"Obnoxiously" Bright

In figuring out what to wear in our cycling, we have gone to bike shops and looked around on the web. But we have also been looking at what other cyclists are wearing (you know, the ones running in packs with various colored, tight-fitting jerseys and shorts with ads all over them).

From what we could learn on the web (and we all know that everything on the web is true... ;-), and from what we have observed as we have ridden and driven around, multi-colored or multi-patterned jerseys, no matter how brightly colored or patterned, often fade into the surrounding background, especially on city streets.

We came to the conclusion that a single, bright color (almost obnoxious color), might stand out better. And we decided to go with that approach. The color in the photo below actually matches pretty closely the new warning sign colors that the city is putting up for pedestrian cross walks and the like (and in addition, one of the fire departments here in the valley has their vehicles painted this color -- though granted, they are big, have lots of flashing lights, and very loud sirens).

And as for those bike shorts... Hey, I'm almost lying down, so I want comfortable as opposed to aerodynamic. Hence the comfortable cargo pants. I still use reflective strips that I slap onto my pants legs (or around my ankles for when the pants change to cargo shorts during the summer).

Over Twelve Miles and Climbing

As practice for the Tour de Tucson, we headed over to Scottsdale and did a 12 and half mile ride along the Indian Bend Wash green belt. Twelve miles might not seem altogether that long, but for us (who have only been cycling again for the last two month), it was a good workout.

What’s nice about this area is that it has a wide, two-way, non-motorized path that runs the length of the green belt (north-south) with under- or overpasses for the major streets.

It was a bit warm today (mid 80s), but will seem like winter when we get to our summer temperatures of 110 or 115 (with 80s and 90s as the lows).

I think I will be looking into a helmet cam. It was a bit harrowing to be steering with one hand and holding a camera in the other.

Eye-to-Eye With Bumpers

Being eye-to-eye with the bumpers of most cars and trucks can be a bit disconcerting. As such I wanted to be noticed as much as possible. To that end, I have put some additional flags and color on the flag whip on the back of the trike as well as a number of lights.

Apparently color glow pink (fluorescent pink) does not occur in nature (or at least is rare), so the human eye picks up on it as something "unnatural" and draws the viewer's attention to it. So I have put some flapping glow pink ribbons on the whip just below the orange Catrike flag and also put some windings of glow pink duct tape on as well.

I thought it good to be seen from the front (for on-coming traffic). I found a headlight/tail light pair, the Ascent Jet Set, that is small, light-weight, yet extremely bright. The headlight holds five very bright white LEDs and can be set to be on steady or on in a strobing affect (which is very noticeable). I wanted to have two of these lights in the front, one strobing, one on steady. The Catrike has a rod and half T at the end of the pedal boom. This was fine for holding one light, but I wanted two lights and a computer there (it was convenient and easy-to-see to have the computer right in front of me – you can see that in the photo). I invested in an add on T-bar that slips into the end of the boom rod. You can check these out at http://www.hostelshoppe.com/ (the full location, which may change, was http://www.hostelshoppe.com/cgi-bin/readitem.pl?Accessory=983907300). I also had to get a shim to use this on my Catrike. This allowed me to place two of the Ascent Jet Set headlights and a computer on the front boom without interfering with my pedaling.

I outfitted the back of the trike with three tail lights. The center light (which is just the tail light from a Planet Bike 1200 light set) I keep on steady, and the two outside lights (the tail light portion of the Ascent highlight/tail light pairs) flash. Granted, during the day, these may not be that noticeable, but at dawn, dusk, or night, they really stand out. And as far as the front lights... My son told me, after riding toward him at night, that I looked like a very bright, flashing, glowing orb of light at around knee level coming down the street -- odd, but very noticeable.

Fresh Out of the Shop

When we decided to get into cycling and enter the Tour de Tucson, I decided that maybe a recumbent would be the best bet for myself. I was completely clueless at that time about recumbents and especially recumbent trikes.

Both my wife and I investigated trikes from various manufacturers, looking at size, weight, "features", and most importantly (at first anyway), cost. We looked at Greenspeed, Sun Trikes, Action Bent, Catrike, and many others. As a side note here, these trikes come in two major configurations: A tadpole (two wheels in the front and one in the rear) and Delta (one wheel in the front and two in the back -- like a "traditional" tricycle).

I was looking at spending as little as possible (as we all are) yet still get a reasonable machine that I could use and enjoy. We first looked at Sun trikes, but their being somewhat heavy, we started seriously considering the newer trike (T1 Tadpole) from Action Bent. This was around $1300. What I liked about it was the larger (700c) rear wheel. It had "standard" 20 inch front wheels (similar to other manufacturers' trikes). This was around November of 2007. Serendipitously (is that a word?), Action Bent did not have any in stock and wouldn't until after the first of the year (their supplier is in Taiwan). This gave me more time to investigate other makes.

When I first had started looking at tadpole trikes, I was very impressed with those from Catrike. However, their prices, though certainly not on the high side, were still higher than Action Bent or Sun. However, as I kept looking at construction and features, I was again impressed with Catrike and especially their "newer" model the Expedition.

I learned that a bike shop in Tucson, Ajo Bikes, was a distributor for Catrike. So when I was there visiting with some of my children, we visited the bike shop and got to ride an Expedition they had there. I was told later that when someone rides a recumbent tadpole trike for the first time, they grin all the way. Well, I was grinning. And I was sold. After some more deliberation, I decided the higher cost (the Expedition was going for $2550 at that time) was well worth it and ordered one.

Impatiently I waited (Catrike is a smaller, US company based out of Florida -- and apparently very popular). Then around the end of January my trike came into Ajo Bikes, was assembled, and I was there in a flash to pick it up. This photo is me on the Expedition shortly after picking it up and just before riding it around the University of Arizona campus for its first multi-mile tryout.

Welcome (And A Little About Us)

We are just getting back into cycling after a many-year absence. We were the support vehicle for my daughter and her husband in the 109 mile 2007 Tour de Tucson. We decided, "We could do that..." Well at least the 35 mile portion. So here we are (I decided to do it almost laying down):

We went out and got a new road bike for my wife and a recumbent tadpole trike for myself.We're busy with seven children and two grandchildren, but find time to cycle 2 to 5 miles almost every weekday and longer trips on Saturdays.We'll share our experiences as "re-cycled cyclists" on this blog as well as any insights we learn as a newbie on a recumbent trike.