Saturday, July 7, 2012

Clear Fork Loop 3


Recumbent Seat's View

With a couple days recovery from the Flat Fourth Fiasco I found myself back in the saddle or should I say recumbent seat.  I woke up early with the hopes of beating the heat and getting a nice road ride in the log but it was already 90 degrees when I left the driveway.  Even though it was sweltering I felt like hills so I pointed my cranks to the east and started off on one of my favorite local circuits -The Clear Fork Loop.

Since I've made this ride sort of an annual feature on the blog I chose today for this years installment. That's the reason for the "3" in the title.  After leaving the outskirts of  town I must cross a few miles of flat lands before the hills come into view.  This leg of the journey was uneventful until these two characters came out to the road to greet me.  I saw right away I couldn't outrun them so I stopped and made friends.  The big guy was laid back and friendly but little blackie had an attitude.  The little ones always do.     



Here's a rare self portrait of me at the base of Orweiler Hill.  Soon I would be cranking up that hill in first gear moving at a whopping 3 mph.  To climb on a recumbent requires a triple crank with a granny gear.  Contrary to what you might have heard climbing on a recumbent is very possible.  Smart gearing choices and in my opinion a hard shell seat to push against are the recipe for success.  I love climbing and have never had a problem on the bent.


il Tricolore

As I travelled along the route I watched the temperature indicator on my cycle-computer climb from 90 to 00.  It only has two digits in the readout so it was not able to read the full 100.  I saw it fluctuate as high as 07 and it sure felt like it.  One of the bicycle's great attributes is it's ability to keep it's rider cool as a side effect of locomotion.  No matter what the air temperature is if I keep moving I generally feel pretty good.  Stopping or slow climbs are another story altogether.

I noticed a little colorful symbol painted on the road as I climbed up out of the valley to the south.  It looked like an Italian flag and probably was as I was just around the corner from the famous Mid Ohio Sports Car Course.
   
  
A few revolutions further up the road I spotted this rusty horse shoe.  I'm not a superstitious guy but with my recent run of bad luck you can be sure I picked up this talisman.


As soon as I got home I tacked up the horseshoe above my workbench.  The open end goes at the top -to catch the good luck.  The shoe still had a few square nails so I straightened them out and reused them.


Clear Fork Loop
Distance:  28.16 miles
Ride Time:  2:20:00
Average Speed:  12.0 mph
Max Speed:  32.7 mph

More great photos from previous rides on this loop:
http://kd8jhj.blogspot.com/2011/05/clear-fork-loop.html


6 comments:

  1. The horseshoe was a nice find. I love how you incorporate small and appropriate historical momentos into your world of modern efficiency.

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    1. Always looking to the past to make sense of the crazy present. I think you can relate.

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  2. The black dog reminds me of the one that bit me last year. I can see the hair standing up on his back...better watch him next time you're in the area.

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  3. *high five* nice work getting a respectable ride in, in such sweltering temps! I can also relate to picking up items while riding. I've got a rusty bottle cap affixed to my fridge with a magnet, that I found while sitting trail-side in pueblo, Colorado. Great post man.

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  4. You may be digging the blue sky where I live but I'd trade you some blue sky for the beautiful roads where you live.

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    1. Yeah, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Or so they say. What I really like about cycling blogs is seeing pictures of different places people ride. That motivates me to find the nice views for my posts.

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