My most recent ride in 2024 (part XVII in the series)

Snow and cold in middle TN too!
May get in a ride next week when this ‘white stuff’ and ice are gone.

 

I actually got out for a ride at the beginning of the month. Just a short thing. Then the weather took a nose dive. 0 F? No thank you. I admit, I've been fairly chicken even about riding in 25 F.

But the last 4 months have been hellish. Covid, flu which was worse than the Covid had been, injuries. Combine that with some of the coldest weather we've had in over a decade, it got in the way of winter riding.

The most recent cherry on this riding disaster Sunday was when I was having pain in my lower leg last week. I thought it was just from all the limping from injuring my knee and then badly twisting my ankle. Turns out, no. A blood clot. That merry mess kept me from riding for a few days even when the weather was more favorable. So, yesterday when my leg was feeling mostly okay and it was above freezing, not raining, I was GOING TO RIDE, durnit! And I did, even in spite of winds with gusts of over 30 mph. Just a short toodle around the river between Kungsängen and Uppsala. 3.6 mph and so slow thanks to chunky tires with studs and ground being a morass of mud beneath the gravel because of rapid snow-melt and rain. A whopping 3.6 miles at a blazing 2.9 mph moving average. But I really didn't want to push too hard and have the blood clot do something vicious. I have clearance from the doctor to ride, worry not.

Full ride description - https://terii.wordpress.com/2024/02/24/determined/

Can also read about the clot event in the previous post, but it's fairly standard hospital chatter.

Terii

 

Good weather here in middle TN!
I hope to get in a short ride tomorrow!

 

Hope the blood clot situation clears up soon!

 

Thank you for the support! This blood clot has been a quick and easy cure. Just 4 days after the hospital visit, I'd say I was able to stop limping with just vague tightness in the calf. Now, I'm walking the same as I do on any given day. Just gotta take a little care about not getting cuts and bruises.

Been getting out for rides, which of course, have write ups on my blog.

Hope all is good with everyone!

Terii

 

Hi all!

Just popping in to say I've actually been managing to ride, though not as consistently as I would have liked. Still, for distance, this is the best March I've had since 2016!

Blood clot seems fine. No limping. No side effects from the medication. Just being cautious.

My trike has developed some issues. One of my brake levers went all floppy and useless. The cycle shop owner says it looks as if grit got into the seal to let air in or the fluid out. So, that needs replaced and I need to find a way to shield the brake levers from the grit. Even cleaning them can shove gunk through the seals, so protection it is. Just how? Something to ponder.

Also, it looks as if the pawls in the rear hub have started acting out as they had in the old hub last summer. Neil was baffled by that as it shouldn't have happened so fast. All I know is that it's exactly how it was last year before we went to Norway when I couldn't use my 3 or 4 largest sprockets in the cassette because the drivetrain would lose resistance for half a turn or so of each pedal stroke. Right now, it's just my 36 and 34 that are unusable.

Still, 2 rides over 2 days at the railtrail between Rimbo and Rånäs. Posts for the write up as ever!

Hope all are well!

Terii

 

Good to hear you are still riding. I've been on a quiet mode for a while. Last year was horrid...but Willie G check on my bent yesterday and its looking good and the weather is good, so I might just get out and have myself a little ride. It's been so long though, since I've ridden it'll probably be like learning all over again. We'll see.

 

Weather and health have been on and off in middle TN. i do get out and 'play in the street' a little on warm afternoons. Looking forward to warmer weather and getting back to the local greenways!

 

Quite a bit has happened since I last was able to post on here! For some reason, for a few weeks, any attempt to reach the forum had me routed to some church group web site. Not what one expects to see with a site address of 'recumbentriders.org'

I didn't get a lot of rides done in April sadly, but two consecutive days of rides were special! My husband had a trip to Denmark scheduled. A full week! I wasn't going to go at first because the trike had gear issues, which turned out not to be the pawls as it had seemed from my experience last summer, but the derailleur itself was dying and couldn't do the 'stretch' to my hill climbing gears. It turned out my whole gear system needed replacing. Derailleur and shifters. That turned into a bigger headache than expected. The shop didn't have anything that would work to my needs. If I wanted to stick with twist shifters, then I'd have to go to 8 speed. I REALLY didn't want to do that as I love the steps between the gears with my current 11 speed set up, thank you very much. All that was available here in Sweden for 11 speed shifting though, was trigger shifts and none of them would work in the orientation of the trike's handlebars. Briefly looked into a Rohloff, but GAH the cost!

Without access to my granny gears, no way to tackle the hills of Denmark. But my husband pushed a bit. Surely there must be SOMEWHERE flat in Denmark I can ride? Well, I actually found a rail trail! About 9 miles long. I found what appeared to be an absolutely PERFECT B&B to stay at in an old watermill. So, okay! I'd do 2 days of riding there over a 3 night stay.

It was frustrating at moments, but I'm really glad Jens pushed me a little to come. It felt so nice to get off the Rimbo-Rånäs rail-trail I'd been overusing of late.

Posts of course are on my blog about all the rides since I was last able to access the forums. Tedious details of getting my gearing situation handled. Finally did.

Quite a few posts from the end of March and making another one today about another Rimbo-Rånas rail-trail ride and another to follow that in the next day or two for the river path around Kungsängen.

Enjoy!

https://terii.wordpress.com/

Terii

 

Well my recumbent days are numbered. I still own two Bacchettas. I keep one at home in Knoxville, TN. The other I keep at our Florida condo. I am at our Florida condo now. After owning our condo for 9 years, we are putting it up on the market and plan to stay closer to home. With that in mind, I am putting my Bacchetta Corsa up for sale here rather than transporting it back to Knoxville and selling it there.

For two days now I have been riding Rte 399 between Pensacola Beach and Navarre Beach. It is a great ride I have enjoyed for over a decade. But these are the last times I will be riding it. It is a bitter sweet moment. But I am cherishing them.

 

Teri,
I always enjoy your ride reports! You are the only person I know of in the Northern Europe area and I like your descriptions of places and the local sights. Looks like some engineer didn’t understand the issues of heat expansion when he was designing the bridge! He needs to get that corrected! Do you see many other trikes on your travels? Or is it mostly two-wheelers?
I really like good strawberry ice cream too! But it’s hard to find a good one. Many years ago I had some strawberry sherbert in Louisville, KY. It was the best and most intense strawberry frozen treat I ever had! Unfortunately the shop closed down or moved and I can’t find out what happened it. I’ll keep looking for it and enjoying the hunt!
Take care and keep pedaling!
Uncle Chunk

 

Hi all!

Sorry to hear about you parting ways with your Bacchetta and Florida, Jon! Are both of them going or just the one in Florida? It would seem odd to be on here without you!

And thanks for expressing your appreciation for my posts, Uncle Chunk! As for the bridge, they're now saying it wasn't the heat, but that it was 'assembled wrong'. Like that's even better? *smirk* It's still close as of my ride this morning.

And I hate it when good places close. There was a little cafe in one of the old parts of Uppsala that also sold home made ice cream. Every day was a different collection of flavors. One of my all time favorite ice cream flavors was a regular in their rotation. Cherry chocolate crunch. Most days during the summer, I'd ride there with the husky and sit in the shade, savoring that perfection. Then came the tragic summer I rode there to discover they were closed and a sushi place of all things had opened in their place as if Uppsala doesn't already have one of those on every corner. The sushi didn't even make it through the summer before it closed. I don't even know what's there now. :/ It must be like 8 years now and I still get steamed when I thinking about it.

More posts on my blog as I've managed to get out and ride some more!

https://terii.wordpress.com/2024/05/

Terii

 

I am just selling the Bacchetta in Florida. I still plan to keep my Strada in Knoxville. I have had the bent on Craigs List down here and have had only one person look at it. They never rode a recumbent before and thought the learning curve was too steep. For them I agree. So I might just be bringing it back up to Knoxville (i have a bike rack down here also) and sell it there. We shall see.