#34 - a small upgrade
Riding the trike, I noticed I may not have been using my power in the most efficient way possible. Since I don’t have electrical support on the trike, a well considered choice, I will need every watt I can squeeze from my legs. Especially on longer or more challenging rides. And definately because I have some real challenges coming up in the following days.
One of the main differences between riding recumbent and riding an upright, is that you actually have to push for any power. Gravity doesn’t help you like on an upright. There, you can stand up on the pedals, letting gravity pull your body down. I briefly considered the possibility of getting up from my seat to do that on the trike, but while I’m sure it would be a hit on YouTube, I’m not sure it would be a wise decision for my health.
The first SPD riding shoes
Since that option was wiped of the table very quickly, I started looking for alternatives that wouldn’t put me in hospital. Some seasoned recumbent riders gave me the advice to look for racing pedals. The kind where you actually lock your shoes in the pedals. With such a system, you alternate pushing and pulling the pedals, since your feet take the pedals with them coming back. Even if this would make for a relative small gain in power, it would add to it. So for a couple of months, I have been feeding my neurodivergent brain all kinds of studies and user experiences I could find. And in the end I concluded there were no definitive downsides, while the upsides seemed pretty compelling. The decision was made, and the equipment was purchased.
Because I bought some tools to work on my bikes myself, this also gave me the opportunity to make the first real change to the trike by myself. I had changed a tire, and added some stuff to the frame, but that was all pretty much straight forward. This was too of course, but it felt more like a structural change to the trike. A small upgrade.
Some force and forcefully applied swearwords later, the original pedals came of and made room for the new SPD pedals. I applied some grease for good measure, and the trike was ready to ride again.
While the first few kilometers didn’t give me a whole different experience, near the end of the usual 30 km ride around my area, I did feel some very obvious differences. It seemed I could carry more speed towards the end of the ride. This was confirmed by STRAVA after the ride. I averaged over 1,5 kph faster then on my fastest ride to date on the same route. So it seemed the SPD pedals didn’t just make me faster, they also made me ride more economical. I had more energy left near the end of the ride.
Of course this is just evidence based on a single ride. And with some very questionable data if I may say. Some of the past rides on that route had been rather windy, while this time it was very calm. Sometimes the traffic lights seem to gang up on me while yesterday they never slowed me down. Not a single time. And of course it had been a while since I did that route for the last time. A little over a month can do a lot when you are working out. But still, at least it seems the pedals had a positive effect.
One definite effect they have, is safety. On any recumbent, but especially on tadpole trikes like mine, a phenomenon called leg suck is a real danger. You keep your feet on the pedals by pushing against them. That means that for a number of reasons, you can loose contact between the feat and the pedals. Fatigue, bumps in the road,… You name it. When this happens, you risk getting your leg stuck between the road and the trike, bending it backwards under your seat. Now I never had the misfortune of this happening to me, but I can’t imagine it being the greatest feeling. Usually, the road doesn’t feel great scraping against your skin. We’ve all been little, and we all know what bandaids are for.
With the SPD’s that risk is gone too, and that takes away the need of being cautious not to let my feet slip down. I wasn’t convinced I needed that safety feature, since I never had any issues with that, but at least on the first ride, I didn’t notice any real discomfort. I had expected that though. Pain in my hips and knees would have been pretty much normal, since you change your position on the pedals. And you just can’t move your feet around for comfort. Maybe that will come over time, or with some more challenging rides, but for now my feet are locked in safely and the pedals help me perform better.
I call this a success already.
