Jacque left for work early this morning, leaving me and the 2 doggies to our own devices, so we went for a ride.
An oddity I'm not sure if I ever mentioned before.... Especially on this odd looking tandem recumbent Terratrike Tandem Pro, drivers almost invariably give us plenty of clearance when they pass. Just as invariably, they inevitably "stick their feet through the floorboards", accelerating madly, after passing us. Perhaps most slow down as they approach me, unnoticed by me, and feel the urge to resume speed and make the precious few seconds lost after passing us. Often, though, the engine will rev and roar when passing, raising my suspicions that the driver is of the lesser-mature type and hoping to either scare or at least impress us with the display of horsepower. I just find it a bit odd. I guess I'm getting so old I fail to remember my own irresistible impulses to pop the clutch and hit the gas and make the pipes roar way back in the dark ages when driving was fun..... but I mostly tried to impress girls I passed. Didn't occur to me to try to scare or impress any cyclists, which were admittedly rare back in the 1960's.
We rode my favorite 10-mile ride today, and this time stopped by a church friend's home to look at their latest project that's keeping their mechanically- minded boys occupied: An old garden tractor with a big Briggs & Stratton engine. Turns out the starter motor had broken its electrical cable connection, and it LOOKS like we may be able to solder a new tab into the internal brush connector and epoxy the connection so as to protect it from shorting out and replace the missing pieces of insulation fiber. The kids all enjoyed walking and spoiling Lilly, and Tinkerbell enjoyed resting in the shade underneath the rear trike seat while we putzed around with the tractor starter.
The weather today was a bit cloudy and PLEASANT for riding. The breeze was cool and conditions were great.
I've been noticing my battery voltages have been sagging recently so today I used a voltmeter to check the output of my wall charger: 11.8 volts. This charger is designed for lead-acid batteries and is probably non filtered DC output which may not make the LiFEPO4 battery protective circuits very happy. So this afternoon I switched to a more-pure-output charger (that I've used successfully in the past) in hopes it will improve the battery voltage profile.
On the way home we noticed the clouds getting a bit thicker but it seemed non threatening. Just as I got back to the transporter vehicle and started loading the trike into the trailer, it began to rain, and didn't stop most of the rest of the day. Just missed it....
Ride Started: 10:48 AM Ride Ended: 1:18 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.2 Ending Voltage: 13.0 Lowest: 12.6
Lowest Temp 71 F Highest Temp: 82 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 9.44
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
4.0 MPH 7.3 MPH 29.5 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
2 hours 21 mins 1 hour 17 mins 1 hour 3 minutes
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