Tattoo Break Again

Took a fast paced ride on my 700 last Sunday knowing that I won't be riding again till this coming weekend. Why? Another tattoo break. Tattoo Break July 12th  

Two to three times during the week I usually take Betzi on a ride. She'll have to wait till next week. I've decided to sacrifice our rides this week for 5 hours of pain and 3 days of healing. That doesn't make any sense...does it? Oh well, if we're always trying to make sense out of what we do, life can get pretty dull.

Next week girl

 Picture of Betzi courtesy of my daughter Leili

         

                                                        

Beach Bums on Trikes

Byron and I headed out to the beach today to ride trikes with some new friends. We started  our ride in Venice and soon passed Marina Del Rey and ended up in Manhattan Beach. The overcast of clouds kept the ride cool. Excellent summer day at the beach.

Leaving our meeting area and headed to the beach

Riding through the park at Marina Del Rey

My boy Byron cruising through the park

Still in the park but not for long

Ahh...the beach bike path and headed to Manhattan beach

Beach bum #1, my son Byron

Beach bum #2

Beach bum #3 being pursued  by the rest of the gang

Beach bum #4 followed by beach bum #5

Beach bum #5 (aka Joel Roberts) with his beautiful wife

Back home and ready to unpack...soon

Just Another Sunday Ride

It's been a week since I last rode (I had to let the tattoo heal). I took my usual weekend 34 mile ride with over 2,000 feet of gain. I averaged over 14 miles per hour. Nothing to brag about but it was a respectable average with a 2,000+ gain. The best thing about climbing is going back down. My maximum speed was 50mph. It's not my fastest, I can only spin up to 40 mph and then it's all gravity after that. I need bigger hills! Regardless it feels incredibly stable on the 700. With the 700's low center of gravity and with me sticking my big ole head way outboard I can keep good speed in the curves. I can't imagine that there is any trike that can perform better at speed. 

I had nothing better to do then take these pictures of my 700 while taking a break and chomping down on a power bar. 

Tattoo Break

Just finished sitting for another 4 hours of pain. 8 to 10 more hours to go. Down side of getting inked is that I have to take a break for 3 days from riding my trikes...can't get dirty and sweaty.

If you ask why I can only say "because I can". I could get all zenny and spiritual but the bottom line is that many years of roll playing as a builder and developer of industrial buildings are over. I retired from roll playing many years ago and I'm enjoying life, family and crazy looking recumbent trikes.

Rob Hill at Tattz.com

Smoked by Handcycles

On my second loop around Westlake on my 700 I passed these two guys on their handcycles. I'm doing about 18 to 20mph and the next thing I know they're coming up right behind me on the flats and passed me.  These two guys with their rock hard arms proved that they're out to play and play hard. They were drafting each other and at times it looked like they were connected. It was Awesome! 

After they passed me we settled into an easy rhythm and that's when I took this picture. Eventually the grade changed to an incline and I had to say goodbye as I passed them and continued on with my ride. 

Regardless of what we ride we're all cyclists and it's all good. So why are there still some ad plastered roadies who still won't give you the time of day unless you're riding a traditional bike? Ahhh...who cares! 

RIDE ON

Cool Breeze Century

I signed up for the Cool Breeze Century (Cool Breeze Century) after getting a call from Joel a local (I use the term local loosely) trike rider. He's putting together a few trikers, with the help of Dana at Bent Up Cycles, to ride in the Cool Breeze in August. Originally I wasn't going to sign up because I thought I might be the only rider that prefers to sit on his butt instead of his nuts.

I look forward to meeting new bent up folk, especially ones that prefer three wheels.

Sunscreen Time

I've gotten four rides in so far this month and they've all been sunny and hot days. My poor white skin would be fried by now without sunscreen.

Odds and Ends Fixes

My water bottles have been trying to work their way out of these fancy Bonrager composite material (plastic) water cages on both my Expedition and 700. More so on the 700 because of faster speeds and less cush over rough pavement. So I replaced them with the more standard Bonrager "hollow 6061-T6 aluminum tube" cages. You can make anything sound cool with the right description.

Expedition

 

700

Note: The cages are mounted to the frame using a Catrike Rack Adapter Kit from the Hostel Shop. That and a piece of old tube secure the cages nicely in place.

Next Fix

The Airzound horn on my Expedition has a lousy mounting system. It's a great horn and I wanted to keep it. Simple fix...I used a, DiNotte lighting, large rubber O-ring to hold it in place. Works fine and comes off easily when necessary. 

New Crankset for the 700

I replaced the 50/34 FSA SL-K compact double with a 52/39/30 FSA SL-K triple. The lowest gear is 27 gear inches with the new triple versus 31 gear inches with the old compact. It's the edge I needed for the steep grades on long rides. The highest gear is now 124 gear inches versus the 119 gear inches with the old crankset. Nice!

If you ask me why I went with another expensive carbon crank I could go on about weight and maybe other tech stuff but the truth is it just looks reeeeally good. I sold the old compact so the damage to the wallet wasn't that bad.