Patti Is Home Again

Patti has returned from her trip to Idaho.  All went well on both ends. She had a great visit with her family. I managed to keep the lawn mowed and the cats alive while she was gone. I also managed to get our trikes put back together again -- all of our new components installed -- before she returned. We resumed our training the day after her return, wondering how our legs would hold up after 12 days off the trikes. We also were curious to see how our new Schlumpf High Speed Drives and Shimano internal transmissions would work out. Actually, everything went pretty well on both counts.

Don't panic! The truck in this picture was parked on the side of the road with a load of fertilizer for the farmers.

We have ridden 202 miles in the week since Patti got home. All but one of our rides were over 30 miles, which puts our training right on track.  We were shooting for rides in the 30-35 mile range this week, with one longer ride of about 45 miles. The new upgrades have performed flawlessly ... so far. We haven't managed to hit 40 mph yet. Our trikes, with their new upgrades, now may have the theoretical capacity to do. Nevertheless, it has become obvious that our 60-year-old legs still will be the primary factor limiting our top-end potential. 

On the other hand, we have had a great opportunity to test the lower gear ranges.  Almost all of our rides this week have involved cranking into 15-20 mph headwinds. Our Shimano transmissions have shifted, as Patti described it, "as smooth as butter." They have been a delight! Most shifts from gear to gear are virtually imperceptible.  The Schlumpf drives have been equally impressive. It's wonderful to be able to come to a complete stop on a hill, take a break, shift into whatever granny gear we want, and resume pedaling as if we were on flat ground. Couldn't do that with a regular bike!  Intersections are a breeze. We never find ourselves inadvertently stuck in the wrong gear. So far, we've been more than pleased with our new upgrades. "Thrilled" might be a better word! 

So, as we cruised happily along on our first days' ride, Patti praised me lavishly for getting everything installed without breaking anything.  We were back on the road again. The new components were working great, beyond our expectations. I was basking in the glow of a rare mechanical achievement. Life was feeling great again!! 

And then ....  

About 15 miles out, the chain tensioner on Patti's trike somehow came unscrewed from the trike's frame. Don't know why.  I screwed it in properly! No doubt about it! Nevertheless, the sudden separation of part from frame produced a terrible noise that brought us to a quick stop on the side of the road. The noise, we discovered, resulted from the disintegration of the little plastic idler wheel which puts tension on the chain. Patti, to her moral credit, did not recant her pervious praise of my mechanical ability. She just quietly got her tools out and put things back together again, sufficiently to limp back home. I, to my moral credit, just let her do it! Back at home, we found a way to tension her chain adequately without relying upon chain tensioners. I'm also pleased to report that the tensioner on MY trike has NOT fallen off yet!!

We took a day off the trikes on Wednesday to catch up on some of our other chores. We've discovered that riding 30+ miles per day -- when combined with time for breaks, lunch, and preparing HUGE post-ride meals -- has been consuming the better part of our time each day.  So, we took Wednesday off to catch up on our gardening, mowing, fish tank cleaning, and other routine tasks that still need to be done occasionally. Thursday, we did a 45-mile round trip to Monticello to buy some grocery items that our local store in Francesville does not carry. That ride also provided an opportunity to test our Cat Litter Panniers. They also worked out quite well. Next week, if all goes well, we hope to do our first 50-miler.

For any of you interested in the mechanical details, here are a few "before and after" shots of the new stuff we put on our trikes.

Before

Stock Front Chainring

Three sprockets and derailleur

After

Schlumpf High Speed Drive

One sprocket, internal planetary gears

Before

Stock rear gears and derailleur

Eight sprockets

After

Shimano Nexus 8 internal transmission

One sprocket, internal planetary gears, eight speeds

Before

Stock plastic idlers

After

TerraCycle titanium idlers

Recovery Week

We are taking some time off from riding this week to give our bodies time to rest and adapt to the stresses of training.  Patti is away on a trip to Idaho to see her family and attend our nephew's wedding.  I'm staying here in Francesville ... feeding the cats, mowing the lawn, digging the garden, and all those other fun things.  We had a pretty intense month in April.  Rode more than 400 miles. Did our first 20-miler, our first 30-miler, and our first 40-miler.  We've now logged more than 700 miles on our trikes since we started training in March. Our initial training goal of riding 50 miles per day now is beginning to seem very achievable.

I'm also playing with our trikes while Patti is gone (of course!) I've previously mentioned some of the upgrades we've been contemplating. I hadn't planned on doing any major upgrades this year. We wanted, before investing any more money, to give ourselves time to see how far we want to take this triking thing ... and to see just how much our old bodies can handle! However, it has become evident that some of the entry-level components that came stock on our trikes will not be up to the kinds of miles we're putting on them. The hard plastic idlers already are showing significant wear after only two months and soon would need to be replaced. We've also had problems with the rear derailleurs, especally on Patti's trike.  The front derailleurs, especially, have been a pain in the butt for both of us. The chains keep slipping off the chainrings, requiring frequent emergency stops and greasy black fingers to put them back in place. We've also found that the gear ratios on the stock drive trains limit our top speed to just a little over 20 mph.

 So, all things considered, we decided to take the plunge and invested in some higher-quality components. We're replacing the front derailleurs and chainrings with Schlumpf High Speed Drives. The rear derailleurs and sprockets will be replaced with Shimano Nexus 8 internal transmissions. The stock plastic idlers will be replaced with titanium idlers from TerraTrike. I ordered the parts before Patti left on her trip. Most of them have arrived.  I've been having a lot of fun (between mowing, gardening, feeding the cats and occasional cursing sessions when things don't fit right) putting everything together. Hopefully, I will have our trikes ready to ride again when Patti gets home late next week.

The new components represent a significant investment. They definitely weren't cheap! However, we expect them to provide some significant benefits in return. They will be considerably more durable and reliable than the stock components we took off. That factor is an important consideration for folks, like us, who will be putting on thousands of miles per year, sometimes far from home. The titanium idlers, for example, are guaranteed for five years. Also, the new components will require very little, if any, maintenance ... just a little oil lubrication from time to time. With only one sprocket on the front and one on the back -- and no need to use derailleurs to switch the chain between numerous sprockets -- there's virtually no chance that our chains will slip off. And, finally, the gearing combinations provided by the Schlumpf drives and Nexus transmissions will give us a top speed (potentially) of more than 40 mph ... if we have the legs and aerobic fitness to pull it off.  Downhill runs and tail winds should be a blast!  All things considered, I expect the upgrades to more than pay for themselves over the long term, despite the high initial cost. Time will tell.