Fall Shadows

My Catrike 700 / 20.
Enjoying a cool and sunny fall day.

My rides are still short, 10 to 12 miles, but now I'm doing some hills. Today's ride was 10.8 miles, 825 feet of gain, average of 11.7 mph and a ice pack at the end of the ride for my new hip. 

Easy Rides For Now

Yep...I'm riding but not pushing hard. Just taking easy rides on the flats. It's been two months since my right hip replacement. I'm still working on getting strong and working past the aches and pains that linger. It's hard to get motivated to push hard since I'll be having my left hip replaced on December 23rd. It's three days after my 60th birthday and right before Christmas. Happy birthday, Marry Christmas, Happy Holidays and whatever else. 

After December 23rd the hips will be done and then it'll be time to kick recovery into gear. For now I'm just enjoying the ride and trying to keep myself in reasonable shape.

Ahhh... the 700. It's light, fast and easy on the hips.

Road ID eCrumb

My second ride since my right hip replacement. RoadID's eCrumb provides proof of my whooping 3.9 mile ride. I've been doing a lot of spinning in the garage, it's good to feel the wind in my face.

The RoadID eCrumb is a nice, simple and free tracking app.

Back on the Road

First ride on the road since my hip replacement three weeks ago. Only 4.5 miles but it's a start.

iPhone Software Upgrade

Checking out the panorama option on the new iPhone software upgrade iOS7. A lot of cosmetic updates but the panorama function is new and easy to use.

Oak Canyon Community Park amphitheater.

This is the last ride with Betzi until after I get my hip replacements. I'm paying the price for having Betzi tag along with me today...ouch.

Still Ridng

Taking it easy on short rides. 

Fried Hips and Ducks

My poor  hips are fried. While figuring out how to repair or replace them I'll be taking shorter and easier rides. This morning's ride was back to the duck pond with a thermos of tea  Easy 10 miler with just a touch over 800 feet of gain.

My hips may be fried (one a little more then the other) and while hiking and assorted other activities are on hold I can still ride in comfort laid back on three wheels. You gotta love recumbent cycling, so easy on the body and yet so good for it. How sad it is that people can't break away from the herd and explore the world of recumbent cycling. Right now my trike is the only thing that's keeping me active and in good shape mentally and physically.

As long as I take it easy and pop some ibuprofen it looks like I'll be riding my "most excellent" trikes right up until the day my hips are sliced and diced and riding soon thereafter.

Tea time at the duck pond.

Starting to warm up, headed home via my favorite shortcut.

Mileage For August

I missed riding the last week of August...my hips are toast, especially the right side. Not only is my lousy hip sore but my doctor showed me beyond any doubt that my bad right hip is causing the muscles in my right leg to weaken. Depressing but it explains why the last few rides were less then inspiring.

Time to schedule a replacement of my right hip. More later...

Early Morning Shadows

Earle Sunday morning ride. I'm loaded down with a large thermos o'tea, camp chair and my buddy Betzi and her dog stuff. We're headed for the duck pond in Oak Park to sit with a cup of tea and watch the world go by.

It's a tough life.

Empty roads on a Sunday morning. Ride on!!

Duck pond...time to get busy doing nothing.

My Expedition in the background. Plenty of parking.

Ma faithful K-9.

Expedition Today

I don't usually take the Expedition on a ride without Betzi but when I do go solo I get to push the beast a little harder and I get to appreciate the comfort and sturdiness of the Catrike Expedition. Even without suspension the Schwalbe Marathon Plus 20 x 1.75 (47/406) tires on the front and the Marathon Plus Tour 26 x 1.75 (47/559) tire in the rear makes for a comfortable ride on the road. The tires are rated at 45-70psi, I pump'm up to 55psi.

I would say that I'm up to 20% slower on the Expedition compared to the 700. Keep in mind my brain is in tourist mode when riding the Expedition which accounts for some of the loss in speed. 

Unlike the 700 which is not geared for serious climbing the Expedition is geared to climb with ease. If the rear wheel has traction I can climb it. No wobble factor on a trike just sit back, grind and watch the world go by at two miles per hour.

The most enjoyable and pleasant rides are on the Expedition but for an adrenaline fix there's nothing like the 700 and gravity on a long downhill. I usually don't know what I'm going to ride until I clear the morning cobwebs out of my head.

Granny gear time...sit back and enjoy.

A Little MUP Will Do

Sometimes all ya need is a little time off the road to re-boot your brain. In this case a 1/2 mile local MUP that I occasionally escape to and then back to the sights and sounds of the morning traffic.

Pic of the Day - Betzi's Rig

Riding the short MUP through Oak Canyon Community Park in Oak Park

July Mileage Log

Broke 100,000 feet of gain in July. Unless I want to ride circles around the lake in Westlake Village my only option is to climb. What goes up must come down and that's when the fun sets in!

Now if I can only solve the problem with the occasional erroneous maximum speed reading on my Cateye wireless computer I wouldn't have to put a "na" in the Max Speed column of my log. Through trial and error and assorted other experiments the problem seems to be with the Cateye transmitter on both of my trikes. Maybe a design flaw?

Beast Without the Betz

The neck is almost 100% after Mondays visit to the chiropractor but I still wanted to take a cushy ride today. With the threat of rain (a few drops did fall) I left Betzi at home and took the Beast (Catrike Expedition) on a solo ride. With the 47/406 tires back on the front and keeping the tire pressure low today"s ride was indeed cushy.

I have the Expedition set up to climb and pull a load. Without Betzi I can climb just about anything. Today I averaged 105 feet of gain per mile.

Feels good to feel good.

Relaxing at the park with my ride in the background. Having confidence in the quality of your ride makes cycling so much more enjoyable. 

Catrike 700 and a Chiropractor

Time to put my neck back on straight.

Last week I was riding my 700 through a construction zone and hit a nasty little elevation change at 25+ mph. The street was being ground down in preparation for an overlay. The sun was in my eyes and I didn't see the abrupt elevation change between the ground down road surface and the original surface. My front wheels (topped off at 140psi) hit first and popped into the air only to be to followed my another jolt from the back wheel. I felt like my spine was driven up into my skull.

I thought I could work my neck back into shape myself...wrong. After a week of discomfort I finally went to my chiropractor who said my neck was messed up. He put me right and I'm feeling better already. A couple more days, some more rounds of icing and some message from my beautiful wife and I'll be as good as new.

WARNING - If you ride a performance trike like a Catrike 700 or ICE Vortex make sure you know a good chiropractor.

On a positive note...if I were riding two wheels I probably would have needed more then a chiropractor to put me back together. Ohhh the fully suspended HPV Scorpion 26fs is looking good right now.

Coffee at JRA Bikes and Brew

Well at least Carrie had coffee, I opted for a protein smoothie at JRA Bikes and Brew, the new bike and coffee shop in town. It's not a recumbent shop but they welcome riders from the dark side.

Major road construction forced me to come up with some new routes around town. One new route is a 20 mile ride that ends up at JRA Bikes and Brew. As planned after finishing up at JRA's I rode the last 3 miles (400 foot gain) home in Carrie's car. The 20 mile ride to JRA's is a nice ride with a comfortable 1,300 foot gain. Without doing the uphill grind home I was able to average 15.8 mph. 

Inside the shop (picture from June 24th post)

Just Another Morning at the Park

View from a picnic table.

Looking west, barn owl nesting box to the right.

Looking east.

Pics of the Day - Catrike 700

Mileage for June

Not as many rides as I would've liked to take. Sometimes the little nuances of life get in the way.

The Climb...The Thrill...The 700

I suffer the climb so...

...I can get the thrill!!!

Actually I enjoy the meditative quality of climbing the hills. Wisely choose the tunes to play on my mini sound system, set my brain on cruise control, adjust my mirrors and I'm good to climb. I've accumulated 980 miles so far this year and 85,000 feet of elevation gain. I could easily ride south on my rides and accumulate more miles with much less climbing but where's the thrill??!! This old fart still needs a thrill!!! Gotta live!!!

Side Note: I must say it again the Catrike 700 / 20 is an awesome ride!! The only limits on this machine when taking a downhill run are road conditions otherwise it just wants GO!!