Monday, January 22, 2024

Bitter Cold. I do Care

 8 Dec 2023

13 Dec 2023

20 Dec 2023 

21 Dec 2023

23 Dec 2023 

27 Dec 2023

28 Dec 2023 

29 Dec 2023

30 Dec 2023 

2 Jan 2024

10 Jan 2024 

18 Jan 2024

19 Jan 2024 

WHEW.  The listing above of my various GPS tracks  since early December betray my laxness in keeping up with my online ravings.
Up until the last couple of weeks, the weather had been rather mild, allowing me to wander about on my
Catrike unmolested.
Since then, increasingly bitter weather has hampered my efforts and enthusiasm.  Several other short term attempts happened as well but weren't worth bothering to mention.
An example is the last link labeled 19 Jan 2024.  That particular attempt occurred when I got tired of feeling trapped in the house due to lousy cold windy weather.  I layered up (padded vest, insulated coveralls, wool skull cap, snow boots, mittens, etc) and gleefully but slowly pedaled the trike out of the yard and into the street.  As I power shifted to a higher gear to attain proper cruising speed, I realized, sadly, that my gear shifter was solidly frozen in place and refused to budge, so I was stuck in 2nd gear, much too low a gear for actually making progress.
I stopped to fiddle with the cable.  It felt like solid steel, instead of flexible cable, and could not be manipulated or freed.  About this time a bit of colder air struck me and I wimped out, gave up, turned around and went home.
As usual, being unable to get out and ride around for enjoyable exercise has me thinking about building a rack where I could pedal without moving, safely inside garage or house, being motivated by hitching a generator to the drive wheel of a bike or trike.  We already have a set of exercise rollers whereby we can block the front wheels of the trike, place the rear drive wheel on the rollers, and pedal fiercely against the roller friction without going anywhere but getting the blood warmed up anyway.My problem is, of course, being motivated or enthusiastic enough to set it up and go for it.  Just burning energy fruitlessly goes against my weird principles, even though it would supposedly help me burn blood glucose and keep the flabby muscles moving.
Also, when the weather warms and I surely have time to scrounge the parts and set up such a system....
I tend to forget about such things and take off for another ride to the Post Office or the local Big Box Store.  Sigh