Cycling Links and Resources

Over the past couple of years my little site here has become progressively more focused on cycling and cycling related topics. The volume is such that it, while there is a search function, it is becoming more difficult to find some specific things on cycling. Given that, it made sense to start putting together a list of links and topic areas for quick navigation.

Trail Reviews

The Illinois and Michigan Canal Trail - Details my ride along the I&M Canal trail from LaSalle, IL to Buffalo Rock State Park. Several pics and details about the trail and the sights along the way.

The Hennepin Canal State Park Trail - Lock 2 to Lock 13 - The Hennepin is set to be a major component of the new Rails to Trails cross-country route, but my trip down this part of the Hennepin Canal was also a bit of a personal journey to find the site where my great-grandfather worked as a lock tender. It’s a very cool, and somewhat secluded ride - lots of pics and details about the trail and sights.

The Hennepin Feeder Canal Trail: Martin’s Landing to Rte 172 - In addition to the main canal, which runs East to West, originally connecting the Illinois River to the Mississippi, the Hennepin Canal System has a feeder canal, supplying water from Lake Sinnissippi on the Rock River nearly 30 miles to the north of the main canal. This post covers the first 10 miles or so of the feeder canal trail, from Sterling Illinois to Route 172. In the spring of 2020 I also rode from Route 172 most of the way to the junction of the two canal sections.

Des Plaines River Trail - This trail covers over 56 miles of territory in the north Chicago Suburbs. I had an opportunity to ride on it in the late summer of 2019. It offers multiple marsh, wetland, and woodland views across the section that I rode in Gurnee, Illinois.

The Rend Lake Trail - This trail runs around the lower third of Rend Lake in Southern Illinois, and offers river, water, and woodland views. It’s a little out of the way, but definitely worth checking out if you have the opportunity.

Wayne Fitzgerell State Park - This is a state park in Southern Illinois that I visited back in 2015. It sits along the banks of Rend Lake (see above), but this entry describes the riding through the park itself.

Military Ridge Trail - This trail runs through the Driftless Region of southwestern Wisconsin. It’s beautiful territory and well worth visiting. I’ve written about it twice - Once on an upright bike, and more recently on my Catrike:

Military Ridge Trail - My first ride down this trail, on an upright, big box store mountain bike, in November 2015. Ride was from Ridgeway to Barneveld
Military Ridge Trail Revisited - This post from December 2018 details my ride from Ridgeway to Blue Mounds, with a side trip up into Governor Dodge State Park.

Tunnel Hill State Trail - Set towards the pointy southern end of Illinois, the Tunnel Hill Trail is a rail-Trail well worth visiting. I rode the portion from Vienna to Karnak in the spring of 2019, and discovered there was more to see than I had time to explore. Many pictures on this post, as well as pronunciation guides for southern Illinois town names (they aren’t said the way you think). I made it back to Tunnel Hill in the fall of 2019, and lost my race against the sunset, but still managed to come away with some pictures and video of the Tunnel Hill Trail... After Dark.

Withlacoochee Trail - In the winter of 2019 a family trip to see The Corporate Mouse gave me an opportunity to take a brief ride on this trail in central Florida.

The Hilly Hundred - Not exactly a trail, but rather a cycling event, taking place in central Indiana hill country. It’s two days, about 50 miles each day, and if there is a hill around Elletsville Indiana, the Central Indiana Bicycling Association has found it. For myself, I wanted to go to test the idea that Trikes are not good at climbing hills. I was there in the fall of 2021.

Sugar River State Trail - New Glarus to Albany Wildlife Area - The Sugar River State Trail is a 22~ish mile course in south-central Wisconsin that follows along a former rail grade running between the village of New Glarus and the town of Broadhead. I covered the northern half of it or so here.

Life with Recumbent Trikes

Catrike Pocket - I’ve been riding bikes off and on for most of my life, but in June of 2017 I got my first recumbent trike. I’ve enjoyed that so much that it’s started to become a major focus of my writing. There is too much of that to list on this page, but it all starts with these two posts:

Catrike Pocket - The inaugural post, written shortly after bringing it home, and before I’d even taken my first ride.
Catrike Pocket Maiden Voyage - The first ride, including details on how the experience was different from riding an upright or diamond frame (DF) bike.

Catrike Expedition- I liked the Pocket so much that I decided to try the full-size version. I ordered and took delivery of the Expedition in the summer of 2019 and, as of March 2020 I’m still riding it. The posts below detail it’s arrival and setup, and provide a comparison with the Pocket:

Catrike Expedition - The arrival of the Expedition in July of 2019, fresh off the truck and out of the box from Utah Trikes.
Catrike Expedition - Differences in Setup - Discussion and detail here about how I set up the Expedition differently from the Pocket, based upon lessons learned over my two years with the smaller machine.
Cat(trike) Fight - Expedition vs. Pocket - Not really a fight - I really like both machines. But this post contrasts the two trikes in terms of size, speed, feel, and transportation, among other things. If you are interested in a Catrike, and want to know what the differences are between these two models, this post may be just your thing.

Trike Storage - When you first get your recumbent trike you quickly realize that figuring out how and where to store it is not a simple question. This post from October 2017 details my solution to that problem.

Trike Rooftop Transport - I usually just carry my trike in my little car, but every now and again you want to carry the trike and people. This was my solution - for better or worse...

Trike Lighting - Any road rider knows that lighting is not just important for seeing at night, but enhances visibility. This post from October 2017 details some of my early solutions to that issue, and variations on the theme seen here are still what I use.

Foot Retention - The position of your feet on a recumbent trike has a lot of benefits, but one particular downside: Leg Suck (if you google this, make sure you specify recumbent trike leg suck - trust me on this...). Probably the most common solution to addressing this is using (the misleadingly named) "clipless" pedals combined with cycling shoes. However, cycling shoes have downsides, most notably walking in them if you are riding to a destination. But there are other options, and one of them is:

The Terratrike Comfort Pedal Conversion Kit, which I tried out in October of 2018, and continued to use throughout my tenure on the Pocket.
An Experiment Ends - When I got my Expedition in the summer of 2019 I also decided to try out clipless pedals and shoes. That experiment ended in October of 2019, and I added the TerraTrike Heel slings to the Expedition as well. This time, though, I also added an inexpensive set of toe clips. You can read and see the details here.

Power - Riding longer distances can be a challenge for the battery life in the devices you are using, particularly if they are an active part of your ride. Back in November of 2015 I designed a setup that worked nicely for me on my Cannondale road bike (which isn’t about recumbents, but may offer some ideas along those lines). Since I’ve mostly moved to my Catrike Pocket I’ve set up a different system for that machine. The second post also contain a little info about the Rokform mounting system I use with my phone.

Carrying Drinks on a Trike - There are a lot of advantages to trikes over traditional, diamond-frame bikes, but those DF bikes do have the advantage in location for mounting water bottles. There are multiple solutions to this, but my favorite so far is the Terracycle Adjustomatic Bottle Mount, which not only has one of the coolest product names ever, but also lets you mount two water - or other drink - holders on the boom of your trike. Post contains product details, photos during installation and when completed, as well as a link to the company website.

Mirrors - Being able to see behind you is a vital thing on any type of cycling machine, whether upright or recumbent. On an upright you can, arguably, just look back behind you. This is much harder to do on a recumbent trike, so mirrors are a must-have. It’s taken me some time to sort out the best options for me, and I’m not sure I’m done yet, but these posts in the Hindsight series document the journey so far:

Benefit of Hindsight - In which I discover on a road ride that the Mirrycle mirror that comes with the Catrike can succumb to fatigue, and realize (not for the first time) just how important it is to see behind you. I decided to go with two mirrors to enhance both the rear view, and ensure some redundancy in case of future failures.
Looking Back at Hindsight - Based upon suggestions from folks in the Recumbent Trikes Group on Facebook in response to the post above, I made a key modification to my Mirrycle mirrors that enhanced the quality of the view to the rear. Details and photos on how in the post.
Hindsight with Clarity - Renting a trike on my trip down the Withlacoochee Trail also helped me discover an excellent - if spendy- mirror by B&M that I decided I had to have.

Mounting Stuff - As with any type of human powered transport, it can sometimes be challenging to figure out where and how to put things that you want to bring along. On my trike I’ve started to turn to a NASA-style solution...

Garmin Varia RTL515 - Mounting and Using on a Recumbent Trike - In the summer of 2022 I added the Garmin Varia RTL515 (rear-radar + taillight) to my lighting array. It took a little homework to get it mounted to the trike, since the kit it came with was built for a seat-post mount. My solution is at the link.

Winter Cycling

I ride all year round, and there are many posts here on this topic. A few good places to start are:

Winter Biking - This was my first post on the topic from December 2013, early into my first season of trying it out.
Winter Cycling - Northern Illinois - Some discussion of what it’s like to ride in the cold months in the top half of the Land of Lincoln.
Cross Country Skiing or Winter Cycling - I first started riding in the winter as a cross country skier looking for something to do in-between Illinois’ incredibly unpredictable snowfalls. But in February 2018 I had a bit of a revelation...
Riding In Snow - Upright vs Trike - Part of the reason I wanted a trike originally was for winter riding. I decided to do an impromptu comparison between the two in December of 2017 (on Christmas Day, no less...)