# Shiny shiny ...



## Arch (23 Jul 2010)

Well, I hauled the average up to over 11 this week on my 50 miles of commute....

Anyway. I'm thinking about kit. I know it's a bit early with 3 years to go, but it doesn't hurt to think ahead...

The bike. Well, the trike. Did I mention I was planing to do LEL on a recumbent trike? At the moment, my mount of choice is my Catrike Dash. Here he is, loaded up on the way to France this summer.







Why the trike? Well the main pro, of course, is the comfort. After a long day in the seat, my legs might be knackered, but my bum is unsore, and my shoulders and neck unstiff. All I have to do is make my legs go further and further. Another plus is that the stability downhill lets me go at speeds I couldn't bring myself to on two wheels. My top speed so far is 37.5mph - on a bike I'm braking before 30. Letting it roll downhill could help edge that average speed up. The low recumbent position makes headwinds less of a struggle than upright, although they can still be a drag.

There are some cons however. A trike will weigh more than a bike, of course - there's the extra wheel for a start. The Dash is a very petite model, and because of that it's lighter than most trikes, but it's still a couple of kilos more than a relatively cheap road bike. The extra wheel adds a touch more drag - but with slick tyres, it's minimal. So it's just that extra weight. I'll have to lose that off myself instead.

As he stands, Midge (short for Midget...), is set up fine for touring. He has a double up front and a 9spd cassette, and I'm starting to find that downhill I can spin out in top gear. To take advantage, I'll probably need to upgrade to a triple at some point, or just have a wider gap between larger and smaller ring. My lowest gear gets me up everything I've encountered so far, with a minimal amount of grinding. As my legs get stronger, I'll revisit the gears.

So, trike sorted, and onto accessories. Lighting is the main issue - at the moment the trike is rarely out after dark and I have a fairly cheap set of LED lights front and rear. For more serious through-the-night training, and LEL itself, there's a choice to be made - battery, or dynamo? Generally I'm a dynamo fan, I like the idea of lights that are there, and available all the time. My winter bike has them, and for daily commutes in the dark, they are unbeatable. The most efficient way to have a dynamo is the hub type, with very little resistance, and no slippage in the wet, which can be a problem for the bottle types. But on the trike, there's an issue - whereas a bike can easily have a rear wheel with derailleur gears and a front with hub dynamo, the trike front wheel requires a specialist hub, since it's supported on one side only. They exist, but they aren't cheap, and I'm on a budget. Battery lights then? Perhaps. It means carrying spare batteries, or buying them en route, and changing them when they run out. On the other hand, I'd carry battery back ups even if I had a dynamo. And really decent battery lights are an investment too. It's a good thing I've got 3 years to decide...

Navigation. I like maps, and an OS Landranger is easy to follow and convenient if you only want to go about 50 miles in any direction. But carrying enough for London to Edinburgh would be quite a weight penalty. You get a routesheet, of course, but it's nice to have a map backup. So eventually, I think, I'm going to have to drag myself into the 21st century with a GPS. Again, 3 years is a long time - who knows what gadgets will be available by then!

So. I've got some saving up to do, and some choices to make. But shopping is such fun!


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