After the early part of November turned out to be really nice, not surprisingly things cooled off rapidly. We have been out for a few short rides in the past couple of weeks, but today the snow came down. Yes that picture is the view past the quadracycle in the garage of the white world outside.
So far we have about 4 inches (100 mm) on the ground, with more forecast for tonight and tomorrow. It is always sad when quadracycling season comes to an end, but the bright part is that XC ski season can't be far off!
Here in Ottawa the winters are very unpredictable, especially given the realities of climate change. Last winter was very snowy. The snow came early and we had amazing amounts of it. That made for an early end to quadracycling, but a great skiing season. In 2006/07 winter was very late - we had no real snow until the middle of January and even then it didn't last very long. So you never know when things will pick up again. It may be a great ski season or a poor one. It may be a long winter and a late start to quadracycling in the spring or not. The best part is that we are prepared either way!
As the winter goes on, this blog inevitably slows down, but we will try to post news of the four-wheeled world when we have it available, especially from our other contributors.
Total quadracycling for 2008 - 505.8 km
This week has turned out to be a amazingly gorgeous week. If climate change is to blame then this is one of the better effects it produces. Normally we have high temperatures of about 7C at this time in November and can expect snow showers every now and then, but this whole week we are experiencing temperatures in the high teens. Today it hit 19C, which is t-shirt weather around here!
So we took advantage of the beautiful day and went quadracycling for 10.4 km around the area. This trip was a regular "errand run" to return a couple of library books and also make a grocery stop. At the library we used the "drive-through" book return.
As usual at the grocery store I ended up staying with the bike while Ruth went in to do the shopping.
The quadracycle caught the eye of a very tall, slim woman who couldn't help stopping to ask about it. It turned out that she is visiting from Montana and lives in a small town there. She has been car-free for ten years, which is quite a feat in a small rural US town! The quadracycle always seems to attract the interest of interesting people!
This run was also a chance to check out the loctite on the pedal and see if it did the trick. Loctite is a great stuff - I have used it a lot in the aircraft world where if things fall off, the consequences are usually more serious and so I really trust the bloo-goo! It held just fine on the pedal. We will monitor it for a while and see if there are any problems. It would be a better solution than washers!
Price of gas locally today $0.867
Total quadracycling for 2008 so far - 491.8 km
We thought that the weather would put an end to quadracycling this past week when we got 11 cm (4 1/3 inches) of snow. We even had some drifting snow as well! Yes this is pretty early for Ottawa, we often don't have snow actually accumulated on the ground until just before Christmas. Climate change is certainly taking its toll.
Of course the climate is more unstable than anything and so after a couple of days where the temperature didn't get much above freezing, today we made it up to 14C and all the snow is gone. It was just about "T-shirt weather" outside in the sunshine.
So, given this respite from an early winter, we decided to get out and do some quadracycling. We waited until after lunch, when the weather had warmed up near the high for the day. It was truly nice outside, only a small amount of cirrus cloud in the sky, portending tonight's cold front and a return to high temperatures near zero for the weekend.
Besides that, we wanted to get out around the neighbourhood to see some of the Hallowe'en decorations. Yes, some people around here go nuts with inflatable jack-o-lanterns, cotton wool, orange plastic bags full of leaves and plastic gravestones. I guess they then feel all warmed up for Christmas.
We had a nice ride, went south from our house and then back north with the intention of crossing Hunt Club Road and making our way to Loblaws to pick up a few heavier items. But then, while about 6 km away from home, I felt something not right with the Rhoades Car - my left-hand pedal was coming loose! Gordon Koppang had recently related a story where the same thing happened, also far from home. He mentioned that for some reason the crank-sets are installed backwards on Rhoades Cars. In most bikes the cranks are installed the other way up, so that the force from your foot tightens the pedals on the crank arm. Instead Rhoades Car installs them the other way around and puts a big split lock-washer on to stop the pedal backing off. I told Gordon, too early it seems, that I hadn't seen the same problem.
I always have lots of tools with me, so I tightened the pedal carefully and set off again. About 300 meters along the road it was loose again. I tightened it again and the same happened right away.
Time for a Plan "B".
We decided that we had better head home and only have the right-hand seat do all the pedalling. That was Ruth in that seat and we started off up a good hill. The results were not pretty or very effective. So we pulled over and adjusted the seats so we could swap; she would steer and I would pedal. Unfortunately adjusting the seats takes a while to do. Our Rhoades Car seats have to be removed and re-installed as we have two separate range holes, due to our height disparity. Fortunately I always carry rubber gloves to do this as the seat adjusters are right next to the chains and it is impossible to carry out this operation without getting covered in grease, hence the gloves.
The seats finally adjusted, in a less-than-totally-good humour we set off again with Ruth steering, but not pedalling and me providing all the horsepower. We had some good hills to take going home and it was hard work without Ruth's help, even in first gear.
Finally we made it home. I pulled off the offending pedal, cleaned the threads carefully with degreaser, toothbrushes etc. When the surfaces were all clean and dry I re-installed them, without the lock-washer. The washer actually reduces thread contact area and I think makes it more likely you will have a pedal come loose. In place of the lock-washer I applied a generous amount of Loctite "blue" thread locker. Loctite is essentially metal glue. As long as the surfaces are clean then it will stop the pedal from coming undone, hopefully.
The next step is to wait a few days for the Loctite to fully dry and then try it out. If it works well I will probably remove all the pedals and Loctite them all. I would hate to be far from home and have another pedal come loose.
Overall this was not a big problem to solve, but it was really unnecessary to have to deal with it in the first place. Why not put the cranks and chains on the correct side in the first place? Perhaps there was a design reason, but I don't know what it was.
In the end we did do our grocery run, but on foot instead. Tuesday is supposed to be 17C, so perhaps we will take the quadracycle out for another run then and see how it performs.
Pedal with lock washer
Loctite blue on the threads, ready to be tightened
Price of gas locally today $0.869
Total quadracycling for 2008 so far - 481.4 km
We have had our first frost and now the temperatures have returned from last week's chilly daytime highs to the 20 degree Celsius mark, which is the very definition of Indian Summer. The last few days have been warm, sunny and dry. So far it has turned out to be a better season than the actual summer we got, which was very wet.
We haven't done enough quadracycling recently, due the weather last week and some injuries, but we had to get out today, as the day was so gorgeous that it could not be avoided.
The trees in the south part of Ottawa are starting to really change colours and even though the colours are a bit muted this year, probably due to the rain and lack of sunshine, they are still not bad at all. Passing by a city park in the area I had to stop and snap a photo to share the colours here.
So we cycled 14.2 km around the area. It is odd, but even for a Saturday there was a lot of traffic out on the roads. Maybe it was because gasoline is suddenly cheap due to the wild stock market situation and "economic downturn" so everyone is out driving. I don't know. I do know that everyone in the city we talked to seemed to be in a good mood - we got lots of positive comments, thumbs-up and smiles for our quadracycle today - more than we normally get I think. I attribute it more to the sunny warm day here in mid-October than their mutual fund performances. Regardless of the reasons, it is good to see everyone feeling so positive today.
The warm Indian Summer weather is forecast to continue for the next few days, before it gets much cooler next week. So we will probably take advantage of the weather and get out for a few more rides here on the Thanksgiving Weekend. After all we have much to be thankful for, beautiful weather for quadracycling at least!
Price of gas locally today $0.986
Total quadracycling for 2008 so far - 469.5 km
Today was a really gorgeous day, 14C and sunny with almost no wind, perfect for a quadracycle ride. So we went out mid-afternoon around the local area, logging 9.7 km on the GPS.
We actually haven't been out quadracycling since September 8th. The main reasons have been, yes, more rain and that we have both had colds. The colds were a nuisance, but the rain has been something else. We had the left-overs from a hurricane (Ike) and even a Pacific tropical storm (Lowell) blow through and bring more unwelcome precipitation. It has been this way all summer.
The good news is that this next week is shaping up to be a dry one, at last and perhaps we'll get more quadracycling in, before it gets wet out again.
At this point all I can say is that it doesn't look like Ruth will meet her 1000 km goal for this year, but we will give it a shot. Perhaps the fall, which starts officially tomorrow, will prove drier than the summer, spring and last winter were? We aim to get out everyday that we can, especially when we get clear, calm and dry days like today was.
Even while we are quadracycling near to home and think that everyone in this area must have seen us out pedalling in the past two years, we still get questions! Today we got "pulled over" on a quiet suburban street by a guy driving his car who wanted to ask us about the quadracycle. We don't mind - it is always great to talk to people about the vehicle and how much fun it it to ride together.
Price of gas locally today $1.124
Total quadracycling for 2008 so far - 455.3 km
After doing a short run last week to check out the new dérailleurs, we parked our quadracycle in the garage for the weekend. On Saturday it rained 17 mm, which is quite a lot. Sunday was a bit better and I did a bicycle trip with my old Norco Alpine 12 speed to Carleton Place airport and back (100 km round trip) to attend the fly-in there. Later in the day it started raining again and rained most of the evening as well.
Since this morning was dry and the forecast didn't look good for later in the day, Ruth wanted to get out for a quadracycle ride while we could. We did a trip of 13.9 km around the local neighbourhoods. This late in the year the gardens are fading fast as the flowers lose their blooms for the fall. We even stopped at South Keys Second Cup for a mid-morning coffee break, which was nice as the sun was still shining at that point in the day.
We had a lot of interest in the Rhoades Car from passers by today and answered quite a number of questions from interested people, all women today for some reason.
The longer trip today gave us a chance to really test out the Shimano dérailleurs a bit more extensively. Ruth and I both agree that they are a great improvement over the SunRace units that we had in the rear position before. Aside from the fact that the SunRace ones cracked easily, the Shimanos are smoother, shift easier and are far quieter. Essentially the only advantage the SunRace dérailleurs have to offer is cheaper price, but they aren't worth the savings in my opinion. We are now very happy to have four Shimanos on our quadracycle.
As we head into fall soon, we haven't quadracycled as many kilometers as we had hoped to. The wet weather has been a real problem. Climatologists say that this summer is just an indication of climate change, mostly brought on by humans burning fossil fuels. We are doing our part by not owning and running a car. It would be nice if the weather were a bit less wet so we can show everyone else the benefits of quadracycling instead of driving everywhere.
Price of gas locally today $1.190
Total quadracycling for 2008 so far - 445.6 km
After installing the two new rear Shimano dérailleurs this morning we went out for a ride to try them out and make sure that they were adjusted properly.
We did a short trip of just 7.9 km around our local neighbourhood. I must say that the Shimanos are impressive! They shift more smoothly than the SunRace ones did, but they are also quieter, much much quieter. In the past the quadracycle made a fair amount of noise out on the road. It was always the sound of the chains in the dérailleurs that we heard, even when they were "tuned" right for the gears we were in they still seemed to make a fair amount of noise. I thought it was all four dérailleurs, but it turns out the the Shimanos on the front were very quiet. I can tell that now that we have four Shimanos and the vehicle is very quiet overall.
The SunRace dérailleurs would often "auto-shift" themselves, too. You would be pedalling away, no where near the gear selector levers and they would change gears all by themselves. The Shimanos don't do this, they stay in the gear that you put them in.
The four Shimanos are a great improvement overall!
Total quadracycling for 2008 so far - 431.7 km
I think we have this problem solved, hopefully on a permanent basis.
I talked to both Beth Baker and David Rhoades at Rhoades Car yesterday. They were both, as always, very polite, concerned and helpful. Since our Rhoades Car is still under warranty I was offered another set of replacement dérailleurs. The problem is that Rhoades Car moved from using Shimano dérailleurs to SunRace a year or so ago and they only use SunRace now. It looks like our 4W2PCP is a bit of an anomaly as it has Shimanos on the front and SunRace on the rear. I thought this was due to some technical compatibility issue, but apparently it was just a case of expending stock of Shimanos.
Beth offered a replacement set of SunRace dérailleurs, but I opted instead to buy my own new Shimanos at our local bike shop here in south Ottawa, Rebec and Kroes. I really didn't see any point in having Beth send us another set of SunRace dérailleurs, since the last ones cracked after only 267.9 km.
Of interest our local bike shop don't deal in SunRace, as they have had quality issues with them in the past. They only stock Shimanos. These are a little more expensive, but in their opinion will last. We paid out Cdn$96.03 including taxes for a pair of new mid-line Shimanos. The ones I got were specifically the "short" models, with the idlers closer together. Shimano also make "long" dérailleurs, but these will not fit the Rhoades Car.
This morning I installed the Shimanos, without any serious difficulties. I adjusted them as per the instructions and then we took the 4W2P for a test drive and it all seems to work right. We have the full range of gears available and the shifting is definitely smoother than the old SunRace derailleurs were.
It is interesting to note that Rhoades Car have not had any other reports of cracked SunRace dérailleurs from customers. This could be because the customers have just replaced the dérailleurs themselves or because there haven't been any cracks found. Also, we have been in touch with other owners ourselves and have asked if anyone has found cracks and they haven't. We have even posted photos of the crack locations here on this blog, to aid owners in checking their dérailleurs and still no one else has reported any problems. If you have cracked dérailleurs, please do e-mail us or post a note here on this blog to let us know. If your Rhoades Car is under two years old then the parts are under warranty and you can get replacement SunRace dérailleurs from the factory. Service there is fast and friendly as always.
After we have put some kilometers on our Shimano dérailleurs I will write some more here just to let readers know how they are in service.
We have been doing a fair amount of quadracycling recently, especially since the weather improved about two weeks ago and it has mostly stopped raining! We are now up to 424 km for the year, which is still well short of Ruth's goal of 1000 km for the year.
Achieving Ruth's goal just suffered another setback today. I was checking the rear SunRace dérailleurs, as I have done regularly since they cracked and broke in June and we replaced them. Today I discovered that the new ones are cracked!
The driver's side dérailleur has a large crack in it that starts right where the previous cracks started, at the corner of the casting just near the attachment point and goes right round the part 180 degrees.
The passenger's side dérailleur has two smaller cracks in the very early stages of starting.
I have lost faith in the SunRace dérailleurs. The parts that keep cracking are castings. The front dérailleurs are Shimano units and they are mounted on forgings instead of castings. We haven't seen any problems with these at all.
I removed them both dérailleurs once again - I am getting good at this now - and sent photos and a description to Beth at Rhoades Car. Today is a holiday in the USA and in Canada (Labour Day), so hopefully I will hear back from Beth tomorrow on this and we can get on with solving it.
Our 4W2PCP is still under warranty, as it is just a year and a half old. The new dérailleurs cracked with a total of 267.9 km on them. These kilometers were put on the cycle since the new dérailleurs were installed on 20 June 2008. The quadracycle has not been off asphalt roads in that time and has not been used in any unusual manner, it hasn't even carried any loads. I am confident that this is just a problem with the flawed SunRace dérailleurs and that replacing them with something more durable will solve the problem.
Of course the next week is going to be one of the warmest and brightest of the year and we will be unable to quadracycle until we get this solved. Hopefully it will happen quickly. Our quadracycle is our only vehicle, except for our bicycles and we need it to get around.
Price of gas locally today $1.267
Total quadracycling for 2008 so far - 423.8 km
I love to listen to the hum of the tires of our Rhoades Car, as it runs down hills. We usually forgo pedalling and take a break on the down-slopes.
The up-slopes sound different. I can't hear the tires on the asphalt over the sound of my own breathing and the movement of the chains and the other running parts. The flats are in-between, the effort is reduced and the pedalling easier, but it is on the downhills that the tires hiss and the quadracycle feels like a soapbox racer.
Each segment of a longer trip, like the one we did today, has its own attractions.
The down-slopes are obviously pure fun, as all I have to do is steer and perhaps brake a bit if the traffic light at the bottom of the hill turns amber. Being Sunday, today we went downtown on the Colonel By Drive. Coming back along Hunt Club Road towards Airport Parkway we ran fast down that hill. There is a traffic light at the bottom of the down-slope and then a big up-hill on the other side. Ruth hates having to stop there and then get going again. This time the pace was perfect, we whizzed down the slope, though a very green light and then the momentum carried us mostly up the east side without much effort at all. Those are always fun, especially coming at the end of a 31 km trip when you are tired and ready for a rest. There wasn't even much traffic on Hunt Club.
The flatlands, which make up the bulk of the quadracycling in Ottawa, are relatively easy. We can chat and pedal and only have to concentrate when we want to put on some speed to pass someone. That happened a couple of times today on the Colonel by Drive. Once a small girl, perhaps ten years old, was in front of us. She was weaving all over the roadway and it seemed best to step on it, pass her and leave her with the space to weave all she liked. Then there was an older couple on their individual bikes. Amazingly, on a two lane full-width road they combined dual weaving and complete obliviousness to take up the whole road and yield nothing. Finally we saw our opening and zoomed by them as quickly as we could. Flatlands are easy by quadracycle.
I really don't mind the up-slopes. The Rhoades Car has lots of gears, 42 for each of us actually, so we never run out of gears on the low end no matter how steep the slope is. Going up hill is just a matter of accepting a slower pace and gearing down. My usual mistake is gearing down too far, too fast and I end up not being able to pedal fast enough. That means shifting back up again quickly before we lose all speed. On the up hills I can really feel the effort to move the vehicle against gravity. Those are the times when I know that I am working hard and getting the exercise that we are out there to get. Reaching the top of a hill leaves a lingering sense of accomplishment. It isn't difficult, but you know the hills are there.
I love our Sunday's out on the Colonel By Drive. We have done these so many times that we run into "Sunday morning regulars". It is almost a sense of community, especially for those of us with unusual bikes. There aren't too many Sunday Bike Days left now as they end at the Labour Day weekend. That means only two more runs, a sure sign that summer is almost done and that autumn will soon be here. Perhaps it will be a typical Ottawa fall with many days in the teens Celsius and be drier than the summer has been, allowing some good days for more quadracycling.
Price of gas locally today $1.194
Total quadracycling for 2008 so far - 385.6 km
Well we had hoped that August would be a drier month than the last four have been and that we could get some more quadracycling in. That hasn't been the case.
After the rain stopped today and the streets had dried out a bit we decided to get an hour's worth of cycling in quickly, before the forecast thunderstorms this afternoon arrive. This is starting to get really tedious. The people who live in the area have stopped speculating about the prospects for a Senator's Stanley Cup try this year and have taken to talking about the endless rain, everyone. It has been amazing.
With just a short time available we decided to not go far and covered 10.34 km in something under an hour. As usual we got a number of positive comments, smiles and waves from people out walking and cycling. At one point we rode through a construction area where a group of young men were doing roofing - they all stopped and waved at us, big smiles.
Coming back along Bridle Path Drive one woman almost caused an accident, I think she was photographing us with her cell phone camera, but I can't be sure. I wish people wouldn't do that, it really creates a hazard.
Another older man leaned out the passenger window of a truck that passed us and said "unug ratar" or at least it sounded like that. I figured he was being complimentary and so I waved back, but he could have been asking directions to the nearest pizza place, it was hard to tell.
Over the past year and a half of being out quadracycling in Ottawa, we have had about 10,000 positive comments from people versus four negative ones, so I assume that when I can't hear quite what someone said that it is probably some words of support and encouragement. The quadracycle seems to bring to bring out the best in people we see, most people smile and wave when we go by.
The rest of the week looks like it will be rainy as usual, so we will try to get out in between the showers and put some miles on our Rhoades Car whenever we can.
Price of gas locally today $1.194
Total quadracycling for 2008 so far - 354.6 km
Yesterday was Sunday and we mulled over doing the Lucent-Alcatel Sunday Bike Day. Ruth was keen to do something different instead, so we took a bus to the north end of Blackburn Hamlet and hiked the Rockcliffe Parkway west from there. We walked to Rockcliffe Airport, ate lunch and then caught a bus and went downtown for the Red Bull Flug Tag event, walked a few more kilometres and then finally headed home by bus. In the end we walked about 12 km, which is a pretty good going.
In case anyone is wondering, the Red Bull Flug Tag (meaning "Fly Day" in German) is a consolation event that Red Bull organizes in cities where they would like to hold a Red Bull Air Race, but can't, due to local safety rules. The "Flug Tag" is misnamed. It actually consists of a large amount of hype and noise from a group or team who have built things that resemble flying machines, although they do not fly. They then run done a runway and fall into the Ottawa River, some 50 feet below the end of the ramp. This is then repeated endlessly with the same results by other teams. For some reason 50,000 people sit and watch this event and drink Red Bull. We watched for a short while and then left. I think it is misnamed because it isn't about flying at all. It is about plummeting into the water. This video gives the feel of the whole event. Ruth and I discussed it and decided that it was about the lowest form of entertainment we can imagine, short of a farting contest.
The end result was that we didn't do any quadracycling yesterday! However, today is a holiday. Officially here in Ottawa it is "Colonel By Day", although no one calls it that. Instead it is universally referred to as "The August Long Weekend." To be honest naming everything in the whole city after Colonel John By is getting a bit trite. We have Col By Drive, Bytown, Col By Day and even Major's Hill Park, which, yes, was named after him before he got promoted. It features a statute of him. Not that he isn't an important local figure, having been responsible for laying out the city and building the Rideau Canal in the 1840s, but it all gives the impression that no one has done anything worthy of note in Ottawa since!
Regardless, because of the holiday Monday we decided to do an extended quadracycle around the south part of Ottawa, covering Greenboro and much of Blossom Park. The gardens are all in late summer splendour and we spend most of our time looking at all the flowers that the homeowners have planted. The rain hasn't hurt in that regard - everything is very green all over the area.
We made a couple of stops along the way, talked to a few cyclists and just enjoyed the completely windless early morning air and the chance to get some exercise as the cumulus clouds grew overhead. The forecast indicates no risk of rain today, so we presume that the cumulus will amount to nothing more than a few cloudy breaks.
By the time we got home we had covered 20.72 km on the GPS. Hopefully August will prove to be a drier month and we will have the chance to get more cycling in to make up for the lack of it earlier in the summer.
Price of gas locally today $1.234
Total quadracycling for 2008 so far - 336.3 km
The summer of 1967 is still referred to as the "Summer of Love". It seems likely that 2008 will be known as the "Summer of Rain" at least here in Ottawa and eastern Ontario.
A quick look at the radar this morning showed that we had a brief couple of hours before a cold front swept through the area, bringing many hours of rain with it. The early part of the morning didn't look bad at all, however, so we rolled the quadracycle out of the garage and pedalled out into the local neighbourhoods for a ride. The day was mostly cloudy as the front inched closer to us, but there was no wind and so we completed a total of 14.53 km, pedalling and talking.
We dropped by Second Cup at South Keys so Ruth could get her special coffee fix. We had one gentleman drop by to ask about the Rhoades Car at Second Cup.
We had some groceries to pick up, so as usual I stayed with the quadracycle while Ruth stood in the check-out line at Loblaws. I always find it more fun talking to people about the Rhoades Car than shopping anyway and I had a couple of people stop by to ask questions, while I polished the chrome wheels.
We made it home and unloaded the groceries just before the skies got really dark and the rain started to fall again.
We love getting out quadracycling, it is great fun and great exercise as well, but we really need some drier weather this year. I greatly suspect that the wet weather is causing people to drive their cars more rather than walk or cycle. Then the cars emit more greenhouse gasses, which causes more climate change, which causes more rain, which causes more driving....
Price of gas locally today $1.219
Total quadracycling for 2008 so far - 315.6 km
Today was a real gift. We woke up this morning and checked the weather - no rain in the forecast until this afternoon! That has been a rarity this summer so far.
We mulled over how to spend the Sunday morning. We initially looked at a bicycle trip into Quebec on the pathway network, but Ruth wasn't quite up to it today. So we decided to head downtown on the Colonel By Drive for the Alcatel-Lucent Bike Day Sunday. This is always a reliable way to spend a rain-free Sunday morning. Besides that we need the exercise. The endless rain has meant that we haven't got out as much as we would have liked to this summer.
In studying the Ottawa cycling map we discovered a new approach route to the south end of the Colonel By Drive that bypasses riding on Walkley all together. Not that Walkley is all that bad for traffic on Sunday mornings, but it has a big downhill, followed by a big uphill. The new route suggested by the map cuts from McCarthy, west along Southmore to Otterson, via a connecting pathway on which the city thoughtfully left the restrictive barriers nicely wide enough for a quadracycle! The route cuts out the hills and took us through some nice quiet, tree-lined residential streets - a perfect ride.
The run downtown on the Colonel By Drive itself was great, a light tail wind, light bike traffic and sunny skies. We stopped a couple of times and, as usual, answered some questions from onlookers, mostly cyclists and skaters.
We went to the very end of the route at the Byward Market before turning back. I snapped a few photos of the boats moored on the Rideau Canal, too. That is always such a pretty scene.
The ride back was into a bit of a growing headwind, but it made us work, which is why we are out there anyway. At the end of the Colonel By Drive, at Hogs Back Falls, we stopped for a break and almost got mobbed by interested cyclists. I don't think we have ever answered so many questions about the quadracycle or handed out so many cards. It was great fun and perhaps shows a growing interest in quadracycles and alternative means of getting around in general. That could be a good thing.
We made it home just before lunchtime, as we usually do on these Sunday trips. When I checked the GPS we had covered 31.11 km, which put us over the 300 km mark for the year. As mentioned in a previous post Ruth has set a goal of 1000 km, so we are just about 1/3 of the way there now. If the rains abates for the latter part of the summer we will make it easily.
When you get a "gift" day, like today, you get out and ride!
Price of gas locally today $1.211
Total quadracycling for 2008 so far - 301.1 km
After a couple more days of pretty solid rain we managed to get out quadracycling again today.
This summer is turning out to be as bizarre as the winter was and as bizarre as the previous winter was, too.
In the winter of 2006/07 we had no snow at all until mid January. It was eerie, but at least we got some biking in during January.
Last winter we had enormous amounts of snow, almost breaking the record for Ottawa and that is in 150 years of record-keeping. Since winter receded we have had amazing amounts of rain and the mosquitoes that go with that. April, May and June were very wet. July had started out a bit drier, but towards the end here it has turned wetter again. Everyone is talking about it here in town, since it is really inhibiting people's ability to spend time outdoors.
I have no doubt that this is the instability of climate that we expect with climate change. It is here now. Ironically it means less quadracycling. The more it rains the more people drive their cars everywhere, which causes more climate change.
At least we got in a nice ride this morning, touring the local area and ending up at South Keys to do some grocery shopping. As usual Ruth did the shopping and I stayed in the parking lot and answered quadracycling questions posed by other shoppers. Great fun to do!
Today we covered 15.3 km. The quadracycle is a great recreational vehicle, but we end up using it as a pick-up truck most of the time for hauling groceries and similar loads. It is pretty versatile.
While checking the Rhoades Car over today I discovered that the lugs that retain the brake discs on the left-hand side were loose. I always carry tools with me, so it was easy to find the right size imperial hex wrench and snug them up. It is something to keep an eye on, but perhaps they weren't tightened prior to delivery. The right-hand side ones were fine.
Price of gas locally today $1.209
Total quadracycling for 2008 so far - 270.0 km
We freely admit that we haven't been getting out quadracycling as often as we hoped this summer. Today was our first ride in two weeks.
There have been a number of reasons for this. The most prominent has been the weather - While July has been better than the deluges of April, May and June, it has still been pretty wet. We just don't like cycling in the rain that much.
More recently I was nursing a shoulder injury that left me laid up for over a week and that didn't help. It was followed by some intestinal bug that slowed things down for a few more days. Needless to say, little, if anything got done with those handicaps, especially quadracycling.
Yesterday, on Sunday we opted to take our bikes and do the Colonel By Drive Lucent-Alcatel Bike Day, because the forecast was for rain mid-morning and we knew we would get done more quickly on bike. This is partly because the bikes are faster, but mostly because we don't end up stopping to answer questions. No one even looks at you when you ride a conventional two-wheeler.
This morning looked a little better and we decided to head out for a ride before the rain hit again. The radar looked ominous, but we seemed to have a gap in the morning before things got wet once again. At least we aren't wasting time watering our garden this year!
So we went for a local ride of 12 kilometres, ending up at South Keys to pick up some groceries. As is often the case I stayed outside in the parking lot while Ruth did the shopping. It wasn't long before I had a visitor who stuck around to ask about the Rhoades Car. I always enjoy the "Show and Tell" sessions. Everyone seems so interested in quadracycles these days!
Ruth made it out of the checkout line-up in time to pack everything away before the rain started. The sky indeed looked ominous enough, with veils of virga all around. We made it home without getting wet, which has been a challenge this year.
Even though the ride wasn't as leisurely as we would have liked it to be, we still had a good cycle and got some needed exercise. I keep hoping that the rains will abate and allow the mosquitoes to reduce in number.
Price of gas locally today $1.234
Total quadracycling for 2008 so far - 254.7 km
As I have mentioned earlier in this diary, the weather has been generally appalling in Eastern Ontario this spring and early summer. All through May and June it just didn't stopped raining. Now we are well into July and the rain seems to have actually ceased. As a result Ruth and I are both keen on getting outdoors and doing things like quadracycling.
Today was the third day in a row that we got out on our quadracycle, this time for a 30 km run. It was another great morning, warm, almost clear, except for a bit of cirrus cloud and no wind, either. Ruth was keen to take advantage of the Alcatel-Lucent Sunday Bike Day and head downtown on the Colonel By Drive. I have to admit that it is such a pleasant experience, with thousands of people running, skating, walking, biking, skateboarding, triking and such that it is hard to say no.
The run downtown was quick, we were there in 30 minutes from entering the south end of the Col By Drive and an hour from home. Ruth wanted a coffee, so we headed to the Second Cup on Laurier, using the shortcut through the University of Ottawa and up the switchback pathway. After Ruth got her coffee we zoomed home, into a bit of a southwest wind, making it back just after 1100.
I always find that the people who come out on the bike days are all so positive, thousands of them! We get hundreds of smiles, waves and positive comments when we quadracycle by. It is actually quite heartening. In talking to people there seem to be quite a number who seem to be in the process of getting rid of their cars and are looking for alternatives. The Rhoades Car gives them lots to think about!
It is worth noting that there is good reason to believe that the word on the oil supply and the effect on prices is finally getting through to Canadians. We are hearing more and more that people are giving up their cars these days and CBC News carried an item yesterday saying that gasoline consumption is down across Canada. It is down in the USA as well. On top of that car manufacturers are seeing huge losses in sales, ranging as high as 31% for GM trucks over this time last year. Of interest the demand for bicycles has increased by about the same amount, with one bike shop indicating a 32% increase in bike sales this year, over 2007.
This is all a good thing! Canadians need to get a lot fitter and the high price of gas is going to help get us there. At the same time falling fuel consumption will help reduce climate change and keep our air cleaner, too. Hopefully the Col By Drive will get busier as more people start cycling. Perhaps, when we get enough cycling happening some roads, like Col By, can be made motor-vehicle-free on a permanent basis.
Price of gas locally today $1.357
Total quadracycling for 2008 so far - 242.7 km
This morning we had a few errands to run, Ruth had to drop off a prescription at Loblaws pharmacy and then pick it up an hour or so later. The morning dawned clear and rain-free, so we decided to use the quadracycle. We cycled over to South Keys and dropped it off and then went for a local ride around the Greenboro neighbourhood, before returning to pick up the prescription. It was better than hanging around, at least we got some exercise!
The GPS showed our jaunt was 12.7 km in total, so that is a good Saturday morning ride. The neighbourhoods look very lush and green, the roses all in bloom and most gardens well-tended.
Ruth had to pick up some groceries at the same time as her prescription, so as we usually do, I stayed with the bike in the parking lot and she did the shopping. Staying with the quadracycle is always more fun than grocery shopping anyway - I always get to meet lots of people.
Being Saturday the parking lot was busy. Perhaps it is the good weather, at long last, but people I talked to all seemed to be in a holiday mood. No one was in a hurry and I had four people who stopped to chat about the quadracycle. I enjoy the chance to talk to people and find out what motivates their interest. For some it is fitness, other it is a chance to spend some time with their partner in a side-by-side seating arrangement, for some it is the price of gas. Regardless of "why" there is lots of interest in quadracycling these days. I am hoping that we may see a second one turn up in Ottawa one day soon.
The rest of this week is supposed to have great weather - warm and dry, with lower humidity and no rain until much later in the week. That seems to suit the rest of the residents of the city as well as it does me. Everyone is talking about what a great week this will be and a break from the amazing amount of rain we have had so far this year.
Ruth is talking about another quadracycling trip tomorrow, so we will probably have another story to relate after that.
Total quadracycling for 2008 so far - 212.7 km
Today is US Independence Day, not something that is commonly celebrated here in Canada, but it was actually not raining today so a quadracycle ride was definitely in order!
We had a few errands to run: return some library books, pick up a few groceries and, of course, Ruth was keen on a coffee at Second Cup, too. We headed out just after nine on this glorious, sun-filed morning. Rush hour was done and the traffic on the back streets was light. Crossing Bank Street we encountered some old fart who apparently didn't know how to drive the van he was allegedly in control of, but otherwise we got the usual array of really positive comments from motorists and pedestrians.
After stopping at the library, our route took us through some new streets that we hadn't explored before in the urban area of the city. The roads were broad and the traffic was light and the two of us just enjoyed the fresh air, chatting and pedalling. One thing that always strikes me about the Rhoades car, with its side-by-side seating, is how easy it is to talk while you are cycling. We have had some great conversations while quadracycling; it lacks the road noise of cars and there is no comparison with trying to carry on a conversation while riding two bikes in proximity, which is hard to do!
While parked at Loblaws I was, as is often the case, approached by a fellow cyclist who was very interested in the Rhoades Car. He had had a cycling accident last winter while commuting, a victim of black ice. He thought the stability of the four-wheeler might be a good solution for him. We went for a ride around the parking lot and he seemed impressed with the recumbent seating and the light handling.
By the time we got home we had logged 15.4 km on the GPS and brought our total for the year to 200 km. It certainly would have been higher if not for the past two months of incredibly bad weather. The forecast looks pretty good for the next five days and Ruth is keen to get back out quadracycling, so I am sure we will rack up the distance a bit more.
Price of gas locally today $1.353
Total quadracycling for 2008 so far - 200.0 km
We had another rainy Saturday yesterday. Man it has been raining a lot all through May and June. The city is really very green now, but we could use a break from the rain!
Today Sunday morning, we woke up to a hazy, misty morning, 20C with a dew-point also of 20C. The forecast predicted rain showers and thundershowers for the afternoon, but that the morning would be rain-free. We didn't need any more encouraging and decided to take the Colonel By Drive into the city and back. We planed to be back before all the moisture turned into showers again.
We hadn't even pedalled out of our street when a local guy rollerblading and pushing two kids in a baby carriage stopped to chat about our Rhoades Car. He said that as a result of the high price of gas he had decided to scrap his car recently. He indicted that it wasn't much of a sacrifice as he bikes to work anyway.
So, after that conversation, we followed the usual route down Hunt Club and McCarthy through to Hog's back and the south end of the Colonel By Drive, arriving just as it closed to cars at 0900. The ride itself was pretty fast, not much traffic that early on the road. With a couple of breaks we ended up at the north end in exactly an hour from starting from home, averaging 15 km/hr, including stops, which is pretty good.
This is at the Canada Day weekend and in Ottawa that is a busy time, with the airshow on, the parties and celebrations happening and of course most of it is all downtown at Parliament Hill. The Rideau Canal was lined with boats all moored for the weekend in town.
Our trip back was into a light breeze, as the day warmed up and the humidity increased from the evaporation from all the puddles from yesterday's rain. As we always do, we got may shouts of support from motorists, cyclists and pedestrians. The little kids all stare at the quadracycle; "Mommy, lookit that!" It is great fun.
We made it home at 1100, having covered the 30 km in 2.5 hours, including about a half an hour's worth of breaks.
Once in the driveway I cleaned and lubed the Rhoades Car. I particularly wanted to inspect the rear Sun Race dérailleurs since they were recently replaced. They look fine, with no signs of the cracks that the previous ones had. That is good news, but I will keep checking them closely!
All in all it was a great morning to get some exercise, at least before it rains again!
Price of gas locally today $1.343
Total quadracycling for 2008 so far - 184.6 km
To celebrate getting our quadracycle back on the road and the end of the seemingly endless days of rain we decided to go on a picnic to Mooney's Bay, our local beach on the Rideau River.
Ruth was driving this time and we took our usual route, mostly through the backstreets to get there. We got lots of waves from motorists and pedestrians and positive comments on the Rhoades Car, as we always do whereever we go.
When we got to Mooney's Bay we discovered that there were dragon boat races going on and also lots of pick-up beach volleyball, so it was pretty busy there. We had a couple of people ask about the Rhoades Car and one woman had even heard us on CBC Radio a few weeks ago. At least someone heard the story and remembered it!
One of the nice things about picnic trips with the Rhoades Car is that, unlike with a bicycle trip, you don't have to worry about how to stow all the lunch goodies, or scrimp for lack of space. We threw everything into the single bin we carry and had lots of room for locks and tools and such.
After lunch we read our library books for a while in the shade of a huge tree. It was very relaxing there. After that break we headed home via the same route.
The new dérailleurs performed just fine and so, with no adjustments needed, I put some loc-tite on the adjustment screws to make sure they stay where they are.
I should add that I am very impressed with the warranty survive that we got from Rhoades Car. Once I discovered the cracked dérailleurs I just called Beth at the company and sent her the pictures, the new parts were on the way right away, at no charge. That was really great service, as we always have, from the company. It certainly makes me glad that we purchased our quadracycle from Rhoades and not one of the smaller outfits out there.
Well our package from Rhoades Car came in the mail yesterday, delivered to the door by our smiling Canada Post delivery person. She had to call at the house, because she needed a signature for the package.
I checked over the two Sun Race dérailleurs and they looked perfect. Naturally I had a very close look at the place where the other two cracked and broke. There is no sign of cracking there at present, at least from a visual inspection.
I would have installed them on the quadracycle right away, yesterday afternoon, but I need to roll the quadracycle out into the driveway to work on it and it rained most of the day, again.
Instead, I settled for doing it this morning. I got everything ready and the rain started again. I managed to find a bit of time after lunch in between rain showers, rolled the quadracycle out, blocked it up on bins and installed the dérailleurs. They both went on very easily, with just three metric hex wrenches.
I was initially concerned that it would take a while to rig them up, but I set the adjustment screws the same as the ones I removed and that worked perfectly. Ruth and I took it for a run down the street and no further adjustments were needed.
We would have gone for a longer ride to celebrate, but there was more rain just about to start and so we rolled the Rhoades Car back into the garage and closed the door.
Hopefully one day it will stop raining here and we can get out for a ride.
Ottawa looks very green this summer, even greener than Vancouver usually looks. Given all the rain we have had, this is no surprise.
In life some plans work out as originally envisioned, while others work out more like this camping trip.
The original concept was to see if we could do a gasoline-free vacation, using our quadracycle to go camping at Rideau River Provincial Park, some 35 km from our house. It sounded pretty easy. Our quadracycle would carry our camping gear and food, etc and it would be only a two hour or so ride to get there. We booked the trip mid-week for the latter part of June, because the weather is typically warm and dry in this part of the country at that time of year, the post-Canada Day July crowds haven't gone on vacation and the bugs are usually diminishing by now.
The first problem was that our quadracycle was unserviceable due to having two broken rear dérailleurs. Rhoades Car have sent us replacements under warranty but they haven't arrived yet.
That left us to either cancel the trip or think of something else. We decided to upset the original aim and rent a car to go camping with. So we picked up a Honda Accent from Hertz, loaded our gear and made the 20 minute drive to Rideau River Park. The park is a nice location on the actual river of the same name, with some nice beaches, boat launch, dock and a swimming area. The staff were friendly and helpful and the park was almost empty, too.
The forecast called for showers over the period we would be there. No problem, we would have our tent and rain gear. We were prepared.
When we got to our campsite it proved to be in a good spot, well treed, private and very quiet, with no other people in that area. The ground was very wet as it had obviously just finished raining when we got there. We decided to wait for the ground to dry out before pitching our tent, as the sun was out a bit and the ground was in fact drying. In the meantime we explored the small park area and noted the locations of bathrooms, showers, beach, shelters, etc.
Back at the campsite the ground was getting a bit drier - all looked good.
Then it started to rain. We decided to sit in the car and read our books until it stopped. We always bring books for just this reason.
We sat watching it pour down from 3 pm until 8 pm, ate dinner in the car and waited. At 8 pm the rain slowed and almost stopped. We decided to stretch our cramped muscles and take a walk down to the dock to look at the sky in the direction of the north and west, where the weather was coming from. It was dark black. The mosquitoes were also surprisingly thick for late June. The parks staff indicated that they had been very bad this year due to the very wet May and June so far. They indicated that the culprit is probably climate change. They are probably right.
The campsite and all the other campsites were water-logged. Pitching a tent in a large puddle is not something high on my list of things to do. It started raining again. We consulted. Two thumbs down. We drove home and went to bed. It bucketed down all night. In the morning it was still pouring and a look at the radar indicated that it would keep pouring for most of the day and probably Friday as well.
I guess that it was a good thing that we didn't have our quadracycle to go camping with on this trip, it wouldn't have been as originally envisioned at all.
Hopefully our quadracycle parts will be here soon. The rain is forecast to abate by early next week and perhaps we can get out for a ride soon.
Just a short update for today.
Yesterday I got a confirmatory e-mail from Beth at Rhoades Car: the two new derailleurs are on their way to us via mail.
This is probably the fastest means as their preferred carrier, UPS, has proven hopeless at getting packages across the border in a timely manner and for less than a $105 brokerage fee in the recent past.
I will post more information when I have news!
Well it certainly didn't take long to get a positive response from Rhoades Car.
At 1614 hrs I got an e-mail from Beth at Rhoades Car. She had shown the pictures that I had sent to David Rhoades and he had told her to ship us a set of two new derailleurs at no charge, as quickly as possible.
As from the start of our experiences with Rhoades Car, I continue to be impressed with the level of support that the company gives their products. If there is a problem then it gets fixed quickly!
I will continue to provide updates on this issue here as we hopefully get our 4W2PCP back on the road soon.
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