Walking on the bike trail

GoldenMotor.com

deacon

minor bike philosopher
Jan 15, 2008
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Here in High Point we have what is called the Greenway. It is a combination walking trail and bike path. When I am not all into a build I ride an Ebike down there and walk a mile and a half on it. today I am between builds so I am going down to walk. It is a different kind of exercise completely. Not to mention the people there are pretty varied.

So let me feed my pack (2) of dogs and be off to walk a bit this morning.
 

deacon

minor bike philosopher
Jan 15, 2008
8,114
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I rode the fast pusher over there and walked two miles. That is a 1/2 mile more than I have done before this year. I hope to reach 3 miles before the summer is over. I haven't been walking on days when I am working on a build.

I met a half dozen walkers and two bikers on the trail. One of the bikers was riding a multi speed bike. He had on a helmet and seemed serious about the ride. The second was a guy a few years younger than me. He was on a big old cruiser and he didn't seem at all serious. He also didn't have a helmet on.
 

deacon

minor bike philosopher
Jan 15, 2008
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Oh the older guy who was leaned back and spoke to me of course.... the multi speed rider was riding to get somewhere it seemed (probably not) but the older guy was just out there cruising enjoy the cool morning air.
 

a_dam

New Member
Feb 21, 2009
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Momence, IL
I ride an Ebike down there and walk a mile and a half on it.
Walk on a bike? I'm not trying to be stupid, but I can't help being confused.

PS. I like to hike and I like to bike.

EDIT:

Nevermind. DUH!
Is there a place to park (and lock) the bike before you walk?
 
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deacon

minor bike philosopher
Jan 15, 2008
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Yes the park has a parking lot. I lock it to a fence there. Plus I build the bike myself nobody would want it but me. By the way Im up to two miles a day. This trail goes about 15 miles all together.

I went out to walk this morning but it rained on me so I went back after the rain and it was really hot.
 

deacon

minor bike philosopher
Jan 15, 2008
8,114
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north carolina
Yesterday after walking two miles on the trail in the middle of the day, I jumped on my bike and tried to ride it home. I was snake bit from the start. The gist of the story is that I made some stupid decisions and ended up pushing it some of way but only after burning out a switch.

I was a little shaky this morning but it all went much better. Part of the reason is that I had tried to go from 'forced march' mind set to 'bike riding' with no chance to let my mind regroup.

For those of you who have never been on a forced march you might not recognize the feeling, but you might well understand it from your time in the gym or some such thing. When I was in the military back in the day, I had to make more than one forced march. Usually in the heat of the day and for a lot more than two miles. I was in much better physical condition back then. Nonetheless the same phenomenon happened.

My mind moved into a different place. It made me numb to most small pains. It wandered willy nilly from this thought to that, but it was and is always buried in a fog. My mind shuts out all the small details to concentrate on the task at hand. I can't explain it any better than that but I'm sure some of you probably can.

Anyway I went right from that mind set to the bike. It was a bad decision. Today I sat at the end of the walk for about five minutes. It made a world of difference. Also I walked early in the morning before the heat set in so my body wasn't as stressed as it was yesterday. I guess what I am saying is that it is easy to make some serious mistakes when you aren't all there. You know on an open bike that can be very dangerous, so for me at least I'm going to have to give my mental and physical state some thought before I take off on a bike.
 
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deacon

minor bike philosopher
Jan 15, 2008
8,114
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north carolina
I didn't walk today.. I cut the grass and waited for bike parts to arrive. I am redoing my pushers.

Tomorrow I will walk if it doesn't rain me out. I got a motor in to replace the one I messed up. I resurrected a controller and reused the hub throttle to make a bike I hope will be more energy efficient. I rode it and there is a lot more pedaling. Nothing I can't handle just has to be done on the hills around here. I couldn't tell exactly how much difference there was but it seemed to have power left at the end of two miles on 7ah batteries.

For a good mostly power just a little pedaling the 500 watt is the bike to ride. This 350 I just finished might be the one to ride long distances though.

The wife and I rode out to the lake today to have our restaurant biscuits and home made coffee breakfast. It was really a nice break. I think when the controller for the 500 watt bike gets here, I'm going to ride it out there and meet her. She is my backup for the first time. If we do that I need to put a real took kit in the back of her car.

But tomorrow it is ride the bike to the greenway and walk a couple of miles. This will be my first full week at two miles. I might push a little farther on Monday.
 

deacon

minor bike philosopher
Jan 15, 2008
8,114
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north carolina
I did make it to the bike trail today and econo bike let me down lol. The chain come off twice. I didn't do the things I needed to do before I took it out in the real world. I did them when I came home so hopefully that problem is solved.

It was cool and I was tempted to go farther than my planned two miles. The middle aged guy on the cruiser came by. Just like the other day he was friendly and seemed happy to be outside.

There was a couple that did what I do. They rode their bikes to the trail and walked it. Of course there bikes weren't motorized.

On the way home an old man in a four wheeler stopped me on the road. He wanted to know what the heck I was pulling. I explain that I wasn't pulling anything that it was actually pushing me. I always like when people notice my junk.

Econo bike lets me pedal up hills so it is more exercise than the fast bike.
 

deacon

minor bike philosopher
Jan 15, 2008
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north carolina
It's raining today booo bad.... No walking the trail for me. I guess I will work on the blog and try to decide what to do with my time. If I don't have a bid on the bike hub wheel when I wake up tomorrow. I'm going to pull it. I think that shipping it, ie building a box to fit ect just won't be worth the sale price if it doesn't start showing some action. I have nine people looking which means a couple of them might bid at the last minute but it would go very low.

It is small and under powered but I can tinker with that as well.
 

deacon

minor bike philosopher
Jan 15, 2008
8,114
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north carolina
Ah I'm an urban resident who doesn't own a car anymore. My ebike has a range of about five miles. Any hiking I do has to be within two miles of home. I wish I could hike a more scenic trail but the greenway was designed to be scenic and it is. An urban oasis even, I've heard it called. Actually it is kind of nice.
 

deacon

minor bike philosopher
Jan 15, 2008
8,114
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north carolina
I think I need to buy a dozen donuts to take on the bike trail. There is a regular group of us who walk. Not together I just seem to pass the same people every morning.

There is the slightly past middle aged African American gentleman with the black dog... The old white guy (like me) with the over weight white dog. There is an African American couple at least middle aged. He looks like a gym rat and she looks like a housewife. They walk about four miles every morning. A white couple about my age who are either picking up trash or looking for cans. I don't know exactly which, but they are also walking the trail. The bikers that pass me are the serious biker on the road bikes, two different guys on cruisers. One wears a bike helmet and seems to be making good time. The other does not wear a helmet and seems to be going just fast enough to keep the bike from falling over.

We could all probably use a donut in the morning. Well maybe not the gym rat's wife.

One rather interesting thing... You might remember that a couple of months ago I finally broke down an sold my old junker car. Well I saw it parked on the road beside the bike tail Saturday morning. I was a little shocked, but it just proves that it really is a small world.
 

deacon

minor bike philosopher
Jan 15, 2008
8,114
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north carolina
It does indeed. Lots of dog walkers on the bike trail. I think they probably walk more than I do. But do you do it every day?
 

robin

Member
Nov 15, 2008
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Penticton British Columbia Canada
Its good youve found out what those 2 large appendages below your waist are--walking or hiking is the best way to experience and really see and feel the countryside and so doing if you add some good hills into the equation you can really get into shape.
I find motorized bicycling is a real hoot and adds excitment to the day you otherwise would not experience.
 

deacon

minor bike philosopher
Jan 15, 2008
8,114
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north carolina
Oh I have done some hiking a time or two.

Last year though I started to walk for weight loss and then weight control. I walked in the hood last summer, then it the winter I tried the mall. I lost interest in the mall and walking entirely. I gained back ten pounds so I started to walk again. I have lost the ten repeat pounds and six more. Four more pounds and I'm going to benge on krispy kreme donuts.

This time I have found that my new ebikes are great for the two mile round trip ride to the park. It gives me a few wake up moments on the way to the park then a little cool down time after the hide. I still have some serious pedaling to do at one point but overall I get the walk in and the ride as well. It's a good regiment. I wish I could find a way to walk in the winter. I HATE cold.

I went from 1mile in the spring to 2.5 at the moment and plan to do 3 sometime this week. I have problems with hill two heart attacks left me with a bit of a huffing and puffing problem but it's good for me to do a little of that just not sustained. For that reason I try to keep the hills to gentle ones.
 

robin

Member
Nov 15, 2008
618
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Penticton British Columbia Canada
Thanks for sharing your world-- My friend uses his bike to go fishing---but he pulled along his girlfriend in a trailer she got drunk fell off and got 12 facial stitches--remain sober while riding !
 

deacon

minor bike philosopher
Jan 15, 2008
8,114
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north carolina
ride sober is a good plan. I thought about building a trailer to ride my grandson around then I realied how little my life would be worth if he got even a broken fingernail.