So riding continued with Bluey the Greenspeed Magnum.
In fact it was a good distance week.
We had some interesting weather to contend with. Very high winds, one very nice day and then cold, snowy air descended on us.
First off, I checked the weather on Monday and saw a 20°C day was expected on Wednesday. Great !! A longer ride was scheduled on that day with nothing much likely before then.
Wednesday dawned still and sunny. The bike was loaded and off we went. Here is a video from the day.
Ride with GPS shows the maximum speed as 66 kph while in the video I count up to 55. At 56 kph the speedo drops down to 28 and starts to climb again so I have no idea what’s happening in the real. I suspect I topped out around the 60kph mark though. I think the from 56 to 28 kph drop is something to protect the electrics. OR a system fault !!
On the return trip things warmed up and I was down to my last layer (of 3 for the day) – something that hasn’t happened since last autumn. I must have had the shoes strapped too tightly as there was also a bit of ‘sore foot’ syndrome – a common issue with recumbent riding. Along with “recumbent butt” which, luckily, the Greenspeed seat prevents.
But no worries, the ride was good and very enjoyable. A taste of things to come.
Canopy Test
The sunny Wednesday was followed by some rough, gale force weather but on Saturday it looked fine enough for a short ride. It was sunny so I decided to test the canopy as I had yet to take it on a ride.
That sounded good enough to ride out there and see if the canopy could handle it.
You can see by the flag that it air isn’t still! It was also pretty cool so I was riding in complete winter gear once more.
The wind was coming from the Tiers.
Well, what did it do to the canopy? Did I have to pack it away?
In the main the canopy held it’s own although a couple of times it did seem about to collapse. Going into the wind or with the wind coming in from 10 thru 12 to 2 o’clock the canopy was affected the worst. It gets pushed back – so I held onto one of the front poles just in case. With the gusty wind the impact of the frontal wind was very noticeable; rather like a drag parachute at times.
On the other hand – in the above shot the wind was coming in behind. I had both brakes on and the trike still moved forward. Partly because the brakes need adjusting and partly due to the heavy gusts. Of course, riding with the wind behind was a delight!
A couple of times I thought “if this gets much worse I will pack it up” but it didn’t and I didn’t.
It being the Equinox has just gone by, the sun is still not really high in the sky. On occasion I had my chin and lower cheek in the sun. I could tell this as I had turned the left hand mirror towards me to allow a check of how much sun the canopy kept off. The road camber had an effect. If the sun was to my left, the camber tilted the trike over to the left and the canopy was a bit lower = good protection. Sun on the right, camber tilting trike to left = more sun getting through.
This will only get better as time goes on and the sun gets higher. Of course sun protection is excellent if the sun is to the front or the rear of the trike.
For now, as the UV levels are moderate (4) and the winds are strong, I will keep the top packed away.
’til next time ……………
Tony's Tasmanian Cycling Blog 