After putting 11 miles on it, I feel like I know the vehicle much better.  It’s got some quirks that are no problem to deal with, and I found several advantages to trike riding as opposed to bike riding.  First, the quirks.

Quirk 1) Pedal steering – when in a high (tough) gear, pushing hard tends to move the trike to the side that’s doing the pushing, but it’s not like it swerves the bike all over the road … it’s just a gentle movement.  I found that my body was automatically compensating somehow in the steering mechanism after a short while, and the slight veering ceased.

Quirk 2) Less suspension / shock absorption than a bike.  Even when you have no shocks on a bike, I think your torso and arms do a lot to buffer shock from getting to where you feel it most, your head.  On the trike, you’re lower, you have more wheels to hit things with, and shocks that aren’t absorbed by the give of the seat easily travel up from the tail bone to the head.  Personally, this sort of thing is really cool to me.  It feels more adventurous and daring.  Also, I did NOT stay on paved road.  I went over planked bridges, gravel road, and even over roots, rocks, and grooved pavement.  So I’m not complaining, just pointing this out.

Quirk 3) Extremely responsive steering!  When going fast, the slightest twitch of the steering bar caused the whole machine to wiggle.  I quickly got used to this and was careful not to twitch when moving along.

And now, the good stuff:

1) Excellent power transfer!  Having your back against something and being able to push against the pedals allowed me to move super fast!  I felt that my legs were getting a more complete workout, while my torso and arms got a chance to relax, which was really nice.  Plus, even though I was moving well, I felt like I was kicking back and relaxing.

2) It makes it through those cement trail blockers … you know – those things that they put up to prevent motorized vehicles from getting on the trails?  I was a little nervous that I would have to pick it up and walk it through, but it squeezed through with about 5 inches on each side.

3) Roots, rocks? No problem.  Last week, I took a spin through the neighborhood and ran over a few roots in some yards to see what i could get away with.  Today, in the woods, I got to a spot where there are a bunch of boulders with just enough space for me to squeeze through, but between them, there is a slight incline that’s full of rocks and roots.  My first attempt failed because I was in too high a gear and did not have enough momentum.  My second try in a low gear was a huge success!  I couldn’t believe I got over that!  a slightly knobby tire for the back may be a good idea at some point in the future.

4) Regular shorts and flip flops are OK!  I like looking casual when I ride.  No offense to those who wear the tight spandex stuff, but it’s just not for me.  I was able to pedal in wearing baggy shorts and my flip flops!  I know I need to be careful with the flip flop thing since there’s the threat of foot suck, but I didn’t even feel close to any danger at any point.

It was a very pleasurable ride, especially considering that today is one of those days when the weather people advise everyone to stay inside so as not to get a heat stroke.  BAHHHHHH.  Mind over matter, that’s my motto.

Incidentally, I just looked at my mileage on bikejournal.com and I’m going to be passing the 1000 mile mark for 2010 tonight on my ride home.

I was somewhat surprised to find that he trike was shipped fully assembled, which means Terratrike not only did the extra work, but paid for a more expensive delivery.  I don’t have a picture of it, but the carton it was shipped in had “Congrats, James!” penned on the top with a permanent marker.  That was a really nice touch.

Today, I took a few pics of me modeling my Cruiser.

THIS IS TORTURRRRRRRRRE!  I WANT THAT TRIKE SO BAD.  AAAAAAG!  THEY PASSED MY DAMN HOUSE ON THE WAY TO HARTFORD.  THEY COULD HAVE CHUCKED IT OFF THE TRUCK AND I’D GO PICK IT UP. DAAAAAAAAAAAAG.

This is what it will look like, by the way.

I hope it gets here before the holiday weekend, because you know the shipping dudes are going to be drinking and partying and probably blacking out, or selling their freight for more booze money.

I don’t have any further details yet, but I’ll post them as I know!  I’m so excited I can hardly contain myself!!!!

Fortunately, I had the Winding Trails Triathlon later that day, and I did alright!  The tri included a 4.99 mile off-road bike trail.  Fun!  My road biking paid off in a 3.75 minute gain in mountain biking time, which accounted for most of my performance increase from last year.  I swam a little slower, but I ran faster, beating last year’s time by a minute.

Well, yesterday was the last day of the Terratrike 2010 Car-Free Challenge.  I’ve got my fingers crossed.  I don’t know if they have a winner yet.  I’ll post later if I won.

I don’t plan to continue blogging about my rides unless something significant happens, but I shall continue to log my rides on bikejournal.com.

I’m too lazy to copy and paste the stats today.  My ride to work was 9.6 miles (I think), and it was easy and fast!  Nothing much to talk about there.  I’m continuing to work on spinning more and transferring more energy into a full turn of the crank and I’m seeing the benefits in time and speed and reduced fatigue.

Ride 2

I had to go to an off-campus meeting only 4.1 miles away.  Getting there was a little tricky due to construction and it just being a non-bike-friendly road, I I beat the traffic.  I used a truck as my marker and I got there before the truck.  I cheated a little and treated myself like a pedestrian a few times.

Ride 3

Coming back from my meeting was not as easy as getting there.  Rt. 6 in Bristol really sucks.  I got hit by my first car, in fact!  But don’t worry, it was more like a rub than a hit.  I didn’t even fall over or anything.  Someone didn’t see me and took a right into a business, forcing me to kind of bounce off their car.  I thought I executed the move pretty slickly.  They didn’t even realize that it had happened.  I pulled up to them to see if they wanted to exchange info or anything, but the girl said if I was OK, then no need to exchange info.  So we went on our way.

Exciting!  It was a nice beamer too.

Distance: 16.60 mi
Time: 01:00:00
Weather: 63F, cool, slightly rainy. Chipmunk index of 0.
Terrain: Road: Flat
Bike: Specialized Allez Comp
Club: Road 2010 TerraTrike Car-Free Challenge

The Ride

I rode down to my LBS to check out some mountain bikes in preparation for the Winding Trails Triathlon series.  My sandblaster is still toast, and I feel it’s time to move on to something that fits me better.

I looked at the Specialized full-suspension XC (a.k.a. Expert).  It’s a very nice bike.  The first thing I noticed was the cushiness of riding with full suspension.  You don’t feel a thing from the road!  My fears about too much power being lost to the suspension was quickly allayed by a demonstration of the shock adjustments that could be made.  Either shock could be locked in place with a quick turn of a lever – this can even be done while riding.  My sales rep, Dave, also showed me how the amount of travel and speed of return could be altered on the rear shock.

Plus, as you can see, it’s red, just like the Sandblaster.

Respect.

I’m thinking on it and will make a move tomorrow, most likely.  I need the bike on Tuesday, so I don’t have too much time to dilly-dally.

Oh yeah … I was supposed to be reporting on the ride itself.  Well, in the last 30 days, I’ve gone on 41 bike rides.  So to say that riding is as much a part of my day as walking or driving is an understatement.  This challenge has really adjusted my thinking about riding.  I used to see it as purely recreational.  Even last year when I would ride about half of the week and drive half of the week, the riding just seemed like an extra thing I did to stay in shape and have a peaceful activity.  Now, driving feels like an abomination unless the car is absolutely required.  I’ve gotten thinking that taking a half hour to an hour to go 10 or 20 miles is no big deal, nor is strapping a bunch of stuff I need to carry to the bike.

The features available in bikes has come so far since I was young.  18 gears is now the minimum (fixies excluded).  Disc brakes are standard for mountain bikes over $1000. The smoothness with which the dérailleurs operate is fantastic.  So what if you have to kick it into the easiest gear and chug up a hill?  You’re benefiting everything – your health, the environment, your mind.

And, you’ll see some mind-blowing beauty along the way.  Today’s visual score was either a crane or a blue heron or something similar (the one to the right is not him … just put him there for a visual).  I almost missed him.  He was standing majestically in some low water on the other side of the fence along the Greenway.  He looked perfectly still and had probably been there for awhile scoping out some food.  I wonder if anyone else saw him.  He belnded with the background very well, and I almost missed him.  No car passenger would have seen him – that’s for sure.

We bikers sure are lucky.