I’d tell you if I knew. We did a short (2 mile) ride on August 25th with some other family while at a reunion. Since then, the Pino has received no love. These days, Gareth would rather play Wii Sports Baseball.

On the one hand, it’s his bike and he’ll ride it when he wants to. On the other hand, I want to ride it now.

Quite some time ago, there was a person on Flickr who commented on a few of Gareth’s photos. I didn’t think much of it, lots of people look at them, but while checking out site logs for the past year, I found that this person not only linked Gareth’s site here but is also on quite the journey - 20,000 kilometers around the world, via bike and skateboard!

I’ve been known to say that if Gareth ever wanted to tour, I’d refuse based on having to sit on an upright seat, but secretly, deep down inside, I know I’d jump at the chance.

Robert has already finished the Japan to England leg of his tour. We wish him good travels and lots of tailwind for his US/Mexico leg (and luck getting a visa).

UPDATE: Oops, forgot to mention. He has also commented here twice in the past. I guess I just never put all these things together. I’m slow like that.

Has it really been nearly a month since the last ride? Painfully, yes. As the temperatures climbed into the 90’s, Gareth decided that riding his bike was not a priority over playing with Star Wars toys. My itch for a family ride finally brought the drought to an end.

On Saturday, August 11th, we drove out to the Lower Trail with our bikes and gear in tow. This was our first time doing two things: 1) using Gareth’s new rock climbing harness as a hip/lap restraint; 2) packing the trike panniers with Gareth’s supplies for a rest stop.

Let’s talk about the harness first since I’ve mentioned it in the past. It worked really well. The harness has two plastic loops meant for hanging supplies (like chalk bags) that are situated on either side of the primary restraint. All I needed to attach that to the bike was an appropriately short and taut bungee strap. The only trick to using the harness is that we have to put it on Gareth before we put him on the bike. The old restraint remained on the bike at all times. A small price to pay for a restraint that works much better for Gare. He told me that it was much more comfortable than his old hip restraint, which means that rides should be much more tolerable for him now.

The big lesson I learned on our 20 mile ride was that Gare needs to get off the bike at some point or else he’ll become quite uncomfortable. When Brandy bought a rack for my trike, I purchased panniers for it shortly thereafter. We put them to good use for our trail ride, packing them with a blanket, spare diapers, Gareth’s food, a camera, repair tools/supplies, et cetera. This allowed us to stop on the trail and attend to Gare’s needs (like the need to stretch) in order to prolong the ride. As a result, we ended up doing 5 miles before stopping off to rest and returning back to the trailhead. At no time did Gare express discomfort or a desire to stop the ride.

Actually, he really loved this ride. The Lower Trail is wide enough that we could ride right alongside Brandy. He got a kick out of being able to reach out his hand and touch his mom, and I got a kick out of being able to see my trike in action without actually being on it.

The trail itself is a beautiful, well maintained, flat stretch of crushed stone traveled by some very friendly folks. If you’re in the area and looking for a relaxing ride, it’s definitely worth the time. The only thing I would caution is that if your bike/trike is greater than 36″ wide, you might have difficulty getting it through the trailhead fences.

Gareth and I headed out for our customary Saturday morning ride today, doing about an hour of riding in circles while I belted out a few of his favorite songs.

Nothing new there, but what was new was later in the evening when Gareth said he wanted to go for a walk. We let him choose our path, and it was evident to me that we were walking the same streets we biked. We stopped to ask him if he was showing mommy where we rode. Sure enough, he said yes.

With the exception of one street, he took us on the exact path we traveled that morning.

Gareth and I rode his Pino in the Colyer Lake 4th of July parade this year. It is a small community parade that invites anyone and everyone to get in line and traverse the two mile parade route.

Thanks to a gentleman handing out free beer, the parade made frequent stops, giving us plenty of opportunity to sit and wait for the tractor in front of us to get a move on.

We had a great time, though, and got lots of reactions from the spectators.

Our family went camping at Parker Dam State Park over the weekend, so we took both Gareth’s bike and my trike, allowing the entire family to go for a ride.  I highly recommend that park if you’re looking to camp in the central PA area.  It’s incredibly well kept and offers lots of activities.

If anyone out there would like to buy a Hase Pino but save about $2,000, take a look at this listing over at BentRider Online. With only 100 miles on it, it looks like it is in excellent condition, and you can avoid shipping costs if you’re in the Huntsville, AL region.

I think Gareth was relieved when we rode for a mere hour on Saturday morning. Turns out that we actually took the less hilly route by choosing the 20 mile over the 10. I tried the 10 mile route solo this past Sunday and was amazed at how uphill it really was.

We’re running into a bit of a problem right now, though. His hip restraints are now a bit too small for him, and they’re digging into his thighs. I think this was one source of discomfort for him on the 20 mile ride. Time to start looking for a new solution, something that will keep him in the seat and will restrict his ability to slide his hips under and out. I have an idea in mind, but it requires an experimental gear purchase.

This past weekend saw the commencement of the RBR Recumbent Bike and Trike Rally.  Gareth and I attended on Saturday for what we originally planned as a 10 mile ride in Spring Mills.  The route was five miles out and five miles back.

But when we got to the fork in the route that was the decision point between the 10 mile ride and the 20 mile ride, I decided to go for 20 miles.

Gareth enjoyed it right up until, oh, mile 11.  After that, he got angry and very vocal about his displeasure.

When we finally got back to our car after the two hour trip, Gareth’s face busted out into a huge grin as I started to unbuckle him from the recumbent seat.  He was thrilled to finally be off the bike and back in the car.

He then told me that the ride was just way too long and that, as a result, it wasn’t any fun.  Days later, he now says it was fun, but I can’t be sure that he isn’t just saying that to make me feel better.

Next time, we’ll take the shorter route.

Gareth is recovering from a bout of pneumonia, so there were no rides this past weekend. With any luck, he’ll be feeling better by the time the RBR Recumbent Bike and Trike Rally kicks off on June 16th.

We got in two rides on 6/2.  The first was an hour long ride around the State College Weis Market parking lot as part of the Ferguson Township bike rodeo.  We got plenty of comments on Gareth’s bike, but all from a distance and mostly consisting of “cool bike” and “weird bike”.  Gareth and I barely noticed as we rode through the obstacle courses set up by the organizers.  We also took the opportunity to register Gareth’s bike with local authorities … not that it will be hard to track down the Pino.  It’s sort of uncommon.

Our second ride was on the Bellefonte Central Rail Trail. Recent storms downed a tree across the trail, but we managed to move enough of it to get by and continue our ride.  The worst part had to be climbing the hill from the head of the trail back up to Sunset Park.  Gareth and I barely managed it in first gear.  Brandy did the same on the trike.  Considering it was her second ride, I was thoroughly impressed.