Merry Christmas - 25 miles on the 25th

It was midday before the gifts were opened, the trikes & bikes were ready to roll but we managed to hit the trails today. Before we finished we'd racked up over 25 miles on the 25th!

We took the took trikes and a mountain bike from the house across town to the W&OD trail and east to the trail head. The weather started around 45 degrees and cooled down as we neared the end of our ride. All three of us pushed through some rough spots and managed to never give up, no matter how badly we'd timed each climb.

It was great to spend a few hours away from our electronic tethers and moving with our own power.  We've never been the family that played "backyard" football on holiday events. Maybe we'll become the family that squeezes in a quick ride instead.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Riding in the rain

The morning started with rain and by the time my trike was loaded and ready to leave out we had a steady mist. Rather than let the weather deter me I continued with my plan. I took the trike with me when I dropped my son off for basketball practice and headed east from there. I had less than 2 hours to use and wanted to get as much riding time as possible.

Since I had not done this eastern section of the W&OD trail (Falls Church, VA to Arlington, VA) it seemed like a good time to check it out. The rain cleared after 30 minutes or so and it actually started to warm up. By the end of the ride I was soaked, more from the inside out than the outside in.

I learned that the trike doesn't handle well in the mud. One section of the trail was closed and the detour had turned the grass area to mud. On the return leg of my ride one of the power company workers had pity on me inching through the mud with my the tire spinning and pushed me on out. Interestingly, he apologized for my inconvenience and thanked me for my patience. I would have never seen that from an upright bike or a car!

Through Arlington, VA I saw parks that I never would have seen an other way. For several miles it was as if I was no longer in a suburb of Washinton, DC but somewhere in the Great Smoky Mountains. I will definitely be visiting this section of the trail again.

I returned to the school less than 5 minutes after the basketball practice ended. In all I only rode 18 miles but it was a great work out after being off the trike for so long. I'm glad I didn't let the early rain or promise of more to come to deter me.

Ghouls, Goblins, Grim Reapers & Walking Tacos?

Each year our town hosts a Halloween parade where up to 100 groups organize floats, dance routines, marching bands and more to celebrate the year. Tonight was our annual Halloween Parade. It's hard to describe the "small town" feel we have less than 20 miles from Washington, DC but for a few hours each year we bask in brisk weather and a tradition that goes back many years. You'll find people "reserving" their spaces along the parade route with chairs & blankets as far as 24 hours ahead of time. It's hard to believe that in 2008 the chairs & blankets are left alone.

The local bike shop, Bikes @ Vienna (http://www.bikesatvienna.com/), sponsored an entry. This year's group of riders included multiple trikes, three styles of recumbent tandems, multiple styles of single rider recumbents, at least one "crank forward" upright and a folding bike that the rider stopped periodically to demonstrate to the crowd. We had a trike that literally glowed with lights, riders dressed in Halloween costumes - a ghoul in full make up, the grip reaper with hooded face and a sickle instead of a flag. The ghoul was riding a tandem with a kid's car seat for the front rider position. His "kid" for the night? A friendly skeleton!

While the distance of the parade route was not very far (maybe less than a mile) we rode many times that distance by doing circles & figure eights in our section of the parade. Lots of waves and "high fives" from the spectators. The kids were especially intrigued by these unique rides.

The night ended with the group back at the bike shop sharing stories & "walking tacos". I had never heard of "walking tacos" so I didn't know if this was a joke being played on the newbies or if the ghost of tacos past would be walking by. It was neither.

It turns out to be an interesting way to build a type of taco/taco salad:
Take a small bag of Doritos and crunch them into small pieces
Cut down the side of the bag to form a "bowl"
Layer in taco fixings (tip: put the chili/taco meat in last or the bag gets awfully hot)
Eat with a fork or spoon
When finished toss the bag in the trash, no dishes

My wife and I are already planning variations to use at future parties.

Special thanks to Bikes @ Vienna for sponsoring a spot in the parade and providing the post ride "walking tacos". It was a great way to spend time with new friends and promote cycling at the same time.

Uphill with a wedgie

Since purchasing the trikes we've had several people ask about how well they climb a hill. Like many tools it is often the person using the tool that determines how well it performs. Just owning a Stradivarius violin and taking a few lessons will not make you a concert violinist owning a bike or trike of any make will make you a better hill climber.

Today I got a chance to compare first hand. My wife & son took the trikes and I went along with the mountain bike, a true wedgie. We tackled the two biggest hills on our nearby road/trail circuit. I found that I could out pace them on short hills but on longer climbs they were able to methodically attack the hill at a pace I could not maintain. At the end of our ride my wife pushed the wedgie up the last hill and I road the GT3 trike. I had no problem finishing the climb even though I was pacing her walking speed. I could never have done that on a wedgie. So my totally unscientific conclusion: wedgies win on short burst hills but trikes are better for long steady climbs.

At least with my legs. Your mileage may vary.

Back in the saddle

After several weeks recovering from surgery I was able to hit the trail again. It was a solo short ride, about 18 miles, but a chance to get back in the saddle. This time I went east on the W&OD trail past Falls Church, VA and back. Overall a hot day but a chance to ride & reflect.

Favorite Sites

Here is a list of some of my favorites sites:

Bikes @ Vienna (www.bikesatvienna.com)
Local Bike Shop, Vienna, VA

Utah Trikes (www.utahtrikes.com), trike specialists
Spanish Fork, Utah

www.instructables.com
How to advice on almost any topic for the rest of us

www.inspiredtobiketour.blogspot.com

This is a must read. Sheila Kappeler's blog about her solo trike journey from California to Texas.

Sheila christened her ride, "Duffy Moon". As fate would have it we needed another ride when Sheila was looking for new home for "Duffy Moon". We are now the proud owners of "Duffy Moon" and we intend to keep her on fantastic journeys.

RBC Half Metric Century

"Half Metric Century" sounds much longer than 32 miles but that was the loop we did this morning. The Reston Bicycle Club was hosting their annual "century" ride and they offered 3 loops - Century (100 miles), Metric Century (64 miles) & Half Metric Century (32 miles). We chose the shortest route for our inaugural ride. After arriving at the check in table around 7:30am we were prepared to hit the road around 8. We completed the ride in less than 3 hours. Not too bad for newbies!

The seated photo shows the apprehension on our faces as we were about to get started (yes the camera adds 10 lbs, especially when you're over 40). The standing photo is at the end of the ride with our trikes in the background. See the smiles!

It's dark out here, oh deer!

Sunday, 8/24, will be our first organized ride event. We're doing a 35 mile circuit. To prepare we've been trying to squeeze in a few longer rides. Tonight we got a late start but set our goal at 20 miles round trip.

We left from the house and we rode out 10 miles on the W&OD trail and then headed back. We decided to stop for dinner on the way back but forgot to pay attention to how quick darkness was coming upon us.

Leaving out after dinner we found ourselves on a VERY DARK trail. Our visor lights worked well but usually the first clue of an upcoming hill was when the peddling started to get harder. We were watching closely for pedestrians, joggers & other bikes we forgot about the wild life. Just before the start of the biggest hill on the trail we caught a glimpse of something ahead on the trail. We slowed our pace a little and realized it was 4 deer crossing the trail. Now we really slowed down. I've seen the damage a deer can do to a car. An exposed person on a trike would certainly not fair well. The deer crossed without incident but we were left with starting a climb from almost a dead stop and not in an appropriate gear. Some quick shifting & grunting later and we managed to top the hill. Repeat after me: I am not walking, I am not walking!

We decided to bail on the complete 20 mile circuit and cut across the "big hills" to our house instead of going around. The first hill off the trial was the one that forced us to bail and walk the trikes up on our first day of riding. Not this time. We didn't set a speed record on the climb but we didn't stop peddling either. Repeat after me: I am not walking, I am not walking!

Overall it was a fun evening and a nice break. We rode 18.4 miles, averaging 9.2 MPH. Our legs were still fresh despite climbing two of the highest hills in the area at the end. If we can pick that pace up a little on Sunday maybe we can finish the 35 miles in under 4 hours. I think that will be our initial goal.

Another interesting thing I learned tonight: apparently bats are attracted to the flag or light I put on the flag pole. We had at least one buzzing the flag pole for about half a mile.

Let 'em ride

Well at least let me ride!

Have you ever noticed that you don't really won't something until you're told you can't have it. On Monday my doctor told me that I couldn't exercise or cycle for 5 days. Suddenly I wanted to ride 20 miles and hit the gym full tilt.

I was finally released to ride the trike but I'm still limited on weight training. So yesterday I did about 8 miles on the trike when my wife & I rode into town for dinner. We even found a couple of new trail paths to get over to the W&OD to avoid more streets. I think our next accessory purchase will be a cyclometer or a GPS that we can use on the trikes. Might as well start logging our miles accurately!

Easy Headlight

The bar end modification on my GT3 gave me room to mount my headlight designed for handlebars. This gives the GT3 a light but putting one on the Cruiser has not been as easy.

But I did find the "clip lite" from miraclebeam (www.miraclebeam.com) at my local computer store (http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0275546). This is a 5 LED light that clips to the visor of a baseball hat or bicycle helmet visor. This provides a quick & easy way to add lighting for the rider and it's portable. I even picked up one for my truck to provide a hands free flashlight.

I'm also going to experiment with mounting one under or on the seat. Obviously it will not help with visibility for the rider but it may help the trike to be seen.

Sidelined

I'm sidelined from riding for a few days but the trikes are rolling without me!

The boys have made trips to town and gone out "just for fun". Tonight I watched as my wife & youngest son took off for a neighborhood cruise. I sure wish I could have gone.

I'm taking advantage of this down time to structure the planned trikeland.com web site and gather goodies for modifications. I have my eye on iHome's iH85B iPod speaker which is mounted in a water bottle container, http://www.ihomeaudio.com/products.asp?product_id=10186&dept_id=1007#. Can Christmas come fast enough? Until then I'm going to hack together my own amplified speakers to mount on the trike.

Longest trip yet...

It's Sunday morning, great weather and time on our hands so my wife & I hit the W&OD trail for a ride. From our house we rode mostly through parks to get to the trail and then took the trail west to Reston. In Reston we stopped for a fruit smoothie before heading back home. In total we road approximately 20 miles today and we're both settling into the trikes. Not a long distance by any stretch of the imagination but long enough to work out some kinks.

People continue to be inquisitive when they see the trikes and if we are stopped we get plenty of questions. Guess that's the "price" to pay for owning a unique transportation option.

Over 20 years ago GM showcased a three wheel vehicle in their EPCOT pavilion. It was called the "Lean Machine" because most of the steering was done by leaning. A similar product is on sale in Europe, www.carver-worldwide.com. A US company has licensed the technology and is promising to bring a unit to the US market, www.flytheroad.com. I've been on the mailing & waiting lists since this was announced. After riding our pedal trikes for a week I'm even more excited about the potential of finally owning a "lean machine".

No riding for me today but ...

After I completed the modifications (outlined in a previous post) I had to leave for the day. But the trikes were taken out for a short spin by the rest of the family.

Sometimes it's odd how thing you've held onto for so long suddenly have a useful purpose. Last year one of the buys bought 3 Camelbak hydration bladders, with drinking hose, and an extra hose. He found the cheap and thought we might need them someday. Welcome to someday! The bladder will strap under the trike seat or in the saddle bags I added. That means carrying water is even easier now!

What else do we have laying around here that can help the trike experience?

Let the modding begin

As long is long enough to own something before you start making modifications? I supposed there are multiple schools of thought but I fall under the "as soon as the ink is dry on the receipt".

Cruiser mod:
Added mirrors

Benefit: Safer to ride

GT3 mod:
Removed the mirrors
Added traditional "bar ends" to the vertical posts that held the mirrors
Remounted the mirrors into the "bar ends"
Mounted my old headlight onto the left "bar end"

Benefit: Safer to ride, more visibility in mirrors and hand braces for entering & existing the trike.

I'll post pictures soon.

Three times a lady...

Today I bought my third trike in 5 days! Actually, I decided to return one of the Terra Trike Cruisers and get the used Greenspeed GT3 (www.greenspeed.com.au/gt3.html). If the previous owner put 50 miles on the trike I would be surprised. This is fun but it's getting expensive quick!

Daniel & I rode the pair of Cruisers to the local bike shop, made the exchange, then joined others for dinner at the local burger joint before heading back. About 7 miles round trip, not a bad night out. I'm looking forward to some longer rides this weekend.

Because of the number of questions we are getting about the trikes I think I'm going to make up some business cards to hand out. Nothing fancy just explaining what they are, general info, that kind of stuff.

To upgrade or not upgrade, that's the question

I did make a big mistake while my bike was being adjusted. I took a Greenspeed GT3 out for a spin. While I couldn't really tell a difference during our "research rides" on Saturday I can now after several hours on the Cruiser. The rest of the day was spent agonizing over "upgrading".

I think the GT3 (www.greenspeed.com.au/gt3.html) is in my near future. Besides it folds for storage so it will help with the over crowded garage!

Where's the index?

As you can tell from the earlier post I still had the indexing issue with the rear gears. So I loaded it up and took it down to the shop for another adjustment. This time not only did they make an adjustment but showed me how as well.

My evening ride confirmed that the indexing issue was less of a problem but still there. I am sure glad it's my ride doing this and not my son's. He's been very thrilled with his Cruiser and anxious to get out and ride. A nagging problem like this would taint it for him.

Getting caught up

I started a local "log" file until I could get the time to create the Trike Land blog site. Here are those first 5 days:

Trike Blog

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Looking for interest

After the usual Saturday morning events the entire family stopped by our local bicycle shop, Bikes @ Vienna (www.bikesatvienna.com), to test ride recumbent trikes. What a rush! Everyone enjoyed scooting around the parking lot just inches from the ground and without the fear of balance issues normally associated with cycling (especially bicycling). The intent of the outing was to see if my youngest son (16 years old) would be interested in getting a trike of this style to ride the local trails with me. I didn't intend for everyone to get so excited about them.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Looking for an omen

After the bicycle shop tour on Saturday my wife & I had the urge to ride the trails and planned a fairly early Sunday morning start. I checked out the bikes on Saturday evening and we left out for the W&OD trail at about 8am. We decided to carry the bikes to the trail with our truck instead of riding the two additional miles each way. We had been debating the merits of possibly trading my aging Trek 8000 in and buying a trike. All I was looking for was an "omen". We headed down the trail around 8:20 and had gone just under 3 miles when I got my "omen". My front tire popped. Luckily it wasn't an explosive lose control flat but it was a sudden down to the rim experience. So we walked the bikes back to the truck. I had my "omen". If the Trek was willing to leave me with a 3 mile walk it was time for a new ride. We decided to get a light breakfast & wait for the bike shop to open at 10am. Now the decision to purchase a trike was done the hard part was selecting a model and figuring out how two people in the family would go for rides and determine which one got to use the cool trike. After reviewing the various models again I decided to go with an "entry level" but well equiped unit, the Terra Trike Cruiser and to avoid the 2 person arguments I went ahead and bought two! The local shop did some fine tuning and adjusting before we set off on our maiden voyage, a 3 mile ride home. What a rush! The trikes ride like the "Big Wheel" and "Green Machine" many of us had as kids. Low to the ground, easy to turn and overall pretty quick. The afternoon and early evening was spent cruising the cul-de-sac and answering questions from curious neighbors about the strange looking device.

Here is a link to the Terra Trike Cruiser product page:
http://www.terratrike.com/cruiser.php

Fun video of the trike in action can be found here (that's not us in the video):
http://www.utahtrikes.com/playvideo-8.html


Monday, August 4, 2008

Ejection seat!

The riders at the bike shop assured us that the new trikes were stable and difficult to flip or roll. Maybe I should have asked more questions once I managed to almost do an "end over" during the initial test rides. This is the second day of riding the trikes and my son as already found the "ejection seat". A "panic" stop with consistent pressure on both breaks will cause the trike to flip forward and if one hand grips harder than the other then you get a locked wheel, twist and then lunge. The end result is that the trike comes to some kind of stop but the rider bolts forward. If you've managed to stay mostly straight you can just put your feet down and "run it out". Second day of riding and my son has already "ejected" himself multiple times. Only once did he manage to not catch himself with his feet and totally leave the trike and that was almost a roll over. We've got a lot of things to learn but we're getting there as quick as we can.

Tonights ride was maybe 4 miles. We rode from our house to a local park, which required us to "port" our bikes across a narrow curving road with inattentive drivers. But once in the park the path was wide and fun. Back in the neighborhood we did some hills, praticed tight turns with figure eights and continued to experiment that "ejection seat". I'm sure things will settle down but I fear it will cost some skin and repair money along the way. But the first rides have been a blast and the learning curve is not nearly as high as a two wheeled cycle.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Still searching

If it was going to happen to one of the trikes I'm glad it was mine but I noticed during our Monday ride that the rear gears were slipping when climbing. This would be a real disaster on a two wheel cycle and standing up to climb a hill. On a trike it's a big nuisance and means losing some momentum but nothing really bad. So today I threw the trike in my truck and was at the bike shop when it opened. I explained the problem and left the new baby for the day. My wife was nice enough to pick it up in the evening so we could do a ride just before dark. The result after a day in the shop? Better but not perfect. It's still searching for the right gear when climbing. I did some searching on an owners group forum and found several references to this as an "index problem" and directions on making the adjustments.

We did manage to get a quick ride in maybe 2 miles total with the half way up, gears slip, go back down try again plan of attack. This time it was my wife & myself. We're both still getting used to how the ride "feels" but she seems more comfortable on the trike than she ever was on her Hard Rock.

Wednesday, August 5, 2008

Slow burn

Decided to use the trikes for returning DVDs to Blockbuster. I knew it would be a race against sunset so we needed to have a decent pace for the 5+ miles round trip in less than an hour. Without lights on the trikes yet I didn't want to be near the road when it got past dusk. Our pace was anything but speedy as we coasted out of the driveway and down the first hill. It seems that since his first ride on Sunday my son has developed a serious nervousness about speed. So much so that I've literally seen him jog faster. Of course a slow descent makes for a slow ascent coming out of the valley. He seems comfortable with grinding out the climb while I would prefer some assistance from the downhill momentum. Rather than leave him I let him set the pace and I proceeded to do a slow burn, not only up each hill but down the other side. The space between my ears probably burned as much as my legs.

Bottom line: we spent another hour plus out on the trikes, used zero carbon fuel for a trip to town and even met some nice people along the way. Not a bad way to unwind from work.