3 Months In

It's October and I now have about three months of VK2 ride time under my belt. I greet the start of every club ride now with the joyful certitude that anyone who dares to challenge me on the flat roads will regret it. Most of the stronger riders have now learned this lesson the hard way and they hold back until the road kicks up and my advantage diminishes.

I'm definitely more dialed in on the bike now and I believe my legs are well adapted to the new pedaling action. Most importantly I've discovered how to climb and I'm back to my DF speed on all but the steepest of ascents. I have not found the need to use a triple as most of the road grades do not exceed 8% and I'm fine with my 39/27 on everything up to 10%.

The silence of riders in the club expresses just how hard it is to believe that a low racer recumbent really is that much faster than even the most expensive and beautifully crafted time trial bike. I have trouble believing it myself some days too. I think it's one thing to hear stories about how fast recumbent bikes are but it's not until you have had that very personal experience of either blowing away a much stronger rider with a recumbent or getting blown away by one that it becomes painfully real - and troubling.

I get the sense that even for the most devoted DF riders, there's a certain uncomfortableness in the knowledge that they are riding a "slower" bike. For me it's liking secretly discovering that you've been wrong about an idea that you're been deeply committed for most of your life. It's certainly a bitter pill to swallow. When you think about how much money is spent every year to shave off every precious gram of drag on TT bikes while knowing all the while that simply changing the layout to a recumbent would reduce the drag by 50% for free, it's truly mind boggling.