Today's ride was exceptionally slow and uncomfortable (even painful). Foolishly, I had begun with the optimism that perhaps I could push myself to do two round trips to the park.
However, the problem I've been experiencing in recent weeks (since being able to ride consistently in shorts) cropped up once again. My left thigh is scraping against the inner end of the handlebars with every upstroke, and this has opened up a wound.
For a while over the weekend, I was optimistic the problem could be easily solved, as I learned that the manufacturer of my cycle (TerraTrike) offers a set of Wid Handlebars that provide an extra 2.5 inches on each side of the cockpit. But, before ordering them, I sent a message to the company to be sure they'd be compatible with my model of trike. To my surprise and dismay, they said they are likely not compatible, due to changes in the structure of the trike over time. But they asked me to send a picture of the steering mechanism so they could confirm, and I have done that and now await a response. If, as I expect, I am out of luck with the Wide Handlebars, I'll simply take the trike back to the dealer in Dearborn along with an explanatory note, and see what adjustments they may be able to make.
At any rate, I set off at 11:15, in 82° sunshine, and rode a single round trip to Marsh Park in the glacial time of 1:27. The slowness comes about because most of the time now when riding, I have to ride with my leg leg angled in unnaturally so as to try and avoid as much contact with the handlebar as possible. It simply is not possible to attempt to push for speed. The trike is slow to begin with ... but I can usually do considerably better than today's average speed of 6.8 miles per hour.
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