SpokEasy

August 2019

Wondering Why?

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In case \”outsiders\” are wondering why we cyclists do what we do, I hope this blog can provide some clarification. It seems that we cyclists are, indeed, puzzling to non-cyclists. Why do we wear lycra? What\’s with shoes that attach to the pedals, and why are such pedal/shoe systems called \”clipless\”? Why do we ride, anyway? And how about people who race bicycles? What\’s that all about? As far as racing goes, this might help clarify the matter. I think you might want to avoid these tricks, which seem quite unsporting to me. (Actually, I think that this YouTube is meant in a tongue-in-cheek manner). Lycra? If you want to do long rides, form-fitting shorts are going to be far more comfortable than regular shorts with undies. Add the desire for speed, and wearing clothing that doesn\’t bunch up under you, and doesn\’t flap around, is even more important. \”Clipless\” pedal/shoe systems don\’t have the straps, i.e. clips, that earlier systems did. Hence \”clipless\” systems. Why do we ride? There are myriad answers to that one. Fitness. Transportation. Helping the environment. Saving money over owning a car. Competition. Touring. Weight loss. Health. Fun! For non-cyclists, in case you\’re wondering why, get a bicycle! Start riding! You\’ll soon solve the puzzle!

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Cyclists\’ Greetings

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Cyclists’ Greetings Who wants a greeting like this one? Cyclists’ greetings are a part of the two-wheeled life; just as “Hello” and “Good morning”, perhaps with a cup of coffee, are part and parcel of civilian life. We certainly don’t want to be greeted by a sign like this one when we’re out for a ride! What’ve they got against cycling, anyway? But there are other greetings amongst us riders. Celebrate cycling? We do that every time we ride, don’t we? Although I must admit that I don’t feel in a celebratory mood on a cold, windy, wet day. Not while I’m out on the bike, anyway. When I finally get home; and can get warm and dry; then I can feel good about having gone for a ride despite the nasty conditions. If we cyclists stopped; dismounted; and went into back-slapping embraces every time we saw each other, we wouldn’t get much riding done, would we? I think we can tone it down a little, right? A brief hi, or nod, or wave, goes a long way. I typically do a “finger wave”, without actually taking a hand off the bars. I see other riders doing the same thing. That is, when it’s a question of  a rider approaching from the opposite direction. When I’m overtaking another cyclist, it’s typically all business; the on-your-left thing. Unlike “Seasons’ Greetings”, cyclists’ greetings don’t have a “season”. That’s especially true for those of us who can ride year round. So give a finger wave. Holler Good Morning! Cyclists’ greetings are always good!

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Use It Up?

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\”Use It Up! Wear It Out! Make It Do! Do Without!\” was my mother\’s school. She was also very frugal, and saved just about everything. As result, I often have a hard time getting rid of things. A couple of months ago, I replaced one of my pairs of cycling shoes with a new pair, to see whether it would help with the tendonitis in my foot. The old shoes didn\’t really seem all that worn to me, and I thought that maybe I could get further use out of them. First I put in the original insoles from the new cycling shoes. I managed to get the cleats off of the old pair of shoes, and first tried wearing them for rides on the hybrid; going to the salvage store, for example. That worked well enough. Then I tried wearing them during the day for one day, and that didn\’t go as well. That morning I wore the cleat-less cycling shoes and rode the hybrid to work, but didn\’t change out of the cycling shoes. By the end of the day, the problems with my left foot were starting to flare up. The shoes\’ soles seem to be too rigid for more than absolutely minimal walking. Besides all that, for non-riding purposes, the right one rubs on the big toe\’s bunion joint. So, do I keep those shoes, or not? Keeping them does for a fact make for more clutter. On the other hand, well, Use it up, wear it out…    

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Wobble-Naught

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Wobble-Naught is a good watchword for cyclists. I remember reading a story when I was about ten years old. It was about a girl who was having a hard time learning to ride a bicycle. She got cross and showed at her bike, \”Old wobbly wheels!\” Nobody wants to wobble when on a bicycle. Wobbling makes me, for one, feel like I\’m about to land on the ground. And you sure wouldn\’t want to wobble when in this yoga pose atop a cliff! So what\’s this about Wobble-Naught? \”WN\” is one of several bicycle-fit systems discussed in Cutting-Edge Cycling. It\’s a bicycle fit designed to eliminate — you guessed it — wobble, which is inefficient movement. Part of this fit focuses on the length of bones between joints. Another aspect of it is the use of EMG to study the interactions of the muscles during pedaling; and it considers factors affecting pedal stroke, such as the length of the arch. I had no idea pedaling was so complex! Wobble Naught [oh, those pesky \”Not Secure\” notations!] seems quite complex, too.  For instance, it takes into account the ratio of thigh length vs calf length. Apparently that does make a difference. I remember reading about a former pro cyclist whose thighs were unusually long in proportion to his calves, which gave him better leverage for speed. I\’ve already had a bicycle fit using another system, so I\’ll let Wobble-Naught go. But the Wobblin Goblin sure could have used it!      

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OK! I Know!

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OK, I know. You don\’t have to tell me! We might want to emulate the pro cyclists. But should we really? Maybe not. Here are some things that pros do that we ought not do. (But you don\’t have to yell in my ear!) First, \”slamming\” the stem sounds like beating up on the poor bicycle. And I certainly don\’t want to try to ride with my head way down in a super-aero position. It might well make me dizzy, which does not mix well with cycling. Secondly, I don\’t live anywhere near the mountains, so cycling in the mountains in bad weather  doesn\’t apply to me. I do have the problem of whether to ride when it\’s pouring like crazy, especially if it\’s also cold. That\’s even before taking wind into account. I say it doesn\’t hurt to learn to ride in adverse weather, because if you\’re preparing for an event, you don\’t know what event day might throw at you. But riding in sleet? Where I live, a little sleet shuts down the entire city. Number three: I\’ve seen pics of pro racers riding on the top tube. Safety concerns aside, that doesn\’t look comfortable to me; and if such a position means you\’re less in control, I think I\’ll skip it. I think I\’d have trouble controlling my bicycle if I rode the top-tube on flat ground. Number 4: The aero-bar position even when there are no aero bars? I\’ll keep my hands on the handlebars, thank you very much. Fifth: I wonder how pros can get back on the bike and continue with a race after a crash. If I take a spill, it\’s likely to knock the wind out of me and leave me feeling very shaky. Number 6: — let\’s not get indelicate here! And Number 7: Usually I do really hard work one day a week, and not every week. Every third week I skip the \”force\” work. It sounds like, if you think you\’d like to become  a pro cyclist, don\’t be in a hurry to act like one. After all, such things take time. But nobody has to tell me that; I know.        

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Sunday Rest

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Now for some Sunday rest! I finally decided to skip riding today. Once in a while I need the break. I didn\’t even get up until 8:20! So far, as of 9:35 am, the weather is clear, so I might have  been OK as far as that goes. Who knows, though. Bad weather can come up quickly! Not hustling to get out and ride gave me the opportunity for a leisurely breakfast. I had a few eggs on hand, so I hard-boiled two of them (discarded one of the yolks). With all the scary talk about food-borne illnesses, I want eggs to be thoroughly cooked. Yesterday I took a ride to the salvage store, and of course raided the make-your-own-grab-bag bins. Among the candy bars, single-serving pouches of Combos, and other items, I found two Clif Builder\’s Protein Bars. With the chance to try a new potential ride food for cheap, I grabbed them. This morning I ate one. I like chocolate mint anyway, and these bars taste pretty good. They\’re quite dense, which leaves me with the impression that they ought to be good as sustaining ride food. Now I have some time to put in a bit of extra work on future blogs. No Sunday rest here; nor, in fact, any day\’s rest. A blogger\’s work is never done!  

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Ask Hamlet?

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Why ask Hamlet? Because he might know! I guess I\’ll have to time-travel back to medieval Denmark and put this query to the tragic Prince: To ride, or not to ride? The weather outlook for tomorrow isn\’t the greatest. The chance of precipitation is 70%. T-storms are possible from 7 am. It isn\’t expected to get below 80 degrees overnight. At least the wind will be cooperative; 4-8 mph isn\’t bad. So, shall I ride, or shall I stay home? I put Zym in the fridge to chill, so if I do decide to ride I\’ll have it ready. If I don\’t ride, I\’ll drink it anyway. It\’s supposed to be used within 48 hours of being mixed. I usually wait until just before starting the ride to prep ride food, and filling the Camel-Bak. I don\’t want my bits of Clif Bar going stale, nor do I want to discover in the morning that the Camel-Bak leaked all night long. If I ride, what might happen? I might get rained on, which I do not enjoy. If a T-storm catches me, I\’ll be worried about getting struck by lightning. If I don\’t ride, and the weather doesn\’t break bad, I\’ll be frustrated by having missed a ride. But  if I stay in, and a major T-storm breaks out, I\’ll be thankful to have remained at home. That\’s quite a toss-up. So let\’s ask Hamlet, and hope that he has a crystal ball.  

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Slick!

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Slick sounds like icy roads. But ice isn\’t the only thing that\’s slick. I once had a set of bicycle rollers; \”a treadmill for a bike\”, as some say. Although it took some time, I actually became fairly adept at riding on them with the hybrid. When I tried using the road bike on rollers, it was a different story. Maybe it was because of the road bike\’s narrower, slicker tires, but the rollers seemed impossibly slippery. The bike was very difficult to control. Maybe I was too tentative? Maybe, at the time, I didn\’t have sufficient core strength? Whatever the explanation, trying to ride a road bike on rollers is, for me, analogous to trying to walk across a smooth, slippery floor in roadie shoes. I ended up selling the rollers. Good move? Bad? I don\’t know. I still have the trainer, but riding the rollers is supposed to be much better for developing a smooth, even pedal stroke; and for learning to hold a straight, narrow line. Maybe some day I\’ll have a set of rollers again, but I think I\’ll skip the  Silly Skills in that video. I can\’t ride no-handed on flat ground!

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When Is Calm Better?

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When is calm better — when you want to ride easy, or when you want to work on speed? It was a wonderful ride this morning. Yes, it was already 79 degrees at 5 am; but the moon was out, and I got to see the moonlight on the river. I heard katydids! The seemingly endless clouds of flying insects seem to be abating somewhat. There were some clouds around, and I saw a few flashes of distant lightning; but it didn’t rain on me. And no wind!! Oh, how I love the rare windless day! Here’s the catch: do I prefer the lack of wind when I want to go easy, or when I want to push for speed? It makes a lot of sense to want a windless day when I intend to ride very slow and easy, trying to stay in heart rate Zone 1. On the other hand, a stiff headwind is quite frustrating when I’m working for X mph, and the wind makes it nigh well impossible. This is when I catch myself wishing for a power meter. When a headwind is slowing me down to 9-10 mph, I might actually be putting out enough power that I’d be going 15-17 mph on a calm day. But X watts is X watts, no matter what the weather conditions; so a power meter would let me know whether I\’m truly getting stronger. A calm day is much easier on me when it’s cold, that’s for sure. My nose gets runny when the temperature falls below 70 degrees, and wind only makes it worse. On top of that, I have exercise-induced rhinitis. In a humid climate, the cold seems to penetrate right down to your bones no matter how many layers you wear.  When the weather is hot, I still don’t want wind to fight, but a breeze would be nice when I stop riding. It would cool me off. So when is calm better? I guess that depends on how you look at it.

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Double the Fun

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Do you want to have double the fun? Bicycling events abound. Centuries. Bike MS. Tour de Cure. RABRAI. RAGBRAI sounds great, and I think I\’d like to do it some day. I\’m sure tandems are as welcome at these events as one-person bicycles. And even unicycles and adult trikes. But are there any rides especially for the bicycle built for two? There sure are. Check out Tandem Cycle Works! Again, the site isn\’t secure, so I don\’t quite dare create a link to it. How to start riding a tandem? I must confess that I, for one, am clueless. I could read a whole library full of books about tandeming, and still be at sea. It\’s one of those things that you have to do if you\’re to really understand it. Even if I learned it, I\’d have a hard time explaining \”how\” to someone else, just as I couldn\’t really explain riding a [single] bicycle to a non-rider. Which position is harder: captain, or stoker? The captain, or the rider in front, must be alert for changing road conditions/hazards, such as potholes. The captain takes the brunt when there\’s a headwind. The stoker, or the rider in the rear, has to be able to put absolute trust in the captain. The stoker can\’t see what\’s ahead, and doesn\’t need unpleasant surprises such as a sudden bump. And check out the end of the YouTube linked above. Even if it\’s double the fun, riding a tandem seems tricky enough to me. What mustn\’t it be like to be on a bicycle build for SIX!

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