+1 x2

#141

Went for a lovely bike ride today on a lovely day with a lovely bunch of coconuts.

I mean people.

"Parking lot" Al and I dragged our significant others along. Mrs. Al on her Trek Hybrid and my sweetheart on his Specialized hybrid. 

Al I and I were, of course, lording it along on our trikes.

Al. Slightly fuzzy (shot over my shoulder)

Kind of fuzzy all the time (that beard). My sweetheart.

Mrs. Al

Most of the ride we had a diamond frame sandwich going, with Al leading the way and me bringing up the rear.

 

The direction West was very interesting today.

There were lots of other people out enjoying the unseasonably warm sunny weather.

A one minute and twenty-four second video of two entertaining encounters from today's ride.

We retired to Subway for sandwiches and conversation afterwards.

Tomorrow I'll go preview a route for a future spring recumbent trike ride in the area (I volunteered to scout the route before hand).

Folsom Frolic

#140

Saturday, January 28th

My sweetheart asked ME to go on a bike ride. Usually it is the other way around.

I have that new little 'spy' camera to play with, so I stuck it on my hat and away we went.

Ally Oop(s)

#139

Monday, January 16th
Folsom. About 6 miles? I don't know. I wasn't in charge today.

I met Al for a short meander in Folsom. It was cold but sunny. We were both imitating the Michelin man a little bit. I even wore my old Terry cool-weather tights. AND I had a wool Buff around my head for most of the ride. And two layers of merino wool AND a windbreaker. And gloves.
You get the picture.

We discussed Life the Universe and Everything and came to few useful conclusions. Topped off with a nice Subway lunch. I was good and left off the cheese and mayo in favor of nice avocado.

Anyway.

Today was the big day when Al finally joined the club

 No, he does not normally store his trike in the landscaping, but he got a little crazy with the two wheel thing and found a nice soft landing spot. I was a little slow to get the shot of Al reclining in the shrubs along with his trike. Later on in the ride I saw him successfully demonstrate 2 wheel riding. Pretty cool. Not something I am ready to try.

I've been experimenting a little (and tentatively) with brake-steering, easily done - sometimes too easily - with independent left-right brakes. I think I could grow to like it. It certainly whips one around the corners smartly.

A Ham.

Another thing that Al does is build interesting things for his ride. Maybe his cousin is Inspector Gadget.
I failed to guess what this was (the white bar under the boom) but Al took pity on me and told me.

It keeps his trousers out of the chain when he loads and unloads his bike from the car. Pretty slick. I suggested he cap the other end and store a flywhisk or something in it. Now I'm thinking a back-scratcher might be better.
Oh I know, I know!
M&Ms. The peanut kind. Put a little trap door on the bottom and dispense as you ride. As long as it didn't get too hot, it would be great.

Some other ride some other day upcoming, I'm sure. Maybe it will rain and I can try out my heretofore unused rain gear.

The problem is not the camera

#137

Short jaunt in Folsom
Friday, January 13th

I got a hold of an 808 camera (a little bitty primitive 30 frames-per-second HD video camera built in a automotive remote fob).

I tried to take some video today.

I, as usual, was terminally camera-confused and spent my entire ride talking to a turned-off camera. I'll try again on Sunday's ride.

So no pictures, no report, and no joy.

CU later!

Again, Finnegan

#133

26 Dec, 2011
6 miles in lovely Folsom

Rambled around the bike trails with my sweetie and his son today. Said son (6 ft 3" and long legs) perched uneasily atop my old Trek hybrid (I'm 5' 10 and short legs). My sweetie took it easy and we didn't go very far. He had no problems with heart rate this time. Yay!

Beautiful sunshine, practically empty trails, and no ice this time.

Despite being on a bike too small and very different from his usual vintage Schwinn, the kid still managed no-hands.

Not a tandem, just tailgating.

The only mechanical thing we had (which was quite minor) were flat batteries on my sweetie's bike computer. Watching the numbers go by is a big part of his bicycle-enjoyment, so he stopped in at the nearby store to get new batteries.

 All set and ready to go!

My favorite oak tree.

Your intrepid report is a shadow of her former self.

I've got some stuff to do tomorrow but I plan on getting out both on the trike and on foot a few times later this week.
The weather is not so good for my snowshoe plans, but it sure makes for nice triking weather!

Worth it? Totally!

#132

Friday, December 23rd

It's been a while, hasn't it? Colds, holiday nonsense, overscheduling, yadda yadda blah blah. Just excuses.

A mostly sunny, cool day in Folsom. I decided to take it easy and mosey along for about 6 miles. It was lovely to get outside and roll through the beautifully bleak winter landscape.

Here's some lovely pictures for your viewing pleasure.

I turned around so I could ride over this bridge. Now that's dedication!

Ice! Actual ice. I rode through a couple of ice-rimmed puddles today. So exciting!

No rain = blue skies.

Took "The Parkway" today. Yes there are bike trails paralleling this, but what fun is that?

Quail.

A tree that I think makes me sneeze.

It was shedding fluffy bits like mad.

Trail of Ice!

Make like a tree and leaf.

No spinning tinkling snowglobe. Or inflatable 4' tall penguins. So disappointed!

Happy holidays, all.
As Queen said, Get on your bikes and RIDE.

Stompin'

#128

Monday, November 21st

Al and I went out scouting again for a good, easy, scenic ride for a future bunch of recumbent trikes.

We think we found one.

We've both used the bike trails in Folsom as our 'stomping grounds' and we both came up with essentially the same 10 mile route.

I tweaked it a little bit after I got home, and Al had tweaked my route a little bit, so this is a totally collaborative route. And I got the last word <smug>.



I put together a 5 minute video from footage I took and stills that Al took.
I'm pretty sure it will look better on YouTube's site. So here's a link.
But if you'd rather stay in one place ...

Stop. Hey, what's that sound?

#120

8 miles in Folsom
Monday, October 24th

I felt like a bike ride, but not much of a ride. So I wandered around Folsom, letting circumstance and coffee guide me.

And today, for some reason, I was listening more than looking.

So.

Autumn leaves whisper

Bullfrog braking, drive chain sings

Acorn fireworks

Sharrows bump and thump

Squeaking rumble bridge crossing

Happy children play

Oh, balderdash. This is more my speed

The girl on the trike declined to go hike

choosing rather to roll on her bike.

She plowed through some leaves

with unholy glee

avoiding the dam and the dike

That's enough of that.

Introducing the Folsom Parkway Rail Trail

#118

5.5 investigative  miles in Folsom
Monday, October 17th

I've decided to start volunteering on the Traillink website. This is a great repository of trail information for all over the county, and an on-line acquaintance of mine (who also volunteers) has encouraged me to tend to the neglected Folsom/Sacramento area trails.

My intention today was to use a GPS tracking app on my phone and add a waypoint when I took a picture or noticed something worth mentioning. I ended up with a paper and pencil and a camera, since my phone became invisible in the car. It was there, I just could not find it.

Then I'm digging around in the car, looking for paper. Nada. So I use the margins of the route sheet from this weekend's ride. At least I had a pencil with me. Why a pencil and no paper, I have no idea. And I had even emptied and theoretically reorganized my bags. Ha ha!

Here's the link to the Folsom Parkway Rail Trail on traillink. This trail had a map, but no photos and no review. My photos and review will appear in a few days, once they are approved by the folks that run the joint.

I started at the Sutter Street end, and then went back on the river-side bike path. This trail parallels Folsom Blvd. so it has a LOT of street crossings. All but one have a push button crossing, and all but one was nearly impossible from a recumbent trike. But I persevered, taking photos and valiantly attempting to record exactly where I was for each picture.

But there was no way I was doing all that again, so I entertained myself on the hilly riverside trail. My muscles are still tired from Saturday.

The unpromising beginning as an extra large sidewalk

Aaaargh! Where'd the trail go! (Oakdale St)

Now, that's a bike trail!

Bridge on Willow Creek

Not too many of these to dodge

End of the line at the Iron Point light rail parking lot.

CU

Conversant

#116

Wednesday, October 12th

I didn't do a whole lot of riding today, but I sure talked a lot!

I chatted about trikes to a random stranger on the trail, and then when I was back in the parking lot I encountered a group of three trikers (leaving on their ride), then after my grocery shopping, I ran into (not literally) my parking-lot-acquaintance, Al (who, if you've noticed, is the ONLY person ever mentioned by name in this blog. Why, I have no idea. Just the way it is.).

The three trikers were a couple of guys out again with Mom. (no, I don't know whose Mom Mom is and does it really matter? I didn't think so). Videos they've made can be found on this  Youtube channel. Hop on over and take a look! I've seen the guys before, but did not attempt to identify them then.

I try not to be a know-it-all but I do have opinions so when some random fellow wants to check out my trike and ask me questions, that's Cool. It is fun to see someone as excited about trikes as I was before I even got one.

My acquaintance with Al started off that way, and now he has himself a splendid shiny Cattrike. Very sharp in black and white.
No I did not get a picture.
He has loaded it down with all kinds of gadgets: a radio, a bell, a cyclecomputer, bottle cages, bags, lights. The works.
We had a long rambling conversation about riding and trikes and people and all that. It was a great end to a very short ride.

How short? about 5 miles. I'll make it up on Saturday.

I had set off through Folsom's bike trails, intending to go down at least to the hospital if not all the way to Folsom Blvd, but when I got to the park near Houston Circle I was surprised to see a couple of maintenance  trucks completely filling the trail.

So I boogied on over to Pond View and started taking a short cut, decided that I had spent enough time out already (conversations are fun, but can run long) and headed back to the parking lot.

If I'd gone farther I would have missed out giving the triking videographers a kudos, and would have missed seeing Al's new ride. So I'm glad it was a short ride.

CU

Doodly squat

Meander #114
less than 5 miles in Folsom, CA.
Saturday, October 8th.

My sweetie has been having back and hip problems (for which he has had testing, and we are waiting on the results) so he was willing to indulge my desire for a ride with him, but not willing to go very far.

I removed my rant and replaced it with a nice trail picture.

So not too far we went.

It was a beautiful day, sunny and about 65 degrees. A perfect day for a ride. No excitement, no close calls, no falling down, just a good time.

After my last ride, I had decided it was time for a new chain (although it may not have been, but then I like supporting my local bike shop). So I rode today with a new chain. Worked great.

One is supposed to measure chain wear with the chain under tension. And the easiest way to do that is to apply a little pressure to the pedal, but not move the trike. Then you measure 12 sets of chain links which should come to 12 inches. Not 12 and a little bit.

Now, finding 12 inches of straight chain on a trike liberally decorated with chain tubes was not easy. Like, not possible. So I dug out some calipers and made my best guess across 6 inches of straight bare chain. And my guess was it was a little worn.

A worn chain will wear the cogs faster. And I can replace the chain myself, not to sure about the rear cassette!  So I replaced all 12' 1" of  chain.

Tomorrow should be as pretty as today, so I will head up to Beals Point, I think. Then a short ride or two later in the week and fingers crossed for good weather for Foxys fall century on Saturday!

The Tale of the Teleporting Tortoise

Ride #106

nce upon a time, not too far away (as Terrestrial distances go) and not terribly long ago, a strange three-wheeled amalgam of trike and human set off on a short journey.

This was supposed to be a short trip, and it was. It could have turned into a long strange trip, but this is supposed to be a family friendly blog, so forget that.

Normally this three-wheeled contraption conquers canals, tears up trails, and generally zestfully zips along at a healthy 12-14mph. Today, however, the contraption, hereafter known for the duration of this story as Tortoise, lumbered along at an absolutely blazing 8.4 mph average. There was one redeeming moment down hill at 21mph, but that did not make up for previous and subsequent lollygagging, loafing, and general laziness.

Perhaps Tortoise (and I will learn to spell that by the end of this tale) was a little tired. Perhaps Tortoise's sore tooth was troubling her, or maybe (and most likely) Tortoise was just enjoying the comfortable 73 degrees, for once not feeling like she had to go fast to get a breeze to cool off from going so fast.

As Tortoise loafed along, she noticed vegetation for a while.

Then she was distracted (tortoises are often distractable, but most non-tortoises don't notice this because noticing the distractability requires paying attention to the tortoise for quite a while and the observers tend to fall asleep. Are you asleep?) by Folsom's lovely bicycle infrastructure. So Tortoise stopped and took some more pictures.

Coming back up towards the end of her ride, Tortoise started thinking about, nay drooling about, a nice warm latte with foam to tickle her nose and caffeine to wake her up a bit and warm milk to cheer her up a bit. So Tortoise took a shortcut, skipping the duck pond altogether.

Quite soon after this attempt to speed up her ride by judicious editing (and I've tried to tell Tortoise that such edition does not count as going faster, but rather might be considered a form of cheating) she was passed for the SECOND time by a kind fellow who mentioned the tantalizing possibility that Tortoises teleported!

Now, I've tried and tried and tried (and eventually fell asleep waiting for Tortoise's response) to tell Tortoise that teleportation is not really possible, despite all the scifi books devoured (not literally! but literarily) by her. Tortoise refuses to relinquish this idea so I suppose this is

The End

The wine ride was canceled so I've come up with a daringly daft yet deranged idea of a 47 mile ride to get ready for Foxy's Fall Century (I'm doing the metric) in October.
Stay tuned.

My day off

Ride #103

Monday, September 5th (Labor Day)
32.5 miles

Being 'self unemployed' you'd think every day was a day off. Not so. Especially after hosting a weekend music party. Guests arrived around 6pm on Friday and the last ones left sometime on Monday.
I bailed out Monday morning for a self-indulgent ride so I can't tell you exactly when they left.

I hit the trail at my old favorite place, in a shopping center in Folsom. I wound down through the bike paths in Folsom, stopping here and there to fiddle with my camera.
I was trying some trick shots involving clamping my old portable "clamp anywhere" Manfrotto tripod to various bits of my bike. I did have some trouble getting the video to run consistently, and I ran through many batteries! HD video is a real juice-sucker.
I've reviewed the video and there is not much there I can use. Oh well. The clamp is nice and heavy and quite stable so the idea is OK, the execution needs work. I just need to figure out how many minutes of video one set of fresh-charged AAs will give me and plan accordingly.

I popped out on the American River Bike Trail near the Folsom outlet mall, then took a break at the State Park near the CSUS Aquatic center for half a ham and cheese sandwich. Then I decided to go up Sunrise to get a tasty Jamba Juice treat. I debated heading over past Wm Pond to the CSUS campus, but returned instead to Folsom via the Hazel Bridge and the north side of Lake Natoma. I slogged my way up to Beals point, ate the other half of my ham and cheese, and chatted for a while with a woman on a trike with an e-assist motor. Cool stuff!

I whipped down Beals, took the Folsom Crossing and a hidden bike path back over to where I had parked my car. I discovered there a note stuck under my windshield wiper from Al, the fellow I'd met last year in this parking lot (mentioned here, and here). We were on the same schedule for bike rides when I first got my trike but lately we'd diverged. Turns out he is looking to buy a recumbent trike, and wanted to pick my brains. I earned my coffee dispensing opinions of dubious value (thanks for the cuppa joe, Al!) and I hope I didn't confuse him further.

During the week of cleaning in preparation for the house party, I rinsed my bike off (I sweat a lot and salt is corrosive) and finished my light bar. I need a way to clamp it to my trike, and Al had the answer. I need to find a part and I can debut my light bar! Yay!

Today I gave that UnderArmour shirt a work out. I think I like it. It really does a terrific job of wicking moisture away. I got chilled enough in the shade at Jamba Juice that I put my windbreaker on.

Here's my ludicrous loop from today.