April showers bring May....

So April is done. I surpassed my riding goal for the month with over 320 km. Cool and that was with a week of crappy cool weather. Diet wise not a great month I sort of plateaued, fumbled along, and zoned out. Partly it was weather change, partly needing a break, work and family and volunteer commitments. Mostly it has been a "okay sluff today start monday attitude. Every week. I lost motivation. Why I don't know, I really like the results and the comments I get, so what gives? I truly believe this was a hiccup. I know I need that mental kick in the arse to get back on track. So May its no excuses, every day is a new day, JUST Do IT.

I have had my Gold Rush for a month now and it is supassing my expectations. Yet  I sit here and realize that I have said that about every new bike I have gotten. But the other day I was riding into the wind for a 10 km ramble around Calmar and started to laugh. I was riding into the wind and enjoying it. All I could think about was "sorry Lance, IT IS ABOUT THE BIKE! he he he he. I am truly Blessed to have the oppurtunity to ride such a fun and efficient machine. Thanks to Keith who bought my TE and to Cornell who sold me his and to Uhaul for my over ride commissions and to Alice who puts up with it and hopes to gain a healthier hubby. And to an Awesome God who listens and hears and does bless His childern.
 My goal for May is to lose over 8 lbs and ride over 400km. Pray for me I'm going to need it. Next month I will post some pics of my ride and some of the Bling I have and a review of a couple of really cool addons.
TTFN -GB
Larry

After the Wind Ride

Finally the winds died down (after 3 days). So after getting back from lunch at Kosmos with Alice, Darrel & Carol Rachel,  Alice and I went for a ride. As we started out we heard Alices rear tire rubbing on her brakes. Jocelyn and I had tightened the rear cone and adjusted and lubed the brakes on Monday. But when Alice rode it we needed to adjust the tension on the brake springs. Jocelyn showed me how this is done and so it was easy to do on the side of the road. We got going agian and relazied the wind had picked up, after turning onto the highway I zipped ahead and noticed Alice was lingering. Once I got to the top of the rise on the east side of Calmar I didn't see her so I called her on her phone. She had decided that the wind was too cold for how sahe has dressed so she bailed. I continue to the 10k mark and headed  back. It was good to be back on the bike after 3 days. I cannot believe how more efficient the GRR is over the TE. I likey my bikey! Here is my Garmin GPS recording of my ride: . If you click on the see details you may be able to use the player to see a dynamic portrayl of my ride. I am experimenting with links here;
Anyways have a great day -  Now Git out and RiDE!
Larry

Carry All For Seat back

I always seem to be on the hunt for an alternative bag to hold the basics while I ride. Basics what basics you ask? Well you should always carry a few essentials while riding. A flat repair kit (spare tube, glue less patches, tire levers and a pump or CO2 cartridges & valve). bike tool w/ chainbreaker, phone, light snacks, and maybe a few other person things. I like using a water bladder instead of a bottle for rides over 30 min., as I tend to drink more often with it;so i need a bag that can hold this too. This year I want to ride a little lighter and don’t want to add a rack and big bag to my GRR, except when on tour. So I need a seat bag that will hold the minimum for a commute home or expand for a century ride. I was going to get Alice to sew me up  a new basic bag. I even thought out the design, made a pattern, got the fabric and notions, cut then out but then Tax season hit and Alice is way too busy for the next couple of months! Arrrggg!
While I was in Calgary last month I stopped in at MEC and was browsing around and found a small shoulder bag that I Modified.

  
MEC Sml Shoulder Carryall
This bag is great and has a lot of compartments.

First thing I did was cut off the shoulder strap and then sewed on a web belt to hug the lower part of the bag to the seat to stop flopping. I placed rivets at the stress points to strengthen them.

I then sewed and riveted  nylon male buckles to the top corners to attach onto the bike seat. A lot of seat bags use a sleeve to go over the seat to attach a bag. A couple of years ago I devised a way to attach a bag using industrial double sided Velcro and these clip buckles. I just loop a female buckle onto the seat frame on either side and then can quickly attach or detach my bags.

To finalize the bag I sewed a safety triangle and a C-KAP patch to the flap and TA –DA:

It can expand outside the seat frame for longer rides or for shorter jaunts hang inside for a lower profile.

The flap strap will cinch up the bottom and keep it away from the wheel & fender. It looks great and is very versatile!

Now Git out and ride

Larry

GRR Pick up Adventure!

I Went down to Calgary for the weekend of March 27. On my way I visited and helped Grant at Bentley Cycle Saturday afternoon (well really hung out, answered some customer questions regarding bents, accessories, blogs, etc and almost was in the way! He He) . Had a great time! Then stopped at Robs In Olds (of The Recumbent Blog) to see his Manga Velo  Cool, I think I want one in the future! We talked about velos, recumbent stuff and the TOT in Idaho this year.
I finally got to Ken & Lenores close to 11pm - kinda late for dinner!

Next morning I got up and using  new gps software for my Iphone Called Motion-X GPS Drive, drove to Bow Cycle to look around (no 'bents!) Why are all the "bigger" bike stores so hesitant to bring in ``some`` quality recumbents? They bring in the cheap stuff and then say they don't sell - duh!! I got back into my van and proceeded to make my way to MEC. While I was there I got some new rechargeable batteries (the best price for good 2650 mahs in town), a new seat bag, some clips, & glueless tire patches. After spending my allowance there I drove to Cochrane to pick up the GRR using the Motion-X Drive app. This app for $.99 works really well. It gave pretty good voice directions.

As I got close to Cornells cul-de-sac, I saw him turn a corner on his Cat Trike EXP and pulled up behind him. After razing him abit I followed Him to his house. The first thing I see is a Rans Crank Forward bike that he had built up. Neat, it would nice to have some day, for off road adventures. Sitting beside it was the Blue GRR! Wow, a beautiful cool blue and its so light. After gabbing and gushing over the bike, we went in  and had a nice lunch of homemade minestrone soup and scones. Mmm, Cornell is a good cook - Lucky for Muriel his wife! After lunch and looking at his drum, snare and Roy Rogers/Lone Ranger collection we went went back outside.

With my excitement growing about riding a GRR for the first time, we put om my Crank Bros Mallet pedals, a Planet Bike Super Flash light on rear of the GRR, adjusted the seat and went for a sunny, very windy, 25 km ride among the rolling hills and vistas near their acreage! Cornell & Muriel sure live with a majestic view! Boy, the GRR is so much more responsive and so much easier to go over rolling hills than even the TE! Being my first ride on a GRR I was very impressed. Yes, I sold a great bike and bought another without ever riding it before; but the I expected it after reading so many ride reports and talking to others about the GRR vs. TE, I had simply out grown the TE as far as performance and efficency was concerned.

When we got back and were just gabbing, I found out that Cornell was with Canada Parks for over 25 years and had been in every back woods cabin in Jasper and Banff Parks and was responsible for the furnishing of many of the historical sites in many western Parks; WAY COOL! As were going for a coffee Cornell showed me a cool battery charger: PowerEX. Another electronic gadget that the wives would roll thier eyes up on. Anyways this thing recharges, discharges, renews and tells you if the battery is toast! drooooool gadgets! With all the lights and other gizmos I run with having reliable, reusable batteries is important, green and inexpensive.

We had  a great cup of coffee and Cornells homemade blueberry bran muffins (mmmm) while talking about ‘bents and BROL, TOT and diet stuff.(TOT 07: a video) We then concluded our transaction, then he showed me his horses (well mostly Muriels) and acreage. Around 6:45 pm, I loaded up the bike into the van, said bye, and started the drive back to Edmonton. Stopped off in Bentley to drop off a trike rack to Grant; picked up a friend of Kara’s and drove home, got there around 11 pm.

Over all an Utterly Wunderbar Weekend!