Well, I dood it! 2 weeks and 5 days after my 2nd knee joint replacement surgery I rode my tadpole trike on the trail today. I wasn’t exactly burning up the asphalt, but it was good to be out riding. I had to pedal with my heels on the pedals as it was too painful to place my feet normally. I just hope I don’t go thru another session of several days of muscle soreness after riding today. I only rode about 2 1/2 miles and I spent most of it picking up tree limbs and tossing them off of the trail as we had rain and high wind last night which brought a lot of them down.
I wish I could ride my trike into the hospital and to the outpatient rehab room to show the staff there my therapy machine. Everybody is amazed at how well and fast I am progressing. I was walking without a walker one week after surgery. After the staples were taken out of the incision (10 days post surgery) they had me on the recumbent exercise bike and I was able to pedal it normally immediately. With the first knee joint replacement surgery on the other leg I had to take about 6 minutes of rotating the crankset back and forth before I was able to pedal it clear around in full revolution. So things seem to be going better with this 2nd surgery than the first one and everybody thought the first one went pretty well. I give thanks and acknowledgement to the fast healing power of God. I know I have a lot of people around the world who are praying for me. I thank each and every one of them.
Nope, I am not exactly burning up the pavement so I doubt if you smell anything like burning rubber. But hey, this “bionic triker” is working on …
KEEPING ON TRIKIN’
and I am hopeful that eventually I can come close
setting my tires on fire riding on that asphalt 🙂
(that might be a pipe dream for someone nearly 70 years old)
update: I did not have any soreness after riding so that is good. I sure wish I had the crankarm shorteners so I can change the pedal position. The crankarms on the stationary recumbent exercise bike in rehab has the crankarms set at their shortest setting and I can pedal it fine. I did so today and got up to 100 rpm a couple of times which BTW was about 80 watts of power being used by my body. Most of the time though I pedaled at about 50 rpm. I really enjoy riding the recumbent bike, but they won’t let me ride it very long as they want to get onto the medieval torture they get paid for. 🙂
I love riding my tadpole trike on paved bicycle trails. In the area where I live (Fort Wayne, Indiana) we have an ever increasing number of trails. It seems each quarter (3 month period) the report comes out of more miles of trails added to the growing network. And that is exactly what is planned. I am just glad to see it come to pass.
Every once in a while I find myself looking up some locality and then wonder if they have any paved trails nearby so I start looking this up. Of course, some times I find very little if anything. But then again some times I am rather amazed at what I find. Some places which are even smaller than where I live have quite a lot of trails around.
Yes, as I look around the nation I see this same thing happening in many many different localities. It is great! I am so glad to see local govt. leaders and community leaders working to make this happen. And that is what is takes … getting involved to make it happen. I think multi-purpose trails are an extremely wise investment in any community and beyond. And the proof is there … these trails are a huge asset to any area.
And it is not only happening here in the United States, but in many other nations as well. For those of you who live places where it is not happening I feel your pain. I am sure there are various reasons for this. And I would imagine the number one reason is monetary. Building trails is extremely expensive. Here locally they cost an average of about $750 dollars a linear foot for a 10 foot wide trail. It is difficult enough to come up with the money needed where there is prosperity and the will. And there are always those who fight against it. Most of the time, however, it seems that eventually the trails get built despite those who oppose it. I for one, am happy about that.
Lots of people like having the trails to use, but few are willing to pay for them or help maintain them. That is sad.
Unfortunately for various weather related reasons the trails end up closed some of the time and unavailable to use. That is sad too.
If I were in a position to do so I would love to be able to travel around some and ride on various trails around the nation and perhaps even in other countries. That is not likely to happen though. So I am so thankful that I have local trails to ride on. And as soon as my new knee joints allow it I plan on “hitting the trails” again and try to …
It may not be “recumbent”, but it is Thanksgiving Day here in the United States. And if you eat too much turkey, etc. you might end up recumbent. 🙂
Our very first President got it started …
I agree … this message is timeless …
I can truthfully say that I am thankful that I grew up in the 1950s when there was still sanity in our society along with Biblical values and morality.
Ol’ Rush shares the Thanksgiving story every year …
And Paul Harvey tells us the rest of the story …
Here is a message about Thanksgiving from Ronald Reagan …
What is there to be thankful for?
Be thankful for what we have …
It is more than a holiday which comes one day each year. And it is not about all the family and friends gatherings, food, football games, parades, etc. It is about the realization and acknowledgement of our daily blessings which come from God alone and living our lives reflecting this in thanksgiving unto and before Him.
It seems that the further along we go in time the more we have to be concerned about getting “ripped off” is all too commonplace and those who are out to do such things unto us are becoming more and more inventive and sophisticated. We really have to be on guard to prevent becoming a victim.
I have had personal experience with this matter … not once, but several times. No, I have never been a victim of these unscrupulous people, but many have attempted to deceive me and add me to their list of victims. Thus far I have been onto them and thus have avoided becoming victimized. As I said, they are getting trickier and treacherous. I have been trying to sell my wife’s recumbent bicycle and about three times so far I have had attempts made to get me to “sell” the bike to such people. I have also experienced this when I was selling my own 2 wheel recumbent bike and my homemade tadpole trike.
I am sure some of you are already aware of what I am talking about and knowledgeable of the ways these SCAMMERS operate. For those who don’t know about this it is very important that you learn about it. By the way, this isn’t just applicable to selling tadpole trikes. The item being sold can be any number of different things.
Here is how these SCAMMERS operate and what to look out for:
They make initial contact with you responding to an ad you have placed to sell your trike. They appear to be a legitimate interested party. They ask you if the trike is still available for sale and probably what your “bottom dollar” is you will take for it. You could tell them a price higher than they could go buy it for new and it wouldn’t matter to them. They offer to buy it at the price you are asking. Even if you tell them that you won’t release the trike to them until any check involved clears all banks involved they continue on communicating further with you disregarding what you said. They say that they will send you a “cashier’s check” and go onto to tell you that they will have a company truck in your area at a near future date which will stop by at the address you provide them to pick up the trike. You have their cashier’s check and they have your trike. What could possibly go wrong, right?
A cashier’s check is safe and there is no concern with them. That is only true when it is a genuine cashier’s check issued by a legitimate bank. There in lies the problem. Their check is phony. It looks good and might very well even fool your bank, but as it is processed you will discover that you are without your trike and have no money. To make matters worse, the latest ingredient I know of these SCAMMERS use adds “insult to injury”. They tell you that their check will be for a greater amount than the price of the trike. They are paying you more as you will need to pay the truck driver whatever the charge is for transporting the trike. So now you are not only out the value of the trike, but you just paid someone out of your own pocket to haul it away.
HEY, be careful out there. It is a treacherous world we live in. In the midst of it all, try to …
The Niterider Saber 35 taillight is among the available offerings nowadays. I can’t say much for the mounting strap they use, but the price is right … $16.99 with free shipping on EBAY. And it is BRIGHT! The 35 stands for 35 lumens. With a built in lithium battery it requires recharging using a USB cable plugged into a standard 5 volt USB outlet whether it be a computer or a power adapter (transformer).
LED lights are everywhere these days and that’s good as they are a superior light, economical, bright and long lasting. That being said, not all lights are created equal when it comes to the power usage and battery life. This video tells what to expect as far as how long the battery charge lasts in each of its modes.
I have written articles about taillights before. There are lots of taillights available nowadays … far more than there were when I bought my taillights. At the time I bought one of the very best taillights available … the .5 (half) watt Planet Bike SuperFlash. I paid about $25 each for them at a local bike shop several years ago. The best price I can find on them at this time is $23.75 with free shipping at ModernBike.com. They are not as bright as this Niterrider light, but still I do highly recommend the Planet Bike SuperFlash taillights as they are sufficiently bright and very economical to operate. (I tried to find the lumen rating of the SuperFlash taillight, but didn’t have any success. If you happen to know what it is please comment and let me as well as others know.) The triple AAA batteries last a long time in them. I use rechargeable batteries in mine most of the time. Just carry extra batteries along with you and you don’t have to worry about being left in the dark. With the Niterider taillight it has a built in lithium battery which requires recharging from a 5 volt USB outlet. That is not very practical when you are out riding. And the Niterider taillight doesn’t last nearly as long per charge as the Planet Bike light. On the most economical mode it only lasts 12 hours whereas the Planet Bike lights I have last about 40 plus hours on its most economical flash mode. (BTW, the newer version of the Planet Bike SuperFlash lights supposedly last more than 100 hours on flash mode and is visible up to one mile. I have the older version.) So on flash mode the Niterider light would last long enough for one or two long daily rides, but you would have to recharge it each day or two if you used it long each day. That doesn’t appeal to me.
If you park your trike somewhere near a 120 volt electrical outlet you could use a power adapter outlet to plug a USB cable into to charge the light on the trike. Of course, the light is easy enough to remove from its mount to take to a place to charge it. Anyway, I like the brightness and the price. I just don’t like the mounting strap nor the short battery power.
Here is a look at the Planet Bike SuperFlash taillight. It has a far superior mounting system than the Niterider taillight.
One factor with all taillights and headlights to consider is the built in lenses as they can make a big difference in how well the light performs and can be seen. The pattern of the light as far as spreading out and being visible from the side vs. straight behind. The Planet Bike taillights have superior lenses which really make the “measely” .5 watts perform as well as lights which are far more powerful. That appeals to me since the battery life is so great with these lights. Planet Bike also offers a 1 watt version of this light. They are slightly brighter, but they also require more battery power and therefore don’t last as long as the .5 watt model does. Personally I don’t think there is enough noticeable difference in brightness between the two to justify the sacrifice in battery life. Also the one watt model has a “white-clear” plastic cover instead of red which I personally don’t care for. I don’t think it is nearly as noticeable as the red plastic. Actually much to my amazement I just found the one watt model available thru Ebay for less than the .5 watt model. It is only $19.94 with free shipping.
I just read that Planet Bike has a USB rechargeable version of the .5 watt SuperFlash taillight. It also stated the brightness of the newer USB rechargeable is not as good as the older original lights like I have. The newer light only produces 3 lumens which is extremely poor. Fortunately they do still offer the model which is powered by two AAA batteries.
Here is an interesting video showing how well the Planet Bike Superflash work even when up against a far more powerful light being used for comparison. Remember, we are only talking about .5 watts here.
Another factor is whether or not the taillight offers much side visibility. Some lights offer very little or none at all. The Planet Bike SuperFlash is superb in side visibility. There is a video by a customer review on Amazon which demonstrates how good the side visibility is.
I will say this … if you are after high visibility in daylight there are taillights which are superior to either of these. I have written articles about taillights previously.
Of course, I also highly recommend the use of effective highly visible safety flags in addition to the lights. I have written articles about this subject before. Many times I have had people comment to me that they saw my flags before they saw my flashing lights … from any direction. And, of course, side visibility is going to be very limited if you only have lights. Good safety flags can be seen from the sides and can make a huge difference in whether others see you or not.
Right along with safety flags of high visibility is wearing high visibility clothing.
I started out writing this article with the intent of it being just about the NiteRider Saber 35 taillight, but I ended up drifting over into writing about the Planet Bike SuperFlash taillights. I guess it is because I have been so pleased with mine. I love the long battery life which is somewhat rare with bike lights. I have seen other brands which have very poor battery life. Their brightness only lasts for a very short while in comparison.
I just found what looks to be identical to the Planet Bike SuperFlash taillight on EBAY for only $10.87. It doesn’t have Planet Bike shown on it however, so my guess is that it is an illegal copy (knockoff) probably made in China. If that is what it is I would caution you that it may look like the real McCoy, but may be lacking in quality … especially the lenses I spoke of. If that is the case, then it would not be as bright nor as visible. Also the battery life may be lesser. Then again, it may be very good quality. I would be leery of it myself.
Lastly here is another video of the Niterider Saber 35 taillight.
In all honesty, if I were in the market for taillights today I am pretty certain that neither of these choices would be my pick. There are just so many lights available nowadays and several are extremely bright. Riding at nighttime in darkness I would be quite content with what I have now. Riding in the daytime which is what I do I would prefer one of the brighter taillights that are available. But for now I will continue on using my Planet Bike SuperFlash taillights as they still work fine and have served me well.
I have noticed that as I am getting older I am slowing up some. I don’t ride as fast as I used to … nor as far as I used to … nor as long as I used to. In short, I just seem to be slowing down in my old age. Several others I have talked to have told me the same thing is happening to them. These bodies just seem to slowing down and no longer able to perform as they did years ago. I reckon that is just part of life. Speaking of slowing down …
Just a heads up … I have made the decision to make a change on this blog. I am not going to commit to posting new articles twice weekly like I have been doing. Instead I am simply going to post new articles “whenever I feel like it”. I am sorry to disappoint some of you, but it is either this or quit altogether. I almost did that as I just feel “burnt out” and wanting to quit. For now though I am going to continue on. I just am not going to put myself under pressure to produce new postings on a regular basis. I thank those who have been faithful readers of this blog. I appreciate you. Who knows, I may be back stronger than ever. I just don’t know the future at this point in time. I do not plan on deleting the blog like I did once before. It will remain up and available. I have made some changes. I no longer am advertising used trikes for sale for people. I have removed the ads which were posted. Sorry about that if one of them was yours. I just decided that I no longer want to be involved in it.
As most of you know I am undergoing total knee joint replacement and recovering from that. My right knee is completed and my left knee will be done soon. By the time this posts I will be about 8 days post surgery for the left one. It is not pleasant to go thru and makes it even harder to remain actively involved on this blog.
Some of you may have noticed that I have not been active on any of the Facebook recumbent trike groups for a few weeks now. That is because I withdrew my membership from all of them … quit “cold turkey”. And I don’t miss them at all. I am glad I finally made that decision and did it.
I am finding it harder and harder to come up with stuff to write about. Of course, I would guess that lack of motivation is as big of a factor as anything. That may or may not change as time goes along. I would rather be upfront and totally transparent with you that try to continue on without saying anything. Thanks for understanding.
Here is a video I filmed a couple of years ago, but didn’t publish it until just recently. It is a slow ride on some of the trails thru one of our local parks as well as a side trip out the far side of it into a subdivision where there is another trail I rode on before heading back to the park. The video was first produced using YouTube’s video editor. It was the first and only time I have used it. It did some strange things to it. You can see the trees, telephone poles, etc. bending and moving around as well as the sky and grass changing appearance. It was weird. The first musical selection on the video came from YouTube. All the rest I added later using my own video editor software. Anyway, this is a slow ride along some of the trails in Kreager Park. Just to give you some perspective, it is approximately two miles distance around the perimeter of the park. I am sure some of you have no interest in watching a video such as this. It is about 32 minutes long. I was simply riding slowly as I filmed the ride. Hopefully some of you will enjoy it and find it relaxing.
Here is a satellite image of the area:
One of our local bike trails is nearby right across the road running alongside of the river. It is the Maumee Pathway.
NOTE: I purchased one of these in Jun 2017. Don’t waste your money as it is a piece of junk! They advertise it as being loud, but I can barely hear it sitting right next to it. And it comes apart all too easily and readily. One good bump and what few parts there are would be all over the road. I got it for half price. They are no doubt selling them for half price trying to unload them on those who don’t know any better.
What do you call a bicycle bell that doesn’t look like a bell? That’s probably a loaded question, but let’s go with “Oi” since that is what I am writing about. I looked up the word Oi to see what, if any, is the meaning … “interjection. used to express surprise, pain, grief, worry, etc.” Well, I guess ringing a bicycle bell is expressing surprise. 🙂
I like these! They definitely don’t look like a traditional bicycle bell, yet they do sound much like one.
Here is a more technical video about this new product:
Yep, the Knog Oi Bell … It gets my vote. I just hope they don’t ring when hitting bumps like the conventional bike bells do. That’s why I have removed mine and gave up on them. I don’t like “dinging” as I ride along … not unless I instigate it. 🙂
As to the use of bike bells I have noticed that most of them are barely audible as bicyclists come up behind me. Hmmm, I wonder how this one will do. I hope I am surprised.
Just a quick note … I just arrived back home after my first (successful) ride on my tadpole trike after knee joint replacement surgery. I rode on a local trail. I only rode 3 miles on this initial ride, but that was enough for now. It sure felt good to be back out riding. I hope to be able to get back out a few other times to ride some more before my next surgery which is just a week away. Anyway, all went well. I didn’t have any problem pedaling. My new knee joint did fine. My old worn out one grumbled as usual as I rode along. Another week and it’s grumbling days should come to an end. 🙂
Later that day my leg muscles in both legs were hurting and as bedtime came on I was really feeling sore. So I took some pain medication and rubbed my legs with a muscle rub product. I was able to sleep pretty good and feel better the next morning. As much as I was looking forward to going back out riding the very next day I think it would be wise if I forgo it and allow the leg muscles to further recover. Anyway, it sure was great to be “back in the saddle again”. 😉
I came across a website recently that got my attention and thought it might be good to share it here. Accidents happen whether our fault or the fault of someone else including faulty products. BicycleLaw.com is the website of bicycle accident attorney, Bob Mionske, who was himself actively involved in cycling as a a former Olympic and professional cyclist until retirement from it in 1994. He practices law in all 50 States and has some free information, advice and articles on his website which one might find useful. Hopefully you will never need his services, but if you do his law practice that is exclusively focused on representing cyclists who have been injured by motorists, unsafe road conditions, or defective cycling products. He offers free consultation.
I love riding my tadpole trike on paved bicycle trails. In the area where I live (Fort Wayne, Indiana) we have an ever increasing number of trails. It seems each quarter (3 month period) the report comes out of more miles of trails added to the growing network. And that is exactly what is planned. I am just glad to see it come to pass.
Tadpole Rider 