike and lead us the way to Helchteren. But only after 10 minutes of riding together, the dyneema propulsion cable of his rowing bike broke in half. We spent more than 1 hour to repair and replace his propulsion so that we could continue our way to Helchteren. Of course we were too late to start with the group, but fortunately, Wouter D. had the complete tour of the ride in his GPS so we caught up pretty soon.

This year's group was a bit bigger than last year : a total of 22 riders showed up. After stopping for lunch in the marina of Lommel, we did another drink stop in marina of Leopoldsburg and of course (and especially for me) an ice-cream stop in Koersel. After that I was back to Helchteren.

Although the skies turned dark a couple of times, only once a thunderstorm passed us closeby in the afternoon. Only a few drops of rain fell, but not enough to put on my rain jacket. It was warm and pretty humid all day, so I was glad that I took the XP instead of my velomobile.

Had a little over 220km on my bike computer when I got home, needles to say I slept like a baby last night !

Fixing the seat issue ....

Although the XP's seat is very comfortable, on longer rides I always start to touch one of the seats' back rails with my back bones. Very uncomfortable to say the least. Tightening the mesh was limited due to the construction of it, which in my case ment that when even tightened at maximum, my back still touched the rail.

On the Ransbike discussion forum I've read about the Sling Mesh Seat, which is a comparable seat but has a different mesh with long straps to tighten. It is not mentioned on the ShopRans pages (but there's a picture of it on here), but is available anyway for $400. Since I'm not sure if the seat fits my 2005 Stratus and the additional shipping costs + taxes would make it very expensive, I don't consider this to be an option.

I posted my problem on the forum and one of its members suggested to install some rubber pipe isolation on the seat rails and then put the seat mesh back on over the isolation. Sounded great, so yesterday I went to a home improvement superstore and bought a piece of plastic isolation hose. Cut it open in length, installed it on the seat rails and put the seat mesh back on. It now has more room to strengthen the straps, which should allow me to tighten the mesh some more and prevent my back bones from touching the seats' rail. Pretty easy solution, why didn't I think of it myself ?

As usual, only time will tell if my seat problem is solved or not, but I'm pretty sure that it is.

Plastic isolation hose on both seat rails does the trick ....

The Limburg BBQ ride

Yesterday, Johan C. from the Limburgse Liggers organized a 75 km ride followed by a BBQ. Since we've been having hot summerdays these last few weeks and I wanted to meet some old riding friends again, I decided to join them for the ride. So in the early morning yesterday, I left with my XP. Rode along the towpath near the canal until I reached the bridge between Munsterbilzen and Zutendaal. There I followed the N730 to Wiemesmeer, the place where Johan C. lives.
Around 21 recumbent riders showed up, 2 of them even with a velomobile. I have to admit that it slipped my mind to take my own Strada for the ride, but with predicted temperatures of + 35° Celcius, I decided to go for the XP. Weather forcasts warned for heavy rain -and thunderstorms, but in the last few days, we did not see any of these, so I preferred an open bike.

It was hot, real hot. The route was beautiful as usual, the province of Limburg is like heaven for cyclist : lots of bike paths through beautiful sceneries, guided by their famous knooppunten-system. Anyway, we did several drink stops (thankfully, since it really was too hot for some riders) and a lunch stop where the most of us ate a plate of spaghetti. After lunch, a small group of riders decided to take a short route back to Wiemesmeer, where as most of the riders wanted to complete the ride as planned. So the last group with Johan C. was back in Wiemesmeer around 6.15 p.m., where everybody welcomed the garden hose to freshen up with open arms ;-).
BBQ was also terrific, Johan C. and his wife Elke are perfect hosts and nobody left with an empty stomach.

Around 09.15 p.m. I decided to ride back home. Jonathan A, who came with his rowing bike, accompanied me. As we decended the bridge and came on the towing path heading north, a strong head wind was blowing us right in the face. Wow, that would be no piece of cake ! Honestly said, I had hoped that the wind would go down in the evening -as it had the days before- but not this time. Looking at the skies, we knew that the weather was changing and that I would not get home without getting wet. We had to work hard to keep our riding speed around 25 km/h. When we reached the bridge between Beringen and Diest, Jonathan took off and I kept on fighting against the wind by my own. A couple of minutes later the first drops of rain started to fall. I stopped to cover my panniers with rain covers and put on my rain jacket. Within 15' the sky turned completely dark and I got caught in a real thunderstorm. I saw lighting wherever I looked and it rained heavily. Now I'm not really scared from lighting, but let met tell you that I was pretty nervous to say the least. I still had to ride about 50 km before I was home, so stopping was no option, I simply had to ride on.
I did stop about 3 times to hide underneath a bridge since rain was falling so heavily at that time that I could not see where I was going.

Somewhere halfway between Kwaadmechelen and Mol, I picked up Teun G. with his rowing bike. He was also on his way home, but did have no lights on his bike and was hiding for the storm. Since my headlight was strong enough for the both of us, he joined me until we reached the bridge between Ravels and Oud-Turnhout. I was home around 00.50 a.m., soaken wet but happy to be home. Total milage for yesterday was 245 km.

Picking up the XP

Yesterday I received a call from my bike shop that the XP was ready to be picked up. Harry had finished replacing the rear wheel with the new MAVIC rim. Harry had taken the damaged rim to MAVIC and returned with a new rim for free. It's not exactly the same rim, but very close. Once the stickers will be removed, I don't think anyone will see any difference ...

So today I picked up my beloved XP and rode it back home. Of course I did not take the shortest route back home, I was way too happy to be riding the XP again !

I only need to remove the Mavic stickers and replace them with new Scotchlite 3M reflective stickers. I will save that for a rainy day, as long as these hot summer days are lasting, I'd rather be riding my bike !

Torn rim ...

When I left for groceries this morning, I felt a small wobble coming from the rear of my XP, as if the rear tire had a small lump. When I touched the side walls of the tire with my fingers while freewheeling, I did not feel much, but I stopped to make sure anyway.
My intitial thought was that the tire had come from underneath the rims' edge. When I looked a bit closer, I ascertained that there was nothing wrong with the tire, but that the rim was torn laterally ! Damn ! I deflated the tire a bit to put less strain on the rim and carefully drove back home. The Mavic rims were installed almost 2 years ago, one would expect them to last longer than that. Okay, I realize that I was lucky that the rim got torn overnight in the garage instead of getting damaged while out riding miles away from home, but still .... Now the weather finally is improving, I'm going to have to miss my favorite bike for a couple of weeks !

Anwyay, I'm going to bring it to my bike shop today or tomorrow, where the XP is gonna be on display. The bike shop is having an open house for the upcoming Pentecost weekend and the owner asked me permission to display the XP in his showroom together with my new Raptobike lowracer. Hopefully I'll be able to ride the XP to the shop without any trouble ....

Serious damage after less then 2 years ....

Update : I managed to get the XP safely to my bike shop yesterday and according to them, the rim was torn because of the tire's pressure, which appearantly is too high for this rim. Can't quiet understand this, since I run the Kojaks at the same pressure than I did with the Supremes (5 bar) and nothing ever happened while riding them.

Last week I received a call from my bike shop that Mavic will replace the rim at their expense. Mavic agreed that it is not normal for a rim to get damaged like this by a tire pressure of only 5 bar. Let's hope they still have the same rim in stock ....

Sunday Morning Ride

Initially I was planning on taking the XP just for a ride to the supermarket. We were out of bread and since some supermarkets are open on Sunday in the Netherlands, I rode to Baarle-Nassau. It was pretty windy and cloudy, but as I came closer to the border, the sky opened up and the sun came through. So instead of returning home after shopping, I decided to spend more time on my bike. Besides the bread I also bought an extra bottle of regular water and I was on my way. I had to start to work at 01.00 p.m.today, so I figured I might enjoy some riding time before going to work.

When I rode from Gilze to Tilburg, I encountered the following road sign :

Can't translate it litterally, but the sign warns bicyclists for a bumpy ride caused by tree roots pushing up the tiles ( wortel = root, opdruk = pressing upward). Haven't heard of read something like this anywhere yet, though it's nice to be warned before you actually feel how bad the road surface is, no ?

When I rode to Goirle, I was pleasantly suprised to discover that they actually have bicycle streets : a road reserved for bicycles. Other traffic is allowed to participate but have to give the right of way to bicyclists. I knew they existed in the Netherlands, but never actually had seen one before. No wonder the Netherlands is one of the leading countries when it comes to bicycling ! Can't imagine the same kind of treatment of bicyclists in my own country, but it's nice to actually see that things can be turned around in favor of the bicycle, instead of motorized traffic. And it made me realize how fortunate I am to be living close to such a bike-friendly country. Most of my bike riding takes place in the Netherlands, if I'm not riding the towing paths near the canal, that is ...

A bicycle street ....

When going through the centre of Goirle, I passed the Irene Street, which was completely turned into the color orange and was renamed Orange Street. As you know, the Dutch are really crazy when it comes to their national soccer team, this is just one of the many ways the Dutch show their support. Unbelievable !

Orange Crazyness ...

By the time I got home, I spent almost 4 hours on the XP, enjoying every minute of it. Let's hope the afternoon shift at work will not be to busy ;-)

New (summer) tires

The Schwalbe Supremes tires were due for replacement and since summer is supposed to be coming, I ordered 2 Schwalbe Kojak 26 x 2.00 tires. I wanted something completely different, not that the Supreme is not a good tire ( I did a little over 10,000 km with them without any flat), but it's rather heavy and not so fast. A friend of mine adviced me to pick the Kojak, which is lighter and supposed to be faster. So a couple of days ago, I replaced the XP's tires.

Tire size is the same, but the Kojak is treadless. It also lacks a reflective lining, but since my rims have 3M Scotchlite stickers on them, that'll be no real problem at night. And to be honest, I quite like the looks of the black sidewalls of the tires !

I will try the new tires as soon as the weather improves, for it has been pretty rainy these last few days.

Schwalbe's Kojak 26 x 2.00

Update : today I used the XP to get groceries just across the border. Wow, what a big difference ! Not only has acceleration improved, but speed too ! I noticed that with the same effort I can now ride between 2 and 3 km/h faster, not bad ! Can't tell anything about puncture proofness or durability, but time will surely tell. At less than half the price of the Supreme, the Kojak is defenitaly staying on the XP for now (thank you Jonathan A. for recommending this tire) !

Sunday Touring

Today promised to be the most pleasant day of the week, with mild spring temperatures, perfect to make a tour. As it happened to be, the department of the provence of Limburg of the Gentse Liggers ( a Flemish discussion group for recumbents) organised a tour. Starting place was Tessenderlo, roughly only around 30 miles from home. Ideal to get there by XP, ride the tour and get back. So I left early this morning, took a bit of a detour by using the towing path to get there and arrived around 9.45 a.m. at the starting place. There, the riders were welcomed with fresh coffee, tea and croissoints, which was a nice way to meet some new faces and see some old friends again. 12 riders including myself showed up for the tour. The route we followed is called the 3 Provinciën Pad, because it goes through 3 different provinces. The nice thing of this route is that you actually ride through different landscapes, one of the provinces is a bit hilly, which is a nice change from the flat landscapes around where I live.

Around noon we made a lunch stop at a taverne and halfway the afternoon we made a second drink stop at a nice café.

Hmmm, spaghetti !

We finished the tour around 3.45 p.m., which gave me plenty of time to ride back home. Got home around 6.45 p.m. with 105 miles on my bicycle computer, enough for this old lad to spend the rest of the evening on the couch. All in all a nice way to spend a Sunday, if you ask me ;-)
A few more pictures can be found here

Somewhere along the route ....

New pedals

After that december ride last year, winter wasn't over at all and I had to keep the XP parked inside. I can' t actually remember when we had so much snow for such a long period of time, but I'm glad it's gone now. Both the roads and bicycle paths suffered from these past winter conditions, with salt and other kind of debris causing lots of holes and other damages.

After riding my velomobile for the last two months, I was more than happy to finally get the XP out of the garage. After checking the tires (they were still okay, no need to inflate them) and the chain (needed a quick wipe and a drop of lube) I was on the road again. Man, it felt good being on an "open" bent again after all these weeks ! I liked it so much, that I rode my XP already 4 times this week, just enjoying riding a bike again. The last days were sunny, but pretty cold and windy, making the rides not fast at all. I also think that the cold slows down the Dual Drive II hub a bit, I notice the same thing on my bike with the Nexus hub.

The Shimano SPD A520 pedals came stock with my velomobile. These are fine touring pedals, but did not work for me in the velomobile. Since they only have a one side entrance, I often tried to click in on the wrong side, which resulted in some scratches and bruses on my legs. So I took them out and switched them with the SPD's that were on the XP. The A520's work well on the XP, giving your shoes a wider platform.

The new A520 pedals

Another year has passed ....

Another year has passed, a new one has arrived. Last year I managed to ride a measly 1,705 miles with my XP. Although I was convinced that I spent a fair amount of time on my XP, the stats show otherwise. Strange .... I did not ride any bike at all during the first three months of 2009, which explains that my total bike riding distance is also a little over 2,000 miles less than the previous year, but still ... Need to ride more, that's for sure.
So, what's new ? Actually, not much. The last few weeks we've had snow, we even had a white christmas for the first time in 23 years ! While the snow sure makes nice sceneries, it's pure misery for those who ride their bikes. Since the snow/ice on most bike lanes is not properly removed, it's pretty risky to ride your bike. There's no cleaning at all on the towing path near the canal, making it only available for mountain bikes with fat tires (which I do not own). So for the last weeks, I was condemmed to use my regular bike to commute (yuck!). Just waiting for the snow and ice to melt, but it's supposed to stay for at least another week ....

On my last ride I noticed that the Marathon Supreme tires on the XP are showing little cracks on the sidewalls and contact surface. I've ridden them both for almost 6,250 miles, so it might be time to replace them. Schwalbe has a new model in their Marathon line that looks interesting, the Dureme, but according to their stats, it's a bit slower than the Supreme. So far, I'm very happy with the Supremes; I did not have one flat tire since I put them on the XP in 2007, their grip is pretty good even on wet surfaces and they seem to last quiet a while. Maybe I"ll stick to them as long as the cracks are not getting worse ....

Little cracks like these are appearing everywhere ...