What's It's Like to Ride the Greenspeed

From the captains point of view: You sit very low to the ground. I can take my hand off the steering and let it trail along the pavement if want. This gives a very stable and secure feeling in traffic. I never am concerned about wobbling or bobbling with traffic passing me. We have two tall flags on the stokers seat, with reflective streamers attached that make us visible to traffic. The low seating position gives the feeling of sitting in the bike rather than on it. I can afford to gaze around a little more at the scenery because I don't have to watch the road so closely. I can stop whenever I want, and go again with no drama or worry about being in the proper gear. A few nights ago, we pulled off the road to take a little breather on a steep hill climb. I never would have done that on my Rans two wheel tandem recumbent. When we get home after a ride, we feel tired, but not sore at all.

Going downhill is a real thrill. The trike gains speed very quickly due to our weight, the fairing, and low frontal area. 35 miles per hour is the fastest I have gone down a steep hill near our home. That feels really fast when your butt is 10 inches off the pavement. I am sure that when we get on the road during our trip we will be able to hit much higher speeds on long downhill grades. I expect to see speeds of 5o to 70 miles per hour, just coasting, on some grades. I ordered the trike with hydraulic disc brakes on all three wheels just because I knew we would need them to keep our speed under control.

More on what the riding experience is like in later posts. Ron.

From the stokers point of view: You sit very low to the ground. This is good for me as I am afraid of heights and falling. The position is comfortable. I use clip on shoes as once I lost my footing. The pedal hit my shin, Ron, unaware, kept on peddling and my foot was flailing around and around while I tried to get it back in place. I am learning how to synchronize my self with Ron. He is so much stronger than I, much more experienced at riding, and is very patient with me. It is becoming easier for me every trip we take. I absolutely do not need to pay attention, all I need to do is pedal. I check out the scenery, relax my head on the head rest and close my eyes, file my nails, or read, all the while I pedal.

There is quite a bit of difference in the ride on the Greespeed as compared to the Rans two wheeled tandem. The Greenspeed is much easier to pedal, it is amazing . The turning is quite different, it happens sharply and quickly. It feels similar to playing crack the whip with the extra little energy affecting the last person, I feel as though I will fall from the seat. When we are coasting down hill at a fast rate of speed I find it necessary to lean into the corners for added stability. Stopping is great. Hydraulic disc brakes stop more efficiently and have all ready saved us from an accident. A car backed out of a driveway with a boat parked on the street and the setting sun behind us, Ron had us stopped in plenty of time.

Like Ron said, 'More later.' Candy

Sunset Ride on the Pasco Side

We went for a nice ride on the trike this evening on the Pasco riverside bike path. I will miss riding there when we leave. Pasco is very lucky to have the beautiful parks and paths on the river. Riding along near sunset, looking across the river at the sun as it dropped behind the mountains, the temperature was perfect, riding past families out with their kids, couples roller skating, saying hello to people as we passed, it was marvelous.

If you are a trike rider in the Pasco area and want to ride with us some evening, drop me a line at dustyrains@mailblocks.com We would love to meet you and ride with you.

Sick and Tight

Candy and I rode the trike over to Richlands' Howard Amons waterfront park last night, mostly at my request. I was craving more of the attention that the trike brings every time we ride it. Well, we rode right through a group of kids in the 12 to 15 year old range, clustered near the bike path, just hanging. As we rode by we heard "Whoa, that is Sick" and "That is the tightest f**king bike I've ever seen! Those were the two most memorable comments. It made the trip over the river worth it. If that age group thinks it's "sick" and "tight", then I guess that's "cool" enough for me. I've never gotten that kind of reaction from teens even while riding my Harley.

We got some more ride related errands done today, but not much else. Getting the packing done just seems a little overwhelming and hard to get started on. I guess the key is to bite off a piece of it every day. We haven't signed any papers on the sale of our house yet, so I suppose the offer could still fall through. Once papers are signed, though, we will have to get serious about getting the house emptied.

My next major trike preparation task is to figure out the Sigma bike computer. Then after that I want to figure out how to mount my battery powered satellite radio and gps. I will probably use Ram Mounts. When I get it all done I will post pictures of the little tweaks and things I've done to it for our 3 year trip. Ron.

Our Route Plan, Generally

Since we are getting such a late start on our adventure, we plan to head west out of Pasco WA to the town of Castle Rock WA to say goodbye to family and friends, then head for the Oregon Coast then south to Southern Cal, where we will hang a left and head across the desert southwest, hoping we can get to Arizona about the time it starts cooling off. Last night Candy and I had a good ride on the trike. We first rode to a restaurant and had some dinner, then rode down to the river bike path. Once there we noticed a band was playing on the other side of the river, so we decided to go over and investigate. On the way across the blue bridge bike/pedestrian walkway, I saw trouble ahead. There was an electric wheelchair coming our way and no room to pass. We did not want to try to back up down the narrow walk, so we dismounted and had to lift the trike up to make enough room for the wheelchair to pass. Other than that, I was really pleased with how the long wheelbase was able to go around some sharp bends in the path. The trike really turns sharply if I crank hard on the steering. A few times, I've really caught Candy off-guard with a fast maneuver. She curses at me a little and then calms down. We had to utilize our dynamo powered 12 volt lighting system for the first time last night. We were able to navigate the river bike path in total darkness with no problem. While we were at the park on the Kennewick side listening to the band I mentioned earlier, the couple we parked next to realized who we were from the newspaper article and engaged us in a lot of question and answer about our trip. We seem to generate a lot of interest wherever we go on this machine. Most people wish us well and express that they are somewhat envious.

Our House Has Sold!!

We got the good news today that a fair offer has been made on our home. Now we have to get serious about sorting through our personal belongs. One pile for sale, one pile for storage for LATR (Life After the Ride), and one pile for the trip. Candy and I have been doing a little packing, a little riding, and lot of loafing. The new owners want to close the deal by the 15th of Sept, but we hope to be on the road before then. We need to get started in order to have some decent weather for the trip down the coast to Southern Cal.

We were interviewed by the local paper;

Visit the Tri-City Herald
'For the health of it'
This story was published Tuesday, August 16th, 2005
By Lan Nguyen, Herald staff writer
Ron Blood and Candy Hunter-Blood have put their house on the market and soon hope to put their belongings in storage and hit the road.
On a tricycle. All, as they say on their blog, "For the health of it."
The Pasco couple is planning a three-year journey wandering across the country on their new tandem recumbent tricycle and hope to leave sometime within the next month.
Along the way, the couple will document their adventure on their blog, tracking mostly their health progress as they try to lose weight. Candy, who has Type 2 diabetes, will be tracking her blood pressure and glucose levels, and hopes to talk to people about diabetes along the way.
The couple also plan to explore the country from the West Coast to the East Coast, learning about local history and geography and getting by only with a few basics. They also hope to keep their costs to $10 a day.
They won't be going completely primal, however, as they will take a computer and cell phone powered by a solar collector on the trailer of their tricycle.
They're expecting an adventure.
"It's totally different from anything we've ever known," Ron said. "It's like stepping off a cliff into the unknown."
Ron, 51, said the idea to leave on some kind of adventure occurred to him after he was laid off from his job as an engineer at Boise Cascade, but he didn't really consider going through with it until his wife brought it up.
"One day, my wife just said, 'Let's drop everything and get on a bike and ride across country.' The more and more I thought about it, I thought, 'Why not?' "
Candy, 56, decided she needed a break after 30 years working as a nurse. She recently quit her job at Kadlec Medical Center.
The Bloods don't have any children together, and with Candy's daughter grown and out of the house, they decided this would be a perfect time to do something out of the ordinary.
"We've turned into the hippies we never were when we were children because we were so busy being responsible," she said.
The couple have started practicing riding their tricycle down the street and around the block. They said the recumbent design allows them to sit back and enjoy themselves while they peddle.
The couple's friends and family are skeptical whether they'll actually go through with the idea, but the Bloods say they're committed.
"The momentum is now non-stopping. (Candy) quit her job and we're selling our house," Ron said. "There's no going back."
"It's going to stretch us physically, mentally and spiritually," Candy said. "If for some reason the trip only lasts three months, it's three months that I would have never experienced."
To see how the Bloods are doing on their journey, see their blog at http://candyhunterblood. blogspot.com.

July 31, 2005

My last day at work at Kadlec Medical Center was July 29, 2005.

I had asked for the day off or a “low census” and didn’t get one. The unwritten rule is for a ‘pot luck’ to take place in honor of the person leaving. My assignment was to ‘float’, powers that be know that the person leaving isn’t very productive, and I wasn’t.
I was not sad that it was my last day. It was time to leave. I was anxious to start my new adventure “FOR THE HEALTH OF IT”

Working without a goal is not fulfilling. Yes, there is still the need for patient advocates and I will always be an advocate. Yes there is a nursing shortage but not enough to raise the pay or offer better benefits. The nursing shortage for me means longer hours, more call, the inability to get time off and lots of call. Under these circumstances it seems that coworkers just put their time in, not working as a team, just doing what must be done, nothing more.

I remember going to work at Kadlec Medical Center. I was excited about working HEARTS and opening a new unit. I was looking forward to developing a mission and goals, writing policies and procedures, organizing cupboards and storage, and developing processes for the heart room. So much to learn…and I did, plus more. Not only did I open the unit, learn to circulate and scrub hearts, I learned to assist the surgeons. What a privilege and responsibility.

During the next three years while biking the USA I will offer free Blood Pressures and share heart and diabetic risk factors with those I meet along the way.

Among all that I will experience and learn about myself mentally, physically and spiritually I hope that I renew my interest and develop new goals to strive for within the nursing field.

June, 29, 2005

3 months into planning and preparing FOR THE HEALTH OF IT I was asked why I would leave my job, my home and sell everything we own to ride a bike with out a particular destination for an indefinite period of time.

I think I'll start from the beginning…Ron was downsized and looking for a new job. We were traveling to an interview about 200 miles away on the rainy side of the mountains in Oregon. I knew I would go with Ron wherever he went and that I would make the best of it. However this time it didn’t feel right.

Flights of fancy overtook me as we traveled on the freeway... Wouldn’t it be great to just take off and go where ever the road led us?... The price of gas would make traveling on the motorcycles pretty spendy... I could ride with Ron and cut the cost by half... No, I like riding my own motorcycle... But it could be done... Hey, we like riding the tandem bicycle. What about a bike trip? No gas expenses, just human power, peddling our asses around the country, burning calories, exercising all day. What a side effect, loosing weight, strength training... Only 10 years to retirement and we could take off.

If I wait until retirement the side effect of diabetes will probably kill me or worse yet leave me unable to go. This could be a great way to get my Adult Onset Diabetes under control. No stress from work! No stress making ends meet! I could get on a regular eating, sleeping, exercising, and medication schedule. No house to clean. No yard to mow. We wouldn’t be slaves to the things we own or are paying for… we could own our things. We could reevaluate what is truly important.

So while traveling down the rode I laid it out. “Ron, wouldn’t it be neat to sell everything we own and go for a 2-3 year bike ride?”

We tossed it around for several days and decided we would do it.
And thus began, for the mental, physical, spiritual health of it, the journey of our lives.