Boise has an interesting set of elevations in town called ‘benches’. Here’s a Wikipedia description:

The bench is named such because the sudden rise in elevation gives the prominent appearance of a step, or bench. The Bench (or Benches, there are 3 actual benches throughout the Boise Valley) was created as an ancient shoreline to the old river channel.

The edge of each bench is like climbing a plateau, but instead of coming down the other side, you are greeted with another climb to another bench after the one you’re on. The area on top of each bench is fairly flat, so once you’re there it is all good. The battle is getting there.

The Rickshaw had never been up the bench for obvious reasons, but I figured I’d give it a shot. I called my friend Joe (who is the all time leader in Rickshaw miles as a passenger) and said I’d try to get him and his girlfriend down the bench and we’d hang out for some Karaoke. They were going to have to take a cab back though, because I was not going back up. Sounded like fun, so it was a go, or at least a try.

Water is power, so I took in a lot of water and Gatorade before I left the house. I decided the easiest way up was going to be the old rail bridge route that goes from the Boise Greenbelt, across the river, and ends up in the Orchard/Emerald area on the near bench. This route is smooth and about as gradual as it gets. Could I do it? Could the Rickshaw make it without snapping the chain or something else?

I took it easy on the way there. I wanted to be fresh for the climb. I hit the climb for the rail bridge and it wasn’t easy but I made it. I crossed the river and then kept going. I tried to keep my speed up so I had the crank turning at an optimal speed. There’s only one speed on the Rickshaw so I don’t have an easier gear to kick down to. A quick glance down revealed that I was going 7.9 MPH, which is a hair slower than normal cruising speed. I dig in a smidgen more and get it in the 8 MPH range. That’s cruising speed while climbing the bench.

There’s a point where the path up the bench actually starts to go down a bit before going back up more. I stop at the top of that point, not because I had to, but I wanted to assess myself and the Rickshaw. Both were doing well. I consumed 16oz of water, and then rode on to the top. Victory!

From there, I rode over to Joe’s place. I lost a bolt on the way (thankfully not a problem), which Joe replaced with some cool looking carriage bolts which looked much nicer than the regular bolts they replaced:

Once the bolts were replaced, it was time to load up and head out.

Because of my concerns about downhill braking, which had never received a real test, I wanted the safest route down which I guessed was Ustick Road:

• It has a bike lane.
• It has a lot of road texture, so it is a slower roll than the path I took up the bench.
• Though it is steeper than the route taken up, it also goes back up hill part way before the next intersection so even if the brakes went bad, gravity would stop the Rickshaw long before reaching the next intersection.

I went slow and the brakes took it. No noticeable brake fade. No noticeable smells coming from the brake. All was good.

We made it down the bench, on to karaoke, and then I hauled myself on home to finish the night. All in all, I’m thinking about 18 miles of traveling that day. The odometer is now sitting at 80.75 miles. That was the most demanding trip to date, but I took it much better than many other trips in the 2006 and 2007 seasons.

I’ve wanted to clear the 100 mile point in a season and it appears that will happen this season. I’m still fat but my cardiovascular and leg strength have improved significantly this year, and I have lost some fat. These days, hopping on a bike almost seems like taking a car, which is odd. More odd, the Rickshaw is increasingly starting to seem like riding a bike. If you’d have told me last year that I’d get the Rickshaw up the bench with a single speed I would have been surprised.

(This entry backdated to July 18th since that’s when the repair was done. Actual date: July 31, 2008)

A lame spot of the Rickshaw is the seat. It was made worse last year when a “hole” on the seat appeared (after a cracking sound). Well, Kelly took the seat apart, removing the cover on the back side of the seat, and we learned that:

• There was a broken board in there
• The seat was made of pallet wood (or similar)!

Well, having a wedding that night, the “hole” was not cool. Seat replacement with new upholstery is in the plans, but not that day. So, it was time to rebuild. I went out to the garage, found a scrap piece of plywood, cut it, took it over to Bob’s for another cut (his power saw is way better than me with a hand saw) and then Kelly and I put it back together. She added some padding towards the front, though while not perfect, is a notable improvement over stock. The fabric has seen better days, and we’ll replace the whole bottom assembly next year hopefully. For now, it works, and hauled people that night and beyond successfully.

Before:

After:

The Rickshaw had a goofy brake foot pedal that was in the way when pedaling from day one. Joe was on the back one time and said something to the extent of “Why are you pedaling with your right foot out odd like that?” and I explained that I would kick the foot brake pedal otherwise. He noted that we should cut the thing off since it isn’t used (the hand lever is used for braking). Finally, today I go to Harbor Freight, spend about $3.50 on a saw, put the metal cutting blade in, and get to work. The foot brake pedal is now, at long last, gone. The Rickshaw is about 9 oz lighter (meaningless in the Rickshaw world, but a road bike guy would be very pleased).

For a better view of where the brake pedal was in relation to the regular pedals, click on the picture. This was a great mod: cheap (free if one doesn’t count the saw), effective, reasonably quick, and is one of the few done that actually lowered the weight of the Rickshaw instead of making it heavier.

Well, as mentioned before, the magnet for Kelly’s Specialized odometer is missing (and might not have worked with the thick Rickshaw spokes anyway) and I was not liking the defeat. Well, for under $10 including tax from Walmart on a Sunday, I now have an odometer. It is on and installed. A similar Bell brand odometer was $15 at Fred Meyer. This 12 function Schwinn SW500NM was a lot cheaper.

Installation was cake. Zip ties (included) hold everything on the handlebars and front fork. The cable makes things a bit uglier, but oh well, I get data now. The unit seems reasonably well made and the instructions were reasonable. Some of the other cheap odometer units (commonly called a “cycle computer”) on the market have little magnets designed to clip onto standard spokes only. The Rickshaw doesn’t have standard spokes… …they’re nutty huge. Thankfully, the Schwinn has support for standard spokes and flat spokes. Though the spokes are hardly flat, they do work in the wider flat spokes side of the magnet assembly. I just put it on there and hand tightened it down.

They have a table in the manual for calibrating the SW500NM for different sizes of wheels. I first calibrated the Schwinn to what I thought was the closest description of my wheels. That was off by between 4% and 5%. After some calculating and some trial runs in relation to what the 1999 Dodge Caravan said was half a mile, I came up with a wheel value of 2044. It seems really close.

Now that I have an cycle computer on the Rickshaw, I’ll know mileage, speeds, and time of day. The clock will likely prove handy. Wouldn’t have minded having a clock yesterday. Totally worth the $10.

The odometer’s packaging had a Schwinn logo sticker on the plastic and I had some fun with that too. There was no name badge on the Rickshaw, but now there’s a Schwinn sticker up there.

I’d like have something else up there, but that sticker made me giggle and it’s better than nothing.

Rickshaw:
The Rickshaw has had the right rear wheel on it for a while now, but the canopy hasn’t received the final fitting yet. I went to find the odometer in the garage and the wheel sensor is gone. Uuugh!

Training:
I thought it might be fun to have a different training ride for a while. So, I’m borrowing Joe’s Giant Simple Single. It looks 95%+ like the factory picture shown. I am a fan of this bike. A great bike for lots of people: comfy, nice ride geometry, reasonable style (needs fenders). If you’re looking for first cruiser, look at the Giant Simple Single.

I took the Giant for a training ride to Lucky Peak Dam (the bottom) on Saturday night. A nice ride, somewhere over 20 miles. The Giant made it way easier than taking the Schwinn. It is geared lower, it rolls faster, and it is lighter. The ride isn’t as comfy (seat, no springer front fork) but not bad, certainly nicer than the average bike.

The first of the season’s mechanical upgrades has been completed. I got my wheel back from Bikes2Boards today. The wheel wasn’t right when I got the Rickshaw new off ebay and I may have made it worse when hitting a speed bump while sprinting to the 2006 Tour de Fat (or maybe not). Thanks to Bikes2Boards the wheel has finally be trued. We haven’t mounted it on the Rickshaw yet. I should call Joe and let him know it is back.

Bikes2Boards is my favorite bike shop in town hands down. They love bikes and are fearless to fix whatever comes in. I don’t roll average stuff, so I typically get an interesting look with whatever I bring in. This time the question was “Where did you get that?” as the Rickshaw wheel with the odd cast iron hub was being looked over. “Ebay” I said.

I also drove the 2007 Tour de Boise route today (one way) so I could show Kelly what I was hoping to finish. It should be an interesting challenge if I make it. I can ride the route on my Schwinn Classic Cruiser fine, and have, but Rickshaw is another level of demanding. To finish, I’ll need some upgrades, as will the Rickshaw. I think it can be done, but will it? Not a gimmie.