Thoughts on my coker, after 100 miles of riding.

Well I’ve owned my used, remanufactured Coker for about 1.5 months now
(thanks, Andrew, for selling it to me!) and had promised to post some
feedback after I had it for a while. Last weekend I nudged the odometer
over the 100 mile mark, so I guess it’s a good time to post. So far I
have added my Cateye Enduro 8 cyclocomputer and an Odyssey A brake
(using a Big Cheese Linear Brake Plate) to the Coker. I will be adding
a handlebar set up sometime in the future.

So far I’ve done a total of 10 rides, for a total of 108.6 miles.
Longest ride was 18.56 miles with an avg speed of 9.3 mph.
Shortest ride was a hilly 5.56 mile ride with one killer hill.
Average speed varies from 8.2 mph to 10.6 mph.
Fastest avg speed (10.6 mph) was done on a flat “Rails To Trails” path
on a 8.63 mile ride.
Best max speed was 20 mph and second best was 18.5 mph.
(I’m not totally sure the 20 mph really happened, but that’s what the
odometer tells me.)
Typically, my max speed per ride is 12 – 15 mph.

Most enjoyable moments:
Learning to freemount only after a few attempts and feeling very
comfortable mounting it after 10 minutes of practice.
Making it to the top of a big hill that I didn’t make on my first
attempt.
Seeing people smile when I ride past them. This happens often.
Looking down on the world from the high saddle. (Slight ego trip
here?)

Least enjoyable moments:
Getting sore and numb from the saddle.
Can’t seem to get rid of a slight lean to the left. I don’t know if
it’s the Coker set up, me, or both.
Crashing at the end of the ride that pushed the odometer over 100
miles.
Having a bottle of water thrown at me from a passing car.

My most eventful ride was done this past Saturday. My goals for the day
were to cover at least 5 miles so I could get the odometer over 100
miles. I also wanted to average over 10 mph for the ride. Most of the
rides that start from my home have many hills. I wan’t feeling
energetic that day, so I took the one route, an out and back ride, that
didn’t have significant hills, just a few rolling hills. The ride
started uneventful, just warming up and settling into the ride. As
always, I am feeling a slight lean to the left. Bummer. I hope riding
with other Coker riders in Tennessee next month will help me find a
cure for this lean. I am conciously working on keeping my cadence a
little faster than typical so I can be assured to have a 10+ avg
speed.

About 1.5 miles into the ride, a compact green sedan comes up from
behind. Most cars give me lots of room and are very considerate. This
car stays close to me and then one of the passengers yells as they are
right next to me. The yell startles me, but I do not waiver from my
line. If appears that 3 youth are in the car. I think to myself, why
do they do that? Is it worth the cheap thrill? Or maybe they don’t
realize that it really is scary to have that happen to a person?

A few minutes later, the same car drives past me in the other direction.
Yes there are 3 people in the car, probably 16 – 22 years old. Hmmm,
maybe they had come down this road just to ride past me and yell and now
they are going back to where they were headed. In another minute, a car
overtakes me from behind and a plastic bottle of water is thrown out the
window at me. If missed me by about a foot as the compact, green sedan
dirves away. JERKS! It’s the same inconsiderate people. I’m choosing
my words carefully here because I don’t want to stoop to their level of
human interaction. It’s one thing to be a “natural jerk” and do
something that startles a person, possibly not knowing that you are
being inconsiderate. But now I have seen a planned and deliberate act
of total disrespect for another person. I find myself wondering how I
would react if they stopped and I had a chance to respond to their act.
I don’t like the thoughts I am thinking and am glad they didn’t stop.

Another mile down the road I am stopped by a couple young men who need
directions. They apologize for stopping me for directions and are very
considerate and polite. I am thankful for these young men as they help
me to keep a balance on the grumpy thoughts that still fill my head from
the jerks in the green sedan.

I reach my turn around point and take a short saddle break. My avereage
speed is over 10 mph. Yes! I hop back on and keep a brisk pace as I
head back home. For the rest of this ride, I find myself watching the
cars closer as they pass me. I feel a little paranoid that I might be
the victim of another “jerk attack”. Nothing happens. Despite my
sometimes negative thoughts, I am still enjoying the ride.

The last section of my ride is a deceptive little hill. It’s not a long
or steep hill, but my wife (a bicyclist) and I have talked about how it
always feels bigger than it looks. I settle in to my hill climbing pace
and easily crest the top. I feel my legs are tired from the brisk ride
and and then this hill at the end. I’m only .2 miles from the end of my
ride and it happens. I am going down. I don’t know what happened, but
I am being launched forward onto the road. I manage to get in two
steps, but I feel my legs giving out with each step and I am still
falling. (I surmise that a combination of the tired legs and the speed
kept them from holding me up.) I am going down too fast to stop on my
hands and feet, so as soon as my hands hit I started into a tuck and
roll. I hear the distinct sound of the Coker bouncing on the pavement
as I roll into the grass next to the road.

A quick assessment found a muddy knee but no injury, a small cut on my
thumb and a a small cut on my wrist. I had on padded fingerless gloves,
which I am sure helped prevent further injury. My back and shoulder
felt fine, but I would later find minor abrasions on my back. I walked
the last part of the ride as I sucked the blood of my thumb to keep it
from getting on my clothes.

So this is how I celebrated my 100 miles of riding on my Coker! As a
result of this crash, I am now a firm believer in gloves and am
considering full fingered gloves. Helmet was on for the crash, but did
not take any impact. I could have easily hit my head on this crash.
Helmet will always be on for my road rides. I will be putting together
a basic first aid kit to take on rides. If this crash had happened
further away from home, a few bandages would have been nice to have.

If I ever attempt a speed run to see if I really did hit 20 mph for a
max speed, I will also be wearing knee pads and forearm/elbow
protection. I’ll probably wear my camelbak back pack for back
protection in the event of a tuck and roll crash. I’d really like to
know how fast I can go, but I REALLY don’t want to do a high speed
crash. Especially when I consider what happened at a 10 or 11 mph
crash. What to do, what to do?

I enjoy the Coker and am looking forward to more and longer rides. As a
result of my crach, I have gained a new respect for the height and speed
of the Coker. I am also more concerned about being around traffic on
the Coker. A crash like mine, next to car would certainly add to the
excitement!

Coker goals for this fall:
No more crashes.
30 mile ride.
Riding with other Cokers in Tennessee.
Get rid of that slight lean to the left.
Handlebars.
Get more comfortable with turning, especially slow, tight turns.
Upgrade to an Air Foil rim (probably a winter project)

I will post a link of my Coker brake and odometer set up soon. The
internet connection today is very slow.

Up, up and away (description of mounting a Coker),

Bill


--
billham

The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
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I just got a Coker recently too. I haven't been able to do any real
distance rides yet, only about 5-6 miles. I also run XC, though, so I
have an excuse. (-:

As for those people in the car, all you have to do is find those people
amusing. Wonder about what they think of unicyclists, and then think of
what unicyclists really are. That makes this situation much better, neh?


--
James_Potter - Nil Desperandum
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I just got a Coker recently too. I haven't been able to do any real
distance rides yet, only about 5-6 miles. I also run XC, though, so I
have an excuse. (-:

As for those people in the car, all you have to do is find those people
amusing. Wonder about what they think of unicyclists, and then think of
what unicyclists really are. That makes this situation much better, neh?


--
James_Potter - Nil Desperandum
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I just got a Coker recently too. I haven't been able to do any real
distance rides yet, only about 5-6 miles. I also run XC, though, so I
have an excuse. (-:

As for those people in the car, all you have to do is find those people
amusing. Wonder about what they think of unicyclists, and then think of
what unicyclists really are. That makes this situation much better, neh?


--
James_Potter - Nil Desperandum
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I just got a Coker recently too. I haven't been able to do any real
distance rides yet, only about 5-6 miles. I also run XC, though, so I
have an excuse. (-:

As for those people in the car, all you have to do is find those people
amusing. Wonder about what they think of unicyclists, and then think of
what unicyclists really are. That makes this situation much better, neh?


--
James_Potter - Nil Desperandum
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Bill, nice writeup and welcome to the awesome world of Cokering. It's
sad that just as you're starting out you already met up with some of
those bottle-throwing types. I've been lucky so far. Generally people
are pretty good to unicyclists all over. If you want to read a great
story about unicycling and meeting great people, read Keith Cash's
story: http://www.unicycling.org/unicycling/tales/kcash.html

Happy riding,
Nathan


--
nathan - BIG rides: Muni & Coker
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Bill, nice writeup and welcome to the awesome world of Cokering. It's
sad that just as you're starting out you already met up with some of
those bottle-throwing types. I've been lucky so far. Generally people
are pretty good to unicyclists all over. If you want to read a great
story about unicycling and meeting great people, read Keith Cash's
story: http://www.unicycling.org/unicycling/tales/kcash.html

Happy riding,
Nathan


--
nathan - BIG rides: Muni & Coker
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Bill, nice writeup and welcome to the awesome world of Cokering. It's
sad that just as you're starting out you already met up with some of
those bottle-throwing types. I've been lucky so far. Generally people
are pretty good to unicyclists all over. If you want to read a great
story about unicycling and meeting great people, read Keith Cash's
story: http://www.unicycling.org/unicycling/tales/kcash.html

Happy riding,
Nathan


--
nathan - BIG rides: Muni & Coker
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Bill, nice writeup and welcome to the awesome world of Cokering. It's
sad that just as you're starting out you already met up with some of
those bottle-throwing types. I've been lucky so far. Generally people
are pretty good to unicyclists all over. If you want to read a great
story about unicycling and meeting great people, read Keith Cash's
story: http://www.unicycling.org/unicycling/tales/kcash.html

Happy riding,
Nathan


--
nathan - BIG rides: Muni & Coker
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Billham,

Nice summary, and great to see someone else joining the ranks of
distance fanatics. It's addictive!

You raised a question on your max speed. Just a guess, but based on the
rest of your stats the 18-20 mph reading may not be accurate. Even for
people with many many hundreds of Coker miles, 20mph is approaching
pants-soiling speed. If you were really there, I don't think you'd have
a question about it. I actually had a very similar experience with my
Cateye Enduro, and double checked my 18 in a car to verify that "No,
there was no way I was going that fast...". Because the cyclometer
records speed by measuring the intervals between "sensor readings" from
the magnet, simple things like a botched mount or even a roll-back mount
where the magnet passes the sensor first on the rollback, then
immediately again on the pedal forward, can fool the computer into
thinking you're traveling faster. I used to have the Schwinn computer
and never noticed this problem. Now I have the Cateye and notice it all
the time. I think it is because the math that the Schwinn uses requires
at least three revolutions before it determines a reading, whereas the
Cateye may require only two. Hence the roll-back or idling can fool
it.

Tip: when I'm doing a ride where I really want to track my max speed, I
take care to remove the computer from its bracket anytime I'm mounting
or pulling up to stop or dismount...basically any situation that might
lead to a false reading. Kind of a hassle, but it works.

Ride on...

Tom


--
tomblackwood - Registered Nurtz

Tailgate at your own risk.....

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