I Hate following my own advice!

A Diary of Injury Recovery

I’m posting this series in the hope that it will be helpful and instructive for others.

Injuries are a fact of life.  It’s a certainty.  No matter how skilled one is, or how careful, sooner or later, an injury will occur.  For those of us who live physically active lives, injuries tend to fall in several categories:

Impact

Strain

Over use

Repetitive motion

Mine was an impact injury.  More on that in a moment.

I have been an athlete for the greatest part of my life.  I have lived and worked around, and with,  athletes for over a half century.  Once I was a young, enthusiastic, and fairly ignorant athlete.  I did some stupid things…  and suffered from them.  I was taught, I studied, and I learned.

I first learned how to recover properly and well from an injury.  For many years I have been dispensing the advice on correct injury recovery.  From time to time, I’ve had to follow that advice too.  Here, in a short form, is The Advice:

Define the injury

Cease training and allow the injury to heal

During the healing period, maintain light, healthy, non-aggravating exercise

When appropriate, develop a “Recovery Training Plan”

Follow that plan with discipline and patience.

So what brought all this on? 

April 16:  I took a tumble while mountain biking.  As falls go it wasn’t anything spectacular.  There was no great speed or other heroism involved.  The rear wheel washed out as I was cresting out of a deep gully obstacle, and I twisted and fell to the side.  It wasn’t all that hard a landing.  I wasn’t even knocked windless by the thumping landing.

There was a fairly sharp pain around toward the back of my rib cage.  The curvature of one of my lower left ribs had landed precisely on the curvature of a rock.  This resulted in a crack in the rib, around toward the back.  Ouch.

In the immediate aftermath of the fall, I didn’t know that I had suffered a deeper injury.  It felt like soft tissue damage, and I’ve had my share of that.

April 17:  The day after.  Pain in the impact location, but it was manageable.  I was stiff and sore.

I took the Wednesday Evening Path Ride out.  Climbing on the bike was a surprise.  As soon as I was in the saddle I experienced a blessed relief from pain.  That lasted throughout the ride, but…  As soon as I dismounted, the pain came back strongly, and in waves.

April 18:  Define the injury.  Pain at the impact site increasing sharply.  Difficulty drawing a deep breath.  Time to go see a doctor.  Received confirmation of my suspicion.  I’d cracked a rib.  Fortunately, I had no ride leader obligations.

Doctor’s orders:  Avoid strenuous activity.  Do not aggravate the injury.  No mountain biking.  Avoid any risk of falling or further impact.

Took the bike out for a gentle evening ride.  I felt a good bit of pain, but kept the effort low.  I paid a penalty for that ride.  That night my entire back went into spasm.

Sleeping is a problem.  I was having trouble finding a position that didn’t cause the rib to flare.  The best one was face down, but that triggered more pain in my back.  Not a good situation.

The realization was that I would just have to do minimal activity, treat with anti-inflammatory drugs, and live through this.

April 19:  Get up.  Struggle through the day.  Go home.  Try to sleep.

April 20:  Define the injury.  Made a conscious decision not to do my usual gentle Saturday morning early ride.  Slept a bit later.  (sort of)  Met the regular Saturday morning path ride.  This is a very easy ride, and my thought was that gentle exercise would be good.  It wasn’t terrible.  I only had to deal with a slight, but constant, dull ache while on the bike.

I should mention things that I’ve dropped from the routine.  Ordinarily, my morning wake up ritual consists of a series of stretching exercises, followed by a core strength toning routine.  That was absolutely unthinkable.

April 21:  Define the injury.  I managed to sleep a bit later.  I took it very easy around the house.  In the late afternoon, I went out for a very low effort bike ride of about one and a half hour duration.  This led to an interesting discovery.

The act of mounting the bike was painful.  Once mounted, the pain subsided, and stayed down.  I could trigger pain if I tried to exert effort.  Each dismount and mount (intersections) triggered a new bout of pain.  That night, the back spasm was back.

April 22:  No unnecessary physical activity.  Getting through the work day was difficult enough.

April 23:  One week out from the crash.  “Are you going to do the mountain bike ride this evening?”  The answer that came to mind was “Are you freaking CRAZY!!??”  Instead, I went out for a very gentle one hour ride on the paved paths of the town.  The ride was good, but again the back spasms gave me a very restless night.

 Summary:  That was the first week of injury recovery.  I had two prime goals in mind.  One was to just survive the stinkin’ thing.  The second was to determine what level of activity I could tolerate.  That last was important.  Increased physical activity, within careful limits, will aid healing.  The trick is to find those limits.  If the activity is too vigorous or too long, it will aggravate the injury and retard healing.  I was looking for that happy medium.  I’d sta

Your First Three Years,~ Part 3:

Basic Bike Handling and Safety

A Guide for Beginner (and Experienced!) Cyclists, to the Art and Practice of Cycling.  Becoming Proficient, Fit, and Happy on your bike.

If you’ve been following us so far, you’ve spent the last week getting acquainted with your bike.  You’ve been restricting yourself to short and very local rides.  It’s time to expand on that a bit, and to add a bit of refinement to your riding.

You’re not ready to go out and join group rides yet.  So you’ll still want to confine your riding to your local neighborhood, and to very low traffic roads.  Some of the skills and drills contained in this post should best be practiced in empty parking lots, or similar traffic-free environments.

Controls

By this point we’ve figured out which controls do what…  Sort of.

Let’s refine our terminology a bit.

High Gears:  High gears are ones with a “higher ratio.”  That means that, for every turn of the crank (pedals) the rear wheel turns around more times.

Low Gears:  The converse of “high gears.”  In a lower gear the “ratio” is lower, and each crankstroke will turn the rear wheel around fewer times.

Cassette:  This is the cluster of gears on the rear wheel.

Chainrings:  These are the physically largish gears toward the front of the bike.  They are mounted on the “crank.”  (The thing the pedals are attached to.)

Upshift:  Means shifting from an lower (easier) gear, to a higher (harder) gear.

Downshift:  The opposite of an upshift.  Moving from a higher (harder) gear to a lower (easier) gear.

Front Brake:  This is the one that works on the front wheel, and is controlled by the left hand lever.  (If your front brake is controlled by your right hand lever, either,  A} your bike is built wrong, or B} you are a crazy motorcycle rider.)

Seating and posture:

Does your backside hurt when you ride?  Try this.  Move farther back on the saddle.  You should not be trying to sit on your gluteal muscle group.  The weight of your body should be on your “sit bones.”  These are two boney points or arches in the floor of your pelvic bone.  You can find them by running your fingers along the crease below your glutes.  Move in toward the center of your thighs.  Just before your fingers slide between your thighs, you will find a hard boney pointy thing under the skin.  That’s it!  One on each side.  These are the proverbial “sit bones.”  They should be located in the center of the wide pad of the saddle.

Posture on the bike:

Right from the beginning, learn to unlock your elbows.  Your elbows should point down and back, not out to the sides, and they should be slightly bent.  This allows your biceps to absorb road shock and vibration, which would otherwise be felt in the shoulders and the base of the neck.

You don’t have to raise your head all the way up to see forward.  You can raise your eyes in their sockets.  This lets you put a lot less pressure on the muscles that hold your head up, and relaxes your neck considerably.

Move on the bike!

To avoid fatigue, and remain happy in your riding, you should move around on the bike, frequently.  For the new rider this can present a bit of a challenge.  So let’s take a couple of skills, step-by-step.

Standing Up:

Do this away from traffic!!!!

Get the bike moving, and on level ground.

Position you hands on the “hoods”  (the covering of the levers on a road bike), or firmly on the grips on a “flatbar” bike.

Lower either pedal to the bottom of the crankstroke, and stop pedalling.

Grip the bar firmly, and transfer your weight slowly to the down pedal.

TA DA! You are standing!

Now try this:

While standing, rotate the pedals until they are level.  Still okay?  Good.  Sit down and pedal the bike back up to a stable speed.

Standing to pedal:

Generally standing on the pedals is not nearly as efficient as staying seated.  But there are times when it’s useful.  It can serve as an “active rest” during long rides or climbs, it can be an “emergency boost” to get over a hill, or out of trouble.  Here’s how to learn it.

Begin as above in the Standing Up drill.

Do this away from traffic!!!!

Get the bike moving, and on level ground.

Position you hands on the “hoods”  (the covering of the levers on a road bike), or firmly on the grips on a “flatbar” bike.

Now upshift about two gears harder than you are now in.

Now press down on one pedal as you come out of the saddle.

Keep pedalling! But don’t increase your pedal speed.

Good!  Lots of variations on this one, but you now have the basis to practice the skill.

Learn to look around (& back!!)

It’s fun to be able to look at the world around you as you ride.  More, it can be a huge safety advantage.  Here’s how to get comfortable doing so.

Stability First:

Before moving around, or looking around, move your hands in to the center of the bar.  You control the bike by applying weight to one side of the bar or the other.  (This is how you turn!)  If your hands are near the center, an unintended input will not have as big an effect.

Now,  Look!

Relax the body.

Speed up to a moderate and stable level.

Hands to the bar center.

Now turn your head and look.

If the bike starts to veer, look back ahead!

Road Position (controlling where you are)

New riders tend to wander around in the middle of the road.  This is normal and natural.  We have a fear of falling off the edge, and this balances against a fear of getting too far out and getting clobbered by a car.  But it is best to be stable, steady, predictable, and to ride as far to the right as is practical and safe.

Here’s the magic secret.  Your bike will tend to go where you are looking.  So look where you want to go.  To take up a position to the right hand side of the road, look as far down the road as you can see, and look at the spot six inches to the left of the white line.  Now ride toward where you are looking.  (Do not look down at the ground.  You don’t want to go there!)

Practice this.  You’ll find that you will soon be cruising along, close to the line, and not in fear of falling off.

Signalling:

If you are going to ride in traffic…  And the assumption is that you will  …then you must do two important things.  1)  Be stable and predicatable.  2)  Be able to communicate with other vehicle operators.

Think of your ride as a constant, nonverbal, communication with the other users of the road.  Part of this communication comes from where and how you position yourself on the road.  Part of it depends on how you appear.  Part of it is the intentional signals you make to inform other operators of your intentions.

Uniform Signals.  (For all of these, while you are new, and somewhat less stable, first move your hands in to the center of the bar.  Then you may lift one hand to signal with less effect on the stability and direction of your travel.)

Right Turn:  Method one.  Extend your right arm directly out from your shoulder, parallel to the ground, and point to your intended change of direction.  Method two.  Raise your left arm until your upper arm extends directly from your shoulder and parallel to the ground.  Now bend your elbow so that your forearm is directly up.  This is the old and conventional hand signal used when driving a car.

Left Turn:  Extend the left arm directly out from the shoulder and parallel to the ground.

Stopping:  Extend the left upper arm from the shoulder and parallel to the ground, bend the forearm straight down at the elbow.

The “Look Back”:

This is an essential skill.  It is absolutely necessary to know what traffic is doing around you.  On many occasions you are going to need to be able to move to your left, to make a left turn, to set up a lane change, to avoid an obstacle.  You will need to know that you are not about to cross in front of overtaking traffic.  Your hearing helps, but is not enough.  Mirrors are good and helpful, but they fail, fall off, or get lost, and do so at the worst possible times.  Besides a the act of looking back alerts following vehicle operators that you are about to do something.  Here’s how to accomplish this with safety.  Finally, looking back lets the motorist know that you are looking, and it makes eye contact with them.  That’s important, as it reasssures the motorist, and humanizes you in their eyes.

This is a skill that should be learned and practiced in a parking lot, away from traffic.  The idea is to learn to look back without swerving either into traffic, or off of the road.

Here’s the Drill:

• In a large and open traffic free parking lot
• First practice riding in a straight line toward some definite object  (a light pole, a building corner, a flag pole, etc.) You will have to ride back to your start and repeat several times during this exercise.
• Get good at riding in this straight line.
• Repeat.
• Now, as you ride toward your landmark, slide your hands to the center of the bar.
• Lift your left hand from the bar.  When you can ride straight at your target, one-handed continue to next.
• Now ride toward your landmark, but do so with the left arm and hand extended behind you, pointing directly away from your landmark.  Keep this up until you can ride in a straight line with your left arm and hand pointing directly back along your line.
• Finally, ride straight toward your landmark, pointing straight back, and turn your head.  Look back along your extended pointing arm.
•  
• With a bit of practice you will find that you can ride ahead, point back, and then look back, all without swerving.  With a lot of practice, you’ll eventually be able to take a solid look back without the pointing, and without swerving. 

There!  That was quite a lot of ground to cover.  These exercises, and drills will equip you with some valuable skills and confidence.  Practice them over the next week.  Practice at least one on each and every ride.  You’ll be working on these pretty regularly for the next year, and should “refresh” throughout the rest of your cycling career.

Bon Chance

Next week: Bike Handling Essential & Emergency Skills

~//~

This series began with the post on Tuesday, 19 June 2012.  It is intended to continue for three years.  Each week, we will discuss exercises, skills, practices, and activities designed to bring the new (or “experienced”) rider a high level of cycling competence.  We’ll address common problems, and (always) stress safe practice.

~//~

A Note on Timing:  This series uses Mid-June as the starting point of the “Cyclists Year.”  We do this because this is the time that most folks decide to start riding.  If you are following this guide, you can “adjust” the timing to fit your personal “first three years.”  Do note that some of the posts will concern weather and seasonal changes.  When that starts to happen, just swap the “months” around to fit your personal timeline.

Your First Three Years ~ Part 2:

New Bike ~ The First Ride(s)

A Guide for Beginner (and Experienced!) Cyclists, to the Art and Practice of Cycling.  Becoming Proficient, Fit, and Happy on your bike.

This series began with the post on Tuesday, 19 June 2012.  It is intended to continue for three years.  Each week, we will discuss exercises, skills, practices, and activities designed to bring the new (or “experienced”) rider a high level of cycling competence.  We’ll address common problems, and (always) stress safe practice.

You’re about to purchase that all-important “bike-of-all-dreams.”  You’ve made the decision, and the bike is ready for you.  Take a moment right here and do a few things.  (NOTE:  It’s never too late!  If you are already past some, or all, of the following, go back and do this.  It won’t hurt you to take the time, and you may just learn something useful.)

Initial Familiarization:

Have the controls of the bike explained to you, and demonstrated.  Then, immediately repeat the demonstartion with your hands on the controls.  Learn which shifter does what, and in which direction.  Which lever is the front brake, and which is the rear.  Where are the quick releases for the brakes, and how are they operated?  How does one remove a wheel from this particular bicycle?  How does one inflate these tires?  Do you have the correct kind of pump to do so?  Do you need an adapter of some sort?  What tire pressure should you maintain?  How often should you check the tire pressure?

Big Hint:  In the excitement of receiving your bike and making the final purchase, you are likely to forget some of the above advice.  Make out a written checklist.  Take it with you.  Refer to it.  (As a shop pro I recommend this.  I rarely see it done.  I’m usually delighted when a customer does it.)

Safety: 

If your helmet is more than three years old…  REPLACE IT!  Do this when you take delivery of your new bike.  Wear it every time you get on the bike!

A word about falling.  When you fall (and you will) keep your hands on the handlbar.  Hang on with a death grip, and go ahead and shout as you go down.  Holding on to the bar will prevent you from throwing a hand out to break your fall.  You want to do it this way.  That instinctive hand out leads to three possible bad injuries.  Rotator cuff injuries, tears, separations, fractures, and dislocations are all painful, and possibly expensive and debilitating.  Hyper-extension injuries of the elbow are no fun.  Crushing injuries to the wrist are not a joy either.  KEEP YOUR HANDS ON THE BAR!  And that shouting?  An open airway makes your thorax more resillient.  You will absorb the impact more easily.

Your very first ride…  ALONE:

So now that you have your new bike at home, it’s time for that important first ride.  This should be a short ride, and it should be solo.  Just as important, it should be away from distractions and traffic.

Let’s prepare a bit.  First off get into some comfortable clothing to ride in.  It’s okay if you don’t have all the “professional” kit, but do put on a pair of shorts. (We don’t want pants cuffs getting caught in your chain, do we?)  Some appropriate shoes would be good.  If your shoes have laces, tuck them into the shoe so they won’t flop around.  (Again, we don’t want this ride brought short by anything getting tangled.)  Put your helmet on.

Now let’s prepare the bike.  Sure you just got it from the store.  But inspect it anyway.  Check the tire pressure.  Make certain that all quick releases are tightly closed, and that the wheels are secure in the bike.  Lift each end of the bike and spin the wheel.  Does it move freely?  Good!  Now get the bike into a good “take-off gear.”  Do this my experimenting with each shifter.  Pick the rear of the bike up enough to get the wheel off of the ground.   Click one shifter at a time, one shift, and push the pedal.  Watch to see where the chain goes.  Your goal here is to get the Chain into an easy gear to start with.

If your bike has a “triple”…  meaning it has three gears at the front, push the pedal and the left shifter until the chain is on the middle gear.  Keep experimenting until you accomplish this.  Now…

Work on the rear gears with the right hand shifter…  until you get the chain onto the inside gear, that is the one that is physically larger than the others.  This combination is a very easy gear, good for starting and climbing hills.

One last thing before you mount up…  Check the brakes.  Squeeze one brake and push the bike forward.  Does one of the wheels lock?  Good.  Now repeat with the other brakes.  Does the other wheel lock?  Great!  You’re ready to go for that ride.

What are our goals for this first ride?

Well…  We’d like to get back in one piece

Get a feel for brakes and shifting

See how this thing feels and handles

Maybe open it up a little?

Hey!  That sounds like a plan.

Start with brakes.  On the overwhelming majority of bikes the left hand brake lever controls the front brake, and the right hand lever controls the rear brake.  So let’s start a gentle ride, at very low speed, just up and down the neighborhood street.  And as we ride, let’s just, ever so ge-e-e-e-ntly squeeze the right hand lever.  We’re going to bring the bike to a stop, so be ready to get a foot on the ground.

Now repeat that exercise again, this time with the left brake.

Now you know that the brakes work, and can be controlled, if you apply them at low speeds, and make gradual applications.  Good enough.  So start riding around a little more.  Try some slow and gentle turns.  Repeat your low speed braking stops.  (Don’t bother with the gear shifting yet.  There will be time for that later.)  As you become more familiar and comfortable with your braking, increase your bike’s speed a bit.  Again, make gentle controlled stops.

Brake a little harder now.  Go back to very low speed, but this time make a fairly hard stop, using only the rear brake.  Then repeat using only the front brake.  If things start to get out of hand, just let go of the brake.  You don’t want to skid, and you definitely don’t want to pitch over the front of the bike.  The purpose of these exercises is to get familiar with the performance of each of your brakes, and to learn how to control them.

Now let’s try some shifting.  To begin with, we’ll work with only the right hand shifter.  It’s the one that controls the rear derailler.  It is the one you will use the most too.  The most basic thing you need to know about shifting is that the chain should be moving.  That means you need to be turning the pedals while you shift.  And here comes the tricky part.  When we say you need to be pedalling we mean just that.  But we don’t mean that you should be stomping away and putting power into the pedals.  The shifters and deraillers will respond best if you are sort of coasting along, and just turning the pedals gently.

About your shifters.  One button, or lever will cause the bike to change into a higher gear.  The other will cause the bike to change into a lower gear.  Higher gears are harder to pedal, but they make the bike go faster.  Lower gears are easier, but slower.  Experiment.  In a very short while, you will find that this shifting stuff isn’t hard.  It will start to feel intuitive very quickly.

It’s time to put it all together.  By now you’ve been riding around for about a half hour.  Now just cruise the neighborhood, shift when you feel like it.  Make some stops and starts.  Most of all, take time to enjoy your new bike.  You’ll be repeating this ride for the next week.  This is your introduction period.  Don’t rush it.  Go out and ride your bike every chance you get, and take time to get well acquainted with it.  Repeat the exercises above on every ride.  You aren’t going anywhere with these trips.  Instead, you are just riding, and getting in sync with your new bike.  Have FUN!

Next week: Basic Bike Handling, Safety, and Health

~//~

A Note on Timing:  This series uses Mid-June as the starting point of the “Cyclists Year.”  We do this because this is the time that most folks decide to start riding.  If you are following this guide, you can “adjust” the timing to fit your personal “first three years.”  Do note that some of the posts will concern weather and seasonal changes.  When that starts to happen, just swap the “months” around to fit your personal timeline.

Friday Follies ~~ The Deal too Good to be True

I once bought one of those near mythical “fantastic used bikes that sold for a mere fraction of their worth.”  Here’s how it worked.

I was made aware of the deal by an acquaintance of a friend of a friend.  Seems this nice elderly lady had been recently widowed.  She was getting rid of a lot of stuff that her dear departed husband had accumulated.  She was selling his “nice” road bike, and she only wanted it to go to someone who would appreciate it.  She didn’t want much for it.  It was reputed to be an extremely nice bike.

Since the lady was nearby, living in a condo, and it was fairly convenient, I agreed to go take a look at it.  I had the time available.

The bike was amazing!  To begin with, it was my size.  It looked shiny.  The wheels showed a good bit of use on the brake surfaces.  The tires were middling quality and somewhat worn.  But the bike was incredibly clean.  The frame was an all carbon model, produced by a very noteworthy Italian company.  It was equipped with the, then fairly new, Campagnolo Record 10 speed group.

I inspected it.  Twisted things.  Lifted the rear and shifted it through it’s range by kicking the pedals around while I worked the shifters.  I pulled the brakes.  All seemed very functional.

The lady didn’t rightly know how much to ask for the bike.  Would $500 be too much?  Like an idiot, I actually bargained her up!  I did not want to take undue advantage of a widow, and this thing was then going for around $5000, new.  She just couldn’t take more than $1200 for it.  We agreed on that price, and I walked out with the bike.

I propped the bike in my home shop and went on about my business.  It wasn’t until two days later that I put the bike in a stand to pull the wheels and replace the tires.  While it was sitting in the stand, I noticed a bit of something liquid around the bottom bracket.  Nasty, reddish brown liquid.  I wiped it off and continued.  As I removed the rear wheel, I heard a bit of a slosh.  Slosh?

I shook the bike in the stand.  Definitely.  Sloshing.

I got out my Campy tools and pulled the crank.  It was extremely hard to remove.  As soon as I got the crank off, I could see why.  The bottom bracket was a Shimano pattern.  (For the uninitiated, Shimano bottom brakets are not compatible with Campagnolo anythings.)  On closer examination, the chainring bolts on the crank were badly buggered up, and the chainrings were not Campy.

After a bit of struggle, I managed to get the bottom bracket out.  It was a Shimano, and the very lowest end of their line.  As I took the thing out, something like two cups of water poured out of the frame.  Worse, as I applied torque to remove the bottom bracket, a crack appeared in the frame paint.  That crack widened and shot up the frame’s downtube.  Not good.

Total to that point.  Campy crank, ruined.  Crappy chainrings.  Lousy bottom bracket.  Frame, broken and not repairable.

In the next few days, I had the Campy shifters off of the “bike too good to be true.”  They mostly disintegrated as I inspected them on the bench.  The rear brake seized up, due to the pivot bolts being overtightened.  That had obviously been done to conceal that fact that the bushings were completely worn out.  The headset was rusted to the point of uselessness.  The handlebars had a bad crack under the bar tape.  One wheel collapsed when I tried to true it.

I tried to contact the nice lady.  It wasn’t easy.  When I did get in touch with her, she was adamant about not refunding any of my money.  I pressed the issue, saying I would be over to see her that afternoon.

It turned out that the “nice old lady” (whose last name ended in a vowel) had a “nice young son,” and two “nice young nephews.”  These three gentlemen each weighed in around 250, and were employed by a large multinational corporation headquartered in Sicily.  Their job title was “corporate relations and policy enforcement.”  I had plans that involved keeping my knee caps intact, so I gave up on that front.  I’d been taken.  That bike had been “rigged,” and done so in an expert fashion.  And I’d been played like a brook trout.

I’m often reminded of some wisdom my father imparted years ago.  “A con requires two things of the mark, a bit of dishonesty and a bit of greed.”  I fell for it.

Your Next Three Years

“It takes three years to make a cyclist.”

                                    Road Dragon

I tend to utter that statement a lot.  Usually, it’s aimed at newer riders.  But it applies to any of us.  From time to time, I’ve hinted that I see less than expert behavior exhibited by riders with some years of experience behind them.  The personelle recruitment folks have an old saw about “experience,” as applied to resumes.  A resume write may list “Five years of experience in field X.”  The problem is, that could mean one year, repeated five times!

Sadly, this is often true of cyclists too.  Many of us don’t really respect our sport.  We are a bit terrified of it at the start, and then, after mastering a few rudiments, we tend to just plateau.  We repeat that first year over and over again.  Eventually a kind of frustration sets in, and many of us depart the pastime.

What’s the solution?

Those of you who know me, know I don’t often say things without some backup and rationale behind them.  When I speak of “three years,” I’m not just referring to “time served.”  I have a Program in mind.  What I’m proposing to do is to use this space, and take us on a journey.  For the next three years, we’ll go through that first three years of cycling.

For Beginners and “Experts”

This series will be intended to help the new rider through that crucial “first three years.”  It will also be a guide to those of us with a few more miles on us.  I know that there will be material and subjects here that will benefit the long time rider.  I also intend to bring that new rider to a level of good, sound proficiency.  I expect to learn a thing or two myself.

Will this series make us all “Experts”?

Good heavens!  I sincerely hope not!  “Experts know it all.  An “expert,” almost by definition, can not learn anything new.  No, my intent is to bring us to a condition of solid, sound, safe, and proficient ridership.  From that point on, we can learn more as we go. 

What will follow, in the next three years, will be the distillation of a lifetime spent riding and studying riding, along with the results of a lot of research.  By no means do I claim that this is the only way to go, but it most certainly is one good sound, tried and true way to become a really proficient rider, and to have an enormous amount of fun doing it.

Please refer to the statement at the opening of this post.  It isn’t complete.  There’s always a second clause.  The full quote should read;

“It takes three years to make a cyclist, and a lifetime to refine that making.”

                                    Road Dragon

It really doesn’t matter if you are a brand spanking new rider, about to go for your very first shaky ride, after having been off of the bike since you were a kid, or a seasoned cyclist.  I can guarantee the journey we’ll take, in the next three years, will be worthwhile.

Are you ready to begin?  Good.  Here’s the first assignment.  Do it today.  Before the sun sets.  Go and get your bike.  If you’re new, take your time looking at the thing.  If you’re coming back, wipe the dust off and inflate the tires.  Wheel it out into the driveway.  Look at it.  Think about it.  Just what is this thing?  Grasp its essence.

Now, straddle it and go for a ride!  It doesn’t have to be along ride.  It can be as short as ten minutes.  But ride that thing!  Think about it as you do.  Experience it!  What is right about it?  What feels wrong?  Is this a good thing?  Enjoy it!

“It takes three years to make a cyclist.”  Our next three years of learning and discovery have begun.

Next week:  Beginning ~ The Essentials

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.