susanstinson (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
susanstinson) wrote2007-12-10 07:54 pm
susanstinson) wrote2007-12-10 07:54 pm
Entry tags:
Trike on Ice
Everything was glazed with ice today.
The first winter I had the trike, I was nervous about riding in the road, and tried to stick to the sidewalks. Since I had walked everywhere in all seasons before that, I was used to the fact that sidewalks are often poorly shovelled, slippery or not shovelled at all, but, on a trike, that could stop me cold. Riding in the road is so much better, even on a day like today.
But, getting on the bike path was a bit rough. I tried to go as fast as I could to get up the little hill at the entrance, but I found myself still on an incline with my wheels spinning with no traction on totally smooth ice. I tried to get off and walk it, but it was too slippery. The trike slid backwards, just a little, which was worrying, but then I kicked at the ground with my feet and got to a spot where a public works truck must have driven the path and crunched up the ice a little in its very swervy path. The path was flat by then, and, with lots of extra effort, I could keep moving. It's a steep and very icy short hill off, and then the road is unplowed for a ways, so I walked up most of that. The plow came by on the bike path right after me, putting down salt.
On the way home, I had trouble getting back on the path. The short, steep hill (it's like a ramp) was totally glazed with ice. I had to hold onto the posts that are there to keep people from driving onto the path, and skitter to the side where there were leaves in the ice that were frozen in rumply shapes that gave some traction. Once I got there, I was able to push the bike up the hill, and the path was completely clear down to the asphalt, from the salt and rain. The whole ride home was easy, so much of the ice had melted fast.
It cleared my head for writing. Plus, I got milk.
The first winter I had the trike, I was nervous about riding in the road, and tried to stick to the sidewalks. Since I had walked everywhere in all seasons before that, I was used to the fact that sidewalks are often poorly shovelled, slippery or not shovelled at all, but, on a trike, that could stop me cold. Riding in the road is so much better, even on a day like today.
But, getting on the bike path was a bit rough. I tried to go as fast as I could to get up the little hill at the entrance, but I found myself still on an incline with my wheels spinning with no traction on totally smooth ice. I tried to get off and walk it, but it was too slippery. The trike slid backwards, just a little, which was worrying, but then I kicked at the ground with my feet and got to a spot where a public works truck must have driven the path and crunched up the ice a little in its very swervy path. The path was flat by then, and, with lots of extra effort, I could keep moving. It's a steep and very icy short hill off, and then the road is unplowed for a ways, so I walked up most of that. The plow came by on the bike path right after me, putting down salt.
On the way home, I had trouble getting back on the path. The short, steep hill (it's like a ramp) was totally glazed with ice. I had to hold onto the posts that are there to keep people from driving onto the path, and skitter to the side where there were leaves in the ice that were frozen in rumply shapes that gave some traction. Once I got there, I was able to push the bike up the hill, and the path was completely clear down to the asphalt, from the salt and rain. The whole ride home was easy, so much of the ice had melted fast.
It cleared my head for writing. Plus, I got milk.
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I've been thinking about you, because I've been doing some web work for a nonprofit and am covetting your book.
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I took a quick look at the ice biking site, too. Wow. That's serious.
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What my brother does, is he has disc brakes and three sets of wheels that he can interchange (hence the need for disc brakes.) One set of very thin, high-pressure tires, one set of mountain tires for somewhat lousy conditions, and a set of monster studded tires for flat-out sheer black ice conditions. He can swap out tire sets in under a minute.
Much more difficult for you: swapping wheels on a trike is Very Tricky. However, depending on what sort of brakes you have and where they're located, it is possible to get tire chains for bikes -- they're fussy and wear somewhat quickly and don't work as well as the studded snow tires, but they're much more amenable to your hardware. I'll see if I can find some links.
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But, truth is, I'm stretching still to get to the very basics of trike maintenance (like I still don't have a very confident grasp on how often to oil my chains, although I'm coming to realize that it's a lot more often than I thought), and really went after the whole dynamo light idea with serious help for months, and didn't pull it off, so the answer probably is to try to stay on the roads and forsake the bike path when it's icy. Although, if you DO run across any 27" studded snow tires, I'd love to hear about it. (I love hearing about all of it, actually. All of the skills people have and those pictures of riding bike right through a snowy field with tires caked with snow -- who knew such a thing was even possible?)
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I must have missed the dynamo dynamics -- what was the problem? that there isn't a good place to mount a dynamo on a trike? I have half a dozen ideas on how to do that, but every one requires either welding or a machine shop, and most involve both. Hmmmm.
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But you're off, soon, for warmer environs in which the studded snow tire will be a moot point, yes?
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I like the idea of DIY studded tires, but out of 8 different implementations, I've yet to see one that was half as good as commercially available ones, and they invariably take 10x as long as the amount of work I have to do to pay for them from my paycheck.
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xxxx
Leah
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I did ride it off the side of a path once in the early days, but I never had much trouble steering and never any seat problems, myself. My seat is a little bouncy and moves a bit when I ride, but that's not a problem.
Also, the idea of you on a trike is a truly, deeply beautiful thing. You, I believe, would both grace and rock the trike. Maybe you would make triker movies. The possibilities are endless.