When Arianna and I returned to the parking lot after that last ride, I spied these two delightful people, cavorting on their shiny, super-sleek Trikkes:
Ken and Dana are very friendly — and great sports, too, as you can tell from their willingness to pose so that I could capture the essence of them and their Trikkes! (Or is it that Trikkes just naturally make people joyful? They have that effect on me . . . )
This section of the Brandywine Trail currently ends next to a shopping center. There’s this shop:
and this one (which is actually wonderful, considered within the context of the genre):
That second one features a “Pub” and an extensive selection of all kinds of edible goodies from small tins of yogurt to full meals, ready to serve and consume on the spot.
Should you wish to pick up household goods while out on your cycle, the first shop’s a good bet. Or you could stop into the “Pub” for lunch ant pick up a few groceries at the same time.
At this particular point, the trail is sandwiched between Route 202 (a major highway) and the shopping center. The stores and pavement are hardly scenic, but the other side of the trail is. In any case, there’s something weirdly wonderful about cycling along a greenway that offers such proximate access to the stuff of suburban life.
Isn’t that when cycling is at its best? When it’s part of the everyday, ordinary world?
OK, maybe it’s not “best” then, but this kind of proximity is great for inveigling non-cyclists to consider how perfectly ordinary — how perfectly natural — cycling can be.
I might take a shopping list next time, leave from the trail’s parking lot, get my cycling in, stop and shop, and cycle back. Much nicer than simply driving to the store. Though, sadly, I still have to drive to the trail. Maybe that will have changed in the next few years; expansion is coming.
Arianna: 11.47 miles
The bearings froze in one of Arianna’s vintage pedals, so replacements were installed. Her original ones are white rubber, but there wasn’t any quick way to get ahold of anything similar. The bike shop had these in stock, in black, which are vintage style:
(They’re symmetrical; I’m a terrible photographer.) The shape is slightly rounded, kind of retro-looking — very close, in fact, to that of Arianna’s originals. And these new ones have reflectors on the sides, just like the originals:
For some unknown reason, there are quirky little hearts on the ends. I’m not a “hearts” kind of person, but I have to agree that the design somehow suits the pedals. And Arianna, for that matter.
Most importantly, the replacement pedals work beautifully. Sometimes function before form is what really matters.
A day of many errands, run on Pegasus. Spotted this (huge) colorful house:
When I lived in San Francisco, we called these homes “Painted Ladies” — though the architecture in San Francisco is a bit different, and these colors are also not the most common ones seen there.
Pegasus: 20.67 miles
Two of us rode a new (to us) section of a familiar trail, ending up in a little town called Phoenixville, where we stopped at a coffee shop and had a sweetheart shake:
It was a coffee shake — not too sweet, and definitely for adults. Just the thing on a very hot day.
There was no place to lock our bikes, so we bracketed a street sign. No road bikes here; that’s a mountain bike, and my little folder.
The coffee shop is called “Steel City“. It’s kind of a gritty place, with great employees and equally great coffee. Upstairs features comfy couches, and arched glass doors
Arianna made it half way without a problem, but on the return, the pedal that had been recently fixed jammed again and again. It’s a different problem (maybe a damaged bearing?), but it will have to be addressed. The ride back was not a lot of fun.
Some difficulties are to be expected, as Arianna hasn’t been ridden in decades. I’ll say this for her, though — she does glide along, and she’s a lot of fun to ride. (When the pedals work!)
Arianna: very humid, 13.08 miles
A quick little ride on Arianna, previously unrecorded.
Arianna: 10.14 miles
My new GPS tells me that I failed to record two of Arianna’s trips in July. Whoops. No matter, I’ll simply record them in a couple of catch-up posts.
Worse, I went out of town, and am waaaaay behind on more than those two. it’s nearly the end of August, and I thought I’d already published a bunch of posts that have actually been sitting in the Drafts folder.
I’m just going to publish them, because I’ve got three more from this week that need to go up, too. Here’s the first of the oldest batch (short and sweet, thank goodness):
I’m not sure that I took a photo on this trip, so I’m cribbing this one of Arianna, geared-up with water and so on, on the side of a trail on a different day:
Arianna: 13.52 Miles
Pegasus finally made it to the shop, but not until the Pegasus rescue vehicle saw a mechanic for its own difficulties, and I got back from a trip out of town. Pegasus’s excellent mechanic restored his fender to its appropriate condition (a strut broke in two during my last, 50-mile ride), and adjusted his gears. Here’s Pete, of Hybrid Cycles, finishing the test ride after the adjustment (he only rode on the sidewalk for that last little bit. Cool sidewalk, isn’t it?):
I’ve ridden a total of approximately 600 miles on Pegasus, so the gear adjustment didn’t come as much of a surprise.
This ride was just a quick errand run. Here’s Pegasus, unloaded, afterward, with grocery paraphernalia still in his basket:
I put the high-vis triangles on the back when his fender was missing. Pegasus looked a lot less obvious without his bright red fender. I’m into the florescent green/yellow, so I’ve just left the triangles on the back. If someone clobbers me, I want to know that there wasn’t any excuse not to see me and my trike.
Pegasus is running beautifully again, and I ‘m really happy to have the broken fender strut (and fender) replaced.. Pete mentioned that he thought that the Chinese still don’t get this “tempering thing” when it comes to metal. I’m just hoping that the strut fatality was a one-off.
Pegasus: 91 degrees, but felt much hotter 7.15 miles
Whoops, failed to post this in July.
In spite of various issues, July turned out to be a pretty good month for cycling. I started riding on two wheels on trails, and did my longest ride ever on Pegasus: 51.30 miles. Whoo-hoo! That was a real milestone: a half-century. A pedal-assist half-century, but a half-century, nonetheless.
(Even the manufacturer will tell you that, under ideal conditions — these weren’t — Pegasus’s battery can be expected to run for only 30 miles. Suffice to say, those were my legs doing most of the work.)
In April, I figured that I’d be pleased if I’d managed to ride 500 miles by October. But look where I am at the end of July . . .
I’m a happy camper. Or cyclist. Or whatever!
Pegasus Total, July 2012: 78.42 miles
Arianna (and other two-wheelers) Total, July 2012: 85.28 miles
Total for July: 163.70 miles
Total recorded mileage for season: 536.93
A longish ride on Arianna, on a very hot day. (And in July, even though I’m not getting around to posting this until August 2.)
Saw a woman on the trail riding a Trikke (click through to see a rather silly-looking image of a police officer patrolling on one). I’ve ridden one, and they’re lots of fun.
They do take up an awful lot of room on the trail, which can’t be fun when there are a lot of other people (and/or cycles) around. Propelling one requires a fair amount of side-to-side swaying across some broad territory. There weren’t many of us on the trail this time, though, and the Trikke rider was quite considerate, so all was well.
Arianna: 17.08 miles
Image from Trikke’s website
Road Trike ~ cycling through mid-life and beyond 