SpokEasy

SpokEasy

Author name: CAL

Fight or Flight?

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We hear about “fight or flight” all the time: we sense that things aren’t right; and our nervous systems rev up for either knocking someone’s lights out; or running like a pack of hellhounds is pursuing us. Wind (oh, that LOATHSOME word!) seems like fight or flight, too. All too often it’s fight, fight, fight against a headwind. My rides are out-and-back almost every time. I\’m sure it\’s easy for anybody to advise cyclists: plan your rides so you have a tailwind on the way back home. Fight or flight — I mean, fight and then flight, with a following breeze. If only it were that easy, I would have been doing it for years. The bike path that I use ends about one mile East of home, and the wind here tends to be easterly. If I had a car, maybe I could drive my bicycle to a place where I could park the car; do a ride that would let me have a tailwind on the way back; and then drive home. As to flight, that\’s what it can feel like when you pick up a stiff tailwind: flying! When I have the wind behind me, and shift that road bike into hard gears, I\’ve reached 25+ mph! Even when I attain 18-19 mph, it starts to feel like the bicycle is weightless; almost like it\’s not touching the ground any more! But climbing Mont Ventoux? That\’s a flight of fancy for a run-of-the-mill cyclist like me.

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Nocturne?

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Nocturne sounds to me first and foremost like a piece of music. However, there\’s no way I can haul along a piano on a bicycle ride. This wasn\’t truly a nocturnal ride; it was nearing dawn. But it was still dark enough for the rising old crescent moon to be gorgeous. When I first spotted it, the moon was low in the sky; just above treetop level. It was a beautiful orange color; and I kept stealing glances at it as much as I could. Tomorrow morning the moon might be too low for me to be able to see it; so it will be at least a month before I get a chance for such a sight again. Come to think of it, I might not see the moon like that again until Fall. It gets light earlier and earlier, which will wash out the moon. That\’s no nocturne! But in a couple of weeks I\’ll have the chance to see the moon at the full. I hope the weather will be clear that morning!

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White Noise?

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We hear about using \”white noise\” to help create a soothing atmosphere for sleep. I don\’t know about anybody else, but conventional white noise drives me crazy! It\’s too high in frequency for me. Maybe we cyclists need a different kind of white noise. How about sounds of the peloton? The freewheel during coasting; the whir of time trial wheels; and the wind whooshing past a rider\’s ears. I wish I could get the dark and quiet that sleep hygienists say we need for sleep. But with other people living on the other side of a thin wall; a fridge not ten feet from my bed; and train tracks only one block away, quiet is rather rare. I\’m tired of wearing earplugs to bed every night; but what else can I do? On top of the earplugs, I need to run my standing fan as a \”bass white noise\” machine. Otherwise when the neighbors start to talk LOUDLY, I\’ll be wakened. Or won\’t be able to get to sleep in the first place. It\’s hard to get it really dark, too: usually I have bicycle lights plugged into their chargers overnight; I don\’t have blackout curtains; and so on. I\’d rather not wear one of those masks that cover your eyes. They say that your body needs to get the natural light as morning approaches. I\’ll have to stick with my \”bass white noise\” for now, and hope to have a nice, quiet home someday; one close to lots of good bicycling paths!

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The Fixin\’s

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Turkey with all the fixin\’s is the typical Thanksgiving Day dinner in the USA. But how about the fixin\’s when it comes to a bicycle\’s mechanical problems? On any ride, there\’s always the possibility that something will go awry. It might be a flat tire; or it might be a broken spoke. It seems logical to conclude that, on multi-day events, being out riding for so long increases the likelihood that you\’ll need to make some kind of repair. Especially for randonneuring, participants are strongly advised to learn ahead of the event to change tubes and/or patch a tube quickly and efficiently; to make adjustments to the bicycle; and so on. Randonneurs don\’t have a SAG wagon tagging along! Self-sufficiency is the name of the game; and with randonneuring, that clock ticks remorselessly on. You might have to fix a flat, yes. Carry spare tubes or a patch kit, or both. What if a spoke breaks during a long tour, when the next stopover is far away? FiberFix can let you make a temporary repair. I need to learn more about these things. The idea of experimenting on my bicycles worries me, though. It would be just like me to wreak havoc, resulting in an expensive repair at the bike shop!

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What Goes Up

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What goes up must come down, they say. If only the \”up\” part were as easy as the \”down\” part! The Complete Book of Long-Distance Cycling provides advice about climbing on pages 48-51. It says that, during events, it\’s better to climb as fast as you can without going anaerobic, then rest while descending. Training is a different matter, when occasionally going anaerobic  is beneficial. Naturally, that book isn\’t the only place where I\’ve gleaned advice about climbing. I can\’t keep track of all the sources, but here are more nuggets of climbing know-how: Don\’t be embarrassed to use  your \”granny gear\” on climbs. In fact, trying to climb in too hard a gear is too much strain on the knees. Using a hard gear, climbing or not, also causes you to burn through your body\’s glycogen stores too quickly. On an event full of very steep grades, you might even want to swap to a three-ring set-up. Check out your cassette, too; it\’s possible you\’ll want some bigger cogs. Keep your breathing as relaxed as possible when climbing. Easy to say; not so easy to do! Keep your grip on the handlebars relaxed, too; just not so relaxed that a sudden bump will cause your hands to go flying. And now, see the crest of the hill? Don\’t relax yet! Finish the climb first. In fact, wait until you\’ve begun to feel gravity pull you downhill. Once you\’ve begun to descend, you can shift into harder gears and use a slower cadence. If you feel that you must use your brakes, use them in an on-off manner rather than ride them all the way downhill. Enjoy the descent! Remember: what goes up, must come down.

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Sunday Morning UN-ride

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It\’s a Sunday morning un-ride. Can you believe it? This is Sunday morning, and I\’m not out riding! It woke up tired; sleepy; sluggish; and with a stuffed-up head. Yesterday was a bad pollen day; and maybe that explains it. What\’s more, the forecast last night predicted winds of 17 mph. I heard the wind blowing outside, and checked the weather site again. It said the wind was 20 mph; and from the North. A North wind means a nasty headwind on the way home; and as I write this, the wind has increased to 25 mph!! The chill factor was 47 degrees, and that isn\’t good news; my nose would have driven me crazy with its non-stop sniffles. The sky was overcast, and by 9 am it was starting to sprinkle on and off. I know, it wouldn\’t kill me to ride in the rain; but it isn\’t fun. It\’s especially unpleasant when the sky opens up and I still have miles to go before I get home. They expect the rain to end early this afternoon; and maybe I can go for a short ride then. I intended to make today\’s ride a rather short one, anyway. The wind might be a little less by then, too. I hope April doesn\’t turn out to be a rainy month. That would make the Love to Ride challenge more a slog than a challenge. Incidentally, with a Love to Ride challenge imminent, I hope the Sunday morning un-ride doesn\’t become a habit.

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Puzzling

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Some things in life are downright puzzling. Composing blogs several weeks in advance is turning out to be like a jigsaw puzzle. The dates I schedule seem to change themselves. Either that; or I can\’t keep track of what I\’ve scheduled for which day; or my eyes are too tired from staring at a screen to process what I\’m seeing. Working up a training schedule is rather the same way. Which day should I reserve as an easy day? What\’s the best day for working on the short, but super-hard, efforts? What am I to do when I\’m feeling too tired for those super-hard efforts that I scheduled? For most of us, cyclist training has to be worked in around other important responsibilities: work, family, school, and so on. How do we fit it all in? We all also know that life throws us curve balls sometimes; and when it does, we have to adapt if we don\’t want to go crazy. Too sleepy to get up for your usual early morning ride? You can at least ride to work; and get in a few miles that way. Do you have a brisk ride scheduled, but woke up with a cold? Do the \”neck check\”. You might be able to go out for an easy ride. Too tired for that all-out ride? Take it easy today and do the hard ride tomorrow. Keep track of your rides. You can use any notebook; or you can get fancy with The Cyclist\’s Training Diary. Either way, knowing what you\’ve done can help you to work out future training plans. Maybe it doesn\’t have to be puzzling, after all.

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The Old Saw

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Who hasn\’t heard the old saw umpteen to the nth times? The good, the bad, and the ugly. The good: this morning I hitched up the trailer for a ride to the salvage store. For less than $29, I brought home a decent haul. For instance, I found boxes of mac \’n\’ cheese, four for one dollar. I already had several boxes of the stuff at home; but when I find a good price like that, I stock up. I found bologna and hot dogs for much less than they\’d cost at the regular supermarket. Bread was $1.25 a loaf; and I even found a Xmas ornament shaped like a choo-choo for fifty cents. I got it to give to my nephew when Xmas comes. The bad: I need bananas, which the salvage store doesn\’t usually have. I wanted 13-gallon garbage bags, but couldn\’t find any. It\’s a good thing I have time to find some before my current supply runs out. Getting back home was rather tough. Normally a 10 mph wind isn\’t too bad, but having that trailer to pull of course made it harder. I had to gear down and resign myself to plodding along. As for the ugly, the forecast for tomorrow doesn\’t look so good. There\’s a 50% chance of rain, and possibly T-storms. The wind will be rather strong, too. I guess I\’ll just have to take a chance, and ride. It\’s the old saw again: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

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After the Fall

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What happens after the fall? Crashing while cycling may not be quite as drastic as this (it has me scratching my head and thinking, HOW did THAT happen?); but by all accounts it can be bad enough. An accident resulting in serious or life-threatening injury could have a cyclist reluctant to get back on the bike after the fall. I don\’t know what I would do; I\’m sure that riding again would be terrifying if I were knocked down by a car, or if I went over an embankment. It would be hard enough, I suspect, if I \”only\” got a nasty case of road rash. The idea of such accidents gives a whole different meaning to \”recovery\”. I\’m amazed at that Dutch rider mentioned in the article, pedaling again less than two weeks after fractures in her spine! And she had a concussion as well. Such injuries would probably leave me bedridden for several weeks; and off the bike for much longer. And look at that poor fellow who already was seriously hurt, and got his leg run over by a motorcycle. Talk about heaping injury upon injury! This isn\’t the only thing I\’ve read that gives the mental side of bicycling high marks. Mental toughness must be especially important when coming back after severe physical trauma. I can\’t speak from personal experience, but I guess a major aspect of that is to take your time. So after the fall, as an old song went, \”Pick yourself up. Dust yourself off. Start all over again.\”

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I\’ll Take Their Word

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I\’ll take their word for it: it\’s many years since I last drove a car, but this is quite credible. It\’s only logical to think that a driver who is also a cyclist, is going to be aware that there are cyclists out there; even if s/he isn\’t among them that day. Some cyclists ride the wrong way in a bike lane, even if there are arrows to show the correct direction of travel. Some cyclists crash stop signs and red lights. The cyclist-driver will know to keep an eye peeled for such riders, and be prepared to react if necessary. Cyclists have to be constantly aware of their surroundings; and I\’m sure this skill will be transferred to the position behind a steering wheel. Daydreaming while pedaling alongside traffic is inviting disaster; and the same is true of driving a car. Stay alert! A motorist who also rides a bicycle knows what it\’s like to feel squeezed between a long line of moving cars on one side, and parked cars on the other side; and will know of the risk that the poor cyclist might get \”doored\”. That can have disastrous (even fatal) consequences for the cyclist; and drivers need to watch for it. I\’ll bet there\’s a lot more that could be said. As a non-driver, however, I\’ll have to let motorists who are also cyclists fill in the blanks; and I\’ll take their word for it.

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