Off road trailblazing

I tested out Google My Tracks on my android phone.  Its really cool.and it has this handy upload feature which then has this cool embed tool (see below)  it tracks speed, location, elevation changes and of course distance. I should have kept it recording for one solid track, to make it more useful.   I was riding with a mixed group, road bikes, MTBs and we even gave a dirt path through the woods a try.  When we got to several tree trunks blocking the path we turned back to the pavement.  But the trike did pretty well where the brush wasn't too overgrown.  It made for about a 9 mile ride and I got up to 14mph for a bit.  Thats my longest ride and fastest sustained speed with the trike so far.  When my stamina is built up more I might alter the gearing or swap the back wheel for a 26 in to get a higher top speed.  For now having to peddle fast is a good thing for improving my ability.  We didn't do the entire trail, I think there is another 3-4 miles of trail if we had gone all through Bear Creek Park and there is more trail north of where we turned around.  I'll definitely be going back here.


View 2011-03-26 07:23 in a larger map    <----Click this to see it in a readable view.

Time to Accessorize

With the spring rolling in its warm enough to get out and ride.  With daylight saving (though I still hate it) its light enough if I rush home from work for a quick ride.  But as my rides are getting longer and I don't always get out of work that fast its dusk before I know it.with such a low trike, in dark blue with no flags or lights I'm not going on any pavement that is shared with teenage drivers.  Or cars in general.  Doesn't matter how safe I am, or how careful the drivers are.  I would be hard to see and an accident is one of those things that often only happens once. Car vs. nearly prone man? Lets just move on from that though to what to do about it.  I bought some lights.  Amazon had a sale on Planet Bike Blaze 2Watt LED Headlight so I bought a pair.


I looked at a lot of lights that are out there first. Many of the choices are just "see me" lights.  This is what was available in most of the local shops. I wanted something to see with.  For a while I though I would get the CygoLite Trion 600: Triple LED Bike Light with Internal Li-Ion Battery It really looks like a the best light for the money but seemed a little pricey for my first uninformed light purchase.  What if I chose wrong? I was also concerned that on a trike it wouldn't illuminate the ground very far ahead.  Would I have to mount it on a pole because its too large to use as a helmet light?  Find a lighter and smaller light like the NiteRider MiNewt LED Li-Ion Bicycle Head Light?
 I revisited Halogens with battery packs, Dynamo powered lights, DIY LEDs, even a few that rival the brightest car head lights...and are prices like a car.  DIY sounded really temping, but its not always affordable and requires skills, supplies, tools, and effort that didn't seem worth it.  I was struggling with how to get the Lumens, beam size and range that was best and on a reasonable budget.  Arrgg! Overwhelming choices, options and performance!

Then I realized what I needed was a light for the type of riding I intend to do.  I'm not going to be riding through a forest at midnight, downhill at 30 mph.  I'm going to be ridding bike paths, and low traffic residential streets.  I just need two reasonably bright light to focus one on the road ahead of me and one pointed farther out or maybe strapped to my helmet pointing to where I'm looking. Hopefully where I'm looking is where I'm going. So when the high end of the "commercial" headlights came up with a discount on Amazon, the Planet Bike Blaze 2Watt LED Headlight I bought a pair.  With Amazon Prime I got free shipping too.  They are great.  Very bright, have a low and high beam option and attention getting flashing mode.  I'm ordering a mount to put one on the front of my trike and I'm using one on my helmet.  If I weren't riding a recumbent it might be a little heavy to wear on my too heavy helmet (more on that later) but my seat angle puts it right on top so I don't feel it on bumps or anything.  If I were riding a two-wheeler and staring at the ground most of the time I would choose a NiteRider like I mentioned above for helmet use. At the same time I've been looking in to taillights and flag to increase my visibility.  I've ordered some things and when I get them I'll post my thoughts on that.  If you ride anywhere after dark get an appropriate light or two. You won't regret it.

Herman Park part two

The train comes right down Main street to the park.

I think a lot of people must take the train to the park. Because finding parking is a real pain.

This guy laid his blanket down in a big open space and was calling on the phone. Girlfriend didn't show up?

Lovers standing close on the footbridge, whispering declarations of love to one another?

Oh wait, they are having an argument...perhaps its that now apparent baby on the way?

I love people watching and interjecting my own script on their lives. But this pair did not seem to be getting along too well.

Many flowers in the park were blooming.

Not all though, these Crepe Myrtles seem to have been set back by excessive trimming. Most around town are blooming.

Wild Life in Herman park

The train at Herman Park looks like a fun ride. The kids on board were all waving and having a good time.

Miller outdoor theater has a lot of kites flying, kids rolling down hill and in this picture a toddler that seemed to have no parent around as he wandered off. They eventually realized he had been running pretty fast and caught up with him. Some teenagers had a weird skateboard with giant wheels and they were taking turns bombing down the hill. I raced one down.  He was fast, but with me, the trike and a little peddle power at the start, he didn't stand a chance. Funny thing is it looks much steeper going 25 mph down the hill...

Kids get to cool off at the miniature replica of the Washington monument with reflecting pond.

Herman Park has great paved and crushed granite paths to cruise down.

They are wide and have interesting scenery everywhere you look.

The paddle boats look fun, but I have my own peddle powered fun at hand.

Huge beautiful trees everywhere. Though not for the Charlie Browns among us.

Someones fun was spoiled.

I've always liked this sculpture in front of the Zoo.

This duck seemed suspicious of the strange man on the strange bike.

He was giving the the stink eye for quite a long time.

Kite flying looked pretty crowded. Up close some of the kites were incredible. Birds, dragons. etc. Next time I'll try to get pictures of the grounded kites. I should bring the video camera for this stuff, the point and shoot is good for pictures, but video is a bit blurry...oh wait my video is fine, YouTube just smashed it down to near unwatchable. I'll have to figure out how to embed better quality video.

Resistance training

I found a great paved trail just a five minute drive from my house. Its about 4 miles of nice wide paved trails with another long section of curvy sidewalks through a neighborhood that is attached. The weather has turned great and it makes for a wonderful ride, even when towing a wagon full of a 5 year old and her toys. Toy wagons don't roll as well as a nice low slung trike. Cant wait to get out here and go nuts by myself. There are several hills that I know I could get going full speed down.

Edit: I did come back a couple days later and went the other way, even went down a short dirt trail that looked like a lot of two-wheelers use. The trike worked great even off road, but I think its time for a tune up, it felt and sounded like the brakes might dragging a bit. I haven't seen either end of where I can ride on this trail, both ends connect to another place to ride. One looks like it might come pretty close to my house. With some winding through a few neighborhoods and an off road short-cut or two I might be able to plan a route out that dodged most traffic. It would be great if I could roll out of the garage and be able to get in a long ride without getting the car involved.

Spring is Springing early?

The weather has been warm enough for a couple of short rides through Terry Hershey park. I took my daughter with me and brought along my wife's trike. Did I mention she has one? She has a Sidewinder. Its a very fun rear-steering trike. More on that one another time I suppose. And I should detail my experience with the NuVinchi internal gear hub. It was worth every penny. Over the next few posts I'll try and talk about the accessories and gear and its good, bad or ugly elements. But the main thing is we should have really great riding weather coming for a while. Might be time for a few spare vacation days to get used up...

Christmas Threw up on my neighborhood!

Starting the week after Thanksgiving every year the annual competition to out-do the Grizwalds happens in my neighborhood. Once that happens the streets are nearly impassable for a month as cars and eventually buses prowl every night, often with headlights off, around the streets. Walking an biking are out for a month. I'm not kidding, freaking tour buses. Some of the lights are art, some tasteful, and some jaw-dropping displays. Most in my opinion just look like Christmas went on a bender and threw up lights and inflatable yard decorations. Imagine being embarrassed by just looking at it, thats what many are like. But this isn't a blog about Christmas decorations and excesses or I would be telling you about a neighbor that throws a party every year. "So what?" you say? This year he had Sting perform. And I have to tell you putting my lights up on the roof while listening to Sting perform live is pretty cool. The years before? Hanna Montana, Dolly Patrton, and so on. Its a really big event. I live in an interesting place.

So trike riding had to be accomplished by hauling my trikes around in the SUV. I found it a tight fit to put both of them in with the seats folded down and it takes two people to do it easily. The Sidewinder folds and breaks down easy enough, but it didn't matter that much in the end it still fit about the same once both were in. I will bee seeking or building some sort of roof-rack option. I don't have a trailer hitch and I'm not sure I want to go that route as it would be an expensive solution for a hitch mount rack or trailer.

I found a great little paved trail not far from my house to go to. Its only about 2.5 miles, and around 4 if I extend the ride through the neighborhood it ends in, but since I have to backtrack to the vehicle it can be turned into a pretty decent ride. There were some mis-starts, the boom on the Sidewinder needed shortened for my wife and this lead to the chain falling off several times and she discovered if she hits the brakes hard the trike tips up a bit. Not unsafely really, but startling none the less. We lost the allen wrenches I brought along somewhere. Oh well, I plan to get a small bag to put stuff like that in that attaches to the bike in the future. Probably the Terra Trike seat bag.

I took the trikes over to the in-laws while we were visiting for Christmas and riding around their gated community found a hill that I could pedal up to 30mph. Pretty thrilling at 12in off the ground and a 90 degree turn just past the bottom. But really not enough room to ride very far.

I also got over to a place here in town called "The Anthills" or Terry Hershey park. I didn't have nearly enough time that day at all. I hadn't been there since they were being built years ago and its a wonderful park with at least 10 miles of paved trails and many others. It also butts up to 2 other parks with almost as many trails. Its also pretty nice scenery for Houston. I will be going there a lot.

I'm going to try to get in a ride this weekend before I have to fly off to Chicago for work stuff I have to take care of. We will see how that goes.