I'm a paid test driver.......

Not sure if y'all been following along, but I have been having a ton of small issues with my motor assisted bicycle. The guy I bought my motor from couldn't have been nicer or more professional, he shipped me 2 different motors, both of which turned out to be duds.

After the 2nd motor developed problems, he sent me an experimental motor to try out-he liked my feedback so much......he's sending me another motor and an install kit for another bicycle.

All I have to do is record fuel mileage, try out some various carb jets and try some different oil weights. He also wants my feedback on how the motor performs compared to the first motor he sent me.

He is also sending a bunch of extra parts that affect the final drive ratio of the gearing that the motor provides, I get to try them all and give him feedback on how the different gear ratios make the bike perform.

I'm not his typical customer as most of his clients want to go as fast as possible, I like going at a nice steady pace and only let the motor help when I need it to. That's one of the reasons I think he selected me to help him.....I ain't gonna blow his motor up in a week :-)

All I can say is wow. About a week from now, a box of parts worth 600 bucks is gonna show up that I didn't pay a dime for and I get to keep.

Things are good.

till later.

Here's the reason........

Here's the reason all family members get charged when I work on their computers.

The only exceptions......my mom and my father-in-law.

I don't wanna be too harsh, but I didn't break your damn computer......you did.

After I fix it and it's working perfectly.......if it screws up again 2 weeks later-99% of the time...it's not my fault.

It's like having an electrician install a new power outlet and 6 months down the road the lamp that it's plugged into blows a light bulb....do you blame the electrician?

Some people shouldn't have computers.

till later.

Okay.............

.............so I'm a 52 year old white guy.

For some reason, I am really digging this song and video.

Go figure.

till later.

Back in business........

Well, it took almost all of my Sunday off.....but 150 dollars worth of new parts later-my motor assisted bicycle is now working again. I'll throw some pictures up next time I break out my camera so any of you that are curious can check it out.

It's now geared differently, so instead of going 40 mph....it now has a top speed just shy of 30 mph but it climbs hills way, way better. Since it hurts like a MF'er to put very much force into pedaling...having the extra assist will come in handy.

All that works for me, I was at the doctor last week and since March-I've lost 50 pounds, my blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol numbers have all returned to normal. I have another appointment in 60 days and I want to lose another 15 pounds to get to my goal weight of 199 pounds.

In less then one week...our daughter will have her Masters degree and also be a fully licensed Physician Assistant. That is good news, but even better news is that she already has a job with a fantastic starting salary and outstanding benefits.

I can't put into words how happy I am for her- in addition to all that.....she also has a new boyfriend. I haven't met him yet, but I think he's a keeper. I've never seen her smile so much in pictures....as long as she's happy-that's all that matters to me.

The only bad news we've had all week is that our neighbor pointed out to us that one of our large trees in our backyard is dead. The last time our tree surgeon was out, he told us that if one of the two large trees we have growing next to each other dies.....it's a good idea to cut both of them down as trees like to grow in pairs.

We are not sure if we are going to cut both down.....the one tree that is still alive is over 200 years old and provides a ton of shade............I kinda have a soft spot for trees.

till later.

Hey....its only money.

Looks like it's gonna be a 150 dollar fix for my bicycle. On the bright side.......I now have an extra engine and tons of spare parts in case something else breaks.

I can hardly believe it's already August, I just had my bi-monthly doctor vist (I am on some very strong pain killers, the doc wants to keep a close eye on everything) and so far.....I've lost a total of 50 pounds since March 1rst of this year.

My blood pressure is 100 over 60, my sugar was 140 and I forget what my cholesterol numbers where exactly, but they were smack dab in the middle of "normal", there is 2 or 3 different numbers- I forgot which one was what all that matters is that my doc was happy and pretty impressed I lost a shitload of weight.

I do feel tons better, my knees still bother the living shit out of me on some days. Sometimes I have good days and sometimes I have bad days....overall- I can't complain too much.

My wife and I got some really good news, our daughter got a fantastic job offer to be a P.A. in the Allentown/Bethlehem area in internal medicine. She has a fantastic starting salary and a really good vacation/benfits package. She worked her ass off for the past 5 years of school, she went full-time straight through the summers to get her Masters in 5 years.....she deserves everything she has coming her way.

My lovely wife and her are taking a really cool road trip after graduation, they are driving all over the upper midwest and Canada.

After she gets through the next 2 weeks of completely insane coursework and testing....it's all good.

Our son is banking a ton of money so far for school, he is having a really good time in his "gap year", he figures he will be able to save 12 to 14 grand this year. That isn't a ton of money, but it will be a good head start when he starts college in the fall of 2012.

Next post, I hope I will have my bike all put back together again and on the road spinning away......

till later.

Not again...........

I got 20 miles in on my bike before I had a catastrophic bearing failure in the bracket that supports the motor. I could be out 9 dollars for a new bearing or 150 dollars for a new bracket.

People have worse problems then me- so in the grand scheme of things-no biggie...it's only money.

Speaking about money......can't this government find a more efficient way to spend money that doesn't exist?

till later.

First time...........

Today was the first time I ever headed out for a ride when the heat index was over 100. Wasn't a very long ride (about 90 minutes) and I was very happy I didn't have any mechanical issues.

till later.

I am in charge...........

My boss is taking a well deserved vacation this week and I am in charge. It's been awhile since I've actually had the chance to run a bakery.

I was stuck on 3rd shift for 18 years, it was just me and the donuts.

So far, I have managed to not burn down the bakery or screw anything up....I still have 3 more days yet, so anything could happen. I kinda doubt anything bad will happen, everyone in our bakery pretty much knows their shit......I'd have to be a moron to have dumb things happen.

Been having tons of issues with my bike, first the clutch broke a spring and locked up. I didn't stress too much as this point as I have a backup motor.

Unfortunately, my back up motor wouldn't start. After that it was a comedy of errors between me and the vendor I bought my equipment from. After everything got figured out, the guy who built my motor is sending me a free motor for me to beta test.

Yay for me....somehow I started with one motor and after it's all said and done- I will have 3 brand new motors. I'm not exactly sure how that happened but I ain't complaining.

If you are new to my blog.....I am not talking about a motorcycle-I have a motor assisted bicycle.

Unfortunately, I have fairly bad arthritis in both knees and the motor isn't really a luxury, if I want to ride my bike....it's a necessity for me to bolt on a motor if I want to ride.

To be honest....I'd prefer to just be able to ride with a motor buzzing away behind me as I really like the peace and quiet of a good bike ride, but sometimes...ya gotta do what ya gotta do :-)

till later.

Nice to be back...........

After 2 weeks off the bike due to mechanical problems......it was nice to get out for a ride Sunday afternoon.

I'm not sure how the *real* cyclists cope with this weather.

All I was doing was making the pedals go around so it improves my range of motion and I was sweating like a stuck pig.

I can't really put any force into my pedal stroke because it hurts like a MF'er.

My lovely wife says it's good for my arthritis to get as much exercise as possible flexing both knees through a full range of motion and cycling is the perfect thing as I can use them and not have to put any pressure on them......the 4.4 horsepower motor I have mounted on the rear tire does all the work.

I know the hot weather makes peoples tempers flare, so I have been sticking to wide roads with large shoulders and mostly empty back roads.....I don't want to end up on this map.

I did about 50 miles today, rode over to Lancaster and back.....sounds like a pretty healthy sized ride, but you have to take into account that my average speed is probably close to 25 mph for most of the ride. The bike is probably capable of 40 mph, but 25 mph is quite fast enough thankyouverymuch.

I did have one small problem that I think is heat related, the centrifugal clutch on my bike got really hot on the last climb and got stuck in the fully engaged position...which meant that every time I came to a stop the motor would die......solution?

I didn't stop very much.

till later.

New motor........

Yeah, I know most folks with bicycles don't usually have a 4.4 horsepower motor mounted to the rear wheel.......

....but I'm different.

With this bad boy installed-it will hit 30 mph on flat ground-no sweat.

I used to be able to ride at 20-22 mph on flat ground with just human power-it's just nice knowing I have my little helper mounted over the rear tire ready to help out when my knee pain gets too bad.

Put the damn fork down.

Seems like we are getting hammered with a nasty heat wave here on the East coast.

While it's warm working in a bakery....you have to consider the fact that the bakery I work in is located in an air conditioned store......things could be much worse.

I've noticed that since I've lost weight.....I don't seem to mind it nearly as much as I used to. Some of our customers however.....lets just say that some of them wouldn't die if they skipped a meal or four.

We had a customer this week that was a very large framed woman, okay, lets be blunt and call it like it is-she was morbidly obese, probably in the area of 450-500 pounds. She was heavy enough that her ass was hanging off of both sides of the seat of her motorized mobility cart.

I'd say more ass was hanging off the side then was actually on the seat-you get the point, she was a big woman.

The part that gets my goat-she called me over the the front of the donut case so I could pick her out 2 dozen donuts.

2 motherfucking dozen donuts?

By the looks of all the other junk food she had and the half-dozen 6 packs of regular soda hanging off the sides of her cart-she isn't really watching what she eats.

When people like this claim that they are disabled and should be able to claim government assistance....that pisses me off.

Put the damn fork down.

till later.

So....where the hell was I for the last 8 months?

Let's back up to Thanksgiving week of last year.

After my dad passed away unexpectedly 3 days before Thanksgiving, I mostly lost the desire to write this anything on this blog or pretty much anything else for that matter....so that explains that.

In February of this year, a day shift job (asst bakery manager) opened up at another store and I applied for it and lo and behold- 18 years of night shift came to a close. I chose to work night shift so there was always a parent home in the morning for our kids while they went to school and since our son was a senior at the time- I thought it was a good time to have a normal life again.

With my dad's passing, I was able to use my parent's 2nd car to commute back and forth to work...so everything worked out ducky.

After so many years of working 6 nights a week and never really having a full day off ever....moving to first shift and being able to have an entire day off from sunup to sundown is like having a mini vacation every week.

I work at a smaller store and while it has had it's challenges, overall- I'm glad I made the move. There is a lot of work stuff I can't go into here on this blog, all I can say is that I am working towards getting my own dept to manage....the sooner I make that move-the better for me and my mental health.

One of the benefits of having a normal schedule is that I have lost a shitload of weight, as I write this-I have lost a total of 46 pounds and I need to lose another 19 pounds to reach my goal weight of 199 pounds.

Next time-who knows what I will blather on about.....I used to touch on quite a bit of politics on my blog, to be honest- I have lost hope of any thing good ever coming out of Washington, so I probably won't be discussing that subject much....it just pisses me off too much.

Maybe I'll write about how senior citizens and fat people that ride around in fat carts piss me off....who knows?

till later.

Gots me a new motor........

As many of you may know (or not) I used to ride my bikes quite a bit before I developed some fairly serious arthritis in both knees.

Here is a pic of my current ride.....notice anything unusual? Yup, my bike has a motor. Since I took this pic, the original motor I had on the bike was ruined by the 10% ethanol gasoline that is now sold.

Solution?

Buy another motor.....and use this stuff.

Problem was that the motor I bought lasted about 2 weeks before one of the head studs pulled out and it ceased running. Since the place I bought the motor from has very good customer service- they are shipping me a new improved version of what I previously bought and they are throwing in a new high performance carb.

From my past experience, this means I will be able to cruise along at 25 mph all day long with enough power in reserve to get up some of the steep hills we have around here. I carry enough fuel with me to go about 120 miles without stopping.

So, at some point in the next week or so, I'll have my bike back up and running and hopefully blogging and taking some pictures of where I travel. Having the motor on my bike gives me back my ability to get out and smell the flowers....so if you see me out there putting along and not pedaling....I'm not lazy- it just hurts.

I'm back........

Okay.....so I took a few months off from blogging. Quite frankly, I was burnt out, I pretty much lost interest last year after my father's passing in November.

That and the fact that I have mostly lost the abilility to ride a bike due to some fairly serious knee pain....I just sorta stopped writing.

I am gonna give this another shot and we'll see where it ends up.