I was the other Vision rider who did the Bike Tour of Colorado in 1997. I had no problems on that
tour. At the time I was a full-time bike commuter and had a good mileage base before the ride.
Although the vast majority of those miles were in the Milwaukee, WI, area which is pretty flat.
We did the tour again in 2001 and I had problems. I had to get off the bike and walk up Grand Mesa.
First time in my life that I walked. The difference between 1997 and 2001 is that I retired in 2000
and don't ride as much any more. Plus I had some sort of summer flu where I couldn't eat anything.
Last summer, 2002, I rode cross-country on the Adventure Cycling Northern Tier route and the 6-8
percent grades over the mountain passes in Washington and Montana were not a problem. I was slower
going up than my riding partner, who was on an upright. I was on a Tour Easy for this trip but I
don't think it climbs better or worse than my old, LWB, R42 Vision.
Ron Friedel
"Jeff" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I rode the 1997 Tour of Colorado on my Vision R-44 SWB. There were 3 other recumbents, another
> Vision with a long wheelbase and 2 BikeE's. The BikeE riders purchased their bikes 1 week before
> the ride. Not surprising, these 2 had to be sagged each day. The other Vision rider and I did just
> fine. I've had many years of recumbent riding and lots of rides in the mountains so the recumbent
> was not a disadvantage for
> me.
>
> Jeff
>
>
[email protected] (JAC) wrote in message
news:<
[email protected]>...
> > Are recumbent riders who've done this, or plan to?
