If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Ride #113
Sunday, October 2nd
47 miles on the American River Bike Trail and in Folsom and Gold River and and and...

I had one taker for my "good idea" ride this morning. As last time, the ride makes a loop with a handy bail-out point at 22 miles. Which is where my companion bailed, leaving me to slog on to the turn around for the 47 mile ride.

No pics since I'm a lazy creature.

The annual Princess Promenade event was going on today. The trail was not closed, so I saw plenty of women and girls riding up and down the trail with various bits of girly princess-like attire. Mostly seemed to be sparkley crowns and pink tulle. Some women had bunches of tulle (netting like in tutus) stuffed in the back of their helmets like odd tailfeathers. Not my idea of fun. I did kind of like the grass skirt. Mostly because it was NOT PINK.

The other odd thing I saw was what my companion dubbed a "techno mohawk": a fellow who had strapped his small bike pump to the top of his helmet. Maybe Tech-mo-hawk?

And not odd, but Team Revolutions was out in force today. I have never seen so many of their jerseys out in one day. I wonder what their ride today was?

Oh, and I saw the unicyclist again. I was standing in the parking lot after my ride, trying to muster the mental and physical energy to shovel the trike into the car, when I noticed a couple trying to work out a path over the new bicycle interchange at the Hazel bridge. I stepped over and asked "Which side of the river do you want to be on" and the answer was "The other side" (not a chicken joke). So I was able to say "See that unicyclist? Follow him. See that regular bike? Don't follow him." Easy as pie.

I'm pretty beat today (came home and took a nap) and I think it was a mistake to change the seat configuration and then go on a long ride.

Normally (like, for the last 1500 miles) I have the seat tipped up as far as it will go (so I am sitting as upright as possible). I have a range of 33 to 42 degrees. Today I split the difference between the two extremes. I like it, but my legs were not ready for that much time in a new position. My achilles tendon on the left complained and my right knee complained about 38 miles in, so I hopped off and put the seat back to the usual position, then gingerly carried on to the end of the ride. I iced when I got home. Should be better tomorrow, but I might ice again.

I think the more reclined position effectively puts my feet farther away from the pedals, meaning I have to flex my ankles a bit more while pedaling. My left leg acts like it is shorter than my right (because of my hips) so that ankle has to flex more, and my right knee is the 'bad' knee. So I'm not surprised. Just grumpy.

My rear tire required a little tweaking after the flat of last ride. The valve stem was not straight from the rim. It was easy enough to deflate the tire (still on the bike, thank you) and scootch the tire and tube around until it was in the right place. It was refreshing to pump up a tire with a floor pump instead of a mini pump.

My shifting is quite noisy again, so it will be time to reapply my favorite lube, Boeshield T9. I'd better also check out the rear derailler and make sure it is all clean and tidy.

Foxy's in two weeks, I'll take some short rides between now and than and pamper my ankle and knee.

Roll your own (ride)

Ride #69
Saturday, May 7th
19 miles on the very busy and very lovely American River Trail

The meetup.com site (where two of the bicycle groups I belong to reside) has a feature where a member of a group can suggest a ride, and when enough people also think the ride is a Good Idea, then it becomes 'active' and we can all pile on on and decide the details.
Last September, someone suggested early morning weekend rides, and we finally did it, eight months later. Since I was not in charge (no one was - quite refreshing) I'm not sure how many folks we had: 8 I think?

Anyway, we wandered along the path, chatting, sightseeing, chatting, munching, and having a great time. I missed seeing the deer, but there was at least one. And I got gobbled at by a turkey. I think I was being cussed at by next year's Thanksgiving dinner. Just you wait! Revenge is sweet with a side of cranberries.

The weather was cooler than yesterday, but as we got later in the morning the pesky wind picked up. I am still tired from Thursday's long ride, so the wind was not my friend! Especially when I was slogging up a little hill, on the steepest part, and the wind up and slaps me in the face! Hrmph!

Now, regular readers of this blog might wonder where, on this 1st Saturday, the Sacramento Recumbent Riders were. Well, they were there at William Pond as usual, and I got a little bit of flack for showing up at the meeting place and time but not riding with them.

It was a lot of fun watching our little band of casual bikers checking out all the different recumbents there today.

Most of the folks in the casual bike group ride either mountain bikes, or bikes like this one: a hybrid or fitness or comfort bike.

Hybrid bikes are quite popular: the rider's position is quite upright so there is less strain on the neck and shoulders and wrists and back. I used to ride something like this, but my body can't tolerate even that much.

I have a wonky knee, so I'm always checking out other people's bio-mechanical form as they pedal along. And today I did a little good in the world and helped two of today's riders adjust their saddles a bit higher.

Starting and stopping on a bicycle (a conventional or "safety bicycle") can be nerve wracking if you have always ridden a bike with the seat too low. "But I want my feet on the ground!". So a couple of folks worked on that as well.
Nothing like an impromptu bike clinic under a shady tree by a lovely river!

Me, I can lie down on the job.

We started at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery, a popular parking place for bike riders. It is, wonder of wonders, Free! so I was expecting a very crowded lot. However, it was not too bad. And it has been repaved with beautiful smooooooooth pavement. The old surface was like riding around attached to a paint shaker.

I experimented with the most reclined seat position available to me on my trike.
I like it.
I'm keeping it.

CU

Snot-pocalypse

First, a note.  There is a benefit ride coming up in the Sacramento area: Ride4Matt. 
Check it out, participate if you can.

Ride #68
Thursday, May 5th

57 miles along most of the American River bike path

I think this is the longest I've ever ridden in one day in my life. I'm not dead so it is obviously survivable.

My triking pal and I left Folsom on a fine, bright Spring day. We returned later - much later - that day. And on my part at least, hot, tired, slightly sunburned, and ever-so-mildly crabby.

This was, I suppose, a little taste of touring in some ways:  it was a fair distance, it was a bit stressful, and I'm sitting here a day later composing this post in a coffee shop.
On my phone.

My left foot is bruised, my leg muscles are tired, and my allergies are in full swing. It is a good thing the coffee shop has lots of paper napkins. I'm thinking about what kind of small pump I want to buy, and trying recall the correct sequence for removing and replacing a rear tire. And thinking about the next loooooong ride!

Hey, I just noticed that my phone's keyboard has a voice recognition function. Here goes: I have no idea if this is good to work or not I have removed myself to the car so I don't sit in peets coffee house talking to my phone which would sound very very very strange.
Hey. I can 'speatype' a run-on sentence! Ok. Back to work.

When using clipless pedals (pedals-that-attach-to-your-shoe-with clips. Don't ask me, I didn't name them) on a recumbent, it is useful to push the foot away as well as pulling back on the return. Apparently, I cannot do that effectively for more than about 35 miles. I started loosing the "oomph" in my legs at that point and I suppose my left foot was repeatedly slamming into the bottom of my shoe: hence the bruise. I'm considering more cushy forefoot inserts for my shoes.

We took plenty of breaks on the way out and even more on the way back! I stopped and stretched about 3/4 of the way through the ride. I drank 24 x 6 ozs of water: still not enough, since I came home with a raging headache. Two packets of electrolyte replacement powder and several glasses of water put me to rights.
I've added some packets to my bike bag.

I ate two oranges and a handful of trail mix along the way. And some jerky. I was pretty hungry at the end of the ride, so I think more trail mix is in order.

About 4 miles from the end of our ride, my steering started getting squirrelly. My rear tire was losing air! So we stopped and pumped it up to see if I could get back without hassling with a tube change. It held enough air to do so, I did no damage to my rim, and I put a new tube in the next day. And here's the "tattoo" to prove it. Saturday's ride will tell if I did a good job.

Have you hugged your bike today?

My pump sucks. Yes, air pumps are supposed to blow (which in this case is a good thing), so we used my pal's pump. I LIKE that pump! It's a Topeak road morph. Very nice, especially the built in pressure gauge.

I experimented a little bit with tipping my seat all the way back. I seemed to have more power with less effort, and it uses slightly different muscles than my usual, more upright, posture. I've set up the seat and the mirrors for the new laid back position and I'll give it a try on Saturday's ride.

TTFN

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.