A Christmas Poem To Remember

> > > > The embers glowed softly, and in
> their dim light,

> > > > > I gazed round the room and I
> cherished the sight.

> > > > > My wife was asleep, her head on my
> chest,

> > > > > My daughter beside me, angelic in
> rest.

> > > > > Outside the snow fell, a blanket
> of white,

> > > > > Transforming the yard to a winter
> delight.

> > > > > The sparkling lights in the tree I
> believe,

> > > > > Completed the magic that was
> Christmas Eve.

> My eyelids were heavy, my
> breathing was
> deep,

> > > > > Secure and surrounded by love
> I would sleep.

> > > > > In perfect contentment, or so
> it would seem,

> > > > > So I slumbered, perhaps I
> started to dream.

> > > > > The sound wasn't loud, and it
> wasn't too near,

> > > > > But I opened my eyes when it
> tickled my ear.

> > > > > Perhaps just a cough, I didn't
> quite know,

> Then the sure sound of
> footsteps outside in
> the snow.

> > > > My soul gave a tremble, I
> struggled to hear,

> > > > > And I crept to the door just
> to see who was
> near.

> > > > > Standing out in the cold and
> the dark of the
> night,

> > > > > A lone figure stood, his face
> weary and tight.

> > > > > A soldier, I puzzled, some
> twenty years old,

> > > > > Perhaps a Marine, huddled here
> in the cold.

> > > > > Alone in the dark, he looked
> up and smiled,

> > > > > Standing watch over me, my
> wife and my child.

> > > > > "What are you doing?" I asked
> without fear,

> > > > > "Come in this moment, it's
> freezing out here!

> > > > > Put down your pack, brush the
> snow from your
> sleeve,

> > > > > You should be at home on a
> cold Christmas
> Eve!"

> > > > > For barely a moment I saw his
> eyes shift,

> > > > > Away from the cold and the
> snow blown in
> drifts..

> > > > > To the window that danced with
> a warm fire's
> light

> > > > > Then he sighed and he said
> "It's really all
> right,

> > > > > I'm out here by choice. I'm
> here every night."

> > > > > "It's my duty to stand at the
> front of the
> line,

> > > > > That separates you from the
> darkest of times.

> > > > > No one had to ask or beg or
> implore me,

> > > > I'm proud to stand here like
> my fathers
> before me.

> My Gramps died at ' Pearl
> on a day in
> December,"

> > > > > Then he sighed, "That's a
> Christmas 'Gram
> always remembers."

> > > My dad stood his watch in
> the jungles of '
> Nam ',

> > > > > And now it is my turn and so,
> here I am.

> I've not seen my own son
> in more than a
> while,

> > > > > But my wife sends me pictures,
> he's sure got
> her smile.

> > Then he bent and he carefully
> pulled from his
> bag,

> > > > > The red, white, and blue... an
> American flag.

> I can live through the cold
> and the being
> alone,

> > > > > Away from my family, my house
> and my home.

> > I can stand at my post
> through the rain and
> the sleet,

> > > > > I can sleep in a foxhole with
> little to eat.

> > > > > I can carry the weight of
> killing another,

> > > > > Or lay down my life with my
> sister and
> brother..

> > > > Who stand at the front
> against any and all,

> > > > > To ensure for all time that
> this flag will not
> fall."

> "So go back inside," he
> said, "harbor no
> fright,

> > > > > Your family is waiting and
> I'll be all right."

> > > > "But isn't there something I
> can do,at the
> least,

> > > > > "Give you money," I asked, "or
> prepare you a
> feast?

> > > > > It seems all too little for
> all that you've
> done,

> > > > > For being away from your wife
> and your son."

> > > > > Then his eye welled a tear
> that held no
> regret,

> > > > > "Just tell us you love us, and
> never forget.

> > > > > To fight for our rights back
> at home while
> we're gone,

> > > > > To stand your own watch, no
> matter how long.

> > > > > For when we come home, either
> standing or
> dead,

> > > > > To know you remember we fought
> and we bled.

> > > > > Is payment enough, and with
> that we will
> trust,

> > > > > That we mattered to you as you
> mattered to
> us."

> Christmas will be coming
> soon and some credit is due to our U.S.service men
> and women for our
> being able to celebrate these festivities. Let's try
> in this small way
> to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people stop
> and think of our
> heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves
> for us.

> > > > > LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN
> > > > > 30th Naval Construction
> Regiment
> > > > > OIC, Logistics Cell One
> > > > > Al Taqqadum , Iraq.

> > > > > GOD BLESS
> AMERICA

Recumbent Group Consolidation

Three recumbent groups I built as far back as 2006 will be removed from Yahoo Groups. The Florida Recumbent Riders, Stradavarious, and USA Recumbents will be deleted on 12/7/09 One alternative Group, The Recumbent Riders of Central Florida has been established to take there place at the following location Recumbent Riders Of Central Florida we hope you will take the time to check out the New Group. The purpose of this consolidation of groups is to hopefully make things a little more productive for the membership. This Group will also run in conjunction with the Recumbent Riders Social Club or Forum which will also provide a live chatroom for the membership.

Flatwoods Trail Ride

The Flatwoods Trailhead entrance is Located about 0.5 miles northeast of I-75 on Morris Bridge Road. The Visitors Center located 0.5 mile after entering the park. The Visitor Center or my starting point for the ride has Restrooms, water, pay telephone, cold drinks picnic tables, heck they even have a bike wash for you guys that like to play with your bikes in the mud.


The Flatwoods Loop is approximately 7 miles and with the addition of the extension to the entrance at Bruce B. Downs it adds about four miles more. Our mileage for the days ride ended up being 24 miles.The Trail Map to the left shows the route.



Flatwoods trail is part of the Lower Hillsborough Wilderness Preserve or Wildlife Management area and there is plenty of game. If you look at the map, the little blue speck is a small lake and at that point during the ride I had a Eight Point Buck cross the road in front of my trike.
The photo to the right was just part of the Group that attended the Flatwoods ride and you can tell by the photo that it was a beautiful day and all in all a great ride I really don't know a better way to spend your time.

Night Riding

I was wondering if any one else does any Night Riding and about light packages they use and prefer.To the right are the Cat Eye EL500 and EL530. Both a single very bright 1 watt LED with a rated run time of about 30 hours. The lights are pretty bright and light up the roadway pretty well. The EL530 produces an amazing 1,500 candlepower while the 500 produces 1000 candle from the single LED.

To the left is a combination of two Cateye LD600s. With five bright LEDs and 4 flashing modes these lights very eye catching. The universal mount make these one of the easiest lights mounted to the Frame or most any where on your Bent or Bike. The LD1000 mounted to the rack is the latest and brightest tail light from Cat Eye. It is highly water resistant, has 4 different modes, and offers side visibility as well. With the 10 super bright LED lights and Cat Eye Opticube lens technology, the TL-LD1000 is designed to be bright enough to be used even during the day or so they say, so what the heck it only cost me batteries and I guess when you live in a retirement town like I do It can't hurt.

Withlacoochee Recumbent Rally

The Withlacoochee Recumbent Rally I was sorry to miss this one. November 13th thru the 15th. Bent riders from the South, Central,and North Florida Recumbent Riders along with riders from as far away as Texas, Tennessee and who knows from where else get together at the Central Motel in Inverness Florida for a weekend of Socializing and great riding on the Withlacoochee Trail. For those not familiar with the Trail the Withlacoochee covers 46 miles one way, all paved 12ft wide asphalt trail from Dade City to Dunnellon and back. (Trail Map). Check Out the Video. (Withlacoohee Video) Video by Bob Emmerich Our thanks to him for his efforts. The next time this rally happens be sure to make your arrangements to attend, I'm not going to miss another.

Manitou FS 94

Yea I know it's not a Recumbent but the thing is rather unique for a Mountain Bike. This particular model, the Manitou FS 94 was only made for one year and had some unique features. It was manufactured with front and rear suspension forks. These frames will always be remembered for using fork legs for the rear suspension. At the time, it was a fairly elegant solution. The Bike Components are as follows:
XTR Crankset, XT Derailleur, Deore LX Rapid fire Shifters 7spd, Deore LX Brakes
Control Tech Stem, Specialized Handle Bar. Added at purchase; Grips with Answer logo / Blue, Scott Bar ends, American classic Bottle cage / Blue, Quick Release / Blue.

Mt.Dora Bike Ride

Our bike ride starts at the Astatula Post Office. Now I can here the question already, where or what is Astatula, well it's a little town that is on the shores of Little Lake Harris in Lake County on hwy 561 just east of Leesburg. I tell people that it's like riding the Van Fleet Trail and you're looking for the curve, don't blink or you'll miss it. Our ride takes us down Hwy 561 to Lane Park Rd. and through what riders in the area refer to as the Little Pyrenees back to Hwy 19 into Tavares, a gorgeous little community on Lake Dora stopping at Wooten Park. From there we continue out Lake Shore drive, 7 miles of shore line to Mt. Dora. (watch out for the Gators) Now for those of you who like antiques you will absolutely love Mt.Dora. This town is antique, one store after another nothing but antiques with old fashion sidewalk cafes' and restaurants, it's a great place to go and spend the weekend. When we finish in Mt.Dora we exit out the South East corner past Gilbert Park and ride Hwy 48 back to 561 and the Astatula Post Office. The ride takes in about 10 miles of nothing but shore line around Lake Dora and another 19 miles of back country roads with very little traffic, a beautiful 29 miles.
Something you may want to consider if your thinking of riding in this area is that Mt. Dora will be Hosting there 35th Mt. Dora Bike Festival the second week in October and they generally end up with up to 1500 riders. If your looking for someplace to stay try the Lakeside Inn a little expensive but hey your right on the Lake.

Greenspeed GTT2s

The GreenSpeed GTT2s. We Purchased the GTT in 2006 From the Hostel Shoppe in Wisconsin. The boys at Hostel set the trike up with a nine speed rear end and a Triple crankset with a 42, 52, 64 tooth chainrings and a 50 tooth up front with Shimano Dura Ace Bar End Shifters front and rear so that it will get up and go. It also comes equip with a Schlumpf Mountain Drive giving it a total of 54 speeds so there isn't anything we can't climb ( or at least if there is we haven't found it yet ) it also comes equipped with Hope Hydraulic front brakes and the option of a rear drag brake which we didn't have installed. This monster is a great trike for married people, the wife and I have had a lot of good times on the GTT but there are a couple of draw backs however, the first is Greenspeed needs to figure out how to make it in aluminum at 64lbs its not exactly something you want to carry upstairs or try to get through the door of a motel room and second and I say this softly (Backseat drivers) nuff said.

Cruisin The Coochee

Phil, Paul, Bob and myself rode the Withlocoochee Trail ( FL ) from Ridge Manor Trailhead to Floral City and back, a total of about 35 miles. Phil, Paul and myself all rode Bacchetta Stradas and Bob on his Rans. Now talk about weird, I myself am riding 700c wheels, Paul I believe was on 650s and Phil (short legs ) is riding a Strada 24, his maiden voyage I believe. After about 18 miles we stopped at the midway point at Floral City Bagels ( neat little place ) for a cream cheese bagel with coffee, just off the east side of the trail, and if your looking for real food the Shamrock Inn located at 8343 E Orange Ave Floral City, FL right off the trail and is a great place to eat. All in all a real good ride with Great Guys on weird bikes with Good conversation.

Crusin The Coochee Video Video by Bob Emmerich Our thanks to him for his efforts.

Recumbent Riders Social Club

Hey Guys, I don't know if anyone has checked lately but the Recumbent Riders Social Club is doing quit well. We have 248 members and almost 5248 hundred post. We have also logged over 39801 visitors since we came online. Our Chatroom also seems to be catching on with members.

So if you haven't checked out our Forum Please take a look, you mite find something or someone there you like.

Burley Nomad

Well it's almost time to think about Grocery shopping again.With the Catrike and the Burley Nomad I can get enough Groceries for Two weeks for the wife and I. The Nomad will hold up to 100lbs and pulls and tracks without effort, the Nomad has a surprisingly low hitch arm weight, which gives it a very smooth, balanced ride. In fact, the hitch arm design makes it feel like you are pulling less weight than you actually have loaded in back, you don't even know it's back there. It only weighs 14 lbs.
Another thing I really like about the Nomad is that it folds up to a nice neat compact little package 32"x19"x9". (as the directions say) You can stow the Nomad in a couple of minutes by removing the wheels, hitch arm and folding in the sides; and no tools are required. With Quick Release hitch it's easily adaptable to any and all my trikes I can use the trailer with any of the three, a great advantage. Humm Never tried it on the Strada?

Schwalbe Kojaks

Well it seems like Schwalbe has stopped making there Stelvios in the 16 x 1 1/8 349, what a bummer.
So instead we put a set of Schwalbe Kojacks 16 x 1 1/4 349 on the Catrike Speed. They look pretty good and they are slicks and hold slightly less air pressure than the Stelvios at 115lbs.
They come highly recommended by the Local Recumbent Shop, they say they will wear better than the Stelvio. I guess I'll find out.

How Many Bikes is to Many??

People come to the house all the time and 90% of the time and like any normal guy I'm in the garage. When they enter they see Three Trikes, Two Recumbents, and one mountain bike. Now can you guess what question comes next. Yep that's right it's what do you do with all the bikes or you can't possibly ride all of these things at once and I feel like Bill Engval, all I want to say is (here's your sign.)
Funny thing though, I was at the Recumbent shop today buying tires for the Catrike and my eyes fell on the new Sun tadpole and it looked sweet and I'm thinking real hard about going back and buying it and that brings to my questions, How Many is too Many? How many does the Normal guy have? What do you think?

Trails vs Roads

When you ride your Recumbent where do you like to ride? Do you like to ride the trails and compete with the Walkers, Joggers, Roller Bladers or the kids on there 20 inche bicycles that are just learning to ride (Bless there Hearts) that are all over the trail. (Ugh)

Personally I like the trails but most are just to over populated and over used today. I like the Roads and for the most part 90% of my riding is there not that I like competing with cars mind you, but I have this thing or image that keeps popping into my head and I just can't quit figure it out, What do you Think?

Hotmover Trike

We purchased a Hotmover Trike in 1996, from Hamish Gail in New Zealand, Our first recumbent. We had the trike shipped to Bicycle Outfitters in Seminole Florida. The trike was equipped with 20 x 195 Maxis Hookworm Tires, Shimano Sora's derailleur's front and back Soras Rapid Style shifters and let's not forgets the Rim style brakes. Wow talk about a plain jane trike but it was a blast riding.
Did things and went places that you wouldn't believe. After almost thirteen years it's still in the garage, still with all the original components, works and rides great, it's what I refer to as the old reliable work horse.

Bacchetta Strada Conversion

700c Conversion / Strada

As I said in the previous post. It's a question that gets asked of me frequently, Why the conversions? I like being different. The conversion on the Strada is basically the same as the Rans with the exception of replacing the Kinesis front fork with a Kestrel EMS Carbon Pro. I replaced the Alex 559s with a matching set of Mavic Kysrium SSC Wheels and 700c x 18 tires and replaced the rear brakes with Pauls Motolite mountain bike brakes. After the conversion was done the bike weight difference was just a little better than three pounds lighter. Wow what a difference in ride, handling and the speed. The gains at top end and cruising speeds are 3 mph faster. Now the one pitfall or con to the conversion is you also gain 3 inches in seat height so if you have short legs you mite want to give a conversion a little thought. :)

Rans 700c Conversion

When I go on organized rides the biggest question I tend to receive is why the conversions on my bikes, guess I just like being different. :) The Rans below is a conversion, from the 451 front wheel to the 700c rear. Replacing the front V-brakes with a set of Ultegra road brakes and the rear with Pauls Motolite mountain bike V Brakes gives me more stopping power than needed. Finally for the ultimate in comfort look no further than the Bacchetta Handle bars and ReCurve seat. While the Rans recumbent seats fall away at the top, the Bacchetta ReCurve curves back towards you keeping you tucked in and comfortable and the extra seat padding doesn't hurt on those all day rides. Now the real bummer, I have to get permission to ride the bike :( it belongs to my wife. :)

Rans Formula V

For our Rans Owners out there you may want to look at The Rans Road Riders Community / Road Club our membership on this New Group is up over 92 at the Present time. Link is to the left under Recumbent Groups.

The Recumbent Riders Social Club

Thanks for stopping by. The Recumbent Riders Social Club is a Forum complete with a Chat Area, but be advised in order to access the chat area you must register with the forum before it appears at the bottom of the page.


We hope to become your home away from home on Recumbent Issues and Discussions.

All Group Ride Postings and Event listings for this group and others will be listed at the Forum Site.

Our goal for the Recumbent Riders Social Club is to provide a place where the Recumbent Enthusiast can discuss whatever they want about Recumbent Cycling Issues and hopefully have provided enough Categories and Forums to do it in.

We will be looking for people to be moderators in each of the forums. However if you like being popular, being a forum moderator is probably not the best way to do it.

You can however be a part of helping others and sharing your knowledge. If you think you have what it takes, please send me a PM. If you have any ideas or suggestions that you feel might make this Message Board and Forum better, please let me know or post them under forum suggestions. The goal here is to provide you the members the Categories and Forums you want to see and will use.
Remember Forums like The RRSC rely on Membership Participation to be successful.

Thank You for stopping by and we hope to see you at the Yahoo site and at the RRSC Forum often.