My Most Recent Ride 2008 (Part I of series)

Re: My Most Recent Ride

I just got back from taking a 30 mile ride on an older Linear Folding Recumbent. I’ve had to do a bit of clean up and adjustment on it as well as making up a seat pad. Road the San Gabriel River Trail from Downey to Rivers End, then back home. Found out I still need to do some adjusting on the front derailleur, and that I’ve become quite fond of the 3 speed hub and 7 gear cluster in back.

For the most part, I leave the chain on the middle chain ring up front, use the 3 speed hub for most of the shifting and make minor adjustments with the 7 gear cluster. I don’t know if this is the correct way of doing this set up, but it seems to be working for me. If anyone else has this type of gear set up, I’m open to hear how you’re using it.

With this ride, I’ve now ridden the entire length of the San Gabriel River Trail, which is some 30+ miles long. The weather today was absolutely gorgeous, temperatures were warm enough to make cycling comfortable, the only down side was riding into the on shore flow as I headed to River’s End. Of course, it made riding back a little easier with having a nice tail wind to help push. All the way to the ocean I heard my flag making all sorts of noise, on the way back it appeared to be rather limp most of the time.

I hope others have managed to get out and ride some and that all of you are having great weather such as we’re having here in So. Cal.

Curtis

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

Summary 1
New River Trail w/ Don Sullivan. Leave Foster Falls 3pm ride east to Draper and return to Foster Falls at 8:10pm (ET 5hr10m). 4 hours pedal time, 8.84mph avg. First time to NRT since Sept 2005.

Summary 2
New River Trail w/ Don Sullivan. Leave Austinville 10:10am ride west to Galax then north and southwest to Fries and return to Austinville at 7:50pm (ET 9hr40m). 6hr4m pedal time for avg. 9.3mph.

Summary 3
Burkes Garden, VA w/ Don Sullivan. Leave school 12:10am, ride east end then west end, return 5pm. Rode EVERY paved road in the valley, incl. out & back on Litz and extreme west end. (ET 4hr50m). 2hr18m pedal time for avg. 10.5mph.

Don Sullivan and I had a most excellent time the past three days. We left Morristown late Thursday a.m., checked in at the Wytheville, VA Motel 6 ,and proceeded to the New River Trail's (NRT) Foster Falls put-in point. We rode to Draper, near the trail's north end, and back. We put bikes back on the rack just as dark was almost upon us. A good dinner at the Ocean Seafood Restaurant, even though they closed at 9pm and we walked in at 8:50pm.

Friday morning, after breakfast at Waffle House, we drove to and began at NRT's Austinville, a few miles southwest of Foster Falls. A run to Galax at the NRT's south end, back to Fries Junction, on to Fries and back, and back to Austinville again just as it was getting dark. A gorgeous ride along the 1/4 mile wide river. Later, dinner at Bob Evans was also good.

Saturday morning, after breakfast at Cracker Barrel, we drove most of an hour north to Gratton. We got sandwiches and other food at Tazewell's Food Lion, and drove into Burke's Garden. We road the entire figure eight loop. Saw only two cyclists all day under a near-cloudless, low humidity blue sky. Windy some but a great day.

Don dropped me off near Morristown at 8pm, and both of us home an hour or so later.

92 miles on the New River Trail and almost 25 miles in the Garden, or 117 miles for the weekend.

It's too bad Buddy couldn't make it at the last minute. Maybe next time.

I want to thank Don for everything. He took his vehicle. He drove the entire way, well over 400 miles. He made the lodging arrangements. And he had been most everywhere we went at least once before. I needed a good getaway trip to maintain a level of sanity. This was it.

Dave, The Breeze

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

I'm glad to see RRI members are riding again!!! I didn't ride at all this weekend.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

Come on, Jon! Get out there and pedal!
I took Loke for another drag today. Actually both of us dragged. I just had no 'Oomph' to get out the door. I woke up at 5 am and managed to get Loke walked and then all my steam just went. I poked around for a bit, I know it's supposed to rain tomorrow, SIL is coming over tonight so a somewhat tired husky would be good. Finally, around 6:30 am I managed to start moving the trike out the door.

Beyond that, Loke and I were fairly sluggish. He was dragging a bit and to be honest, I wasn't trying to encourage or drag him faster. The first hour or so we just kinda doodled along at 6 mph or less.

Then I was hit by a random act of kindness. I'd been cycling for a bit over an hour. A black car had passed from behind me. Then about 20 minutes later, it passed from in front of me and I still didn't think much of it. Then 5 minutes later, it passed me from behind again and that made me a bit edgy. I've been stalked in the US plenty of times and while I've had 4 years to let go of my paranoia since moving to Sweden, something like that just triggered it right out.

I warily watched the car pull into a drive way at the top of the hill and a man got out. Probably about 60 years old and heavy set wearing a pair of work coveralls. He leaned against his car as he waited for me and my bad knees to creep up the hill with Loke before he waved and walked to the edge of the road.

The next thing I knew, he was offering me some home made doggie socks for Loke's feet. He has 3 huskies of his own and saw me with Loke and thought I might need some booties for him, so had gone home to grab some and came back to find me. As he stuck the socks on Loke, he asked the general sorts of things. How far was Loke going to run today? (35 km) How often did I take him out with me? (3 to 5 times a week) How old was he? (4 years on July 1) Then he gave Loke a few more pats and scratches before waving bye and getting in his car. I watched him go with a sense of bemusement and a renewed sense of humanity.

Both Loke and I went a bit faster after that, though I think Loke was just trying to run away from the bright blue flapping cloth bags on his feet.

Terii

P.S. Loke has run over 200 (202.7) miles since March 21! I've gone an extra 50 miles on two solo rides as well.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

You people that ride when the weather is nice
I, on the other hand seem to have quit. My last ride was
March 30th with no riding in site.

My wife and I
took a bikeless vacation to florida last week. She insisted on visiting Mickey Mouse World, so I took a day off and just to read. Two days later she is sick as a dog and the next day so was I. Probably going to the heath department today to see if its the swine flu.

Enjoy the weather guys and with any luck I will be catching up to you soon.

Ward

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

Ward, that's not good nor is it healthy to be off the bike that long. Dana won't like it if you're not riding that carbon contraption either.

Hope things shape up for you.


Terii, I love to random acts of kindness like that. It sure makes people wonder though and I get some strange looks at times. lol

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

It was cold yesterday but they forecast 81 today...but windy too. When I got up I could hardly believe how warm it was. Already it was 62 and breezy. So I ate breakfast and did a quick couple of things and then headed out on the bike.

Wind was strong but tolerable. However, after going through a 2.5 mile heavily wooded section and getting into the wind again, I turned around. The wind was getting worse. By the time I had to head into the wind again on the final 1.25 miles of gravel I was struggling a bit. It really makes riding difficult when the gravel road is all pot holed and you are trying to miss those holes and the wind is trying to blow you around.

So after getting home I find that we have sustained wind of 30 mph and it is gusting to 40. There no doubt are a few gusts that are stronger yet. But, at least it is sunny. I hope things dry out some as we've had lots of rain the past several days.

The ride may have been a little worse than necessary but I had gotten around to put a rack and panniers on the bike plus the front fairing. No doubt all these things caught a lot more wind.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

OK, I am a contrary rider. I ride during the week then do things with my wife on the weekend. (She doesn't ride anything except her recumbent exercise bicycle.)

But today (Monday) I rode on one of the prettiest days of the year so far. Low 80s, not humidity, sunny and a slight breeze.

I usually ride only 15 - 18 miles at lunch but today I did 20 because it was so beautiful!!!

Plan to ride tomorrow also if anyone wants to join me. Wednesday - Friday looks like rain!!!

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

Ooh, Ward, I'll keep my fingers crossed that it's not swine flu for you and your wife. You and your family have been through enough of late.

I got out again today! It was gray and about 38 when I woke up at 5 am. I still went out and walked Loke before crawling back into bed to sleep a bit more until things warmed a bit.

Around 9 am, I finally talked myself out the door though there was no trace of SUN in sight. Even though the forcast didn't mention a chance of rain, I had a sneaking suspcion I was going to get at least drizzled on. I'd plotted out a 23 mile trip for me and Loke and I was determined to get at least _some_ of it in.

It wasn't too bad really, especially for the first 2 hours. For the first hour and a half, there was almost no wind. After that, the wind started picking up and every now and again I'd get hit with a splat. Loke and I weren't making our best time, but he was keeping a fast enough clip (or I was going slow enough) that I didn't feel irritated.

About mile 17, it finally happened. The rain came, hitting me from a side angle thanks to the driving wind. Then worse. Little frozen needles of ice. I stopped at the old watermill which has a few little craft shops, a small cafe, and most importantly, a bathroom. When I came back out, it was even worse. There was nothing to do for it, but grit my teeth and keep going. Fortunately, the flying ice lasted only a few minutes and my windstopper layer trapped heat fairly well in spite of the wet. Naturally, the rain stopped when Loke and I got home at 25.43 miles. The longest trip for both of us this year. Another 2 miles and Loke will surpass his longest trip ever!

Terii

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

My most recent ride was last night. I ain't afraid of riding at night anymore. Give me a good head and tail light I'll ride anytime. Just still don't like rain or thunder.
cheers
dragnfly

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

Terii,

It sounds like most of your ride was quite nice. And I wish my kid’s dogs had the stamina of Loke. So far, they best they have done is 7 ½ miles. I guess that’s not too bad when you consider Mischa is a small lab mix and Sammy is a beagle. But they do have the idea that if I take out either my Linear or my EZ-1, that it’s time for them to go with me and they make their intentions well known. For some reason, if I take my JetStream they don’t try to go, I guess they realize they don’t get to go with that bike.

Curtis

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

Dogs are pretty good about figuring out certain cues like the difference between 'their toy bike' and another.

And I think stamina does come down to breed as well though it can be improved to a degree. 7.5 miles isn't bad for those breeds, especially if they run it non-stop. I'm not sure Loke has ever run that far without a water break. If he has it was on one of our rare sub-freezing trips. I stop every few miles to determine how tired/hot Loke is, check his paws, offer water and brush out some of his coat to help him dispell heat as well. The stops can be as frequent as roughly every 1.5 miles on hot days or as infrequent as every 5 miles.

The only other dogs I've biked with are a doberman who could run flat out for 5 miles and a Samoyed who'd drag along for 2. I think the doberman could have gone farther, but unfortunately the area we lived in wasn't very bike friendly except on one road loop and I wasn't about to risk life and limb on the very busy roads that would have taken us out of there.

One reason we picked a husky was because I wanted something that could go with me on my longer rides. I figured a breed that charges through the punishment of the Iditerod was perfect. Granted, the sled race is in the brutal Arctic winter and Loke's runs are during the southern Swedish summers.

Terii

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

okay, first time on the bike in a month. Went out to Fort Benning a zero population area with mostly target zones. The roads are terrible really old chip/seal with huge gaping holes and in a couple of places the road was completly washed out with deep sand.

I didn't care it was great. Didn't have to worry about traffic, I had 4 humVee's pass me on the entire ride.

Lots of cilmbing 2600 feet in 38 miles. Between the hills, road conditions, and being out of shape I only managed a 14.5 adv. but man was it great to be out.

Terri, I think I am going to have to get the TerraTrike with the dog harness attachments so I can put my greyhounds to work

Ward

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

Glad to hear you got out, Ward!

And if you do take your greyhounds out with you, they'll love you all the more for it. I don't think I've met a dog yet that doesn't like getting to move faster than a human's walk or jog. The only potential problem I could see, is if they freak out at traffic.

Today was a good ride. Even better, it was Loke's longest run EVER! 30+ miles. Better still, 20 miles of it was over new ground for Loke at least. 15 miles new to me. My husband dragged himself out of bed at 8 am this morning (in spite of jeg-lag) to drive me, dog and trike 30 miles out into the country side so we could make our way home.

I took it easy, pretty much letting Loke set the pace. He ripped along for the first 5 before the day heated up and he slowed down a bit. It got close to 70 F today, so I also made sure that Loke got lots of water breaks and also stopped for longer periods (15 min) to let him cool down while brushing out his coat. We were out 6 hours all told, but a good day.

Terii

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride

We drove down to Atlanta yesterday to retrieve Karen's trike (TerraTrike Path) from the shop. A pin holding the chain tensioner in place in the back had fallen out, requiring the tensioner to be replaced.

We were concerned that we had caused the damage somehow, but it turns out that the factory took a minor shortcut in putting together the chain that wound up on Karen's trike and that caused the problem. The chain goes through a small guide loop attached to the arm that holds the tensioner cog. The arm is held in place by a spring pushing it toward the back of the trike against the pin that fell out.

Apparently the master link in the chain was attached with a pin that could slip sideways just enough to catch on the guide loop and put pressure backwards on the arm. After that happened enough times as the chain revolved, the pin was loosened enough to fall out.

The shop fixed the chain so this should not happen again -- they used the correct fastener for the master link (if I understood the explanation correctly).

But back to the ride. While we were there on the Silver Comet trail anyway, I rented one of the shop's trikes and Karen and I rode ten miles down the trail (westward, toward Alabama) and back. It was great fun.

The trike wasn't adjusted quite right for me. I would have been happier with the seat set back another notch or two. But at least we got some exercise on a day when it was storming in Tennessee and we otherwise would not have gotten out of the house.

Several walkers on the trail wanted to know about the trikes and I had a good time talking with them. Two ladies we passed as we were getting back to the bike shop had wanted to rent the trikes, but there was only one when they arrived because I had the second one out. I hope they go back and try another time.