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Here's The Deal (High Cost Of Energy)

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Allan in NE

Well-known Member
Today, I moved a loader tractor, a swather and a pickup a total of 10 miles to another farm.

Since I'm by myself, all alone out there on the prairie, I used an old 10-speed bike as a carry-me-back (first time in 50 years).

At this point in time, I really don't give a fig what a gallon of fuel costs, I'm not ever doing that stunt again.

(Doubt if I'll be able to walk tomorrow). :>)

Allan
 
You mean you don't have 4-wheeler. Seems everyfarmer has one around here. I don't---don't have use for one but I would think they would be handy for running back and forth. My brother uses his for checking cattle ln pastures mostly.
 
Sometimes it seems that the logistics of what is where when is the toughest part of this work. Usually I can get my wife to give me a ride, but when I don't plan right it seems that when I start out to walk I can't get a tenth of a mile without someone I know stopping to ask if I want a ride.What really hurts though, is when you walk a half mile to get a tractor and mower and you get there, and then remember that you left it at a different farm.
 
towns about 4 miles from here. Granted its like an 18 speed or something, its still no fun with idiot drivers or the combine i once had an encounter with last year.

When i found out about the B, it was something like 10 miles on a 15 degree day. And Back.

And, i have no intrest in restoring a truck, but i think thats what comes after 3 tractors.
 
My dad and I got the pickup stuck in a field once. He made me run (not walk) home to get the truck to pull it out. I felt pretty put-upon, but it turned out that at that time I could run three miles nonstop. Today I'd be dead in a half mile...

You need one of them little electric scooters, leastwise if you have paved roads.
 
Did he wear the cute spandex biking shorts things ?

that may be his whole problem , he was not dressed proberly for bike riding.
 
(quoted from post at 17:21:25 07/25/08) Today, I moved a loader tractor, a swather and a pickup a total of 10 miles to another farm.

Since I'm by myself, all alone out there on the prairie, I used an old 10-speed bike as a carry-me-back (first time in 50 years).

At this point in time, I really don't give a fig what a gallon of fuel costs, I'm not ever doing that stunt again.

(Doubt if I'll be able to walk tomorrow). :>)

Allan
Click to expand...


I'm sure the bike will be better once you get the cab and loader installed.
 
If you load bike in pickup and take to field and leave bike. Drive pickup go get tractor. Drive tractor half way. Walk back and get swather. Drive swather to field. Walk back and get tractor take tractor to field. Then you only have to ride bike one way once and only have to walk halfway twice.
 
For someone that bikes aggressively that seat works perfectly. A good rider has very little of his body weight actually on the saddle. In contrast the weight is supported by his legs applying force thru the pedals. Unfortunately you need to be generating a force which would result in a no-wind, level ground speed of around 18-20 mph which a casual biker can't maintain. The big "balloon" seats which you find so comfortable would soon render a serious biker grounded from inner thigh chaffing, and it would be a very uncomfortable, unstable platform for aggressive riding with all that squishy foam.
 
I hear ya, Useta jog about 2 mi, then walked about a mile, now its a struggle to run water. So I got an old 4 wheeler, put a tow bar on it and can pull it behind any piece of equipment on the farm. But it's still nice to get away from the machine noise, radios , telephone and walk to, or from the field on a nice quiet morning or evening.
 
Well you could make a towbar out of the bicycle and pull the pickup with the tractor,or you could put a motor on the bicycle.I look forward to the pictures of motorizing the bicycle.Maybe even putting a cab on it with a heater and air conditioner.One of those cabs off of a Gleaner might work.Could use the tricycle front end from the M,Solar panels,batteries,so it wont burn any gas.Might have to make it a trike to carry all the batteries.Startin to sound like a winter project maybe.One of those little diesel motors off a big truck that runs the heater and air conditioner might work for a backup on a cloudy day or at night.
 
yea you could do that, by the time you got it all cozy and working right.YES you did it, build a 1/2 ton truck. back to square one.
 
Well ya could have done it this way , drive tractor a mile up the road then walk back and drive tractor two miles up the road and walk back to the truck and repete. Don' laugh years back while working in the oil patch while building a drilling location way back in the boonies i worked till i was just about out of fuel and when one of the oil co. guys happened to drive on back in his 4x4 to see if they could move the rig in in the morning i hitched a ride back with him to the semi setting out by the road then drove it back to the shop and got my pick up and went home for five hours . Went back the next morning with my pickup and 110 gallon of fuel onboard and drove back to the dozer fueled it up and like a dumb arrs i pulled my pickup out of the way and went to work spent the next 16 hours draggen the rig and support units in as i was unhooken from the last piece and looked around i was the only one left on location with a pickup and a dozer to get out and that was the only way i could come up with .
 
How could you get use to a rail up your butt. I don't have to get use to that. When I go to the local dumsters where people go to throw away their junk I am always on the lookout for those old excercise machines where ride a stationary bike. Those things have nice big fat seats. I drag them out of the dumpsters to get the seats off them an put them on my bikes.
 
You know Allan? Every major road's under construction from me all the way into Illinois which means I've gotta take the back roads to the back roads home to the south from Illinois and I'm up just south of the Michigan border. So last night I came home RT 30 and then up through Nappanee, IN. which is well south. Anyways, been years since I was down there, was getting dark and them Amish were out everywhere on them bicycles as they usually are. A couple of things came to mind. One, them Amish are way ahead of me on the cost of diesel or gasoline. Two, rainy and cold days with no radio or windshield wipers. And three, I don't believe I'd care much for doing that every day. And then it happened. You wouldn't believe it. I hit a detour, construction on the back roads to the back roads where SR 19 meets SR 6. Now, I'm going to have to find a back road to the back road to the back road. My drive's already climbed from 2.5 hours one way to over 3.5. Now what's it going to be? Well, certainly faster than riding a bicycle on a cold rainy day with no radio or windshield wipers, up hill both ways. Not bad considering what it could be, I guess. Did notice them Amish got themselves some pretty good crops way down south west of me. Better than usual considering what they're using generally.

Mark
 
I use a 4-wheeler (ATV) with a home-made, fold-down hitch just like you sometimes see on the front of old pickups. Plenty of bodys here, but I find it faster (rather than waiting for a ride) and also I have "wheels" if I break down. Also the other guys can stay on task rather than piddling around waiting for a call to help me move. I have a hitch on my planter (ride back to last farm for the seed trailer), on my sprayer (ride back and get the water truck), etc, etc.

Use it ALL THE TIME. IN Iowa, ATV's are legal to ride on 2-lane roads for ag use. Best "tool" on the farm.
 
Back in the 1970s a friend called me in the wee hours of the morning asking me if I could tow his broken down pickup into town.

I said yes and went to pick him up at the pay phone in town. When I arrived I learned that he had purchased a new bicycle for his granddaughter, one of the small ones, had it with him and had chosen to ride it the 5 miles into town. He was so sore he could hardly walk.

Turns out he had helped a lady leave her husband and had used his pickup to move what she took with her. He didn't want the vehicle seen the next morning on the road to their place, hence he wanted the tow.

Riding a bicycle can be fun but not when you are not used to it and only of the correct size.
 
My neighbor made the mistake(?) of buying/renting land all over the county to keep his holsteins fed (a never ending task). They carry along, usually on the loader or swather head or wherever, any kind of motorized contraption to get them home if need be ranging from a motor scooter, dirt bike, ATV, or even a snowmobile.
 
I would be lost without my 4 wheeler. 160 acres mey not be big but it beats saddling up or walking and the truck just can't get some places even in 4 wheel drive.
 
Great minds must think alike. I was pulling out of the field with the sprayer and saw some guy on a bike. On closer inspection it was Dad. Don't know if I've ever caught him on a bicycle before.
 
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