Tiny rides of 2023

[Sixmile]

Started this morning on the tandem, cycling my youngest to school - the first morning in months where the stars aligned so we could ride to school. Half a mile in, my daughter tells me that her pedal is clicking - which means its working loose from the crank shortener. I'd no tools with me, so it was a turn around and roll back to the house and jump in the car or else we wouldn't have made it on time. I rarely if ever leave the house without a multi tool too.

 

[a.twiddler]

Tiny Ride Today
(Illicit Ride No 2)
4/10/24

Reverse direction to the last ride. Out through the back gate, right on to the road, then settled down to a steady pace. I noticed that the Garmin, being at the bottom of my glasses eye line wasn’t sharply in focus. That’s varifocals for you. No worse than the Linear, where you need to lean forward to read it. Rolling up a gentle hill, past a school, then looking for the entrance to a path to the right. It was behind a row of parked cars, so I turned into a low pavement to reach the path. I was caught out here, expecting the front wheel to to be in the usual place for a LWB bike, ie, at the front, not under my knees, so with a combination of the angle not being obtuse enough and a relatively skinny tyre, the front wheel tried to follow the line of the kerb. The seat was low enough that I got a foot down immediately and stopped without incident.

Once on the pavement I turned on to the path and within a few yards found the front wheel following a faint groove in the tarmac where there had been some repairs. I corrected the wobble then I stopped and checked that the tyres were fully inflated, which they were. I was beginning to doubt the effectiveness of these Schwalbe Kojak slicks for my sort of mild off road use, despite the last ride being uneventful. I noticed that this was a sheltered part of the path with some green moss underwheel, but it wouldn’t have caused issues with my usual lightly treaded wider tyres.

I pressed on gingerly following the slight downhill of the path until I reached a road. I crossed over then continued along the path. There were high fences and shrubs either side. As I was slowly negotiating an overgrown part my left heel fleetingly contacted something. It didn’t register at first then I realised it must have been my heel touching the mudguard. I slowed right down and tried the same movement again. I was only able to make it brush lightly this time but it did happen. No big deal, but I will have to watch out for that in future.

I took a few riders’ eye view pictures as I went along. There were a few dog walkers about.

I came to another road and went across to where the path continued on the other side. Here it was like a tunnel between wooden garden fences.

I turned right where another path crossed and eventually came to a point where it met another road. There’s a distinct lack of dropped kerbs hereabouts. I could have bumped down to the road but turned right to a nearby road junction. Here I got on to the road, turned left then right on to the original road and trundled slowly uphill. As I got near my back gate I crossed over to a dropped kerb and got on to the pavement outside my back gate. I didn’t feel as good as I did last time when I got back. Some seat adjustment still needed, and got to think about those tyres. It might be that they’re just old, and might benefit from some general use to just roughen up the surface.

Distance 1.16 miles. Max Speed 8.2 mph. Average 4.8 mph. According to Garmin.
Ascent 38 ft. According to Bikehike.

 

[Gunk]

Tiny Ride Today
(Illicit Ride No 2)
4/10/24

Reverse direction to the last ride. Out through the back gate, right on to the road, then settled down to a steady pace. I noticed that the Garmin, being at the bottom of my glasses eye line wasn’t sharply in focus. That’s varifocals for you. No worse than the Linear, where you need to lean forward to read it. Rolling up a gentle hill, past a school, then looking for the entrance to a path to the right. It was behind a row of parked cars, so I turned into a low pavement to reach the path. I was caught out here, expecting the front wheel to to be in the usual place for a LWB bike, ie, at the front, not under my knees, so with a combination of the angle not being obtuse enough and a relatively skinny tyre, the front wheel tried to follow the line of the kerb. The seat was low enough that I got a foot down immediately and stopped without incident.

Once on the pavement I turned on to the path and within a few yards found the front wheel following a faint groove in the tarmac where there had been some repairs. I corrected the wobble then I stopped and checked that the tyres were fully inflated, which they were. I was beginning to doubt the effectiveness of these Schwalbe Kojak slicks for my sort of mild off road use, despite the last ride being uneventful. I noticed that this was a sheltered part of the path with some green moss underwheel, but it wouldn’t have caused issues with my usual lightly treaded wider tyres.

I pressed on gingerly following the slight downhill of the path until I reached a road. I crossed over then continued along the path. There were high fences and shrubs either side. As I was slowly negotiating an overgrown part my left heel fleetingly contacted something. It didn’t register at first then I realised it must have been my heel touching the mudguard. I slowed right down and tried the same movement again. I was only able to make it brush lightly this time but it did happen. No big deal, but I will have to watch out for that in future.

I took a few riders’ eye view pictures as I went along. There were a few dog walkers about.
View attachment 747868

View attachment 747867

View attachment 747866
I came to another road and went across to where the path continued on the other side. Here it was like a tunnel between wooden garden fences.
View attachment 747864

View attachment 747863
I turned right where another path crossed and eventually came to a point where it met another road. There’s a distinct lack of dropped kerbs hereabouts. I could have bumped down to the road but turned right to a nearby road junction. Here I got on to the road, turned left then right on to the original road and trundled slowly uphill. As I got near my back gate I crossed over to a dropped kerb and got on to the pavement outside my back gate. I didn’t feel as good as I did last time when I got back. Some seat adjustment still needed, and got to think about those tyres. It might be that they’re just old, and might benefit from some general use to just roughen up the surface.

Distance 1.16 miles. Max Speed 8.2 mph. Average 4.8 mph. According to Garmin.
Ascent 38 ft. According to Bikehike.

Cycling in loafers, sir, you are a legend!

 

[a.twiddler]

Cycling in loafers, sir, you are a legend!

Perhaps I should have been wearing sandals (with socks!).

 

[a.twiddler]

Tiny Ride Today
(Illicit ride No 3)
6/10/24
There had been some earlier rain, then drizzle. As it seemed to have stopped I thought I’d just take a twiddle round the local estate paths on the Spirit. So, left out of the gate, down on to the road and a good freewheel past a road junction then left into an estate road.

On to a path under some trees. It was noticeable that there were a lot more fallen leaves about than when I last took a ride only a few days ago. Turned right,

then left at the next crossing. Up a slight slope then rode on hemmed in by garden fences on either side.

Blurring not due to immense speed, but shaky hands!
I came to a road. With fattish tyres I had no concerns about going across the non lowered but not particularly high kerbs to where the path continued on the other side. With the Grasshopper having narrow slick tyres I’d had to be a bit more careful on my previous ride here. Some horse droppings suggested that there’d been a horse here recently. I continued up a very gradual slope with trees and shrubs on the left, garden fences on the right, a sort of roofless tunnel. This seemed to be prime time for dog walkers too, as I slowed or stopped several times to let them pass.

I came to another road, no traffic and lowish kerbs, so rode straight across. Another tunnel of fencing and shrubbery, then the view opened out on the right. Through some trees where there was a carpet of leaves and moss under wheel, up a short slope, and to the road. I was tempted to just turn left and freewheel the few hundred yards downhill to my back gate, but as there was a much longer gradual downhill in the direction I’d just come from, I decided to go back that way. I stopped by the open space for a photo, then carried on.

Across the road, passing some of the dog walkers I’d passed earlier on the narrow path, across the next road, through another canyon between fencing panels, across the point where paths crossed and then to an estate road. Bizarrely, there seemed to be a pot with the reddish stems of a dried plant sticking upwards here but as I rode by I saw that it was a telephone cable access point with plastic coated fibre optic cables protruding from it.

I followed the estate road to its junction with the main road, turned right and was soon at my back gate. I certainly felt better after this ride, still trying not to overdo things. After I’d put the bike away it began to rain quite heavily, so I’d got the timing right on that.

Distance 2.07 miles. Max speed 12.9 mph. Average speed 4.9 mph. According to Garmin.
Ascent 63 ft. According to Bikehike.

 

[Gunk]

8 miles on the Brompton this afternoon, lovely day for it so I went into Oxford and had an alfresco coffee.

 

[a.twiddler]

Tiny Ride Today
(Illicit Ride No 4)
7/10/24
Another gentle walk on wheels.
I’d checked over the Brompton earlier as I’d not used it for a while – pumped up the tyres, a few squirts of oil here and there. I was waiting for the rain to stop so I could take it up the road for a test ride. The car was going in for an MOT in a couple of days and I wanted to make sure the Brompton was ready to go. I hadn’t used it for a few months, since the car had last needed attention.

Not only did the rain stop but the sun came out. So, out through the back gate, then left downhill. A nice freewheel to my turning off point, left into an estate, then winding about until I came to the end of the road where a path starts. I was keen to take a look at the bunch of fibre optic cables protruding from the ground that I’d passed on my last ride, and maybe take a photograph, but they’d gone, and in their place was a green cabinet. The access to the path was blocked by a large SUV. I got off and walked round it to the path. The driver at least had the awareness to say, “Sorry mate”.

I carried on through a canyon of fenceposts and panels, crossed a road, and rejoined the path. More fences and shrubbery hemmed me in. I trundled on in a leisurely manner and came to another road. I didn’t fancy the narrow tyres’ chances against even the low kerbs here so I walked across. Back on the path again, a dog walker pulled his whippet type pooch in to let me pass. The view cleared to the right then closed in again. I rode under some trees and came to a road. I could see rows of parked cars waiting for the nearby school gates to open as it was school run time. I could have turned left and freewheeled the short distance to my back gate but I couldn’t be bothered with the traffic.

I turned round and freewheeled to the open area instead. I stopped to take a picture or two.

Then I carried on to the road where I turned right and followed the pavement to a close where I turned right then left, then on to another estate road and a path which led to the main road. I turned right and followed the pavement the short distance to my back gate.

It felt strange riding such a tall bike after riding recumbents for most of this year. Although I soon tuned in to it, and appreciated once more how well it rode, I felt perched over the front wheel, waiting for a pebble or pothole to send me flying over the bars. I imagine that must be the sensation that an Edwardian cyclist must have had when returning to a penny farthing after becoming used to riding a safety bicycle.

Distance 1.58 miles. Max speed 9.4mph. Average 5.1 mph. According to Garmin
Ascent 44 ft. According to Bikehike.

 

[a.twiddler]

Tiny Ride Today
(Illicit Ride No 5)
9/10/24

Ride No 1
Took the car for its MOT. Rode the Brompton back. I thought I might justify this under the umbrella of “not undertaking strenuous activities”. After all, it’s mostly flat, and just a folding bike when it comes down to it. (Cue howls of outrage from the Brompton community).

Cloudy, damp under wheel. I turned out of the MOT garage and crossed the road into a small estate of houses. I followed the road through them into a close where an old path emerged between houses. I’d ridden this path long before these houses were built but it was only in the last couple of years that I’d learned where the access was at this end as there were no signs and the old landmarks had been obliterated. A nice tarmac path until after passing through a barrier when it became wet, muddy and littered with fallen leaves. Not ideal for a bike with narrow high pressure tyres but I pressed on gingerly. With tall garden fences on the left at the end of the gardens of older housing, school playing fields beyond a barred fence on the right, and tall trees overshadowing it all, the path is sheltered from the weather but once wet, takes a long time to dry out. After passing this wet patch it improved and I came to a lane where I turned right. After a few yards I turned on to the pavement then down another path to an underpass beneath the A54. I surfaced on a quiet lane and continued to a junction with Beeston Drive. No views of Beeston Castle today, with low cloud and distant rain. I turned left through another estate, across a minor road, through another estate, got a bit lost and had to take a longer route round before I reached my back gate.

Distance 3.00 miles. Max speed 11.5mph. Average 8.9mph. According to Garmin.
Ascent 45 ft. According to Bikehike.

Tiny Ride Today
(Illicit Ride No 6)
9/10/24

Ride No 2.
A Brompton ride to collect the car after its MOT. I forgot my camera on the trip out, so I took it with me on the way back. Out of my back gate, left into an estate road, out on to a minor road, uphill a little then right on to another estate road. Left on to a path, across a minor road then through another estate coming out on Beeston Drive. I trundled along steadily before turning left on another minor road then under the A54, steeply up the other side, then level.

right into a lane, then left on to a path. It was dry on the initial climb

but seemed to have got wetter and muddier since this morning. I stopped for a photo but had trouble getting going again on the slippery stuff.

It levelled out, and I took some more photos.

Through the barrier, out through the small estate and left on to Delamere St., I was soon at the garage to pick up the car. When I came to fold the bike up I could see that it had got quite mucky on this short trip. I haven’t used it much since I had the rear frame hinge replaced earlier this year, and it’s still a little stiff when folding and unfolding. I made a mental note to give it a hose down when I got back.

Distance 1.68 miles. Max Speed 11.6mph. Average speed 5.7 mph. According to Garmin.
Ascent 35 ft. According to Bikehike.

 

[Conrad_K]

What are the barriers for? If they're trying to keep bicycles out, they don't seem very effective.

 

[annedonnelly]

What are the barriers for? If they're trying to keep bicycles out, they don't seem very effective.

Motorbikes, cars. Where ever you have a nice path there will be some people - usually young men - who want to go through on scrambler motorbikes or drive a vehicle along to dump stuff.

We have lots of street furniture like that which aims to allow walkers, cyclists, people with pushchairs, or in wheelchairs through but not motorised traffic. That one doesn't look great for wheelchairs. And often the motorcyclists find a way round the barrier.

 

[Conrad_K]

I loaded the Re-Bike up this morning and hauled it to North Little Rock to ride the Levy Spur Trail. Take the Camp Robinson exit off I-40 and the trailhead is right there at the bottom of the off-ramp.

Camp Robinson used to be an Army base. A railroad spur was built during WWI, running about ten miles from the main line to the base. Nowadays the facility is only used for woods training and similar things. The city noted that the rail spur hadn't been used in more than a decade, and made a deal with the Army to acquire the right-of-way. Then they ripped up the rails, laid pavement over the railbed, and installed some street lights for night walking or bicycling.

It follows a railroad spur, so it's basically a dead straight trail. As usual, there's very little information to be had on the web, most of it very old. The first couple of miles of trail goes through various old housing projects diagonally between the back yards of houses on each side, so you mostly see oddly-shaped back yards, sheds, and swing sets. Then it turns into rows of churches, sometimes cutting through their parking lots, and then goes through the back yards of more recent, higher-priced houses, built perpendicular to the trail. As the surrounding housing got more expensive, the trail got narrower and in poorer shape despite being the most recently-paved section, and the street lights went away. It is eventually supposed to wind up at the railhead at Camp Robinson, but it stops abruptly in the middle of a housing project. On the other side of the street is a pile of boulders to keep cars out, and you can see the unpaved, trackless railbed on the other side.

I'd noted a little extra effort pedaling, but I hadn't ridden anywhere in almost two weeks, and I have much less time on the recumbent than on the trike, so I figured I was just a bit out of shape. However, I was able to coast almost the whole way back at 15 to 20mph according to my speedometer. Apparently the original railbed had a slight uphill grade for its entire length.

I only saw a few people, and was actually a bit surprised to see them. The trail is poorly documented - the city trail web site just mentions its name and doesn't even give its location. There are no signs, and it doesn't go anywhere, just between rows of houses, and not much to see except road crossings and garden sheds.

As usual I forgot to check the odometer, but probably between 8 and 9 miles there-and-back.

 

[annedonnelly]

It is eventually supposed to wind up at the railhead at Camp Robinson, but it stops abruptly in the middle of a housing project. On the other side of the street is a pile of boulders to keep cars out, and you can see the unpaved, trackless railbed on the other side.

Presumably with the right sort of bike someone could pass the boulders and ride further on.

I'm surprised that you're finding so little online about these paths. Maybe because the UK's so much smaller and the density of cyclists higher over here even if there's not an official guide to a path someone will have generally documented it or added it to a crowd-sourced map.

 

[Conrad_K]

Yes. And even some official city or county web sites simply direct you to one of those "apps". Unfortunately, all of them seem to be "subscribe by the year" and want $15 to $40, and they all depend on downloading their "app" onto a smartphone, which I don't have, and require getting it from the Google Store, which requires a Google Account, which I don't have because Google locked me out of the one I'd had for years and doesn't respond to enquiries.

I have a list of trails I see mentioned, and every week or so I'll get a new hit on one of the search engines with some more information. I enter anything useful into my list, and save any relevant images.

Little Rock and North Little Rock have poured an *enormous* amount of money into the Arkansas River Trail - $10.5 million for the Clinton Bridge, however much it cost for the extra lane for the Broadway bridge, $12.6 million for the Big Dam Bridge, the real estate easements for prime riverfront land, the bathrooms, pavilions, water countains, maintenance... yet neither city can be arsed to even tell you where all the trailheads are, much less provide a map of the route. Which isn't obvious in the spots where it just dumps you onto city streets and you have to somehow find where it picks up again. They have dozens of web pages about the trail on the city web sites, which are complete embarrassments as far as providing useful information.

[old man shakes stick at sky]

 

[a.twiddler]

Tiny ride Today
(Illicit Ride No 7)
19/10/24

I’d ordered a couple of Marathon Greenguard tyres, 40-406, from two different sources due to a good price offer on each. One had arrived, which I’d fitted to the front wheel of the Grasshopper recumbent bike. There was still a Kojak 35-406 slick on the back. On each of my LWB bikes, fitting a wider tyre to the front had improved the feel of the steering, particularly on less than perfect surfaces. While waiting for the other one to arrive I thought I’d give it a test ride.

I turned right out of the gate and immediately felt that the steering didn’t feel as predictable as it had with two identical tyres – the slightest movement had me correcting and over correcting to keep going in a straight line. I thought I’d adapt to it, and recalled that despite the theoretical small difference between the 35-406 and the 40-406 the Marathon Greenguard looked much taller on the rim than the Kojak. This had the effect of raising the front end slightly, having an effect on the rake and trail. I would have expected the steering to be more self centreing with this set up, but it actually felt less stable. The seat certainly felt more reclined, even though it was probably no more than a couple of degrees.

I persevered up a small hill, past a school, then mounted a pavement on the right with the intention of turning right again into a leaf strewn path. On my right, a tall wooden fence panel. Beneath it, a good layer of fallen leaves. In the mirror, a distant pedestrian. I wanted to get off the pavement before he arrived. I felt a bit apprehensive starting off in this narrow space with little wobble room but thinking, what’s the worst that can happen, went for it.

I pushed off with the right pedal, got the other foot up, failed to make progress, put the right foot down. My foot slid on the leaves, I put my right hand out to the fence panel, which flexed, my hand slid down it in slow motion and I keeled over slowly to end up alongside the bike on a pile of fallen leaves.

Powered by embarrassment I struggled to my feet and picked up the bike just as the pedestrian came by and asked, “you all right mate? Need any help?” Rather ungraciously I said,”I’m fine thanks” and turned the bike round to go back downhill. My first thought was to head for home but as I got rolling I thought, “I’m not going to let this thing get the better of me”. The steering wasn’t any better but I just dealt with it. I turned left up a gradual hill then turned on to the other end of the path I’d originally intended to follow. I rode uphill to where the path cleared and stopped for some photos.

I carried on up a damp leaf strewn slope where the rear slick slipped and wriggled until I reached the road, turned left, then freewheeled downhill to my back gate. I am curious to see if fitting the other Marathon Greenguard to the rear when it arrives, restores the balance.

Distance 1.44 miles. Max speed 13.1 mph. Average 5.3 mph. According to Garmin.
Ascent 53 ft. According to Bikehike.

 

[Conrad_K]

That would be a *very* small change in rake (and trail.) Hmm.

Does your rear shock have a height adjuster? You might have enough travel to get close to the original geometry.