My Most Recent Ride 2010 (Part III of the series)

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

Nice pic. Almost makes one dizzy cuz, without the trike & road, couldn't tell up from down.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

Yeah, the picture was really pretty.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

"Don't no bout no stink'n miles", but I have begun to ride a bit again.Been rid'n every night for about 3 weeks now. Don't go to far mostly just from home to Mikey D's about 3 miles i think and a few times to Jeff city. Get a huge tea and a filet o fish, then head back to Maury middle school and just do a few laps. Problem is the kids have football or soccer every night it seems. By the time i get home i am so pumped i can't sleep. Do 25 laps most nights but a coupl times i got to cruis'n and talk'n to the Lord and next thing i knew i had 76, 83, and 78. Don't know the milage but they are getting alot easier. May see about a day ride tommorrow. May try to head back toward Jeff city where they have some kinda flat spots.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

Gene,

It sounds like you're recovering from something, you doing all right? I know you've been through a lot over the last couple of years. Keep us posted on how you're doing and what you need in the way of prayer support.

Curtis

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

Took day off yesterday, played tennis at Jeff Co High School, and pedaled home via E Dumplin Valley Rd. You and I gotta co-ord schedules and do a route together. I'm tired of goin' alone local all the time.

Carson Newman's parking lots excepted, where are these "kinda flat spots" you mentioned toward Jeff City? Been riding around there for years and have somehow missed them.

Dave

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

The key word was "kinda". however compared to Dandridge Jeff city feels like Kansas. Just a note Carson Newman has no flat parking lots that i know of.

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

Do'n purty good Curtiss, concider'n the shape i'm in. "Fat balding crippled up old man, with coke bottle glasses."
I am getting a little nervous from being in one place so long. Soon as i can get all these ducks lined up, i believe i will head out toward San Diego maybe El Rosario, see bout doing a little kayaking down on the Sea of Cortez. Spend a couple months do'n some missions work in Mexico or sump'n.
Found a guy in Escondido,(if i dismember correctly), that does community work in the smaller back country pueblos. Gonna look'em up see if maybe he has some stuff i can get involved in till one of my kids calls me needing me to babysit again. Usually not till school has been out a few weeks, then Papaw can hav'em......

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

My recumbent among the D.F.ers:

Yesterday I played nice.
I stopped and waited for the group
that I'd started the ride with to catch up,
three times.

I slowed more than usual for fast-but-blind turns...
mostly because I ride on slick tires and the road was wet.

To my surprise, I found that I can climb hills as well
as most of the (older) D.F. riders.
Hey, the road was slick, my bikes' front-wheel-drive
wheel was slipping and my bike weighs over 30#!

I've found that my best position in any D.F.
group is either out in front or lazing/lolling at the back.
I'm just way too fast for anyone my age who will not
use the drops... and I'm conscious of my sharp chainrings out
there in front.

The most fun I had last night, was pacing two strong
young riders who were sprinting on the flat.
They were in their drops, drafting very close to one another and working hard.
I was off to the side, out of their draft... keeping my chainrings
away from them.
They were sprinting;
I was cruising at 22MPH.
The best part?
They stopped to rest at the end of two miles and
I turned around and cruised, at 20MPH, back home.

To keep this little report balanced:
many pacelines blew by me at over 27MPH, which was my top speed
last night on the flat.

Too much fun!

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

In races that allow 'bents, are SWB and trikes required to have chainring guards? I have seen them in catalogs and they appear to be an installation pain.

Besides, what's wrong with shifting to the smallest chainring and chainsawing into the next guys back tire or leg? Racing is a hazardous activity with liability release forms. Winning is everything. Cheating is only cheating if you get caught. Spilling some blood builds character and the battlescars give the warrior something to brag about.

(for those who don't really know me, I'm just kidding. Or am I?)

Dave

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

And chicks dig'em!

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

Course you can accomplish the same thing with a really good pimple on your back.....

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

OK, Dave... hand over the Flat Tire King award!!!

I went riding Monday and half way through my ride got a flat rear tire. I patched it and rode home.

Wednesday, I didn't have time to ride, but wanted to see if my rear tire was holding air and guess what... flat again.

This time I changed the tube out.

I am wanting to ride today, but I am afraid to go out to the shed to see if my rear tire is holding air.

OK... I am going to go out now... sit tight....
.
.
.
.
.
.
WHEW!!! Tire looks good, so I am riding today.

I have NEVER had so many flat tires as I have had the last month. Most were due to mechanical failures of the tubes themselves, not punctures.

I read that Schwalbe makes great (albeit expensive) tubes. I think I am going to try a set and see if I have better luck. What do you folks think is a good tube brand? I need to change what I am doing here.

The other strange thing is only my back tire gets flat. Of course that is the tire that is much harder to change. But, it goes pretty smoothly now with all the practice I am getting!

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

Sounds like the basis for a, "great" B-movie script!
Recumbents sawing off legs on long, grinding uphill battles!
Bloody bits slipstreaming off the speeding 'bents on the downhill legs!
Just like, "The Road Warrior"!
(Only different.)

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

The rear tire carries more than half of the static load and even more of any impact load. So for a given piece of debris under each tire I'd expect the rear to flat more easily. Unusual to hear that many unresolved consecutive mechanical tube failures. In my case it's nearly always a piece of metal or glass from the crappy road shoulders 'round here. What evidence of puncture have you seen (tears, hole(s), valve stem or base)? Undersized or oversized tube for the size tires you use? Maybe a spoke pushing through the rim tape (you do have rim tape?)?

I vote that there is something afoot beyond just the tube.

I've simply used the cheap Schrader valved tubes from Wal-mart (until all they carried had that nasty Slime in them). Never used expensive tubes until now. My new 20" rims need Presta valves and 20" Prestas are hard to find (Biketopia had some at about $6 http://biketopia.com/ ). Then of course you could use thorn-proof tubes. I have one (never used) and it's probably 3 or 4 times thicker & heavier than a normal tube.

As far as the Flat Tire Award, you already have it: A brand spankin' used set of worn tire levers.

Dave

 

Re: My Most Recent Ride - 2010

3 of my flats have been on rubber seams or where they put the tire valve.

But I have good news. The new tire I put in held air AND I rode 22 miles yesterday without a flat. Now my rear derailleur went spastic on me. I had to adjust the cable tension on it. But once that was done, I will riding with ease.

Felt so good to be able to ride more than 5 miles without having to change or patch a tire tube.

I got so fed up with this, I order 2- 20 inch and 2 - 26 tubes and a Durano 26 inch tire for the back of the bent. I have Durano on my other V-Rex and they work great. So I thought I would give it a try here.

I am looking for a good tire for my Erie Canal ride next summer. The canal ride is on aggregate like the KATY trail. So I am putting on a wider more durable tire to minimize the changes of a flat while on the canal path or back roads in New York. Any suggestions?