Packing for the road (Slick Sun-Shield!)

This is one of the neatest SUN-shields I've ever seen done for a trike. Simple enough, using a couple of fiberglass flag poles and a little nylon material. It looks like he attaches the poles at the front via a rubber stopper he's drilled a pair of holes into to accept them. Fast on, Easy off, and lightweight to boot!

EDIT: See Recumbent RagTops

 

Don't see why not, you'd just need to find a semi-stable pivot-point on your handlebars. My guess is the rubber stopper (or similar) could be mounted such that it allows it to rotate in-place, so it'd stay (relatively) still when the handlebars were turned. Then the sun-shield should stay pretty stationary, even as you turned.

Below is a picture or two of how he's rigged his poles at the front of his trike, which looks like a rubber stopper to me.

 

Weston teacher biking across country as lesson to students

This summer, Tequesta Trace Middle School history teacher Rafael Giraldo is taking education on the road. For the next couple of months, he'll be biking across the country on a recumbent trike named Manifest Destiny, a modern-day version of an old-time adventurer.

''My trike,'' he said, ``that's no different than the Conestoga wagon of the settlers.''

But unlike the early settlers, he doesn't have to wait for the Pony Express to send word home about his discoveries.

Giraldo, who expects to be ''somewhere in the Great Plains'' when he turns 46 later this month, is equipped with gadgets like a Global Positioning System transmitter, a panoramic camera and a solar panel to charge his gear.

The former businessman who transitioned to teaching in 2004, said he wants to show his students the value of setting big goals and preparing to meet them.

''As a teacher, it is invaluable, the fact that I can tell a student this is something really enormous,'' he said. ``It can be done. Let me show you. Let me do it. And take that and incorporate it into your lives.''

Giraldo, who teaches eighth-grade U.S. history, flew to San Francisco on June 5 with his bike and started the journey the next day at the Golden Gate Bridge. His path will take him over part of the old Pony Express trail, through part of the Oregon Trail, to St. Louis, and eventually to Jamestown, Va., the first permanent English settlement.

He'll hit St. Augustine on the way back south and then return to Weston by, he hopes, Aug. 16. His plan is to travel between 70 and 75 miles a day.

Followers can track the progress of his 5,000-mile, 70-day trip on his website, www.tourofdiscovery.com, and check out photos, which he is loading daily. Already, he has posted photos of local sights, wildlife, signs that warn of a ''rough road,'' bike trails, himself in his biking gear and the trike parked next to horses, taco trucks and other larger vehicles.

He will also post blog items on the site each week and has a Facebook group dedicated to the trip.

The entire school has gotten involved in the action.

Paul Passman, a science teacher, had his students calculate how many calories Giraldo would burn and the average speed he would need to travel to make the journey. Media specialist Kathy Dillmeier is working on a summer reading website that will feature books that correspond with the 50 states, including those Giraldo will pass through.

Some students have even been selling $1 Tour of Discovery bracelets to help fund his journey.

''I have two of them,'' said 13-year-old Veronica Crespo, who helped sell the green bracelets.

Incoming eighth-grader Jeremy Schleicher, 13, said he thinks Giraldo will get a lot of teaching fodder on the trip. He'd already checked out the website a couple of times before the teacher left and said he thinks there will be plenty of challenges on the journey.

''I imagine that it could be hard to navigate through storms,'' Jeremy said. ``And also there are many pitfalls, such as holes. The roads aren't that good in many places.''

Giraldo, who is married with two teenage daughters, said he has been training for the past two years, including a spring break biking trip through the Andes in Colombia.

He has a canopy for the trike to protect him from the sun and rain, a tall yellow flag to protect him from other drivers and a camping mattress to sleep on.

Giraldo has gotten some financial support, including from the bracelet sales and a dance at the school, but is shouldering the bulk of the more than $10,000 cost himself. Because cash is scarce, he is planning to camp instead of staying in hotels.

He tells his students that they need to prepare to spend a good 20 years in school, and hopes his long-distance trip will help inspire them to think about their futures.

''It's really critical that they see that anything that's worth doing requires a lot of planning,'' he said.


source Miami Herald