Riding eMtn Bike too slow and was run off the bike path

[Larry Ganz]

Found your problem:

"It was a downhill portion but my wife is afraid to ride too fast on narrow paths..."

I'm not sure if there's a joke in there somewhere. I feel like I should reply, "yeah, if we were all blasting down the canyon at top speed then there'd nobody behind me to scare me off the path, and I could do the terrorizing with my evil eBike."

But it was too narrow with two way traffic to be safely over 15mph. It was a scenic section on the way back to town, and most people were taking it easy by this point (25 miles into a 32 mile round trip through the canyon with 900 feet of climbing).

It's on the edge of the river, and on the other side there's a concrete wall right up to the edge of the bike path. In other sections the bikes can move to opposite sides of the path without bumping the wall (see the wall in the photos above).

Besides, it was probably a gentle grade (maybe 1%) that makes riding 25-30mph with pedaling easy if one wanted to, but with no pedaling a bike might only be coasting 4-5mph down this section. We were pedaling at about 13-14mph and most other riders (at this point near the end of the day) were also going our speed, with nobody passing anyone.

But if I had my way they'd all be left in my dust

 

[EddieJ]

Thanks, I'll check it out. I have limited range of motion when turning my neck, and turn my shoulders out of habit now when I go to look behind me, so I think this will be inevitable.

I have no idea why, but this just cropped up as an advert on my FB page. https://revelationstore.com/products/bicycle-wrist-safety-rearview-mirror

I'm not so sure that it would be a bit to distracting though, and possibly not easy to use.



.

 

[Ann M.]

That wrist mounted mirror is pretty darn clever, @EddieJ, that's a new one! I'm not big on more 'stuff' hanging off me but this is another option.

 

[EddieJ]

I totally agree with you, but wasn't sure whether the view would fall naturally into place, or whether you would need to keep moving your wrist about.

 

[Trail Cruiser]

Thanks, I'll check it out. I have limited range of motion when turning my neck, and turn my shoulders out of habit now when I go to look behind me, so I think this will be inevitable.

Here's another option for mirror. I alternate among 3 ebikes and I didn't want to put mirrors in all of them so I use this one strapped to my forearm from Rearviz.

 

[Ann M.]

@Mark Peralta, that's a clever item too, but more stuff strapped onto your arm. Here it's very humid and hot all spring/summer/fall... I'd rather find a way for the bike to have the mirror instead of me. But nice to have options.

 

[Larry Ganz]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I think I like the idea of a removable mirror more than another electronic gadget to warn me about all the objects approaching me from the rear, which can break down. I'm gonna order the Velcro bar mirror and the smaller soft looking wrist mirror and see what I like more.

I never really liked my helmet mounter mirror because my eyes would have to work harder to switch from forward viewing to rear viewing.

 

[Fitzy]

I'm not sure if there's a joke in there somewhere.

I suppose I should have put a in that post; was trying to get a chuckle. Hope you're mending well.

 

[Larry Ganz]

I suppose I should have put a in that post; was trying to get a chuckle. Hope you're mending well.

Great, that was what I thought, hence my joke after that.

I'm wondering, has anyone tried putting training wheels on the end of the handlebars, parallel to the ground, so if you fall into a wall next to you then it will hold you up as you roll along the wall on your side?

 

[Fitzy]

Great, that was what I thought, hence my joke after that.

I'm wondering, has anyone tried putting training wheels on the end of the handlebars, parallel to the ground, so if you fall into a wall next to you then it will hold you up as you roll along the wall on your side?

Holy crap! That's a BRILLIANT idea Larry. Seriously. I've never seen anything similar. Granted, it'd only be practical in environments where handlebar-end contact was highly probable. How about balls instead, similar to those in roll-on deodorant dispensers?

 

[Fitzy]

Great, that was what I thought, hence my joke after that.

I'm wondering, has anyone tried putting training wheels on the end of the handlebars, parallel to the ground, so if you fall into a wall next to you then it will hold you up as you roll along the wall on your side?

 

[Larry Ganz]

View attachment 16782

Brilliant mock-up - I almost thought it was real and that someone thought of it before me.

What about using old tennis balls with a slit on one side, so that they could slip onto the ends of the handlebars, like the way old people with walkers put them on the legs of their walkers to make them glide more easily? Too much friction? If the deodorant balls were the size of tennis balls then they might work okay, but your casters on the bar ends would be best.

 

[Nutella]

I used to have a set of hand grip plugs that had a big hard plastic disc on the end that I would always use on my mtb because they skipped off of trees and rocks instead of grabbing and pulling me into them. Bar ends do a similar job, tennis balls would be a bad idea.

 

[Larry Ganz]

I used to have a set of hand grip plugs that had a big hard plastic disc on the end that I would always use on my mtb because they skipped off of trees and rocks instead of grabbing and pulling me into them. Bar ends do a similar job, tennis balls would be a bad idea.

I should tell you, I was just being satirical with the last couple of posts, making fun of myself as a 55 yo geezer who needs a walker with tennis balls on the feet instead of a mountain bike.

 

[Larry Ganz]

The bike shop estimate is in, at approx $90 parts and $65-75 in labor. I could have it back early next week but for one issue.

The issue is that the new brake lever's finish doesn't match the original lever, which is a rich deep piano gloss black. The LBS is my Trek dealer and they called them about it, and apparently Trek can't sell us an original finish Trek brake lever because they only can get these parts with an entire bike.

What!?!?

They're going to hold out and keep looking for the correct brake for me, but I'm a little worried that I won't get this beautiful finish on my new lever. I think it's unacceptable to not be able to restore my bike's replaceable parts with the factory finish after an accident.

Otherwise the cost to repair is very fair, but my mild OCD tendencies won't allow anything but the correct brake lever. If they can't get the same brakes it's gonna away from the enjoyment of my bike, and although I live in a Colorado, pot is also not an acceptable solution to make me less anxious over this.

 

[Larry Ganz]

So I've now got a moderate to severe case of systemic vasculitis either from the Keflex Antibiotic that I needed for 10 days after my right shin wound became infected (post crash), or from something that got into the wound which was about 3-4mm deep. Fun. Both knees, elbows and left ankle are swollen and I've got red raised splotches on my shins and subcutaneous nodules on my legs and arms. Waiting for tests to prove its serum sickness and not polyarteritis nodosa.