bacchetta corsa

  1. August Makes 12

    Early Morning Meetup on the Greenway Bridge

    The 12 by 100 has been completed! My friend Derek came up with the challenge to do a century ride every single month for a year... in Minnesota. August was our final month and while we had our challenges fitting it into the schedule, we did in fact pull it off with smiles all around. The post ride celebrating would have been massive if only we'd given friends and family a bit more heads up on when the final ride was going to happen. As it was, Derek had to race home to take care of his kids and I had to work a close at the shop.

    We were joined by Perennial Cycle salesperson extraordinaire John McConaghay. John rode a Surly Pugsley that he had recently built road wheels for. The Pugsley is a bike designed to take over 4" tires (think snow, ice, sand, mud and other adventuresome conditions). John fell in love with his Pug and thus set it up as a versatile summer ride to complement the hard core winter Pug (with HUGE tires).

    Derek rode his not-so trusty Concord and I smoked anyone in my path on the zippy Bacchetta Corsa.

    It was a Great Day, though at about 56 miles Derek's bottom bracket seized and we had to call for mechanical assistance. It was looking a bit touch and go for a bit, but the Hunter showed up with the right tools for the job and a few hours later the 12 x 100 was history.

  2. The YK200.1! A Great, Wet Ride

    YK200.1 Cyclemeter

    The forecast was for a 40% chance of rain around 1pm and partly cloudy in the morning and late afternoon. A friend said to me later that he figured they meant to say that we'd get 40 inches of rain all day long... We met at 5am and it started drizzling then. From then until the end it was either drizzling or raining.

    YK200.1 Picture

    There were three of us on the ride. A fourth was all set to go, but thought that we were meeting at 5:30. Oops, 5:00 is a half hour earlier and thus we were on our slow 'n' steady ride by the time he showed. Bummer! Later in the day when were absolutely drenched with over 90 miles left to go, Derek says with the air of a high school boy "Marlin is sooo missing out!". At this point we all busted out laughing at the thought that someone would be disappointed that they were NOT with us.

    The fact is the ride was a blast in spite of the rain, but it's hard to think about the ride and not think about the quantity of water we were dealing with. From the 80 mile mark up to 150 miles the rain was non stop. I kept saying that rain comes and it goes and we'd be sure to get a dryer weather cycle soon. Ha!

    Yk200.1 Picture 2

    I rode a Bacchetta Corsa while my two riding partners were on lugged, steel road bikes (Concorde and Trek). The recumbent proved to be an amazing bike for this ride (again, only more so). While the high bottom bracket on the Corsa doesn't make for a very nimble city-riding bike, it is a comfy speed demon out on the road. At no point did I feel in doubt about riding the 200 miles.

    We got in 100 miles by noon and took the afternoon and much of the evening to get in the next 100. I finished with just over 200 miles total and averaged a bit over 15 MPH. We held pretty true to the 5 minute breaks in the morning and lunch break wasn't much over 30 minutes, but as the water seeped into every wrinkle of clothing, the need for slightly longer and more frequent breaks was needed as a survival tool.

    We never talked about quitting, but we often talked about what fools we were (and how dumb Marlin was for not being along for the fun : )

  3. Ready for a Double Century? YK200.1

    YK200.1 Prep

    This Saturday is the great YK200.1 (a made up name for a non-organized ride). Last year 3 friends and myself did the YK200. That ride was a personal best for 3 of us on the ride. We all had a lot of fun working out the details and then getting out there and doing it (see details on the bike I rode HERE).

    Who is going to show up to do the ride is unsure (similar to last year). It's a difficult to thing to wrap your head around riding 200 miles in one day and thus it's difficult to feel mentally and physically prepared to do it or maybe I should say that it's very easy to feel unsure about one's ability to do a double century.

    YK200.1 Training

    This is my training ride

    I tend to be really big on the mental side of such an event and maybe a bit lacking on the physical side (shortage of riding time). Clearly you have to have a balance of some degree, but I think the mental side is very critical. It's easy to say that you'll get mentally "up" for the ride after enough miles are logged on in preparation (training), but it's also easy to keep saying that you'll be prepared after one more big ride...

    The plan is to meet at 5am and start the epic ride. 5 minute water-filling breaks will be taken every 2 hours. A 30 minute lunch break will happen at about the 115 mile mark. I'll be drinking 1 large water bottle (28 oz.) every hour. I mix the water with Cytomax as well as Hammer Perpetuem. I also will have a mix of powerbars and gels along with some trail mix. Obviously nutrition is rather key to finishing a double century. I will expect to burn up over 10,000 calories.

    I'll carry minimal tools. Flat kit, pump, chain tool and small allen multi tool. We'll leave in the dark and get home in the dark, so clearly having some lights will be part of the gear coming on the ride. I will have a camera along for pictures along the way.

  4. Bacchetta Corsa for 200 Mile Ride

    I did my first double century at the end of last season. This is the Bacchetta Corsa that I used for the ride. I felt that this was a perfect bike for the ride and the set up I had felt just right.

    I used a wide range rear cluster (11-32) mixed with a road crankset. This is a good mix of gears for my style of riding. The wheels are 26" with Schwalbe 26 x 1.35 Kojak tires. These tires are nice and durable with a supple sidewall. This makes for a speedy touring style tire. Perfect!

    200 miles is a long day and a true test of mental and physical strength. That said, we had a blast and doing the ride on this Corsa was perfect!

    Under the seat is a camera bag that allowed me to pull out and take pictures while riding.

4 Item(s)