Friday Follies ~~ Long hours & cold beer

It’s a chilly morning here in Fayette.  This is our climate’s way of reminding us, Summer is not here.  It’s only the middle of Spring.

Yes, Spring!  It’s time to get the ladders out, grab the tools, and get some of those household projects done.  This is a time when balance is hard.  The weather invites us to go out and ride.  The painting won’t wait.  The employer expects us to show up.  Food and sleep take up too much time.  It’s pretty out.  I want to go for a ride!

On that note, and to add to the confusion, we are now just a few hours away from the beginning of Bike Month.

I’ve read a good bit on this lately.  Various bloggers and commentators have opined in several directions.  Some of the pro-cycling camp are actually taking an anti-Bike Month stance.  (By “pro-cycling” we mean folks who are advocates and boosters of cycling, as opposed to those who get paid to ride.)  The reasoning is something like this.  Bicycling can be done all year ‘round.  The very idea of creating a special “month” for it promotes the idea that cycling is something exceptional.  Cycling should be an ordinary activity.  We should encourage everyone to ride in all the months.

Okay, I kind of see the point.  But I believe there is a lot that is exceptional about cycling.  It’s wonderful to ride.  More, when considered against the background of our general population, riding is the exception, not the norm.  If you desire an informal proof of this, go and observe your local McDonalds this evening.  You will see a lot of obese people driving to the place.  I doubt you will see even one cyclist, of any stripe, riding there.

Me?  I’m going to celebrate Bike Month.  Not with any great fanfare, but by riding.  I will increase my commuting activity, and my utility cycling in the coming month.  Something about the whole idea of a “Bike Month” sort of encourages me to do so.

I’m gonna do one other thing with my bike, and do it today.  At the end of my work day, I’m going to celebrate the end of the traditional work week.  I’m going to ride to one of my favorite locations and lift a cold beer.  I’ll drink the delicious Belgian brew, toast the end of the week, and then ride slowly and carefully back.  After all, I have to be ready for work tomorrow.

Have a good safe weekend all.

Thursday Thoughts: Morning

It’s the morning after some violent weather.  We fared well here.  Not much more than some interrupted sleep.  Many are dealing with much worse.  We have little more than some debris to clean up, and then on with life, mowing the lawn, painting the house, routines and chores.

We’re a little groggy from the lack of sleep last night, and there is much to be done with this day.

I’m afraid that, what with the storm, and the service backlog at the shop, I haven’t had much time to think lately.

And that’s something to think about.

Please ride safely.

Potpourri

Novice MTB Ride:  Last night was a blast!  Four of us went out.  (Count them.  Four.)  The trail conditions were outstanding.  The temp was delightful.  The threatened rain just did not materialize.  So, with no beginning riders to instruct, we just had ourselves a party on the trail.

This kind of serves to emphasize a point.  When in doubt…  GO!  More often than not, I see fear of rain stop folks from riding.  Usually the weather isn’t bad.  It’s just the threat that keeps people from showing up.  If it’s doubtful, go.  About one time in twenty, you might prepare and arrive only to find conditions unsuitable.  The other 19 times are great rides.

Audax Tune Up:

This Sunday.  That’s 1 May 2011.  Departs from Bicycles Unlimited, at 11:00 A.M. 

As of this writing, the weather outlook is quite favorable.  Should be mostly sunny, with temps ranging from the mid 60s at start, to somewhere in the mid 80s by the finish.  Do watch the weather, and plan to dress accordingly.  (I’d recommend applying sunscreen, and carrying a rain jacket.)  We will go rain or shine. 

The group will stay together.  We will have fun!

Do bring your climbing mindset.  This is a hilly route, with a couple of good long grades along the way.

Bring some cash for munchies.  We’ll stop at least two times, with a third optional stop if necessary.  You will want to either bring some food along, or plan to purchase.  Stops will be at (approximately) at 15 miles, and 40 miles, with the optional stop at 55 miles.

We won’t go at a blistering pace, but we will move right along.  For most folks this is a mostly conversational ride.

Mid-Spring Night Ride!

It’s time to ride in the night again!  The first of this year’s Seasonal Night Rides is coming up fast!

Monday, 9 May.  Departure point is the Frederick Brown Amphitheater, in Peachtree City, Georgia, USA, Earth, Solar System, Milky Way, Local Group, The Universe.

It will still be daylight when we leave.  Please don’t let that fool you.  It will get dark while we are out.  Lights are most definitely required.  That’s a good strong headlight, and a strong tail light.  Also required is a full compliment of reflective gear.  That means a vest or sash, and ankle bands.  The general idea is that there is no such thing as being too visible.  Helmets, of course, are to be worn while on the bike.

We usually don’t plan to stop on these things.   Be prepared.  We may take a break to put a foot down and adjust clothing, but no planned stops.  We’ll cover something like 40 miles, and do it in close to three hours.

The group usually stays pretty close together.  That’s advisable.  There will be no published cue sheet, but a good route is promised.

Expect to use good traffic discipline.  We will be seeing some vehicular traffic at the beginning, but past experience is that this just about vanishes by 9:00 P.M.  We’ll do our best to keep things on mostly rural roads.

Please bring appropriate clothing.  It will be warm at the start, but can cool quickly after sunset.  We’ll not be charging through the night, but the pace will be designed to get us to the end of the ride (approx 40 to 45 miles) in three to three and a half hours.  Bring enough water to last you through the trip.  Stores are infrequent and tend to close early.

I think that covers it.  Let me know if you need more info.

Mountain Biking 101: Hydration

There isn’t a lot to say on this topic, but it bears close attention.

CamelBak ™ used to have a slogan.  “Hydrate or Die!”  That pretty much sums it up.  Exercise causes loss of fluids.  Exercise in warmer conditions accelerates this.  We need to consume at least a liter (approx one quart) of water every hour.  In warm weather this can easily double.

Failure to stay properly hydrated can lead to a host of injuries, and possible heat prostration.  It’s serious.  Pat attention. 

Get in the habit of drinking while riding.  Drink before you are thirsty.  If you wait for “dry mouth” to set in, you are already dehydrated.  It’s best to arrive at the trailhead already well hydrated.  Then drink continuously as you ride.

If you aren’t needing to make a “bladder relief stop” every couple of hours, you probably are not sufficiently hydrated.

A delicate subject:  Okay, we’re all adults, right?  Here’s the thing.  Bears do relieve themselves in the woods.  So does just about everything that lives there.  Why bring that up?  Because violent nausea and other evils are best avoided.  This just may be the best possible argument for backpack hydration systems.

You see, water bottles, mounted down on your frame, are subject to getting crud splashed or thrown onto them.  It may look like good clean dirt, as it resides around the spout of your bottle, but…  We’ll it could contain any number of nasty organisms.  If you are using bottle, use one of the types that has a protected spout.  But remember, the line and mouthpiece from a backpack system is not down in the spray from your wheels.

 Remember!  Tonight is a Novice Mountain Bike Ride, at the Baseball Soccer Complex.  Start at 6:30 P.M.  Check the South Side Cycling Club's calendar.  If we have to cancel, we'll post it there by 5:00 P.M.

Today’s Term(s):

Drop-off n.  A sudden sharp drop in the trail, usually one to two feet in height.

Step-up n.  A drop-off in the opposite direction.

Stutter-bumps n.  A series of fairly tall bumps or jolts in the trail.  These are closely spaced, and derive their name from what happens to speech while negotiating them.

Washboard n.  Smaller than stutter-bumps, and closer together.  Rough trail surface.

This series, running every Tuesday, is intended to help those who are new to mountain bike riding.  By no means is it an exhaustive treatment, but it is our fond hope that it will help you, the beginner, to begin to enjoy riding your bike off road.

Future Topics:

More on carrying “stuff”

Trail Care & Maintenance

Bike Types

Your next mountain bike  or  Mountain Biking 201

Long, Dark, or Both

65 Mile Audax Tune Up:

Yes, it is this coming Sunday!  We’ll go, rain or shine.  This is your last chance to get in a self-evaluation ride, with the group, before the actual 200K Audax Ride.

By design, this is a hilly route.  We’ll stop at least twice, with an option for a third stop if necessary.  The group will stay together, at a good pace for the route.  We’re looking for something like a 13 mph overall average.  To accomplish that, we need only ride steadily, and keep good discipline at the stops.  The idea is to keep moving.  Stop time has a big effect on the overall.

This is meant to be a long, enjoyable, sociable type ride.  Of course we do focus on getting it done.  As of this writing, the weather forecast looks pretty good, but be advised, there is no rain date, and we go rain or shine.

Seasonal Night Rides:

It’s just one week until the Mid-Spring Night Ride.  This will be the first of these for the year.  Remember, good lights, strong tail lights, reflective vest or sash, reflective ankle bands, helmet, and dress for the weather.  We’re leaving at 7:30 P.M.  We’ll be out for three hours, or a bit more.  Departure point is “The Fred.”

Friends, it’s going to be a busy week.  Stay sane and safe out there.

Friday Follies ~~ Car-less

I’ve mentioned this before, here and there.  Back when I was younger, I got rid of my car, in order to finance a new and wonderful racing bike.  My reasoning was simple.  I’d read several articles about cycling as a means of accomplishing practical stuff.  I already had a bicycle.  I was using it as a racing and training tool.  I could convert that bike to handle my transportation needs, sell the car, and buy that “bike of all dreams” racing rig.

I was a young optimist.

I sold the car, bought the racer, and started living in a motorized society, without owning a motor vehicle.

Believe me when I say this.  It is much easier to do this now!  In those days, before the internet, cell phones, and lycra…  Well, we’re often told it was a simpler time.  That isn’t as true as might seem.

I started my grand adventure in Summer.  That had two significant benefits.  There is a lot more daylight in the day, and it doesn’t get cold.

Everyone I worked with thought I was stark staring out of my mind.  I was working in a factory.  A very rough and dirty factory it was.  I lived and worked in a mostly rural area.  There were a lot more pickup trucks than cars in the factory parking lot.  There was no bike rack.  I chained the bike to the railing at the plant entrance.  I carried my work clothing in a backpack.  I kept my heavy work boots in a locker at the plant.

Fairly early on, I added a cargo rack to the back of the bike.  Then came some panniers.  That made hauling stuff a lot easier.

Sometimes it rained.  I didn’t mind.  It was warm, and the rain was refreshing.  I always had a dry change of clothing inside the panniers.  I learned to carry a small towel with me.

Summer does not last.  In the Appalachians, as Summer grows old, early evenings begin to get cool, and the days start off even cooler.  I began riding in more clothing.  The days were shorter too.  I got caught out in the dark from time to time.

I quickly learned that riding a bike on a rural road, without lights, at night, was tricky and downright dangerous.  I looked for solutions.  The first one was a rig that attached a flashlight to the handlebar.  It didn’t work well, but it was better than nothing.

I next tried a generator and light.  The first one I tried was pathetic.  It was a “bottle type,” where the generator was driven by friction against the bike’s tire.  It added weight, increased drag, and didn’t give me much light.  The bulbs burnt out with great regularity.  It wore out tires.  It was only slightly better than the flashlight.  (During this phase, I was using both the flashlight and the generator light.)

My lights were pathetic.  A kindly bike shop proprietor and an older touring rider pointed me in a better direction.  I ordered another generator, and a lightset.  These cost a bit more, and came from Germany.  They worked much  better.  I could see well enough to actually ride at a modest speed.

Then came the cold.  I started out by simply wearing more clothing.  Long pants (jeans) were not terribly comfortable, but they kept my legs a bit warmer.  Add a hooded sweatshirt.  In the next month I would learn about the amazing difference between wool and cotton.  If good, effective, cold weather, cycling clothing existed I was not aware of it.  By December, I was beginning to think I’d possibly made a huge mistake.  The racing was long behind me.  I rarely had the occasion to take the wonderful racing bike out, and I was almost constantly cold, or wet, or cold and wet.

January was bitter and dark.  It was a constant fight for survival.  February was a bit less cold, but made up for it with almost constant rain, sleet, or snow.  March lasted forever, not cold, not warm, cloudy and wet.  When Spring finally arrived, I greeted it with joy that has lasted to this day.

Late in that year, I acquired another car.  It wasn’t very reliable, and so the bike was still my transportation mainstay.  I miss that year.  I learned a lot, and grew a lot.  I miss it.  But I don’t miss it much.

Thursday Thoughts: Glory

Extrinsic rewards:  Shiny crap that other people hand you for doing stuff, jerseys, medals, event cotton shirts, money, plaques, bike parts.

Intrinsic rewards:  The beautiful things that happen inside you when you “done good.”

Our culture tends to be fixated on the big and the immediate.  We see events, and not the process that leads to them.  The bigger the event the better.  We see the Olympian run a record race, and take a place on the podium.  What we don’t see are the hours of practice and training.  We do not see the relationships that are affected by the dedication.  We don’t see the rigid discipline that is required.  We see only the symbol of that commitment.  We see the extrinsic event.

There are many among us who train for competition.  Some are motivated solely by that whole event/reward thing.  They want the big trophy that says,  “On this day, in this race, I was the fastest/best/strongest!”

Sometimes the competition is a bit less formal.  It’s the town line sprint in the weekly “fake race” ride.  The aspirant works like a demon, first to hang on to the group, then to be near the front, and finally to be in position to make the run for it.  If all goes well, just maybe, that rider will manage, through timing, skill, training, and luck, to be the one to win the end of the ride sprint.

For some, that is enough.  Winning the town line sprint is equivalent to winning the ride.  Let’s set aside for the moment the fact that the ride is not an organized race, nor is it a race in any acceptable fashion.  There are still those to whom the idea of “winning” it is important.  Nobody hands out trophies for this kind of thing.  There are no yellow jerseys for winning a “stage” in the weekly club ride.  But bragging rights are a powerful incentive for some.  The event will be rehashed in countless “bench racing” sessions during the dark months of Winters yet to come.

Note:  There is little difference between a “bench race,” a “sea story,” and a “Fairy Tale.”  Fairy Tales start with, “Once upon a time.”  Sea Stories start with,  “Honest man, this really happened!”  Bench Races start with,  “It was one of the group rides last year, and (Big Name) was there.  He’s this really fast guy?”  After the beginning, all three of these forms of fiction tend to be very similar.  One common element is a complete lack of verifiability.

There is another type of event, resulting from the process of riding and training on a bike.  It’s usually (but not always) small in overall stature.  A given rider is standing to the side in the group, or comes into the bike shop.  He or she says something quiet…

“I got caught out in that wicked storm yesterday, and I worked my home.  It was tough, but I did it.  I didn’t call for help.”

“I just rode up the (such and such) hill, all the way, without stopping.”

“I had the best ride, I think I’ve ever had this morning.  Everything felt right and good.  I was all alone, but it was great.”

“I finally managed to do a trackstand for a few seconds.”

“I rode to work in rush hour traffic, and for once it was like magic.  I had it all under control.”

“I took (small name) out on a nice ride.  He/She’s new to it, and I showed them the way around that really nice loop.”

“I taught my son/daughter to ride.”

I went to the grocery store on my bike.”

Can you see it?  There’s a little bit of it shining around each of these folks.  You can see it around them, and a glint of it in their eyes.  It’s glory.  It’s all internal.  It’s about the best there is.

Bike month is coming. Here we go again!

Next month is National Bike Month.  Inside bike month is Bike Week (May 16-20), and Bike to Work Day (Friday 20 May).  It is also the month of the Ride of Silence, (Wednesday 18 May.)  It’s always the 3^rd Wednesday in May.  It’s appropriate to use May as the center for all of this.  By mid-May, the weather across the entire continental United States is usually mild enough to permit almost anyone to ride a bike with little extra preparation.  (For more info on Bike month, Bike Week, and Bike to Work Day follow the link to League of American Bicyclists.  For additional info on the Ride of Silence please follow this link.)

Long time readers will be well aware that I am a strong proponent of vehicular cycling and utility cycling. 

Definitions follow.  If you’ve read me for a while, you might want to skip down to the next paragraph.  Vehicular Cycling means simply, riding a bicycle on the road, as the operator of a vehicle.  In other words, a cyclist behaves according to the rules of the road, and asserts a presence on the road, just as any other vehicle operator.  The term utility cycling takes a little more explanation.  People tend to get hung up on bicycle commuting.  While commuting, riding to and from the workplace by bike, is certainly good, it is only one form of utility cycling.  In the broader sense, utility cycling refers to using the bicycle for any utilitarian purpose.  In other words, it is using the bicycle instead of a car for any purpose that one might ordinarily use the car for.  Grocery shopping, pharmacy, odd errands, all come to mind.

As a preparation for the upcoming celebration of Bike Month, I’d like to shift the emphasis from commuting to utility.  Let’s start with one odd statistic.  In the U.S. the typical vehicular trip is five miles, with a single occupant, and five pounds of cargo.

Now, please reflect on that statistic for a moment.  While you’re at it, think back over the last week.  Where and how did you drive?  Of course, most folks went back and forth to work about five times in the week.  But what else did you do with a car?  A trip to the Post Office?  A run to the video rental store?  Possibly a quick trip to the grocery and pharmacy?  For most drivers, about half of the weekly mileage is composed of these short trips.

Now let’s pose a question.  What would happen if you used your bike for just one of those trips per day?

First off, the obvious:  You would keep the car parked and do 35 miles less in it.  With today’s gas prices, that amounts to a typical savings of more than $5.00.

It would take you about a half hour for each of those trips.  That’s at a comfortable leisurely pace.

You would have added three and a half hours of good, gentle, cardiovascular exercise to your week.

You would have no trouble parking.

You would enjoy some exercise, get some fresh air, and likely see something interesting.

By the time you include parking, gas, un-parking, return trip home, storing the car, etc., the time used is just about the same, and possibly even shorter.  And it’s a lot more fun than sitting in a car and just vegging out in traffic.

Contest?  I’m thinking of proposing a bit of a contest.  Let’s think along these lines.  Number of Utility miles in May.  Or possibly, we could consider the Number of Utility trips in May.  Or some combination of both?  Please don’t be bashful.  Weigh in on this.  I’d like to hear from my readers and friends on the idea.

Mountain Biking 101: “Cleaning” the mud

Seems like, no matter how dry the conditions are, one always encounters a muddy spot or two, on any trail.  This leads to a couple of problems.  The first, and more obvious, is that riding through the goop has a nasty habit of stopping forward progress.  Putting a foot down in the much is unpleasant.  Falling over in it is a real mess.  The second issue is that of “trail widening.”

A conscientious rider does not want to widen the trail.  Riding around the mud, or other obstacles, beats down the forest floor, and causes further erosion.  Trails should be ridden is such a way so to decrease the impact on the landscape.  We’ve all seen this.  The trail is nice and narrow, good singletrack, until the mudhole.  At the mud, the trail begins to get wider.  More and more riders seek to “sneak by” around the edges of the mud.  The mud hole gradually gets wider.  Eventually, the trail is very wide, and filled with mud.  And the rider still has to negotiate the soft and messy stuff.

In a future post, we’ll discuss methods of trail maintenance that can help to eliminate and contain this problem.  For now, let’s consider what the rider may do to cope.

Reading the trail:  Assume you haven’t been on this particular trail before.  You see a mud obstacle ahead.  Slow down and look closely.  Can you see tracks that emerge from the other side?  Local and frequent riders will know if there is a bottomless sink, or a “wheel eater” in the middle of the hole, and they will pick lines that avoid such problems.  If you can see tracks that both enter and leave the mud, then it’s rideable, and you can accomplish it too.  You may wish to walk it the first time.  Or you may want to back up on the trail to get a stronger start at it.

The Technique: 

• Maintain good speed.  This is definitely a case where “momentum is my friend.”
• Downshift
• Shift your weight back on the bike, keeping the front wheel light.
• As you enter the mud, pull up on the bars and increase power to the pedals.
• Try not to move around on the bike a lot.
• Be ready for another downshift in the middle.
• Think “light”
• Use weight to steer.  Avoid turning, or “sawing” the front wheel.  Front wheel pivot motion will slow you radically.  Least is best.

Additional considerations: 

Avoid riding in the rain, or shortly after it.  If it is a particularly wet trail, you may want to decrease tire pressure slightly.  Softer tires give more traction and tend to “float” through the mud a bit more readily.  However, if it is really wet and muddy (recent rains) you probably should not be riding that trail.  Repeated, heavy trail use on wet trails is damaging.

Taking a curve in the mud.  Move to the outside of the trail before entering the muddy curve.  Take the line that “clips” the inside of the curve.  This involves the least amount of turning.  Use your weight to steer the bike.

One last caution:  If you are riding with others, slow down and wait until the rider ahead of you clears the mud.  If you follow too closely, and the leading rider stalls, then you all get stuck.

Remember to clean your bike promptly after a “mud bath.”

Today’s Term(s):

Snake  A reptile.  Do not kill them.  Just avoid them.  Remember this is their home.  You are a visitor.

Poison Ivy  learn to recognize this!

Half-track n. a trail so narrow and/or overgrown that you'd hesitate even to call it singletrack.

Stoppie n.  A “nose wheelie.”  The act of balancing the bike on the front wheel only, with the rear wheel in the air.  Usually accomplished by accident, or encountered in the middle of a tall tale.

This series, running every Tuesday, is intended to help those who are new to mountain bike riding.  By no means is it an exhaustive treatment, but it is our fond hope that it will help you, the beginner, to begin to enjoy riding your bike off road.

Future Topics:

Hydration

More on carrying “stuff”

Trail Care & Maintenance

Bike Types

Your next mountain bike  or  Mountain Biking 201

Monday Rush

A very abbreviated post today.  It's going to be a seriously busy week.  Most of this blog's usual features will post on time.  Do have a good week.  Do be safe out there.  We need each and every one of us.

Friday Follies ~~ How was it?

I pulled the bike up to the porch, just ahead of the impending downpour.  I was out of breath, muscles trembling from the all-out effort of the last five miles.  I executed a near flawless flying dismount, shouldered the bike, and vaulted up the steps, just seconds ahead of the deluge.

Harry was standing there, a cigarette dangling from his mouth.  “How was it?”  He asked.

How was it?  I’ll tell you how it was!

I’d started riding fairly late in the day.  It was hot, and I was sweat blinded as I stopped at the very first traffic light.  The bike wasn’t shifting right.  It kept jumping right past second gear.  I’d try to shift back down to it, and it would skip down to first.  When I tried for second again, it would skip up to fourth.  Grr.

About four miles outside of town, I flatted.  On the rear.  I was running sew-ups then.  Big fun.  And, of course, there was no shade readily available.  But I was determined to get this ride in.

I found the offending bit of glass, marked the spot, and went to work repairing the thing.  In those days I carried a patch kit, extra rim glue in a tube, a small sewing kit.  After what seemed like two or three eternities, I had the thing back together, pumped up, and seemed to be holding.

One benefit from the flat stop.  The bike seemed to be shifting better after the rear wheel was installed.

The long climb up Smith’s Hill had me really cooked.  It was hot!  Sweat pouring into my eyes.  I was afraid to roll over the top.  I couldn’t see.  I knew the descent would cool me down, but I’d crash first.  So I pulled to the side, put a foot down, dowsed my face with water and scrubbed at my eyes with my bandana.  The descent was marvelous.

About 25 miles into the ride, I ran out of water.  I was in the middle of nowhere in particular.  Five miles later, parched and gasping, I filled bottles at a spigot in a churchyard.

By then the clouds I been noticing seemed to start coalescing.  Thunder was rumbling.  We were gonna get some “widely scattered” alright.

I was working my way through a tight, narrow valley, with the sky turning ominous, when the front flatted.  Nothing for it, but to go to work.  Deliberate haste.  Smooth and slow is fast.  I was just packing the last of the tire repair gear when the bottom dropped out.  Soaked to the bone and chilled to the core in an instant, I was.

The climb up out of the valley was brutal, rain hitting hard enough to hurt, visibility almost impossible.  The descent down the other side was an exercise in flirtation with hypothermia.

As often happens in the mountains in August, the rain went away, just as I got to the bottom of the grade.  The sun came out, and it was instantly a Turkish bath on the road.  It was hot, incredibly humid, water and muck being thrown by passing cars and trucks.  But, after an hour of this, I was dry (sort of) and not the least chilled.  Time to turn for home.

Another long grinder of a climb, with the seat accumulating, lungs seared, legs growing trembly, that electric tingle in the arms, vision tunneling.  A nice, but too short descent followed.

That descent almost got me.  A tourist pulling a big Airstream trailer (a rig far too big for the Buick towing it) just about swatted me into the ditch.

Finally!  Nothing but a five mile series of rollers to run, and I’d be home.  Of course, the storm clouds were gathering again.  After a mile the lightning was cracking and getting closer.  Easy to tell this.  See the flash and start counting seconds.  One-one-thousand, two-one-thousand, three-one-thousand…  Six seconds to the mile.  Not much worry until the strikes are within three miles.  That seemed to happen pretty quick.  Still four miles to go, and the sky was black, and the lightning was hitting within a mile.  Time to give it all I had…

“How was it?”  Harry asked.

I paused and thought about it, then I replied,  “It was great!”

Thursday Thoughts: Random and Fast

So, it begins.  Tonight is the first of the Spring and Summer schedule Novice Road Rides.

My dedication on these is to those new (and returning) riders.  It’s a NO DROP ride.  Once we get to the edge of town, I’ll slide to the very back of the ride, and stay there.  If you have a problem, I’ll be along.  If you want (or need) instruction, it takes place at the back.  If you don’t know the route, stay at the back.  I won’t be wandering around off of the route to look for “lost” riders.

Ride Time:  6:00 P.M. prompt

Start/Finish:  Bicycles Unlimited

Conditions:  We go rain or shine (the forecast for tonight is good)

Requirements:  You, a working bike, and a helmet.

For one ride only!  Next week we are going to alter the format for the Novice Road Ride.   We’re going to do an “April Fool’s Ride.”  There will be prizes, but they won’t go to the fastest.  There will be surprises.  It should be a lot of fun.  Be there early.

And so the Spring-Summer Season Begins.  Let’s all make it a good one.  Ride safely.  Ride with courtesy.  Respect the Law.

I hope to see you all out there.

Mountain Bike Ride Report:

What a wonderful evening for a ride!  It was a mid-Spring day at it’s finest, and just about ideal for playing in the woods.  In spite of the rain on Monday night, the trail conditions were excellent. 

We had a small group, and no real novices, so we went for it a rode the whole thing.  A lot of shouting and laughter were the hallmarks of this particular evening.  Seven adults, acting like great big kids, made for a great and fun time.

We are going to continue this.  Note Changes:

Dates:  Ride will still be on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month.

Location:  Still at the BSC

New Starting Time:  We’ll try 6:30 PM for now.
Ride Will cancel for rain, or muddy trail conditions.  We'll make our decision on ride day, and post cancellations (if any) on the South Side Cycling Club Calendar.  Cancellations will post by 5:00 P.M. on ride days.

Hope to see more of you out there.  This is fun!

Mountain Biking 101: Track Stand, Bunny Hop, Wheelie

There are three skills that make a tremendous difference to a rider’s ability.  Most of the real “secret” to riding well off road comes from some mastery of these three maneuvers.  Once the three are learned, it becomes possible to “link” them, and tackle a wide range of obstacles.

I can not, inside a blog, teach you how to accomplish all three of the title maneuvers.  I can only give you some good hints about the parts you must learn.  The rest is up to you.

Safety Precautions:  When attempting these skills, the following are extremely good ideas.

• Practice in a safe and soft environment (like the lawn in your back yard!)
• Always wear a helmet!
• Have a “spotter” work with you.
• Go slow.
• Lower your saddle by about an inch and a half to two inches.

Track Stand:  This maneuver takes its name from the originators.  It was developed by velodrome racers.  (For more on that, you might research “Matched Pursuits” and velo racing.)  The idea is to bring the bike to a complete halt, and stay that way, without taking the feet from the pedals.

•  To practice this, at first it is easier to be going slightly uphill.
• Slow the bike gradually, applying the brakes (especially the front) as you do.
• Gradually bring the bike to a complete halt.
• Have your “lead” or “Power” foot forward, toward the wheel, and a bit above the level crank position.
• Apply a slight amount of pressure to the pedal as you lock the brake.
• It is useful to allow the wheel to turn a bit from side to side as you balance.
• If you start to “lose it,” release the brakes and pedal!
• Remember!  You don’t have to be able to sit on the bike motionless for prolonged periods of time.  If you can manage a 15 second track stand, you have ample skill for most trail riding.

Bunny Hop:  About what it sounds like.  You are going to jump into the air, with  the bike.

Stand on the pedals.

• At first it is best to have the cranks in the level, “fore and aft” position.
• It is good to be going fairly slowly when you first try this.
• The motion is the same as if you were doing a stationary jump, straight up.
• As you start the jump, hold the hand grips tightly, pull up, and roll the grips forward, to lift the bike up with you.
• This is best practiced with flat shoes, not “clipped in” to your clipless pedals.
• Always be ready to bail!

Wheelie:  The idea is to lift the front wheel of the bike, while maintaining forward motion.  Notice!  At first a little lift is good.  Go slow!  If you are too enthusiastic, you will end up on your butt!

• Slow the bike.
• Downshift
• Move your weight back, and sit lightly on the saddle.
• Increase pedal speed sharply while pulling up and back on the handlebar.
• As the front of the bike comes up, shift your upper body weight forward to balance.
• If things are getting out of hand, hit the rear brake hard.

Good luck with all that.  Let me know how you are doing!  And please, feel free to share what you find to work for you.

Today’s Term(s):

Death Crack  n.  A rut or gully that becomes increasingly deeper and more unrideable the farther it goes.

Whoop-de-doos a series of up-and-down bumps, suitable for jumping.

Rigid

Rollers ~ Smooth even rise-and-fall sections of trail.  Not hills, but bigger than bumps.  A series of rollers can be ridden with the sense of little, or no effort.  You are pedaling, but the energy from the last down almost gives you enough to get over the next up.

Frankenbike n.  A collection of mis-matched parts flying in a very loose formation.

This series, running every Tuesday, is intended to help those who are new to mountain bike riding.  By no means is it an exhaustive treatment, but it is our fond hope that it will help you, the beginner, to begin to enjoy riding your bike off road.

Future Topics:

Hydration

More on carrying “stuff”

Bike Types

Trail Care & Maintenance

 “Cleaning” the mud

Your next mountain bike  or  Mountain Biking 201

One Sweet Ride

It was a most auspicious Spring day.  Five of us lined up to do the 65 Mile Audax Tune Up.  I’m thinking that this should go into the records as the “Overcooked 65.”

Three out of the five of us had engaged in strenuous to extremely strenuous physical activity within the 24 hour period prior to the ride.  I was one of those.  I’d spent Saturday working on my house.  That is working, with lots of lifting and ladder work. Yet, the day and the ride beckoned, and it was such a nice day, so nearly perfect, we had to ride.

I’m wondering where the other folks were.  These tune-ups usually draw a fairly large attendance.  Perhaps the distance was off-putting.  We have, only lately come out of a long and harsh Winter.  If that is the case, I would say, to any of you who are hesitant, just get on your bikes, and do it regularly.  The way to longer rides, is through a path of a lot of consistent shorter ones, and the only way to ride a long ride is to ride it.

About the ride itself:  I’ve tinkered with the start of these Tune Ups.  No one likes departing Peachtree City via the North Peachtree Parkway.  The combination of a fairly narrow two lane, long hills, and heavy traffic is not attractive.  So I’ve found a route out of town that accomplishes the same thing, but without the traffic.  Of course it isn’t even close to flat, but it is pleasantly light in traffic.  It’s circuitous, and involves riding on residential streets, and on the multi-use paths.  (And there is no dirt road section on it!)  Yes, there are about three really steep short climbs.  How steep?  Enough to make pedestrians of just about anyone without a triple or a really low geared compact double.  But they are very short.

Once out of PTC, the route is pretty much as it was in years past.  We rolled briskly out to Palmetto, and too a short re-fill break there.  Then down to Rico road, and the South Fulton, and more down to the Chattahoochee.  Of course, once across the “Hootch,” there’s that three mile long “grinder” up to GA-166.  I love the ride north on 166.  It’s tough, but rewarding.  Big climbs and booming descents.  At the end of that, we turn onto GA-92 and do about a mile more to get to our lunch break.

At the 40 mile “lunch stop,” I put a proposition to the group.  There are two options for the ride back.  One includes a third stop, but adds about three miles to the day, and throws in three more tough hills.  On the other hand we could skip the stop, do a 25 mile leg, and go home more directly.  This last option has the added attraction of eliminating the trip up the notorious Flat Creek Trail “Beast.”  This was a good strong group, and the consensus was,  “Skip the stop.  Let’s roll!”

The last leg of the trip requires the climb up out of the Chattahoochee valley.  We did this on Cochran Mill Road, with is delightful in its Spring blooms, and then onto Rivertown and Hobgood Roads.  Fairburn sort of marks the transition from mostly climbing to more mixed terrain, for the last ten miles of the route.

In summation:  We could hardly have asked for a better day to do this ride.  The weather was catalogue perfect, delightful temperature mix, sunny, clear, vivid blue sky, and riotous blooming foliage all along the route.  The ride is a tough one, but the group was as good spirited as anyone could ask for.  Present were, Dan, Teresa, Chris, Scott, and your faithful.  We traveled an “official” 67.8 miles in 5:14:25 of saddle time, and just over six hours overall.  That gives us an “official” rolling average of 12.9 mph.  Not a bad pace for this ride.  Not bad at all.

In preparation for the next Tune Up, and the Audax Ride itself, I would say, In the four days or so before the ride, Don’t do anything that gets you really tired.  Looks good from here!  See you all (and hopefully more of you on 1 May.  Can't think of a better way start Bike Month!

Friday Follies ~~ Installation Please

Life sure does get hectic sometimes.  Try this on for size.

Your life is busy.  It’s the time of year when things start to pop at your job.  It’s also the time of year when stuff that is outside the normal workday picks up.  That’s enough.  It’s getting so scheduling is important.

Then, with exquisite timing, you suddenly find yourself with an honest to goodness  deadline on your hands.  Like those people* have just ganged up and laid a major burden on you.  If you don’t complete a whole slew of very demanding chores, in a very short period of time, they are going to make your life a living trip through the antechambers of perdition.

*Those People:  Lawyers, insurance companies, the infernal revenoors, etc.

In the midst of that, you have a set of fenders to install.

There is no such thing as a simple fender installation.  The “easy” ones are hard, and the hard ones are next to impossible.

If fenders weren’t so incredibly useful, they just wouldn’t be worth the effort.

Most of the time that one rides, the fenders are just a drag on the bike.  But…

Let there come a gully washing, frog-drowning rain, and suddenly fenders are wonderful.

If only they were not so difficult to get right in the first place, and…

I’ve never done a fender install job when I had ample leisure time.  It’s always something that gets crammed in between thirteen dozen other pressing matters.

And now for something completely random:

I once owned, and commuted on, an almost antique Harley-Davidson.  The beast did not have an electric starter.  It also did not have a compression release.  Starting it required jumping (and I do mean jumping) on a kick-start pedal.  It never liked to start when cold, could be cranky about starting at any time, and was especially reluctant to catch on cold mornings. 

On a cold day, repeated hard boots, fiddling with the choke and spark advance were standard procedure.  I’d get quite warmed up before getting the wretched thing running.  But then, I’d be just sitting on it as I rode to work.  Sitting and cooling while riding in the chilly fast moving air.

It did have fenders, but rain gear was lousy.  More, on those days when the temp started out cold, it usually rained while I was at work.  That meant the hog would be extra cranky to start for the trip home.

It seems like some days need to be kick-started, and some are almost as hard to get running as that old Harley, but my bicycle is almost always ready to go, and requires no effort to start.

Bicycles are better.

NOTE:  Remember this coming Sunday is the first of the 65 Mile Audax Tune Up Rides.  Bicycles Unlimited.  Start time 11:00 (sharp)

Thursday Thoughts: Hats & Helmets

Sometime around the dawn of the last century (we’re referring to calendar century here, not your last big ride) the art and science of bicycling began to emerge from the primordial ooze, and then to evolve rather rapidly.

At the first, folks tended to wear the same clothing on the bike as they did for almost everything else.  But it didn’t take long for the realization to strike.  Riding a bike is better if one chooses clothing and accessories that work well with the bike.  Frock coats may be all well and good, but they don’t go so well with two-wheeled frolic.

Take gloves for an example.  If you have seen early photos of cyclists, you may have noticed that they wore these big, heavy, leather gauntlets.  There were reasons for that.  Bikes didn’t have brakes.  A rider could brace arms under the handlebar and press-grip the front tire to slow down.  Good protection was needed for this.

Hats, in particular, underwent quite the evolutionary process.  The bowler derby, or bonnet was just not all that practical.  Snap-brim caps quickly replaced derbies.  Those caps (sometimes berets) evolved rather quickly into what we now recognize as the cycling cap.  In its final form, this hat became a standard for cyclists.  The short bill kept the sun and rain out of the eyes.  It was light.  It afforded some protection from the impact of sunlight on the skull.  It could be imprinted with advertising.  It was relatively inexpensive.  It was a natural.

The cap was pretty much de rigueur for serious cyclists.  It stayed that way until sometime in the late 1960s.

Prior to 1965, the cycling world had not discovered head injuries.  But borrowing on the experience of motorsport (race cars, motorcycles), football, and aviation, the idea of a crash helmet gradually entered our world.  The first of these were not too effective.  They were heavy, hot, cumbersome, stupid looking, and didn’t provide all that much competition.  Most serious cyclists would not wear one of these things, unless forced to at gunpoint.

For the next 25 years the cycling cap enjoyed a fair amount of popularity.  Manufacturers and others printed their logos on them and practically gave them away.  (Sometimes they actually did give them away.)  Cyclist wore them.  Top racers, especially the Euro-Pros mostly refused to wear the rapidly improving helmets, and opted for the caps.

But gradually the cycling cap declined.  Helmets improved, and helmet use became mandatory in more and more competitive events.  More “civilian riders” wore helmets.  Bike shops that stocked cycling caps found that they just stayed on the pegs and gathered dust.

At this point in time the cap is enjoying a bit of a renaissance.  The urban-hipster/fixie crowd have taken to them.  Small, independent manufacturers have found new and innovative ways to make them, and to update them.  And here’s a discovery!  The cycling cap can be worn under a helmet!

In fact, the cycling cap works very well under a helmet.  It can help keep your noggin warm on cold days.  Lightweight ones will protect you from sunburn through the skid-lid on long hot Summer rides.  And in the rain, the short bill of the cap, when pulled down low, helps keep rain, and road splash from your eyes and glasses, improving visibility greatly.  I even have a Goretex ™ one for rain wear!

A cycling cap weighs almost nothing, and fits nicely in a jersey pocket.  It just may be the perfect bit of riding apparel.  There are even different ways to wear the cap, proclaiming your attitude and allegiance.

For example...

Clueless!

Or this style, made popular by pre-Lance racers...

American Style

Here's the devil-may-care attitude evinced by...

Italiano.

Or the timeless panache of....

Le Gaullic

The ever popular, and oh so....

Chic

And finially, the redoubtable...

Belgian

Oh, by the way, one last thought.  Always wear your helmet when riding, but it’s okay to wear a cycling cap under it.