3-wheelin'

last night we tightened the front brakes on arwyn's tricycle which was a feat more difficult than anticipated. she was having stopping trouble and the only brakes she has are a (noisy) coaster brake and a front hand brake. i got the pads closer to the rim but the toe in was a little off. oh well. it stops better now.

after the adjustment i gave it a test ride around the block. just for fun i tried to test its limits. i had never ridden an adult trike before and i have to say that it is not as stable as i thought it would have been. if you take a sharp turn and one of the rear wheels comes off the ground you basically tip right on over. also the steering is really susceptible to suggestion, which is aggravating and i think the result of having a really light front end as compared to the rear end. i don't really know what the solution is to either of those things. also i noticed that the 3 gear options were not what i would consider to be the most practical. i'm worried about her ability to go up moderate or steep grades.

contagious.

I'm excited that chris is going to be car free this month and it's got me thinking about how much I love biking and leaving my car at home. I have trouble with planning and scheduling and well...I pretty much always run late. That's my biggest obstacle because if I'm running late to work I'll miss the bus or I won't have time to air my bike tires, etc etc etc. But, I do want to reduce driving as much as possible. I think about the burden of using fossil fuels everyday. I hate having it on my conscience. I hate sitting in traffic. But I love *not* driving. I love being active, I love winding down from work open to my environment. I love riding home from the bar and getting fresh air before I go to bed. This is a good way for a group of people to support each other in these efforts. I actually thought about a similar idea (bike blog) yesterday. Thanks, Chris, your example is contagious.

gettin' ready

so may is bike month and i am totally psyched to ditch my car next week.
monday i replaced my rear derailleur with a newer one from yellowbike and now my chain doesn't slip on my rear gears when i go up hills. so that's awesome! and a few weeks ago i bought a bike trailer off of craigslist for 20$ with the intention of carrying comrade around in it, so today i gutted the dorky child's harness out of it, and this weekend i need to fabricate a cushy platform for comrade to rest on.