SpokEasy

May 2019

Cinco de Mayo

BACK ISSUES /

Is there a special bicycle ride for Cinco de Mayo? Yes, there is! It\’s on the first Sunday of May. Maybe the riders fuel themselves with tacos and salsa instead of Clif Bars and GU-Gels? Today, Cinco de Mayo 2019, is Sunday, which is my long-ride day, anyhow. Unfortunately I don\’t have any taco shells on hand, so I\’ll have to skip the tacos. Pinatas aren\’t only for Christmas, it seems, so how about a piñata full of Clif Bars, GU-Gels, and bike repair kits? Tacos, let\’s admit, would be tricky to handle as on-bike food, which means Clif Bars and GU\’s, after all. (Sorry to disappoint). When we\’ve finished breaking the piñata, we can start rolling, with our Clif Bars and GU-Gels to keep us going; and in the event of problems, we\’ve got our brand-new repair kits at hand. We can wear the colors of the Mexican flag: green, white, and red. Maybe there\’s a way to fit a Mexican sombrero over a bicycle helmet? After the ride, how about a dinner of burritos or cheese enchiladas? Or we can at last get our hands on those tacos!      

Cinco de Mayo Read More »

Pick Our Battles

BACK ISSUES /

If we\’re to pick our battles, bicycle advocacy is a wonderful thing to choose. We cyclists need all the help we can get, after all. Our advocates work to raise awareness of cycling: to get more folks riding; to increase motorists\’ awareness of people riding bicycles; and to improve infrastructure so that there are more marked bicycle lanes on our roads. Naturally it\’s not always smooth sailing. I mean, it\’s not always an effortless ride with a good tailwind. There\’s still, apparently, a very long way to go. We hear too many reports of motorists behaving aggressively towards cyclists. Some drivers think that cyclists don\’t belong on the roads; and that roads are meant for cars only. Actually, I\’ve read that roads were first paved for cyclists! Thus it is cyclists who have \”paved the way\”. Then there\’s distracted driving, which has resulted in too many cyclists getting injured or killed. That certainly needs to be addressed; and I\’d also campaign against distracted cycling. Yes, you read that right; distracted cycling! I\’ve seen people riding along one-handed while texting with the other hand! Hang up and ride, people! You\’re inviting disaster! I myself don\’t belong to an advocacy group, and I\’m sure I don\’t appreciate their efforts as much as I should. Let\’s give them all a big thumbs up! ADDENDUM, 01/10/21 With all the COVID-19 mess, I want to avoid groups if at all possible; but we can still pick our battles.

Pick Our Battles Read More »

Jumping the Gun?

BACK ISSUES /

I\’m jumping the gun today! It\’s not Cinco de Mayo yet, but I got in the mood for tacos. I figured that any Mexican restaurant will be crammed on the real Cinco de Mayo, so I decided to get my licks in now. Of course I\’m stuffed, all the more as I got root beer instead of water to drink. My neighborhood has been under a boil-water advisory since about 4:30 am; and when I get water in a restaurant, for all I know it\’s tap water. I didn\’t want to chance it. My hybrid is still in the shop, and it looks like the weather tomorrow won\’t be the greatest. I\’ll skip going grocery shopping; and depending on how the weather is, I might go for a short spin on the road bike later in the day. The Love to Ride challenge is over; so I\’m not worrying about keeping the ball rolling, so to speak. For the most part, we got lucky with the weather during April. Those two days early in the month, when it poured as I was riding to work, were sufficient for all 30 days of April. If it hadn\’t been for the Challenge, I would not have bicycled to work those two days! It certainly didn\’t have me jumping the gun.

Jumping the Gun? Read More »

To Your Head

BACK ISSUES /

\”Don\’t let it go to your head\” is an admonition that most of us have heard at one time or another. In this case, we do need to let it go to our heads. Head injury seems to be getting more and more attention these days, in all sports. We hear of pro football players who have permanent brain damage from repeated head trauma suffering during years on the playing field. Cyclists, of course, must guard against head injury. I cringe when I see people pedaling along without a helmet. It seems to me that they\’re taking unnecessary risks. For that matter, what little bicycle riding I did as a kid was without a helmet. It\’s shocking, now. How do you choose a helmet? First things first. Fit is the most important thing. Price, for most of us, is a close second. Color? A light/bright hue doesn\’t hurt. If you\’re like me, you\’ll put your headlight atop your helmet, and a red blinkie on the back of the helmet. I remember one time I set out on the road bike. Half a block from home I realized that I\’d forgotten to put on my helmet. I\’m serious enough about wearing a helmet that I got off the bike and walked back home to get that headpiece. I wasn\’t about to ride without it! And once, when I was using the tricycle, I managed to ride three miles before noticing that I didn\’t have my helmet on! I stopped, turned, and rode back home slowly and carefully. (This was when I was still using a handlebar-mounted light). It made me nervous to be riding without head protection! So yes; let it go to your head.

To Your Head Read More »

When to Back Off

BACK ISSUES /

Do we know when to back off? We all have days when we simply don\’t feel up to riding, whether we ride strictly for fun and exercise; or are in serious training. Especially if you fall into the second category, how do you tell whether it\’s a case of not being in the mood that day, or a genuine need to ease up for a day or two? The Complete Book of Long-Distance Cycling mentions some markers that indicate warnings of overtraining (see pg. 18): a morning (i.e. resting) pulse 10% or more higher than is usual; or weighing 3% or more below normal; or having gotten 10% less sleep than usual. If any two of these signs are present, keep your training short and easy until the numbers are back to normal. All three? Take a day off. Another way of looking at it is When Stop Does Not Mean Go, in this article. This list is good for \”amateur\” athletes, who might not be into pulse-taking. Even recreational athletes who don\’t do interval work need to be aware of when they\’ve been pushing too hard. Don\’t spoil the joy of riding by overreaching yourself. So learn now to tell when to back off. Listen to your body, as they say. It it\’s telling you something\’s wrong, it\’s time to take a step back.  

When to Back Off Read More »

May Day

BACK ISSUES /

It\’s May Day! What?! It\’s already MAY? I don\’t know where the time goes; and like most cyclists, I wish I had more time to ride. Maybe I need The Time-Crunched Cyclist? It sounds as though following the \”crunched\” plan means short, very intense, rides several times a week. I\’m not sure I\’m fit enough for that; and intense riding isn\’t so easy when I\’m out on the bicycle as little as half an hour after dragging myself out of bed. Sometimes it\’s only 15 minutes after I get up! Six hours a week? I usually get 6-8 hours a week on the road bike; if I ride to work daily and go to the salvage store Saturday, I\’ll get in a few more hours on the hybrid. My weekly total hours are sometimes over eleven. I do intense (for me) work once, maybe twice, a week. The total time spent riding really hard usually isn\’t more than 5-6 minutes. Do I need more? Maybe, if I\’m ever to improve my regular cruising pace. On the other hand, I don\’t need to wind up crunched to exhaustion because I\’m trying too hard to compensate for being crunched for time. Oh, as to May Day — I should be thankful that it\’s not a mayday.

May Day Read More »

Après

BACK ISSUES /

Après Love to Ride! Now that Love to Ride is over, I can relax a bit. Between the special effort to ride to work daily, and physical therapy because of tendonitis in my foot, I\’m actually quite tired. And I can think about the next Challenge, of course. Among the badges that local Love to Ride participants can earn is the Blue Bikes badge.  I suppose that Love to Ride’s in other locations offer a similar badge. It’s one of the few Love to Ride badges that I don’t yet have. The rate for a one-time user of Blue Bikes is a $5 one-time user fee; then ten cents per minute, or $6.00/hour. I don’t feel inclined to pay that just for the sake of getting the badge. Re: the Super Commuter badge, forget about my getting it this year. After work today I rode the hybrid to the bike shop. The shifting has been acting funny, and I get the impression that the front derailer isn\’t quite in order. They can\’t take care of it for almost a week, but I decided to leave the bike with them. A bike that isn\’t shifting right isn\’t all that much fun to ride; and for all I know, I\’m causing damage by continuing to ride it. When I left the bike at the shop, I wasn\’t thinking about the face that grocery shopping will be much harder without the hybrid. Hindsight is 20/20; we know how it goes when we don\’t think until après! But maybe I can skip shopping and sleep in for once! 

Après Read More »