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LOSING INTEREST
I will be 79 very soon … getting up there. I started riding tadpole trikes back in 2007 when I was 61. I have put a lot of miles on over those years … over 170,000 miles. But I have noticed that I have slowed down. I was able to ride about 23 mph in the early days but with each passing years over the last 7 or so years my top speed and my usual cruising speed (about 18-20 mph) have dropped considerably. My top speed is about 15 mph … which I can’t maintain for very long and my usual cruising speed is now down to 10 mph. I used to have a strong desire to get out there each day and ride. That is gone. I can go several days with no desire or interest in riding. I still enjoy riding when I force myself to go but my motivation has certainly changed.
My wife is 10 years younger than me and still works. She doesn’t want to quit working yet even though she is past normal retirement age. She does plan on cutting back on her hours starting next year.
At one time we planned on riding tadpole trikes together. I don’t know if that will ever happen or not as she really doesn’t have much interest in it. We have talked about making some day trips and riding on some other trails even though we have about 140 miles of local trails where we live.
I have thought about selling the trikes now but I hesitate to. After all, riding them is the only form of exercise I get.
Winter is upon us … cold, windy and snowy. That certainly curtails any riding for me. And it definitely would prevent my wife from riding. The weather just suddenly changed. One day is was still fairly comfortable and the next day winter was upon us. It was like somebody flipped a switch. Hmmm, I wonder what Christmas Day and New Years Day will be like. I used to take annual rides on those days weather permitting.
Why am I telling you all of this? Just maybe there may be others going thru the same thing. Please feel free to comment. I don’t know if this is normal or not. I have to tell myself to …
KEEP ON TRIKIN’
BICYCLE AIR PUMPS & TIRE PRESSURE
Published by Steve Newbauer on August 25, 2017
Most recumbent tires are high pressure tires … up around 100 psi. If you don’t have an air compressor at home or in your motor vehicle I strongly recommend purchasing a floor type bicycle air pump … one designed to pump high pressure … preferably 140 or 160 psi. That way when you pump up a 100 psi tire you aren’t maxxing out the pump to accomplish it … or maxxing yourself out using it. 🙂
In fact, I suggest getting one of these pumps even if you do have an air compressor available to use as they are quite handy and practical.
Most good quality pumps nowadays have a built in gauge making it very handy. I suggest checking the accuracy of the gauge initially and from time to time to be sure you are getting the right pressure in the tires.
Here are a couple of examples of pumps available.
Blackburn air tower 3 bike floor pump
Park Tools PFP-4 Professional Mechanic Floor Pump
They can be purchased at your local bike shop. I want to emphasize that it is best to buy a good quality pump and not settle for some inferior pump at a lower cost. I don’t think you would regret paying more for a quality pump. I would also suggest that you talk to a local bike shop mechanic to get their recommendation as to what pump to buy. You could also research them online to get customer feedback.
I am not making any recommendations as to what pump to buy. I am only showing these two as examples of what is available. There are lots of different ones out there. The first pump I have pictured above is a Blackburn Air Tower 3 Bike Floor Pump rated at 160 psi. To the best of my knowledge it is a good quality pump.
The second pump I have pictured above is a ParkTool brand which normally they make pretty good quality stuff. However, the customer reviews of this pump are not all that impressive. That is surprising.
Most pumps nowadays have a dual head on them so that either Presta or Schrader valves are accommodated.
The pump I have is a Pedros Domestique air pump. It is a good pump, but I know that there are better ones available.
In case you didn’t know it an innertube loses air on a continual basis so it is necessary to inflate them from time to time. That’s right … air leaks right thru the rubber so they are constantly losing pressure. The higher the pressure the more they leak down. It is important to keep your tires inflated to the correct pressure. You will get better wear, mileage, handling, and performance out of your tires as well as make it easier to pedal along since low air pressure equates to more rolling resistance.
It is also important that you never over inflate your tires beyond what they are designed for. Doing so can result in destroying the tire and causing a major tire failure which could be disaterous at worst and leave you stranded at best.
I once put about 10 psi more in a knobby tire I used for winter riding. About 10 miles from home I noticed something which wasn’t right in the ride … a pronounced thump of sorts. I stopped and got off to look. My rear tire was literally coming apart … separating from too much pressure in it. Fortunately I was only about a half of a mile or so from a local bike shop so I made it over there and got a new tire. The tire that had just gone bad would have lasted me for several years more if I had not over inflated it.
Yes, proper tire inflation is quite important … especially if we all want to …
KEEP ON TRIKIN’
A FREE GIFT awaits you!
HOW TO CHANGE AN INNERTUBE
Sooner or later if we ride any kind of a cycle with pneumatic tires we are likely to get a flat tire. Many of us have been fixing flats since childhood so we can handle flats when they happen. However, some riders have never done so and don’t know how and are intimidated by such a challenge. In today’s world there is help as close as our computers/smartphones/tablets. There are quite a lot of tutorials available in the way of videos where things are not only explained, but they are shown making it even easier to understand. Here is one such video which is pretty comprehensive:
