I said that in the list of reasons why I do 1200K's that "the bike I ride" is either not on the list or is well down and that's true. It's all about the best tool for the job.
However, on shorter rides which, let's face it, constitute the majority of my riding the bike I ride does matter. I really enjoy the nuances of one bike versus another. In fact, I usually decide a day in advance what bike I want to ride the next day and if for some reason I'm not able to ride that bike I don't ride. Yes, mental I know but there it is.
For reference, as I write this I'm at 8,106 RUSA K's plus a 1000K and flèche in Australia, PBP and the Herentals 1200K for a total of 11,896 or thereabouts (I don't recall what the exact distance is for PBP) or 7,435 miles. I'm at 14,475 miles total for the year so just about half of my total miles are brevets.
So if:
- I'm unable to ride one of my many DF's for brevets and can only do longer rides on a recumbent.
- There's not close to 100% crossover between DF miles and recumbent miles from a training point of view.
Then I would be giving something up to ride 1200K's which is not currently the case. I can e.g., ride my Firefly exclusively for 6 weeks then jump on my Hampsten and do a brevet. No problem, done it. But I don't think I could jump on my Bacchetta (or Cruzbike) in similar fashion. I wouldn't have my "bent legs".
So given my ridiculously overambitious brevet schedule for next year, it's either all in for the DF or all in for the recumbent.
That's the conundrum.
