SpokEasy

August 2023

Over the Hump

BACK ISSUES, bicycling /

Over the Hump Sometimes, when cycling, you’ve got to get over the hump. When I first began riding, getting over any kind of hump felt very hard. I read various cycling websites and books for hints about climbing. One source said, shift into harder gears as you near the top of an incline. WHAT?! That seemed to me the opposite of what riders needed to do; namely, to shift to easier gears on the way uphill. But I know a little better now. About two and a half years ago, out of the blue, I found that I was pulling up on the handlebars and easing my weight on the saddle when “climbing”. I noticed that this let me push harder on the pedals. It’s harder on my legs; but I seem to be able to climb more effectively when I do it. And it does, indeed, help me to get over the hump if I shift to the next hardest gear as I near the top. It gives me more to push against; and that provides a boost. Another tidbit of advice for climbing is: don’t let up your efforts until you’ve finished the climb, that is, wait to relax a bit until you feel gravity starting to pull you down the incline. I’m finding that it’s true. Not that I really ought to hand out advice on climbing. The humps I know are simply places where pipes go over the levee. Our terrain is flat, flat, flat. What would I do if I wound up living in the Ozarks?

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Covered with Snow

BACK ISSUES, bicycling /

Covered with Snow This blog/page may contain affiliate links. “We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.” Covered with snow, we are not. Snow, in fact, is very rare here — the last time we got any was in 2008! Nevada, however, means, “covered with snow”; and the Silver State offers a number of bicycle trails. If you want snow, there are skiing opportunities as well. The Austin Mountain Bike Trail Network offers trails for MTB enthusiasts at all levels. For the advanced rider, there’s the one-mile, downhill-only Pony Canyon trail. A novice MRB rider might want to try out the 4.5-mile Castle Loop Trail. If you’d rather hike than bike, head for the Bently Heritage Trail. This five-mile, hikers-only route along the Carson River offers some beautiful scenery and the chance to spot some wildlife. See some Nevada high country while getting exercise by railbiking! The V&T Carson Railbike Tours follow the Virginia and Truckee Railroad through the Carson River Valley. Sounds like fun!  There is also the River Mountains Loop Trail at Henderson — 34 paved miles for biking; horseback riding; or hiking. Maybe that’s the one for me! The altitude there is not quite 1900 feet; and maybe I could manage that.  Today it’s 93 degrees; the heat index is 105; and we’ve got an air quality alert! It’s hard to think of cycling in such heat; and even harder to imagine being covered with snow. ABOUT ME I began this website primarily as a way to present the story of how I accomplished a century ride on an adult tricycle. Other riders of adult trikes might want to know whether it’s possible. It sure is! You can read all about it in My Story. I live in New Orleans; and  retired in January 2023. More time for cycling! Website designed by Cecile Levert © This website is the property of its author. DISCLAIMER I am not a cycling coach; nor a health professional. This site is based on my own experiences, opinions, etc. If you need help, please consult the appropriate professional.   FRESH FROM MY JOURNAL Ramping It Up March 13, 2024 Re-View March 12, 2024 Looking Ahead March 11, 2024 See-Saw March 10, 2024 Load More TRANSLATOR

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Bike the Pyrenees

BACK ISSUES, bicycling /

Bike the Pyrenees This blog/page may contain affiliate links. “We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.” Let’s bike the Pyrenees, and make a visit to Andorra. This tiny principality offers a variety of road cycling routes, suited to different fitness levels. Some let you roll through valley bottoms; others, well — let’s just say they’re not for the beginning cyclist! For the MTB enthusiast, there is a variety of options, too. You can bike the Pyrenees by registering in one of the local races; or sign up for a guided tour if you don’t want to worry about logistics. There are tours for MTBs and those in which the entire family can participate. Refuel in one of Andorra’s bike-friendly cafés or restaurants; and you can stay in a bicycle-friendly hotel. The Tour de France doesn’t neglect Andorra; but I feel sorry for the riders who can’t enjoy the scenery. They have to keep their eyes and their minds on the race; and if I tried a bicycle tour there,  I’d be so busy struggling with the gradients that I couldn’t enjoy the scenery, either. Andorra has an average altitude of over one mile. I, for one, would find that hard to cope with, even if I didn’t need my breath to ride a bicycle. If I were to plan a cycling vacation there, a Sparthos Training Mask would be a must!

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Stuck

BACK ISSUES, bicycling, equipment /

Stuck! I’m stuck, you might say; yesterday I got my flu shot for this season. This WOTOW Bike Tire Repair Kit  can keep you from getting stuck beside the road. The WOTOW comes in several versions; you can buy one with an 11-in-1 multitool; a 16-in-1 multitool; or a 16-in-1 multitool with valve core remover. Tire levers; pre-glued patches; and 1 120 psi mini-pump are included in all versions. Waterproof carrying bag hangs from your top tube; and this bag also has room for your cell phone. Great for road, MTB, and BMX cycling. Also good to have on a tour, when you might be a long way from any bike shops. You don’t want to get caught out there!

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What Am I Thinking

BACK ISSUES, bicycling /

What Am I Thinking? What am I thinking, considering doing RAGBRAI next year? Most of this week my legs have felt tired; and it’s hard to put in even 15 miles. RAGBRAI is about 500 miles in seven days; and that’s an average of  roughly  71 miles per day. For some reason I was thinking the daily average was about 40 miles. Maybe I need to skip the long ride come Sunday; and haul out the foam roller, too. If I ride, I need to get out very early. This crazy heat continues to plague us. Today it was almost 8:00 am by the time I got going. I used the Camel-Bak; and took along electrolyte drink. I wanted to put in about 16 miles; and managed less than 12! You can that training for RAGBRAI? Or even a personal century? It wasn’t a fun ride, at all. To begin with, I had to take a detour of several miles to get to the bike path. Sometimes, as today, there’s a train blocking both the closest crossing and the next nearest one. Then there was the wind. Not that it was really so very strong; 6-8 mph. But it seemed very hard to make headway against it. RAGBRAI can include headwinds as well as hills and heat. So what am I thinking?  

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Am I a Dwarf

BACK ISSUES, bicycling /

Am I a Dwarf? Am I dwarf; namely, Sleepy? It seemed like it this morning.  I turned off my alarm clock; and fell asleep again! It was 8:00 am by the time I was ready to ride; and already 85 degrees. By about 2:00 pm, it had hit 100 degrees! I decided not to ride on the levee. Instead I rode the hybrid over to the park; made two or three circuits; and headed for the drug store to pick up a few items. Sometimes shopping can be a problem, as when I want something on a top shelf. It makes me ask myself, am I a dwarf? After I got home, I mostly stayed indoors. I’m becoming quite the delicate flower, aren’t I? There was a good breeze today, and I actually wished I could have an open window so I could enjoy it. When the doors and windows are shut, it gets quite stuffy. But I had work to do. Today I put in a lot more work on navigation menus for various website pages. It’s quite the jigsaw puzzle, I can tell you! This isn’t hard work, really; but it’s very time-consuming. Weather-wise, tomorrow will be a repeat of today. Another day of starting early; and probably taking electrolyte drink with me. For two days my rides have been quite short; and I want to get in a few more miles tomorrow. I mustn’t wear myself out too much, because I want to visit the salvage store the day after tomorrow; and Sunday I want to shoot for 25 miles or so. There’s a 20% chance of  rain and T-storms Sunday afternoon; so I want to go out early. And of course I want to beat the heat!

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Clouds to the Rescue

BACK ISSUES, bicycling, Uncategorized /

Clouds to the Rescue It’s clouds to the rescue this afternoon! The chances of rain/T-storms are only 20%; but there’s enough of a cloud cover that it’s noticeably cooler than usual in here. That’s a major relief! I went out around 11:00 am to get Chinese take-out for my lunch; and off in a northerly direction, I could see what looked like a huge cloud building up. I hoped it would come our way; give us a good T-storm; and cool things off. So far it hasn’t rained; and I haven’t heard any thunder. But does it feel good to NOT have the sun blazing down! Even so, at the moment it’s 97 degrees; and the heat index is 113. Day before yesterday, the temperature hit 100 degrees! So I’m continuing to ride early; and I try to be  home by 8:00 am. It’s already very hot by then; and there’s another excessive heat warning posted for tomorrow. This has gotten very tedious. Today I tried one-minute intervals of trying for 14-15 mph. I didn’t do all that well; but I’ll keep trying. I did less than 13 miles today; so I didn’t use the Camel-Bak. It was nice to not have that load on my back! At present, I have another big website project going on. I’m putting navigation bars all over the place, so visitors can more easily move from one part of the site to another.  It isn’t difficult; but it’s very time-consuming. And I still need to check that all the buttons work properly, e.g. that the “Intermediate” button does, in fact, have the link to the page by that name; and not, let’s say, “Riding for Diabetes“. But right now, my eyes need a break.

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Keep on Rolling

BACK ISSUES, bicycling, equipment /

Keep on Rolling With ROCKBROS Bike Rollers, you can keep on rolling. It doesn’t matter whether it’s 100+ degrees outdoors, and you’d risk heatstroke out there; or you’re house-bound by whiteout conditions. This “treadmill for a bike” will let you have your ride! ROCKBROS Bike Rollers consist of a sturdy aluminum frame; and three rollers to support your bicycle’s wheels. The frame can be adjusted for different-length wheel bases; and it folds for easy storage. It’s also lightweight enough for easy carrying. It can be used with various kinds of bikes, such as MTBs and folding bikes. I had a set of rollers a long time ago. I became tolerably proficient on them with my hybrid; but couldn’t seem to manage my road bike on rollers. In retrospect, I think I was overly tentative when trying to get started. The road bike also has slicker tires than the hybrid; and that may have been a factor. I finally sold the rollers; but now I sometimes wish I still had them. When I must pedal indoors, rollers might be closer to a real ride than being hooked into a trainer. I find pedaling in that trainer extremely tedious; and usually can’t tolerate it for more than 15 minutes. This morning I set out before sunup. I knew it was going to get very hot again; and I wanted to ride early. I was glad to be back in by about 7:30 am. It was already well into the 80s by then. Yesterday afternoon  we  reached 100 degrees; and that was the air temperature. The heat index was 112! Our weather didn’t do this when I was a kid! I can easily believe in global warming!

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Cote-de-Velo

BACK ISSUES, bicycling, Outdoors /

Côte de Vélo? Côte de Vélo is another of my bad jokes. I thought of roller coasters yesterday when I went for a ride, and ended up doing lots of coasting. That led me to think of Bicycle Coast! I don’t know what was wrong with me, but my legs seemed very tired; and my stamina was poor. Maybe my legs need more massaging, much more often. That foam roller spends too much time occupying space on the shelf! I rode not quite 20 miles, instead of the 25 miles I was aiming for. Maybe I needed to eat more? So today I skipped riding. I didn’t spend the day on a park bench amidst Autumn leaves, though. It’s still very hot here; and except for two very short walks, I’ve been staying indoors where I can stay cool. Autumn makes me think of hot chocolate; but on a day like this, I say, perish the thought! Right now, at 4:00 pm, it’s 100 degrees! Tomorrow looks like more of the same. When will this end? I’ve got to ride early again; and hope it doesn’t turn into more côte de vélo. Being hot doesn’t help with that; and yesterday I forgot to wear my cooling band around my neck. Did that omission make such a difference? I must remember it tomorrow. So far, no hurricane trouble. If this heat is keeping them away, maybe the trade-off is worth it. But this is August; and hurricane season has nearly four months left! In fact, September is considered peak season. Thus we can’t let our guard down. I’m stocking gallon jugs of water, just in case. Many a weekday ride sees me wearing my Camel-Bak; and taking along electrolyte drink. It’s already so hot by 7:00 am that I need it. Ride at 5:00 am? That’s a possible solution; but unless I’m after a view of the full moon, I’d rather sleep a little later!

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