Howdy folks!

Boy, things sure do seem rather negatively spirited in this newsgroup of late. I hope that this is a
cyclical thing and it goes away on its own. It makes an environment where people get turned off and
don't want to post. At any rate, I just wanted to wish everyone happy holidays! No matter how bad
things get, life is still good and is the neatest game in town. We had a saying growing up that life
is like playing a game of cards, and that you've only got two rules that are non-negotiable. One,
you can't fold. Two, you must play the hand you're dealt. We may get a crappy hand now and again,
but for me anyway, I'm just as happy to still be at the table and in the game!

Some recumbent thoughts I'd like to pass along:

Yesterday, my youngest daughter (10) accompanied me to the bikeshop where I bought my Tour Easy SS
XL and my wifes EZ-1 Lite. While I was buying some things, she got the chance to ride a bunch of
different recumbents. Did I think she'd enjoy them? Sure. Did I think she would become passionately
hooked on them like her old man? No, but that is what happened! I literally had to pull her off the
bikes (after 3 hours of solid riding with no letup in sight) so we could go home. (The bikeshop is
almost 200 miles from our home, so we had travel and traffic to face on the way home.) At any rate,
she rode an Evox 140, a Wizwheelz Terratrike 3.4, and an EZ-1 Lite. She liked the look of the Evox
140 but didn't care much for the seat. She loved the trike and the EZ-1 Lite. She ended up riding
the EZ-1 Lite more than anything else. We're thinking of getting her an EZ-1 for Christmas. She said
that she was more comfortable on it than on the trike. The missus and I are considering it but want
to make sure that this is a bike that she can really "grow" with, as she is already as tall as my 15
yr old daughter and is still growing! (While mom is short, dad is 6'7" and has 4 other brothers,
none who are under 6'4" and one who is 7'.) So, I just wanted to share that there is a real chance
that the 'bent ranks will quite possibly gain another trooper this Christmas, a young one with a
real zeal and passion for 'benting.

I'd also like to pass along some updates about my heavier friend, the one who had never ridden a
bike and is committed to learning to ride and losing weight. I took him to the bikeshop a few weeks
back and the guys at the shop put him on uprights and rollers to get him a "feel" for pedaling. They
also put him on a recumbent in rollers for the same thing. He tried several trikes and really did
well with the EZ-3 AL. The good news? He did actually ride a recumbent! He rode about 100 yds, but
that is a start. He has already said that his bike purchase will be a recumbent, because it is much
more comfortable for him. I thought it would be, but not for the reasons he mentioned. I was
thinking about his back and whatnot... It turns out that the upright position hunches him over to
the point that he does not breathe as freely as when he is in the recumbent position and leaning
back. I hadn't thought about that, but that is a plus for the recumbents, I'd reckon. He did not go
home with a recumbent, but plans to get one in February or March of 2004. Once again, thanks to
everyone on here who had wonderful suggestions. You'll be happy to know that almost every one of
them were deployed in getting my friend to the point where he could actually ride for a bit!

Another update for you, and this one is about my wife. She's the lady who is blind in her left eye.
We've still not had any real solutions. I bought quite a few mirrors and tried to see if when we
mount them on her glasses or helmet, if she could use her right eye to see the mirror on the left.
All the mirrors do not extend far enough out to where she could use her right eye to see things on
the left with a mirror mounted on the left. We tried mounting them on the right and just having her
turn her head a bit to the right to see things behind and to the left, but that hasn't been very
successful either. Either she has to turn her head a good deal to make it work (which makes her
nervous) or she still can't see things on her left, especially close to her left. I'm not giving up
finding a solution for her; I know there has got to be a simple and intuitive fix.

Some lighting comments! I've been using a Cateye EL-300 as my headlight and a Vistalite vertical
blinker on the rear of my Tour Easy and I've been very pleased with the amount of light the EL-300
throws out. I have it mounted behind my fairing and it shines through the fairing with no issues. A
nice and unintended feature is that it reflects a small portion of light down, lighting up the
fairing somewhat which illuminates my bike computer nicely! There is no reflected light directed
backward and the EL-300 is amazingly powerful for it's size. I liked it so much that I bought
another and now use two for headlights. I also have two Vistalite vertical blinkers on the back now.
In addition to the two EL-300s up front, I also have a Cateye EL-400 mounted underneath on the stem
and set it to blinking mode when I ride. The end result is that I've got plenty of light to extend
my riding from dusk to into the night. I don't ride on the roads much, mostly in my large
development. I am amazed at how much light these LEDs produce.

I reckon that's about it for now. Again, happy holidays to everyone!

--
"Sea" ya! --Lars S. Mulford "You can find evil anywhere you look. The question is, why are
you looking?"

"Lars S. Mulford" wrote:
>
> Howdy folks!
>
> Boy, things sure do seem rather negatively spirited in this newsgroup of late. I hope that this is
> a cyclical thing and it goes away on its own. It makes an environment where people get turned off
> and don't want to post. At any rate, I just wanted to wish everyone happy holidays! No matter how
> bad things get, life is still good and is the neatest game in town. We had a saying growing up
> that life is like playing a game of cards, and that you've only got two rules that are
> non-negotiable. One, you can't fold. Two, you must play the hand you're dealt. We may get a crappy
> hand now and again, but for me anyway, I'm just as happy to still be at the table and in the
> game!...

Yes, but the game is rigged.

Tom Sherman - Curmudgeon

Howdy Tom:

The game isn't rigged, you just need to pay closer attention. Scoot your chair up closer to
the table!

--
"Sea" ya! --Lars S. Mulford "You can find evil anywhere you look. The question is, why are
you looking?"

"Tom Sherman" <tsherman@qconline.com> wrote in message news:3FCA2F97.F016DBF7@qconline.com...

> Yes, but the game is rigged. Tom Sherman - Curmudgeon

Two headlights is a good idea any time as it gives other road users a better perspective of the range from their position to yours.

__________________
Dan Burkhart
Oakville Ont

Tom Sherman wrote:

>
> Yes, but the game is rigged.
>
A college instructor used to tell us that the business world was like a game - it was easy enough to
win but you had to learn the rules and then use them to your advantage. The ones that call that
'kissing up,' are the ones that never understood the rules.
--

John Foltz --- O _ Baron --- _O _ V-Rex 24 --- _\\/\-%)
_________(_)`=()___________________(_)= (_)_____

"Lars S. Mulford" <mulford@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:<3Vryb.17806$UG2.8612@nwrdny03.gnilink.net>...
> Howdy Tom:
>
> The game isn't rigged, you just need to pay closer attention. Scoot your chair up closer to
> the table!
>
> --
> "Sea" ya! --Lars S. Mulford "You can find evil anywhere you look. The question is, why are you
> looking?"
>
> "Tom Sherman" <tsherman@qconline.com> wrote in message news:3FCA2F97.F016DBF7@qconline.com...
>
> > Yes, but the game is rigged. Tom Sherman - Curmudgeon

====================================================================== =========

Hi Lars,

You might want to check out the rear vision helmet that is on the market.

site: reevu.com (lots of pull down menus)

I bought one from England last year and still find it works better than all of the rear view mirrors
i've tried to use on my Vision uss bike.

Tom H visions r40 and r50 uss

********************************************

ps this is the English distributor I ordered from, easy to work with.

www.kinetics-online.co.uk NEW ADDRESS: 54 Switchback Road, Bearsden, Glasgow G61 1AE tel/fax: +44
(0)141 942 2552

John Foltz wrote:
>
> Tom Sherman wrote:
>
> >
> > Yes, but the game is rigged.
> >
> A college instructor used to tell us that the business world was like a game - it was easy enough
> to win but you had to learn the rules and then use them to your advantage. The ones that call that
> 'kissing up,' are the ones that never understood the rules.

Exactly why it is immoral to run a government like a business.

Tom Sherman - Planet Earth

"There is enough in the world for everyone's need; there is not enough for everyone's greed." -
Mohandas Gandhi

Howdy Dan:

I agree with you. I also enjoy the wider field of light. I've really been pleased with
these EL-300s.

--
"Sea" ya! --Lars S. Mulford "You can find evil anywhere you look. The question is, why are
you looking?"

"Dan Burkhart" <usenet-forum@cyclingforums.com> wrote in message
news:3fcaa294$1_2@news.chariot.net.au...
> Two headlights is a good idea any time as it gives other road users a better perspective of the
> range from their position to yours.

Howdy John!

I had a college prof who said something similar, but added that if you quit playing established
games and created your own, you'd be that much better. I remember at the time wondering if he meant
that we should "invent" an entirely new type of game, or simply begin a new game of same to what was
being played around us... I think he may have actually meant both.
--
"Sea" ya! --Lars S. Mulford "You can find evil anywhere you look. The question is, why are
you looking?"

"John Foltz" <john.foltz@usa.net> wrote in message news:vsl8504ntmc60e@corp.supernews.com...

> A college instructor used to tell us that the business world was like a game - it was easy enough
> to win but you had to learn the rules and then use them to your advantage. The ones that call that
> 'kissing up,' are the ones that never understood the rules.
> --
>
> John Foltz --- O _ Baron --- _O _ V-Rex 24 --- _\\/\-%) _________(_)`=()___________________(_)=
> (_)_____

Howdy Tom:

I've read a bit about them but admittedly didn't give them a ton of thought, as my concern would be
that she'd have a great view of the immediate back of the bike. From what I see on the website, the
view is better than I thought. I've been waiting to hear from other riders who have them so I can
have some real time grit on just how well they work or don't. Do you get any distortion in the view?

--
"Sea" ya! --Lars S. Mulford "You can find evil anywhere you look. The question is, why are
you looking?"

"tom" <hndricks10@juno.com> wrote in message news:a38f7a0a.0311301715.2eaa2f57@posting.google.com...
> Hi Lars,
>
> You might want to check out the rear vision helmet that is on the market.
>
> site: reevu.com (lots of pull down menus)
>
> I bought one from England last year and still find it works better than all of the rear view
> mirrors i've tried to use on my Vision uss bike.
>
> Tom H visions r40 and r50 uss
>
> ********************************************
>
> ps this is the English distributor I ordered from, easy to work with.
>
> www.kinetics-online.co.uk NEW ADDRESS: 54 Switchback Road, Bearsden, Glasgow G61 1AE tel/fax: +44
> (0)141 942 2552

Howdy Tom:

Is the opposite also true? Is it immoral to run a business like government? I know several local
small business owners who jokingly say that they (and other folks like them) could make a real
impact on running state and local governments, IF the same rules that applied to running small
businesses and whatnot were applied equally to running government. I never really gave it a ton of
thought until now, but it is an interesting thing to ponder...

Not completely to turn attention back to my original note, but can I get some feedback on some of
the recumbent comments I made in the original post? Specifically, I'm really interested in hearing
some ideas for helping my wife to be able to see things on her left side. Also, I'd love to hear
some more lighting feedback and perhaps a comment or two about my heavy friend and his riding
experience (first time!), as well as my youngest young'n perhaps joining our ranks?

--
"Sea" ya! --Lars S. Mulford "You can find evil anywhere you look. The question is, why are
you looking?"

"Tom Sherman" <tsherman@qconline.com> wrote in message news:3FCACEE5.27D3D9E5@qconline.com...
> Exactly why it is immoral to run a government like a business.
>
> Tom Sherman - Planet Earth
>
> "There is enough in the world for everyone's need; there is not enough for everyone's greed." -
> Mohandas Gandhi

Lars S. Mulford wrote:

> Howdy John!
>
> I had a college prof who said something similar, but added that if you quit playing established
> games and created your own, you'd be that much better. I remember at the time wondering if he
> meant that we should "invent" an entirely new type of game, or simply begin a new game of same to
> what was being played around us... I think he may have actually meant both.
>
Well, the odds always favor the dealer, so if you can be the dealer, go for it!!!
--

John Foltz --- O _ Baron --- _O _ V-Rex 24 --- _\\/\-%)
_________(_)`=()___________________(_)= (_)_____

Lars S. Mulford <mulford@verizon.net> wrote:
: Specifically, I'm really interested in hearing some ideas for helping my wife to be able to see
: things on her left side. Also, I'd love to hear some

Recently there was an article by a cyclist who is almost totally blind and has very little function
in one of the legs. You might find a reference to the article in the IHPVA trikes mailing list
archives from something like 2-3 months back maybe. Look for topics like "one legged pedalling".

--
Risto Varanka | http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/hpv/hpv.html varis at no spam please iki fi

Lars S. Mulford wrote:

> Not completely to turn attention back to my original note, but
can I get
> some feedback on some of the recumbent comments I made in the original post? Specifically, I'm
> really interested in hearing some ideas for helping my wife to be able to see things on her left
> side. Also, I'd love to hear some more lighting feedback and perhaps a comment or two about my
> heavy friend and his riding experience (first time!), as well as my youngest young'n perhaps
> joining our ranks?
>

My suggestion would be a handlebar-end mirror. It might require an adapter bracket or something for
USS (don't remember what kind of bike,) but you use both eyes with one, or in this case it's
accessible by the right eye at least.

I can't help much with lighting, the only bike of mine with a headlight is my DF hybrid commuter. It
has a Cateye EL300, which I like, especially for the long run time. But my roads are *dark* and
mostly devoid of traffic.

--

John Foltz --- O _ Baron --- _O _ V-Rex 24 --- _\\/\-%)
_________(_)`=()___________________(_)= (_)_____

"Lars S. Mulford" wrote:
>
> Howdy Tom:
>
> Is the opposite also true? Is it immoral to run a business like government?...

I would see nothing wrong in running a business in the way a government SHOULD be run - maximizing
the common good of all involved in the enterprise, (as opposed to the holders of capital exploiting
the workers who are responsible for the added value that makes the business viable.

Tom Sherman - Planet Earth

"There is enough in the world for everyone's need; there is not enough for everyone's greed." -
Mohandas Gandhi