Texas State Highway 19 – Canton, TX

This being First Monday Canton Trades Days weekend, I though I would make my first Highway 19 one day recumbent tour to Canton, Texas. From my home this logged only 24 miles on my Vision R40 recumbent.

Canton is located 60 miles east of the Dallas Metroplex. It is a small town of less than 4,000 residents but grows to as much as 400,000 visitors on Canton Trade Days weekends.

If you have ever heard of Canton, TX, it probably had some association with Canton Trade Days or as the locals call it, First Monday. Canton is home of the famous Canton Trade Days which takes place on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday preceding the first Monday of the each month. Canton Trade Days is the largest, ongoing flea market in the United States dating back to the mid 1800’s. Canton Trade Days has a campus of 100 plus acres with acres more for parking. Much of Canton’s history is tied to First Monday. You can read more of its history here.

Here is something to do with your used bicycle rim and garage sale glassware.

BTW, I could not find a dedicated bicycle parking area and there are signs on the west entrance banning bicycles from the Trade Days grounds. No problem there, they would not mix well with the crowds and the multitudes of electric mobility scooters that are rented there. Admission is free and parking is $5.00. If you allow 4 hours for your visit, you will not see everything. Just when you think you’ve seen everything you find out you’ve not even been to Dog Alley, Old Mill Place or several other of the outlaying areas. And don’t forget the historic downtown Canton. Yep, 2 days if you want to do everything. Hotels/Motels are always booked for Trade Days weekends so make arrangements to stay a little further away.

If your touring through East Texas and can arrange to be in Canton on Trade Days, it would be a great rest day or two.

I’ll add more of my trip to Canton as time permits.

Riding into Canton by Bike.

NOTE: Early morning or late afternoon traffic is very heavy on First Monday Trade Days Weekends. Its equal to going to a major league sports event as visitors pour into or out of Canton. I would avoid these hours on a bike.

Hwy 19 from the north or south has wide shoulders.
Hwy 64 from the north to Wills Point has wide shoulders.
Hwy 64 to the south has wide shoulder about 5 miles then no shoulder to near Tyler, Tx.
Hwy 243 to the West from Kaufman has no shoulder.
Hwy 198 to the West from Maybank has no shoulder.
FM 17 east from Grand Saline has no shoulder.

Welcome to the City of Canton/History

Canton Visitor Center

Texas State Highway 19

Texas State Highway 19 is where I do most of my riding. 19 runs from Huntsville, Texas to Paris Texas. 188.4 miles of East Texas farms, ranches and small towns. SH 19 runs through 10 counties, 13 towns and numerous communities. These  towns are rich in Texas history and some date back to the 1800’s.  SH 19 was built in 1917 by the Texas Highway Department.

I live a 1.5 miles from SH 19 about 7 miles outside of Canton, Texas. My daily ride is often a trip to town and back via SH 19. I ride some of the county roads in my area but I feel much safer on the wide shoulders of SH 19.

My intent this spring is to ride the length of SH 19 and explore the small towns along the way. I don’t feel strong enough to ride the full length at one time, but will make multiple day trips of 30 or 40 miles until I cover the distance. This will be both my training for longer rides and honing my touring skills and equipment.

I love creative home builders.

iLean Python Delta Trike

Low cost solutions and easy to implement. Maybe somewhat unorthodox but a creative solution.

Now I know what to do with all those 1 piece cranks I’ve been throwing away.

To me, it looks more in the Airbike group of Center-Steered Recubents. But who’s counting?

TheFutonExpress is quite prolific at building and making videos. Bet you can’t watch just one. Requires some bandwidth.

Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum Auction

Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum has been one of my favorite sites. I remember many of the cars pictured there from my teen years. This is a fantastic collection. It is now going to be auctioned off. There is an online auction catalog. It is a bit slow to load so have patience.
I mention it here because of a few of the entries. There are several Mochet velomobiles and a 1953 Velo-Velocar.

1953 Velo-Velocar

Note the mid-drive. BB same height as the seat. Compact LWB. Tailbox for speed. Good design never changes.
Attendees only pay $80.00 per couple and you get a printed catalog. See you there.

Winter in Texas

Next 10 days

I monitor several recumbent and bike building forums and the latest subject on each forum is cold winter temperatures. I think we’ve had one night of 25 F and a few nights around 29 F, but for the most part it has been a very mild winter here in East Texas. Brad, of Atomic Zombie fame, posted some temperatures yesterday where antifreeze quits flowing. Some of the commuters on BROL have posted riding to work in sub zero temps.  I’m not a cold weather person and I can’t imagine riding in those temperatures.

On a google+ recumbent group I monitor, the guys in Florida are still riding in the 80’s and have been somewhat boisterous about it. Well, yesterday they didn’t have much up on us here in East Texas. When I left the house yesterday on my ride it was 77 F. I’ve not made any comments on these forums about our Texas temperatures because I didn’t want it to sound like I was saying “na na na na naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa”. I really feel sorry for people that have to put up with the cold temps and I know they feel sorry for me when I’m riding and the Texas temps are in the 100 plus area. I do have a choice of where I live and what I want to put up with. Other than maybe Florida, I know of no other place I’d rather be than East Texas. Or maybe South Texas.

Well I know that winter in East Texas is not over. I’m loving the mild temps we are having for a few days but I know right around the corner there might be an ice storm waiting to settle in over our area. But until then, I’ll go on riding. Riding and being happy that I still can ride and enjoy waving back at the neighbors that wave at me and listen to the musical “toot toot” from the Fedex lady as she passes.

Maybe this will improve my riding speed. Or maybe not.

You know, I’m tired. But I guess sometimes tired beats the alternative. As my father used to say that halitosis is better than no breath at all. I guess what I should have said is I’m tired today. After another long, un-comfortable day in the hospital having the arteries in my legs drilled out, it has left me exhausted. I know, why the hell would you have the arteries in your leg drilled out, is this something you had done on purpose or was it an accident?

Well, here’s how it goes. Long version.

I’m a longtime survivor of cardiac problems dating back to 1976 when I had my first heart attack at the age of 32 while playing tennis. It seems the cardiac events run in cycles of 10/11 years for me. After the first heart attack, I was put on medications and that staved off another sever problem until 1987 when I had a 5 way bypass. After that, another 10 or 12 years before a stent was necessary to relieve newly developed angina.  After that I developed heart palpitations and underwent several cardiac ablations  that eventually lead to a defibrillator being implanted to take over the duty of heart rhythm management.

These hi-lites don’t include the numerous stress test and nuclear procedures (radio active dyes) necessary to justify more costly procedures to follow. Just when you think that everything that can be done has been done, here comes a new one.

A few months ago on a visit to my doctor of electrophysiology, he asked about the amount of exercise that I got. I told him (proudly) about riding a recumbent bike that my son and I had built together. He said “no, no, how much exercise do you get, running, walking, circuit machines, etc”.  He went on to explain how these other forms of exercise help maintain bone density and the benefits of staying strong as we age. I admitted to the Dr. that I hadn’t been to the gym in a number of years and I didn’t walk or run because of pain in my calves and shins. He said “well we can fix that, I’ll make you an appointment”. Hmmmmmm, I’ve heard that before.

A few days later I had a visit with my now new cardiologist  followed by some test and a return trip to the cardiologist for the results. He explained how you get calcium buildup in the arteries of your leg the same as the arteries around the heart. The treatment for this is similar as the treatment for the arteries around your heart, well almost the same.

A couple of weeks later I was in a very cold operating room listening to the whirl of a drill vibrating inside my right leg at 20,000 rpm. This drill was being guided by my cardiologist  through the artery as it cleaned out calcium deposits that had built up over the 68 years of my life. After that, he used a balloon to pry open a few other places (painful) then sent me back to my room for a few hours recovery and then on my way home.

Yesterday I’m back at the hospital at 6:00 am to do the same procedure on my left leg. By 8:00 am I am back in the same cold operating room starting the same procedure on my left leg. After an hour I hear the doctor say that they should pull out, he couldn’t get it started. It being, entry into the artery of my leg. I was awake enough to hear what he was saying but not awake enough to give my opinion of this situation. At this point I think the guy that oversees the use of the drill is consulted and entry into the closed artery is  underway. The left leg took a bit longer than the right leg. In all, almost 4 hours. But the procedure was successful and by 7:30 pm I was on my way home.

Yes, I agree with you. Modern medicine helps us continue with an active life which would not be possible without the treatments like the one I describe above. I need to point out that the symptoms associated with the legs are not unlike angina that I had when having a heart attack. The lack of blood flow to a muscle in need of oxygen hurts. Pay attention to what your body is telling you. The pain in your leg may be an early warning that there is a problem somewhere else.

Well, this event is now over. In a few days I’ll be allowed to ride my bike again and according to the weatherchannel.com it looks like next week will be a beautiful week in East Texas. I look forward to improved performance with my rebuilt legs and my new to me Vision R40 SWB recumbent. Wouldn’t this be like putting a 4 barrel on your engine so it would breath better? Or maybe a 4 barrel on a Briggs & Stratton won’t help.

Get a checkup. You’ll be glad you did.

I got it all together! My winter riding apparel.

Did I do good or what?

I worked hard this year to regain some of my youthful stamina and I’ll be danged if I’m going to let cold weather keep me from riding. I didn’t want to invest much money in my endeavor to weather the winter so I went to Walmart to get my much thought out riding apparel.

I’ve read that I’m supposed to dress in layers. This is how I did it.

I started with a toboggan, I picked out one of florescent orange so I could be seen on cold cloudy days, a black ski mask (it only came in black and the check-out clerk told me not to wear it in the store or into a 7-11). I got Fruit of the Loom long johns, tops and bottoms. I went with a first class name brand since it would be against my tender skin.  A long sleeve tee-shirt, large so it could go on easily over the long johns top. I have several extra large sweat shirts that I can wear over the long sleeve tee-shirt. To top it off, I bought a red sweat suit that Sue said looked like something Santa would wear, or maybe that was something he wouldn’t wear. Whatever. I almost forgot that I needed gloves for winter. All my gloves are work gloves with holes worn in the tips of the fingers and I wouldn’t want to give the impression that riding a recumbent was anything like work. So, I got the black padded ones, not so padded that I couldn’t shift gears but padded enough to keep my hands warm. To top it off I have my big black clunker sun glasses that the eye doctor gave me when I had my cataract surgery. There big enough to go over my regular glasses that I never wear since I had the cataracts removed. I had to use electrical tape to tape on my mirror because the ear piece was so wide.

Day before yesterday I went for my first sub 40 degree ride this year with my new Walmart riding apparel. I got about a mile down the road and had to stop and take the ski mask off. It kept riding up over my eyes and I couldn’t see through the little holes in the knit. After climbing the hill leading up to Willow Springs Baptist Church I had to stop and take off my jacket, you really work up a sweat climbing hills. But guess what? I was very comfortable riding late into the afternoon. I’ll have to get a larger ski mask, but other than that I ready for at least 30 F dry weather. Bring it on!

I don’t know if you can see out the window behind me or not. This morning it is 35 F and raining, I don’t ride when it’s raining. I know, I know. I hear you.

Myrtle the Turtle

Early on in my introduction to recumbents I wanted to know everything about everything. Somehow I stumbled on Crazy Guy on a Bike and spent days reading travel journals of lucky people who’ve travel around the world on bikes and trikes. One of my early reads was the adventures of Sylvia Halpern riding her trike, Myrtle the Turtle. Ms. Halpern has become my favorite internet personality. I’ve read all of her Crazy Guy journals, her blog and now follow her on facebook.

Well, she is at it again. This time in Asia. Ms. Halpern supplies plenty of beautiful pictures along with interesting detail of her adventures.

I invite you to spend a few hours getting to know Sylvia Halpern, a wonderful story teller.

Coroplast Bullet!

BROL’er, Rick OBrien, (robrien24) Has a near complete full fairing for his ICE Sprint RS. Rick’s modular approach to building is unique and looks strong, lightweight with great aesthetics. His complete build information can be found on this BROL thread.

I love the very compact looks. Enjoy the Vid.

I want a Ferrari that will haul 4 kids, 2 adults and a sheet of plywood on the weekend.

For every velomobile that is built, more understanding, ideas perpetuated, friendly one-upsmanship “I can do better than that” and people with different skill levels and resources meet to share their results. Regardless of the outcome, something is to be learned by all. On Atomic Zombie, BROL and some other forums there is a form of open-source projects where we learn from each other. What we see and learn from others goes into the production of our own. I’ve seen and read virtually every thread and website with information on velomobiles that I could find on the internet gathering information for my own build.

Here is some information I had missed. You might enjoy this read. 

I’ve already bought some of the materials for the constructions of my velo, but I’m now waiting to see what Atomic Zombies’ Brad builds. I wouldn’t want to miss anything. On the AZ velomobile thread there has been a lot of “you can’t do that” but I think he can.

I think we as recumbent riders are always looking for more efficiency, speed and comfort but in the end a utility velo like Brad is building will have more appeal to the common people. I’m separating us recumbent riders from the rest of the world. Some people like Chrysler minivans and some like Ferrari’s. Both are efficient at what they do. Look at who sells the most. Maybe a Ferrari that will haul 4 kids, 2 adults and a sheet of plywood on the weekend is really what I”m looking for. But really now, I have an Off Road Super Duty Ford F250 diesel that can do that.

No couch potatoes here!

Back in the 80’s I rode my bike a lot. Rode to work everyday and took the long way home. Weekends would sometimes include a 50 or 100 mile ride with my son. Somewhere along the way life got in the way and my bikes got set aside. Last year my son and I got re-acquainted with bikes, specifically recumbent bikes and I started riding again. It’s difficult to get started again. Well let me take that back. It’s not difficult to get started again, it’s difficult to rebuild the muscles and stamina needed to ride the distances I would like to be riding. This recent thread on BROL is now my inspiration to stick with it. These guys have been doing it for years.  If your in your 30’s or 40’s or 50’s here is the reason you should be doing something now and sticking with it.

I setting my goal for next year at 4,000 miles. What will you be doing?

New Favorite Site

I don’t know about you, but my favorite site list changes with my interest. My interest changes almost daily. My normal routine is check my email @gmail.com, check today’s post at BROL and AtomicZombie. I like both of these sites for my hobby interest. My hobby being recumbent bikes and trikes. Both of these sites have tons of information and a camaraderie factor tying many factions of this sport/hobby together. This morning a link on a BROL post caught my interest. http://www.kreuzotter.de/english/eindex.htm

I’ve often used online calculators of different sorts as needed. You know, how many inches is 10mm? How many yen to a dollar? How fast do you have to pedal to go a certain speed on your bike? This site has several calculators geared, so to speak, to the bicycle enthusiast.

The calculators include.

Speed & Power Bicycle Speed and Power Calculator, comparing differend kinds of bicycles (Online-Calculator)

Cadence Relation between gearing, wheel-diameter and speed (Online-Calculator)

Steering Geometry Geometrical relation between Head Tube Angle, Trail and Fork Offset (Online-Calculator)

Spoke Length Online Spoke-Length Calculator

Pedal Kick-Back Graphical online calculator: Pedal kick-back, influence of transmission on rear-wheel suspension (Java applet)

Suspension Graphical online calculator: Swingarm design, shock-element properties (Java applet)

I spent a full hour here this morning and now have it handy to use as needed. Thanks Andreas Zorn, for you work. Your work lives on.

My New To Me Vision VR-40 SWB Recumbent

A couple of years ago I found an old EZ-3 on Craigslist and bought it for $75.00. That’s what started it all. Then I found Atomic Zombie and bought a 6 pack of plans. One day I took the EZ-3 to my sons house to get some help with needed repairs and we decided we could use the parts from the EZ-3 and build a modified DeltaWolf Trike for less trouble than we could fix the EZ-3. This was after first building a LWB Voyager that we named PoGo. PoGo was suspended and bounced a little (really a lot) when you pedaled. From that start my son, David, has built 6 or 8 recumbent. Some with my help and some without. It’s really been fun and the time spent with my son has been priceless.

Vision VR-40

This past weekend I went to visit my son and daughter for a few days. My son went with me to pickup a rear derailleur for my trike while I was in the Dallas area. We stopped by a bicycle shop in Richardson, TX to get the needed parts. My son pointed out a recumbent bike in back of the store among all the DF’s. I had seen it before on a visit several months before. Hmmmmmm, still there.

Over the time that we had built our recumbent bikes, I was always disappointed with the weight. But this bike I could pick up with one hand. Although it was several years old, it still looked almost new. David said the company had gone out of business in 2003 or 2004 but that really didn’t bother me. Almost all the parts were standard bike parts. We pulled it out of the rack and I sat on it for awhile. At that point we rolled it to the front of the store and the mechanic aired up the tires for us and we took it outside for a ride. David rode it around the parking lot and then around the building. On his return he yelled out to watch how well it handled when he was going so slow.

So, it followed me home.

I returned to Edgewood  with it late Monday, late enough that there was no time to ride. Tuesday I only had time to ride 4 or 5 miles. Today I had a funeral to attend. Tomorrow the weather looks perfect with highs in the 70’s. I hope to put in at least 20 miles. Ride report to follow.

Ride Report

I know for most of you an old Vision VR40 is old news, but for me it’s really keen.

It’s the first recumbent I’ve had with no wheel flop. I can hold the back of the seat and walk forward and it goes in a straight line. I can ride at 3 mph with no wobble and at 28.5 mph downhill and feel in complete control. I still need a little work with the tight turns, but I think that will come with time. I only rode 14 miles today because I recently had a Roto Rooter job on my right leg and didn’t want to push it. It was maybe the easiest 14 miles I’ve done on a recumbent because of the much lighter weight compared to the diy bikes I’ve built. Needless to say, I’m pleased with my $250 purchase.

I wouldn’t take for the time my son and I have had together, building and learning together. But it’s also nice to be on a lighter ride that handles so well. We’ve not built our last bike yet. I still have plans to add a full fairing to my trike and e-assist to the VR-40.

The Mistresses’ Seat

Every week I find a new favorite site. In this case it was a re-find. I first saw this site when I was new to recumbents and very new to home built recumbents. It was carbon fiber and out of my reach I though at the time. Little did I know how relevant it might be to me at a later date. This week BROL user Kragasaur (Eric) was updating his build progress on a lowracer with a link to his site. Eric has built a carbon fiber/wood recumbent (named the Mistress) and has now added a carbon fiber seat to the Mistress.

What I like about this site is Eric’s approach to building. Eric’s methods has put carbon fiber in the reach of the average home builder. His persistence with a project till completion really shows in the final product. Eric, thanks for sharing your experiences and methods of building with carbon fiber and wood.

The Mistress
The Mistresses’ Seat

My Recumbent Seat Page

Electric Assist Velomobile

My son, David, just posted a link to Low-tech Magazine’s article Electric Velomobiles: as Fast and Comfortable as Automobiles, but 80 times more Efficient.  I question the as comfortable as part, but I think there is plenty of room for a velomobile with power assist in my life.

I found this article very informative and up to date. Hope you enjoy the read.

Low-tech Magazine is a very interesting rag. I just spent a couple of hours browsing its pages.

Video Of A No Weld Aluminum Trike

Tonight I was just doing searches and following links and this one popped up. I don’t even remember from which site lead me in this direction. I’ve emailed the You Tube poster for more information, maybe he will reply. This is the only N55 trike I’ve seen finished other than the one on the N55 site.

https://texasrecumbents.wordpress.com/2012/09/27/additional-resources-for-no-weld-trike/
https://texasrecumbents.wordpress.com/2012/09/23/no-weld-cargotouring-trike-design/
https://texasrecumbents.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/yea-or-nay-diy-aluminum-no-weld-recumbent-trike/

This has nothing to do with recumbents!

This has nothing to do with recumbents or the building thereof  but I thought it just way to cool to pass up. This young man is 4 years old. Just watch. What were you doing at 4 years old?

Downhill at 4 years old.

Poor Man’s Vendetta MBB FWD

Poor man’s Vendetta

Of home built FWD MBB’s, to date this is my favorite. Mika (mhelander)  of BROL has built a most impressive welded aluminum bike fashioned after the Cruzbike Vendetta. From Mika’s ride reports, “Poor man’s Vendetta MBB” handles very well. A must read for home builders. His ride reports alone are most informative.

Links to the Poor Man’s Vendetta and other MBB FWD recumbents can be found on my FWD MBB Recumbent page.

I Tried Something New. . . Ride with GPS

A few months ago I tried Brand X My Ride and found it did not suit the way I operated. Since then I have not taken the time to look at any of the other online mapping sites. There was a post on BROL today that urged me to take a look at Ride with GPS.

Well, the BROL post was right. After a quick signup I had my first map complete within minutes. When I say complete, I mean complete. A detailed map showing my start point, distance traveled along the route, a wicked elevation chart on the bottom of the page and driving directions in the left column.

This is a screen shot of my first map, starting at my home, travel through Canton, Tx and continue to Athens, Tx and then a turnaround trip home. There is so much more, I can’t wait to get into it.

Sorry, I cropped off the driving instructions on the left side of the map. I’ll correct this when I get time.

Additional Resources For No-Weld Trike

My interest in the XYZ Spaceframe XYZNODES trike continues. Following is a list of other resources and N55 pages that have pictures I’ve not seen before. If you have resources not listed, let me know.

I made some progress today setting up a forum for those interested in discussing and sharing building information on the XYZNODES trikes and other Spaceframe bikes.

OpenBikeWorks in progress at Bicycle Innovation Lab

Alternate Energy Resource Network

Werkstatt-Lastenrad.de This site is in German – Google translates.

OpenBikeWorks 3D modeling and adjustments.

OpenBikeWorks Cargo Bike adjustments.

The No Weld Forum is up. You may register and leave a introduction. I look forward to your participation.
EDIT: 10/27/2012 The No Weld Forum is now inactive. I tried to start a forum that would be free to use, but Forumotion requires a certain amount of traffic to support advertisers and/or money to keep the forum open. When I opened the forum I didn’t know the restrictions were so tight. I’ve not the money to support the forum therefore The No Weld Forum will not be active in the future. I will continue to post what I find on the N55 project and other no weld recumbents in my blog and you are welcome to leave comments. 
Thank You
George

https://texasrecumbents.wordpress.com/2012/10/19/video-of-a-no-weld-aluminum-trike/

https://texasrecumbents.wordpress.com/2012/09/23/no-weld-cargotouring-trike-design/

https://texasrecumbents.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/yea-or-nay-diy-aluminum-no-weld-recumbent-trike/