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| Ferrari vs. Lincoln
Towncar |
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What kind of ride are you
looking for?
A Ferrari can definitely be
fun (I have ridden in one), but if I am going to
ride for several hours enjoying the beautiful
countryside, give me a Lincoln Towncar. I
will be honest, I used to scoff at people who
drove those "big boats" until I drove one on a
long freeway trip. I was amazed at the
comfort. Around town it's a pain to
maneuver and park, but once you get out on the
road, you can't beat it. The Ferrari is
fun and fast, but it's not designed for rider
comfort. On a road trip, give me a Towncar!
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In the biking world, there are also "Ferraris"
and "Towncars." The racing road bikes are
the Ferraris. Our tandem recumbent is most
definitely the Towncar! When we ride, we
aren't interested in racing. Our bicycling goals
are quite different. We love to head
out for a long scenic ride together. That
is where the tandem works out great for us.
We visit and enjoy each other's company along
the whole ride! Just like the automotive "Towncar,"
our bike is hard to maneuver at low speed and in
tight conditions, but out on the road it is
absolutely awesome. For us, comfort is
more important to us than speed. Not that
I think that recumbents are slow, the world bicycle speed records
are held by recumbents! (see our:
Recumbent vs. Upright page)
Now I don't know about you, but when I look at
the choice in seats in the picture to the right,
it is not a hard decision. If I am going
to spend 5 or 6 hours on a bike seat, it's going
to be the one on top!
Frequently on our longer rides (especially after
40 or 50 miles of riding), we will have
"Ferrari" riders pull up along side and say
something like: "Wow, that looks
comfortable." We just smile really
big and say:
"Yes, it sure is!" |
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Two Kinds of
"Centuries"
In bicycle riding, a 100 mile ride is called a
"century." As our bike riding abilities
grew, we began looking into doing a century
ride. When we started our research, it
appeared to us that there were two kinds of
centuries, one for the "Ferraris" and one for
the "Lincoln Towncars."
(see pics from our first century ride on our
Reach The Beach page) |
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1) Scenic Cross Country
The first type is a 100 mile scenic
cross country trip from "point A to point B."
If there happen to be hills along the way, you
simply need to tackle them in order to reach
your destination.
2) Mini "Tour de France"
It seems that in this type, the goal is to make
the ride as hard as possible, squeezing in as
many hills as is feasible. The extreme
example is a ride in Oregon called the "Torture 10,000"
which features 10,000 feet of elevation increase
over the 100 miles ride! That's insanity! |
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| As for us, we choose to take
our "Towncar" on the type 1 rides. We'll
skip the type 2 rides,
thank you very much!
:) |
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