My Most Recent Ride 2014 (Part VII in a series)

The ELF

She would get along well with ELF. We kid a lot, but women really do like it.
It is cardio friendly, and yet easy on the knees and legs. No pressure on
the knees with the NuVinci hub. I can easily maintain target heart rate.
The price is excellent. An electric trike will cost more and without the solar
charging and enclosure. Get your wife one. They are highly visible in traffic,
and I feel much better in traffic than with any of my bike/trikes. They are
so nice in hills. It is a much cooler ride with the cover. It keeps the SUN off
your body.

 

Another ride today. Loke, trike and I went to my MIL's to drop off a few things again. Jens could have taken them to her last night, but I find I enjoy having a purpose other than 'add miles' to the local rides. Kiki laughingly agreed with that when I told her.

It was another gorgeous day. Started out about 66 F and probably reached about 72 or 74 F when we finished. Flawless blue sky, not even jet trails to mar it. Dead calm when we set out, but after about half an hour the wind picked up a bit.

I honestly felt great! Loke and I managed to go a bit faster than we'd been doing of late. I even felt pretty good pushing up the hills and in slightly higher gearing and cadence. That makes me positively giddy. Throw in that Loke was wanting to move like a crazed 3 year old instead of a 9+ year old man, it was near heaven!

I found out my Garmin Edge 1000 will record a ride while connected to an external power source like say... a Solio solar battery? Takes some of the worry off the silly short battery life.

Still loving the new helmet!

Feels a bit strange, but the trike is actually parked about half a mile from the apartment right now. Jens got an offer to rent a private, heated garage in another building. It locks tight, I didn't have to disassemble the trike which was one of the arguments Jens put forth for storing it there. 'Just get dressed, take the short walk there and go. No wrestling it in and out of the car, no folding, to fastening the seat...'.

He's also trying to talk me into the reassembling the Trice and storing it with the Sprint. Man's being sneaky and trying to appeal to my nostalgia and the fact that my Trice is faster than the Sprint. 'Wouldn't it be great to go zip around the River Loop or downtown instead of plodding?'. I could do a counter suggestion that we set up the Trice for him to use. I doubt he would, but hope springs eternal!

Terii

 

It would be cool if you could get him to go with you. Couple time is always better when it involves an adventure.

 

6 miles today. Felt weird to be starting it from the garage. Jens dropped me off and I headed out on the River Loop from the new location. Loke was enthusiastic for about 300 yards before realising we were only doing the Loop. He got sluggish after that. Bored with the Loop clearly.

Stopped off at our apartment to grab the trailer loaded with the camping gear. Got it back to the garage. Even going just 1.5 mile with it, I could feel it. The good news is that with it at the garage with the trike, I can start taking it on some of the rides. Might as well get the extra workout from the additional work.

Not a bad ride otherwise. It started off gloomy and gray about 55 F. Before I even reached the apartment to hitch up the trailer, it was pure blue skies and 62 F. Just wasn't feeling well enough for more distance.

Oh! I learned that, for a while at least, I will need to walk the trike up the slop from the garage to street level.

Terii

 

Thanks for the wisdom Buddy, I have been waiting to hear from someone that had one.

Took the Venom out for a thrashing today. 45 tough miles for a 15.5 moving average. I can still put a hurting on my riding pals with her as long as there are hills. The gearing and my skinny a** even things up. I always get a great workout.

 

Was going to ride 20 miles today. But after a week in a cool with low humidity Canadian weather, I wilted like the pansy I am and only did 16.7 miles in the 84 degree heat.

Hope to do better tomorrow.

 

A little ride is better than no ride.

 

CCC Springfield, IL

My dad and I were able to enjoy some beautiful September weather yesterday during the Capital City Century. We ended up with about 73 miles for the day. Anyone looking for flat rides, you can't do much better than central Illinois. I really enjoy rides that use the connected loop system so that you can pick and choose to get the mileage and scenery you want. It also added a double metric length for any hammerheads out there that just can't get enough. Phone battery died with less than ten miles to go in the ride. I really don't want to buy a dedicated gps for riding, but I also don't want to haul around an external battery. What to do? Decisions, decisions. Hope to get in another organized ride in with my dad this weekend as well. Everyone enjoy your rides and stay safe.

 

Today is going to be a double ride day.

It was also the first time to walk to the garage for a ride. I held up better for it than I thought I would given the problems I've had with my feet and back of late. Had plenty of Oomph to still drag everything up to street level and hitch the trailer to the trike. I left a couple bits of my camping gear in it for extra weight.

About 54 F and murky gray at the start of the ride. I headed for the grocery store first to pick up milk and a few other things for the day which were added into the trailer. Loke was a very good boy and waited patiently for me to go in and out of the shop.

Then we doubled back to do a River Loop.

I really need to remember to slow down a little with the trailer. Gear down and try to spin more as my left knee started complaining some though I didn't really feel like I was mashing. Definitely can feel the extra work of the trailer on the 3.9-ish miles we'd done with I parked the trike under the balcony.

I'll take Loke out for a another short run and trailer drag in a few hours to get the trike back to the garage. I will also give me a chance to take a few more trike related things back to the storage. My big cycle pump, a few other random cycle bags and a couple pieces of camping gear that eluded me before.

I really only have one complaint today about the walk to the garage. Looking goofy with the cycle clothes and big brim only helmet, I can deal with. Looking goofy in my cycle clothes while walking down the street? Not so much. Really dislike it and feel completely self-conscious. Guess I'm okay with looking goofy with an obvious purpose (trike), but no 'randomly' goofy.

Oh! I think I forgot to mention, early next month, Jens and I will be taking a week's vacation. We're going to drive to the southern edge of Sweden, hop a ferry to the island of Bornholm which belongs to Denmark. It's a small island, Just 25 miles long and 15-ish miles wide, but lots to see! Churches, some of them beautiful round ones, runestones, standing stones, dolmens, remains of passage graves, ruins of an old Viking fortress, stone/bronze age rock carvings. There's a site which used to be covered in wood-henges (wood versions of circles like Stonehenge) that's been dated to over 3000 years old, one or two castle ruins too.

I can hardly wait! I'll have 3 days to ride. One day Jens and I will drive and walk around site seeing. The three days of riding I'll split between one day where I'll make an attempt to keep Loke for the full day. Another day where I'll keep him for a while until he's tired, then there'll be a day I'll ask Jens to keep Loke for the entire day so I can zip around to see as much of what's left that I can.

Terii

 

Don't sweat it, I have looked goofy all my life!!!

 

Can't decide if that makes me feel less self-conscious.

Finished the day with 6.6 miles between the two outings. I just let the Garmin count the 2 rides as one since Loke came with me both times.

Talk about great timing! Having forgotten his keys, Jens called to see if I was home when he was about 15 minutes away. I was about 10 minutes from the garage at that time. So, I got to sit in the trike seat and relax for about 5 minutes before getting a ride back to the apartment.

Not a lot of distance, but a bit more work thanks to about 20-25 LBS of dead weight being pulled along.

Terii

 

Rode 20.1 miles today. Felt great.

I started the ride right before a guy in his 20s. He passed me after the 1st lap and slowly moved ahead. He didn't pass me again.

So after my 20 miles I was pulling in right behind him. I puffed up my chest as I dismounted right next to his car since I was able to keep up with him.

As I was putting my bike on the rack I said to him we had about the same time to ride. He agreed. I was so proud keeping up with a 20+ year old in great condition.

Then he put his bike in the back of his car, took off his shirt and said "have a great day." as he turned to start running. :

My puffed out chest deflated and sagged around my waist. Who was I kidding.

 

Tweetsie again

16 miles with Agio and 15 others in the group. DQ at one end and Pizza Inn
at the other.

 

Jon, don't worry about it. There have been studies done that now show how dangerous "ultra exercising" can be. Be proud you did well. That is all that matters.

 

Looks like I will be riding your way this Friday. . I'll stop by.