My Most Recent Ride 2012 (Part V in a series)

A well tuned machine is a joy, isn't it? My trike is again shifting silky smooth with the new derailleur cogs and tune up.

Terii

 

Just took Loke out for a rolling walk (out with the trike, but walking speed in an attempt to spare Loke's foot). Just 2.8-ish miles. Now I'm going to jump on the trainer for a while.

It's pretty out and I really do wish Loke wouldn't howl if I left him at home without the trike. I'd go for a longer ride, but since I don't want to be lynched by our neighbors, the trainer it is.

We saw a male pheasant! Rather surprising to see something like that when you're toodling along a street with tightly packed little houses. Then there goes a chicken sized bird strutting across several lawns. Loke REALLY wanted it!

Terii

 

Another rolling walk with the furbrain today. A bit of limping in the last 100 yards. At least it's pretty out even if a bit cold at 34 though I don't feel the cold so much at 5.5 mph.

2.7 miles and now 3 hours on the trainer watching Fringe.

Terii

 

Willie G and I saw a male pheasant one day really pretty, we see more female where we are at rather than males, but it was nice to know that the "guys" do exist.

We also see lots of quail too, just never have my gun with me. They are sooo tasty!:eat2:

 

Maybe learn to use a sling?

In all my rides I've probably seen more than 15 male pheasants, though only about 5 females and two of those nearly hit me in the head when they frightened out of the brush as we passed. For some reason, they decided to fly across our path and since they don't gain height very quickly, I had to duck. Loke stomped on me both times trying to jump for them.

Terii

 

You know that is not such a bad idea. Really, I have thought about it a few times. They are really quiet and with the right size rock, they can do the job. I may actually have to look into that.

They could work on aggravating dogs too...

 

FINALLY got out to ride today. Today I don't usually ride because I teach but it is just too pretty and I haven't been riding often because of the bad weather we have been having.

Today was:
Sunny.
62 degrees.
Light wind.

Only rode 13.1 miles because of time constraints. Plus I did a "Buddy". About half way through my butt was dragging and I thought "Boy, I am out of shape." I took a break and decided to tweak the rear derailleur because it was skipping a bit. I grabbed the peddle and started turning and boy, I had a lot of resistance. What the heck???

Upon further investigations I noticed the rear brake was rubbing really hard on the back tire. No wonder I was tired. Turning the adjusting screws didn't help. I took the stuck brake off and a big glob of "crud" came out. This was binding the one brake preventing it from releasing. Put it back together and presto, good working brakes.

Got back on my bent and the rest of the ride was MUCH EASIER!!! Next time when I am huffing and puffing, I am getting on my bent and check the brakes!!!!

The "Buddy" reference came from our KATY trip. On one section Buddy started out slow and just got slower. At the end of that day we found out his back tire got out of True and was rubbing the back brake causing him to work much harder than he needed to. We couldn't true the wheel but we loosed the brake and he zoomed past us the rest of the trip.

 

Actually we found a bike shop in (don't remember the sizable town's name) about mid-day. The mechanic spent quite a while trying to true the wheel as best he could. We decided the cause was too much weight on the rear wheel while carrying a week's worth of stuff. A good arguement for a trailer.

 

I can't believe this weather.

66 degrees
Partly Cloudy
Very windy

15.6 miles.

The wind was really whipping me around today.

 

got a ride in today well late today about 5pm start 13 miles in was verynice but wind was slowing me down alot ithing iwas doing like 15 lol then the wind came WOW down to like 9 mph wind sssss lol had a good ride

 

Another 2.7 mile poke-along. A bit breezy out and just above freezing. Had a nice chat with an older man who looked a bit like Santa. He told me he was so glad to see me out and actually working and training my husky. Two other people told me I had a great bike.

Loke limped more than last time. *sigh*

Terii

 

It is sad to see our beloved pets suffer...I don't walk as fast any more with Ronin...she is aging and her hips don't work as well. Getting up is more and more difficult, so she spends a lot of time just lying around on the front porch on the fuzzy welcome mat. We walk at a good pace, but I can tell she is not so brisk as she used to be. Found two more cancer lumps on her the day before yesterday. I can tell she is getting tired.

 

Took a break away from the Corsa and took the MTB out for a Woods ride. Did 7.5 Tuesday and 10.5 today...

I think off road biking is WAY tougher than riding on the street. It almost feels like riding 10 miles in the hilly woods is equal to a 50 mile ride.

 

Brian,

I can agree wiith you. I've ridden off road in the Sierras and although I didn't travel very far, was extremely tired. I was using the Linear which had been modified for off roading. I have a MTB, but every time I go to get on it, I feel like I'm already heading over the handlebars. Guess I've just gotten too use to riding bents!

Curtis

 

got a 22 mile ride in today with ed mike and gene we all went to the cove to ride it was windy but we had a good time