March had some nice riding

March had some great rides with Siskiyou Velo Bike Club, for which I am a ride leader. Sadly, today was rained out, plus there was going to be low attendance due to it being Easter Sunday. Still, I'd have been happy to ride with just the few friends that were coming but none of us are fans of soggy everything.

We'll ride the the route scheduled for today next Sunday. My Sunday ride is now known as the Sunday Lunch Ride as I try to plan rides that will give us a break in the middle for lunch. In time, as the weather warms, it will have to begin a bit earlier. Then I'll call it the Sunday Brunch Ride. Hopefully it will never get so hot that we'll have to plan it around breakfast.

Trike Fever Claims Another Victim

Earlier this week, while speaking with a new friend of mine, I got the chance to tell him about my trike and how much I enjoy it over an upright bike. I guess my enthusiasm was infectious (too carry on the theme of this post's title) as he went home and immediately started looking at the ICE website.

Well, long story short, today I spent some time with him helping to build up his brand new ICE Sprint.

I have to say, I love my trike but this one really pulls out all the stops. Some of the things that have changed over the years since I got my Trice QNT are apparent in the website photos and text. However, there were a few surprises today.

 Here's some off the top of my head:

1. Mesh Seat: is now much nicer, has padded edging sewn on and a top pocket. Same great support system.
2. Front Post: area that extends is now black with adjustment markings. Looks nice.
   
3. Front Post: area beyond the black one mentioned above is now painted to match your trike. Mine is all silver. I think this is a very nice visual enhancement.
4. Seat Adjustment Bracket: now black rather than aluminum, looks nice but you'll never see it..
5. Front Suspension: this looks very well engineered. Mine does not have this. It is an option (see models below).
   
6. Steering Tie Rod: black rather than aluminum, looks nice.
7. Crank Arms: black rather than aluminum.
8. All Rims: black rather than aluminum. Janet's are too, mine are not. Looks great.
9. Handle Bars: now black and have a new shape allowing shifter cabling to drop out the bottom rather than come out from the rubber grip.
10. Parking Brake: actual brake rather than just the Velcro strap. Now standard, used to be an upgrade.
11. Rear Swing Arm: built with a different design that uses standard bike type tubing rather than the big over-sized tubes that are on mine and Janet's. Works great but I'm actually very happy that I have the old version here as mine looks very cool.

So basically, a lot of the changes are aesthetic and very nice. The ones that are functional look like definite upgrades to me.

Most importantly, I have another friend on an ICE trike, which are the best trikes I've ever seen in person to date.

Murphy to Applegate

Today our route was a very pretty loop starting off in Murphy and going down through the Applegate Valley to Applegate. We broke for lunch close to the Applegate River where the historic Pioneer Bridge crosses it. The first leg of this ride was 12 miles but the return leg had two options, a short loop to total 24 miles or a longer loop to make 32. Four of us opted for the longer loop and was it ever worth it. It was a very gradual incline, almost not noticeable, that took us through some very lovely roads. Then at the end was a 3/4 mile downhill that was a ton of fun.

Total of 12 riders (3 on trikes). One of our riders came in all the way from Ashland on his bike and road it home as well. That's a long one!

MAP

Gold Hill to Rogue River

This time we road a route that was introduced to me by the president of Siskiyou Velo last year. It took us from the Gold Hill Library to the town of Rogue River where we enjoyed a great lunch at the Cottage Cafe. The return route, which formed a loop for this ride, was on the Rogue River Greenway through Valley of the Rogue State Park. The loop totaled 19 beautiful and flat miles.

Total of 8 riders (2 on trikes and 1 in a velomobile).

MAP

Dodge Bridge to Shady Cove

Today was my first time leading a ride for Siskiyou Velo Bike Club and it was a blast.

We road from Dodge Bridge Park in Shady Cove up to the town center. This is a very nice ride up a beautiful rural back road with farms and small ranches as well as the occasional view of the Rogue River. One thing I love about the route is the hills. There are plenty but they are short and mostly are preceded by a downhill of equal height. Just drive those petals on the downhill and most of the uphill is taken care of.

I called this a Slo-Mo ride, which denotes it appropriate for the slower of the four speed groups the club has. I now realize it was a bit speedier than that group might be used to. Still, all riders seemed to have a great time and I got to meet a bunch of new friends.

We road for 7.5 miles and lunched at a little place called The Picnic Basket Deli. Returned on the same route.

Total of 10 riders (4 on trikes). Sadly no group photo on this ride (oops).

MAP

2013 looks like a great year for riding AND blogging!

In late April this year I will celebrate my 50th birthday.

A few years back I met, through this blog, a pretty cool guy who was considering buying an ICE recumbent trike. He's local to my area and came by to check out my trike. Long story short, he's one of the ride leaders of a local cycling club, Siskiyou Vello, which I have now joined. Phil now has an ICE trike (newer model), rides it often, leads trike rides and multi-day tours for the club and has inspired me to ride more.

Though I've been riding a fair amount, I've not been blogging about it. Now that I've joined Siskiyou Vello, and plan on riding and touring with them, I think it's time to get back to blogging as well.

As I mentioned, Phil has inspired me to ride more. He's also inspired me to plan the time in my schedule to do some touring. On a "trike only" ride late last year, Phil talked a bit how he tours, where he rides and how he handles lodging. It's right in line with what I'd like to do.  I look at Phil, who is a couple decades my senior, and see a vibrant fit man with a great outlook on life. This is where the inspiration has come from.

As I stated at the beginning, I'm turning 50 this year. For many this is a milestone in their lives. I'm going to make it a positive one by increasing my physical fitness through triking. I plan to train up to and ride a century this summer. It would have been nice to have this happen on my actual birthday but I need to be realistic about the training. The weather is just now getting nice enough to ride a lot and my birthday is less than two months away. That's a bit short.

Each year, here in Southern Oregon, we have a fund raiser ride called "Ride the Rogue". There are several ride offered, the longest of which is a century. It's quite a ways off, September 21st, and so should be an easily achievable goal.

So there it is, the gauntlet is thrown, I challenge myself to ride a century. 100 miles in one day in my 50th year.

Rain again.... sigh

Ah well, time available to ride but the weather has gotten in the way, again. I know, you can ride in the rain but where we live all the roads are 55mph 2 lane country roads with little or no shoulder. Reduced visibility from rain makes it a scary proposition. Some day soon we'll be back at it.

Thinking of reduced visibility reminds me of a ride I was on soon after getting my trike. On a straight country road with very gently rolling hills I had a pickup truck pull up next to me and slow. The passenger rolled down her window and yelled at me that I was virtually impossible to see. She said that all they could see was my yellow helmet. I was surprised. The picture at the top of this page shows the 2 brightly colored flags and streamers. Even with no wind my movement provides enough air current to keep them flapping to some degree.

I thought, and still do, that it's pretty sad if a driver is so blind that they can't see two 24" flags flapping. Still, sad or blind, I'm the one that's going to pay the price. If you watch that little video in a recent post you can see the solution. I attached a triangular reflector to the rear of my trike. The one in the video went on my Janet's trike before her first ride.

Yeah, it's low on the cool factor but so are crutches. It was easy to attach. I just cut a curve out of the bottom to allow for the rear wheel to clear it when the rear suspension is fully compressed. Then I drilled a few holes for zip ties to go through. It attaches to the uprights of the trikes headrest and to the cross member of the seat frame.

Bright, shiny and hard to miss.

So, say it with me... "rain, rain go away" etc. etc. etc.