Terratrike is replacing my Boom

Talked to Mike at Terratrike this morning and they are replacing the Boom for my Tour. They are trying to get it to me so I can ride this coming weekend I sure hope it does make it but will just have to wait and see.

Mike was really surprised when I told him what had happened. He said he had never heard of it happening before and was very concerned that it left me stranded on my ride. He also seemed to understand my concern about missing so up coming ride I have planned. He was even more surprised when I emailed him the picture of the failure.

I have a Schlumpf High Speed drive and try as I may I cannot get it off so I am sending it to them so hopefully they can remove it and reinstall it on my new Boom. This is the only thing that may delay the Boom but I am hopeful I will get it in time for my Thursday night ride or at least my weekend rides.

Team CBC 40 mile ride from Aviator Tap House, Fuquay Varina

From my forum post -

I had a great ride or at least 3/4 of one. The trike broke after 31 miles. Jeff got my van and came back and got me and turtle - Thanks Jeff. The weather got a lot nicer than I thought it would we were not cold and the Sun came out for a while. I liked to route and I am hopping we will do it again. I even like the two great hills - there was just one poor road surface at least on the part I got to ride. The gathering after the ride was nice and a lot of fun.

On my trike whether the boom (the part in front where the cranks are) has two sets of braze-on that have bolts through them to clamp the boom to the rest of the trike frame. One of these bolts also mounts the idlers for the chain. It was the chain pulling on this bolt the tore the braze-on off. I have put a picture of the damage with the ride pictures.

My GPS data is HERE

My pictures are HERE

I really did enjoy the ride, I was riding well and having a good time. The ride was long for just one battery but I had done well riding most of the Saltbox Village ride on level one so I just tried doing the whole CBC ride on level one hopping it would extend the battery but it was gone by 29 miles. I was still doing fine I was riding well and there had not been any hard climbs to slow me down. I was in the right gear and was just climbing up a shallow incline for a railroad crossing when I heard a ping (I really hate the sound) then when ever I pedaled there was this strange sound. The strange sound was the Terra-cycle idler rubbing against the boom and the chain moving in the idler. I can not believe I broke my trike again just riding it. I treat her with so much care I try so hard not to abuse her. Everyone on the ride was so nice but I just felt again that I am just too big too heavy to be doing this. I do not plan on stopping but it is so annoying and a real pain that I keep breaking things just by using them. I have the Spring Fling coming up this coming Saturday that I have paid for and really want to ride and the next weekend I have the three day Spring CNC ride also paid for that I want to ride. I had already planned to get the Utah Trike idler mod for my Tour I hope it will be stronger and help this not happen again. I am trying hard to work through this but it is depressing to have my trike broken again.

Rode the SS Saltbox Village 34 miles ride today.

From my forum post -

I had a great ride - we had 18 start the ride from SVB. 3 of us did the 34 the other 15 did the 50. It was a beautiful day at bit cool but nice and sunny with some but not too much wind. It was so nice to be able to ride with the group again. A number of my riding friends suggested I put it back on so we could ride together and I must admit it is a lot more fun. I have a love-hate relationship with the Bionx. I hate the fact that I need it but love being able to ride with the groups I have been riding with. I replaced the bushings on the forks last night and it really seems to have improved the steering/handling.

My GPS data is HERE

My pictures are HERE

The fork-kingpin bushings I replaced Firday evening seemed to make a big difference. With as cheap as they were and how easy they were to replace I will never let them get bad again.

Replacing my Tour Kingpin bushings

Remove the upper bolt then insert the allen wrench in the whole and tap it to remove the Kingpin.


Here you can see the lower bolt and the Kingpin coming out. In the forth image the Kingpin is out and the assemble can be removed to replace the bushings.



This shows the Kingpin and the old bushings. The next shows the bushings and Kingpin removed.


Here the new bushing installed. Last image shows the Kingpin with the bottom bolt inserted. All that is left to do is place the bushing over the Kingpin and tap the Kingpin back in the put the top bolt back in.

Before I made this change I could get almost one half inch of play at the top of the wheel now there is almost none. I hope this is will improve the high speed handling.

SlowSpokes Thursday night ride - leading the slower group.

From my forum post -

A real nice ride - I lead the slower group this week - there were three of us - one completely new to SlowSpokes - welcome, one on her second ride and an old roadie riding with a friend. We got a bit farther this week than last week and everyone did well and seemed to have a good time.

My GPS data is HERE

Not much else to add - turtle preformed beautifully but is was pretty slow I still needed the Bionx to keep up but was able to run it on its lowest assist level without any problem. I was too slow for me to get my heart rate up so not much of a workout but better than sitting in the recliner and I had a lot of fun with everyone. Nice folks.

Greenfield ride

Met Peggy and Bryan and a third cyclist whose name I do not remember - sorry. I had a great ride but then I always seem to have a good ride with either Peggy and/or Bryan. When we are riding together the time just disappears and the riding is so easy. Turtle preformed perfectly. THe BionX worked perfectly. We both really enjoyed going faster. I had my heart rate up low to mid thirties for most of the ride so I am hopping that I am still getting a good workout even with the Bionx.. I must admit I did enjoy being able to keep up, to climb the hills and even lead into the wind and we did have wind. I have to get the second battery repaired and maybe get a third if I cannot get the extra battery to work.


My GPS data is HERE

Team CBC ride 03-21-10 and inlightenment.

From my forum post -

I had a real nice ride - it was really great to see everyone again and nice to ride with some of you again. Lets do it again soon.

My GPS data is HERE My pictures are HERE

Well it was a real nice day the weather was not as pretty as Saturday it looked like it was going to rain several times but as far as I know it did not. It did seem cooler and a bit winder but all in all very nice. We had about 50 cyclist among the four rides today - pretty good for so early in the season. Peggy and Bryan seemed to enjoy themselves and I am pleased.

I have had several comments to me on line and in person and after talking with some of the folks at the ride today I have decided to put the Bionx back on the trike. Everyone told me more or less the same thing and that was that they miss me riding with the group and if I need it to be able to do the group rides I should use it. Several people told me they understood why I took it off and that it was a good idea just that maybe I did it too soon. I can try riding without its help any time to see how I am progressing and even do training with out it or with it off I might even be able to use it to train by setting it in regeneration most it would provide a constant level of resistance while riding just like a low hill.

Well I put it back on tonight after the ride. I have mixed feeling about doing it but think it is the right thing to do for now. Monday after work I will take it out for some testing if the weather is OK. I also need to get something done about repairing or replacing the second battery. I will be limited to 30ish miles rides until I get the second battery back. I wanted to mount the battery and console differently than I had but the cables would not reach which is likely why I had done it the way I did the first time.

Home to Greenfield then back home

I had a good ride - no problems - still very slow no matter how hard I push I just can not over come how long it takes me to climb the hills. It is annoying. Beyond that it was a nice ride. I just made two stops one at 20 miles for nature and one at 24 miles for a DMD.

I repaired the Shlumph drive again and after looking at it decided the chain was in the best alignment I could get. I moved the mount for the GPS and cycling computer down a bit so the fairing will flip up with out hitting them. I made a mount for the speed sensor/transmitter so that I could move it from the rear wheel to the front right wheel this puts the sensor much closer to the cycling computer - hopeful this will put a stop to the speed dropping out at high speeds.

A work in progress

My GPS data is HERE

Bent Schlumph chain ring

After not to great ride Thursday evening I decided to ride Greenfield after work Friday. I just wanted some more miles and to have a nice spin maybe get into the zone for a while. 2.85 miles into the ride while climbing the over pass the was a bing and I was spinning air. I was in the right gear but I was push hard - it is the only way I know I can get better at climbing hills. Sometimes it sucks to be me. It makes me think that maybe I am not meant to be a cyclist. I will repair it tomorrow and see if I can a line the chain path to make this not happen again.

My GPS data is HERE

So Pathetic

From my forum post -

Thanks for leading the rides again Rick. I hope your knee get better they need you.

I did the ride but I could not even keep up with the newest rides.

I lost sight of everyone within the first mile so the only pictures I got were from the start and when they passed me going the other way.

The Turtle tracks are HERE

My pictures are HERE

I was so nice to see so many friends from last year on the ride last night. I might be the last time I see them for a long while. I am so pathetic. We were less than one mile into the ride and I had completely lost sight of everyone. I Rick and the two other slow group rider had not stopped to wait I would not have seen anyone until the passed me going the other direction. I did not have any trouble doing the ride, the distance was less than the shortest ride I have done post BionX and the few short hills were not a problem either unless one considers that climbing them a 3 to 5 mph is a problem - I DO! I rode 12.40 miles at an average of 9.6 mph and it was a full output effort for me I could not have done it any fast or gone any harder that is what makes it so hard for me to accept. I deluded myself to thinking I was a real cyclist while using the BionX and now the truth is hard to accept. It would have most likely been better for me to have never gotten it. I would not have been able to ride with theses folk and would never had even tried so I would not have gotten to know them. Now wanting to ride with them and not even being able to for one mile it really hard to accept. I am not doing badly - I have lost almost 75 pounds. I can walk and do walk about 2.5 miles a day and I can ride my trike three to five hours without any problem. I have lots of power and lots of stamina. I am sorta like a MAC truck who wants to be a sports car. I may be the fasted 335 pound cyclist around but then are there any other 335 pound cyclist. Why can I never want to do things I could be good at. It just seems the losing 75 pounds and taking 28 pounds off the trike by removing the Bionx I should be able to go fast. But 9.6 is not fast weekend riders can just ride away from me without even training. I do not plan to ride the Thursday night ride again - I just cannot stand to have people having to wait for my SLOW ass. I will just ride Greenfield Tuesdays and Thursdays it not so bad and I can do longer rides there and no one has to wait for me. I will miss my friends there. I will try rding SBV this Saturday but it will mostlying be worse than Thursdays because even the slow group usually does 15 average - that means by the end of the ride I would be an hour or more behind them - I just cannot have people wait for me like that. I am not sure I can put myself through that.

Greenfield ride - GPS error

Got to Greenfield at about 5:25 PM. Peggy and Bryan were waiting for me but they said they had just arrived, the traffic held me up some. We had a real nice ride - I really love riding with those two and really appreciate when they come to ride with me. I know the time we ride together is pretty slow for them but it helps me a lot not to ride alone all the time. We did about 9 miles together 1.5 loops then they brook off to ride home. The said the got 15 miles in coming over and I believe they go back a more direct route but I am not sure what they whole ride comes to. I completed the second loop then a third and another half after that giving me 20.65 miles at 10.10 average mph and a real nice ride. I believe I will do OK riding with Slow Spokes Thursday and just have to ride my best, try to keep up and if I cannot then just do what I can - I know the roue and can get home. I am not sure how many if any know how slow I am not but they will find out sometime why not now.
The repaired seat felt great. Much better than the Chrom-molly. I am also happy with the new GPS and cycling computer mounts. I need to adjust it a bit so the faring will fold back with hitting them but otherwise they are great.
My GPS did something funny. It recorded the starting place then did not record anything until I realized it was not tracking and pressed the Start again. I will have to watch it and make sure there is nothing amiss with this refurbished replacement unit. I will post the data anyway so you can see what I mean.
I had a new low weight this morning. 335.8 pounds that is 74.2 pounds lost. Some may be due to my being sick for three days but hopefully I will get to keep some of it.

My GPS data is HERE

My weight was 335.2 pound today.

Something new

I had an interesting experience last night and maybe completely new to me. My Nephew James is getting married this evening. Well I am not in the wedding but I am invited. Weddings and furnels are about the only thing I wear a suit and tie to. I think the last time I had mine on was for my mother. Anyway I got it out after my shower last night to see how it fit. I remember it being tight, very tight so I really was not sure how it would fit now. I do not know what I weighted the last time I wore it so I did not know what the difference the weight I have lost would make. Well the pants fit, the shirts are too big and the jacket fits and may be a bit too big. I could not find a label on it to know what size it is but I found another black jacket that was labeled 66 that was too big, way to big. I do not remeber that black jacket but it is too big now - sort of ashame it looks new. I have not had the whole thing on at once but I believe it will look OK. Maybe I get Dad to take some pictures of me.

Turtle gets her seat back

Some time ago you may remember the first photo which shows how the sear frame had cracked. Terratrike stepped up and sent me a replacement seat frame at no cost to me. However knowing I was heavy they wanted to send me a Chrome-moly seat instead of an aluminum one which is what came on the Tour. I did not even know they made a Chrome-moly frame. The seat frames look identical and expect for the weight one would think that they would be hard to tell apart. There are three major differences. One the weight, the aluminum frame weights 2 pounds the Chrome-moly weights 4.5 pounds both weights are without the mesh seat. This difference I understand. The second and third I do not understand. The Chrome-moly seat is just not as comfortable as the aluminum - I can not explain why it is just the way they feel. The third has to do with trike fit. With the aluminum frame I have it on the second front bolt hole and I can recline the seat enough(more would be better) to sit comfortably and have proper leg extension to the pedals. With the Chrome-moly frame I had to put the seat in the front bolt hole and just barely had enough leg extension also this meant that I could not recline the seat enough to be comfortable. I have looked very carefully at the two frames and even through they look the same they are not. Even through I was glad to get the replacement frame it just was not as good a ride as the aluminum frame so what to do. Well Terratrike sell the aluminum seat frame for about $285.00 seems like a lot but most likely is a fair price for a custom made(none production line) item. But even through I thought it would be just like my original seat frame there was on way to know for sure. So I set out to see if I could get the original frame repaired. It took me a while to find someone who did aluminum welding and was willing to do small one off jobs.
Toxic Customs. I found a little version of Orange County Chopper without all the Drama. Toxic Customs is a small custom motor cycle shop. I wondered how they would treat me and if they would take me serious. I look like I could be a biker but really do not ride motor bikes. They were great. I showed them what I had and what I needed and told them I wanted to add two little triangles of aluminum at a 90 degree angle to the seat tube. I am sorry the second photo is not real sharp but I believe you can see the repair and the triangle brace he welded in. I would like to recommend this modification to Terratrike since I have heard of several other seat frame failures like mine. Cost $70.00 and he had it done including paint(which I did not expect) in less than 24 hours. I good bit better than $285.00 and maybe even better. I have not ridden it yet but I have sat on it and it felt good. If the weather cooperates I will ride tonight.
I took this accessory T-Bar thing that came with the trikes tour kit and mounted it to the t-bar of the faring to allow for additional mount points for the GPS and Cycling computer. This will put them at a much easier viewing point. I will keep the mount points on the bar ends on the handle bars for when I am not using the fairing. I also added the mounts for my LED front light to the underside of the T section of the T-Bar for the fairing so I could attach the lights there hanging down. It looks like they will clear my leg and I can reach them easily to turn them on and off so if the light inside the fairing does not brother me I think this will work. I will keep the one on the bar-end for use when the fairing is not on the trike.

Riding Better

I have been having some problems and have been really depressed for a couple of day. I am doing better now but it is hard. I have not had this trouble for over 2 years. So it was a bit of a surprise. Instead of sitting at home in the dark like I did Monday I forced myself to get out and ride and that helped.
The weather was good and I had a good ride - only 12 miles and I was alone but I was riding pretty well and I felt better than I have been feeling riding. Nice to fell better now. I was really nice to fell like I am improving a little. I was climbing the hills a bit easier and it felt good. Also I think I may have figured out why my butt has been hurting so much or at least I loosened the lowest seat strap and it seemed to have helped but I need a longer ride to be sure. I could have ridden longer and should have. I had decided to ride 2 loops so that is what I did but it was not cold and I could have ridden more - Thursday night if it is as nice I will.

My GPS data is HERE

OMG I am a TURTLE!!!

I did the Ride for the Rock. It is a very nicely done ride for a local charity. It was still quite cool. I put on my usually winter kit and assumed I would be pealing parts of it off during the ride. While I never did get cold I never took anything off either. I rode the 50K and I really had a hard time. I was dropped by the whole group and they were completely out of sight within 2 miles of the start. This is so hard for me. Try to imagine if you were a cyclist and you were able to ride at an average speed of 17-19 mph on a 50 or so mile ride in this area and were climbing the hills here at 8 to 12 miles per hour and over night you had to go to averaging 9 mph if I am lucky and climbing hills at 2 to 4 mph and having to drop your mileage for rides back to about 30 miles in distance because of the time it now take to ride that far and see how you feel. I want to do this and I need to do this but it is so hard to be SO slow.
When I first got on the trike the seat felt funny. While riding I had trouble steering the trike on some down hills. I finally stopped and checked the seats lower bolt - it did not seem loose but I put a wrench to it anyway and was able to get almost a whole turn on it. This seemed to fix the funny feeling and the down hill problems. Also I had not been feeling well for most of the ride and when I stood up to work on the trike I almost passed out, I got real light headed and faint. I garbed hold of the faring to stead myself and just waited - it passed slowly but I did not feel OK until I sat back down and not for a little while then. At about 13 miles my butt started to hurt like it has been since I got the chrom-molly seat frame. The pain got worse and worse no matter how I tried to sit, then I lost part of the feeling in my right leg. The calf and ankle did not feel like they were asleep like for loss of circulation it just felt not there and unresponsive but I could still pedal. When I got to the SAG stop, I was surprised they were still there, and when stood up the feeling came back to my leg and my butt stopped hurting. From the SAG stop I had about 12 to 14 miles to ride - since my butt did not hurt until miles 13 I thought I would be OK however it started hurting again after about 6 miles and my legs was numb by 10 miles past the SAG. I really struggled to keep riding - not because I was wore out but due to the pain. I have got to find something I can do about the seat or frame of the trike to be more reclined or something. I did finish the ride and I did enjoy it but I was hurting.

Team CBC - Curse Intervals training

Curse Intervals training - Tim took a group of Team CBC cyclist out to show us a training method which improves both speed and endurance. The training involves riding 5 to 7 miles at ones normal pace to warm up - being warmed up is important. Then at about a 2% upgrade one needs to ride 5 to 7 minutes at 90% maximum heart rate, then turn around and ride at a recovery pace(what ever speed you can recovery at) back to your starting place and then repeat. I am not sure but I beleive he said you could repeat it 3 to 7 times and should do it twice a weak but not more. I of course could not keep up with the group riding the warmup to the place to start the training and I was so far back that Bob came back to find me then rode with me to the start point - I appreciated him doing that but just HATED the fact the he it had to be done. I did need the help and would not have found them if he had not done so. Bob organized the event. I was not sure I would be able to do the training and even asked Bob if I could participate - I forgot that he and most of everyone else did not know I had removed the Bionx and am now a real TURTLE. I tried to tell them about removing the Bionx and how slow I was but I do not think they believe me until we started riding. I was able to do the training - Tim recomended I just try 3 minutes instead of 5 - I guess I looked worse than I felt when I got to the start point. I have two things going for me with my cycling, I have a great deal of stamia - I can pedal a long time and even through I can only climb hills at 2 - 4 mph I have climbed some 9% grade hills and even after that effort I will recover quickly. But I did as Tim suggested and found it to be easy so the next time I went out for four minutes which was also easy. I have a heart rate monitor but the tables I have seen say my maximum heart rate is about 133 but I ride at 135 to 137 most of the time and I can talk with out panting. Tim recommended I try 140 at my target heart rate I found I had to get to 144 to begin to pant so I was trying for 141 to 142 and I did the third session at 5 minutes and was just feeling a burn in my quads at the 5 minute mark. I thought I did OK at the training but I completely lost the group on the return ride - I told Bob not to wait for me because I thought I knew the way back. Well I made a wrong turn and next thing I know I am going down a steep down hill that I did not remember climbing on the way out so I checked my GPS and I was off course several miles. I had climbed the up hill after the down hill before I was sure I was on the wrong road I had to go back down and then do the climb again part of it was a 9% grade. I told the GPS to take me back to the start and it did. I did have the same pain in mt butt and the same problem with my right leg - I have got to find a solution for this. Any way I did a 20.8 mile ride with my little detour and adveraged 9.3 mph. If you enlarge the trace on the GPS map over the lake you can see the three different runs. I do plan to incorprate this into my training rides at Greenfield.

My GPS data is HERE

My Pictures are HERE

OMG I am a TURTLE!!!

I did the Ride for the Rock. It is a very nicely done ride for a local charity. It was still quite cool. I put on my usually winter kit and assumed I would be pealing parts of it off during the ride. While I never did get cold I never took anything off either. I rode the 50K and I really had a hard time. I was dropped by the whole group and they were completely out of sight within 2 miles of the start. This is so hard for me. Try to imagine if you were a cyclist and you were able to ride at an average speed of 17-19 mph on a 50 or so mile ride in this area and were climbing the hills here at 8 to 12 miles per hour and over night you had to go to averaging 9 mph if I am lucky and climbing hils at 2 to 4 mph and having to drop your mileage for rides back to about 30 miles in distance because of the time it now take to ride that far and see how you feel. I want to do this and I need to do this but it is so hard to be SO slow.
When I first got on the trike the seat felt funny. While riding I had trouble stearing the trike on some down hills. I finally stopped and checked the seats lower bolt - it did not seem loose but I put a wrench to it anyway and was able to get almost a whole turn on it. This seemed to fix the funny feeling and the down hill problems. Also I had not been feeling well for most of the ride and when I stood up to work on the trike I almost passed out, I got real light headed and faint. I garbed hold of the faring to stead myself and just waited - it passed slowly but I did not feel OK until I sat back down and not for a little while then. At about 13 miles my butt started to hurt like it has been since I got the chromolly seat frame. The pain got worse and worse no matter how I tried to sit, then I lost part of the feeling in my right leg. The calf and ankle did not feel like they were asleep like for loss of circulation it just felt not there and unresponsive but I could still pedal. When I got to the SAG stop, I was suprised they were still there, and stood it the feeling came back to my leg and my butt stopped hurting. From the SAG stop I had a bout 12 to 14 miles to ride - since my butt did not hurt until miles 13 I thought I would be OK however it started hurting again after about 6 miles and my legs was numb by 10 miles past the SAG.
I finished the 31 miles ride with the amazing(because it is so slow) average speed of 7.5 miles per hour. I was still not feeling well but I was not really tired - I beleive I could ride longer distances it would tahe over 6 hours to ride 50 miles. I am going to have to work on keeping up my motivation - riding like this is is not much fun - I do still like riding but it is hard.
One good thing I had a new low weight this morning.

My weight was 341.0 pounds 69 pounds lost.

I am sure it helps all ready but I wonder how much more I am going to have to lose to ride better.

As you can see below I got the GPS back. I did not get many pictures - no one around to photograph.

My GPS data is HERE

My Pictures are HERE

Weighing problem

Seem like since I have been working on getting fit and losing weight the my day is not really bad if I do not lose something but is better when I do. This is likely a problem also but for now I am just working on fittness and weight lose.

I had a pretty good week inspite of the weather over 3 days I rode 67 miles and walked 8.94 miles 4 days.

I have a new low weight this morning.

This morning I weighted 343.0 pounds 67 pounds lost so far.