Shakedown!
Sunday, March 30th, 2008
No, not the March of Dimes …
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… my new trike. Put it in the back of the van, again, and drove to the USM station. My first ride, the other day, was only 8 miles and, thus, not much of a shakedown. At the station I found a March of Dimes walk-a-thon and my first opportunity to evaluate the trike in a crowd. Results: Great. I didn’t even have to unclip when stopping and easing forward slowly. Some people acted as martials, moving others out of the way. It seems that everyone looked. My apologies to the speaker for the dissuption. There was a lot of attention and many comments. The wording escapes me but one man wanted to know if I was comfy and a woman wanted to know if she could get on with me. This must be what driving a sports car is like. I eased on by, smiling a lot, and headed on up the trail. It comes up to speed really fast and I was in the upper teens in no time. For the same heart rate it is at least as fast as the unfaired Rocket, maybe even faster. Up the trail the attention continued. I get a lot of attention when on any of my recumbents but not like this. It is not uncommon for a car to stop at a crossing to give me the right of way but this happened 3 times yesterday. I don’t know; were they just curious and wanted a better look, or did they think I was handicapted or otherwise special, or just being curtious? No idea.
The 31 miles was most enjoyable and my average speed was about 14 mph. At no time did I tire and wish the ride would end. The trail was in great shape and starting to bloom all over. The wisteria was beautiful. There were several bunches hanging from trees on both sides of the trail, the least of which is pictured here. However, that is the last photo I took as my camera’s battery did get tired (discharged); I must have left it on when connected to the computer all night.
I planned on turning around in Sumrall after a quick snack and a trip to the bathroom (old man!). I had packed a Boost drink and a zip bag with two hand-fulls of pecons. Of course I also had the ever present water which I didn’t drink any of at a rest stop since I didn’t stop anywhere and I forgot to drink while riding even though I could have reached back over my head and grabbed the bottle, although putting it back may have been a challenge. If drinking on-the-fly proved to be a problem I may mount the bottle between my knees on the boom. Another day, not a priority. As it turned out I didn’t eat any of my snacks but went to La Torie’s instead. There I had a very good catfish sandwitch with small fries and a coke. I sat near a window where I could looked out at the trike, parked at the bike rail. Great day. I sat near a young couple, obviously not married as they were flirting too much. They were exchanging comments as fast as they could talk, agreeing completely with what the other said and beginning their own comment or reply with "yea" or "yes". As I said, not married. There were so many yes’s and yea’s that I begin to wonder where they were from. Then I focused on a conversation a little further away and I heard a man using a lot of yes’s. I wondering if it was a Sumrall thing. Then I looked at the trike some more, finished my lunch. Afterwards I rode around the residential area a bit before going on to the Sumrall trail station. I got the attention of one small dog whom I greeted with "hello doggy" in a most condisending tone. He (she?) did not seem to object to the tone and just wanted to play, following me for about half a block. Back at the Sumrall station a young fellow, maybe 10 years old, and his dad were getting ready for a ride. The youngster was already standing on the trail with his bike when I pulled up along side. I asked him if he thought I was too old to be riding a tricycle. He smiled and said "No".
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Only a couple of miles on the way back I heard a soft thump. Was that me? What could it have been? I looked in my mirrow, the quarter sized one mounted on my eye glasses stem. There I could see what looked like a bag on the side of the trail about 100 feet back. Did I hit it? I unclipped and, staying on the bike, pushed myself backwards. The trike glides easily. As David said it almost goes on its own. As I approached, ah, recognition. It was my headrest.
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The mate to this one, before I introduced it to a hacksaw. It was on the passenger side of our old Dodge Caravan but I don’t think Jeanne will miss it. (We don’t drive the Caravan and I’m about to give it away) In the photo above it is propped on top of the original headrest stem, just for the photo. During the ride I had it zip tied to the stem. I’m going to have to come up with a mount, maybe a new stem. The original foam rest was a casualty to use and time. David said it looked like a large piece of industrial pipe insulation, not unlike the consumer product with a slit down it entire length for wrapping around your home water pipes. I’ll see what I can find but may still go with the Caravan rest. I propped the head rest behind my head and made a point of not lifting my head the rest of the trip. The curve helped it stay in place the rest of the way.
The shakedown’s goal, other than being an introductory ride, was to figure out what modification, additions, or adjustments I need to make in the near future. As far as my opinion about the Speed, my likes and dislikes, that will have to wait for a few more rides; to be fair. However, I do know that I need to give attention to:
Speed: "I never knew 12 mph could feel so fast." Someone else said that and I agree. On this ride I took it easy, staying below my 80% max HR. My speed was close to my speed on the unfaired Rocket. My average was 14 mph and max was about 20 mph. At higher speeds I might do better than on the Rocket.
Steering: I suspect that this will become my biggest criticism. When I first started I would move the hand grips side-to-side, just a tiny bit, and would get a coarse course change. And if I inadvertently shifted my upper body I would get an unwanted course change. I started off power stroking the pedals which resulted in an upper body shift. This shift translated into course changes with the front of the boom moving right and left in synch with my strokes. When I started pedaling with a more circular motion things smoothed out, so I must learn the art of clipped-in pedaling. Later I tried power stroking but with a smooth application of power and that seemed to work OK. I once hit a bump with the left front wheel, shifting my upper body to one side, which resulted in a scary shift in direction. Things did get better as I tried a few things. For one, I stopped gripping the grips as tightly. I don’t know if that helped but it felt better. Also, I stopped trying to move the grips right and left to steer. Instead, I applied straight-forward pressure on one and straight-reverse
pressure on the other and achieved a smoother change in direction. This is going to require my further attention.
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Seat width: I believe the Speed is smaller than most of the other Catrike models. The seat width is a problem because I have wide thighs. Well, actually, the seat is wide enough and very comfortable, even if I overhang a little. The problem is with the structure just to the side of the seat. Part of the handlebar mount leans in near the seat edge. The corner of this mostly vertical piece rubs my bare outer thigh. It didn’t hurt at first but after about 15 miles of rubbing it started to irritate me. Sliding down a little in the seat helped but was not my preferred position. Once home I found a small red area and swollen mound. I may end up wrapping these frame grip supports with foam, or wearing longer shorts.
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Headrest: I need to either order a replacement of the original, try to find some industrial-foam pipe insulation, fabricate a mount for my Caravan headrest (I have a lathe and a mill), or buy a nicer mount as in the image.
Visibility: It would help to have a rubber neck. I wonder where I could find one of those toy periscopes we played with as kids.
Overall size, weight, experience: Outstanding.
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