Weird bike day.

Yesterday was the day for seeing strange bikes during my commute. I'm not talking about people riding fixies or different paint jobs. We're talking some whacked out shit here!

First was nice trike guy.... not to be confused with Napoleon on a Trike (a guy who rides a recumbant trike and yells at everyone to get out of his way. I figure he's got a Napoleon complex about being so close to the ground and he thinks he can boss everyone around.) Nice Trike Guy (also rides a recumbant three wheeler) is different. He's actually nice (as his name implies). Seeing him isn't so odd. I just hadn't seen him pulling a trailer before. Every few weeks he needs to bring his dirty laundry home, so he hauls it in a trailer. Again... not such an odd thing. Escept that the way the trailer attaches to the trike, it sits off to the side. It looks more like a side car than a trailer. It was weird and cool. I slowed a little and chatted with him.

The second weird bike had a set of PowerCranks on it. I'd read about these, but had never seen them before. They are FREAKISH. Basically the idea is that you develop a lot more leg strength and learn to pedal circles if your left and right crank arm are not connected. Each turn independently of each other, yet they both have the ability to drive the chainring. It looks pretty normal when riding, but coasting is a strange thing to see. When you coast, both crank arms go to the bottom.

When I first saw this from a distance, it looked like every time the guy coasted, he clicked out of his right pedal and dragged his foot on the ground. That isn't the case. He just had both pedals at the 6 o'clock position. Bizarre.

He said he loves the cranks and they really help with leg strength. He uses them through the winter and has for the last two years. He said when he gets on normal cranks that he just flies.

That might be something to look into. I may have to give them a try.

Later!

Pete