*A BENT EVENT BY THE SEA* A laid back recumbent idyll at Hoyt's Cottages

Now that's one cute cottage!

WHEN John Hoyt casually mentioned a 'special recumbent weekend' at his idyllic Hoyt's Cottages by the Sea in Rye, New Hampshire, my ears pricked up: it's about time we offered a special event for our SatRDay folks. When he subsequently mentioned that the designer of the 2007 RAAM-winning Bacchetta recumbent, Rich Pinto, was also going to be present, I knew we'd earned the creds to crash the party: Bike Friday's very own co-designer of the tikit, HPV champ Rob English, is a fast pedaling pal of Rich. In fact, Rich has even lent Rob a recumbent ...

At the time, John was chugging up a hill on the Bike Friday/PACTOUR Tour of Historic Towns and Hotels on a pair of very big knobby tires with red and gold flames licking the circumference - a decidedly non-Bike Friday recumbent. I tried to catch him (breathlessly) but he and his wife Ann, also on a non-BF recumbent, scorched ahead, with big, laid back smiles on their faces. What did these 'bentriders know about feet-up pedaling that I didn't?

Time to investigate!

Tina Mancuso waved the SatRDay flag for the Friday contingent

My journey consisted of sharing (shock horror), a large SUV with a BF Club of New Yorker David for the 5 hour drive to Rye. Yes, the train was an option, but as my comrade's Bacchetta recumbent didn't fold, it was deemed the path of least hassle. The word 'bacchetta' means 'stick' in Italian, meaning we had to transport his great big titanium tree limb while my Friday folded like a leaf in a corner. What's not love about a Bike Friday!

Hoyt's Cottages is my idea of low-key heaven on earth. Little white cabins with striped awnings dotted on a spacious, grassy property front the breezy, stony New Hampshire seafront. Inside, the décor is a cross between granny's estate furniture and a respectable garage sale, with plenty of stuff to cook up a New England style storm. There's also Petey's, a chowder and haddock restaurant a mile or so down the road. The whole area sings of crab cakes … chowder … lobster pots. John and Ann had generously offered an inaugural accommodation special of $20 per person per night, a real treat for a place that is normally 75-$100 a night.

As recumbents of all shapes and sizes started to roll up in the gravel driveway, I crossed my fingers hoping a SatRDay would roll up. Bingo! Tina Mancuso and her hubby heard about the weekend on the YAK! and drove all the way from Virginia (10 hours) with her purple SatRDay and his 'trike from Downunder' - a Greenspeed. There were some really long recumbents – John from not too far away saw the event on Bentrideronline.com, and was riding what looked to me like the arm of a crane with a wheel at each end.

"I'm probably going to get a short wheelbase recumbent as a commuter," he said, indicating that downtown riding with his rig was like manoeuvering a semi in New York City.

A month of regular Fridays turned up too: my book tour hosts from VT, the Immlers on Air Fridays, Pocket Rocket owner Jeannie, and there was me on a Pro Petite. I'd thought of borrowing the original SatRDay up for sale in the shop of our NYC dealer bfold.com, but he'd already left for Interbike in Las Vegas.

Some attendees expressed surprise that we were riding upright bikes. This must be how recumbent riders feel at events where they are generally outnumbered. On RAGBRAI this year, there were something like 2.4% or more than 300 recumbents and other non-traditional bicycles – apparently it's a fast growing market.

Bacchetta's Rich Pinto with a rabid fan

There were two inventors of honor presenting to the group.

The aforementioned Rich Pinto showed off a replica of the carbon fiber wonderbike on which a 2-man team won the recumbent category of RAAM this year. Now some 'need for speed' guys exhibit a kind of edgy, antsy, self-focus that seems integral to being fast. Not Rich. The guy is one of the funniest, friendliest and self-effacing people I've met in the bike industry (not that that's a huge claim, but still ...). Rich had us in stitches describing how some detractors were out to get him, probably jealous that his bikes perform so well.

"One cartoon depicted me with a globe in one hand and a fistful of dollars in the other, and a stupid look on my face," he said. Well, you know you've made it when people cariciature you ...

Rich put on a fabulous ribs and beans barbecue for the small gathering, courtesy of the business he co-owns – Bacchetta. The ribs were voted as so delicious by everyone, I'll spill the beans on his secret recipe: stew 'em in a mix of your fave BBQ sauce and water/wine/beer (take your pick) then finish them off under the hood.

Robert Skaff and his RAAM-endorsed baby, DiNotte Lights

In the other corner we had an equally disarming gent, Robert Skaff from DiNotte Bicycle Lighting. These lights are now the choice of serious after-dark pedalers across the globe, and are used by many RAAM competitors including the winning 2007 Bacchetta team. In fact they're so serious, you can rig it up to be seen clearly during broad daylight.

Robert proceeded to educate us on his theories of bike lights: as a cyclist, you are safest when you are seen as another vehicle, so that drivers are forced to treat you as such. Hence, his tiny front lights are twice the brightness of the most powerful lights on the market … we thought of playing night tennis in front of them.

Similarly, his rear LED light so impressively bathes the road behind in a pool of red that a motorist might think he was tailgating Lucifer himself.

You might recognize the DiNotte by his ingenious mount: a simple O-ring that, in a jiffy, trusses the little polished cylinder holding the LED to the handlebar. I have to admit that being an industrial design junkie, I was beside myself when I first saw this mount a couple of years ago.

Right: The impressive DiNotte tail light (ah ah ah ah stayin' alive, stayin' alive ...)

There is an array of disposeable and rechargeable battery options, both AA and Lithium Ion, and Robert is putting together a special configuration he feels would suit the Bike Friday way of life. A report at www.bikefriday.com/reviews will be forthcoming. Robert generously raffled off two light systems valued at $169 each, and I raffled a copy of both my Peru and Route66 DVDs – although given the choice of prizes I know which one I would choose - Robert's lights! See the photo gallery and movie above, for more.

Like every well thought out bicycle event, we had tech support in the form of local bike shop owner Bob Shouse of Bicycle Bob, who joined us at the beginning of each ride to help with any tweaking. He provided a white Rans demo recumbent that John hoped would fit me but alas! It takes a tiny recumbent to fit a teensy rider.

John's preferred mode of getting around ...

Why ride a recumbent?

"I got tired of getting a sore neck sore taint, sore wrists," said John, and this was echoed by several of the attendees. "The whole idea of this weekend is to show people there is an efficient and comfortable alternative."

An there certainly is. Rich took off with the fast group up to Nubble Head lighthouse at RAAM speed, followed by our group which wended its way to Portsmouth for some excellent vistas of colorful, New England clapboard architecture and quaint stores. Ann took a third group out back country for a more relaxed amble. Here is some of the route.

The Granite State Wheelman's Seacoast century was also in progress, and we ran into a couple who we all met down at the PACTOUR Arizona Desert Camp in March.

We all shot the breeze about a dream single/upright bike that could be ratcheted into recumbent mode when you felt like a change from the missionary position.

"My mate Reynolds already made one," said Rich, but gave no clues as to whether it would be commercially available. It was probably too heavy for Rich, and the other Bacchetta aficionados with their sub-20lb titanium armchairs ...

I sat on John's other Bacchetta but that's about all I could do.

Unfortunately, I was too small to ride any of the test bikes, so my recumbent experience is yet to unfold …

Meanwhile, everyone agreed the weekend was a total hoot, especially when several of us went out to dinner.

I have yet to live down the Coach House restaurant episode where I (and others) misinterpreted the menu. We read $9.95 for the salad and $12.95 to add salmon (overcooked). The restaurant meant $9.95 PLUS $12.95. Being a stickler for customer service (how can you be anything else working for Bike Friday?) and one time cook and manager of a small hotel myself, I made my views clear. If I don't get invited back next year, you'll know why. Especially since John's running for mayor (just kidding).

Ah, you can't take me anywhere, even on a recumbent …

Lynette Chiang