Today was the first chance I had to take a longer ride on my new Quickbeam. Last weekend I had a cold so I'd not had a chance to do more than my usual commute for the last 10 days.
I decided this morning, on the spur of the moment more or less, that I'd ride out to my sister's home in Kapolei. I'd never done this ride before and I thought there was a bike path most of the way (there was). However I wasn't exactly sure where to find each leg of it. The whole ride turned out to be about 58 miles from my front door back to my front door. Some of the ride I was familiar with, but once I got as far as the airport I was in "new territory" as it were. Of course I'd been out that way a thousand times, but never on a bike. Most of the way was on marked paths on roads or on designated multi-use paths. It took about three hours for me to do the 30 or so miles to my sister's place as I was forever checking the map on my iPhone to make sure I knew were to go in-between legs of the path. Unfortunately there are very few bike route markings so once one leg ends one has to cast about for the start of next bit of path. Oahu isn't exactly bike friendly, though it should be. The highlight of the ride was the path around Pearl Harbor. It was much nicer than I expected, though admittedly I wasn't expecting much. At times it hardly felt as if I were in the city at all. Here's a link to the almost, but not quite, useless map of the area from the Oahu bike plan: http://hawaii.gov/dot/highways/Bike/oahu/Pearlharbor.htm And, here are some shots I took along the way. It was a view of Pearl Harbor I'd never had before and I've lived on Oahu most of my life. Sigh. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mgps-bob/sets/72157623034088896/ Now for the real good stuff. The ride is mostly flat with just minor inclines so it was perfect for a first long ride on my Quickbeam. I was able to really ride the bike without having to think too much about whether I was going to make it up a hill or not. I know I can ride 50-75 miles so there wasn't any question there either. The only question is how would the Quickbeam do. Fantastic. It's a 66cm to go with my 95 PBH and it was comfortable for the entire 60 miles. I never got numb, stiff, or felt a bit uncomfortable. The I found enough hand positions on the moustache bars so my hands were in good shape the whole time as well. I kept my ears tuned to hear any odd creaking that would signal that something was coming loose and never heard a thing (besides my new Brooks breaking in). My 700x35 Paselas soaked up the bumps. That's important because local roads and bike paths are...um...let's just say you understand the value of decent tires. The wheels Rick built have been great as well. All in all it was great ride, even if I take a wrong turn or two on the way out (and only one on the way back). The ride back, even though it was into the wind was much faster because I knew the way, though I'm not a fast rider (nor do I want to be one particularly - I like stopping and seeing what's what. Really the QB is the perfect bike for that sort of ride. I got spend a lot of time simply riding and enjoying myself and none worrying about the bike or which gear I should be in. I ran the standard 40x16 all the way out and back (flat I tell you, flat). Just as important to me as comfort during the ride is how I feel afterwards. Sometimes things feel fine while riding but afterwards one realizes all was not well. None of that today. In fact after getting home and cleaning up a bit, I went back out on some errands adding a few more miles to the day. In fact, so far the only thing I can imagine changing on the Quickbeam are my bags. I really didn't need the large Sackville Saddlesack today. I used it because it was already zip tied to the bike and because I thought I might do a little shopping when I got back into Honolulu. I didn't. However I never felt held back it either. But, I'm going to get something to go on the front soon; I just haven't decided what. The big saddlebag is great for my daily commute when I might carry a laptop and stop for some groceries, but it was overkill today. That's pretty much it. I love my QB. I'm looking forward to seeing what it gets replaced with in 2010, but I'm really, really glad I didn't wait. I can't imagine the replacement being better, as good? Sure. But better? Hard to imagine. Aloha! -- Robert Harrison rfharri...@gmail.com statrixblog.statrix.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
