SpokEasy

SpokEasy

Author name: CAL

More Than Just Legs

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More Than Just Legs Cycling is about more than just legs. From browsing through Feed Zone cookbooks; and web sites such as this, I’m aware of the phenomenon called “flavor fatigue”. Flavor fatigue is real. After several hours of pedaling, my stomach starts to feel uncomfortable. I don’t want to eat any more. It’s amazing how tiresome a Clif Bar is when I eat 1/8 of a bar every 15 minutes, and it’s the same flavor every bite! But if I still have more than a very few miles to go, I need to keep fueling; even if I’m tired of eating.  If this happens to me on a ride of 50 miles or so, at a moderate (pokey?) pace of 12-13 mph, what must it be like for, let’s say, a Tour de France rider? They say that those guys burn up to 8000 calories per stage! They ride much faster than I can, and increased intensity increases stomach discomfort. (Hence the need to train your gut.) Yet the pro tour rider has to keep fueling and hydrating. They say that eating enough during a prolonged stage race is akin to force feeding. The teams’ chefs have quite a job finding a way to keep the peloton properly fed while providing enough variety to stave off flavor fatigue. I try not to bring along exactly the same foods on every long ride; and I usually have at least two flavors of GU-Gel on hand. It helps prevent boredom — I mean, flavor fatigue. Because as I know, cycling is about more than just legs.  

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Feeling Adventurous?

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Sometimes I think it would be wonderful to go on a long bicycle trip. Do you, but you don\’t know how to start planning? I don\’t either, so here\’s some advice to get us going. I haven\’t read it all yet, but at first glance it reminds me of Adventure Cycling, with different \”flavors\” of bicycle touring. If I were to do such a tour, would I need to buy a touring bicycle? And more panniers? And camping equipment? Where would I go? Which part of the country? If I headed for the mountains, I hope I could start from a low-altitude area, and adjust to the increasing altitude as I go. I\’d need some super-low climbing gears, I\’ll bet! Would this 44x32x22 do? Or maybe I could follow a nice, flat coastal route? I\’ve thought that, if I want to ride centuries, the Seagull Century might be a good one, supposing I could get to Maryland. I\’ve heard that the route is flat, but unfortunately tends to be windy. Maybe a ride through the prairies? Would it be possible pedal alongside the Mississippi River all the way to its source in Minnesota? Sounds like the sky\’s the limit. Incidentally, isn\’t it a pity there\’s no constellation Bicyclus up there with Taurus, Orion, etc.?

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Butterflies?

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Why do people talk about \”butterflies in your stomach\” when the thyroid gland (shaped like a butterfly) is in the neck? An under-active thyroid gland is no joke. Hypothyroidism causes constant fatigue; sluggishness; weight gain; and more. Over the years I\’ve been told both that I\’m hypothyroid, and that my thyroid is normal. Which is it? For almost 14 years I dragged along, horribly exhausted and unable to sleep. Focusing my mind was a brutal effort. I was criticized at work for being below par. Naturally the constant feeling that I had an anesthetic hangover made me question how my thyroid gland was doing. Blood tests for thyroid function, done fairly early in that miserable period, were \”normal\”; and I got so everlastingly sick and tired of being told that my problem was \”mental\”. It was only after all those years that a doctor ordered an overnight sleep study; and guess what? I have a sleep disorder! I wish somebody had done that study years earlier. I could have been spared a lot of misery. Yet some thyroid-panel tests have shown my \”numbers\” to be a bit on the low side. One doctor says that that might be explained by small variations from one lab to another. Years ago I saw one doctor who did think I was hypothyroid, because my temperature was running low. But was my thermometer accurate? We need our thyroid glands to be \”up to speed\” so we can function in daily life, and on the bicycle. It\’s amazing how important that small gland is. As for butterflies, I prefer the ones that I see on flowers.

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Sunday UN-ride

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Today was Sunday UN-ride. That\’s right, I skipped the ride today — although I didn\’t spend it idling in a rocking chair, either, and of course it isn\’t Christmas. I wanted a few things from the drug store, and considered riding there so I\’d get in one mile, anyway. But I\’d heard heavy rain at about 5:20 am, and the drug store is in a strip mall located between two streets that flood quickly when it rains hard. So I walked over there. Sure enough, both of those streets were still lakes! After I demolished the pint of ice cream I bought, I decided to get to work on a set of storage shelves I have in my back room. It took about three hours to finish what looked like a small job! I dread the day when I\’ll be moving out of here. I\’ll need at least a week just to sort through everything. The shelves needed to be cleaned; I had to sort through more stuff than I\’d realized I had accumulated; I did some consolidating; and I moved the shelves to another spot in the room before I re-loaded them. Along the way I noticed that I do not need to have done a 3-4 hour bicycle ride to have orthostatic hypotension kick in. As all too often happens, the forecast turned out to be boy-who-cried-wolf. So it was Sunday UN-ride, but maybe I can ride tomorrow morning.

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The Darker Side

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The darker side? Cycling? Sadly, yes. Pro cycling looks glamorous. We see those riders looking so fit and trim, wearing their team\’s kit, pedaling along on gorgeous bicycles in a tight pack at incredible speeds. Go beyond that enticing surface, and it\’s less glamorous. A pro cyclist\’s job is to ride. Like any other workers, pro riders have days when the thought of going to work makes them feel like this kitty here. They sometimes have crashes. They get injured. It can get nasty; just look at pics of crashes that occur during pro cycling races. Above and beyond the physical wear and tear involved in pro cycling, there are even darker aspects of the sport. Pro cyclists aren\’t immune to depression, despite all the feel-good endorphins that come with riding. They\’re under a lot of pressure to perform well. Failure to perform up to expectations would, I guess, result in a rider losing his/her spot on the team. Considering the years of grueling training and sacrifices required to get on a pro team at all, wouldn\’t losing that coveted spot be devastating? A team might be dissolved overnight, which adds the stress of job insecurity. Unless a cyclist is a mega-star, the pay might not be so great. Forty thousand a year? That\’s more than I make, but it\’s not much in these times! I\’d better not dwell on it too much. It gets too depressing. I don\’t need to get caught up in the darker side.

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What\’s the Rub?

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What\’s the rub? A massage, or brake rub? Day before yesterday I got my hybrid back from the shop. I was at work when I got word that the bike was ready, and I didn\’t have my helmet with me. I walked the bike home through a downpour. Then yesterday I didn\’t ride to work because I had to catch an early shuttle to go to an appointment. Thus I didn\’t notice the rear-brake rub until this morning. I hitched up the trailer for a trip to the salvage store, and quickly noticed that the bike seemed hard to pedal, even with the trailer to add drag. I thought, maybe I\’m out of shape for the hybrid because I haven\’t ridden it for over a week. So, I said, what\’s the rub, here? At some point I realized that I had brake drag. Now I\’ve got to go back to the shop. I hope the weather doesn\’t break bad for a couple of hours. The trip back home was slow because the wind was picking up. But I got lots of stuff I can use for on-bike food: Fiber One Protein Bars, for example, 98 cents for a box of five. I got five boxes in two different flavors. Of course I hit the make-your-own-grab-bag bins. Two large bags, 63 items, $10. Some of it is for ride food,  some is for when the \”nibbles\” hit when I\’m home, and some is to take to work for snacks. I guess you could say the trip was worth it.

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Bringing along Baby

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Bringing along baby need not be impossible. Want to ride, but have a little one who can\’t be left at home? How about a child trailer? Read up on safety guidelines before choosing a trailer. Check reviews of the model(s) that you\’re considering. You\’ll have some very precious cargo, after all. Don\’t forget head protection for your small passengers. A child doesn\’t have to be in a seat over the rear wheel, or in front of the adult rider, to suffer head injury should the adult happen to wipe out. The trailer that I have is strictly for non-living cargo. It sat in someone\’s shed for a couple of years, and I\’ve never really cleaned it. I wouldn\’t be surprised if it doesn\’t meet the current safety criteria. The strap meant to keep the trailer from coming loose should the main hitch fail is so hard to get fastened — and it\’s even harder to unhook it! — that last time I used the trailer I didn\’t bother with it. The friend who gave me this trailer says that she feels unstable enough on a bicycle, and even more unsteady with the trailer. I\’m the opposite. If anything, having the trailer seems to make me feel more stable. Better check yourself out on that before loading up \”Junior\” or \”Janie\”. I hope that it all checks out; and that bringing along baby means that your child could be on the way to become a cycling enthusiast!

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Warmshowers

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Warmshowers? Oh, come now. That\’s getting too personal! But on a long tour, you might not always find a camping place with showers available. Spend a few long days in the saddle without being able to clean up; and your state is better left to the imagination. Here\’s where Warmshowers can help. It sounds like a wonderful program. A warm shower feels marvelous if you haven\’t had one for a few days! I experienced that early last year, when a freak cold snap froze my pipes. The weather was freezing cold, and it was cold indoors, too; but even so I felt pretty grungy after two or three days. And I wasn\’t even riding! Fortunately I was able to buy a one-day pass to a nearby fitness center, where I could take a shower and wash my hair. I\’m can\’t even think of becoming a Warmshowers host. I don\’t have a couch, because that space is for my bicycles; and I don\’t have a backyard where cyclists can camp overnight. My apartment has a mold problem. The bathroom door won\’t shut properly; and the floor isn\’t even level! It wouldn\’t be very comfortable to sleep on. As I understand it, Warmshowers in an all-in-the-club thing; those who use it are expected to reciprocate. So if I do a long tour of my own, I hope I can find campgrounds with showers!  

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JAWS Cajun Style?

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Jaws Cajun style? Well, alligators have jaws, don\’t they? I ride along the Mississippi River levee. The water still quite high; and the backwater, I\’ve learned, has alligators! Last Friday is the first time I saw one. I heard an odd, raspy sound, and wondered what it was; and I saw what looked like an amber/orange reflector in the water. I kept glancing at it, and then noticed a large, dark shape in the water. It was barely starting to get light, but I\’m certain it was an alligator that I saw. You know how it is: start keeping watch for something, and you see it all over the place. This morning, over a stretch of two miles or so, I spotted five of those \”reflectors\” in the water! I wouldn\’t dare to try paddling around that backwater in a pirogue, now that I know what\’s in there. In fact, I\’d rather keep well away. While I\’m riding, I keep looking to be sure there isn\’t a gator approaching the bike path. Keeping a lookout for such hazards is another good argument for using a headlight. Suppose a gator decides to sprawl itself athwart the path? Without a good light I might not see it in time. I don\’t want to have my bicycle chomped in two, much less my leg. The ocean isn\’t the only place where you have to watch out for Jaws. Here it\’s simply Jaws Cajun style.

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Cycling Hall of Fame

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Welcome to the Cycling Hall of Fame. Baseball. Football. Basketball. It seems that every sport has its Hall of Fame. Cycling is no exception. That Eddy Merckx has a place there doesn\’t surprise me. He was the greatest rider of his generation. Some say he\’s the greatest cyclist ever. OK, so how does one get into the HoF? It\’s about more than being a champion rider; more than winning an Olympic gold medal; or even winning the Tour de France. For the mountain bike folks, it goes like this. There\’s also this way. I\’ll never make it into the Cycling Hall of Fame, unless riding a century on an adult trike counts! But I might not be the only one who ever did that, and I didn\’t do it to raise funds for a worthy cause. I just wanted to see if I could do it; and I did!

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