I forget where I saw this, but I've seen a photo similar to this before. Theirs was much better of course, but here's my attempt at the same artistry. Background has been edited to a grayscale leaving just the red accents of the trike and my helmet.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Art
I forget where I saw this, but I've seen a photo similar to this before. Theirs was much better of course, but here's my attempt at the same artistry. Background has been edited to a grayscale leaving just the red accents of the trike and my helmet.
Quad burn
Ouch! I traveled about 15 miles in agony before being convinced that it wasn't my lack of preparedness or fitness that brought such pain to my quads. The tires felt fine to the touch but after checking with the air pressure gauge I found that my normally 40lb PSI rear tire was only filled with 25lb's!
No wonder!!!
It was a relief though. I was starting to doubt the effectiveness of the elliptical chain ring. Had the oval shaped ring made climbing and even flat ground riding even more difficult??? Luckily it was just the low tire pressure! My pump is no good so I wasn't able to get the air pressure back to 40lbs, but 35lbs was close enough. The 5lb was a big difference. I wish I had it up to 40lb.
Lesson learned? Check tire pressure before long journeys. I crossed 33miles this morning starting at 7:30am.
New downhill speed record was touch today just before Broadway in Sausalito after the GG Bridge - 34.2mph. I'm hoping once I swap my 40T chain ring to 42T, I can get at least 35mph. 40mph might be wishful thinking, but that would be great. Maybe when I swap the two front tires to Schwalbe Big Apples to match the rear, I can get up to that mark.
No wonder!!!
It was a relief though. I was starting to doubt the effectiveness of the elliptical chain ring. Had the oval shaped ring made climbing and even flat ground riding even more difficult??? Luckily it was just the low tire pressure! My pump is no good so I wasn't able to get the air pressure back to 40lbs, but 35lbs was close enough. The 5lb was a big difference. I wish I had it up to 40lb.
Lesson learned? Check tire pressure before long journeys. I crossed 33miles this morning starting at 7:30am.
New downhill speed record was touch today just before Broadway in Sausalito after the GG Bridge - 34.2mph. I'm hoping once I swap my 40T chain ring to 42T, I can get at least 35mph. 40mph might be wishful thinking, but that would be great. Maybe when I swap the two front tires to Schwalbe Big Apples to match the rear, I can get up to that mark.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Testing testing 1-2-3
22.5 mile test ride today with the 40T elliptical chain ring and one minor modification - toe clip adjustment!
I'm definitely spinning faster. I'm upping the gears so much more quickly. The 42T chain ring is definitely going on. Totally glad I got it.
I'm definitely spinning faster. I'm upping the gears so much more quickly. The 42T chain ring is definitely going on. Totally glad I got it.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Meeting fellow riders
I never thought I'd find myself intentionally going to the Tenderloin, but there I was at the home of the SF Aids Foundation attending the first Aids Life Cycle meeting. Though a bit disappointed to see only 16 or so people at the meeting, it turned out to be a good experience. The program leader was hilarious!
The 25 minute wait for the MUNI bus ride back home was worth it. Russ gave me one of his promotional items - a bike bag! It felt a bit heavier than I would imagine. After getting home, I tore open the plastic wrapping to find there was something in the bag! A brand name tool made by Topeak!
This was also a great opportunity to get responses from veterans of the ride to a couple of my biggest worries concerning the ALC ride.
"How long is the Quad Buster?"
There's a portion of the ride that is a long uphill ride. It's one of the bigger obstacles on the ride that people are always worried about. I've heard rumors about how difficult it was, but wanted to hear from some veterans first hand. It turns out that that Quad Buster is only 1.3 miles! I had read elsewhere that it was 4 miles and have been looking for 4 mile hills to practice on. Glad to hear it's much shorter.
"How do I transport my trike back to SF once I reach Los Angeles?"
No need to disassemble the trike and find a box for it to ship by Fedex. There's actually a company that will round up bikes at the finish line and drive them back to SF's Golden Gate Park for $55! That pretty much relieves me from my biggest worry. Fitting a 43lb awkwardly shaped trike in a box would be a bit of a challenge.
The 25 minute wait for the MUNI bus ride back home was worth it. Russ gave me one of his promotional items - a bike bag! It felt a bit heavier than I would imagine. After getting home, I tore open the plastic wrapping to find there was something in the bag! A brand name tool made by Topeak!
This was also a great opportunity to get responses from veterans of the ride to a couple of my biggest worries concerning the ALC ride.
"How long is the Quad Buster?"
There's a portion of the ride that is a long uphill ride. It's one of the bigger obstacles on the ride that people are always worried about. I've heard rumors about how difficult it was, but wanted to hear from some veterans first hand. It turns out that that Quad Buster is only 1.3 miles! I had read elsewhere that it was 4 miles and have been looking for 4 mile hills to practice on. Glad to hear it's much shorter.
"How do I transport my trike back to SF once I reach Los Angeles?"
No need to disassemble the trike and find a box for it to ship by Fedex. There's actually a company that will round up bikes at the finish line and drive them back to SF's Golden Gate Park for $55! That pretty much relieves me from my biggest worry. Fitting a 43lb awkwardly shaped trike in a box would be a bit of a challenge.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Q-rings at last!
The nice fellow I met at the track had agreed to let me borrow his 40T Q-ring for a test run. I'm wondering how much improvement over my current ellipticals it could be. I'll soon find out I suppose. Fine tuning it to one of the 37 holes sounds like it might work better than the 5 I have to work with on my current oval ring.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Spin out
ADJUSTING THE ELLIPTICAL CHAIN RING ORIENTATION:
I asked my fellow BROL (bentrideronline) forum members how the orientation of the elliptical chain ring looked on my trike by posting the photos from yesterday. Their feedback suggested that I should turn the chain ring counter clockwise by one bolt. I did this last night and couldn't wait to take a test run. My first ride was this morning but it was only up and down the block. I felt an improvement, but I couldn't say for sure it wasn't just my head hoping to see a benefit.
Rushing home after work, I hopped on the trike and away I went. Normally on the first downhill sloped I'd be in 4th gear, but I found myself to already be in fifth. I was going faster than normal but gave credit to the fact that I just ate a good meal and was rushing before it got dark.
Both my underwear and tanktop were more drenched than normal.
HILL CLIMBING:
When I finally got to my first uphill on my usual route, I found myself climbing higher up the slope maintaining a higher gear before having to gear down. To reach the top using the same amount strength, I still had to drop to my normal 3rd gear before the peak.
DOWNHILL:
I felt the most difference of the elliptical chain ring yesterday going downhill. So the natural thing to do to test the new orientation of the ring was to take another downhill ride. I found myself changing gears a tad bit slower (almost negligible) from the top. This could have been for other reasons. I don't know for sure, but just wanted to make mention of it for record. However, I found myself spinning out in my top gear sooner than before!
SPINNING:
Later on my next hill riding alongside a group of 6 I've-never-met-before DF riders, the intensity of the spinnout was much more apparent. The difference was ridiculous. I've never spun out to that degree ever before even on steeper slopes on smoother terrain! It literally felt like I didn't have a chain. Zero resistance on the pedals in gear 7 - 70 something gear inches.
SOLD ON ELLIPTICAL RINGS?:
I'm 100% convinced that elliptical chain rings promote faster spinning on downhills. As for flat ground and uphills, I'm still figuring that out, but leaning towards positive feelings about it. I'll need more than 8.5 miles (what I did today) to be as convinced of the benefits like the downhills. So far though, the elliptical chain rings seem to create better momentum through the stroke over all terrain. It's as if the mashing during the power stroke brings momentum to the pull part of the stroke. With the circular chain ring, it felt forced but here it feels a lot more natural.
WHAT'S NEXT?
1. Taking it to the track to see some endurance results. The track has always been my control area where everything is pretty much consistent. It's a good way to test any variables in the trike. Even the wind direction is predictable.
2. I'll be riding a few hundred more miles before switching up to a 42T elliptical chain ring. Since I'm spinning more quickly with my current 40T ring, I'm assuming the 42T ring will provide some performance gains with the same effort as my circular 40T ring. Hopefully I can gain some extra speed down the hills! My goal is 40mph. I'm peaking now at 33mph at top speed.
I asked my fellow BROL (bentrideronline) forum members how the orientation of the elliptical chain ring looked on my trike by posting the photos from yesterday. Their feedback suggested that I should turn the chain ring counter clockwise by one bolt. I did this last night and couldn't wait to take a test run. My first ride was this morning but it was only up and down the block. I felt an improvement, but I couldn't say for sure it wasn't just my head hoping to see a benefit.
Rushing home after work, I hopped on the trike and away I went. Normally on the first downhill sloped I'd be in 4th gear, but I found myself to already be in fifth. I was going faster than normal but gave credit to the fact that I just ate a good meal and was rushing before it got dark.
Both my underwear and tanktop were more drenched than normal.
HILL CLIMBING:
When I finally got to my first uphill on my usual route, I found myself climbing higher up the slope maintaining a higher gear before having to gear down. To reach the top using the same amount strength, I still had to drop to my normal 3rd gear before the peak.
DOWNHILL:
I felt the most difference of the elliptical chain ring yesterday going downhill. So the natural thing to do to test the new orientation of the ring was to take another downhill ride. I found myself changing gears a tad bit slower (almost negligible) from the top. This could have been for other reasons. I don't know for sure, but just wanted to make mention of it for record. However, I found myself spinning out in my top gear sooner than before!
SPINNING:
Later on my next hill riding alongside a group of 6 I've-never-met-before DF riders, the intensity of the spinnout was much more apparent. The difference was ridiculous. I've never spun out to that degree ever before even on steeper slopes on smoother terrain! It literally felt like I didn't have a chain. Zero resistance on the pedals in gear 7 - 70 something gear inches.
SOLD ON ELLIPTICAL RINGS?:
I'm 100% convinced that elliptical chain rings promote faster spinning on downhills. As for flat ground and uphills, I'm still figuring that out, but leaning towards positive feelings about it. I'll need more than 8.5 miles (what I did today) to be as convinced of the benefits like the downhills. So far though, the elliptical chain rings seem to create better momentum through the stroke over all terrain. It's as if the mashing during the power stroke brings momentum to the pull part of the stroke. With the circular chain ring, it felt forced but here it feels a lot more natural.
WHAT'S NEXT?
1. Taking it to the track to see some endurance results. The track has always been my control area where everything is pretty much consistent. It's a good way to test any variables in the trike. Even the wind direction is predictable.
2. I'll be riding a few hundred more miles before switching up to a 42T elliptical chain ring. Since I'm spinning more quickly with my current 40T ring, I'm assuming the 42T ring will provide some performance gains with the same effort as my circular 40T ring. Hopefully I can gain some extra speed down the hills! My goal is 40mph. I'm peaking now at 33mph at top speed.
Take my chain
I had a chance to take a test run with that one link removed and twice the chain came off. I may be contributing to this be changing gears at the wrong time or pedaling with the incorrect intensity, but either way it looks as though I may to remove another chain link. I'll go one by one until the gears no longer change smoothly.
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