A Look Back at 2014

January

Taking it easy after having both of my hips replaced and Doing Laps around the elementary school parking lot. 

February

Carrie, Byron and I went down to the Lake for a short Trike, Bike and Walk. 

March

10 Weeks  since since my second hip replacement. Enjoying the 700.

April

Finally...A Ride With Betzi after two hip replacements. It was a short ride with all that weight but it was still nice to get out with ma doggie.

May

Steve's Fully Loaded 700  gave me the inspiration to sell my Catrike Expedition and buy another Catrike 700 and set it up for touring. 

Visit Steve's Trike Asylum's 700 page here

June

My Catrike Expedition Up Sale to make way for another 700 to be set up for touring and cruising.

July

First Ride Catrike 700 "Red" my touring 700.

August

My Boy Has Fledged the Nest. Byron standing with my big boys as he prepares to move into his own apartment in Santa Monica to study film. He is only 18 and already has an internship (soon a paid internship) in the casting, editing and co-producering of MTV's "True Life". Here's his blog (that he doesn't keep current) ENTERTAINANIDEA.

September

Checking out the new La Conchita Bike Trail that bypasses a nasty three mile section of freeway section on HWY 101.

October

Riding with Scott Wayland. A group of bents met up at Bent Up Cycles to ride with Scott and followed by a book reading from his latest adventure book "Cracking the Spine". Also a slide show and personal stories.

November

Finally...an event ride, the Solvang Prelude, that I didn't have to bail out on because of lousy hips. The new hips are working fine. 

December

Ending the year on a bright note. Christmas Day Ride.

Happy New Year!!!!!!

Christmas Day Ride

Cool, gusty and sunny...a So Cal Christmas. The best time to ride, streets are empty as the sun rises into the sky.

Today also marks the 3rd anniversary of my Christmas Day heart attack. Happy anniversary to me...ride on!!!

Filling In For Santa

Getting ready to deliver gifts to my grandkids. Luckily it's only a 20 mile round trip. 

At the end of the day five of my grandkids have been accounted for. Now three more to go. 

Pic of the Day

 My Catrike 700 "Red" at the top of the climb

Two Pounds of Tire

What does two pounds look like?

A LOT of marbles

 A large water bottle filled with water plus a few marbles.

Now imagine what it feels like when those two pounds are extra unwanted pounds on your tires.

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By switching the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires that I had on "Red" with lighter ( but tour worthy) tires I cut off two pounds of weight from the tires. With the Marathon Plus tires the total weight was 2,020grams (4.4 lbs). Now with a Marathon Racer on the rear and two Trykers on the front the total tire weight is 1,105grams (2.4 lbs). In addition the thick Plus tires seemed to suck up my energy and felt sluggish. Yes I must admit I'm spoiled by my my fast "Black" Catrike 700 with it's skinny Ultremo tires.

By looking at the Schwalbe charts I've sacrificed some puncture protection and durability but gained speed and grip. Also the Plus tires are a bear to slip on and off the wheel rim. I would hate to have to deal with repairing a Plus while on the road.

Bottom line...the Plus tires are great tires for peace of mind but that peace of mind comes at the cost of more energy from my old legs to make the things turn. I'm good at repairing flats (thanks to the miles I've been putting "Black" and it's fast but thin Ultremos) and I'm willing to accept the possibility of a flat or two.
I know that "Red" will never go as fast or handle as well as "Black" but at least the high end performance of my Catrike 700 "Black" serves as a basis for measuring the performance of other trikes. Now for a few rides to see if the change makes a positive difference. Stay tuned.

Old tires

New tires

Here's the details:

Old tire setup:

Front tires Schawlbe Marathon Plus - 35/406 (20x1.35)   1,120g (2.4lbs) weight of both tires

Rear tire Schawlbe Maratho Plus     - 37/622 (700x35c)     900g (2.0 lbs)

                                                                                  2,020g (4.4lbs)  Total weight

New tire setup:

Front tires Schwalbe Tryker             - 40/406 (20x1.50)     640g (1.4lbs) weight of both tires

Rear tire Schwalbe Marathon Racer - 35/622 (700x35c)     465g (1.0lbs)

                                                                                 1,105g (2.4lbs) Total weight

Trykers on the front

Marathon Racer on the rear

Sunny Ride...

...at least it began that way. Today's ride started out cool and sunny. Towards the end of the ride the clouds won out and the sun retreated. It was still a nice break from the cool cloudy days and occasional rain.

To Ride or Not To Ride

This morning is a most excellent morning. Perfect for a ride...but also perfect to sit in the garden with ma doggie and do nothing.

A night of heavy rain followed by a cool sunny morning is my kind of morning.

Oh well tomorrow is another day. I'll let the motorized crazies have the road and it's puddles today. You'll find me enjoying the quiet in my garden.

More pics on My Home & Garden Journal

"Red's" Winter Fenders

"Red" is ready for puddle diving. The fenders are easy to put on and take off in preparation for whatever season is upon us. The setup is basically the same as it was on my old Catrike Expedtion with the exception of the Catrike mirror mount posts instead of the handlebar posts used on the Expedition.

Perfect Autumn Day on the 700

Today was one of those perfect So Cal Autumn days when you don't want the ride to end. So I took two breaks at the local parks. Below are some pics of my "Black" Catrike 700 taken at Oak Canyon Community Park in Oak Park.

It was back in February of 2013 that I sold my old 700 with the 16" front wheels and bought the new version with 20" front wheels. To date I've put 2,352 miles on my "Black" 700 while at the same time taking a break to have two hip replacements.

Infographics at "I Am Traffic"

Something to check out when not riding. Infographics at I Am Traffic.

Infographics here include:

Vehicles and Lanes - Diversity - Exclusion Zones - Speed (seen below)

These are only a few of the many infographics at I Am Traffic.

Kirke Johnson

On November 15th I posted some thoughts on the "right hook" an all to common nightmare for cyclists. Then on November 20th the "right hook" took down long time recumbent cyclist Kirke Johnson of Portland. He was killed by a large Fed Ex truck that made a right turn into him. Let the memory of  Mr. Johnson remind us to think about safety while riding in the company of vehicles that are much larger and faster then us human powered pedal pushers.

Here's an interactive graphic about the right hook and trucks at 

I Am Traffic website. Check out the entire site for more good information about cycling in an urban environment. 

Tour de Palm Springs 2015

I'll be riding the 50 (actually 54.6) mile route at the 2015 Tour de Palm Springs on February 14th 2015. Nothing like cool desert air to clear the head from what  hopefully will be a cold wet winter here in So Cal. 

While I ride Carrie will have plenty to do in Palm Springs.

Throwback Thursday - Betzi's First Ride

It's looking more likely that I'll be giving up my rides with Betzi so as not to wear down the new hips to fast. The trailer plus Betzi comes close to 100 pounds. There is also more rubber on the road with the two trailer tires. To be totally honest, I'm also enjoying the longer faster rides on my 700s without Betzi... now that I have hips that work. Don't worry girl we'll still play catch and start taking more walks.

Here's the post from a few years ago.

My original post from March 7th, 2010 - Betzi's Trike Ride

Betzi takes her first trike ride.

My son Byron and yours truly took Betzi on her first ride in her carrier. We went to the local school parking lot and rode about three miles around in circles to see how the ole girl took to her little adventure. All went well. We'll be taking more rides together.

Millennials Fail to Vote

As more cyclists combine cycling and mass transit it becomes increasingly important to support light rail.

More here at Urbanful

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Millennials demand public transportation, but lose out by skipping the voting booth On November 2nd, Urbanful put out an article on how millennials’ transportation habits are changing the way cities plan for the future; on November 5th, it became clear that millennial’s voting habits have an equally profound effect on public policy, in the opposite direction. High profile ballot initiatives on a proposed light rail in Austin, TX and increased funding for transit projects in St. Petersburg and Gainesville, FL went down to defeat amid low voter turnout from 18-29 year olds. Overall, it was a mixed night for such measures in cities across the country, and results were similarly ambivalent on the state level. This equivocal outcome for transportation policy would be of little note on an eventful election night had it not conflicted with the trend documented at the beginning of this article as well as preliminary poling.

The Right Hook

While I'm out on the road (3-4 times a week) the number one potential problem that my mental radar is always looking out for is the "right hook". The right hook is the most common situation I come across. The right hook is when a driver wants to and often does make a right turn directly in your path. For me it seems to happen most frequently when a driver wants to turn into a driveway. It happens less at intersections. At intersections with designated turn lanes I take up the turn lane or move over into the traffic lane (if safe to do so). At intersections without right turn lanes I make it clear, in a friendly sort of way, that I'm going straight by either taking the traffic lane or point that I'm going straight. Every intersection presents it's own little challenge and each rider must approach it in a way that's comfortable for them. 

It's pretty easy to spot the crazy or clueless drivers who are ready to pass you and proceed to turn in front of you. For the laid back rider it's easy to continually scan what's going on around you and act in a manner to save your hide by anticipating what a car is going to do. There's a lot of clues you start picking up on as you put on the miles.

A breed all their own the clueless drivers are easy to recognize by the uncertainty in their decision making capacity. These are the ones that tentatively approach from behind, pass you and then stop in mid turn knowing that they screwed up. Then it takes a bit of effort on my part to make it clear I don't want to go in front of them as I try to wave them on. The crazies are another story, they rev their engines in a attempt to beat you to where they want to turn. I let them win.

Beware the right hook and other assorted predators. Try not to be the one that rides in the gutter thinking that riding next to the curb is the safest place to be. Claim your right to be on the road and make your intentions clear but have a bailout option and be willing to swallow your pride rather then take on a 3000 pound SUV...you will lose.

Throwback Thursday - My First Catrike 2009

From my original post December 22nd, 2009 - my first Catrike

Catrike Expedition

I usually keep the the bags and panniers on. On family rides I'm the one carrying jackets, extra water, food and of course the picnic blanket. On local rides I'm always prepared to stop at a farmers market.

The bracket on the left is for GPS or any other cool electronic gizmo.

Delta Air Sound air bottle

Delta Air Sound Horn

Pepper spray

for the pup that shows its teeth

while coming my way.

Dual flag mounts.

I keep a DiNotte light on the trike at all times as a running light. Second lower bracket is for another light for night riding.

Before

After - All lit up with DiNotte lights and alot of reflective tape.

Betzi