Thursday Thoughts: Cell Phones & Such

I don’t take like hearing the phone jangle when I'm on the bike!  One of the reasons I ride is to get away from “all that.”  I’m aware that there are many people in the world who don’t feel this way.  There are those who (apparently) feel a desperate need to be connected.  I am not one of those people.

When I express this kind of sentiment, I’m often asked,  “But what if something happened!?”  In these cases the “something” is always presumed to be some emergency that requires immediate attention.

Don’t worry, if it’s bad enough, they (you know who they are) will find a way to let you know.

Don’t believe that?  It’s true.  One time, whilst I was riding, a family situation got bad enough.  Believe it or not, a relative, at the time over 800 miles away, found a way to get someone to get in a car and track me down on the road to give me the bad news.

Everyone who was then alive remembers the morning of September 11, 2001.  That would be a case in point.  I was not on a bike, but I was (quite deliberately) cut off from communications.  Despite my self-imposed isolation on that awful Tuesday morning, the news did get through to me.  I am certain that, if I had been on the bike, and in a remote location, I would still have been made aware of the situation.

Basically, the news, good or bad, can wait.  There’s not much I can do about it while I’m out on the bike.  Add to that, if I need to take or make a call, I will get off the road and off the bike to do so. To attempt to use a phone while operating a vehicle is to invite disaster.

On the subject of texting?  Good lord!  I see it done.  I can’t imagine attempting to receive, let alone write and send text while on a bike.

Any commentary on this one?

Bike Care!

A word or two on getting the season going.

“What do I need to do to take care of my bike?”  In the bike shop I’m often asked that

“There is a lot you can do, and learn to do, but there are some very basic things that will help your bike to run well, and do so for a long time.  They are:

“Keep your tires properly inflated.

“Keep your bike lubricated.

“Keep your bike clean.

“Store your bike away from the elements.”

Here’s a fast refresher on the fundamentals of home bike maintenance:

Tires:  The inflation range is embossed on the sidewalls of your tires.  Check the inflation before every ride.  Put it in the correct range.  Stay at least 5 to 10 psi below the manufacturer’s maximum recommended inflation value.  (Overinflated tires wear faster, and can fail in drastic fashions.)

Lubrication:  Go and purchase the following:  A good, high quality, semi-dry chain lubricant.  A general, light penetrating lubricant, (NOT  WD-40!!!!!!) such as Boeshield T-9™.  For the chain lube I recommend Rock ‘N Roll.  It comes in three weights for differing conditions and riding styles.

Get some instruction on how to lubricate your chain.  (Rock ‘N Roll, if used correctly will help keep your chain clean as well as lubricated.)

Use the light lubricant (T-9) sparingly, to lubricate derailler and brake pivots.

Cleaning/Washing your bike:

Keep it clean and it’s not hard to clean it.  We see a lot of cases of “Rode hard and put up wet,” at the shop.  Usually these bikes don’t have a lot of wear on them, but the deterioration from corrosion and dirt penetration into mechanical parts is pretty rough.

A fast wipe-down, clean up, and re-lubrication (if necessary), if done immediately after riding, will serve you and your bike well.

(Note to mountain bikers:  A bike encrusted with mud is only a badge of honor for one hour after the ride.  Let the mud stay on it longer than that and you are just neglecting your bike.)

Quick notes on cleaning:

Road Bikes:  A fast wipe down with Simple Green ™ immediately after a ride is a good start.  Wipe wheels and tires down with a clean rag and rubbing alcohol.  A final wide with an oily rag to areas that are subjected to sweat and corrosives is a good idea.  Lube the chain (if necessary) and you are done.

Note:  If you went out in the rain, or got the bike really dirty, see the section below for mountain bikes.

Mountain bikes:  As already stated, sooner is better than later.  Mud is best removed while it is still wet.  However it’s not always possible to clean the bike at the trail head.  If it dries out on the way home, do the following:

Brush the worst of the accumulated mud off.  (Don’t wipe with a rag, that will only scratch your finish.)

Do not turn a hose on your bike.  Never not ever! Hosing the bike down will force muddy water into bearings.  (Remember, there is no such thing as a “sealed” bearing.)

Use a “Two Bucket System.”  One bucket with soapy water, one with rinse water.  Use a rag or sponge to carry water to your bike.  Brush first, then wipe with soapy rag.  Once the bike is clean and soapy, use new, clean rags or sponges and the rinse bucket to carry rinse water to the bike.

Bounce the bike on it’s tires several times to shake the most water off.

Hand dry the bike with clean, lint free shop towels.

Re-lubricate chain and pivots.

Set a Regular Maintenance Schedule:

Most of the things we’ve mentioned should be done on a regular basis.  Some actions should be taken every time the bike is ridden, others need to be performed on a routine basis.  It’s Spring now.  Yes, it’s early, and glorious, and it’s good to be outside and on the bike again.  But as the euphoria level drops a bit, it’s time to re-establish good habits.

Take care of your bike, and it will take care of you.

Holy Catfish! It’s SPRING!

Fine Tuning for Specific Results

What are you looking for?

For cyclists there are several specific areas where improvement is usually sought.

1)    Speed

2)    Climbing ability

3)    Endurance

(A close fourth would be the desire to lose weight.)

For the next few weeks, we’ll address training/riding to improve those particular areas.  BUT…  we’re going to alter the order a bit.  It should look a bit more like this…

1)    Endurance

2)    Climbing ability

3)    Speed

4)    Weight (fat) reduction

For now, let’s set some principles.  These are important, and highly counterintuitive.

1)    High cardio work is used to improve endurance.

2)    Long, low cardio efforts are the way to improve speed

3)    Climbing is as much technique as training.

And Fat reduction requires three steps.

·     Modify habit behavior

·     Get strong

·     Go LONG

That’s just about enough for today.  I know, it’s a bit of a teaser, but bear with me.  It will be worth it.

Audax Preparations Revisited

This coming Sunday, 1 April.  Is our next Audax Tune Up Ride.  This one is the first of this year's 65 mile Tune Ups.  We will depart from Bicycles Unlimited, in Peachtree City, GA.  Ride time is 11:00 (sharp!)

Today's post concerns some of the last minute information that you might find useful.

First a word from our alternate sponsor…  The WEATHER!

As of this writng the forecast for this coming Sunday is kinda ugly.  That’s actually a good thing.  At this distance, this kind of forecast rarely holds.  I’m betting we’ll see the ‘cast deteriorate and then get better.  Besides, with temps in the mid-70s, just about anything is bearable.

We will be going rain or shine.  Give some thought to that now.  Lay out both the sunscreen and the rain jacket.  Make up your mind that you will go, regardless of the weather.  Riding in marginal weather is good training.  And don’t forget to lay out the shorts lubricant.

How to prepare physically:  In brief…  Take it easy this week!  You are about as “trained up” as you can be.  All you can do this week is either get rested, or increase fatigue.  I’d go with the former.  Decrease your activity level by 25 to 50 percent, and do most of your activity early in the week.  Taper.  Taper.  Taper!

You want to show up on Sunday morning, well rested, well fueled, and fresh, ready to have a great day on the bike, cranking out 65 gorgeous and hilly miles.

Getting the bike ready:  Start by cleaning it.  (A clean bike just runs better.)  Inspect those tires.  Check the brake pads too.  Lube the chain.  Go over your spares.  (Please carry two tubes that fit your bike!)  If anything isn’t working, get it fixed right now!  (Honest this is not the time to procrastinate!)

Outline of route and stops:  This is a hilly, route but it provides a lot of fun too.  Much of the loop is on fairly rural and scenic roads.  There are some screaming descents. 

We will make three planned break-stops.  The first will be a short one at approximately 15 miles.  (Water up well here!)  The second stop is 25 miles after the after first one.  At this point the majority (not all) of the major climbing is behind us, and we will take a bit longer break for lunch.  The third stop will be a short one, about 15 miles after the second.  This will put us just about 10 miles from the end.

Riding Style:  As usual on these rides, the group will stay together.  If anyone has a problem, the group will slow, or stop, to work the problem.  The idea is to get all of us to the finish together.  “One for all, and all for one!”

Come on out and join us.  This should be a great and happy ride.

Friday Follies ~~ The Leg Shaving Thing

If one pursues athletic cycling for long enough, one will be told that shaving the legs is just about mandatory.  We are talking about men here.  It will not be a surprise to anyone that, in our society women generally shave their legs, and men generally do not.

Why should a male cyclist defy societal convention and shave the lower extremities?  There are usually three reasons given:

Smoothly shaved extremities make receiving therapeutic massage an easier proposition.

Sooner or later one will go down and get scraped and lacerated.  When this happens, the wounds are easier to clean on a shaved leg, and hair does not get into the abrasions and lacerations.  This decreases the likelihood of infection.

The Pros all do it.

Two of those reasons have some merit.  I say some merit.

When I was younger, I bought the whole line.  Despite some initial reluctance, I decided that my legs needed to become clean-shaven.

Sounds relatively simple, doesn’t it?  I had shaved my face, in fact had been shaving my face for six years before I grew my first beard.  (I grew the beard because I didn’t particularly like shaving.  So why was I planning to scrape my legs?)  In short, I was familiar with shaving.  Or so I thought.

I went out and bought supplies.  Fresh new razors.  A couple of cans of shaving cream.

I followed some of the advice I’d been given.  Took a good hot shower, and then started the job.  I lathered one leg from ankle all the way up.  (That raised an interesting question.  Just how high should this leg shaving go?)  And so I went to work, starting around the ankle and working upward.  Two rather painful nicks around the achilles tendon, but not too bad.  The lower leg went okay, except for a few areas where I had some pre-existing cuts and scrapes.  (Ouch!)

Then I got to the knee! That was where the bloodletting began in earnest.  How in the Wide Wide World of Sports does anyone manage to shave a knee! 

The upper leg wasn’t too bad, if one discounted the visibility problems.  There’s a lot of upper leg, and most of it is not directly viewable.  Mirrors help, but then one has to correct for mirror image movement.  About five more good nicks occurred there.  I didn’t realize how serious one of them was until the blood dripped on the floor.  (At least it didn’t require stitching.)

The second leg went along about like the first, only more so.  Finally finished, I decided I needed to jump back into the shower…

OUCH!!!!!

Galloping thunder blazes!  Absolutely everything felt scraped and abraded, and it all stung like mad.  I had the thought that I could have produced the same effect with an angle grinder instead of a razor.

But my legs were cleanly shaved.  And oh boy!  Did that ever feel weird.  Windy.  Chilly.  Odd.

Eventually, after some years of this self-inflicted wounding, I got out of the habit of leg shaving, and blood sacrifice.  The thing is, I almost never receive therapeutic massage.  And since I’ve not raced in many many years, I almost never fall or crash.  The risk of infection from abrasions is very low, but I’ve suffered quiet a few infected razor cuts.  Not a winning proposition.

I figure I’ll just let the Pros do the leg shaving.  It’s one of the many things they do to entertain us.  And they do it so well.  I’ll leave the leg butchery to the experts from now on.

Thursday Thoughts: Noise

One way to look at history is view inventions, and their impacts.  A part of this invention thing would be a whole chaper (or twenty) on transportation.

Apparently somebody invented the wheel about ten minutes after we first thought of the opposable thumb and the war club.  Wheels make sense.  They let us carry stuff a lot more easily.  Consider, there are only so many ways to handle things if you have a lot of crap that you have to get from one place to another.  You can drag it.  You can push it.  You can pick it up and carry it.  You can con your family members, neighbors, and friends to do the dirty work for you.  Eventually you get tired of doing all of these things, and you tend to run out of family, neighbors, and friends.

“Oh oh!  Here comes Fred.  Quick, look busy!  He’ll want us to help him move that dinotherium carcass down to the dump.”

But once you and the other primatives invent the wheel, and the wheeled cart, things get a lot easier.  And, whether you intended it or not, you invented transportation at the same time.

It seems to me that the history of transportation divides into two different camps of inventors. 

The Efficiency Camp:  “We can do this a lot more easily.”

The 4^th Grade Boys Camp:  “Let’s make a big noise so everyone will look at us!”

Over the many years of mankind’s struggle with invention, I am convinced, psychotropic drugs have played a role’.  Also, the lines between the two “camps” sometimes blur.  (How else does one explain downhill racing?)

When I was a kid, there seemed to be a dichotomy between the two camps.  One group of kids wanted to ride faster and lighter bicycles, to go farther and do it with more speed.  The other group clipped playing cards to their bikes to rattle in the spokes.

Cars come equipped with horns.  Supposedly these are warning devices, and are included for safety purposes.  In fact, horns are on cars because some joker wanted to make them louder, and they remain on cars so that ignoramuses can blast them at cyclists.

The bicycle was clearly invented by the Efficiency Camp people.  Explosives must  have been invented by the 4^th Graders.

“Loud Pipes save lives!”  Some (not all) motorcyclists proclaim this with a straight face.  It doesn’t matter that a bit of thoughtful reflection will show this statement to be absurd.  In reality, these folks are clearly in the 4^th Grade camp.  (They need really loud pipes on their motorcycles, and blast their throttles as they pass cyclists?  Really?  Why?)

I do believe that the mentality behind loud exhausts, on motorcycles, cars, or trucks is truly traceable to the 4^th grade.  Remember when some boys in the 4^th would seem to compete to see who could make the most obnoxious, and loudest of noises?  Belches and farts seemed to be especially favorite subjects for those kids.  The loud exhaust phenomena seems to be a mechanical extension of the pastime.  They seem to be saying,  “Let’s see who can make the loudest mechanical fart!”

The very first motorcycles were little more than early gasoline engines, kludged into the frames of bicycles.

Boom boxes, and super loud car stereos clearly fall into the same category.  It’s not enough for the perpetrator to ruin his own hearing.  (That could be done just as effectively with earbuds or headsets.  No.  They feel a bounden duty to generate as much noise as possible.

Why in blazes does it have to be so freakin’ LOUD!  What’s wrong with quiet?

I love going to the high country.  The silence is awe-inspiring.  More and more, I especially like doing this in the Winter.  The peace is much less likely to be shattered by a troop of two wheeled monkeys, astride their chromed up noise makers.

As more and more humans move into the same spaces, the noise problem increases.  How are we to deal with this?  If it is true that “the squeaky wheel gets the grease,” then are the loudest to be the only ones accommodated?  Must we, who ride quietly and with little protection be bullied aside by the mechanical loudmouths?

Pollen

Pollen Count on Tuesday = 9,369.  That’s 9,360 parts per cubic meter.

1 cubic meter = 1,000 liters.

Average pollen granule = 50 micrograms mass.

5 X 9,369 = 468,450 micrograms, or 0.468450 grams.

Average volume intake per breath = 3 liters.

Working cyclist in mid-aerobic zones respiration rate is 720 per hour.

720 X 3 = 2,160 liters, or 2.160 cubic meters.

Therefore, a working cyclist inhales about 2 grams of pollen per hour.  About a half teaspoon full.

In a four hour ride that would be about 8 grams, or 4 teaspoons of “medicine.”

There.  Don’t you feel better already?

Of course it begs the question:  Our human reproductive activity doesn’t threaten to strangle the trees, flowers, and grass.  How come theirs is so bloody hard on us?

On the other hand, flowers make pollen, and eventually, pollen is responsible for making more flowers.  Flowers bring birds that sing wonderfully.  They bloom brightly and smell sweetly.  The trees shade us, and the grasses help hold and nurture the watersheds.  Besides, all this rampant vegetative reproductive activity gives us something else to talk about while we’re riding.  It’s nice out.

Holy Catfish! It’s SPRING! II

Continuing Series on Spring Training

Adding Structure to your Spring Training

Last week we discussed the very basics of getting started again.  First find your personal tolerance limit.  (Last week’s discussion will apear on today’s post on the Audax Riders blog.  Link.)

We are going to call that tolerance limit “Time X”

We’ll start with a program that will build your fitness and endurance, but it will do so in a moderate, gradual, and enjoyable fashion.

Get your calendar out.  Pick five days of the week that you can commit to doing ride workouts.  You will have two days that you will not ride.  They are rest days, and they are critical to the whole program.  You’re rest days should not be back to back.

Here’s a sample of the first week:

Monday:  Rest Hard (Mondays are alredy hard enough!)

Tuesday:  Leg loosener:  Ride at an easy pace for a time equal to ¾ of Time X

Wednesday:  Interval Day:  Warm up for ten minutes.  Then alternate two minutes of hard fast riding with three minutes of recovery until you have done this for a time equal to ½ of Time X.  Then “warm down” for ten minutes.

Thursday:  Leg conditioning:  Keep your speed down and force yourself to stay in lower gears, turning the cranks a bit faster than is comfortable.  Do this for a time equal to ¾ of Time X

Friday:  Rest Hard

Saturday:  Fun day:  Ride at an easy and fun pace for ¾ of Time X

Sunday:  Tempo Ride:  Bring yourself up to a brisk pace and hold it for ½ of Time X

Weeks Total Time = 3.75 times Time X

            Note 1:  If Time X = 1.5 hours then you have done 5:37:30 this week.

            Note 2:  If your personal “Time X” is equal to, or greater than 2 hours then adjust your schedule to the same proportions as above, but limit yourself to no more than 10 hours per week.

Follow this program until the end of March.  Then take two or three days off at the beginning of April, and then repeat the “Fitness Test” described in last week’s article.  You should find that you have a bit more power and endurance.

Next week:  Fine Tuning for Specific Results

Friday Follies ~~ The First “Big Group Ride”

I’d been a part time worker in a couple of shops.  I had started doing that again, partially to supplement my (meager) income, and to take advantage of employee purchasing for a new road bike.  This new shop was a bit different from the more casually oriented ones I’d been associated with.  This shop had a clientele of “roadies.”

I was young.  I’d always been into athletics, but was just discovering athleticism on the bike.  A lot of folks were encouraging me to come out and join their group rides, and to try racing.  It sounded good and fun, and a bit scary.  Attractive.

Of course, I had no idea how to do any of that stuff, and that was a bit intimidating.  I was concerned that I would look like an idiot.  In fact I did look like an idiot, and my youth and inexperience, coupled with my vain attempts to appear worldly exaggerated the effect.

I wanted to wait until I could purchase my new bike.  I was urged to come on out and do it anyway.  So I did.  I agreed to show up for the early Saturday morning shop ride.

I got up in the dark, and got dressed.  I slung my pack, full of work clothing and supplied, and mounted up.  When I got to the shop I had that sinking feeling.  All these guys were kitted out in the highest form of roadie-fashion.  I was the only guy there in brogans, cut-off jeans, and a tee-shirt.  Their bikes looked like racing road bikes.  Mine looked like a tall pile of rust and junk.

I pitched my backpack inside the shop and saddled up, waiting to see what would happen.  At some signal (unseen by me) the group started to move out of the parking lot.  I was caught by surprise, looking and facing the wrong way.  I got turned around and started working to catch up.

I was gaining on the group, and working pretty good.  After about a mile I caught up with the back of the pack.  “Hey!”  I thought,  “This isn’t so bad.  Sure, I’m working kinda hard, but I’m in it.”

I applied a bit more effort and began working my way up through the group.  I was breathing deep and hard.  Somewhere, in the back of my mind, I was noticing that there was a bit of casual conversation going on around me.  I didn’t take notice of that, as I was busy.  I was sliding up through the group, and getting my rhythm, breathing deeply.  I had nothing extra for chit-chat.

I was near the front of the pack when we made a turn and started to climb a hill.  It wasn’t a really big hill, but a hill nonetheless.  I dug deep and gunned up it with the four or five leaders.  I knew the road.  Things would flatten at the top, and we would be out in the country, with more room.

I all but exploded going up that hill, but I passed several more riders, and when we both reached the top, I was with the very front man.  I was gasping for breath and struggling to keep up, but I was there!

That leader looked over at me, grinned, and said,  “You probably just want to sit in for your first ride.  This one is pretty fast.”

“Pretty fast?  You’re not kidding,”  I thought.  I just managed to gasp out the word,  “Right.”  Having no idea what he meant.

We continued roaring down the road at a wicked fast pace, but I was getting some of my breath back.  At the same time, other riders were grouping around us.

“Okay!”  the leader called out.  “Intervals out to Port Republic.  Everyone good?”

There were some affirmatives called back.  We turned onto Port Republic Road, a long straight one with about five miles of big rollers, and…

Suddenly the group… accelerated…  (?) and (!!)

All of the other riders surged smoothly forward, passing me on both sides.  They took off and left me.  I could not stay with them.  I couldn’t even manage to keep them in sight.  For a while I tried, reasoning that no human could keep up that pace for long, and I would eventually catch them.  Didn’t happen.  I rolled into the tiny town of Port Republic with no other rider in sight, and no clear idea of where they had gone.

I looked at my watch and realized that I needed to turn and head back, or I would be late for work.  From that place, my shortest and fastest route was back the way I had come.  So I did.

As I pulled into the parking lot, I saw a them.  They were coming in from the other direction, laughing and joking with each other.  “Hey Steve!”  one called out to me,  “Where’d you go, man?”

I had a lot to learn.  But I had just learned my first lesson in “roadie riding.”  I’d been dropped.  Dropped hard.  I had been racing (or thought I had been) during the warm up.

Sorry for the Interruption

Folks, we're having to take a sudden, unplanned, and unscheduled break in publishing here.  Many factors are involved, but simply put, your host is in a bit of a time crunch.

Our sincerest apologies for the sudden absence.  Please be patient.  Regular features will resume tomorrow, March 16, 2012.

Again, thank you, loyal readers, for your patience and understanding.

Holy Catfish! It’s SPRING!

OR:  I’m not ready yet.  Now what do I do!?

After an amazingly mild Winter, it looks like an early Spring.  This could catch a lot of folks off guard.  Are you among them?  “Wow!  It’s time to ride, but I’m sooo out of shape!”  Does that describe you?  When was the last time you were on your bike?  Do you have to think about that question?  If so, read on.  There’s help and good news for you.

First off, keep always these three principles in mind:

1)    There are no “shortcuts.”  The body takes the time it takes to do what it will.

2)    The past is gone.  Focus on now and the future.

3)    It is not possible to be consistent part of the time.

If we have arrived at this point in the year, "out of shape,” then that is where we are.  There is no “Re-Do” key on life.  But the good news is about equally good.  If we have achieved some level of fitness in the past, the body will respond to conditioning more quickly now.

Step One:  Get on your bike and ride it.

The “Miles Myth”:

Training, and getting in shape is not about “doing big miles.”  No two miles are the same.  In fact the same mile is never the same on two successive days or hours.  Temperature, wind, humidity, and your personal condition are all variables.  More, your heart, lungs, and legs do not “understand” what a mile is.  What your body “understands” is duration and quality of effort.

To begin with, any effort is a higher quality than the lack of exercise that has led to this point.  So take it easy but do take it.  As for duration, we need to do a bit of a “fitness test” to establish the correct levels.

The basis of this fitness test is the idea of the “Long Short Ride.”  Pick out a short loop in the vicinity of your home, or starting from some easily accessible nearby venue.  This should be only about five to ten miles long.  (Closer to five would be better if you are really out of shape.)

Now, get on your bike and start riding around that loop.  (This is best done alone!)  Time yourself.  NO!  You are not going for speed!  You are timing to establish a “Duration Limit.”  So ride easily, breathing and heart rate elevated, but not highly so.  Focus on enjoying the process and just spend the time moving the bike and breathing.

This is not a test to destruction!  This is not a test to failure!  All longer rides have three parts.  1)  I feel great and I could do this forever!  2)  If I keep this up, I’m going to get tired.  And 3)  I should have stopped this before I started.  (That last is sometimes known as the “World of Hurt.”)  Usually Part 1 lasts for an appreciable time.  Part 2 will be a lot shorter.  Note the time when Part 3 starts, and then go home.

That’s it.  You have just established a baseline time.  You now know how long it will take before you are really tired and sore on the bike.  It doesn’t matter how long this time is.  If it’s 15 minutes, then that’s what it is.  If it’s three hours, that’s fine too.  You just need to know how long it is.

Step Two:  Recover.  You are going to be stiff and sore after your “fitness test.”  Give yourself two to three days to recover.  (Not more than three days!)  This will let your hands, shoulders, butt, legs, back, neck, all those stiff and sore places, all those chafed spots get back to normal.

Step Three:  Do less and do it more frequently.  Let’s say you’ve established that Time X, the time it takes to get to the “World of Hurt,” is one and a half hours.  (It can be any number.  It is what it is.)  Go out and ride less than that time, three to four times per week.  This will start building you up and increasing your tolerance for staying on the bike.  It’s amazing how much gain there is in just three to four weeks of this.

Step Four:  Repeat.  At the end of March, do the same test again.  This time on a somewhat longer loop.  You will be surprised at the gains.

Step Five:  Add some structure.  We’ll deal with this next week.  For now, GO RIDE and do it CONSISTENTLY!

Ride Report: Audax 45 Mile Tune Ups

Challenging Ride

I’ll sum yesterday’s ride up with that word.  It was one full of challenges.  Each and every one of our group of ten met one or more challenges.

There was the stalwart on the single speed.

Two members had never been on one of these rides before.

One lady had never gone that far before.

One of our group was doing her first group ride in clipless pedals.  I might add, she just had them installed late in last week.

The course is hilly and challenging in its own right.

The day started out cool, but then the sun came out, and…  Well, it got windy!

It’s always a challenge to blend a group of individuals into a coordinated team.

A couple of us were so new to things that lifting a bottle and drinking while on the bike was a challenge.

For some reason we encountered far more motoring aggression and rudeness than is the norm.  More, there was just a lot more traffic than is normal.

Some struggle with the hills.

Some have challenges with riding close in a group.

One would think, with all those challenges and obstacles to face, this ride would have been a grinding slog.  Yessir!  It was one tough ride.  I guess that’s why there were so many smiles, and so much laughter.

SB 468:  Update

The Georgia State Senate Bill 468, sometimes known at the “Bicycle Single File” bill, did not pass the Senate in the 2011-12 session of the state legislature.  Action on the bill ceased after the Second Reading.  Because the bill did not pass the Senate before “crossover day,” it is finished for this session.  We will have to keep watch for this in the next legislative session, but for now, we can breath a bit easier.  Thank you to all who worked to stop this bill.

Friday Follies ~~ The Advent (and Departure) of the Cyclocomputer

It may come as a shock, but there was a time in my life when I wasn’t seriously engaged in cycling.  Yup!  I had that section of the trajectory that is often labeled “Career and Family.”  It could as well be said to be, “Getting Fat and Out of Condition.”

During that period, I became a somewhat less than frequent rider and runner.  Then I rode more than a ran.  (Running hurt more.  Face it, I was getting heavy!)  Riding contained some element of joy and escape.

I came to the place where I decided to “do something about it.”  It took me a while to make all the changes in life that I needed to.  Along the way, my running “career” ended forever.  (An accumulation of over-use and impact injuries and some stern warnings from the medicine men put an end to all that running stuff.)

So I included riding as part of my “Recover Health and Sanity Program.”

All this was fortuitous.  My Daughter was of just entering that age where it is fun to teach and train a child to ride.  (More on that in a moment.)

At that point, I was down to one bicycle.  It was an antiquated, clapped out, decrepit steel road bike.  I had long since dubbed this beast the “Iron Eagle.”  It was heavy, ugly, and not very capable.  But it was honest and (mostly) reliable.  And so, gradually, I re-entered the world of cycling.

After a year of struggling to recover some kind of condition, I was starting to feel pretty good.  The weight was coming off, and the wind was returning.  Along the way I’d started paying attention to the cycling world again.  I quickly noticed that, while I’d been away, things had changed.  By that, I mean that things had really changed!

There was all plethora of the new in the world of two wheels.  New kinds of clothing.  (No more itchy, smelly, wool shorts.)  There was a lot of new equipment.  There were new kinds of bicycles.  New Drivelines.  New frame materials.  New accessories.

Possibly the most startling new thing was that training had changed.

Back when I was pursuing racing, we’d trained.  That meant getting on the bike and riding as hard as we could, for a long time, as often as humanly possible.  There wasn’t a lot more to it than that.  Now things were different.  The exercise physiologists had got into the act.  Periodization and heart rate training were now all the rage.  I started paying attention.

The first training “tool” that I acquired was one of the, then brand new, “cyclocomputers.”  This little gadget was, by today’s standards, pretty basic and clunky.  But it was electronic.  It ran on batteries.  It told me how fast I was going, how far I’d gone, my average speed, and it had a stop watch.  Cool.  It also ate batteries for breakfast, and it broke after about a year of use.

By then my “stable” included three bicycles.  There was the old Iron Eagle, the latest in a string of mountain bikes, and a brand new, shiny, road bike.

My research had uncovered a new and wonderful bike computer.  This gadget had a lot more functions than the old one.  It could be used with an optional second mount, and could keep track of data on two different bikes.  It included a heart rate monitor.  It came with one bike mount, and a wrist strap that let it be used as a watch.

By today’s standards the thing was primitive and clunky, but at the time it was a marvel.  Of course the heart rate part of it told me two things.  The first was that my heart was beating.  The second was the heart rate in beats per minute.  Cool.

Fairly early on I discovered that this gadget had other wonderful talents.  It was a really good detector for police radar, RF perimeter security systems, high-tension lines, and Ham Radio operators.  When it was in the presence of almost any kind of electrical interference, it would just shut down.  The first few times this happened were kind of disturbing.  (I was climbing, working hard, and seeing a fairly high heart rate, and suddenly…  ZERO!?)

For all its faults and shortcomings, the thing was a marvel, and I loved it.  For the fist time in my life, I was keeping accurate training logs.  I was able to adjust training in an intelligent and productive fashion.  This was great!  I even wore the thing, and kept track of my heart rate while I was doing yard work.

There came a Summer when we decided to take a real honest to goodness vacation, and to include cycling activities in it.  We went up into the Smoky Mountains.  We took the mountain bikes.  My daughter and I were really excited.  We had planned to go to a “Mecca” of the mountainbike world.  We would have a day to play and ride at Tsali.

I last saw my wonderful heart-rate-monitor-two-bike-cyclocomputer on the Thompson Trail.  We’d come around a bend in the mountain, and were approaching the deepest part of the “cove,” when we had to make yet another abrupt and rocky stream crossing.  It didn’t look too bad, so I went for it.  I dropped the front wheel into a deep hole, and the bike pitched up.  I didn’t quite endo, but it was a terrific jolt.  I clearly remember seeing the computer come out of its mount and float in the air in front of me.  I was a little too busy to grab it.

PLOP!  That was the sound it made as it hit the water.  Then the thing demonstrated another, up until then unknown, talent.  It could float.  In fact, it could float so well, that the rushing stream carried it away, and over the side of the mountain.  That fast, I was computerless and without heart rate monitor.

Fortunately, the “Industry” was ready for me.  There was lots of new stuff on the market, just waiting for me.

Thursday Thoughts: Confusions

The “Bicycle Industry” is in such a state right now.

I just read the latest Bicycling Magazine buyer’s guide issue.  Wow!  There is really a lot of very high priced candy and jewelry in there.  I guess I’m most staggered by the presence of a $15,000 bike.  Ummm…  I don’t know what to say.

For the moment, let’s assume that I had an odd 15 kilobucks lying around, and I went out and bought such a thing.  What would it do for me?  How would my life be different?  Would I be the envy of my friends?  Would I suddenly become the fastest rider in the state?  I’m sure it’s amazing, but the overarching question I have is…  Why?

At this point in time, there is actually a fairly strong reaction to the high-end, elitist, “roadie” part of the cycling spectrum.  And it’s not positive.  There are a growing number of blogs (and a few print publications) that are weirdly anti-high end.  I say “weirdly” because they seem to be critical of “racy rider” excesses, and then turn around and wax rhapsodic about something like a $9,000 “custom,” handbuilt cargo bike.  Huh?

There’s all kinds of “messenger chic” bikes, accessories, apparel, and very expensive “designer” messenger bags.  This at a time when bike couriers have all but disappeared from the landscape.

I read about how electric bikes, and “electric assist” bikes are a good thing.  They are supposed to make cycling accessible to more people, and increase the bike’s utility as a “transportation vehicle.”  Um, maybe.  But the halfway good ones start at around $1,500.  Worse, in the shop where I work, the folks who are interested in electrics tend to fall into two categories.  1)  “I want to ride a bike, but I don’t want to work at it, and it shouldn’t cost more than $150.”  2)  “I just got convicted of my X^th  DUI and I want a car but they won’t let me drive so I’ll use this to get around the system, and don’t you, like man, have anything cheaper.”  I may be missing something, but this doesn’t look like the beginnings of a transportation revolution to me.

The urban hipster thing is becoming sort of passé’, but let’s not be too hard on them.  They managed to recruit a lot of folks, and a lot of them are still riding.  I’d say that’s a good thing.

Most of our “professional advocates” seem to be all wound up with high-dollar projects, and an outright lust for building more facilities.  What happened to just getting folks on bikes?  I realize that the “build it and they will come” argument has some validity.  On the other hand, in an era of huge spendthrift government stuff, the question could be asked,  “Why build all this stuff for the tiniest fraction of the population?”  (I have my own fears about some of this.)

It is a time when the Economy absolutely stinks, and the “Industry” is touting some of the most expensive equipment ever made.  I’m not sure I understand that.

There are more different types of bikes, more bike “categories” and “niches” more accessories, more equipment, more agendas, more “cultures” and “sub-cultures,” and more bicycling “manifestos” than ever.  It’s confusing and bewildering.

It’s also Spring.  I’m not really sure what to make of all this.  Anyone?