Look, Ma, Only Two Wheels

Today's Postal Tracking

Yesterday, Monday, I decided to drag out my old 2-wheel recumbent, from the storage shed.  It has been literally months since I rode it and I've been wondering if I want to keep it or sell it to someone cheap.
I pulled it out ~ the front tire was a bit soft ~ so I aired both tires up to 55 PSI.
I rode it directly from home down to the pavement and thenceforth, since with its big 26 X 1.95 tires it rolls over the rocks and rough places not too badly.
I quickly realized why I ride it so seldom nowadays.  With 21 speeds, 3 in front and 7 in the rear, it not only lacks a good low "granny" gear for climbing hills, but also lacks a high enough gear on the other end of the gear spectrum for cruising at speed on straight and level or, better yet, downhill roads.
I was, as usual, a bit late in getting going, so I only rode to the Post Office and back.  The ride was fairly enjoyable except for the relative difficulty of motivating this machine since it is almost twice as heavy as my little lightweight Catrike Road .
The PO had a couple of envelopes for me, so I tucked them into my rear pannier and took off for home.
After I exited the pavement and began struggling up the goat-path hill towards home, the rear chain popped off the existing granny gear and locked up between the cassette and the wheel.  Thus I was forced to stop, park the bike, and work on the chain.  I also took the opportunity of adjusting the shift stops in hopes it would not be able to jump off the highest or lowest cassette gear in the immediate future.  After getting good and greasy, I resumed huffing and puffing up the hill.  I noticed my neighbor, in her black pickup truck, had stopped on the road behind me about the same spot where I'd just left.  Thinnking nothing of it, I continued on to the house.  When I arrived home, Jacque enquired if there had been any mail, and I said "Sure", and went to retrieve it from my pannier.  It was nowhere to be found.  It must have fallen out of my pannier somehow.  We drove down the hill, retracing my route and peering closely at the sides of the road watching for the missing mail, all the way to the PO and back, to no avail.
Remembering my neighbor who had stopped behind me so close where I'd been working on the bike, we drove over to their place to see if perhaps she might have picked up my lost mail, and sure enough, she had.
Thank goodness for good neighbors.  Not only had she found my 2 pieces of mail, she had picked up my bright yellow windbreaker which somehow had fallen out as well.  I have NO idea how so much junk came loose, unnoticed, from my pannier.  Sigh.

I'm seriously thinking of trading off the old 2-wheel recumbent.  I need a spare ride, in case something serious goes wrong with the trike, but I'm losing interest in 2-wheelers.

Ride Started: 2:23 PM    Ride Ended:  3:33 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:   14.0   Ending Voltage: 13.2  Lowest:  13.0
Beginning Blood Glucose:  154   Ending BG Reading: 100 
Lowest Temp  67F      Highest Temp:  84F   
Stats from the GPS:    Total Miles:  5.50 
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed  
4.6 MPH                                 7.3 MPH                   26.4 MPH 
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time 
1 hour 12 mins                        45 minutes                 26 minutes