Tuesday, June 30, 2009

June ride totals

Rides 10
Time 24:06:57
Distance 363.00 miles
Elevation Gained 23521 feet
Elevation Lost 23439 feet
Avg Speed 14.90 mph
Max speed 31.53 mph
Burned 48769 calories
Pounds of fat if all the calories came from stored fat 13.93 lb.

Well good morning Blog

Low blood sugar again in the middle of the night 3:45 AM - I am ok I have eaten something it just makes me feel poorly for six or more hours - not sure why but it is annoying, Guess it is time to lower my insulin again - I am taking 180 ml twice a day and will lower it to 170 ml twice a day. Since I have not been losing weight I am a bit surprised by this, I am also not sure why I am not losing I am excersizing like I have been and more if anything thing - I now wear two 2.5 pounds weight one on each leg all day and another 2.5 pound set of weights one on each arm when I walk - they were pretty noticeable when I started them but not too bad now, I am staying with my new eating style - I hate the term diet because people start and stop diets and I do not plan to ever change my eating style again, Well getting sleepy again - good night.

My weight today 1s 358.4 pounds

Sunday, June 28, 2009

A Sunday working on the Vanguard




I had hoped to ride it but spent all day Sunday working on the Vanguard. This is an old photo but you can easily see that the handle bar is under the seat. While I had no real problem with this I have found I like the handle bars setup on my trike more and since I had already bought an handlebar for WizWheel thinking I could extend the current trike handle bar (which I found I could not due to space limitations). I cut it in half and bolted it to the original handlebar then I had to go and buy all new shifter and brake cables and housing and replace them all - mostly due to length issues but I did find the some of them needed replacing anyway - they are over ten years old. With having to go to both Performance and All Star bike shops to get everything it just took a long time - I finished up at about 10:30 PM - I had started about 9 AM after breakfast with Dad. I did take breaks to eat and took a short nap - yea is was Sunday afternoon - lol. I still need to put the new cadence transmitter on it and a mount for the cadence computer but the should not take long. I have to buy food Monday but if I am not too tired or lazy I may try to ride it Monday after work.




My weight today is 360.4 pounds.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Selma Cyclepaths - Antioch Curch route B 44.1 miles


My post ride comments -

I had a really good ride - at this point I have to just accept the fact that I can not pedal the trike faster than 21 mph with the gearing I currently have - I hope to improve the gearing.
Once again WELL DONE Selma Cyclepath. A well done well supported training ride. Turtle had her first flat today at 1300 miles.
I really like the route some really good and mostly good roads. The worst road is Thanksgiving - I really do not like the southern part of that road - it is like riding on a wash board - I know there is no other route but I wish there was.

My GPS data is here

My pictures are here

My Blog is here


I have spoken with two suppliers of the Slump(sp) High Speed drive, the thing I have on front of my trike in place to a derailleur and triple chain ring. I has a 27 tooth chain ring on it so in regular drive it acts just like having a 27 tooth chain ring, one revoultion of the cranks turn the chain ring once but in high speed drive each revolution of the crank spins the 27 tooth chain ring 2.5 times. This gives me 168 gear inches but with the 20 inch rear wheel and a max cadence of 75 I can only get 22 miles per hour out of the trike and 75 is a bit too high for me I want to be able to pedal 23 to 25 mph at about a 60 to 65 cadence in the 13 to 14 tooth rear caessette ring. One of the suplies says he has a adapter for the High Speed drive that will allow one to use a bunch of different chain rings - I am waiting to hear back from him.
Turtle had her first flat today - it was shortly after leaving the rest stop. It took me a while to find the leak so I could check the tire but I did find it - it was almost dead center of the tire and in one of the thicker pieces of the tread. I have no idea what I might have hit but when looking at it - it looked like a knife point was stuck just far enough in to the tire to nick the tube. I could find nothing in the tire but the hole so I put in a new tube and was pumping it up when the sag showed up - he had a real pump - many thanks for that by the way - I had pumped and pumped with my little pump and had only gotten it up to 60 psi - I could have likely ridden on it at the pressure but it was nice to get it up to 105 psi.
The rest of the ride was nice but after standing by the road for about 12 minutes when I got back on the trike my legs seemed tire and I had to ride a miles or two before I could get normal power out of them

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Slow Spokes Thur night ride - Not a happy Turtle

My post ride comments -

Mad - not at anyone on the ride but with myself - I was just riding so poorly.

My GPS data is here

My pictures are here

My Blog is here

I will likely blog about how I am feeling.

Hi Blog, I am just so frustrated - I have heard if one has no one to talk to that it can help to write out ones feelings - I guess I will see.

I just do not understand why I am having so much trouble - I am doing everything I have been doing, eating correctly, exercising daily, getting enough sleep, having a recovery day weekly, taking my medications and vitamins. After the ride tonight I feel like just chucking it all. I am so tire of been so so slow. Tonight I was able to stay in sight of the group on the way out but I got dropped and in spite of putting out as much effort as I could I could not even stay in sight of them, I eventually got passed by the middle group and some of the last group, Rick did not pass me but I bet is was close to doing it. I know a least part of my problem it me trike. I wish I could ride a DF bike but that is not going to happen. The fastest cadence I can use safely is about 75 rpm - my legs although strong are very heavy and moving them faster the 75 cadence cause the trike to be steered by the movement of my legs. This means that my best cadence range is between 45 and 75 rpm. The problem is not me being able to produce enough power to pedal this slowly the problem is that at my highest gear I can only pedal the trike up 21 to 22 mph and I have to go to 77 to 80 cadence to do this. I have already replaced the front chain rings and derailleur with at two speed planitary gear crank. This helped, it allowed me to move my best speed from 17.5 to my current best speed of about 21.5 mph. I had the trike up to 22 mph for a while tonight and I still could not rejoin the group, they must have been going 22 mph or faster. Pedaling that fast also wears me out faster I am built to produce power and I can mash the big gears and do so for a long time but I can not spin fast for long periods of time like most cyclist. It was about 10-12 years ago but I use to pedal my long wheel base recumbent my Vanguard 25 to 27 and be able to sustain the speed for long distance, of course I could still only climb hills slowly but except for hills I was pretty fast, The Vanguard was fared or fully fared and it did help but I would not run out of gears except on down hills at about 38 mph. I have a fairing for the trike maybe I should install it? The Bionx preformed well but it has a limited range and the range is about 28 miles depending on how much work it does - I really used it to help me up the hills try to rejoin the group - any way I completely consumed the battery and had to ride with out it for the last 6 miles.
I have lost 50 pounds I want to lost another 110 I keep wondering how much I have to lose so I can see a difference in my climbing - I really do not believe that recumbent cannot climb I believe that the reputation recumbent have for not being good at climbing is due to the fast that most of those who ride them are built like me - we will just see. I would really like to have a trike with a 26" or 700cc rear wheel - I believe that would let me go a lot faster. The one I like the best right now is the Catrike Expedition. Some day maybe. Well I do not know if this helped or not but I am going to bed,

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Team CBC 42 miles training ride.

My post ride comments -

Well I arrived late - just in time to see the 10:30 group turn onto Holly Springs.
Looked like there were 30 or so in the group. I went ahead and got ready and started the ride - the 42 at about 10:50 AM. I was 89 degrees and by 11:30 it was 94 degrees. The highest temperature I saw was 96 and most of my ride was in the 93 to 96 degree range. The humidity was not too bad I would guess in the low 60% due to the fact that everything dried so quickly. I enjoyed my ride and the route - there are three major climbs during the ride and one stretch of rode that is so rough that I was afraid it would shack my teeth out. I was by myself the whole ride but that was OK - I did not stop except to takes some meds once and even then did not get off the seat of the trike. This means I can do 40 miles and three hours. As to the headwind - what headwind - - Ok well yea I could feel it a little - what I do not understand how it was always in my face no matter where I was and which way I turned the wind was always in my face - how do you'll do that here. The gathering afterward was nice - got some food - some cool and got my Jesseys ordered - I really hope they will make the 3xl for me.

I have no picture today
My GPS data is here

My weight today is 363.0 pounds

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Selma Cyclepaths - Finding Crockers Nub2 rev route

My post ride comments -

Well the second time was just as good as the first. I got a bit hotter today but not too bad. Started riding at 78 degrees was 86 by 8:45. Saw it go up to 94 but I spent most of the ride between 90 and 92. Was nice t see everyone and some new riders at least to me.

My GPS data is here
My pictures are here
My Blog is here

My weight today is 361.2 pounds

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Slow Spokes Ride Thurs night ride

My post ride comments -

I did not understand what the big deal is about the thing Jon has that keeps if bike from falling over - my trike never falls over - OH well! Wow great ride and fast - my GPS data is messed up - must have turned the time back on while we were eating the average speed is wrong but the track is correct so I posted it. Before I messed up the GPS it had reported a 34.6 mile ride with an average speed of 17.0 mph - no wonder I am tired. Once again - Great ride - lots of fun, nice to see everyone and meet some new riders.
Turtle say HI!

My messed up GPS data is here
My pictures are here
Turtles Blog is here - this is still a work in progress.

My weight today is 357.6 pounds

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Selma Cyclepaths - Finding Crockers Nub rev route

My pre ride comments -

I almost always re-plot the maps I get from everyone because I like controlling the number of way points and some other data on the maps. When I did this for this route I got 41.5 miles using Garmin's MapSource - it almost never agrees with the plot I get from riding the route but is usually close.Looks like a fun route some new roads for me - looking forward to the ride and to seeing everyone.
I plan to be there - Turtle rides again.

The trike is named turtle. Thursday night after the ride several people told me that I should rename it - that it is not slow. Turtle got her name when I first got her and a lady friend, who does not ride unfortunately, saw her and told me it looked like a turtle, the trike has been Turtle ever since. I had a talk with her, Turtle, on the drive home and she said she likes the name - so - Turtle rides again.

My post ride comments -

Once a again a real good ride Cyclepaths. We had a nice group I would guess about 45 but I did not count. The weather was warm but not too hot and the humidity dropped as the ride progressed. Ride start temperature was 76 and the highest I saw on my computer was 86. Some new roads for me and some pretty views of the country side. I felt pretty good on the ride but still not as well as I want - maybe someday. Got chased by three different sets of dogs - one got close enough to worry about so I gave him a zap and he stopped in his tracks. Was nice to see some friends and meet a few new ones.
Turtle say Hi!

My GPS data is here
My pictures are here

My weight today is 359.6 pounds

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Slow Spokes Thur night ride

My post ride commenst -

I had a real nice ride - I lead the 'Quick' group - there was nothing slow about this group. There were 13 of us and we did 30.29 miles with an average speed of 14.5mph. We had a few sprinkles on the way back but one could not really call it rain. It was a lot of fun I meet a lot of nice cyclist. Did miss you Pugslyyy you too Zonda.

My GPS data here
My pictures are here

My weight today is 361.4

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Team CBC ride 42 miles route

My post ride comments -

I had a good ride - once again I was not feeling as well as I would have liked but I enjoyed my ride. I left almost as soon as I got back because my sister was in town visiting and we were having a cookout. This ride has been eventful each time I have ridden it. The first attempt I broke a chain, the second attempt I got on the wrong route and end up more or less doing the 26 miles route, today my rear wheel came half way off during a climb. I was able to finish the climb and did not know what was wrong with the trike just knew it did a funny wobble during the climb. I got off the trike and had to look at it a bit to find the problem - I am glad I did find it and was able to fix it and finish the ride. Was nice to see everyone today.

My GPS data here
My pictures are here

The trike is named turtle. Thursday night after the ride several people told me that I should rename it - that it is not slow. Turtle got her name when I first got her and a lady friend, who does not ride unfortunately, saw her and told me it looked like a turtle, the trike has been Turtle ever since. I had a talk with her, Turtle, on the drive home and she said she likes the name - so - Turtle rides again.

My weight today is 360.2 pounds

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Friendly Kenly Revised

My post ride comments -

I had a good ride today - I was not feeling as well as I usually do, that and the weather distracted from my ride a bit but I still enjoyed it and all the great people who rode today. The weather seemed strange to me, 67 degrees and heavy cloud cover in June. The cloud cover lasted the whole ride and I got sprinkled on twice - nothing major just had to get the water off my glasses. Looking forward to next week and seeing what the route will be - they are all new to me.

My GPS data is here
My pictures are here

My weight is 359.0 pounds

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Slow Spokes Thursday night ride rained out

I hate to say it but I guess the weather has gotten me too!

One would not think it would brother a turtle but I guess better to be safe.