Al's Blog-o-Sphere

I’ve had a lot of fun riding my recumbent trike lately. I keep calling it a bike, but as you may know, technically, it’s a trike. Three wheels and all that, but who’s being technical. Technically, they are all Human Powered Vehicles (HPV) or as Pennsylvania calls them in it’s own quaint way, pedalcycles. I find it interesting that Pennsylvania uses a more general term to be more inclusive, while New York keeps referring to “Bicycles or skating or gliding on inline skates.” They also refer to “Toy vehicles.” Shows what the attitude towards cyclists is…

Anyway, Monday, I rode a 37-mile ride on Labor Day. The bike club I belong to held a ride with a picnic following it starting at a nice little private camp in North Tonawanda, right on the Canal. I elected to ride the longer option. Partway out the ride, I stopped to help another rider who had a flat tire. Changing a tube is easy to me, but a couple sets of hands makes it go quicker. The rider held the bike. I removed the front wheel and changed the tube. Another rider pumped it up. It only took a few minutes. Continue Reading…

After a couple months, I finally broke down and bought the Dinotte 140R bicycle tail light. It is by far, the brightest LED tail light available and has been shown to be effective, even during daylight, in being seen by cars approaching you from the rear. The light is painfully bright, so much so that it gets attention other lights don’t get. Maybe it’s curiosity, maybe it’s annoyance, but drivers wake up and give you a wide berth when they see it. Video of the lights is at the end of this post.

Some other innovative bicycle lights have come across my computer screen. I haven’t tried any of them, but they are worth considering if you’re in the market for such a thing. Continue Reading…

Once again, NY State and the Seneca Nation seem to be headed towards a conflict over collecting taxes on sales made on the reservation. I don’t know who’s right here, I can see both sides and don’t see a mutually agreeable way out.

I have the utmost respect for the Native American culture and beliefs. Unfortunately, I don’t see where exploiting a situation where certain commodities prices have become high, in part due to taxes, should be exploited for the profit of a few Native Americans. That’s not what we should learn from their culture. Maybe it’s what they’ve learned from ours…

And just what is a “Native American” anymore, anyway? I was born here. My parents were too. So were my Grandparents. I don’t know how many generations I would have to go back to actually find an ancestor from Europe. Am I as much a “Native American” as some blonde-haired, blue-eyed person who has a Great-great-grandmother that was born on a reservation? Continue Reading…

Sunday. I went to Clarence and met up with a couple of the people I met on the Niagara Recumbent Ride. We rode out into the country on some really nice, quiet roads and did 39 miles. Finished up with a relaxing stop at the Clarence Center Coffee Cafe. Great ride, Rich and Jerry!

Today, I rode the usual Monday morning NFBC breakfast ride. This morning’s ride went to Lockport and stopped for breakfast at Panera Bread. Brad had his new ICE Adventure 1 trike, so I am no longer the only trike rider in the group! I thought it was cooler than it was and wore a long-sleeved shirt. By the time we finished the ride it was really hot. I think the news said it hit 90 degrees today, but it sure didn’t feel that hot. The humidity is much lower than the last couple weeks. It’s getting late in the summer and it cools down much more at night as the days get shorter. This drives some of the moisture out of the air overnight, I think. Today was another 25 mile ride.

Why do I post this? Mostly for my own record. Read if you want, or skip it!