South Dakota Tracking Seems to Work Well
Well, we had planned to tour Mt. Rushmore today, after a very pricey RV park stay (Rushmore Shadows) but when I started the engine it made some clinky-clanky squeak noises that did not sound promising. With Memorial Day coming on we knew the chances for a quick repair were slim. We found that all available RV parks seemed to be in the over-40-dollar category. We tracked down a couple of repair shops. The first one was fully booked and wouldn't be able to even start on us until maybe Tuesday. They were good guys but we hoped to be away from here before then, so we tried #2, Eddie's Freightliner Service, who was able to get us in by about 2 PM and get started on it.
I'd opened the interior engine hatch and used a wooden stick to listen to the various spinning devices on the engine: Water pump, alternator, power steering and air conditioning compressor. I decided it was the alternator. I had thought at first I would just buy a new one at the local el cheapo parts place and replace it myself, but after poking around and looking at the complexity of the serpentine belts, I decided we would bite the bullet and see if Eddie's might not be a better idea. They just finished replacing the desired alternator and announced the nasty noise is still there and that it's coming from the "pollution pump", that useless little government mandated device that pumps outside air into the exhaust system to help the engine pass emissions testing. Invariably they fail after a few thousand miles, and this one has many thousands on it. We're hoping they can get the additional repair done so that we can sleep in our own stuff again.
ANYWAY - whilst all this repair was going on, we unhitched the bikes and rode around town a bit, stopping for a Dairy Queen treat on the way back. Coming back towards the RV shoppe, we went through the local Central Fairgrounds and spotted -- wait for it -- RV camping spots, all unoccupied! We had just passed the fairgrounds' office so we rode back and enquired if we could rent a space there. Sure enough: $25 a night, electricity and city water only, no sewer or cable TV. But, at about HALF the cost of the tourist trap versions, I signed up for 2 nights. Now all we have to do is get the RV back...
We only got in several miles on the bikes (Jacque on her Catrike and me on my 2-wheel recumbent) but it was, as usual, very enjoyable except for the busy intersections we endured trying to get to and from Eddie's.
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 8.77
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
2.6 MPH 5.7 MPH 21.1 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 hours 55 mins 1 hour 32 mins 27 minutes
Friday, May 24, 2013
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Riding the Bike to Church
Today's Sunday Ride Tracking Sponsored by N9UWE
I'd planned on driving the land-ship to Church this morning, but wondered how tough it might be to ride the bike.
I looked at the map and was mildly surprised to find the meetinghouse was only about 5 miles away. FIVE miles? On a bike? Not even qualifying as a warm-up ride.
So, I packed up and took off. I intentionally forgot to wear my coat today but tucked my dress pants legs into my cowboy boots and away I went. It wasn't a hard ride particularly, but the warming heat and the humidity takes a toll. I had tied my necktie very loosely leaving mostly open collar for air but I was still pretty gamey by the time I got there. Fortunately, I was almost 45 minutes early, so I had that much time to almost get cooled off and dry up the armpits.
Coming back was of course even warmer yet, but what the hey??? Any excuse to ride the bike works.
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 8.08
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
6.0 MPH 10.4 MPH 31.9 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
2 hours 22 mins 46 mins 42 secs 1 hour 37 minutes
I'd planned on driving the land-ship to Church this morning, but wondered how tough it might be to ride the bike.
I looked at the map and was mildly surprised to find the meetinghouse was only about 5 miles away. FIVE miles? On a bike? Not even qualifying as a warm-up ride.
So, I packed up and took off. I intentionally forgot to wear my coat today but tucked my dress pants legs into my cowboy boots and away I went. It wasn't a hard ride particularly, but the warming heat and the humidity takes a toll. I had tied my necktie very loosely leaving mostly open collar for air but I was still pretty gamey by the time I got there. Fortunately, I was almost 45 minutes early, so I had that much time to almost get cooled off and dry up the armpits.
Coming back was of course even warmer yet, but what the hey??? Any excuse to ride the bike works.
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 8.08
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
6.0 MPH 10.4 MPH 31.9 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
2 hours 22 mins 46 mins 42 secs 1 hour 37 minutes
Saturday, May 18, 2013
A Short Ride Around Danville
Today's Track via N9UWE aprs near Danville
We haven't found time to ride our people powered machines since Fort Sumner so today I decided I had enough daylight left after getting back to Danville Illinois from Dayton OH to get in at least a few miles on my 2-wheeler. I was surprised at the number of small hills ups and downs around this supposedly flat area but they were no big deal in spite of my wobbly out of shape gams.
I was surprised to find the lake ( Vermilion ) almost seems to surround this place. Last year when riding here we rode across the lake and into town so this time I turned left at the bottom of the hill instead to explore that-a-way. I quickly encountered a park and a boat landing so I rode into the park hoping for a bike trail around the area. No such luck. So I rode back out on the road, encountering another interesting side track: Entry to the Danville Country Club. That was maybe a half mile in and a half mile coming out, and it was starting to get dark so I turned back toward Mom's house. I noticed a scritching noise in the rear wheel so I stopped a couple times trying to figure out the noise and cure it. Thought it was the brake squeaking but that had no effect on it. Noticed a tiny speck of a pebble on the outer tire tread too small to bother with: flipping that little booger out with a fingernail cleared the scritchiness. The fender is obviously too close to the tire or it never would have made any noise. Bikes, cars, guitars, houses..... you always have to be working on them, something's ALWAYS either out of whack or irritating.
We sorta almost planned to do more cycling with me sagging the RV when Jacque was riding and vice versa but as always we seem to be running short of time. We have a wedding to get to in Utah. We'll get there on time, but who knows if we'll be able to sneak in some more committed bike/trike riding along the way.
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 4.94
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
6.8 MPH 8.9 MPH 27.0 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
43 mins 33 mins 17 secs 11 minutes
We haven't found time to ride our people powered machines since Fort Sumner so today I decided I had enough daylight left after getting back to Danville Illinois from Dayton OH to get in at least a few miles on my 2-wheeler. I was surprised at the number of small hills ups and downs around this supposedly flat area but they were no big deal in spite of my wobbly out of shape gams.
I was surprised to find the lake ( Vermilion ) almost seems to surround this place. Last year when riding here we rode across the lake and into town so this time I turned left at the bottom of the hill instead to explore that-a-way. I quickly encountered a park and a boat landing so I rode into the park hoping for a bike trail around the area. No such luck. So I rode back out on the road, encountering another interesting side track: Entry to the Danville Country Club. That was maybe a half mile in and a half mile coming out, and it was starting to get dark so I turned back toward Mom's house. I noticed a scritching noise in the rear wheel so I stopped a couple times trying to figure out the noise and cure it. Thought it was the brake squeaking but that had no effect on it. Noticed a tiny speck of a pebble on the outer tire tread too small to bother with: flipping that little booger out with a fingernail cleared the scritchiness. The fender is obviously too close to the tire or it never would have made any noise. Bikes, cars, guitars, houses..... you always have to be working on them, something's ALWAYS either out of whack or irritating.
We sorta almost planned to do more cycling with me sagging the RV when Jacque was riding and vice versa but as always we seem to be running short of time. We have a wedding to get to in Utah. We'll get there on time, but who knows if we'll be able to sneak in some more committed bike/trike riding along the way.
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 4.94
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
6.8 MPH 8.9 MPH 27.0 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
43 mins 33 mins 17 secs 11 minutes
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Riding to Ft. Sumner Nat'l Monument
Today's Limited Position Tracking
So we are in process of taking a 2 or 3 week RV trip, back east to see relatives, drop Jacque off in Danville Illinois to visit her "Mom" (Mom Carol, Jacque's Dad's second wife, who is adopted totally into the fam), and thence I go on to Dayton OH to attend the annual world's largest hamfest at the Dayton Hamvention .
We left earlier than needed, on purpose, to try to take it slow, on secondary roads, and stop and poke around different places.
Our first stop was Fort Sumner NM, where my folks (Jim and Pearl) used to live, and where Dad died in 1988, buried not far from his birthplace near House NM. I just wanted to drive by their old house, deeply damaged after Mom sold it, by fire, but it just ain't there any more. The lot has been bulldozed, all old structures vanished, and a new metal shop building now sits where the old house once was.
Kinda weird and disorienting, sort of like the sensation of visiting 4214-A Arizona Street in Los Alamos NM, which also no longer exists... since the place ws burned and vaporized in the 2000 Los Alamos Fire which wiped out 25% or more of the townsite.
Jacque put her foot down and wanted to stop and spend the night instead of moving on, so we drove a few blocks east on Route 60 and stopped at a self service RV parking area which cost us $20 for full hookups, including cable TV that didn't work. Everything else did:
Valley View RV Park
Next morning, Saturday, this morning, we decided to ride our bikes down to the Ft. Sumner state park where Billy the Kid is buried. The map showed it only about 6 miles away. What a quiet unpopulated road to ride and what a beautiful day to ride. Just perfect temperature, just enough clouds to keep us from getting too hot, maybe 4 cars passed us during the entire trip to and from...
and then when we got back to the RV Jacque couldn't find her wallet.
Away she rode again to see if she could retrace her ride and find it, and she Did. Heavenly Father does indeed hear and answer prayers.
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 12.71
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
5.8 MPH 6.9 MPH 15.7 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
2 hours 10 mins 1 hour 50 mins 21 minutes
So we are in process of taking a 2 or 3 week RV trip, back east to see relatives, drop Jacque off in Danville Illinois to visit her "Mom" (Mom Carol, Jacque's Dad's second wife, who is adopted totally into the fam), and thence I go on to Dayton OH to attend the annual world's largest hamfest at the Dayton Hamvention .
We left earlier than needed, on purpose, to try to take it slow, on secondary roads, and stop and poke around different places.
Our first stop was Fort Sumner NM, where my folks (Jim and Pearl) used to live, and where Dad died in 1988, buried not far from his birthplace near House NM. I just wanted to drive by their old house, deeply damaged after Mom sold it, by fire, but it just ain't there any more. The lot has been bulldozed, all old structures vanished, and a new metal shop building now sits where the old house once was.
Kinda weird and disorienting, sort of like the sensation of visiting 4214-A Arizona Street in Los Alamos NM, which also no longer exists... since the place ws burned and vaporized in the 2000 Los Alamos Fire which wiped out 25% or more of the townsite.
Jacque put her foot down and wanted to stop and spend the night instead of moving on, so we drove a few blocks east on Route 60 and stopped at a self service RV parking area which cost us $20 for full hookups, including cable TV that didn't work. Everything else did:
Valley View RV Park
Next morning, Saturday, this morning, we decided to ride our bikes down to the Ft. Sumner state park where Billy the Kid is buried. The map showed it only about 6 miles away. What a quiet unpopulated road to ride and what a beautiful day to ride. Just perfect temperature, just enough clouds to keep us from getting too hot, maybe 4 cars passed us during the entire trip to and from...
and then when we got back to the RV Jacque couldn't find her wallet.
Away she rode again to see if she could retrace her ride and find it, and she Did. Heavenly Father does indeed hear and answer prayers.
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 12.71
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
5.8 MPH 6.9 MPH 15.7 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
2 hours 10 mins 1 hour 50 mins 21 minutes
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Trike Fixed, Racking Miles Again
Today's Track Provided by APRS, GPS, and Ham Radio
Well, hopefully the sad sequel of cycling's continuing catastrophes is coming to a happy ending. As noted recently, we wrecked the rear frame, derailleur, chain, etc., on the trike about a month ago.
Here are some of the stages of redemption and repair.
When I removed the old bent Shimano XT derailleur, I was shocked to find not only a frayed shifter cable but also a frayed cable housing end:
No wonder this machine has been difficult to shift and get in the desired gear since we purchased it.
Here's a look at the bent original Shimano XT derailleur:
Here's the spanking new Shimano XT purchased from Two Wheel Drive :
I should have taken pictures of me building a new trike chain from THREE new chains purchased from Two Wheel Drive , but didn't.
I think I had about 15 links left from 3 chains after carefully counting.
I worked on straightening the dropout and hanger for the rear wheel on the frame, but when I finished and the quick-release rear axle was installed and tightened, the frame was still a bit out of true. I also could not get the shifter to access all 9 of the rear gears on the cassette. Believe me, on this heavy trike with all the weight we haul on it, we use ALL 9 of these AND all 3 of the front chain rings. ALSO, when I grabbed the rear wheel to reinstall with new chain and derailleur, the TIRE was flat. BAH. Another tube down the drain. Thankfully they don't cost much more than a flat repair.
I decided to bite the bullet and take the machine to Two Wheel Drive and have their experts true things up for me. They found the front shift lever was trashed, limiting how many gears it would even try to access, the rear cassette was contributing to the problem due to wear, and they installed a fine tuning assembly for the rear derailleur adjustment.
So, for a VERY reasonable total fee for parts and repairs (I don't dare tell how reasonable their rates were, I suspect they're giving us a break), we are BACK ON THE TRAILS and roadways.
Here we are smoking up the Bosque Trail at a blistering 7 to 8 MPH...
We seem terribly out of shape, after only a couple weeks of non-riding. BAH. Now we have to ride regularly again to get our legs back...
Oh, Yeah. I finally bit the bullet and ordered one of the new fangled Lithium-Ion Phosphate (LiFePO4) rechargeable batteries for $140 or so including shipping from Batteries In a Flash . My old heavy SLA (Sealed Lead Acid or 'Gel-Cell') batteries were heavy and not holding up like I thought they should on our more-than-2-hour rides. I haven't tried charging this one yet; all I've done is use it out of the box with the existing factory charge.... and so far has seemed to hold up well. Twice the battery capacity with less than half the weight.... Too Cool.
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.5 Ending Voltage: 12.5
Lowest Temp 73 F Highest Temp: 84 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 9.52
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
3.1 MPH 6.5 MPH 14.2 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
3 hours 5 mins 1 hour 28 mins 1 hour 37 minutes
Well, hopefully the sad sequel of cycling's continuing catastrophes is coming to a happy ending. As noted recently, we wrecked the rear frame, derailleur, chain, etc., on the trike about a month ago.
Here are some of the stages of redemption and repair.
When I removed the old bent Shimano XT derailleur, I was shocked to find not only a frayed shifter cable but also a frayed cable housing end:
I think I had about 15 links left from 3 chains after carefully counting.
I worked on straightening the dropout and hanger for the rear wheel on the frame, but when I finished and the quick-release rear axle was installed and tightened, the frame was still a bit out of true. I also could not get the shifter to access all 9 of the rear gears on the cassette. Believe me, on this heavy trike with all the weight we haul on it, we use ALL 9 of these AND all 3 of the front chain rings. ALSO, when I grabbed the rear wheel to reinstall with new chain and derailleur, the TIRE was flat. BAH. Another tube down the drain. Thankfully they don't cost much more than a flat repair.
I decided to bite the bullet and take the machine to Two Wheel Drive and have their experts true things up for me. They found the front shift lever was trashed, limiting how many gears it would even try to access, the rear cassette was contributing to the problem due to wear, and they installed a fine tuning assembly for the rear derailleur adjustment.
So, for a VERY reasonable total fee for parts and repairs (I don't dare tell how reasonable their rates were, I suspect they're giving us a break), we are BACK ON THE TRAILS and roadways.
Here we are smoking up the Bosque Trail at a blistering 7 to 8 MPH...
We seem terribly out of shape, after only a couple weeks of non-riding. BAH. Now we have to ride regularly again to get our legs back...
Oh, Yeah. I finally bit the bullet and ordered one of the new fangled Lithium-Ion Phosphate (LiFePO4) rechargeable batteries for $140 or so including shipping from Batteries In a Flash . My old heavy SLA (Sealed Lead Acid or 'Gel-Cell') batteries were heavy and not holding up like I thought they should on our more-than-2-hour rides. I haven't tried charging this one yet; all I've done is use it out of the box with the existing factory charge.... and so far has seemed to hold up well. Twice the battery capacity with less than half the weight.... Too Cool.
Beginning Battery Voltage: 12.5 Ending Voltage: 12.5
Lowest Temp 73 F Highest Temp: 84 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 9.52
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
3.1 MPH 6.5 MPH 14.2 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
3 hours 5 mins 1 hour 28 mins 1 hour 37 minutes
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