Trike Trip Toward Towm

Today's Tracking via APRS
Actually, it was a Trike Trip AROUND Town, but I couldn't resist the alliteration for the title ----
Yesterday, Friday, was a full one for Jacque and me.  We left early in the morning to be at the Albuquerque LDS Student Institute in time to whomp up a huge pot of Jacque's famous Green Chile Chicken Stew, 3 pans of fresh home made biscuits, and a HUGE Jacque Apple Pie for their weekly Friday Forum (And Student Feeding).  It was shortly after 1 PM by the time we got that completed, and we had loaded the trike on the rooftop carrier in hopes the cloudy weather would allow for a bike ride.

When we looked outside the skies were overcast but calm, with no threatening dark clouds indicating rain.  We decided to unload the trike right there in the parking lot and ride to Old Town via city streets and decide where to go from there.  Martin Luther King boulevard has a decent bike lane and the traffic was not too bad to downtown.
Trouble struck almost immediately.  The new front chain I'd just installed was skipping gears every few seconds and would occasionally jump off the front crank gear.  We made it to the downtown plaza before deciding to pull into the plaza, out of traffic, and see if adjustments or repair could be made.  The front chain was sagging very low and seemed too long.  We found a brick bench to elevate the rear wheel on the trike and pushed and pulled on the chain trying to figure it out.  It appeared too long and I finally dug out my multi-tool and broke the chain and removed one link, meaning one "innie" and one "outie" link for almost an inch and a half of shortening.  With this now missing from the chain it was TOO TIGHT. so tight as to not allow the remaining links to be rejoined together.  So, the removed link(s) now had to be pressed back in with the tool.  Now, again, the chain was too long and saggy and the slack would again result in odd loops while pedaling that lead to the irritating and dangerous gear jumps and skips.  Fortunately I had taken photos of the idler gears when taking the old chain off, and I reviewed the one involving the spring loaded idler under my seat.

I noticed this idler, while spring loaded, did not move or change tension or position while pedaling or even sitting still.  I removed it and looked it over, and wow, there was actually an adjustment nut on the back that allowed for increasing the spring tension.  I cranked it several degrees stronger and reinstalled it and VOILA!  The idler now kept the chain almost tight, and moved back and forth to maintain better chain tension while pedaling at various speeds.  I put the trike back together and off we went, with the chain now performing almost flawlessly, with only a very occasional jump.  What a difference new chains made!  When we first got the trike it whirred, clanked, and ground loudly along, very jarring mechanical wearing sounds.  With these new chains front and rear the trike now runs quietly and smooth.  Very nice improvement.  We rolled on through downtown, relying on Jacque's memories of the area streets, until we reached Old Town, not very far distant.  We enjoyed a nice ice cream and lemonade rest break while passers-by made innumeranble comments about the trike and the Tinkerbell trike-doggie.  Between Tink and the Tandem Trike we have lots of instant friends.
Then we rode on down Mountain Road, now signed as the very pleasant-sounding "Bicycle Boulevard", to the Bosque Trail and rode north on that very pleasant route.  When we finally got to a rest break at the Paseo underpass, I suggested we take a roundabout route back to the gas burner by riding the Paseo Trail trail over to the North Diversion Channel Trail and then south back to the UNM campus where we started from.
We are just WAY THRILLED with this trike.  We get less tired, we get in fewer arguments, we feel each other's strength and effort as we cruise along, climb hills, make jokes about each others' grunts, groans, and farts, and just generally have a great time.  Even though this ride is NO lightweight, and we carry a lot of weight and JUNK, our combined efforts seem to blend and pay off.  Unlike the tandem bike-E we tried a few years ago that led to frustration, fights, and Unenjoyment, this thing is a BLAST.  What a hoot it is to pull together and love it.. and each other.  /MUSH
Even after racking up almost 22 miles  for this loop around town, we had enough time and energy left to go see a great WWII war movie:
Saints and Soldiers: Airborne Creed
Which is a blood-and-guts war movie with a surprising human twist.  You should go see it.  It's been woefully under advertised but has superior acting, scenery, and story lines.
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles:  21.65
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
5.2 MPH                                  8.8 MPH                    20.9 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
4 hours 12 mins                      2 hours 27 mins        1 hour 45 minutes