So I crashed the trike, and other finings of a tadpole newbie.

Well I finally crashed the Catrike. The crash was directly related to brake
steer and hyper sensitive steering at high speed descent. My computer tells
me I was doing 95.4kph when I crashed but I have a hard time believing it.
My guess would have been 70-75. I tend to firm up my grip and "lock-on" to
the bars as my speed goes over 50kph and this seems to be exactly the wrong
thing to do. My fear just takes over and I over-control the bike. If I can't
get a handle on the high speed stability then I'll have to go.... slower, I
guess, If I have to.

Also, anyone with numb toes, I'm trying to find my best boom length and such
and haven't got it right yet.

Grolsch

Hi,
Hope that you and your trike are (or will be) ok. Where was that
monster hill? Fastest I've gone is around 60km down the hill from
Durrance Lake on my ATB.
Colin

Grolch wrote:
Well I finally crashed the Catrike. The crash was directly related to brake
steer and hyper sensitive steering at high speed descent. My computer tells
me I was doing 95.4kph when I crashed but I have a hard time believing it.
My guess would have been 70-75. I tend to firm up my grip and "lock-on" to
the bars as my speed goes over 50kph and this seems to be exactly the wrong
thing to do. My fear just takes over and I over-control the bike. If I can't
get a handle on the high speed stability then I'll have to go.... slower, I
guess, If I have to.

Also, anyone with numb toes, I'm trying to find my best boom length and such
and haven't got it right yet.

Grolsch

In alt.rec.bicycles.recumbent on Mon, 26 Jun 2006 03:01:57 GMT
Grolch wrote:

the bars as my speed goes over 50kph and this seems to be exactly the wrong
thing to do. My fear just takes over and I over-control the bike. If I can't
get a handle on the high speed stability then I'll have to go.... slower, I
guess, If I have to.

Yeah, relaxing is hard, but if you really focus on relaxing the arms
and shoulders and wrists then you might manage to stop the steering
inputs.

You need to give yourself something else to think about.... Another
bike I tried before I got the Bacchetta was much more nervous on the
downhills than the Bacchetta is. I managed by focusing on relaxing,
thinking about "relax shoulders, now elbows, now wrists, breathe, see
how the bike is reacting, again, breathe".... Once I could feel the
bike was better when I relaxed that was positive feedback and made it
easier to keep relaxing and not grab the bars.


Also, anyone with numb toes, I'm trying to find my best boom length and such
and haven't got it right yet.

What worked for me on a high racer was a) setting the cleats as far
back towards the heel as possible and b) wider shoes.

I have laced shoes, and I loosened the laces over the forefoot as much
as possible then tied a knot so they couldn't tighten. That helped
some, but I still get numb/hot foot after a while and I have to
unclip, drop the foot, and let the blood return. Only on one foot
though... I don't know if that's because I may have different sized
feet, or if one leg is doing more work than the other.

I tried a pair of sandals, and I don't get numb foot wearing those. I
adjust the velcro by standing up, putting all my weight on the balls
of my feet, then doing the velcro up so it's just barely snug. Don't
get hot foot with those, and they have the advantage that in colder
weather I can use thicker socks.

Zebee

"Grolch" wrote in message
news:F6Ing.84910$A8.31620@clgrps12...

Well I finally crashed the Catrike. The crash was directly related to
brake steer and hyper sensitive steering at high speed descent. My
computer tells me I was doing 95.4kph when I crashed but I have a hard
time believing it. My guess would have been 70-75. I tend to firm up my
grip and "lock-on" to the bars as my speed goes over 50kph and this seems
to be exactly the wrong thing to do. My fear just takes over and I
over-control the bike. If I can't get a handle on the high speed stability
then I'll have to go.... slower, I guess, If I have to.

You were going way too fast and you deserved to have happen to you what
happened. Slow down you nitwit!

Also, anyone with numb toes, I'm trying to find my best boom length and
such and haven't got it right yet.

Most trikes these days have got their cranks too high. Numb feet are the
result. The crank can only be slightly higher than the seat. We did not
evolve to have our feet above our hips. It is mainly a blood circulation
problem.

Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

why are bent trike steering assemblies always stationed "low"? why not
use a traditional upright style?