Recumbent ride
10/11/24
Shopping and ride to Whitegate on the Grasshopper. Or, a Lotta Leafy Litter.
Time was, I’d just hop on a bike and go if I needed something from the local shops. When you’ve acquired several bikes as many have on this forum, life gets more complicated. As I’ve not been able to ride much recently for various reasons, the Grasshopper being the newest and least familiar has been at the top of the list. The Spirit is so easy to ride for urban shopping, the Linear is so familiar and I’ve mastered its quirks. The Grasshopper needs more time in the saddle as it still has the potential to catch me out. So, the Grasshopper it was.
I had a shopping list, the panniers were already attached. It was Remembrance Sunday so I remembered to wear a poppy. Most years I have attended the Service but this year I’ve been rather overwhelmed by other things. The Service was over by the time I set off, but there were bound to be plenty of people about in the town centre.
So, out through the back gate, across the road then sorted myself out to go to the right. Adjust the mirror, make sure my gilet pockets were zipped up so things wouldn’t fall out. I didn’t feel great, and crowds of people weren’t really what I wanted to see. I had a little trepidation as I’d not ridden this bike for over a week. Still, stand flipped up, right foot on pedal, and launch. I’d adjusted the boom a little after my last ride so was assessing whether it might need a little more. I soon came to the uphill traffic lights on Swanlow Lane which remained green while I toiled through them. It felt as though my get up and go had got up and gone today. I made the best of it and trundled onwards to the A54 roundabout. Busy traffic today, but I was able to keep moving through a gap, right round and then downhill. I clicked my way into high gear but was stopped by a red pedestrian crossing light.
Once rolling again, I signalled to the right and worked my way over to the filter lane for the town centre. I was stopped by another red light but at least had the benefit of being able to stop at the cyclists’ advance stop line, ready to go.
Once under way to the town centre I joined a cycle lane on the pavement and followed it left at the next junction, left through some bollards and alongside a supermarket car park. As I’d anticipated, there were plenty of people about so I wended my way through them to my usual parking space alongside a barrier. Once chained up, I left the bike and went inside.
I returned and loaded the panniers up. No photos, as there were just too many people about. I just had to get out of Dodge. I wanted to do a few miles to see how I felt afterwards.
Across the car park, left at the exit roundabout, left at the next one, straight at the next lights across the dual carriageway, then immediately right through some bollards into the old High St. Still not feeling great, but the freewheel down the long hill was pleasant. Near the bottom I passed a group of teenagers. I heard someone say, “What is that?” someone else said, “Is it a bike?”. Sounds like I’d started off a discussion as I disappeared downhill.
At the bottom of the hill, left on to New Road, which becomes Bradford Road. On the more open road here the seat recline was noticeable, as when I leaned my head back to a comfortable angle my forward vision became blurred. Due to wearing varifocal specs the distance part of the lens is near the top while the close up or reading part of the lens is at the bottom resulting in a balancing act between sharp vision and neck comfort. I made a mental note to dig out some old single vision specs when I got home. This might just be one solution. For other reasons it would be more useful to somehow make the seat more upright. I passed the end of the Whitegate way and continued for a short distance before turning round in the entrance to the salt mine. I returned to the Whitegate way, turned in and stopped under the trees. A carpet of brown leaves covered the trail to the vanishing point.
There is a gradual uphill between here and the old Whitegate Station site. I set off and soon a couple of cyclists came the other way with occupied child seats. They said “Hi” and I responded.
The old Catsclough crossing appeared in the distance and slowly got closer.
Though you would need a magnifying glass to see it in this picture!
There are two gates, one on each side of the lane that crosses the old railway. The narrow pedestrian and cycle access at the first gate is on the left, and at the second it is on the right. This is a good test of low speed bike handling, with all the leaves and concealed ruts, and I was pleased that I was able to ride through them both without stopping.
There were plenty of leaves about, more than I remember from previous years. From time to time a cluster of them would be swept into the mudguards, make a noise for a few revolutions then be swept out again. It was noticeable that there was a good amount of mudguard clearance. It was better than the Linear in this respect, with its limited clearance being an unexpected disadvantage arising from its 700C rear wheel conversion. The Spirit has similar mudguard clearance to the Grasshopper, helped by them both having disc brakes. In these conditions, probably being mudguardless is the best option.
I plodded on, passing a few walkers. A very faint drizzle started. I came to the slope down to the road where a former bridge over Grange Lane had been removed. Remembering that the front wheel was under my knees helped with getting down the narrow leaf strewn slope and through a barrier. I paddled across the lane, through another barrier then got lined up in bottom gear to get up the steep ramp to the old railway. I sat and looked at it for a minute. It was wider than the slope on the other side, certainly looked steeper, and gravelly and leafy. It was also now wet. I wondered, given the seat recline, how I’d cope if I stalled part way up. I suppose the answer is, don’t stall. Then again, I’d got up it easily on every other bike I’d owned over the years. So I just pedalled up it with no drama.
I carried on through an obstacle course of dog walkers, families with small kids on bikes and random mountain bikers who were all out despite the intensifying drizzle. I crossed the bridge over Whitegate Road and proceeded under the now-dripping trees to Whitegate Station car park. I stopped at the conveniences to inspect the plumbing.
It was noticeably raining now, but since I was here, I carried on a bit further. I stopped under the station bridge to shelter from the rain. Up to this point, with some slow riding and tight manoevreing my heel had made contact a few times with the front mudguard. I’d not let it bother me, apart from one instance when the contact had threatened to flip my right shoe off.
The wet leaves were more sticky now, with an occasional zizz from somewhere where they had accumulated. I couldn’t see anything, though the panniers didn’t help access at the rear. I carried on for another quarter mile before turning back. If not for the rain I would have gone further. It was mostly downhill on the way back, though the bike wasn’t freewheeling as well as expected. Again, crowds of people, undeterred by the rain, so I didn’t get much speed up. I stopped under a tree for a quick photo before the next knot of people appeared.
I came to the steep down ramp, this time full of really wet leaves which I gingerly negotiated. No sign of a slip or skid. Although I’ve been taking it carefully with this bike since my initial experiences with the squirrelly Kojaks, now it’s got the Marathon Greenguards on it does seem gratifyingly sure footed.
As I came to the barrier at the road and stopped, an oncoming pickup flashed his lights for me to continue. I turned right on to Grange lane and found a crowd of walkers, and kids on tiny bikes going in my direction. I picked my way through them, flew down a dip and slowed down going up the other side. Even allowing for the load of shopping, this seemed like hard work.
I came to a T junction and turned right, then across the sports complex car park. I slowed down while a walker emerging from the exit ahead clipped on leads to two large dogs and moved on. I continued on the path between the playing fields to the exit A frame barrier. There was a thick layer of wet leaves leading up to it, and the lane beyond was well plastered too. I wiggled through the barrier, and after a wobble starting off where my right foot contacted the front mudguard, just went up the slippery slope with no problems. I stopped to wipe the rain from my glasses then had a look at the front wheel when I stopped at a junction and there seemed to be nothing under the mudguard but it was stiff to turn. The rear wheel spun freely. Was the front brake binding?
I decided to press on without using the front brake to see if it would free itself. I struggled uphill to the T junction with Delamere St, turned left but after a few hundred yards pulled up on the pavement, leaned it against a wall, and had another look. A bunch of kids passed on the opposite pavement, and one of them said, “Hey mister, do you wanna swap a Kit Kat for that bike?” The way I felt at that moment, I was sorely tempted, but I said, “How about I take the Kit Kat and keep the bike?” since I was already providing them with entertainment. I found nothing peculiar about the wheel, so I continued. I eventually reached a petrol station where I had another look away from the road. I tried loosening the caliper bolts, squeezing the brake lever and tightening the bolts again with no effect. I tried loosening and tightening the quick release lever, again with no effect. I decided I would take it all off when I got home, as I had only a mile or so to go. I carried on reasonably well on the flat or downhill but any slight uphill had me reaching for bottom gear. Across the A54 roundabout, slowly down Swanlow Lane, on the pavement at times to let traffic go by.
At last I got home, wheeled the bike in, and unloaded the shopping. Before attacking the front brake I loosened the front mudguard bridge bolt and lo and behold, the wheel spun freely. I slid the mudguard to the extent of its adjustment and clamped it tight. Could it be that while the mudguard had looked to have had clearance, it had been making contact with the tyre? I’d adjusted it when I fitted the Marathons as they are much fatter than the Kojaks were, but perhaps the occasional contact with my heel had moved it? I’ll have to keep an eye on that in future. It doesn’t take much to sap my meagre power output. I felt much better after solving that issue, having become fixated on the disc brake as being the cause.
Some conclusions from this ride. The first ride of over 10 miles since 30th August, and the furthest I’ve been on this bike so far.
Starting off -no issues. Although there have been moments of trepidation, I’ve found myself going from a standstill to rolling along without even thinking about it, on the flat, up quite steep slopes, and on various surfaces.
Just riding -no issues, apart from the aforementioned problem with the varifocals.
Low speed obstacle avoidance -eg getting through barriers and bollards, keeping clear of pedestrians on shared paths etc. This has been much better than expected, partly I think because the front wheel is further back than on my LWB bikes making for a smaller turning circle.
Stopping. Well the brakes are very good, and the weight distribution is more even than with a LWB bike. I have a feeling though that if something decides to let go, things might happen much more quickly than on a LWB, with less time to try to recover.
Remote side stand extender. This works very well. It feels part of the bike now.
There are some issues related to the seat recline though. I’m going to look into extending the adjustment to be more upright, maybe make some brackets, then I’ll see where I go from there.
I was feeling a bit down before I went for that ride, and felt much better afterwards. It just goes to show, even a less-than-brilliant-ride is much better than no ride.
Distance 10.92 miles. Max speed 21.9 mph. Average 5.9 mph. According to Garmin.
Ascent 325 ft. According to Bikehike
