This is how it's supposed to be!

Ride #5, just under 7 miles. I feel good after this ride - no twinges or anything. Not too tired. So I think this will be a good distance for the next week. Then I can see about increasing a little more.

A few posts back I mentioned my shoulder troubles. Well, a night of rehearsing for an upcoming concert can often set the shoulders talking to me and last night sure did. I went to yoga this morning and had a lot of trouble with my shoulders, enough that if I had planned this ride on a conventional bike I would have had to have canceled my plans. I was a little slower and more careful getting the trike in and out of the car, but that's the only way my shoulders affected my ride. Yay! Boo-ya! Go Team! And there was much rejoicing and so on and so forth.

The Friday morning population of the bike paths is a bit more dense (like: populous, not dim) than other weekday mornings. The usual assortment of fitness walkers, dog walkers, and other cyclists. Including one tending to the road bike side of things. My route today was essentially a torturous double lobed circle and every time I came around to face east, which I did 14 times, I got a face full of early morning sun. Bleah! I'm considering a longer visor for my helmet.

Today's route was planned with streets! So I loaded up my bike with two flags and two rear taillights and a headlight.

Parked for a moment just off a bike trail

The large pink flag comes from a small company called Purple Sky. This is the largest flag they have and the gray circles are reflective material. Someday I will learn to take photos without excessively cluttered backgrounds.

The pole for this flag is six feet tall, and the theory is that it will be about windshield height on a SUV. I figure the little orange bike flag will get the rest of the vehicles.

I don't normally succumb to naming vehicles, but I know a couple of people who specialize in horse names for their bikes. They've had classical names (with Homer you never need to run out) and I think names from horse stories (but don't quote me on that). And not just ordinary horse names, but Elvish ones from Tolkien. So how could I resist naming my beautiful orange machine?

Sleipnir.

You know, that crazy eight-legged horse of Odin's. Half stallion and half Loki in the form of a mare. Those gods.
What can you do?

So I need to make a Sleipnir flag (a little preview - based on an eighth century stone carving). I figure it's perfect - a trike has too many legs for a bike and not enough for a horse. And the trike is made in Germany (yes, I know Germany is not Scandinavia - sue me.)

Anyway.

Besides the flags and lights, I also added a tiny bike computer (odometer, speedometer, trip etc.). What is this insistance on having directions with NO WORDS - I like words. Pictures are OK, but words make more sense. Anyway, I'm still figuring out all the things it can tell me but, assuming I've set the tire size correctly, my top speed today was 19 miles an hour. I did get pedaling pretty fast at one point so I'm not totally surprised.

This trike is working out very well and I look forward to going outside and getting exercise. And aerobic and all that.
A cycle, no matter how many wheels, does you no good unless you use it.

So get out there and indulge in your favorite form of exercise!

Next ride, and next post, this weekend.