Recovery Week

Recovery Week,
After a couple of weeks of long days of work  I got a recovery weekend. We took the Huskies and packed up the camper and went camping. July 1st is Canada Day. It falls on a Monday this year so we had a 3 day weekend of rest. No Quest, No bike riding , just rest.

Camping with the Huskies.

The picture caption says "Camping with the Huskies". The picture only shows two dogs. The smart female was inside lying under the air conditioner. It was about 30 Celsius when I took this picture. Being Canada Day we had our flag taped to the front of our 34 year old camper.  I can not remember such a quiet weekend for me. Lots of rest, good food and lots of dog walking.

           The rest did me some good. My average speed for my daily commutes is up and my legs feel stronger. The poor Quest sat at home in the shop all by itself. Actually it only spends time outside when I'm riding. At work it hides under cover in my locker area surrounded by buses.

Safely parked indoors at work.

 

 

 

 

6 am in the Bus Garage.

The Camping weekend was good but coming home was not so good. Our 12 year old hot water tank sprang a leak while we were away. We came home to no hot water and some very wet carpet in our basement. It's a good thing we had the camper to shower in the next morning. My week involved putting in a new gas hot water  tank and lots of carpet cleaning.  It's just hard sometimes to balance rest, training and work. Not so much FUN to write about this week but the 600 km Brevet is coming up soon and I think I will be up to the challenge...

Life and Work has been Busy

Our Provincial Bird - The Mosquito. 

Life and Work has been Busy.

I have not had much free time lately. I have been working two shifts at work filling in for my afternoon counterpart who is on holidays. On top of that we have had a lot of moisture lately. With the moisture comes the hatching of our provincial bird -  the Mosquito. Thankfully the carbon fiber body of my Quest gives me some protection from being bitten by these Mosquitoes.

               My FUN for the week was completing my 400 km Brevet. We were down to just five riders for this Brevet. Three DF’s, one recumbent and one Quest. One of the riders was our new guy. We stuck together for the entire ride and I found the pace very easy.  I made the extra effort to charge up the few hills we encountered. On this Brevet we crossed the US border and went to Roseau Minn.for lunch. We got to the border and showed our passports. The border agent checked the passports in their computer and sent us on our way. I was last in line when he told me to wait. He had an ear piece in his ear and someone was talking to him from inside the station. A moment later a female agent came out. She wanted to take a picture of the Quest for her Face Book page and ask a few questions about it. I had to speed up a bit to catch the group. Crossing back into Canada was just as good after lunch. We crossed back into Canada at a border stop called Piney. At this point I could have easily speed up to my normal cruising speed and have got home a couple hours sooner, but I stayed with the group. I think I enjoy the social aspect of doing the Brevet as well as the physical and mental challenge. I feel great when I say I did 400 km on a bike in just one day. 
           Even though we crossed from one country to another and back, Yellowmobile has me beat by crossing 3 states in one day. He even took some pictures, while I still have not bought a new charger for my camera. He also posted a great video as well. Take some time to check out his blog.
          I have to give the Quest the weekend off. We are packing up the motor home and dogs for a long weekend of camping.  The Quest will stay home safe in my man-cave (shop) while the other bikes will get used. Next week everything should be back to normal if I survive the Mosquitoes....

Going fast is FUN, But...

I am having too much fun with my Quest. Every day I get my photo taken by people I don't know. People I don't know stop to talk to me about my Quest. I even have women in cars follow me home to see and talk about my Quest. It's a good thing I'm not shy!
         Part of the fun is I can ride it more. It keeps me warm in the winter and I ride more. It keeps me dry in the rain and I ride more. It goes faster in the wind and I ride more. And because I ride more I am getting in better shape and going faster. I do not train like Robert-Jan writes about in his Blog. I would get faster if I did. No, I just commute to work and go on a couple of group rides each week. I do use a heart rate monitor with my Garmin 500. I keep my records on a program called "Cyclistats". It records rides and data, along with maintenance records and weight records. It allows me to see the data in graph form. When you see the average heart beats per km on a graph you see how you body is getting stronger.

 

As I get stronger My heart beat less for every km I go. Again this would be influenced by the wind but when you average it over a month it show the improvements.

          Also useful is your average speed showed on a graph. It show how your average speed increases as time goes on. The only problem is group rides are slower than my average commuting speeds so a graph might show lower than what I do normally. But it makes me see I am improving.

Now if you were to read Robert-Jan's Blog and read the comments you would read Wim Schermer's comment about training with a power meter. A power meter would be a better way to train and measure improvements, but it would cost more money. Having the only Quest around this part of Canada means I have no other Velomobiles to race against like Robert-Jan.  So I will just skip the training for now and just keep riding, commuting and having fun. 

           Next week my fun will include helping out at the Bike to Work day BBQ. Bike to Work Day is an organized event where we try to get more people to ride their bikes to work. We have people running "Pit Stops" around the city on the bike routes giving out free coffee and Muffins to cyclists. In the afternoon we have a large BBQ in the center of the city for an after work party. That is one day I take off work to help out and set up the BBQ.  And the next Day is Saturday and my 400 km Brevet. If survive all that FUN I will have something to write about next week...

My second 300 km Brevet.

My second 300 km Brevet.

 This was my second 300 k Brevet for this year and I was excited to do it. My first 300 went well. I am really enjoying being the first one to finish this year instead of the last one. I know a Brevet is not a race but it still is fun to finish an hour or more ahead of everyone else.  I was really looking forward for this Brevet. My average speed goes up each week as I get in better shape. I got lots of sleep and took Friday off to rest my legs. I was ready to burn up those 300 km. So I was really disappointed to see only 3 people at the start. A local road race was happening that day so there went some of the regulars. And the strong wind forecast scared off the others. Mark, who was the most experienced one of the group asked me, if I could stick with the group to help the new guy finish. The new guy was only doing his second Brevet. He was young and is good shape but riding a new bike that was just fitted to him this week. This made for a longer ride as the speeds were a lot slower. There was lots of stops for adjustments on his shoe cleats and to stretch his sore muscles. But at the same time I got to look around and see more of the country side.  It was still fun, but in a different way. At the end of the day he finished his first 300 km Brevet. He was one happy tired fellow. He was going to be very sore the next day. I went home and took the Huskies for a 5km run. Our next Brevet is our 400 km on June 22. That should be a great test for me and the Quest.
            When I decided to buy a Velomobile I decided on the Quest XS and it was fortunate that BlueVelo was making them in Canada. The other model that is soon to be available in Canada is the Milan. I have been following the build for a while at Velomobiles.ca    and  I am now following the assembly of another in Milan in Nico's blog Milan - sl . I find the building very interesting but I am glad I bought mine complete as I am having a great time riding it.  Check out those blogs if you are interested in the building end.
            That's all for now from my part Canada....

Rain, Rain and more RAIN!

Not much to write about. We have had lots of rain, which we needed some. I have been commuting to work in the Quest and stayed dry of course. I bought my wife a recumbent trike this week. It's a folding model with all 20 inch wheels. Of course we had to go shoe shopping to get her some cycling shoes. After just two shops and trying on LOTS of shoes we found her a pair. Women are more fussy when it comes to shoes. I won't say any more in case she reads my blog. After the Brevets are over we should get out cycling together more.
            We did our first 300 km Brevet on Saturday. It was our south route. A small group of just 5 left at 6:00 am in the rain. We had a head wind of course. The group was all experienced riders except one lady who was doing her first 300 km. I stayed with the group until after Lunch at the 150 km control. After that I went at my own pace. I got back to the last control at 7:08 PM. The Garmin tells me I did 10 hours and 38 seconds of riding. The rest of the time was used up at controls or eating. I didn't get any pictures as I forgot to charge the camera battery. Next week we do the second 300km Brevet on the North route. It was fun doing the ride in the Quest. I was dry, the ride was easy, and I had my music to listen to. I have to eat and drink more next week as I ride. I was down 3.5 pounds when I got home.
             That is about it for this week.
Greetings from Canada....
               Kevin

Coffee, I discovered my Quest really runs on COFFEE!

Coffee, I discovered my Quest really runs on COFFEE! 
Last week I did my first 200 km Brevet with my Quest XS. It was great! The day after I did a club ride (more coffee and buns) of about 70 km and felt great. And my speed is getting faster as the week goes on.

             I did my second 200 km brevet on Saturday May 11 and the weather conditions were far from good. Cloudy, and very windy. A cold north wind at 50 kph gusting to 65 kph. I didn't have my riding partner from last week as his knee was still hurting from that ride. I stayed with the front group until the Lunch break (Coffee and toast) and then picked up my pace and left them behind. The wind was very tricky and I had to keep my speed down. My time was very close to my first Brevet with my average speed up a little bit. When I got to the coffee shop at the end I had some coffee (and more coffee)  and waited for the group to catch up. After waiting for over an hour(even more coffee)  there was still nobody there. Finally a girlfriend of one of the riders showed up to wait for him so I gave her my card to hand in and went home. Our route was mostly flat and open but we had one small ridge to go over. I shot some video so you get to see something that is not flat. Link to my Video
          The camera I used is new and the laptop is also new.  So I am slower to post as I am just learning the new programs on the laptop as well. The newer laptop edits faster but the program works a little different. I still have to figure out how to embed the video from Youtube.
Until next week, Greetings from the center of Canada....

My Best 200km Brevet.

Where does it go?

My Best 200km Brevet.
Today was our first Brevet of 2013. We start a lot later than most places do because of our climate. This year we had fewer riders because nobody has had much riding time yet. There was also a road race happening today too. Today was my longest ride to date in the Quest. I had every thing I needed in the Quest. Tire pump, tools, spare tires and tubes, rain gear in it's own bag, food, lots of fluids, cameras and even a cell phone. The Quest was checked out and the tires pumped. I was ready.
           The start for this southern 200 was only a block away from home so no real warm up before the start. At the start it was -1C but it sunny and the high temperature was 14C for the day.  We started as a group and stayed together for the first 50 km where half of the group stopped for breakfast and then headed back. They decided they were not ready for the full 200km. From there on I rode with another recumbent guy who was riding a Challenger low racer.

My riding partner, riding his Dutch Bike.

 Dean who was riding with me most of the way is a veteran Randonneur. He rides fast and steady. This time we were so fast we got to the lunch stop and it wasn't open yet. We had to wait until the next control to get some hot food.

Too early for lunch!

The last 60 km I rode ahead at my regular pace and was the first to finish with 6 hours, 38minutes and 22 seconds of riding. For me it was over two hours better than my best time to date. When I got home I didn't even need a nap.  I really wish I had bought this Velomobile years ago. I had perfect weather conditions with almost no wind. I am really looking forward to next weeks Brevet. Our 200 km North Loop.
           The top picture was shot at our 3rd control and it was one of those pictures I just had to take. You will notice there is no snow in any of my pictures for a change. Yes spring is here.  I also shot some video but I will have to edit it after the weekend. I may post as a separate blog if it turned out. It is a new camera and I had it mounted inside "Da Hood" The battery died before I got home so I have to remember to just turn it on and off as needed.

So until next week, Greetings from Canada...