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