My Recumbent Days

T oday I left the house for my ride at 12:00 PM after picking David up from the hospital. He is feeling much better and was extremely happy that he went home to his own house and bed. The rest of the family is very re leaved that he is on the way to recovery. At least there is a chance of remission since he is taking the intravenous drug Remacade. My ride today was 12.6 miles on local roads with moderate to steep and long climbs. My legs feel like mush. There was a wind of 8 Mph with gusts up to 12 Mph coming from the SW. I have been toying with the idea of replacing my rear wheel with a Aerospoke composite wheel. This wheel will add 5 ounces to the weight of the bike, but do to the nature of the wheel it rolls better, so there will be no loss of speed. Some people have reported a increase of speed, but I don't expect it. I am doing this more for the bling effect. P hoto courtesy of Aerospoke

T oday was my first ride since the 19th do to weather being very bad and the situation of my son being in the hospital. Last week and the beginning of this week has been passed by spending my time in the hospital with my son who had a bad flare up of his Crohns disease. He started having Remicade treatments on Wednesday of last week and we are hoping that he goes into remission. This disease has taken a heavy toll on my son and our extended family. Today he might be started on solid foods after not eating solid for two weeks, and is a welcome sign that things are getting better. T odays ride was a short one do to a late start and I prefer not riding the roads while the school buses are present. I completed 12 miles, which i am sure I could have done more. The riding temperature was a perfect 63 degrees, and the wind was a brisk 9 miles per hour gusting to 12. I rode my usual loop and hope to try again tomorrow. I doubt I can get many more miles in since I will be at the hospital.

I left for my ride under heavy clouds and strong winds making my ride feel like it went on for ever. I rode 13.65 miles, but felt like 30. The wind seemed to be in my face most of the way and when not in my face it was directly against my side. The winds were gusting so fast that the leaves kept hitting me in the face. I had leaves in my shirt and up my shorts. The temperature was 68 degrees, but felt a lot cooler. Tomorrow calls for 63 degrees and rain, so I guess I won't be out on the trike. That means a boring Friday oh well you can't have everything.

T his afternoon I headed out for my normal ride just a little late. the weather was strange, warm but very cloudy and threatening. The temperature was 57 degrees at the start and 70 degrees at the end of the ride. There was a wind of 6 Mph out of the West gusting to 10 Mph. I completed 18 miles today which is my normal loop. Y esterday UPS delivered the replacement head for my Planet Bike floor pump. The Planet Bike people are very helpful and understanding. After i called and explained my problem they were very quick to get the new head out to me. i would not hesitate to buy another pump from them if it is required.

I was able to get some time for a ride today, and the weather would have been just perfect if it wasn't for the wind. It was 47 degrees when I left and after riding 12 miles it was 61 degrees. I was a soaking wet mop after the drastic temperature change. The wind was coming from the NW at 7 Mph gusting to 14 making it hard on the up hill runs.

I haven't rode the trike in a few days do to bad weather and a computer problem, No not bike computer. I have spent all my waking hours trying to save my installation of Windows XP Pro. I had Microsoft Update fail while downloading and installing an update to Microsoft Net-Framework 2.0, and I was unable to download and try again. The file became corrupted and couldn't even be removed using Add Remove Programs. Net Framework is required to run many of my software packages, so I was up the creek and had to backup what ever I could and restore the operating system. I have everything going but some problems exist with programs where i couldn't backup the files. I have just a little left to straighten out. T oday I was able to get out and ride 11 miles under some very windy conditions. It was 46 degrees at start of the ride with a wind out of the SSW at 9 Mph gusting to 15 Mph, making riding very hard. I am hoping Sunday will be better.

A s promised I received the remaining wheel covers, and after an hour of looking and measuring the disc covers I was unable to find two nearly flat inside covers. I found one but that is a total waste as I need two for the front inside. Well I spent a huge amount of money and time, and got nothing for to show for it. My only chance now is to have a set made of carbon fiber. I left my house at 9:45 AM for my daily ride and was able to get 18 miles in before I headed home. The weather for today's ride was sunny with a wind coming from the North West at 2 Mph. The temperature at the start of the ride was 49 degrees and it was 69 degrees when I returned. Y esterday afternoon my friend Paul and I left to ride down to Jenkins Beach to have some lunch and take some photographs. Taking photos at the beach can be very dry with lack of colors, sure there is the beautiful sky and shimmering water, but I like to photograph landscape and buildings. Below is a photograph I shot yesterday, and I

T his morning I started my ride at 9:15 AM and the outside temperature was 47 degrees with a wind out of the North at 3 Mph. The temperature at the end of my ride was 58 degrees. I wore long tights and Borah long sleeve shirt with a Polartec outer layer, by the end of the ride I had shed the Polartec and rode only with the shirt and tights. I felt great after the ride, and have a lot of energy to spare. I am going out on a photographic hike at noon with a friend, should be fun. My total miles for today was 19.20 miles. O ne of the main reasons for today's ride was to test my brake setup, and I am happy to report that they are just fine. A matter of fact the trike is so quiet it was nerve retching. The brakes didn't make a sound and the drive-train was a quiet as a mouse. I sure love the Dumonde Tech chain lubrication.

A fter installing the new rotors I was fairly certain that I had the brakes adjusted properly, but a few miles on the trike proved differently. I took the trike to my LBS for a brake adjustment and he was fairly confident that it is setup properly now. But he did inform me that I would have to come back after I have rode with them for a while. T he package of wheel discs from Baccura was rescheduled for delivery on Monday, so the wheel project is again on hold. F or a long while I have been interested in purchasing a GPS to help with my training, but after looking at they few that were out there I was not highly impressed by any. A regular GPS system would cost a bundle and would have many extras that I do not want or need. Until a few days ago I was still looking until I came across a new product called ADEO from a company named MotionLingo . This product has no screen and all the information is stored in memory and the information such as speed etc. is told to me verbally while ridin

T his morning I left for my ride at 10:00 AM the sun was shinning and it was a balmy day with a starting temperature of 58 degrees. I used my usual local loop which takes me through many different housing developments and country roads. Each loop is six miles of gradual climbs and very short descents. The wind was out of the West at 6 Mph with gusts to 8 Mph. The temperature at the end of my ride was 68 degrees. Below is a photo of the replacement rotors that I was sent from ActionBent. W hen the postman arrived he had my pair of disc brake rotors which I quickly installed the installation was very easy, but the adjustment of the brake calipers was another story, it seemed no mater what I did the brakes were rubbing, after spending a good forty five minutes on each brake I think I have them pretty well adjusted, I will know better after my ride tomorrow. If Jamie from R-Sports is correct the wheel discs will be here tomorrow, but who knows for sure. I wasn't given a UPS tracking nu

Y esterday I returned to my local bike shop in-order to have my front brakes adjusted, because the parking brake didn't work and the pads were rubbing the rotor. After an hour we became frustrated because the rotor was warped and we were unable to remove the warp. I was then told to replace the rotor, and I said that "I will contact the manufacturer of the brakes since the wobble was there when I purchased the trike". I went home and spent another 2 hours trying to fix the rotor and save some bucks, but it was unfix-able. I spoke to Avid and they informed me that it was the problem of the manufacturer of my trike. I guess if I had told Randy at the time of purchase I would have avoided this problem. I decided to call Randy at ActionBent to see if he had rotors in stock. I was informed by Randy that he had replacements in stock and he could mail them regular post that day. I ordered a pair so that both rotors would be the same, and I hope that they will arrive by the end

This morning I modified the cover of an Insulated Polar bike bottle to accept the Smartube Hydration System. I did this because BlueDesert does not make a cover in that size. I have provided two photos: Completed System: Instructions for Modifying Polar Cover: A. Cut on two RED lines as shown on photo above. B. Remove and discard center section after doing above cuts. C. Drill hole for one way valve (Use original Smartube cover for size of hole) D. Insert Valve E. Ream mouth piece of Polar bottle so Smartube hose fits in snug.