GRANNYGEARS.COM

Have been very busy the last few months.  First doing repairs on my house and then 3 glorious months in Montana.

I’m back in Texas now and its too hot to do much outside except for when the sun is going down.

Got started thinking about doing some bike touring/camping yesterday (when the weather cools off). 

Have been looking at little Casita camping trailers, but to buy a truck to pull it, plus the trailer, plus gas, insurance, repairs.  yikes!!!!  Doesn’t fit with my plan right now…….. get out of debt and hit the road.  Maybe later.

I have a cheap trailer I bought for a discount as it had been returned.  I originally bought a bike trailer because I don’t own a vehicle other than my bike, and its pretty hard to carry a gallon of paint home on the back of a bike.

Worked great for that purpose.  It’s set up for carrying kids, (I didn’t realize at the time that you can actually buy flat bed bike trailers) but paint cans, groceries, backpacks, etc. fit just fine in the seat slings.  I would say that the cover over my trailer improves my aerodynamics, but at the 5 miles per hour I ride, it probably doesn’t make much difference. 

Here is a great website I found yesterday, with good comparison charts of different types of trailers. 

http://www.biketrailershop.com/catalog/index.php

Here is another great site I found yesterday.  Its a company that makes recumbant trikes with room to haul a load on the back, in Montana no less!! 

Be sure to scroll down to see the photo of a man hauling hay on the back of his bike on a snowy road.

http://www.lightfootcycles.com/TCX.htm

Here is a photo of my rig.

I was thinking about Phyllis hauling 100 lbs of gear on her bike in panniers, and wondered if it would be easier with a trailer.

I looked up my maximum weight load and it’s 100 lbs.  So I headed off to Walmart yesterday to see if I could load up with 100lbs of groceries.  3 gallon jugs of water, a bag of ice, plus my normal grocery items, I’m pretty sure I came close.

I must admit, it felt a little strange.  I have a long downhill run with a couple of little drainage dips in the sidewalk.  There is definately a strange sort of push/pull that happens with that much weight.  Including the weight of the trailer it would be 135 lbs.  With my super low mountain bike granny gears, I didn’t have any problem pulling it, although I’m sure I could have walked it up a long hill faster than I could ride up.

I know, I know, my knobby tires don’t help, but its Old Nelly and a mountain bike she will always stay. 

On the way home last night, I came through the park where people were gathering to watch the fireworks.  I got a couple of very positive comments from people who were carrying their loads of coolers and lawnchairs from whatever distant parking they were able to find.

One man I passed said “Nice rig, baby, nice rig!”.  Made my day!!!!  I was smiling all the way home!  Somebody gets it, all right!