Whenever you start a new exercise regimen you end up using different muscles, leading to duress, and this morning was consistent with that. I have been using an elliptical trainer for the last month or so and had figured it would help me getting used to the bike, and it probably did, but man! The ride took me 25 minutes, was 5.4 miles gradually uphill, and when I hopped off the bike I almost fell over because I was so unsteady on my legs. All in all it was good though – for most of it I seemed to range between 9 and 11 mph and from a cardio perspective I was fine. A couple of times on the steep bits I was down around 5mph and my legs would complain, but the thing has really low gearing and I just dropped down very low and limped along.
The bike itself is a bit of a….filly. The handling is very very twitchy. Not in the sense of feeling like you’re going to crash, but it darts in one direction or another at the slightest touch. The brakes are awesome, much better than any bike I’ve ridden before, and the turning radius is similarly better than any bike I’ve ridden. The worst problem I had was with the toe clips – I’ve never liked them and I spent almost the entire ride trying to force my damned right foot into its clip. Hopefully I will quickly get used to them.
Anyway for a first ride I give it a B. It’s definitely a great cardio workout, which lets me take care of my exercise needs before getting home while saving a bit on gas and being kind to the environment. I can’t wait until the ride home.
Dave's Place/Metamusing 
Hey, make sure you take some detailed photos and post them.
Do you have toe clips or clip less pedals that your shoes clip into?
Disc brakes must be awesome. It is cool that they have made their way onto bicycles.
You evaluate your camera mounting options yet?
LikeLike
Hey,
First, I forgot to mention the coolest thing – the bike is super comfortable, way more comfortable than a regular bike.
The shoes have metal prongs on the bottom of them that slot into a clip on the pedal.
I haven’t worked on the camera mounting stuff yet.
Rode in again today and man, hills do suck on the thing. I was following a bike I had been slowly catching up to the whole ride, and we hit the steep part and man….it was no contest.
I also got it up to ~25mph though and man that was a blast. I also managed to do a tail slide which was also fun as hell. Zooming at speed down the twisty paths on campus is serious fun as well, I love how the thing handles.
I did much better with the shoe clips today too, no real problems aside from having to fumble about with my feet for 3-4 minutes when I first climbed onto the thing.
I’m also glad a got a bike with suspension. You definitely feel the bumps in a serious way, I can’t imagine how much rougher the ride would be without any suspension.
LikeLike
The shoe thing will alleviate with practice. Everyone I have ever known to use them has had to adapt to them. In time it becomes second nature and no longer a problem.
No standing for extra power on the hills I guess đŸ™‚ You’ll just have to downshift and muscle it out. In a few weeks when your legs are conditioned a bit more I bet it is less of an issue. We shall see.
LikeLike
Here you go. A goal to work towards. Breaking the bicycle speed record.
http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2007/03/bikerecord_0330
LikeLike
Ha! I have had it up over 30 now but it was on a very steep hill and its about as fast as I am likely to want to go, I don’t see myself capable of pedaling the thing much above 15mph for any reasonable amount of time. But give me a month or two and I will weigh in on that issue again. I haven’t been a daily bike rider since college so I’m not really sure what I’m capable of anymore in that realm.
LikeLike