This may seem a mundane post to many, but bicycle tires are whats on my mind these days. Between riding to and from work, general errands rides and riding with my family, I'm generally doing around 160 miles a week, and at present I'm getting a flat tire seemingly every couple days.
This is by far a record for me considering my latest tires (Michelin Krylion Carbon's) are supposed to be a durable puncture resistant road tire. I must say, neither is really the case. I've put about 1,400 miles on them now and they are showing significant wear, and I've already commented on the puncture resistance :P
Good news is that I've found out that Schwalbe, an awesome tire manufacturer out of Germany who specializes in real world tires now makes a tire called the Marathon Plus in a 700 x 25c which should fit on the Steelman Stage Race I ride. I'll probably have to modify the fenders where they clear the fork and brakes, but considering these tires are called "flatproof" by some and built to last 4,500-7,200 miles its well worth making them fit :)
Schwalbe Marathon Plus on Schwalbe's site
Monday, June 11, 2007
Thursday, June 7, 2007
A More Personal Note
It just occurred to me that I'd managed to leave out the most exciting bit of news in the last few days. Nickie had her 20 week ultrasound yesterday and got to see our beautiful new baby....BOY! Somehow knowing the gender just makes the family dynamic easier to picture which just ups our excitement and anticipation for this new addition to our family. But this also means now we need to start thinking in earnest about a proper name for the little guy.
Stay tuned...
My little family thus far (Samuel was less than a year old here. He's now almost 2)
Stay tuned...
My little family thus far (Samuel was less than a year old here. He's now almost 2)
Hybrid Human/Electric vehicles in suburan America
First off, this is my first post to the blog (Anthony here).
Nickie and I have been talking a lot about solutions presently available to make a carfree lifestyle possible with a family. I've been in practice living carfree for about 7 years now, having sold my car back in college and bought a nice road bike to get around instead, and my wife minus during the transition from being just a married couple to being parents has generally done likewise. Well things do get a little more complicated with this transition but I think we've still been finding some good solutions.
We bought her a tadpole trike (two wheels in the front and one in the rear) a little bit ago for a few reasons. They are quite comfortable for one, more aerodynamic than your average riding position on a road bike, can be ridden while pregnant, which she is, and ridden year round since they have such a low center of gravity and three wheels, snow and ice are much less treacherous. The other added benefit is that a newborn can't be adequately supported in a trailer for awhile 6-12 months depending on who you talk to, while in a trike without the concern of tipping over she could wear the baby in our baby bjorn sport strapped to her chest while riding.
Now coming back to the title of this post, this also all means that on average when my dear courageous wife is toodling around town to do errands she's always toting at a minimum an extra 55lbs of trailer, child, diaper bag, emergency gear, and not all things are as close in proximity as we'd like. So of late I've been researching some electric assist options that we could mount to the trike effectively augmenting her power to the point of being on par with my typical range and speeds (30-40 miles any given day at 18-22mph average) even with towing all the extra weight. This would make trips to grandma and grandpa's house all the more feasible without falling back on the car. Besides the fact that the total amount of energy (besides Nickie's pedaling power) that's required to move my wife, child, trailer, stuff :), is VASTLY less than moving a 3500lb car too, we also get our electricity from windpower, so recharging at home means the extra energy is coming from a renewable resource.
We'll see how it goes, but having tried one out this last weekend we're both in agreement that the question is not, if, but when. So we'll start putting our pennies together and hopefully get her setup in the next couple months so we can take some of the extra burden off of her in the move to a carfree lifestyle.
On a side note we're also in the process of selling our VW Eurovan and getting a more fuel efficient vehicle for the times when we do fall back on the car.
Lastly since we haven't joined the multimedia era by posting any pics yet, I thought I'd throw up a photo of my trusty steed that takes me to and from everyday.
Nickie and I have been talking a lot about solutions presently available to make a carfree lifestyle possible with a family. I've been in practice living carfree for about 7 years now, having sold my car back in college and bought a nice road bike to get around instead, and my wife minus during the transition from being just a married couple to being parents has generally done likewise. Well things do get a little more complicated with this transition but I think we've still been finding some good solutions.
We bought her a tadpole trike (two wheels in the front and one in the rear) a little bit ago for a few reasons. They are quite comfortable for one, more aerodynamic than your average riding position on a road bike, can be ridden while pregnant, which she is, and ridden year round since they have such a low center of gravity and three wheels, snow and ice are much less treacherous. The other added benefit is that a newborn can't be adequately supported in a trailer for awhile 6-12 months depending on who you talk to, while in a trike without the concern of tipping over she could wear the baby in our baby bjorn sport strapped to her chest while riding.
Now coming back to the title of this post, this also all means that on average when my dear courageous wife is toodling around town to do errands she's always toting at a minimum an extra 55lbs of trailer, child, diaper bag, emergency gear, and not all things are as close in proximity as we'd like. So of late I've been researching some electric assist options that we could mount to the trike effectively augmenting her power to the point of being on par with my typical range and speeds (30-40 miles any given day at 18-22mph average) even with towing all the extra weight. This would make trips to grandma and grandpa's house all the more feasible without falling back on the car. Besides the fact that the total amount of energy (besides Nickie's pedaling power) that's required to move my wife, child, trailer, stuff :), is VASTLY less than moving a 3500lb car too, we also get our electricity from windpower, so recharging at home means the extra energy is coming from a renewable resource.
We'll see how it goes, but having tried one out this last weekend we're both in agreement that the question is not, if, but when. So we'll start putting our pennies together and hopefully get her setup in the next couple months so we can take some of the extra burden off of her in the move to a carfree lifestyle.
On a side note we're also in the process of selling our VW Eurovan and getting a more fuel efficient vehicle for the times when we do fall back on the car.
Lastly since we haven't joined the multimedia era by posting any pics yet, I thought I'd throw up a photo of my trusty steed that takes me to and from everyday.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
New Blog, Old Path
I suppose I am writing this blog because I have found that in my efforts over the past few years to become less dependant on foreign oil and to be more responsible in living on this world, I have discovered that change takes time. Change, no matter how determined I am, takes creativity and new habits, and that just doesn't all come at once. And I think it might be useful to have the imput from others along this same path.
My most recent challenge is using my car less. I've found this to be a challenge. Physically it's a challenge. I am pregnant and usually toting a toddler in a cart behind me. And it is a challenge logistically. There aren't always good ways to get around town. There are many places that have no bike lanes. I have to find new ways to get to the grocery store, post office, parks, to get Samuel to play dates. Also, I have a limited amount of time to do my errands in. If I do them too close to Samuel's nap time, I risk him falling asleep for a few minutes and then not taking a nap. (Which both he and I need him to do! ;)
So far, I've cut my driving by about 60-70%. And my gas costs too. It's a nice little incentive! :)
My most recent challenge is using my car less. I've found this to be a challenge. Physically it's a challenge. I am pregnant and usually toting a toddler in a cart behind me. And it is a challenge logistically. There aren't always good ways to get around town. There are many places that have no bike lanes. I have to find new ways to get to the grocery store, post office, parks, to get Samuel to play dates. Also, I have a limited amount of time to do my errands in. If I do them too close to Samuel's nap time, I risk him falling asleep for a few minutes and then not taking a nap. (Which both he and I need him to do! ;)
So far, I've cut my driving by about 60-70%. And my gas costs too. It's a nice little incentive! :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)