More winter mods

The advantages of limiting extra structure are significant. Structure adds cost, instability and weight. However, the rainsuit way is not problem free either. There are two main problems with the rain suit approach.

First, it's inconvenient to put on and does add some minor friction to pedaling. That, I can't do anything about.

Second, the safety visor I use has a fogging issue. However, there are helmets and visors that have built-in defoggers. They are expensive but they do exist. A visor system would require quite a bit of 12V power. So, I would need to mount a 12V battery to the bike. If I had such a 12v battery, it would also make sense to power the other accessory lights from it as well.

This approach is not beyond imagination but it's currently beyond my pocket book. So, for now, I'm staying with the original visor. While I'm underway, I just flip up a bit for the wind to carry away my exhaled breath.

Trike traffic problem

Today, I had a problem. I was going to ride my trike on a relatively busy section of our downtown. (I had to wait quite a while for enough cars to clear to get this photo). The place with the arrow has a store around a corner. Staying close to the side of the road is usually fine except I've noticed cars on this section of the street go around that bend quite fast so they might not see me in time. Although there is a sidewalk, I really don't want to ride on it. Plus, I would have the problem of parking my trike when I got there. So, I had a radical idea. Lock up my trike at a nearby bicycle rack and walk! It's truly amazing how a car centered culture can change a person's thought patterns to make the idea of walking seem so new and revolutionary.

What's a quicklink, and why should I pack one?

Last evening, I was on my way home, gliding down the street when I crossed over some rather rough railroad tracks. This caused the bike to lose the quick link. This is a link I use to adjust the chain if I need to adjust the front chain crank longer or shorter. Since the crank is the way I like it and my legs don't normally fluctuate in size, I didn't think I needed to pack one of these. I would only need one if my original was lost - which unfortunately it was.

After a few minutes of mucking about, thinking of possibly fabricating a temporary link using some wire, one of the city DPW trucks stopped to see if I was OK. He pointed out that he couldn't see me very well and recommended I put on some reflective tape. So, after giving me a rag to clean off my now greasy hands, I decided a field-fix of the chain was not possible. So, I decided to push the bike home. I found I could steer the bike as I pushed it without needing to bend down by attaching a pull-string to one of the steering stalks.

So, next trip I'll be packing some cord, a plastic bag (for greasy broken parts), my multi-tool and of course an extra quick-link!

Going to Walmart

I decided to go to Walmart to pick up a convex mirror to stick on my nearly useless aftermarket bicycle mirror. However,the only way to get one was to go to Wally World via the sidewalks. I really don't like riding on sidewalks since it reinforces the notion that bicycles don't deserve the road. However, I didn't want to chance being run over by a fast driving petrol powered car either. So, I reluctantly took this naughty path to the store. When I arrived, I found that there was no specific place for bicycles to be locked up. However, the area was not totally hostile to cyclists. I found I could lock-up to a bench. Plus, cameras in the parking lot gave me a nice feeling that my bike would be watched over in some minimum way.