New Sights

We've had several days of gorgeous weather here in  the Florida Panhandle, cool mornings moderate afternoons, brilliant sunshine and generally light breezes. I retraced my usual routes around the Conservation Park, up and down Gail's Trails and over the West Bay Bridge. I keep wondering when I'll get tired of this same old circuit, but it's as much fun as it was the first day I tried it a couple months back. I've come to know many of the regulars cycling and walking the paths and the greetings are always cordial. Still a lot of folks wanting to stop and inspect this contraption... a few doubters but most are impressed. Weather has been so nice I have not bothered blogging just kept taking shots and rolling down the trails.

Spent a good half hour teasing a randy cardinal. He whistled fluttered and squawked at me but would not come down out of the top of the pines. The other trail users gave me strange looks... maybe I am a little strange.

Haven't done much adjusting beyond tightening up the seat straps... seems this one stretches more than the last one. Also released the set down pressure on the kingpins a tad to free up the steering and am now expert at wheeling the unit onto the elevator and through the condo door. I have a 'borrowed' plastic milk crate zip tied to my carry rack and the rear facing handle works great for grabbing it from the rear and either towing, pushing or turning it around at the bike stand.

Made the decision to replace my stolen MTB  carrier with a Sunlite Recumbent Hitch Rack, 2" Receiver carrier that will handle a two wheeler plus a trike. It was more than I wanted to spend but looked better than putting Rover II on top of the Ford Flex. Even with my height, 6'4", that would have been a bit of a struggle and too much luggage to put it inside.

The carrier is well designed and surprisingly went together quite easily. The rear part that carries most of the Rover II detaches my pulling one pin to shorten the frame sticking out the back when not required. Put some added reflectors on for extra visibility particularly in the parking lot. The only fault I saw was the pin for the extension was not a locking pin whereas the one at the hitch was. One pull and it could be gone. Fixed that with a $20 locking pin from Walmart. So now I have four more keys. One for the main hitch pin, one for the extension hitch pin, one for the cable lock on the MTB, and one for the chain lock on Rover II. That should keep the honest folks at bay. The thieves.... well, maybe 5 or 10 minutes. How long until I lose both sets of keys?

The cycles both fit easily and very well on this carrier and seem very secure. All wheels sit in their holder, held down by good velcro straps, plus the up right post has a hold down arm for the MTB crossbar and another one for Rover II that holds down in the seat area. I'll post some photos in a later edit.

Been checking out some new snacking spots. Can't always eat at McDs even if it is close and handy to my route. On SR 79 on the south side of the West Bay Bridge (actually under it) is a little diner called the BFE which stands for Best Food Ever. It was warm, I needed a bathroom break, and something to boost my strength and courage for a climb up over the bridge (twice)and two zooms down. There were a bunch of construction pickups parked there a good sign of good food so I stopped and asked. The smoked brisket was the best claimed the customers, but they were fresh out. Second was the fall-off-the-bone ribs, but the portions just looked too big. So I settled for pulled pork on a bun, smothered with BBQ sauce and a cold beer. Yum Yum.

Suitably refreshed, de-watered and encouraged. I tackled the West Bay Bridge both directions. It was worth it. Another day well wasted!

A view of the West Bay Bridge SR #79 PCB, FL from BFE Restaurant

BFE - Best Food Ever under the West Bay Bridger SR 79 PCB, Fl

Back in the Saddle

The new trike, Rover II arrived last Friday and I spent the afternoon getting it ready for it's first ride Saturday morning. After getting it out of the packing carton the first chore was getting it up to my condo. It wheeled into the elevator just fine but was a little tight going through the front door. I had measured it and with the handle bars in the shipping position... about 45 degrees... I only needed to move the brake levers in on the handle bars and we were in the door. I found the positioning of the swung back handle bars a little different, but not uncomfortable and I think I will leave them in that position. The kingpin cap screws were set a little tighter on this one and I think I will leave them as it makes 'towing' the unit into the elevator and down the hall easier as the steering doesn't move as easily. It can make operational steering a little 'jerkier' but after a ride or two I no longer find it problematic

Spent the rest of the evening putting on the lights, Bell Radian 850 LED flashing or solid USB chargeable Amazon $10 set of two 1 red-1 clear . Don't know about nightime suitability but don't figure on riding after dark. Just want the daytime vis and they appear fine. Wonder if they may not be an older model as the USB cord- supplied - is the larger mini type on my old camera, not the newer one you find on everything these days. But have run them for over 12 hours flashing without recharge.

 The Mirracycle mirror I had to install on the inside of the handle bar rather than the outside for door clearance... a little ugly but works just fine.  These Mirracycle Mirrors are a great product.

The bike computer I put on a accessory bar that mounts on the steering handle. It was an inexpensive Ranaico wireless unit $16 from Amazon. The installation and operation was straightforward and it took very little adjusting to get the pickup set correctly. It is supposed to be waterproof, but since Rover II will not be sleeping outdoors this should not be an issue.

Took some time to properly install the Retrospec Foot Retention Straps I had purchased but not used on Rover I -$13-. They work ok but I think I will eventually install Shimano SPDs when I decide on shoes.

My 48/38/28 Shimano M131 Crankset arrived Monday so I put it on plus a set of 21mm pedal extenders at the same time. Moving my big clodhopper feet- size 14s out is a little more comfortable.  I still don't think I'll bother with a front derailleur as simply reaching ahead and shifting it by gripping the chaintube is quick, simple and effective

Put on a little bell but they are pretty useless other than for entertaining small kids on the trail. "On your left" is pretty universal and more effective. Too many earb uds plugging up other cyclers and walkers.

Still need a cell phone holder and think I will get something similar to previously, but a little sturdier.

Lots of interested folks wondering, "What the heck is that thing? How much did it cost? $2-3000? Only $1000!"  The little promo contact cards Terra Trike sent with the Rover saves me a lot of  time and gets me back on my way. The parting question often is, "Do you work for TerraTrike?" The answer, "No, just a very happy customer."

On the trail Rover II has been a delight. After 5 days I have clocked 277km without a hitch. On the first two mornings Sat and Sun, flocks of robins were pouring out of the pine forest and vacuuming the roadside and lawns. not sure what they were finding... winged ants, termites or just some greens but they were certainly chowing down getting ready for spring migration. The erie thing was the silence. Robins are normally very noisy around their breeding territory, but here at this time hardly a peep. Today they were all gone. Did not see a one. Perhaps they are on their way north. Watch for them.

Other birds are busy making mating calls. The read breasted woodpeckers have a soft call that I am now hearing and the cardinals are whistling their threepeat call. It is fun teasing them. They will answer if you whistle back and will draw quite near if you are still. I have seen pictures of them attacking their own image in a rearview mirror. Think I will find an imitation male and mount it on my bike helmet. See if I can get buzzed.

Lots more cycles on the trails these days as the weather has been beautiful 60F wit brilliant sunshine. I am appreciating the trails in PCB more each day as one is away from traffic and the forest edges break the wind.

Lessons Learned

After thieves made off with a bunch of cycles from our condo parkade on Jan 25/26 I learned a whole whack of things about the criminal element around Panama City Beach, Fl. Bike theft and other petty theft here is rampant. It was an organized job as the culprits had to have scouted the job, determined there was no video surveillance, what cycles were worth taking, and when there was no staff on site. The only clues left were a bunch of neatly severed security cables.

(They left my old MTB neatly locked to the rack. It had a heavy cable "good quality" lock on it that I had lost the key for. It took me a week to get far enough out of my blue funk to cut it loose for a ride. Took 30 seconds with my $6 hacksaw to free it. So much for locks.)

The morning after the theft a bunch of cycle owners were standing around in shocked disbelief wondering what to do. The police were called and investigated without offering much hope anything would be recovered. It seems this is a pretty common occurence here with the cycles probably gone to another city to be parted out or peddled.

I scoured Craigslist and Ebay looking for listings. No luck todate. I reported the theft to bikeindex.org who posted it on their network as stolen. Maybe someday it will show up, but not so far.

I raged, stewed, plotted revenge, cruised the streets and the internet before in a moment of quiet reflection I realized I am so more fortunate than quite a number of family and acquaintances who are facing real critical life problems. Why am I wasting my time stewing about a few pieces of metal and rubber. Put it behind me and order a new one. What's the saying, "I'm going to run out of time before I run out of money."

The insurance covered most of the replacement cost. Would have covered it all if I had been bright enough to buy full coverage,  but hey no one was going to steal it anyways,right?

What to buy? There was no restriction from the insurance as long as the replacement  value was at least at a level of the lost unit. I had ridden the Rover over 500 miles that one month so I must know by now if I wanted something different. There were some options, but honestly I was well pleased with the Rover and the options I might consider, like larger wheels and Big Apple trires could be as easily and cost effectively added to a Rover as any other make or model.

In the end TerraTrike offered to help me out a bit, so I called Taylor  and placed my order for a new Rover 8 EXT. It arrives tomorrow. It's already insured but it will be spending the evenings watching the TV with us in the livingroom.