My Most Recent Ride 2015 (Part VIII in a series)

Loose spokes

Click-click-click very likely indicates one or more loose spokes. There are wheels and tires that will carry the load, and some will not. I think a trailer is the best way to carry a heavy load. I observed Dave with a Burley and Don with a BOB (Beast of burden) for a week on the Katy Trail. They did well. Jon did well, but my Tour Easy didn't do so well. My rear wheel was destroyed.

 

Dialing it in

18mph average.
Average of, cruising between 20-21mph on flatter portions
and really making molehills out of hills.

No rabbits.
Just the SUN, slight breezes, clean air and the noise of the slipstream.

 

Still sounded like a lot of fun.

 

Fun!

Of course it was!

With today's storms raging outside, this afternoon's ride will happen on the trainer.
Not as much fun, but it's worth the effort.

 

Adrian, did you keep the recumbent pods? Did you not like them? You would probably have come out better getting rid of the huge rear panniers and keeping the pods. Any thing that is mounted behind the rear axle places the weight directly on the rear axle, while anything however slightly placed in front of it disperses some of the weight to the front.

 

The reason behind me gettting a bent trirke

My husband and I have ridden bikes together ever since we met. We even bought a tandem. That was in NY. When we moved out here to AZ, I started having more and more pain in my right hip. I had to have it replaced because of severe arthritis. For various reasons I won't go into (big sigh of relief from readers! ), I had to have it replaced two more times. No, I did not fall. However after the third replacement, my husband bought me The Orange Crate as we call my bent. In addition to the hip replacement, I also have Parkinsons which can lead to balance problems. My husband says with the recumbent, if I fall, I won't have as far to go! I still ride the tandem.

 

Never stop moving/How i offended the recumbent gods

I guess i have offended the recumbent gods by going back to a wedgey, even though it was only a temporary necessity from the get go.
Was making a fairly good start to a decent year end miles report.
After my back let up enough to ride a bit i bought the better half a bike cuz she wanted to ride together.
Shhhh.. That was a big mistake. Well maybe not a"BIG" mistake. She has never cycled more than up and down the city block with the grand kids, in their subdivision.So six mornings a week we rode around the block in front of our house. 4 miles at a mind boggling and body numbing slow pace. By the grace of God she found a job in week 4 and could not ride with me anymore.
Now don't get me wrong and rat me out for writing this.
I do want us to ride together. But i want her to learn how to use the gears and learn that i/we are doing this as exercise, and it is not supposed to always feel comfortable.
But long story short; by myself i was able to pick up the pace a tiny bit. So for the next week or two i tried to sprint as much of the four miles as possible. One very pretty very friendly young pitbull made it impossible to sprint all four legs of the block. Two direct hits by my front wheel and three direct hits of pepper spray only made a slight improvement. But two good shots of "Marking Gel Pepper spray apparently got the owners attention so now she is locked up till after i go by.
I figured if i got to where i could do the block (without interference) in under 10 minutes and do it every morning for a week, i would change the route and go around my block, which is seven miles.
That goal achieved so i have been riding the seven miles six days a week since mid July.
Then the recumbent gods decided to vent their wrath on me for leaving Jezebel in the garage and riding a wedgy.
I began having some pain in my testicle. I assumed a urinary tract infection. After the pain steadily increased for a week my wife demanded i take it to the hospital and let the doc check it out. I have now been accused of Testicular Torsion. Go figure. I had heard of Intestinal Torsion in large dogs, but this is a new one on me.
Needless to say i have been ordered off the bike by both women wife and doc. Since any left leg movement is pretty oh i don't know "excruciating", i do not expect to be disobedient anytime soon. Especially since doc keeps throwing the term surgery around.
So i will do the math and post my meager year to date miles and hope i can get back on Jezzy before thanksgiving. Love ya, never stop moving, and keep riding..........

 

OUCH!!! You need to make a sacrifice now...best to offer up the DF.

 

I have heard of this, and only know one other who had it. If you can consider yourself fortunate thru the pain, feel so since surgery (and oftentimes emergency) is needed. Oh my, please do take care of yourself and don't try to be a hero. This is one you absolutely must get done right. Prayers.

 

Willie G had a torsion a long time ago..NOT GOOD. He has survived that...now I just hope that he survives his cancer...it came back.

 

Sorry to hear that!

 

Ride

Alright, sorry all y'all; I feel your pain.
Not literally, you know, but in an honestly empathic sense.

Anyway....

Took the V out yesterday afternoon on mostly dry streets, in mostly wet air.
The commuters were starting their evening commutes.

One big, lifted, rusty pickup with the windows rolled down, cut in front of me.
He did this right as we entered a short, flat sprinting ground of mine.
Excellent.
I let off the brakes, snicked into low gears and spun my way up into hot pursuit,
getting some impetus from the draft behind the redneck cadillac.

What a nice sprint!
I managed to hold 27mph for almost half a mile, before the overpass.

No one else was stupid enough to ride their bikes while I was out riding mine.
They came out to play later, when the heat had dissipated a bit.

 

Hi Gene,
yep still have them, but they're only the small ones. If I'm touring really light may use those again, maybe in combination with some smaller panniers on the back. It really surprised me just how much the stability improved when I shifted weight forward
Adrian

 

Is that fully the past tense, in that it's going or gone again, or is Round 2 beginning/in progress?

 

Torsion fully in the past...no more issues.
Prostate cancer a couple of years ago...surgery...gone.
Prostate cancer returned...getting ready for more surgery.

He still rides his bent and does the bike shop thing. I have my eye on a couple bents but haven't made up my mind yet. I can't wait to ride again. It has been WAAAAYYY...to long.