Recumbent Newz Wheelz Newsletter June July 2004 IssueVol. 2 No. 4 June/July 2004 Issue Copyright © 2004 Alan W. Jarrett www.recumbent-bikes-truth-for-you.com
Please feel free to pass this newsletter along to your friends. However, I do ask you keep it intact and forward it in it's entirety.
---------------------- OK! Here we go with another issue. The "Homebuilder of the Month" page is now up, so check it out. Send me your "latest greatest" and maybe you can be the next "Homebuilder of the Month" on this site. Lance has done what was thought to be impossible. Not only 6 times but six in a row! What an incredible feat. To be sure there will be comparisons with everyone, but the bottom line is very simple. Lance did what no one else has…PERIOD! I doubt that Lance will be reading this, but just the same Lance Armstrong, congratulations from RBTFY.
Got to ride the Monon Trail in Indy again in July. Look for the report on the web site under riding, along with an interview with Mike McDowell of Valley Bikes. The interview will be in the next newsletter!
June found me back on the Withlacoochee Trail with my buddies John and Stan. We did just about 40 miles again. Last time was just about 2 years ago. John has definitely not been on a bike since then but he still made it. Check out the “riding” page for a pictorial tour with John and Stan titled Withlacoochee Trail 2004.
I have to report that I became a statistic for auto/bike accidents this past Saturday morning. I was the bike and there was an encounter with a rather large pick-up truck. The good news is that all the King’s horses and all the King’s men, didn’t have to put this cyclist together again! Read about this in the feature article.
Sorry to say no one else has stepped up with a summer building project to take Mark out of the Homebuilder’s Club spotlight! So “you da man Mark!”
Since our last newsletter, Joe Kochanowski set a new streamliner record with his Varnowski streamliner in the flying 200 meter of 48.16 MPH at the Portland, Oregon Human Powered Challenge 2004. Awesome job Joe. I know Warren Beauchamp would like to get his new Reg Rodero streamliner cranked up to see what he can do. Hope to see both at the WHPSC this year.
------------------------------------ Work has really progressed on the shell Gabe DeVault is working on. Take a look at the work since the last newsletter. http://www.easyracers.com/pod/web/.
Lot's of new pages going on line this month. Besides the Wheel Disc page there will be pages of homemade seats, seat covers, pages on the homemade Carbon Fiber frames, as well as more specific info on accessories. All stuff we homebuilders need to know about.
Got some plans you want to share with others? Got some pics you would like for others to see without having to sign up for a website somewhere? If you send any pics, try to keep them under 100 KB.
This size can be easily uploaded to my pagebuilder without having to make any reductions or do any cropping. Send them as email attachments, preferably in pdf format. Be sure to include all the necessary info like name, what you made and from what, and a little history on how you made it. Got any homebuilder (bike) questions? Send them to me at the email address listed below.
There are some great photos of the TE Clone. Plans are also available at This is the section where you want to look for homebuilder forums or discussion lists that will be a huge help if you are building your own bike. Need parts or supplies? Post a question to mailto:Alan@recumbent-bikes-truth-for-you.com.
Most of the readers have likely been on vacation and there has not been a lot of feedback. Let’s see if it picks up for the beginning of school.
These are just a few of the readers who have sent in their comments. How about you? It only takes a few seconds, and it would be great to hear from you. Every message is encouragement to keep this newsletter going. You may be the one who contributes something another reader really wants to know about. Don’t feel what you have to say is not important, especially if it can help another. Send your comments today.
mailto:Alan@recumbent-bikes-truth-for-you.com.
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Regis Hampton and Hampton’s Edge
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Regis Hampton lives in what many of us bent bikers would call a bike “Utopia.” Hampton’s Edge is literally right on the edge of the Withlacoochee Trail located in Central Florida. Having a bike shop located on one of the best bike trails in the U.S. has to be close to bicycle Nirvana!
Anyway, I’ve known Regis for about 5 years now, and each time I ride the Trail it’s not complete without a visit to his shop to swap happenings since we saw each other last. I call Regis a “true throwback,” and he doesn’t deny it. Be sure and check out this linkto read all about the ride. I asked Regis about 20 questions, so I’m just going to let him ramble. Take it away Regis!
You got it, here goes. My riding background started out like many, as a kid, and the freedom to explore further from home than walking everywhere in a time when worries about child abduction wasn't in our parents lexicon.
My father being the maintenance superintendent of a catholic boys home provided me with the opportunity to become familiar tools and later bicycle mechanics as it became my job to make good ridable bikes out of pick up loads of bikes donated to the institution by the Pittsburgh police dept. Of course I put together several for my riding enjoyment.
I remember a Schwinn Paramount and a Monarch Super Deluxe which I removed fenders, rack, light, chain guard, cut the bars down, replaced the big 54 skip tooth chain ring and sprocket and installed a smaller chain ring from a girls bike and made a sort of Mt. bike out of it so I could ride it up and down hills in the woods. No we didn't call our selves repak.
The first bike I bought with my own money was a new Schwinn Continental which I rode with the WPW, Western Pennsylvania Wheelmen Bike Club through the hills of Pa. Guess that is why I love hills because Pittsburgh is all hills. Did many club rides and a few centuries but never got into racing.
Upon moving to Fl. the connie was wrecked when a beer bottle was thrown from a truck on Bayshore blvd. in Tampa, bending the frame and putting a hiatus on bike riding. Then in 1984 I picked it up again in the form of mountain biking and riding a couple of Tampa Grape Nut festival rides, then later joining the Tampa Bay Freewheelers.
My first recumbent was a Rans Nimbus bought from Touriffic Bikes on Gunn Hwy. Rode it for a few months but missed the mountain bike. This was in 87.
The reason I bought the Nimbus was because I could not afford a TE. I traded it for a used Lotus Legend road bike and a new Skyway Lemurin Mt. bike. Met a bunch of guys in Flatwoods and Morris Bridge trails and started mountain biking almost exclusively. Used 2 sets of wheels one for dirt one for road. Sold the road bike. Played some Mt. bike polo for a few years, rode Moab and Slickrock, Durango. Tsali.
Then moved up here in 94 with the idea to build patio furniture from the shop. In 95 I fell off a roof and broke my right hip. Could not sit on a Mt. bike seat to rehab and remembered the Nimbus.
Went back to Tourrific to check on a recumbent. They only had Rebike which I would buy on a Friday when I had $500. This was Tues. While taking my helper home to suitcase city on Fletcher Ave. in Tampa on Wed. I spied a red bent along with the proliferation of Huffy and Murrys in a pawn shop parking lot. It was a Tour Easy, maybe the one I test rode back in 87 when I bought the nimbus.
There was a price of $339. on it. I got it for $275. Used it on the Withlacoochee Trail for rehab of the hip and got stopped so many times by people wanting to look at or sit on the TE. The heck with patio furniture I'll start a bike shop, specializing in Recumbents because I realized I could not compete with shops in the city on uprights. Plus the trail was the perfect place to test ride a bent and I just really loved riding them.
I set up dealership status with easy racer talked on the phone with Gardner and Sandra a bunch of times and find their bikes an easy sell because the ride so sweet. I liked Gardner right off , we clicked, two old hippies as we were. Except he has a superior engineering intellect.
Out of the blue he called one day and asked if I'd go and pick up a TE from his sister's place in Dade City, that he repoed from Touriffic 20 years ago, and put it back on the road. I could keep it for 5 years rent it out or whatever and he has the right to reclaim it if he desires.
The first time he came for a visit he rode the repoed bike which I call Ole Blue, and bought lunch and beers for 15 people who all rode together to Inverness and back. He's good people in my book. He visited here Xmas before last, and quizzed me on what I though would be a good addition to the Sun line. Something to take place of Bike E and a SWB were discussed. I felt honored he valued my opinion.
Whether I will ever make a living off the shop is yet to be seen as it slows down in summer time. It is far beyond a hobby. No hobby takes this much time and work. Don't get me wrong, I love it, talking recumbents to lots of great people whom many have become good friends. But it takes a lot of time, most weekends, with not a lot of time to ride my bike. I gotta give my wife credit for putting up with not having time to spend together on weekends.
Sometimes I'll listen to parts of conversations as people go by on the trail and put them all together in a montage in my mind. Some people go by singing at the top of their lungs, with and without headsets. I remember a guy I call Mr. Coffee. He had black Einstein hair, was tan and cut, bright eyes and verry intense. He downed 2 cups of coffee and 3 cokes and ran on about the new world order, the trilateral commission, and big brother stuff, said they were watching us now. They can't spy from space through trees. When he started doing sit ups in the flower bed is when I had to usher him to his bike and down the trail.
I remember you and me Alan, when Pedro came to accuse me of stealing his bike which he left in my neighbor's yard and you came to the rescue with your fluency in Spanish before fists were flying.
As I mentioned before many customers have become friends. A few more than others, Charlie Huffman comes to mind. He is one of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I like positive people and he always seems to be up. He's been in business himself and knows how hard it can be. Him and Darlene are a model couple for the institution of marriage and everyone belongs in an institution.
Badda bing! I just deleted a rant of many people whom have come through the door bought bikes or not but found it impossible to stop for fear of leaving anyone out who mean a lot to me. Lets just say this shop has enabled me to meet some really great people and restore my faith in the human race. At least people who ride bikes. Let me just mention a few people who stand out.
Jason and Karla, neighbors, friends. Never met a person who knows so much crap, and plays a mean jazz guitar. Jim Wheeler and Harry. Harry is a parrot who rides on Jim's shoulder as he pedals his Bacchetta down the trail. Anne Anderson who has no phone no computer no TV, 70 some years old, kayaks one day bikes on her Catrike Road the next. Frank Gullarte at 76 riding his Catrike at 13 mph avg. Dick Marr, Gadget lover, chronicler of gear inches, temps, Goldrush, Howard, Turner USS, Lomax and Mary Ruth, TE and wedgie, Whitey, 2 EZ-1s, Rans Wave, and home built, Loyde, home built with roof, Jim Byrd Burley Jett Creek w/ fairing Velocity wheels & Stelvios, Kristin K, w/ Burley Django, Chuck, good stories of touring, on the road now, Dave & Lucy future Catrike owners, campers . buds, see what I mean, this could take all night and the max of space on this MAC. Five years from now, I don't know. Many variables in the mix. I would like to take some summer time to travel and ride other trails see the USA before Wal-Mart takes over the country. I can do this as long as I can walk down the stairs and push the bike outside, and once in a while take a ride on this beautiful trail with some of my beautiful friends.
How many people have I turned on to recumbents? Hundreds at least. I really don't care what you ride, or if you ride, or walk, or skate, or run, or row. Just get out and move, you'll feel great, give it a chance. It beats the couch, diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. As far as the name for the shop. I'm like everyone else, I like a bargain. My name, not fictitious, Edge, edge of the county, edge of the trail, bank acct. was at time Barnett Edge Acct, edge of bicycling technology , (recumbents were not seen much then) HAMPTON'S EDGE Trailside Bike Shop. Stuck in the 60s laid back and lovin it! Regis
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Just 30 minutes a day every day….well maybe. That’s what they say now as far as how much we should exercise. No more of the three times a week stuff. Look what that kind of advice got us around the middle! But really 30 minutes a day? Is that enough? Well, if it’s true it takes 20 minutes to get your heart rate up to the aerobic level necessary to do the body some good, makes sense. As for 30 minutes, it seems way to little. I don’t know about you, but if I don’t ride for at least an hour, I feel like I haven’t done anything.
George's Energy Bar- Fruit-filled Recipe
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a large cookie sheet. Knead together all the fruit and the nut butter. Knead in sunflower seeds, rolled oats, and pancake mix. Add honey and knead until blended. Press out onto tin 3/8 to 1/2 inch thick and as even as possible. Using a table knife, press the bar lines into the sheet. Bake about 20 minutes until top is light brown. Freeze very well if individually wrapped and then put in a Ziploc. Ellen notes: boost the protein with 1-2 cups of vanilla protein powder or dried milk.
Recipes that you can make will be included in each issue of RNW. Send me your favorite if you have one and we’ll add it. mailto:Alan@recumbent-bikes-truth-for-you.com.
No need to reinvent the wheel, or in this case a list of FAQ’s! Check out www.bentrideronline.com/FAQ/index.html Any question you have that is not answered there, send it to me at: mailto:Alan@recumbent-bikes-truth-for-you.com
Things that go “BUMP” in the night can be scary. But let me tell you, they can be just as scary in the daytime because you see them coming and can’t do anything about it! Have you ever had some huge object on a collision course with you? Have you ever been out of control in a car that was skidding on wet pavement or ice? As it slid toward a building, a ditch, or another car have you watched it happening like it was a movie in slow motion? All the time you were moving it didn’t seem real, almost like it was happening to someone else…right?
Well, something similar happened to me this past weekend which is the last day of July. Out for my early morning ride on a course ridden almost daily for just about two years, I was determined not to push it too hard and just enjoy the ride. About 2 miles down this paved two lane country road there was one of several intersections. As I came to a rolling 2-3 MPH stop, a large pick-up was just arriving at the intersection. I’m headed west, he’s headed south. The pickup was not close enough to have been close to anything considering a “rolling stop,” and I was into the intersection. As I passed in front of the pickup it kept rolling, and I thought to myself this guy’s trying to scare me. Well, he did more than that…he kept rolling around the corner and “pushed” (as opposed to knocked) me over! To say I was shocked was to say the least! I have had worse crashes on my own, but that was hardly the point. Mind you I was wearing a bright yellow helmet, a Primo “To Bee” bright yellow and red jersey in broad daylight. The second thing I did, after bouncing up from the pavement, was turn around to look at the sun to see if he could have been blinded. Not a chance because it wasn’t above the tree line yet!
My first thought was the guy had to be drunk not to see me, and I grabbed for my cell phone to call 911, determined he would not get away. He stopped, as did another who had see the whole incident and gave me his phone number and name in case I need a witness.
The pickup truck driver was either in shock or totally disoriented, because he asked me why I was coming head-on in his lane? The other driver quickly let him know that it didn’t happen that way and that he was at fault, and then he left for work.
The bike was only slightly damaged, and all I had were some scrapes on my arm, elbows, one knee and a real good “strawberry” on my hip. Good ole’ Spandex saved some hide again! Of course the very first thing I said to the driver was, “How could you not see me?”
Another driver who worked with this same man came by, and swore to the officers he had seen the whole thing too. At the time I was unconcerned since I had the name and phone number of the actual first witness. The second person was trying to claim I had run into the pickup! The pickup driver, who was very concerned about his CDL license, was not quite desperate enough to go along with such a claim.
Once the Fire Rescue unit got there and could determine I was OK, and the Sheriff took control of the situation, I was able to stop the shakes from the mild shock I was going through. No alcohol was involved, which even made the whole thing a little weirder to me. The pickup driver claims he simply didn’t see me. Had it not be for several times when I have looked and not seen a car coming, I might not have been nearly so forgiving.
The driver was in his 50’s as am I, and while I was not happy about the fact that the situation could have been far worse, I had no real reason to do anything other than accept his offer to pay for any medical expenses and damages to the bike. The sheriff made sure we exchanged info and there were no charges filed. The driver then offered to put my bike in his truck and take me home, which I accepted.
I’m sore…but alive and well. All the sheriff’s who came to the scene, six in all, were able to leave with a smile on their face not having had to witness the usual outcome of a bike/vehicle accident. God is good, ALL the time!
The worst accident ever for me was going around a corner at 20 MPH when the front tire blew! I left far more hide on the ground that day, and it took me two whole months to heal. Exactly two months to the date later, just a half mile further on the same road, going around a different corner at 14 MPH I went down on wet pavement. The injuries were not as bad, but still worse than this.
The sheriff gave me a piece of advice that I think I’ll take. He rides motorcycles, and those he teaches are told to imagine they are invisible to a motorist when they are on the road. To never take for granted they see you, even when there is no logical reason they shouldn’t! Does that seem fair? Not to me, but who said things were always going to be fair in life? Where have we heard that before?
Ray Howland was a long time bike rider here in Florida, and bicycle safety was one of his passions. On October 18, 1998, while participating in one of the organized ride during the Mt. Dora Bike Festival, he was struck and killed, while stopped in plain site on the side of the road, by an off-duty firefighter.
There were no obstructions, and no apparent reason the bicyclist could not have been seen to avoid the impact, yet it happened. Two men, one who lived to save lives and property, and the other who lived to help others enjoy cycling safely, will never be the same. I think of that when I think of what could have happened and I repeat…God is good, ALL THE TIME!
I am determined to not let this take the joy from my riding, but rather to embrace it all the more. To exercise more caution is a likely result, just as it is when I go around corners these days. It’s usually the corners that get me, but not this time! So I’ll likely be letting the cars, and trucks, go through intersections before me from now on, even if I have the right-of-way!
Too many cars. Not enough nice long trails!
mailto:Alan@recumbent-bikes-truth-for-you.com.
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Hey, I like a good deal when I find one. Here’s one Ill pass on to those of you who might be interested.
I use a Camelbak bladder for my rides. It’s not in the original pak, but in one I have adapted for my homebuilt. It really works well for me on long or short rides. But who wants to spend $30-40 on a pak that you can’t use real well on a recumbent? Enter Naglene! Check out their web page on their “Big Bore” bladder. The best feature about this bladder is the quick-connect hose, which is not offered by most hydration paks, and makes it soooo much easier to clean!
Hey…did you notice that Catrike is being offered through Amazon.com now? If you don’t have a dealer near you, now it’s as close as a click here with your mouse! Been to the Recumbent Trike page yet? Better check it out!
Closeouts at Nashbar.com
Yeah, you think you know what's coming and you're only partially right. I'm still gonna brag about SBI!.com and how great they are. Well, there's that well known phrase uttered not to long ago by a guy named Jerry McGuire. You know the one I'm talking about...."Show me the MONEY....! I've talked about anyone who has the slightest interest in building a web site, and how SBI!.com has the best deal goin'. You might just be asking yourself why I'm putting this in a newsletter about recumbent bikes. Simple. Money is an International language, one we all understand. It takes money to buy a recumbent and anything else of value. Still don't see the connection? OK. You're reading this newsletter because you first found this site on the Internet. As an added benefit, hundreds of you decided to subscribe to this newsletter. Some of you, like me, might have ideas of building a web site for future income, as a hobby, or whatever. Are there free ones out there? Sure, just like everything else, and you get what you pay for. I don't know about you, but I have yet to pay cheaply for anything that wasn't "cheap!" By now all of you readers know nothing has ever been sold through this newsletter or from my site, yet my site brings in money every month. Every month since November of 2003. Is it thousands of dollars? Not yet, but let's keep it in perspective. You would have to have in the neighborhood of $20,000 on deposit earning about four times what the banks pays on passbook savings today, to produce what my little site does. Now I can't tell you what it actually produces because of disclosure clauses I agreed to. So I ask you, what do you have that's earning you passive income today like that I have mentioned? What I put into this site has already been returned, and it keeps growing a little more every month. If you think this is things where you get all your family members, neighbors and friends, or some other kind of "get rich quick" scheme, and that I would waste my time writing about "pie in the sky," denial at this point would seem, well....pointless! It's taken me a year to get to this place. Not exactly what you might call GRQ! If you're in it for the long term, this might be for you. Check it out at SiteSell.com
Comments? mailto:Alan@recumbent-bikes-truth-for-you.com.
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Joe Kochanowski is “da man!” Warren Beauchamp will have to go some to beat the new 200 M record set by Joe. They ran the 200 M timed lap three different times, and each time Joe got faster. Check out the stats at www.ohpv.org
So far for Battle Mountain 2004 the following teams look good to show up.
Matt Weaver will hopefully get to run his steering assist streamliner this year. But you never know what surprise Matt will show up with. He’s usually well under the radar, so there’s not a lot of advance notice as to what Matt is bringing.
This should be an interesting year as some new blood will be hunting that 70 MPH barrier, while Sam and a few others launch after the 82 MPH prize. Maybe we’ll get to see Rob Wood who’s one of the better racers out there. Maybe Gabe DeVault will finish his streamliner prototype in time for BM. The updated photos look excellent.
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