As I reflect on the kilometers I’ve rode the past 5 years, I’m grateful I can still ride that much. There are many styles of bikes on the road today: electric and expensive technology, and old school adult tricycles can’t keep up. I run high gearing and can spin it for hours at a time, it allows me to out perform many bikes, but not road bikes on the open highway or electric bikes on the beach path. The last couple weeks I’ve logged 230 kilometers on Electra (brand not electric bike) and the freewheel cogs are similar to the ones on Roxanne, but the chain wheel on Electra has 44 teeth and Roxanne has 60. More teeth on a chain wheel is faster, so Roxanne is geared higher; however, the aerodynamics of Electra makes her almost as fast, and the only difference in the freewheel is Roxanne has 28t as 1st while Electra has 32t as an extreme granny gear; otherwise, they both go from 24t to 14t. Electra is a cruiser in the wind; I mean it takes little effort to pedal. In normal conditions, I start in 5th gear without lugging, but in heavy winds I’ll sometimes downshift to 3rd. Roxanne starts in lower gears and accelerates slower, but is faster once moving. Electra is faster in stop and go traffic, and way more comfortable!
Riding Electra the past couple weeks has been a blessing. The first week, I rode Roxanne about half the time, but this week I’ve just been riding Electra; except tomorrow when I plan to take Roxanne to the grocery store because the adult tricycle is an excellent cargo cycle. The bicycle is much more sporty around town, though. I delivered “The Desert Sun” Newspaper for years when I was a child (365 days/year rain or shine). That must have stuck with me because when I started riding an adult trike in 2016, I was able to pedal great distances in heavy Long Beach traffic with no problem. After 5 years and various cycles (mostly adult trikes) it is wonderful to be back in the saddle of a two wheeler; although I have balance issues from my 1991 motorcycle accident, so for now I’m using balance wheels.
