How oncoming flu adds a 20lb brick

Ride #100

11 or so miles around Lake Natoma
Tuesday, August 23rd

I picked this route since I would be able to go faster than my other idea of Folsom bicycle paths. I ended up loafing around the lake anyway. Who put that 20lb brick on the back of my trike, anyway!?

I got a late start so it was hotter weather than I usually chose to ride in. I tried out an UnderArmor shirt. Supposed to be for hot weather: wicking and all that. Not too bad. I have worn other wicking shirts with a cooler smoother feel (my favorite golf shirt) but this is long sleeved and in a screaming bright blue. I also have a yellow one. Not high-viz but pretty bright anyway.

I went counter clock wise since that's how I'll be leading Saturday's ride. I'm not sure that is the BEST direction to go in, since the little rolling hills are at the end of the ride, but I'm tired of always going clockwise.

I stopped and watched some happy water folks from the bridge.

You can see the reflection of the older bridge in the water.

Then set off into the dry countryside, brown hillsides dotted with dark green oaks.

My shifting seemed a bit noisy today, so I think I'll lube the chain and check for lumps of crud in the works before the next ride on Thursday.

I have been contemplating adding a light bar to my trike (not one with turn-signals and all, just several red flashers) so overtaking nighttime traffic will have a better idea of how wide I am. I think I'll start with a PVC tube painted black with red blinkers attached.
It needs to be (in my opinion) about as high as a sedan's taillights, and my headrest is just about as high as the lights on our Prius. So I'll ziptie the bar to the headrest supports. If I can figure out a stable velcro strap method, I'll do that later. The next thing to add will be white flashing lights pointing forward.

The ultimate in annoying lighting would be 12v battery powered LED strips. Might be too geeky, even for me.

Be Seen
Be Safe

Will ride for ice cream

#99

Friday, August 19th

A largish group of casual bikers headed out late this afternoon on the American River Trail with the promise of smoothies, ice cream, or coffee at the end of the ride. We had people on road bikes with those bars you might remember from your 1970's 10 speed, upright-posture comfort bikes, a splendid white cruiser, a mountain bike, my friend with the trailer-full of kids, and me on my recumbent trike.

I had the singular honor of leading the parade down to the riverside trail (the fellow on the white cruiser was the actual leader of the ride) and I even managed to keep my speed down to a casual-friendly 10mph. I did a lot of coasting.

We did not see any deer or coyote, but there were a lot of turkeys around. Including some humanoid turkeys on motorized skateboards. Grrrr. Not supposed to be on the trail! Oh well. They buzzed off up the Fair Oaks bridge and out of earshot.

I eventually caved in to my need for speed and took off down the trail like my tail was on fire. I managed 19.4 as my top speed and I know I did not hold it for long since I distinctly remember some gasping going on. I cruised on at about 13mph after that.

We hung out at the pond at our turnaround point, carefully avoiding many fine deposits of duck-shit. Ick. Green and squashy.

As we made our way back to our starting point, dusk happened, so I turned on my lights, the Cateye Opticube in flash mode on the front and the Cherry Bomb in the rear. It was nearly dark when we got back to the Sunrise bicycle path, so I stopped to add the high-viz sleeves from my old windbreaker and some flashing bands that I picked up at REI. I think they are supposed to go on your arms, but I find I can wiggle them over my shoes and wear them on my ankles. I also had two flags with reflective patches on them and a rear reflector. There are also some reflective patches on my trunk bag and the edges of my seat.

I felt highly invisible even with all that. So I need to figure out how to add more lights and reflective stuff to my ride, especially stuff that will be visible from the sides. Must ponder this.


I know I turned off the bike path onto the correct street, but I somehow was unable to find the smoothie place. Hrmph. I suck at nighttime navigation. Heck, I can hardly find the place in broad daylight. My GPS enabled phone helped, since I could remember the name of another business in the same building as the smoothie place (which I already knew was not in Google Maps). So I got there eventually and had a lovely pomegranate something with bananas and granola on it. Yum!

While I was sitting in the store waiting for my order, the two kids decided that the flashing bands on my ankles were too cool! They lay on the floor at my feet (I felt like a disco demi-god for a while, with two devoted worshipers) happily poking the buttons to turn the flashing on and off.

I am just as smitten with my trike as I was the day I brought it home, but my appreciation of its capabilities has grown as my ability to take advantage of those capabilities has grown.


What will the next year bring?
More long organized rides (I'm registered for Foxy's in October and a friend reminded me of a ride in Lodi's wine area also this fall), and hills. Hills since I want to tour.

Speaking of touring, here's a sketch of possible art for a recumbent cycle touring business card.

The ancient Egyptians got nothin' on me.

For no apparent purpose

Ride #75
Wednesday, May 19th

12.5 miles around Folsom

The 'cycle was still in the back of the car this morning; I had to take the car for an oil change, so I decided to leave the trike in there and go for a ride after the car was finished.
I argued with myself all the way from the shop to my eventual parking spot. "Where do I want to ride today?" "Not there, but why?" "Maybe here." "Well, I don't know, you decide." "No, you decide."

I ended up at the old same spot of the Raley's shopping center: proximity to bike path, restrooms, and food for after the ride. Although I had decided to stick the Raley's to Glenn Rd. route onto the Nimbus lake loop, I changed my mind AGAIN and decided to have no purpose for the ride.

That whole no purpose thing only lasted about 4 miles, then I decided - "Hey, I can pedal over to Bicycle Planet and maybe pick up some replacement brake pads." So I turned on my Cherry Bomb rear blinky and headed out into traffic.

Folsom has great bicycle infrastructure: in addition to bike paths they also have bike lanes. And many of the right turn lanes are separated from the bike lane by a nice chunk of concrete. So I enjoyed the bike lanes on Oak Ave. and Iron Point. The traffic was light and well behaved.

I found a couple interesting things along the way:

Yes, I'm part pack-rat and part scavenger.

Alas, Bicycle Planet was out of Avid BB7 brake pads (they are quite popular) so I picked up a medium-bright red blinky for the back of my bike. It is easier, I've been told, for overtaking vehicles to figure out how fast the overtaking is when there are TWO red lights to look at. I shall hang on to the Serfas seat stay light as a loaner.

I contemplated trying on helmets, but I was pretty sweaty and thought that might not be very nice for the next shopper.

I pedaled back, dodging traffic down Prairie City Rd. and then back on to the bike paths.

Somewhere along the way, I stared down this lovely creature.

And startled our state bird, again.

Hopefully no rain this weekend. I've got to get the rest of my miles for May is Bike Month!

Advocacy

Ride #74
Wednesday, May 18th

10ish miles in Sacramento on the Ride of Silence.

We had a small group for the ride (sort of a last minute thing with not a lot of advertising): at least 4 from one of the groups I belong to, 2 from another local group (I can tell from the jerseys), 2 folks about whom I have no clue, and a very interesting utility bike with a side car for the child. I might have missed a few people.

There are at least two ghost bikes near Sac State's campus, so we rode over there to add some flowers to those memorials. The person who ended up hosting this ride was recruited at the last minute (since the original planner was off in Moab for a few days) so there was not a lot of participation. She's thinking of a 100 person ride next year.

The logistics of getting even 10 bicycles clustered around a memorial without impeding foot or vehicle (I include bicycles as 'vehicles') was ... interesting. So I think the organizer's idea of having multiple destinations for next year's ride and splitting the group up (and starting in a place with a larger meeting area) are all Good Things. And maybe if the meeting area had publicly-accessible bathrooms that'd be nice also. A middle-aged bladder is Not Fun.

I encountered again the idea that folks who ride recumbents ride them because they have some disability that prevents them from riding a 'normal' bike. Sigh. As if I'd ever want to ride such an uncomfortable thing ever again.

Our route took us on quiet streets in Sacramento, some with speed-bumps/undulations. I would call them speed-humps (but many people I know would take that totally the wrong way) since they are low and smooth and easy to ride over. Some of these undulations are full width and some are two with a sort of a gutter in the middle. I was surprised by the gutter-type and it was a very strange feeling to have my two front wheels go over the humps, and my rear wheel not. Undulations are fun!

I blinged out my trike with extra front and rear lights, wore my yellow high-viz with reflective piping jacket, and used both reflective flags. I was determined to Be Seen!
Three forward facing white lights; one strobing and one steady on my ride's frame, and a wimpy cheap camping headlamp on helmet. For red lights, I have a Serfas seat-stay blinker mentioned in an earlier post, and a NiteRider Cherry Bomb blinker that is Very Very Very bright. Really, the CB is so bright the Serfas does not add a whole lot. I wonder if I can figure out how to attach a second CB to my headrest?
There are several schemes to add side-visible lights to one's bicycle. Some are passively reflective, like reflective bands on one's shoes or ankles, or reflective sidewalls, and of course the CA legal code mandated side reflectors; but some are active, usually battery or generator-powered LED lights. I got to get me some of those.

I've decided I don't like riding around a city at dusk/night. Especially if it is one I don't know too well. Of course, this attitude might come from having momentarily misplaced the car. I knew it was two blocks down and one right turn away from Fremont Park (our meeting place) but with all the one way streets around there it took me a while.
I did remember that I had parked across from a lively and loud bar.
There are a lot of bars in that area.
Oh dear, oh dear, whatever shall I do?
How about a bunch of U-turns on the handful of two-way streets!
Did I cross the train tracks? I think so....
Hey, is that my Prius?! It is.
Whew.

And now for a public service announcement.
Let the flames begin.

Bicycles are vehicles.
They belong on the road, if the rider so chooses.
A rider choosing to use the road has a few obligations that are mostly describable as:
"Don't be a jerk."

You are a vehicle. You are subject to the vehicle code.
Don't blow through stopsigns or lights.
Don't ride against traffic.
Be predictable, visible, and safe.

"... ran out of songs to play."

Ride #73
Saturday, May 14th

38ish miles in Lodi, CA

Today I saw:
     Hawks
        A Magpie
           Cows
              Sheep
                 Goats
                    Emu (!)
                       Llamas
                          Horses

Puffy clouds, vineyards. Lovely.

and some bikes:
                          Road
                       Mountain
                    Tandem
                 Tandem recumbent
              Recumbent, plain
           Recumbent, trike
        Recumbent, handtrike

Most of the vineyards have lovely roses. One I passed seemed to believe in my principle of "no rose unless it is a stinky rose". Like pedaling through perfume.

I was passed nicely by:
        Farm equipment
           Pickup trucks
              Sports cars
                 Motorcycles
                    Other bicyclists.
Not so nicely by a couple of sedans. Hrmph.

This was a ride organized by the Lodi Rotary to raise money for their charitable efforts. The 15th one!

I decided to do the shortest ride they offered, the 50 km.
I dithered about trying twice that distance for a moment, but decided that I am not ready for more than about 40 miles at a time right now. As it was, the seemingly endless stretch of Peltier Rd into a headwind on the return ride wore me out!
My average speed for the first half (no headwind) was just shy of 11mph (10.9 if you must know) but my overall for the whole ride was exact-ally 10. Which which I am pleas-ed.
And down to the Mokelumne River I attained a zippy 28.6 mph. It was soooooo nice to coast! I'm not sure I really am in love with the constant pedaling necessary for truly flat rides.

OK. That last statement was inserted by my evil twin, Skippy.

Moving on.

Row of palms on Acampo Road

The Acampo store was more interesting to look at but this building was easier to take a picture of.

This was a bit different from the Napa Cycle for Sight I did earlier this year: everyone checked into the Lodi event as they arrived, got a nice red t-shirt, a wrist band, and a route map, unloaded their bikes, and set off.
Some folks traveled in pairs or bunches, but there were other independently minded singletons like me. The Napa event was 3 separate mass starts.
The camaraderie of the large group was nice, but I really think I prefer riding by myself. So I guess that's OK for a solo-tourist-wanna-be.

Rest stop at Clements Fire Department.

Sorry, strawberries already eaten in this shot.

There was a lot of fresh fruit at the rest stop, so I pigged out. Despite that, the aforementioned headwind took enough out of me that I stopped for some dried fruit and nuts on the side of the road.
I had picked up some Kirkland (Costco) brand individually packaged fruit and nut mix (dried cranberries and cherries, almonds, walnuts, and dry-roasted pistachios). Convenient enough, but I would have liked salted nuts in there instead. Time to make my own!

This picture is for all the people who grew up with human-sized haybales. It was a Very Large hayfield.

Returning to Lodi High School (home of the Flames), I loaded my trike in the car, ate a nice tri-tip lunch provided by the organizers, and drove home.

I had no real problems mechanically (although I did regret my decision to re-install the left wheel reflector - it sang to me the entire ride).
I need new batteries in my Cherry Bomb rear light; my Serfas seat-stay light (I have it on my headrest) came apart in the parking lot at the end of the ride (I had not gotten the battery cover back on correctly when I changed the batteries); but my Cateye Opticube HL-EL450 worked just fine.

I like the Cateye light: it has a strobe mode which my larger brighter light does not, it is small and easy to attach to a smallish tube with an o-ring. "But wait," you say! "Doesn't that light have an attached nifty clamp-strap thingummy?" Yes, it does, but it broke on the third use and it was such a pain to use that I don't want another thingummy anyway. Hurrah for o-rings.

I think I need to take apart my right bicycling shoe and see if the metal plate and cleat screws have shifted around.

And, major triumph, I stuffed my trike into a Toyota Prius!

It does, after all, fold

T-storms in the forecast. Should I be a responsible ride leader and cancel tomorrow's ride? I've another hour to decide.

Fall! (but not down)

The weather for today's ride (#4 for those following along at home) was cool (60 F) overcast and breezy (probably 12 - 15 mph). A Preview of Fall and an excuse to wear lightweight wool!

I remember riding on days like this on my old Trek bicycle and I would whine and grouse and sigh heavily when I had to turn into the wind. The wind really pushes you around on a bicycle. I did notice the wind on my face today but the trike is so much lower that it was merely refreshing instead of annoying. To get an idea of the difference in height between a conventional bicycle and a recumbent, consider this: I can roll my machine right into the back of the SUV and I suppose I could sit in it also and maybe only have to duck a little bit. My sweetie's bicycle cannot be rolled upright into the vehicle, since the seat won't clear the roofline. And when he's riding that bike, he is sitting on that seat. A lot more vertical surface area for the wind to push around.

Anyway, there were only a few souls out today - a few dog walkers, some joggers (earbuds firmly inserted), and a trio of happy cyclists. The bicyclist imitating an airplane (hands-free "flying") got a bit of a shock when I appeared suddenly around a corner (they were riding three abreast and oncoming!) but no crashing occurred. I saw some California quail on the trail (it was nice having a ground-level view of the birds) and some sparrows. The ponds and creeks are mostly dry this time of year but I am looking forward to eye-level waterfowl in spring.

There was a persistent annoying intermittent whisking sound on the right side: not a scrubbing sound, but a faint brushing. The clicking while coasting drowned it out, so I spent some time turning circles in the granny gear (granny gear is the absolute lowest gear available - since I don't tip over I can cruise along, still pedaling, about as fast as an infant can crawl) in a quiet cul-de-sac, leaning over and staring at the right wheel. The sound was matched to the turning of the wheel, that much I figured out. Finally occurred to me to see what was different on the left side. Duh! Turned out the reflector had come untucked from the spokes on the right. I tucked it back and all was well.

I un-reclined my seat and had less tingly foot. Wiggling my toes while coasting also helped. (Since one's feet are about at heart level on a 'bent, it can take a little while to adapt to the different circulatory requirements of the posture.) Pumped up the tires (Greenspeed Scorchers) to 80 psi all around (from 60) - I don't think I know enough to tell much difference yet. I have Schrader valves; my bicycle had Presta. I think I slightly prefer Presta but I can cope.

I did have one incident of spontaneous unclipping, which seemed to come from my right foot's desire to be slightly toe in rather than the tension being still too loose. So I might change the angle of the cleat on that side. I will be not at all surprised to find that I do not want a perfectly symmetrical setup left to right.

I ran my headlight, more because I could than because I had to: it is an older Cygolite with a bottle battery (fits in a short bottle cage). The on/off/intensity switch is on the support for the left hand mirror. I got an extension cord from the manufacturer so I could mount the headlight all the way forward. I've routed the wire with cheerful blue 'velcro' (designed for bundling computer cables). I need to pick up some black, but orange is hard to find. If I can't have orange, I'll go for contrast! You can see the blue on orange just behind the Scorpion sticker on the boom.

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More helpful information from benrideronline: I can so get orange velcro - just not at the local Fry's.

Getting lost in Folsom

The next handful of posts appeared in a slightly different form on Bent Rider Online (a message board for recumbment riders).

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Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeal! (That's a happy sound, for those wondering.)

On this morning's ride (02 September, 2010) I saw one recumbent hand trike (delta), a couple of DFs (diamond frame bikes - shorthand for 'normal' bicycles), and lots of people out walking their dogs and generally getting outside before it gets to be 100 F. I collected a lot of smiles this morning and waves and one inquiry "Do you have air conditioning on that?" "Sure, as long as I keep moving!"

This morning was my second ride on my new toy and my first clipping in. I'm still sticking to neighborhood bike paths until I get a little more familiar with the machine.

There are a lot of components to play with on this machine, and it was tempting to spend all my time parked by the side of the path, allen keys in hand. I stopped a couple of times to adjust the neck rest and to play with the seat angle. And that's all! Really! I promise! Before my next ride I need to adjust the suspension a bit and I might investigate some slight adjustments to the handgrip position.

I also need to evict my former ride (Trek) from the corner of the garage and see if I can figure a way to hang the trike. Right now it is parked in the back of the Toyota. "No, dear. I am not planning on using the truck as a garage. Really! I promise!"

I had a devil of a time with my right shoe (new to clipping in) and eventually decided that the tension on that side was just too loose to stay clipped in. However, I seemed to have found an acceptable fore-aft position, side to side position, and angle for the cleats. Or at least on a short ride it seemed OK. Time will tell.

I improvised a water bladder bag to hang from the seat back. I am eventually getting (I hope!) dual water bottle cages but the shop is still working with HP Velo. on that. The non-folding Scorp that I test rode had a braze point on the frame under the seat for a dual cage when using the mesh seat. There is no braze point on the folding version. Neither of the two proprietary HP V cages the shop had on hand will fit this trike with a mesh seat. However, the shop managed to attach one short cage which will serve to hold the bottle-battery for my light.

Although I have the headlamp attached, I did not bother with the bottle battery and switch for this ride. I have an older Cygolite for which I was able to order an extension cord so I can have the battery behind the seat, the switch on the mirror mount, and the headlamp as far forward as I can get it.

That's all (and enough) for now.

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For the curious, I bought my ride from Peregrine Bicycle Works in Dixon, CA. A great shop.

What I did not admit to in this post was getting slightly lost. It has been 2 years since I spent any time on the paths in Folsom: there are a lot of paths and a lot of intersections. I got a bit turned around, but found my way safely back to my mobile garage: AKA Toyota SUV.

The folks on BROL (bent rider online) are super helpful, friendly and knowledgeable. After I made this post, I learned that there are braze on points to attach waterbottles in FOUR places on the seat frame: all one needs to do is apply a hot poker to the mesh seat cover to expose the braze points. All right! Hot pokers - my favorite!

And I was gently and kindly warned off from messing with the front suspension (which I was not planning on doing anyway) and the rear suspension turned out OK after all.

AND I got advice on storing my trike. Such a deal!