October ElliptiGO rides: fast versus scenic

There are two ways to ride an ElliptiGO. Usually, I go for the "all-out" approach and that means riding as hard as I can, being aware of my surroundings, but not really seeing the beauty of where I ride. I did a ride like this on Friday. If I am not riding the Nashua Rail Trail, I usually head out to Pepperell, MA and then back up to Hollis, NH where I ride traces of the roads I used to ride with the Nashua Velo Club 20 years ago on the Tuesday night time trials or Wednesday night club rides. I also cover the Applefest 1/2 Marathon course in Hollis as well as the Fast 5K downhill course.Many good memories fuel my rides through these wonderful and scenic roads.

Friday, I tried out an aerodynamic crouched down position on my EllipitGO. I had always been told to ride standing tall and in good posture on my ElliptiGO, so that even when facing a very strong headwind during the 2014 Seacoast Century, I never even thought of attempting to bend down and go Aerodynamic. That is until I saw a photo of last weeks ElliptiGO World Championships time trial race of winner Rick Bienias going Aero on his ElliptiGO.

Well, that photo intrigued me and I couldn't wait to go against conventional ElliptiGO wisdom and try out this aero position. So the next day I gave it a shot. It is very doable and I did go faster. Your forearms really feel the burn as you stay crouched down. I don't think it will ever be a daily riding position, but when racing, facing a headwind, or just when I want to go fast I will certainly keep working on it (I am quite positive I wasn't as low and as fast looking as Rick either). Here is my Strava ride while aero.

Today was a beautiful New England fall day, so I decided to ride the ElliptiGO the other way: to just enjoy a ride and take in the scenery. Sadly, I usually don't ride this way at all. Last week I hit the 5000 mile mark for ElliptiGO miles in 2014. It is safe to say that far fewer than 100 miles were just to get out there and look around. I also brought my camera and took some photos, but I got far less than 1% of the beauty on the my Pepperell-Hollis course. I basically did the same ride as Friday, except for a couple of extra side trips, and here are a few photos of the scenery in my neck of the woods on a sunny October day.

Here is my Strava activity for the ride, much slower than Friday, but just as rewarding.