Great APRS Tracking for a Short Trip
We've been devastated since our Terratrike Tandem Recumbent broke its chain and boogered the derailleur and dropout on the rear frame.
We haven't dared ride it since, waiting on word from Terratrike. I called them today and they seemed to think the steel dropout was tough enough to last us for a while in spite of its having been bent in a terrible angle and banged back to almost-proper position with a 7-pound river rock and a Gerber multi-tool pliers. At any rate, it still needs fine "adjustment" with a hammer and a vise, as well as a new chain.... so WHAM! goes the bank account for 3 new bike chains; or 5 if I replace the front chain as well. Mercy.
So, today I wanted to get in some few miles at least in spite of not having the trike available. I haven't ridden my tandem recumbent 2-wheeler since the last repair so I aired it up, wheeled it out, and loaded it up for the usual post office run to drop off a couple out-bound envelopes in the mail slot.
I had gotten only a couple hundred yards down the mile of goat-path nasty road between our house and Frost Road when I realized not just a few, but ALL voices and signals coming in on the Kenwood ham radio were weak and noisy. Stopping at the top of the hill with the neighbor's dogs roaring and snarling at me through the fence, I dismounted and took a look at the flagpole-Jpole antenna and noticed the feedpoint had separated. The coax center conductor was connected to nothing and had only about an inch of exposure acting as an antenna so it was a wonder I was hearing anything. Sigh. I turned around and pedaled furiously back to the house to pick up a spare J pole. There were 2 spares on the deck.... both had the same un-repaired problem mine had. So now there are 3 J poles next to the door hoping to catch my attention and entice me to get out the soldering iron and repair them. I 'borrowed' one of the 2 J poles we normally use on the trike, since it's not going anywhere soon, right? -And rode off again down the hill along our miserable goat-path of a road. Everything went swimmingly until I reached the pavement. I surprised myself by actually climbing the tough little nasty hill to the pavement without having to dismount and push the bike up the hill by hand. But, as I cranked off and started up-shifting to gain speed on the flatness of the next half mile of paved road, I noticed a nasty bit of a "thump" coming from the back wheel. Thumps from the back wheel are NOT welcome sounds. They usually mean out-of-round wheels, usually caused by broken spokes, allowing the wheel to wobble out of true. It wasn't broken spokes, but the tire itself was bulging. Obviously it had dry rotted and the plies inside had separated. The tire was an oldie, as noted when I replaced the "new" tire with the breach exposing the inner tube a month or so ago, but it seemed in decent condition. It was still holding a few pounds of air pressure on the old "Donor" bike I liberated it from. But, a few pounds of air does not a sound tire indicate. I decided no way was I going to risk the next few miles to the PO and back, and, hoping I could just make it home, I turned around. I was maybe a hundred yards west on Frost road from our turnoff. Bouncing along the unpaved goat path going back to the house, it was funny: I could no longer hear the tire "bumping" and grinding. Good thing I'd turned around, though: The tire was exhibiting several MORE "lumps" by the time I stopped safely at the house. So, more money spent on bike tires: Evidently when you ride a lot and find yourself miles from home, you should not go cheap on tires and other running gear. It may hurt paying the horrific prices for high class tires and chains etc. but when you break down out in the middle of nowhere, suddenly the higher cost of good equipment doesn't seem such a bother.
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 2.18
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
3.5 MPH 5.3 MPH 16.2 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
36 mins 59 secs 24 mins 34 secs 12 minutes 25 secs
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