First Crash

You might have control over how you ride but you do not have control over the stupidity of others on the road...

WEAR A HELMET, PLEASE.

Trikes are very stable but shit happens.

It could have been a lot worse. After 13 years of riding trikes I had my first crash. If I were riding a traditional bike I would have been toast. I was doing about 25mph coming down a hill and a clueless driver coming up the hill suddenly made a left turn in front of me with a split second to react. I could have t-boned his car but instead I turned the trike sideways and hoped for the best. The next thing I know I was on the ground with the trike upside down on top of me and me looking up at Mr Clueless's blue passenger door. I left some blood on the pavement from a flap of skin torn back on my elbow, I ended up with three fractured ribs and a punctured lung. The trike only needed some minor repair and wheel balancing as it did not make contact with the car. I'll have to replace my helmet as it did get dinged.

The driver got out of the car asked if I was okay and I said NO I'M NOT OKAY. He then got back into his car and drove off into a large apartment complex leaving me lying in the street alone. I told the police to look for a blue sedan. Eventually the driver showed up, whether voluntarily or the police found him I don't know. With my attorneys help his insurance paid for my pain and suffering without question. 

I now have a camera on the front of my trike.

Sheriff Report

Spent the day in the ER and then went home. The hospital was reluctant to send me home but once I told them Carrie is a nurse they relented. For the following 10 nights I had to sit up in a chair to sleep at night. Once in bed at night I still needed a ton of pillows to prop me up.

My Instagram 11/23

From my Instagram "Crazy_On_Three"

Since 2017

Staying active for the last 13 years on recumbent trikes and for the last three years on my ICE Sprint FS 26 E-Assist. Keep moving…adapt.

#icetrike  #icetrikes  #recumbenttrike  #recumbenttrikes  #adaptivecycling   #shimanoe8000   #e8000  #etrikes  #electricassist  #peopleforbikes  #ridewithgps  #clubrideapparel #crazyonthree

 

Autumn Tire Change - Marathon Plus

I've been enjoying the performance of the Continental Contact tires (37/406 and 47/559) but the Fall road debris is back and so is the occasional flat tire. Acorns, pine cones, endless twigs with jagged points and the occasional downed branch. And of course piles of leaves hiding who knows what. It's time to put on Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires. I have the skinner 35/406 Plus on the front and this time I'm trying the skinner 35/559 Plus on the rear. I'll see if having the 35mm tires all around helps with performance. Time will tell.

In late Winter or early Spring the road is usually clear of most of the debris from the trees and I can go back to the lighter faster and better handling Continental Contacts. 

Acorns...usually they just crunch as you roll over them
but hit them just right and the hard shell turns into a weapon
that wants to stop your ride with an untimely flat.

Battle Mountain 2022

2022 Battle Mountain Sept 11th - 17th. 

Facebook -World Human Powered Speed Challenge

Blog - Biking in a Big City

My IHPVA Speed Records Page here.

MULTI-TRACK UNDER 12

SRAM 1190 Rear Aero Shifter

I found a SRAM 11 speed 1190 rear shifter without the paired front shifter. It was new "out of box" and sold at a reasonable price. So goodbye MircoShift.

The new 11 speed MicroShift I installed in July (post here) was working acceptably well but precision was not it's strong point. The new SRAM 1190 is precise. I'll keep the MicroShift as a backup.

The SRAM 1190 is a click back or a click forward to change gears and then the carbon level returns to a neutral position after the shift. The neutral position can easily be changed. You can also shift multiple gears at a time and the shifter will still return to its neutral position when done.

The little white lines showing the gear I'm using 
are hard for me to see. I put pieces of white
tape on so I can more easily visualize the gear.

 

ICE Seat Mount for Spare Battery

I noticed that the new ICE Sprint X 365 has a seat mount to store an extra battery. Unlike current secondary market battery seat mounts the clamps on the new spare battery mount looks robust enough to handle the weight of a battery hanging upside down. I want one! 

I emailed Andy at ICE and below are the emails. Bottom line, hang in there for 12 months if you want a mount that looks like it will perform well.

______________________________

My email to Andy at ICE Trikes

Andy,

Any chance that the seat mounted spare battery carrier now used on the new Sprint x365 will be available to buy as an accessory? Current secondary market seat mounted carriers have flimsy clamps.

Mark

Email reply from Andy at ICE Trikes

Hi Mark, 

 

Yes the newer seat mount is available these are 04527 which are $245 + shipping. We do not currently have any available as we are waiting on a delivery of parts for these however we should hopefully have some available in around 12 month. 

 

Thanks,

 

Andy

__________________________________________________________________

Pictures from ICE Trikes website

 

Tires - Continental Contact

Tire Speed Page here

When I bought my first trike in 2009 it came with Schwalbe tires. I stayed with Schwalbe up until recently only because I just got used to buying Schwalbe. That changed recently when I decided I wanted a better looking tire without the reflective stripe (I don't ride at night). The Continental Contact was one of the few if not the only name brand touring style tire that comes without the reflective stripe. 

I've been riding with the Continental Contact tires for over 500 miles and they have become my favorite tire. They satisfy my want for a cool looking tire but more important they are fast, comfortable and hold the road beautifully. My very unscientific measure of tire speed can be seen on my Tire Speed page. So far they seem as tough as any Schwalbe tire other than the heavy Schwalbe flat resistant tires like the Plus and Marathon. 

As Fall and Winter come around and the tree debris accumulates in the street I'll probably change over to Schwalbe Marathon Plus for awhile.

Continental Contact 37/406 (20"x1.45")

Continental Contact 47/559 (26"x1.75")

 

MicroShift Bar End Shifter

Updated September 2022

I'm now using an SRAM 1190 bar end shifter. Post Here

I installed a new MicroShift indexed bar end shifter after putting 2,150 miles on the old MicroShift. Good enough for a $50 shifter.

After replacing my worn out chain and adding a new cassette (post here) I couldn't get the gearing tuned. Either the top few gears were tuned or the bottom gears. But never the whole gear range. The problem had to be with the old MicroShift shifter. And it was. All gears are now perfectly tuned with the new MicroShift indexed bar end shifter. 

For $50 I have no problem replacing the 11 speed shifter at around 2,000 miles. I would prefer a Sram indexed shifter but I can only find them sold in sets for front and rear derailleurs and they are expensive. My experience with them is that they last longer. But unlike my Catrike 700 and Expedition days I don't need a front shifter. I don't want to pay the added expense for a front shifter I don't need.

The original MicroShift was added September of last year replacing the Di2 electronic shifter (that post here).

September 2021.
A new MicroShift indexed bar end shifter
and cable actuated derailleur replaced
the Di2 system.

.

For those who just have to know more here is the shifter broken down.

Metal shavings seen after removing the end piece.

Where the indexing magic takes place.

One ball bearing is missing. Did it escape 

while I was taking the unit apart or...?

All the parts.

 Other than the metal shavings and a missing 

ball bearing all the other parts seem good. 

But it doesn't take much to mess up the 

required precision of an indexed shifter.

Chain Wear with E-Assist

Are e-assists chain eaters? Hard for me to say but it seems like my current 11 speed YBN chain suffered wear and stretch faster than usual. I can be a bit manic when it comes to maintaining my trike but this one got away from me. 

I checked the chain at 7,700 miles thinking that I might be getting close to 50% wear. Wow... it's easily at .75% wear. The chain wear tool slipped right in at 75%. I should have checked my chain wear when shifting started to get sloppy. Maybe the e-assist and all the climbing I do put more stress on the chain then I realized.

The point is, check for chain wear/stretch a little sooner if using e-assist.

I tried to order 14 feet (168 links or 336 links depending on what you consider a link) of chain. It seems like 11 speed chain sold by the foot is out of stock everywhere. However as of the date of this post Dana at Bent Up Cycles has 11 speed FSA sold by the foot in stock.

With no 11 speed recumbent length to be found at the time I bought three standard chain lengths of KMC 11 speed and linked them together with KMC Missing Links. Not my preferred chain replacement method but it works all the same.

Because the chain was easily at .75% wear I also replaced the 11/46 cassette and the 44t chainring. 

I've been wanting to change over to a 11/42 cassette from the 11/46. So all is good. With the e-assist the large 46t cog is not needed for riding roads. With a 11/42 cassette the gearing will be a little more closely spaced which I prefer. 

I bought my ICE Sprint FS E8000 in May of 2019. So it's just over three years old.

Total miles 7,700.

Total gain 547,000 feet (all that climbing tests by gimpy legs but I sure do love going downhill).

Me a Road Hog? Lets Get Real

Occasionally, but rarely, an upright cyclist somehow will show their discontent with having to share the road with what they see as an outrageously oversized obstacle (me) in the road that impedes their Strava record attempt. The overwhelming majority of cyclists are totally cool although curious at times. But non the less let's get real about size.

Some facts

The handle bar width on a traditional road bike is 15" to 18" (380mm to 460mm). 

On a mountain bike or a bike with straight bars the width is 27" to 31" (680mm to 800mm). 

Note: the average adult male is 16.1" (409 mm) from shoulder to shoulder. For a female it's 14.4" (366mm).

The width of my trike and most trikes for that matter at the front wheels is 32" (812mm).

Now my not so serious opinionated thoughts 

So why do handful of people in the cycling community complain about trikes taking up too much room? Maybe some are just prejudiced against anything that is not two wheels and upright (thanks UCI). Others probably mean well but still think we take up more space than we actually do. 

Yes a trike is heavier, bulkier and a few inches or millimeters wider but how much of the road do we actually require?

Now let's get real, the casual traditional cyclist is not going to be able to maintain a straight line for any significant amount of time, especially on a rough road. They "wobble". So when figuring out how much space they actually need consider how the rider is going to wobble around (the "wobble factor" for lack of a better term). 

With my e-assist I can easily pass the average cyclist going up a hill and also going down because I'm pushing less air. So I'm doing a of lot passing. By the time I'm up to passing an upright cyclist I've already made a judgment about how much room I need to allow for a rider and their wobble. It's pretty easy to make out an experienced rider who is not going to wobble into you. If they're fit and wearing the proper "I want to be in the Tour de France" couture and maintaining reasonable control of their ride then I can pretty much be confident in their anti-wobble skills. For the less than experienced wobbly rider I'll give up to three feet of extra space when passing. 

Now for my anti-wobble skills (other trikes as well) I know I present a straight and smooth track to riders, traditional or whatever, coming up from behind. If you're wobbling on three wheels you're probably drunk and should get off the road but otherwise three wheels on the ground is a no brainer for not wobbling. It's common for experienced riders (the ones with the well developed tanned calves) to pass close, very close, to me. They obviously see that I can maintain a straight line and it doesn't hurt that I acknowledge their intention to pass with a wave.

Again...the overwhelming majority of cyclists on the road are totally cool and we wave to each other while riding and usually start up a conversation while taking a break. There are a lot cyclists on my regular routes so I have the opportunity to know them in passing. But it's that 1/100 traditional cyclist who gives me a "get out of my way glare or gesture" that makes you want to scratch your head and say "what the hey". But I don't let it cloud my positive attitude to cyclists in general no matter what they ride or wear.

................................

Now I know there are other factors that determine how much room is needed on a recumbent trike vs a traditional bike. I've heard "a real bike can ride closer to the curb". No experienced two wheeler is going to ride the curb but a trike can dip an inside wheel towards the curb with no harm to self when the situation calls for it and so on and so forth. 

Riding on Multi Use Paths (MUPs) is a whole topic onto itself. And sense I do very little trail riding I'll leave that topic alone.

That's all for my little light hearted treatise on the subject. Just stay save, wave and be aware.

ACA Pacific Route Ventura to SF

Updating this post as of July 27th.

Change in plan. After looking more closely at the ACA Pacific Route between Ventura and San Fransisco it is not all beautiful scenery. There are a lot of segments of this route which give me no reason to ride them. Some roads are less than safe but I know how to navigate unsafe roads. It's the scenery that is for shit. I can be goal oriented but it doesn't make sense for me to ride routes I don't enjoy just for the sake of riding them. I want to make good use of the riding years I have left. Hopefully a lot of years are left but us boomers are not getting younger. So I'll ride all the worth while segments of the Pacific Route and focus on other cool rides. In September I'll be taking a road trip to Oregon to Ride the Rim at Crater Lake. It will be followed by a ride on the Sacramento River Trail in Redding Ca. starting at the Sundial Bridge. And maybe I'll add in the Covered Bridges in Oregon before heading South to Redding and then home.

___________________________________

After 13 years and thousands of miles of riding trikes on the same routes and climbing a few hundred thousand feet on those routes I've been itching for a change of scenery. Besides taking some road trips with my beautiful wife Carrie to checkout some new roads and trails (which we've been doing) I also want to ride the Adventure Cycling Association Pacific Route between Ventura and San Fransisco. I'm not planning some epic tour. The days when I would consider a long multi day tour are behind me. I'm just going to ride at my own pace and mostly do day rides and meet Carrie at the end of a ride. Maybe I'll continue riding another segment of the Pacific Route the next day or not. Eventually I want to take in the entire coast between Ventura and San Fransisco by the end of next year or sooner. My entire purpose is to experience Highway1 and the ACA Pacific Route from the seat of my trike. 

Why do it this way? Simple, it makes it possible to travel with Carrie who prefers not to be riding a trike or any kind of bicycle. We like to travel together and she can do her thing for a good part of day and I can do mine. At the end of day we're back together for dinner and drink. We end the day together in the comfort of a hotel room and I can rest my gimpy legs in the comfort of a real bed, no more camping and sleeping on the ground for me.

Having e-assist makes the rides a no brainer. Before e-assist the thought of handling the climbs held me back from rides that would involve significant climbing or distance. I have plenty of battery range with three batteries. Info on my battery range here.

I can't do a traditional tour but I can adapt and tour my way.

Highway 1 at San Simeon CA.

The route from Ventura to San Fransisco. It's my intention to make the entire route turn blue by riding it in segments. The red is currently the section I have not been on. The blue part of the route I've been on many many times and I decided to check out the rest of the route one segment at time. Most of the rides will be from North to South for a better Ocean view,

The numbers

My support team.

Roadside Tire Removal

After denting my helmet while supporting the rear end of my trike to repair a flat rear tire I realized I needed  something better to raise the rear end off the ground. DIY time.

For the rear tire I made a lift from an old trekking pole that I cut and topped it off with a with a couple of retrofitted clamps. I lock the front wheels and support the rear fork with the DIY lift. It's light and small and tucks away easily in my pannier.

San Luis Obispo Bicycle Club

Another Bicycle Club as chosen to ignore recumbent cyclists. For whatever reason we ride recumbents, in particular recumbent trikes, we are still cyclists. It seems that able bodied cyclists on traditional bicycles is still the unwritten rule at bicycle clubs. 

email to SLOBC

Dear Board,

I joined back in 2016 when it seemed like the ranks of the SLOBC included recumbent cyclists. Lately I haven't seen anything on social media or in your news letters that even suggests that recumbent cyclists exist at the SLOBC. Has the SLOBC gone the way of other bicycle clubs and are only interested in traditional bicycles and able-bodied cyclists?

As a recumbent cyclist I see no reason to renew my membership when it expires.

Mark

Golden Gate Bridge

I've lived in California all of my 68 years and I've been to San Fransisco countless times and I decided it was about time to take a ride over the Golden Gate Bridge and up into the Marin Headlands. 

Perfect day for a ride. I started at the coast and rode through Golden Gate Park and then to the bridge kinda following the Adventure Cycling route. 

View from South side of the Golden Gate. Fort Point sits below the bridge.

Easy going on weekdays. Very little bike and pedestrian traffic.
On weekends the pathway would be jammed with all sorts of characters taking pictures.
Riding the east side of the bridge. The west side was closed due to construction. 

View from Marin Headlands, north side of the bridge.

Vibration Sensor Alarm

Locking up a trike is usually more involved than locking up a traditional bike. And sometimes there is nothing to lock it to. I'm almost always in earshot of my trike so I added a vibration sensor alarm to my trike.

I'm not endorsing any particular product. I like the peace of mind a vibration sensor alarm gives me. When going into a store, taking a short walk on a trail and going to a restroom I set the alarm. 

Mounted behind my seat

WSDCAM vibration alarm $25.00
I haven't had it long enough to make
any comment about quality.

Back to the Central Coast

Carrie and I spent a few days back on the Central Coast. I planned the short trip around the weather and it didn't disappoint. 

I spent one day riding HWY 1 between Cambria and Ragged Point. 

Also on my Instagram Crazy_On_Three

View from Hwy 1

View from HWY 1

San Simeon Pier

Road back to HWY 1 from the San Simeon Pier

Looking North towards San Simeon State Park

Looking North towards the Piedras Blancas lighthouse
way off in the distance.

Elephant seals taking a rest away from the main colony

The abandoned Piedras Blancas motel just South of Ragged Point

Lookout just before the climb to Ragged Point
heading North

 

Sunset at San Simeon from the Cavalier Hotel