All Rickshaws and Vangari’s in Bangladesh have only a single gear. It’s something like 61 gear inches and way to stiff when under load. We adapted a vangari with a retro-direct drive system which means that if you pedel backwards you get a different gear. The upshot of this over a normal geared system with derailleurs is that it uses much fewer parts and is potentially more rugged. This first attempt has got some issues to work out but it might have some potential. Here’s the Video.

I finally got some internet access. I’m in the Apple Store in Las Vegas satisfying my internet fix. The only connection I’ve had to the digital/outside world for the last two weeks has been via my phone and that coverage has been spotty and yesterday my battery died. This bike trip has been a lot of fun although it hasn’t been as much biking as I hoped. I met up with my brother Michael, Cooper and Jon and after driving around the San Francisco vicinity for a day seeing sights like the Redwoods (which are amazing) and checking out a Giants game we started biking east. I had biked about 150 miles in California when my right knee started acting up. I think I was compensating for the messed up ligaments in my left knee and that over-stressed my right. Oh well. So still having a week off from work, I rented a car in Stockton and have driven sag for the bike crew for the last 5 days. One of the highlights has definitely been Yosemite. I’m completely blown away by the Sequoias. In the Tuolumne grove they had a cross section of a tree with the rings labeled back to the time of Christ. After spending several days camping/driving around Yosemite I finally left the bicycle tourists to return my car in Las Vegas. Most of yesterday consisted of driving through the endless [insert description of Nevada of your choice here]. Getting to Route 95 was pretty scenic but once you hit 95 it’s flat, stretches on forever and doesn’t change. Las Vegas lives up to it’s stereotype and I’m not sure I really like it. I’m going to see Cirque de Soleil’s “O” at the Bellagio tonight and that is really exciting. This trip is winding up. Tomorrow I fly to Fort Lauderdale for Paul and Emilie’s wedding and then it’s back to work in Raleigh. 3 States, 6000 frequent flier miles, 700 miles by car and 150 miles on a bike. Not bad for two weeks.

Tomorrow, I will fly to San Francisco. My ACL which was potentially torn, was revealed on the MRI to be only sprained. The result of this is that although the MCL was indeed torn, I can bike. So I am going try and join Michael, Cooper and Jon as they bike across the US for two weeks or until my knee starts to give me problems, which ever comes first. I’ll try and post some pictures as we go along on flickr.
http://flickr.com/photos/ncharles/tags/biketrip/