Not BAD!

I mean, Went out with my riding group tonight for a 23k ride out to the dreaded Rollyview hill and back. Some of the others wanted to try thier new 'bent on the biggest hill in the area. Sigh... newbies! Well I had not run the TE out there yet and am not down to what I weighed on my django when I did this hill last year. All I got to say after the fact is: I LOVE MY EASY RACER!

I found pedaling up this hill tonight, the easiest yet. I did hit the lowest gear near to top so I would keep a 70 ish cadance but, I felt great. Oh yeah I hit 65.3kph going down and 7.6 going up again!

Bring on the MS 150 in June baby!

6 months of Winter

As I sit a the computer tonight the rain has turned to snow. A friend of mine said that the long cool winter is starting to make her angry, she feels so shut in. I don't like it but, I also have been riding every month so far in 2007. Every time the weather gets better I run out the TE.
Easter Sunday We went for aride with our Friend Cathy Loudon from Grand Prairie, AB. Who is considering a bent for commuting to work. Here a Vid I took of our ride: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWKcYpLLujw

Easter Monday our newest 'bent convert, Linda and her husband Wayne, came over for her first real ride on her new EZ Sport. I let Wayne, ride the BikeE.

She loves her new ride and is slowly enjoying it more everytime she rides. Her husband had not ridin anything in 10 years (besides horses and motorbikes) he rode 10k and blown away how comfortable it was. (here's hoping!). When we out on the highway I was just dooodling along, having a nice ride, I looked back and could not see the others. They were battling the wind heading back east into Calmar. I am the only one with a fairing. I realized that day they are not fair to others in your group; they struggle, you cruise. I has giggling with malious glee. Fairings are sooooo cool. So I stopped to wait for them and hunkered down below the top of the fairing out of thewind just laughing the whole time. I know it was not fair, but I loved it!

Last weekend I went for a ride in Edmontons river valley with the MS bike Tour Team Captains. Yes I have a Team of 'bent riders. We are commited to riding 160k for MS in June, from Leduc to Camrose and back the next day. Even Alice is riding.

It was a nice day, but I must say the path on the south side of the river is hilly, well, rolly with very steep parts. I was the only bent. yeah, I missed geared on a hill and had to walk the rest of the way up (with 30 other DF riders watching) I feel I did well on the hilly bits but promised myself more hill training! A nice enjoyable ride Getting to know other captains as and a great Italian meal after.

Part of the bonus of being a Team Captain is small incentives. We were given bonus bucks for United Cycle and I picked up a new rack bag for the TE that is expandable. That along with the Palatypus insulated bag I had Alice sew straps and clips on will suffice for 90% of my rides. Alice is a bang up seamstress and puts up with my last minute designs. We sewed up a seat back bag support Sunday that fits on our TE's. Now we can just clip on our hydration bags, packs etc. fast and easy! Way to go ALice!

We have moved our weekly ride with GodSpoke Cyclists from Thursday to Wednesday nights, hopefully we can get more riders. We are also getting TShirts and Jackets for those who want them.

We are supposed to ride this weekend with our group but with the cool weather and snow... We'll see.
Ride when you can

March Madness

Hi di ho Neighbors!

Well March turned out to be an interesting month: Got some riding in, weather was extreme; business was good but had some major bumps and to top it all off I went to Toronto for 3 days.

Our Local riding group Started officially on the 16th and we have had 2 nice evening rides around the Leduc area.

We have 50 people on the emailing list but so far we only have had 6 out at any one time. They claim its the weather, still to cold, they havn't had time to get their bikes prepped yet; yeah right...

warm weather cyclists!

Two weeks ago my main helper - Ty, broke his collar bone. He is out for at least 8 wks. Sort of a bad time as my business starts to recover at this time of year; so I have not been riding as much as I was hoping. Just to busy or too tired.

I use a Creative ZEN V plus to listen to music or Audible books when I ride. I made a handlebar MP3 hugger for it.

Since we repair plastic bumpers at my shop, I hacked off a piece of a discarded one and reshaped it to hold the ZEN. Works great!

My wife Alice decided to cycle the MS Tour with me this year in June. (after I signed her up). We also have the Greers (new Agio owners) riding in the MSTour with us. So it will not be as lonely for me this year. We should have a 'bent good time.

About 3 weeks ago I brought my Tour Easy to my Church to promote the Riding club and had it sitting in the lobby. Many people had never seen a recumbent before aand sat on it, asked alot of questions and went away going Hmmm... . One lady, Linda, was fairly Impressed and after talking to the Greers and my wife Alice, she came over one night while I was in Toronto and went for a ride with Alice an our BikeE CT. She left with it to ride for a few days.

Thursday she showed up with it at our ride and rode 12k with us, the last time she rode 12k was 20 years ago! She is looking for a 'bent of her own now!

My trip to Toronto was business related. Along with 26 others, we toured PPG Glass factories and assemby plants. At one point on our tour I stood over a river of molten glass 4 football feilds in length as it cooled from the cauldron. That river has been running for 12 years non stop. Was a cool Trip to see how they make side glass and windshields!

Well as the season is upon us I will try to post a little more regularly.

Thanks for reading

Larry

new beginnings

Spring is Here!


Well I CAN pretend Can't I!?


So Far this year I have 118km on the TE. Ken and Lenore Johnson (my collage buddy) were up from Calgary during the weekend. Ken and I went for a ride on the TE's. Ken first longish ride on a 'bent-15 k. He rode our BikeE's a couple of years back. He liked the ride but I think I wore him out.


Today I went riding with Murray and Sandy Greer along Leduc multi pathway. They have new Bacchetta Agios. They really like em! It was cold and as I looked out the window this morning I saw snow. but by 2:00 the snow was gone. but as you can see from the pic it wwas nippy! But we rode! then we stopped for coffee and pie at Smittys. The paths were wet in spots but very clear of snow. Thanks to the Leduc snow crews!


This was the second ride with them and the new bikes. Last weekend we rode up and around Nisku. Murray being lighter than me can really blaze on the Agio. I must say that with the right rider, it can really go!

I almost have Alices TE all set up to go. This week I but a new light from Planet Bike on and tested it last night. Its thier 5000 series Halogen triple A battery light. At 3 watts out put I was very pleasently pleased with the light it gives. Alice should do nicely with it. I also got a Planet Bike Super Spot Blinky, Wow 1/2 watt of brightness, I but it on the front of my bike. I also found a 20" freddy Fender at United Cycle for Alices bike and I got her a Nike II odometer with cadance. I picked up some new chainrings from MEC last week but they were the wrong size so I have to return them and order some out of the States; probably the Hostle Shoppe. Enough Bling for the bikes for NOw. Actually I have the Bike almost complete, just have to ride em!

My tailbone has been acting up again. Seems when I slouch on the bike it gets sore. However when I tuck my butt into the seat back it is alot better. I think I need to lose some more weight and this should go away.

The more I ride my Tour Easy the more I like it. It "may not" be as fast as my SWB burley but for the riding I do, its great! I am motivated to lose more weight so I can fly on it! Seeing Murray just zoom away today on his Agio was a great motivator. I was thrilled to see him enjoy the ride so much! I was a bit envious but I'll get there!

I am riding more so I will post more ride reports. I hope that my blogging is entertaining. I some times don't know what you may be interessted in reading but hey, Its my life and I'm living it the best I can for HIS Glory

Talk to you soon

Larry

A new stable mate

This week was a Cold one, but I still was able to have a great bike week!

A ride Monday. Friday came and I brought my TE to work, gave it a good wash, and general winter detail. I wanted to make it look good 'cause the next day I was going to pick up a new stable mate, but more on that later.

After work I headed up to the city and dropped in a couple of hobby/kite/modeling stores to see if I could find tubing for a tailsock project that I have in mind for the TE. I was able to pick up 4- 36"x 9/16" hollow aluminmum poles. I then went to United Cycle in Edmonton to see the rumored Bacchetta bents I heard they had.

Yep there they were a Cafe', Agio, Giro 20, Corsa and they brought out a Aero for me to drool over! A couple of friends of ours are seriously looking at getting a couple of Cafe's. So I spent an hour or so comparing and sitting on all the models; and came away impressed with the Cafe' Nice! (But the Aero is so light! Now if I was 120lbs lighter and had alot of cash....hmmm. Ain't going to happen!) It was a nice visit. If you are interested in a good quality, fast, 'bent, check out United cycle.

Saturday I headed down to Bentley to pick up ALice's TE, a new rack and panniers. Had a great visit with Cornell (trike) another 'bent owner from Cochrane owner and another dude who bought a Gold Rush. Cornell is a great guy who loves to ride too! Maybe we'll go riding one day this summer! Cornell rode Alices TE and he enjoyed it! But I think he is leaning towards a Gold Rush Replica -Blue with a bunch of upgraded parts.

So I brought home Alices TE and spent the rest of the day (and evening) adding gear from the burleys!

Let see I added the rack, bell, light, coroplast rear fender, pedal extenders. mirracycle mirror and rear blinky taillight. I still have to put the 3M protection on the top tube, get a fender set and a fairing down the road. I will probably switch out her chain rings 52/42/26 for mine 48/38/26 as she is more a tourer than a racer!

Today we went for a short ride about 3 k to test it out;we were going to go longer but the wind chill was fierce today, even with the adhoc poroplast fairing for Alices TE.

Well thats it for February. See ya soon

God speed

Larry

February Frolic

It has been an awful month for snow and cold this Feb. We have had record snow this year. Finally on our Family Day long weekend I was able to get in a ride!

I went into bike mode today. I dug out the poly' underwear and doned some warm outer wear and went out to the garage to prep the bike. I don't have fenders yet for my TE, so I thought I would take a cue from posts I've seen on the web and make one for the rear tire. So I dug out some coroplast, sliced about a 3-4inch width, 3 feet long. Then I shoved it along under the rear rack and along the curve of the tire; resting on the rear fork cross member, down by the brake mount and fender hole. I added a few zip ties and Wa-la, a winter rear fender! Worked fairly good keeping the melting sludge & water off my back!

I then checked and added some air to both the TE and the BikeE CT. Clicked on the odometer onto the TE. Loaded up a polar water bottle full of nice hot tea. Then Alice and I took off for a nice ride down highway 39, west of Calmar. It was about -6c or 19F. Beautiful sunny blue skies. We rode about 10k in total! I loved it and I really like the TE! It just soars with the fairing! I love how the fairing keeps your core out the wind. I found that If I placed my hand up on top of the fairing it would protect my face! I was laughing it was soo cool! Total milage: 10 k, top speed 30.9kph. (I have no regrets trading in the burleys. Alice gets her TE in the next couple of weeks)

I can only imagine what my cruising speed will be in the summer when I weigh less and have a 26/42/52 chainring insted of the 26/38/48 I have now - zoom -zoom.

Oh yeah, I am down to 307# I have had a major head cold this past week, so I did not go to the gym all week. Nor did I stick to my diet at all since Wed. No gains though and it is probably good to reset my metabolism anyways. I have to get into my head that eating more than 2000 cals a day is my norm until I get down to my goal weight. I already feel so much better.

Next month some friends of ours are seriuos about getting 'bent. United Cycle has brought in the Bacchetta line. http://www.bacchettabikes.com/recumbents/index.html They went and looked at them sat on the Agio and Cafe'. Looks like the Cafe' is the front runner. We are getting new 'bent buddies! Ya hoooo!

More a converting to the dark side "moo haa hahaha"! Why not? No pain- wrists, arms, neck, back or butt; great viewing position, fast, comfy!

An Early Start

Happy NEW YEAR!

Did you have a great New year? Enough time off?
We did, we went over to my Buddy Don Martz for New Years Eve and had a great time!
Lots of food, games and good conversation!

Well, I am looking forward to having a great year in 2007. I want to ride lots, loose lots of FAT and enjoy my family, friends and business. I hope to lose at least 75 lbs this year and KEEP it off with a goal of reaching 195# by Christmas 2008. Plus I want to ride the MS Tour again and a few other organised rides AND a couple of Brevets too. Hope fully I can ride over 2000 km this year. Its going to be interesting to reach this goal because my business has been picking up alot and may interfere with my riding somewhat, So keep dropping by and we will see what happens. eh?!

I think I know what I did last year to stop losing weight and regain what I had lost. I Stopped counting calories, Yep in a nut shell that was it. Stopped counting and gradually ended up eating just whatever I FELT like it. ARGG! Well it was a lesson learned, I know I have to do this time: Proper Portion sizes I have to ingrain; do cardio and weights, not eat after 8pm, do not eat back all my excercise calories; stay on this for the REST of my life. I did get a set of 10# dumb bells, a electronic food scale and a set of measuring cups for Xmas. Plus a month at FlexFX and I signed up for a weight and excercise course with my trainer. I will also get the Biggest Loser 2 video. When the weather improves I can then begin to ride and burn away that which do not belong.

Anyways the ride report:

Jan 6, 2:30 pm, 5 hearty adventurers, struck out amidst sunny skies and -2 degree temps; and took to the cleared and dry multi pathways of Leduc, for a total of 12 km and 55 min riding.

We had a great time in the brisk winter air. We were all fairly warm, bundled up the way we were. Carol snapped her chain about 15 min into the ride and thought she might have to walk back, but Sandy said " Larry the toolman can fix it up". So I whipped out the trusty ol' Park MTB 3 muti tool and used the intregrated chain tool and within 10 min and 1 link less we were off as good as new. Man, its good to be prepared, when I was growing up I never rode with any tools, now I gots a mini bike shop in the the old panniers. Sure can come in handy when you are alone or riding in a group. Don't leave home with out em!

We stopped at Bits and Bytes Coffee House for a Latte and fellowship. Definitely a highlight of the ride! We hope to include more riders this year, do some more adventures, and a trip this year; maybe even the MSTOUR as a team?! We want it to be a regular ride that is fun and easy for most adults. Hey, riding along at 15 kph for an hour will burn almost 500 calories, enough for a dessert or not!

If this winter ride was any indication; than this year looks like it will be a fun ride!
See ya soon ...

I had it

Seems like dare be snow outside!

So riding in the future is probably on hold until spring. If that is the case I rode over 1600k in 2006! This past week our wee bike club had its last ride; 5 of us rode 13.5 k around Leduc in cool and wet night streets, then met a couple at the Local cafe for lattes and Chias. We had a great time! From local rides around Calmar and Leduc, The Ms Tour and Tour de Alberta and The Recumbent retreat in Oregon - I had a great season.

I did my first 1 Day century with the Tour De Alberta and learned alot about my self. 1-I like to ride with some one. Not nessarily beside them all the time but with hailing range. 2- the longer I rode the longer it would take for my tailbone not to be tender. gotta lose more weight. 3- I like long rides with friends. 4-I like to ride with Audible books (scifi) and good music. 5-I gotta lose more weight 6- riding takes commitment. 7- Just do it!

My 2 most favorite rides this year were The MS Tour- cause I surpassed some challenges over last years ride and Our Godspoke Ride to Pigeon Lake-38k - we had a lot of fun and great company! I really am Blessed that Alice my wife enjoys riding ... with ME!

This saturday afternoon I drove down to Bentley Cycle to spend the afternoon with Grant the owner and say goodbye to my Burleys, the Django and the Jet Creek. I delivered them to Grant for consignment 'cause Alice would like to ride a TE too! If you are looking for a great ride drop into Grants and check them and all the other bike he has. Alice and I really like the ride, handling and speed the Tour Easy has. I find them so much easier to start and stop on and ride with other Df riders. Plus the fairing is nice on cooler rides, sleek looking and Fast. We hope that this will be our last upgrades for awhile. I have had 5 different bents in 5 years! Now I get to outfit TWO TE's

As for the engine improvement I was down to 285lb in june and have gained up 20lb back. But I learned alot about weight loss and conditioning- ITS NOT EASY! and so easy to regain what you lost. SO I am going back to the gym I November, I have swayed my trainer into offering a set of areobic classes in January to help and encourage more significantly obese people. She has been caught in a gym culture mindset and was frustrated that obese, out of shape people were not not enthusiastic about weight training and classes so we had a long talk one afternoon about my preceptions from the otherside of the fence. So her next set of classes that I will be in will focus on the other side. we will see what happens.

I want to get to and maintain 275-250 by june 07 , Hey its a goal! 2008 to 225lb. With all the riding I want to do in 2007 (2-2500k) it will be a challenge. And HEY, there is very little commuting miles in that goal. Riding this kind of mileage takes significant time. Family, work, and other committments gotta squeeze around it. But I'm lucky -I have my family and friends who like to ride!

Talk to you soon ,

Larry

The Last Ride?

Well my wife Alice and I went for a short ride and photo op on Saturday. The weather reports said snow on Sunday so we drove into Leduc and a ride around Telford lake area and took some pictures of my TE and Alice riding. I picked up a tripod for my camera at Staples and away we went.

It was a great fall afternoon and I hope not the end of my riding for 2006. I am just 35k short of riding 2000k for the year. I am going to do over that even if I have to ride in the snow New Years Eve! This is by far the most I have ever ridden in any year. I had a list of riding goals I wanted to do in the next couple of year and did them this year! Wa hoo.I am getting a bug for long distance riding. I have been reading the exploits of Micheal Wolfe http://escapevelocipede.blogspot.com/ and others who do long distance riding and am developing the goals of riding in some of the local brevets (randoneeering) in 2007. These are sanctioned riding events with timing and checkpoints with lenghts of 200k, 300k, 400k, 600k and 1000K. If you can ride an average of 16k/hr and endure the seat for 7.5 hrs per 100k you can do it easy. Plus you can get a medal and record posting in Paris, France! I hope to do a 200k and 300k in 07. This will envolve training and discipline on my part. I am finding that if I want to lose weight and maintain it I gotta have some goals set.

Will I lose the weight and accomplish it ... who knows but I am going to attempt them along with the MS Tour, Ride LA, and our Godspoke rides and tours next year. So Stay tuned, Look for posts reguarding the training, equipment, and stuff this next year.
TTFN Larry

The End of Summer '06

Well, its been a while since I last updated this blog. Let see;
I have been riding abit, at least every thursday with our local riding group Godspoke. We meet at 6:30 pm, ride around town and stop for coffee somewhere, usually the local Tim Hortons. Anywhere from 3 to 8 of us ply the roads of Nisku and Leduc. We have found that riding after dark can be fun and a totally different experience.

We have all gotten lights to illuminate our path. I Picked up a Nite Hawk Digital Emitter with Recharger from MEC (This super bright (approximately 10 watt) white LED headlight system has 11 light-output settings and features an advanced microprocessor to ensure continued brightness throughout the battery cycle. Includes rechargeable NiMH batteries and recharging kit.)
I really like it. It really lights up the road in front, but I still think If I was riding alot after dark I would get another to really widen the total path of light, maybe a helmet mounted one! On the back of my bike I have a: Blackburn Mars 2 Rear blinky - from REI in Seattle. This is one bright taillight with 3 modes -highly recommended.

This september I did it again. I have been riding recumbents for 4 years. Some how I have managed to get 4 'bents in that time. First was a BikeE AT that I traded up for a BikeE RX that I found later was too small for me. Then my LBS got in a Burley Jet Creek for which I traded in lieu of my RX. Then BikeE went out out biz and I got a CT from Ebay. Then Last year I got a Burley Django which I rode last summer and the summer of 05. Then I went to the recumbent retreat in Oregon, and relazied that I was a Easy Racer wanna be. Riding my Django was fun and fast but after a couple of centuries this summer I was getting a severly sore tailbone. Due to the fact I was so reclined on the Django, because I had to recline to get my belly out of the way. I like to ride fairly fast but I also am beginning to like riding far. The MS tour, Tour de Alberta gave me a taste of going the distance. I think I may see randoneering in my future.

Randoneering is riding set distances in a certain time, 200 to qualify for a 300k then 400 then 600 then 1200k. If you can ride consistently at 15mph you can finish the rides on time. I may not get beyond the 400k rides but I wanted a bike that would help get me there in comfort and speed. The more I talked to people at the recumbent rally the more I was Impressed with the Easy Racers. They are made for faster long distance rides. And the enthusiasium from current oners really impressed me that a Tour Easy was in my future.
So late August I started my research to see what a second hand one would cost, looking on Ebay, the classified on BROL and the Easy Racer Forum. I was thinking of Spring but if I got the right one I could extend my riding into November if I had a fairing.
Then mid September I posted a note on BROL that I was looking for a good used TE. A couple of days later I got a private message from a lady in Seattle who said she had what I was looking for and would email me pics and more info after the weekend.
A few days later I got an email with pics of a Tour Easy freshly uncrated. She had gotten this TE in a round about way from someone in northern California, she had them take it to Easy Racers nearby, they wrapped it and sent it to her. How long it sat in her garage up unopened I don't know. But before my eyes I am seeing this TE with fairing, rapid fire shifters, rack, (the bike I envisioned I would get) lying amidst cardboard and cellophane. She never rode it, she had to unpack it to take the pics! From what she told me it is a 2004 that the fellow never took to. It sat and was hardly ever ridden. the rear cassette looks brand new!
So we haggled a bit then I decided to get it. We found out that some friends of ours were going to Vancouver for the weekend and that they would pick up the bike there and bring it back. So Rosie from Seattle loaded up her car and drove to Vancouver dropped it off at Cambie Cycle and Dale & Judy picked it up from there and dove to Calmar and WA LLA I am an EasyRacer, Tour Easy Owner and Rider.

So, I am very happy with my TE which I call "Rosie" After the generous Lady who went out of her way and country to get me this 'Bent. The more I ride it, the more "right" it feels for me. I want to change a few things, what 'bent rider doesn't want to add a few mods and make it thiers, eh! Eventually I will upgrade the Touring gearing for a higher front chain ring, add at least a tail sock; but I enjoy the ride, it is allowing me to ride further in the fall (like that fairing) Well, I think I going to go for a ride on this nice Autumm Thanksgiving Sunday. I will write soon and post more pics of the TE and our rides.

Enjoy the Ride

Larry

P.S. I have a Burley 2004 Jet Creek and a 2002 Burley Django upgraded with xt gearing for sale now, my wife would like a TE in the spring!