Halloween "Midtown" Ride Update

Beautiful day, great ride, and most importantly some new friends all out riding our bents together. A good day for sure!

If you want to join us, join here: http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/TucsonRIDER/

(Click on photo for better resolution)
From left to right:
Riders: Dan, Bruce, Wayne, Keith, Jeffrey1, Jeffrey2, David.
Recumbents: Challenge Hurricane, Angletech Altitude, Bacchetta TiAero, ICE Trice QNT, ICE Trice Q, Catrike 700, TerraTrike Quad.


Breakfast stop photo:

Rillitto River MUP route (10/28 @ 9am)

It was chilly and windy this morning!

Sat 10/31/09 Ride Map

Join us this Saturday for our Halloween morning ride!
Look at my maps for:  "The Big Ride"
Will include brunch at The Glass Onion.

Follow up on Denise's bike accident...

All was not as well as it appeared to be.  This morning the pain & bruising was much worse.  We went to the Dr. and were told to get to the hospital ASAP.  A full day in the E.R., and a pelvic catscan... turns out to be very very bad internal/external bruising.  Luckily no internal injuries and no broken pelvis though.



Here is a shot of Denise amusing Jeffrey in the E.R., before things got worse and it turned into an all-day affair...

Feel free to ask Denise why they put her in the Psychiatric  E.R. unit (seriously, I'm not joking.  We spent five hours "locked" in there).


Darn upright 2-wheeled bike!

Tucson City Council Elections

With our City Council elections coming up, I thought of a related slogan...

Today's half-ride, half-rescue

Denise and I started out from home today.  Down Craycroft, onto the Golf Links/Aviation MUP, across the Basket Bridge, the Snake Bridge, around the new 4th Ave. bridge and a nice stop for an Iced Tea and snack at the historic Train Depot.

Here is the view of Denise looking up from the trike:

The plan was to head up 4th Ave., into the UofA, Mountain Ave, Rillitto eastbound, Craycroft to home.  Well we came down the Eastside of the 4th Ave. bridge after riding across it, into the street and... Denise's front tire gets caught in the trolley tracks!  SPLAT!

Yes, she fell hard, right into the street on Southeast side of the 4th Ave. bridge.  She rested a bit and then made it to Main Gate at the UofA where she sat on a restaurant patio with a cold drink and an ice pack while I rode my trike home to get the car.

Riding through the UofA I realized just how small the world is, just how small Tucson is and even smaller the Tucson Recumbent Trike community.

I rode right up besides DAVE, the guy on the Catrike Road who stopped on the Rillitto MUP and helped J2 with his flat (see pic from 10/17).

We rode together to Reid Park where I went East towards home, but not before getting his telephone number this time so we can ride together in the future.

Here he is as I pulled up next to him.  Dave was surprised and happy to see me and get to ride together a bit today.

I then get home, got Clara and the car, and went quickly back for Denise.  One hour and six minutes total.  Not bad time for me, but a long for Denise waiting at the UofA in pain.   :-(

A warm bath, two Aleve, and a rest in bed with a bite to eat before we have to meet my family for dinner later tonight.  She's pretty swollon from the fall but we think will be okay.

Motorized trike with trailer pulling a Catrike700, then a 37 mile ride!

This morning J2 came over for a ride.

He brought his Catrike 700 over, ON his new trailer, being TOWED by his motorized trike!

We then rode a 37 mile route of:
-Craycroft & 16th St. South to Golf Links
-Onto the Golf Links/Aviation MUP
-Over the Basket & Snake bridges (PB&J stop)
-Up 4th Ave. to University Blvd.
-Through UofA mall, then North on Mountain (to the end)
-Rillitto MUP path - Westbound
-North off of the MUP onto Camino La Terra (it's the last street you cross on the MUP)
-East on Orange Grove
-SCREAMING DOWN Southbound on La Cholla (I was at 31MPH, J2 got up to 37!)
-back onto the MUP - Eastbound (second sandwich stop)
-South on Dodge
-South on Alvernon
-East on Broadway
-South on Rosemont to HOME.

Trice Q, Sun EZ3 HD, and Catrike 700

(pictured in center)

Sun EZ3 HD trike with Honda GXH 50 4-stroke ultra low emissions engine.

 

 

This trike gets 150 Miles Per Gallon. Jeff has created fairings that turn it into this...

You can see the development photos and order your own at:  Goblin Motors 

Work Women Stripping???

No J2, it reads workmen striping.
They painted new yellow lines on the Rillitto MUP today and it looks good!

Inspired Cycle Engineering (ICE) sent me a package!

In today's "Post" (that's British for regular MAIL), I received a part for my trike.  

I emailed ICE a week ago that I had bought the Trice Q used and was loving it but was missing the "neck rest light mount".  They replied that they put one in the post to me that very same day. 

It's a tiny (one inch) part that allows mounting of a standard bike tail-light onto the small tube of the neck rest.
  
http://www.ice.hpv.co.uk/

25 mile ride and a Coyote Wore Sideburns visit

Today we did the 25-mile route of:  Home, Craycroft, Golf Links, Aviation, Downtown Tucson (bagel stop), 4th Ave., University Blvd., UofA mall, North on Mountain Ave., to Rillitto MUP Westbound, South on Craycroft, to home. 

Along 4th Ave. we stopped at The Coyote Wore Sideburns so I could show Carmen the trike and introduce him to my friend Jeff Bales.

Golf Links/Aviation MUP ride video

My first attempt at taking video clips while on a ride.  Need to take another try at it!
(only the first clip got recorded in HD as I must have accidentally switched to "email" quality for the rest).

J2 got TWO flats today!

First flat was only two miles into the ride.  Another Catrike owner (Dave?) stopped to help by loaning J2 some tire irons and advise on flat repair.

The second flat happened at 19.5 miles into ride (7.5 miles away from our vehicle).  While J2 worked on fixing the flat with his bare-hands (no tire irons),  I rode up to River & La Canada to get us a few burgers!

Needless to say, J2 is ordering three new tires, Schwalbe Marathon Plus.

The best recumbent accessory?

A better visor!  Lying back in a prone position on a recumbent bike puts your line of sight towards the sky more.  Next to WATER, this is the most needed recumbent cycling accessory...

J2 & I received our Carbon Spider Visors today.

First "commute" up to the coffee shop/bookshop

Even though it's less than a mile from home, it's still fun to be on the trike!
The laptop even fits in the side-pod pannier.

Where to buy accessories?

A new toy needs accessories, at least that's what guys do!

In Tucson, THE recumbent bike shop is Ajo Bikes.  My friend Jeff knows the owner, Frank, and does business with him.  Another of Jeff's original recumbent creations, his Tadpole Fairing (Catrike 700) is featured on the Ajo Bikes homepage!

Here is the direct link:  Goblin Motors.
You can have one of these beautiful hand-made fairings for your Catrike 700 for about $1000.










The original point of my post was that I needed a bit of gear:

- Safety Flag $7

- SunLite Toploader-3 Bag (has built-in panniers) $55
- Aardvark Reflective Safety Triangle $10

The trike is now HOME in Tucson!

Ah, it's so nice to be home and on MY trail, on MY trike!

Uneventful ride back to Tucson is good

With bikes loaded onto the roof-rack (I took the seat off the trike for better aerodynamics) and no car trouble, the ride home was easy peasy!


Photo:  Chili Peppers are everywhere in New Mexico

Ballon Fiesta & Old Town Albuquerque

It wasn't all about biking...  We spent time at Ballon Fiesta Park and a day in Old Town.  
We liked this long-weekend trip so much, we vowed to come back.

Quick fix needed...

The night prior in the hotel room while I was adjusting the seat, removing the rear rack, and generally just messing around with my new toy - I proceeded to inflate the tires as I prefer bike tires inflated to their max for better rolling resistance.  Well, you can guess what happened...

I noted on the front tires it said 95lbs, so I proceeded to pump up the tires in anticipation of the morning's long ride.   

Left front - check.  

Right front - check.

Rear - BOOM!!! 

Well, the rear is a wider tire and the tube was only rated to 70lbs.  Luckily I had researched in advance the closest recumbent shop just in case.   

Two Wheel Drive
1706 Central Ave. SE
Albuquerque, N.M. 87106
505 243-8443

At 10:00am after breakfast at the Route 66 diner, they installed a new tube.
(If you click on the picture below, to make it larger, you can see all the cool PEZ dispensers!)

First ride in Albuquerque, NM

We took Kester's advise and did the trail right up to Ballon Fiesta Park.  Taking the Rio Grande trail back into town, riding through downtown (lunch stop), and back.  A long day, and over 25 miles at this mile-high altitude, but so much fun!

Albuquerque is beautiful and we are thankful for this long-weekend get away.

It fits!

Before the trip I removed and reinstalled the Yakima roof-rack on the car so it would (hopefully!) fit the Trice Q.  I looked up the measurements online, (31.5" track) and used two bike trays for the trike, remounting the third tray to hold Denise's bike on the passenger side.

If it can't be put on the roof, it may have to go IN the car for the ride home.  I prepared for this by removing the rear seats and rear headrests before our trip just in case.  If I have to go this route, at least the Trice Q does fold like this:

On Saturday morning, I went outside early to see if my pre-planning worked, it did!

Perfect - no need to take the trike apart and no adjustments needed to the roof-rack at all.

The specs

Used 2006 ICE Trice Q package $1800.

The previous owner of this well loved trike even had the invoice from PBW Bikes in Chico, CA.

2006 Trice Q - ICE	$2,430.00
Rear QR Rack - ICE	$195.00
TerraCycle Ti Dual Idler	$150.00
Panniers: Allfa Bags	$108.00
Front Mudguards - ICE	$95.00
Adj. Neck Rest - ICE	$95.00
Dura-Ace Shifters	$90.00
Tires: Marathon Plus	$92.50
Quick-Release Kit -ICE	$75.00
SPD Pedals	$45.00
Cateye Micro Wireless	$40.00
Chainring Upgrade	$20.00
Extra Mirrior Mount	$16.00
Extra Mirracycle	$15.00
Topeak Modula H20	$8.00
Shipping - England	$55.00
TOTAL	$3,529.50

Albuquerque here we come!

Road-trip to Albuquerque today...

We left at 9:00am.   What should have been a 7-hour trip, turned into 10-hours as we had car trouble.

As it turns out, after getting the VW TDI serviced in Tucson last week and readied for this trip, they pinched the turbo wastegate hose while installing the new timing belt.  Here we are stopped at VW in Las Cruces, NM who took great care of us.

We finally got to the hotel, met Kester, and I bought the Trice.  He then drove me over to the University of New Mexico a few blocks from our hotel so we knew where to ride in the morning.  Nice guy!

$0.38 to re-configure the Yakima rack!

(after 2+ hours and a trip to Ace Hardware $0.38) I got the Yakima rack totally re-configured. Here's hoping it will be all set for Denise bike (passenger side) and my new Recumbent Trike - both on the roof!