A few weeks I wrote about an aborted ride due to my left brake seizing up on my trike. By my reckoning this is my eight year riding in the winter, and my fourth season riding recumbent trikes in the snow, and I have never had this issue before.
While I’ve resolved the issue for the moment (using a hack to satisfice for the season), obviously it would be good to be able to put a cause to it.
I mean, it is true that Catrike are from Florida. I have a couple of friends who are from Florida, and they have been known to grouse about winters in Northern Illinois from time to time...
Ok - that’s not true - they have been known to grouse about winters in Northern Illinois all the time. But I digress. The point is that I suppose it’s possible that my Expedition is just doing the Florida transplant version of a sit-down strike in response to the cold.
But - you know - probably not.
When trying to sort out why a new problem is occurring, I’ve always found the best approach is to try and sort out what is different now from before.
In thinking that thru, there isn’t a lot that has changed. I am riding the same routes as I usually do. The Expedition is newer to me, but not new - this is it’s second season of winter cycling, and I did not have this issue last season. And it’s not recumbent trikes in general, or Catrikes specifically, because I rode my Catrike Pocket for two seasons prior to getting the Expedition, again without this (or any other) issue.
It could possibly be a maintenance issue, but I haven’t made any changes in my post-ride routine. This usually involves brushing snow off of the trike with a hand broom and then blasting all the nooks and crannies (and gear sets, etc) with an air compressor to remove everything that the broom couldn't get. I’m sure others have different approaches, but this has worked well for me for years without this or, again, any other issue.
When it came down to it, it seemed like there were really only a two or three differences to consider.
Increased Winter Riding
While I think of myself as an avid winter cyclist, as Einstein once said, everything is relative. Winter months are always periods of lower activity for me, both in terms of riding time and distance. This is an artifact of weather and opportunity both. I agree with the tenant that “there is no bad weather, only bad clothing”, in terms of temperature management, winter in northern Illinois offers far more days of poor visibility between snowfall, blowing and drifting snow, and fog when the snow starts to sublimate, than any other season out here. Since I ride primarily on the road, I try to avoid riding when I cannot be seen.
However, this season has offered more raw opportunity for riding than past years, and I’ve tried to take advantage of it. As a result, I’m definitely riding more - I have more rides and mileage for January 2021, for example, than for any prior January since I started winter riding (in fact, looking back to the winter of 2013-14, my first year of winter riding I rode only one time in January, and I was in Arizona, so I’m not sure that actually counts... but let’s just keep that between us). So - I’m up in mileage nearly 40% from January 2020, which was my prior highest mileage month.
More Snow and Ice
Most winters in my region look like this:
Snowy ditch, clear pavement
Which is to say that, while we do have snow and cold, those conditions - especially the snow - don’t predominate over the season. Most years over the past couple of decades at least have seen periods of snowfall and some ground coverage which lasts for a few days at most, and then melts off, and then may repeat that cycle again a few more times over the course of the season. This pattern is actually why I initially moved from cross country skiing to winter cycling - we just didn’t reliably have snow coverage to ski on.
This year, however, has been different. We have had snow on the ground continually since the first week of January - nearly a month and a half - and repeated snowfall has meant that the back roads out my way routinely look more like this:
Lots and lots of snow…
This means that the increased riding that I’ve been doing in the cold weather months is much more likely to be directly on some amount of snow and/or ice than in past years. So it occurs that this, also, could be a factor.
But Wait - There’s More
All of that information about the weather and riding times had been sort of sitting at the back of my head when I noticed something... else.
It’s not uncommon when riding in the white stuff to get snow on you. Even with the fenders in place, some powder gets around the sides and gets to you; Considerably less of it than without the fenders, to be sure, but it happens.
That’s why it took me as long as it did to notice the third variable. Or at least, that’s what I’m telling myself.
I had stopped at an intersection because I wanted to get a shot of a freight train stopped across the road crossing (yes - I am just that exciting). I had stepped back away from the trike a bit to get a better angle for the picture, and when I looked back at the trike I noticed something. So I took a pic of it:
What is different here?
Some people will doubtlessly see it immediately. Others may have to think on it a bit. I realized when I saw it that I’d seen it multiple times over the course of my rides, but hadn’t really registered it.
On your left…
The thing is, like The Eagles in the 1980’s, the left wheel is just covered in powder. Meanwhile the right wheel, which has traveled the same roads just over two feet away from the left, is virtually pristine. And - of course - it is the brake on the left wheel that locked up.
And this made me realize what the other, perhaps most relevant difference is from last year to this:
It’s the fender.
Not the fact that the Expedition has fenders - it had them last year too. But this year, late in the fall, the left fender snapped off while I was riding on the Hennepin Canal Trail.
Well shit.
When I’d gone to the interwebs to look into buying a replacement set I was taken aback by the cost of new fenders (it is, of course, not possible to buy just one), and so I struck out to repair the one I had.
I was pretty proud of that repair too - it came out much better than I expected. Still I noted at the time that it put the inside of the fender bracket just a little closer to the tire and wheel than the stock fender on the other side. I noted then that it was possible that could cause some issues with clogging up, but I was picturing issues with mud - snow hadn’t entered my mind.
But that appears to be exactly what is happening - the tighter tolerance of the left fender is causing snow to gather in it, and to release it in a spray across the inside of the wheel - not coincidentally where the brake and brake cable are.
This also explains why I am having the problem on only one side of the trike. The brake on the right side has had no issues. And that last factor would suggest that the fender is the primary variable - not the increased distance, not the increased snow - because its the only variable that affects only one side of the trike.
So - I think I have my answer, but where does that leave things in terms of next steps?
We’ve realistically only got a few weeks left in the season - yes, the high today is literally 0°F in these parts, but we’re halfway thru February at this point. Temps are projected to go up next week, and then up further still the week after. March itself is often somewhat variable, particularly early in the month, but is generally warmer still. So I’ll likely ride it out (literally) for the rest of this season, but I’ll need to do something before next winter - either modifying my existing fender repair, or buy a new set.
But at least I have my answer.