Human powered vehicles, a way to travel, conserve fuel and get exercise

[doobie]

How far do you think one could comfortable commute with a bike like this?

I usually ride 3.1 miles to the bus stop and take the bus in from there.  That ride is a breeze.  Sometimes I ride all the way in to work, which is a little over 11 miles, which still isn't too bad, although the first time I rode it I was sore afterwards.  Now I just stretch a little and I'm good to go.  I think I could ride a bit further, but I haven't tried riding more than 25 miles in a day since I bought the trike.  Some time this year I would like to try to ride at least 80 miles in one day, but I think I'll have to put some kind of hydration system on my trike so that I always have cool water to drink.  Right now I don't even have a water bottle cage mounted on it, but I can go 12 miles between drinks if I need to.

I guess riding 67 miles to work wouldn't be very feasible then

[Russell Kanning]

as soon as you got there ... you could start heading back

what if you biked 8-10mph?

in bad weather .... you couldn't even pull it off

[John Edward Mercier]

Its more than just the weather. An unmaintained surface increases the effort.

[Russell Kanning]

Its more than just the weather. An unmaintained surface increases the effort.

actually the unmaintained surface is not the problem .... it is the lack of melting apparatus on the vehicle that really increases the effort

[John Edward Mercier]

Well the snow is definately an unmaintained surface... but most of the surfaces they're pedalling on are paved or aleast graded to be flat and smooth. In the late 70s, they really cut back on that.

[doobie]

All the more reason to find a job up in Manch or Concord.

[John Edward Mercier]

In the late 70s, I was a pre-teen. They enacted local ordinance in Laconia for bicycle registration. You got this ugly little neon orange sticker for your seatpost. They tried to enforce an ordinance that you couldn't clothes pin a playing card to your wheel (made a cool sound when the spokes hit it)... but gave that up when they realized how many other moving violations we were creating.

[Pat K]

Whoa!! I could actually hear the sound of
Baseball cards rubbing against the spokes.

Flash back!! No acid required.

[jaqeboy]

How far do you think one could comfortable commute with a bike like this?

I usually ride 3.1 miles to the bus stop and take the bus in from there.  That ride is a breeze.  Sometimes I ride all the way in to work, which is a little over 11 miles, which still isn't too bad, although the first time I rode it I was sore afterwards.  Now I just stretch a little and I'm good to go.  I think I could ride a bit further, but I haven't tried riding more than 25 miles in a day since I bought the trike.  Some time this year I would like to try to ride at least 80 miles in one day, but I think I'll have to put some kind of hydration system on my trike so that I always have cool water to drink.  Right now I don't even have a water bottle cage mounted on it, but I can go 12 miles between drinks if I need to.

Hey, Tim! Bringing your trike to PorcFest? I was thinking we should have an HPV session at the Alternatives Expo. I could invite Ethan to come down from Wildfire HPV up in Arundel, Maine and get him to bring a couple of trikes to demo. That'd be fun for people to try.

[Russell Kanning]

you can test them against the hills

[Lloyd Danforth]

Whoa!! I could actually hear the sound of
Baseball cards rubbing against the spokes.

Flash back!! No acid required.

We used to tie slightly under inflated balloons on our bikes so the spokes would rub against them.  It made a great sound and sent wonderful vibrations to the rider.

[Nathan.Halcyon]

Not enough maneuverability for me. Not that I had much foolish pride to begin with, but with a gallon of premium hitting 4.109 here in Dallas at Racetrac, my cobalt ss going to get repossessed, I don't care how it affects my credit, if my mother fails to get her act together to trade her old caddy and my cobalt in for her honda.

In two months, I will have the 1,700 saved to get my Schwinn. I'm gonna be a bit of an odd sight on that. Gonna have to covert from GTBG gel to Elmers bluegoo to keep my mo in place. Also wondering if my remarkable intoxicated driving ability will translate well to operating such an infernal contraption?

[Recumbent ReCycler]

I really wanted to go to Porcfest, but just couldn't make it for several reasons.  I have been keeping a journal at http://recumbentcyclingdad.com.  This past Friday I rode about 34 miles, which I think took me a little over 3 hours when you add up all of my cycling time, not including stops.  I am thinking about trying to see how far I can ride over the Independence Day weekend, but I would need a destination and waypoints.  Any suggestions on where I should go and where I should stop along the way?  I was thinking that Thursday the 3rd of July I could head out after work and try to ride about 20 to 50 miles from Durham, then stop somewhere to eat, shower and sleep or shower, eat and sleep.  I noticed that after riding 34 miles in one day my legs muscles were pretty tight, so if I can find a good way to relax them at the end of each day, that would be good.  One possible option would be to try to ride all the way to Keene by the end of the day on Saturday.  If this trek works out, I may try to ride up to Burning Porcupine a couple weeks later.  So, would anyone like to invite me over either for a visit or to spend the night during that long weekend?  Hosts will be allowed to take my recumbent trike for a spin.  I'm thinking that I would like to try to spend Thursday night somewhere near Epsom, Concord, Manchester, Bedford or Henniker, with Bedford or Henniker as the farthest I would want to ride on Thursday evening.  Friday, depending on how far I make it on Thursday, I would like to try to go to somewhere around Bedford, Hillsborough, or even Keene.   I would like to spend Saturday night within about 50 miles of Keene.  I would like to spend Sunday night within 25 miles of Durham so that I can get to work around 8am.  If I don't get back for work by Monday morning, I'm sure my boss would be OK with that, but I wouldn't want to miss more than a day of work.  Does anyone have any suggestions for things to do during this trip?  Feel free to email me with suggestions, offers or ideas if you like.

[coffeeseven]

Is Trek the only bike made in America now?

[Russell Kanning]

I don't have a trek