My Recumbent Days

This afternoon I headed out for a ride and was looking forward to it. The ride started out uneventful to say the least. The weather was a fair 74 degrees with a slight wind of 5 mph.  When I was about half way through the ride and starting up the hills I started to feel the wind increase. I now felt like I had lead in my shoes and the hills became mountains.  I lowered my gears and started up as the wind increased and changed direction.  The wind was now in my face and I had nothing to do put take it the best I could. After about 10 minutes of this pain the wind just died as fast as it started. I made it home and now I am just licking my mental wounds. Below is my stats from Garmin connect.

Y esterday afternoon I received my new trike alarm from Hong Kong. When I first opened the box I was impressed by the size of the little alarm. I installed the 9 Volt battery and proceeded to activate the alarm. A very simple push of the "B" button for 2 seconds arms the unit. I then waited a few seconds and moved the handlebar and the alarm started to howl. It has a ear splitting sound that repeats itself then resets. I next decided on a new code as the factory default is very easy to figure out. The changing of the code took longer than I thought as I didn't hold the "A" button long enough to enter the code change mode. Well after the code change I set the sensitivity to high by pressing the "C" button for two seconds. I am not sure that high is not to sensitive, but I will test that out when the weather gets better. The new alarm looks so much better than the old one, but I needed to modify my accessory mount to install it. Below is a photo of the n

T his morning I headed out for my ride wearing a long sleeve jersey and tights. It was only 49 degrees when I started out and ended at 52 degrees.  The wind was from the West at 12 mph. I had a nice workout which I needed after last nights meal. I love eating out, but I feel horrible when I weigh myself in the morning. I know I am very much possessed when it comes to maintaining my weight.  The main thing is that the more weight I have around my waist the more pain I have in my back. So I have only a few pounds to play with. Below is my stats for this ride, to see the details click "View Details on the map bottom. Y esterday I realized that My Garmin Edge 305 had the bike profile all wrong so my calories and stats were way off. Oh well I screwed that up. I put it to the correct weight and my calories burnt increased by 25%.

M y top boom mounted frame pack original version without wall stiffeners rotates off the top of the boom. I already placed plastic stiffeners on both sides to give it some form, now I had to stop the rotating from top of the boom. I tried tightening the straps, but with the smooth straps and the smooth bottom of the pack it was a no go. I then thought of gluing rubber to the bottom of the pack and felt at this time it was a drastic move. So my solution was to use two sided Velcro on the bottom of the pack and to the top of the boom. I haven't test driven the trike to see if this solution works, but maybe if the weather is good Monday will be the test. Y esterday I ordered two 2 oz tubes of Conductivity Gel for my heart rate monitor.  I found it on EBay for $8.00 for 4 oz including shipping. I found 2 oz in my local surgical supply for $7.00, so I felt for $1.00 more I was getting double the amount. It was shipped yesterday, so I should receive it early next week. By that time I

A t 9:14 AM I headed out for my ride, and the first thing I noticed was the wind blowing in my face. The wind seemed to be in my face no matter which direction I turned. Strange to say the least. Again my stats have improved by a small margin, but who cares I will take it as a good sign. Below are my stats. Click "View Details" to see the rundown. O n another subject, I modified my computer pod by using the angle mounts from the Garmin to tilt the both computers on a slight angle facing me.  This small change made viewing the computers in the bright sun easy as could be.

T his morning at 9:28 Am I started my ride with a technical problem. The Cage Rocket mount failed do to installation error. I will explain farther in to this post.  Back to the ride. The weather was a nice 76℉ with the wind WSW at 14 mph.  I tried my best to maintain my average speed, as I thought the wind being so strong it would slow me down. To my shock I improved in my average speed by 2 tenths, at least I didn't loose speed. My heart rate also improved a little. Below is the stats, to see the complete listr click "View Details". T he technical problem was caused because I hoped the Cage Rocket bottom would stay put using two sided tape, but that didn't work out.  When I got home from the ride I took a two hole knee and covered it in hear shrink, drilled two holes one in the rack and one in the Cage Rocket. I then mounted the Cage Rocket to the rack and a two hole knee. It should stay fine now that it is installed properly. Below is a photo of the modified mou

A s I stood back and looked at the trike I felt something was needed, and I just couldn't think of what until last night.  I realized the Cage Rocket was just way to stark and needed something. I also didn't like the imperfections on the top of the Cage Rocket which is common with EVA molding. I decided to customize the Cage Rocket with some custom lettering from my local sign shop. He does very nice work and charges me very little for his time and material. I didn't get a chance to ride today as I had a doctors appointment in the morning, then a lunch date which I had to cut short because the exterminator was coming for his quarterly visit. Tomorrow I will be able to ride, and I am looking forward to it. I have no idea of what I will do when I run out of things to customize on the trike. I doubt that will ever happen as I seem to over flow with ideas. Just wish my brain storms were less expensive.

T his morning 10:00AM EST I headed out to ride, I planed on doing around 10 miles each day when possible. Below are my stats. The wind seemed to be in my face a good portion of the area I usually sprint. I was able to do a few sprints and obtained speeds of 25.1 mph. To see the full stats click view details. B efore I headed out I put three coats of Rustoleum Plastic paint on the Cage Rocket as I was not impressed with the finish it came with. I think all EVA plastic looks cheap. No longer does it have a toy look. I has a nice satin finish. Below is the photo of the paint job.

T his morning I went out on a local training loop. I feel I did well for the second ride of the season and the first true ride. Below are the stats for this ride. 10.14 miles 12.2 Mph average speed 23.4 Max Speed 304' Elevation Gain 566 calories burnt 154 bpm average heart rate 179 bpm max heart rate I found a few things needing adjustment on the trike, but nothing to do with the drive-train, all just cosmetic stuff. I was notified today that the new alarm has shipped, so I guess I will get it in around 10 to 15 days, which is normal for HG Airmail. I received the Cage Rocket and it does not fit the carbon cage I had allocated for it. So it was mounted on the rear rack and it fits in good with the motif. It is easy to open and it looks like my cell phone will fit fine plus some extra cash and a few other things. Below is the photo of it mounted on the rack. I find it very easy to access my gear in the Cage Rocket and it doesn't feel like it will pop open and I w

S omeone on www.bentrideronline posted about a new alarm and I couldn't help my self and bought one. I felt that $6.99 shipped was reasonable and it surely looks better than my bulky one. So a chance I took, but at least the other person says it works great. Another good reason is not having to worry about loosing the key. .com