SpokEasy

SpokEasy

Author name: CAL

In Distinguished Company

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We\’re in distinguished company as cyclists; but I, for one, had no idea of it. Check out this video at 15:50 minutes. The nobility was into cycling, too! I hope that, as daughters of the Tsar, the Grand Duchesses weren\’t obliged to do their riding where the public wouldn\’t see them. Can you imagine having to worry that somebody — anybody! — would see you pedaling that thing; and think it unbefitting your social station? That would take all the fun out of it; and one of the reasons we ride is to have fun. I got into the Romanovs quite by accident. YouTubes about them began showing up in the margins of my laptop screen; and I began to watch them, simply out of curiosity. The case of Nicholas II is interesting; and sad, too. Apparently \”Nicky\” had never been properly prepared to take up the office of Tsar; and indeed, he never wanted to be Tsar. In fact, he reminds me of the Wizard of Oz, who was a good man; but a bad wizard. Well, I\’m glad I\’m not in public office; or even a high-profile pro cyclist. That\’s too un-private for my taste. I like being able to go out and ride my bicycle, and just be somebody riding a bicycle. When we ride our bicycles, we have a tiny share of the vanished world of the Romanovs: we\’re in distinguished company! At the same time, we can still be our ordinary, everyday selves; and I like that.

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Praise of Wasting Time

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In praise of wasting time?! Since when is wasting time praise-worthy, you say? As a rule, wasting time is frowned upon and, in fact, isn\’t a good idea. Time is little like lightning: once it\’s gone, it\’s gone; and we\’ll never get it back But we also hear about down-time. Having every moment of the day scheduled to the hilt is, after all, very stressful. Some folks juggle a high-powered job; plus a family and all of their activities; and on and on. It makes me feel exhausted merely to think of it. I\’m glad I can take some time to sit back and read; or listen to music; and write letters (REAL pen-and-paper letters); or simply let my mind wander where it will. Sometimes that\’s when I get good blog ideas; and I must be constantly on the alert for blog ideas! Or I might be taking care of the mundane chore of washing dishes. If a blog idea strikes then, I have to get my hands out of the water; rinse and dry them; and write down the idea before I lose it! Ergo don\’t be afraid to have a little unstructured time in your day. Let\’s hear some praise of wasting time! It might prove be the best-spent time of all!

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Food for Thought?

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Food for Thought How about some food for thought? It’s as important as on-bike food. I don’t think we really want to be matchstick-thin; although who wouldn’t like to have the figure of a Tour de France climbing specialist?  I certainly would; but my legs will always look heavy. It’s my natural build; and I’m stuck with it. Competitive cyclists in particular need to balance maintaining a trim figure with maintaining their strength and power — even enough power to  climb up to this mountain pass!* That must take some doing. We hear about pro riders who weigh every bite that they eat. I, for one, have no intention of taking things that far; and of course, we need to eat enough on the bike that we don’t bonk. During a prolonged stage race, that gets harder and harder. Especially towards the end of such a race, riders can start going catabolic because they’re burning so many calories every day; yet eating feels like force-feeding for them. That’s some food for thought! Eating properly off the bike is equally important. Even as a run-of-the-mill cyclist — one who doesn’t have to have a racing figure — I need a lot of improvement in my diet! I need more veggies; but I often must resort to the frozen or canned variety. When I get home from work I 1) usually don’t feel like cooking; and 2) have to get to work blogging. All too often I’ll just grab what’s quickest and easiest, which usually isn’t the most nutritious stuff. Do I need to lose weight? Most decidedly. Do I need to be thin? Well — no — not really. Certainly not like a matchstick! *P.S. I LOVE “Caucasian Sketches”!  

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Fixed or Growing?

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Am I fixed or growing? How do we think about our training? In essence, every pedal stroke we take is training, so let\’s forget a minute about whether our rides are \”real\” training or not. What\’s our mindset? Which kind of mindset do I, myself, have? Naturally, I like to think that I have the \”growth\” mentality. But do I, really; and how do I measure that? For example, take climbing. I know I\’m not good at it. I live in flatland, so the opportunities to work at climbing are few and far between. To get anything like \”hill training\” I have to ride several miles over rough streets to the nearest overpass. Does not doing so count as \”avoidance\”? Group rides are another sticky point for me. I\’m very sensitive to scented things; and some people, not meaning to be insulting, really pour it on. I can\’t wear a filter mask while riding; it\’s too smothery. Therefore I shy away from group rides, even though I often wish I could get more group riding experience. Maybe I could even learn drafting! I might seem to have the \”fixed\” mentality in that I\’m not trying out different kinds of cycling, such as MTB or cyclocross. Or not entering my first race. I don\’t have the finances to branch out into other cycling disciplines; and I\’m honestly not interested in racing. OK, maybe I\’m stuck in the \”fixed\” mentality. Fixed, or growing? Let\’s hope that the onset of Spring will help me to \”spring\” out of it and make some growth.

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Trial and Error

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Trial and error is part of cycling. This morning I tried out my new headlight system. I put the new headlight atop my helmet, as planned. Then I put the mount that came with the new light on the road bike\’s handlebars; and I fastened the old headlight (at left) into it. I thought this would be a good way to get some extra light-power when it\’s foggy; but thankfully it was not foggy today! I just like to try out these things before I actually need them. That old light doesn\’t weigh quite 4 ounces; but it was still heavy enough to fall forward until it was under the handlebar. I was difficult to get that mount\’s band fastened over the handlebar tape; but even so, it\’s not tight enough. I need some shims for it, but it\’s too late to go to the bike shop now.  Speaking of trial, this morning I tried some 30-second spurts of working to go as fast as I could. I  reached 19 mph once; but that was with a tailwind. I stayed in a relatively easy gear for these efforts: on the big ring, but medium cogs. On the way back home, I tried pushing hard into the wind several times. That\’s supposed to be good for force development. Tomorrow morning\’s ride is likely to be a trial; and I hope not trial and error! They\’re predicting fog (yes, again!), which doesn\’t make me very happy. I\’ll have to see what things are like before trying more work like this morning\’s. I don\’t want to be put on trial if I make the error of hitting someone who isn\’t properly \”visibilized\”.

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Tapering

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Tapering before a long event is rather like coming down to the point, isn\’t it? I\’ve done four self-supported centuries, and I rode in Tour de Cure five times. Did I taper correctly? I\’m far from sure. The idea of tapering is to maintain fitness, but to lose fatigue. I can\’t seem to lose fatigue, unfortunately. I have a sleep disorder, and don\’t even remember what it\’s like to feel well-rested and energetic. Therefore I\’m always tired. If I want to do things, such as working to improve my cycling pace — or even simply going for a ride — I just have to do them, tired or not. But when I\’ve been working up to a special, long ride for months, what should I do in the last week before the big day? I\’m sure that tapering for a recreational cyclist like me is very different from tapering for a serious racing cyclist. I don\’t doubt that his/her day-to-day training in the months leading up to an A race (i.e. a high-priority, important race) is a much heavier workload (discussed in The Cyclist\’s Training Bible) than my day-to-day rides. Most sources say that work volume should be considerably reduced, but it\’s necessary to keep up some intensity. This can mean doing just a few very short, very hard efforts, maybe only 10 seconds long; mixed in with a modest amount of riding at a moderate intensity. And don\’t do the hard efforts every day during that final, pre-event week. Also, be sure to get plenty of rest. No late nights during taper week!

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Form

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Why talk about form? We don\’t need to be able to do a limber sit on the bike, thank goodness. I could do this (on the floor, of course) in my teens; and even into my twenties. I now suspect that the reason I was so flexible as a  youngster, was that I had no muscular development! Correct form on the bicycle, however, is a good idea; especially if you put in long hours in the saddle. I know from reading so much about ballet that correct form is crucial in dance. It seems logical to conclude that the same is true of sports in general. Correct form has many advantages. It helps to prevent injuries; and makes riding more comfortable. It helps with deep breathing, and makes you look better, too! My form isn\’t the greatest, I\’ll confess. I slouch too much, both on bike and off; and really need to watch it if I want to avoid developing a dowager\’s hump! As already stated, we don\’t need to do a limber sit on the bike; but flexibility is still important. It helps with good form, including getting \”aero\”; and muscles that have become too tight plain old don\’t feel good. Remember how Mom was always telling you to \”Sit up straight!\”? Maybe Mom was right.

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Chop Suey

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Supposedly \”chop suey\” means, \”mixed up\”; and I thought of it when I made a late lunch/early supper today. I had a hankering after Chinese food, but didn\’t want to spend the money on a restaurant. One of my favorite Chinese dishes is fried rice; so I set to. First I cooked up a pot of brown rice. I had some steamed broccoli; some canned sweet peas; and part of a red onion in the fridge. I had soy sauce, too; and a jar of coconut oil. After the rice was done, I sliced up some of the red onion and a clove of garlic. I drained any remaining liquid out of the peas; and got out what broccoli I wanted. On a recent visit to the salvage store, I got a can of Vienna Sausages in Buffalo Sauce® to try. I sliced up two of the sausages, and put them in a bowl with the rice. Then, I heated up the skillet with a little coconut oil in it. Also, I started a tiny saucepan of water heating, in case the stuff in the skillet began to get too sticky. I sauteed the onion until it looked milky. Then I added the peas and broccoli and kept stirring. After a while I put in the garlic, rice, and sausage. Next I added a good splash of soy sauce. After some more stirring, I decided it was done. I stirred in freshly ground white pepper and that was it! So there\’s chop suey. This certainly was not gourmet cooking; but it\’s food!  

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A Ride and After

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What happens during a ride and after? Today I set out around 7:30 am … no, make that 8:30 am. I forgot about setting the clocks forward; but whatever time it really was, I\’m glad I didn\’t have to go riding before sunup. There were some patches of terrible fog. If it had been dark, visibility would have been severely reduced. Some of the fog patches were much cooler than the surrounding area, making me glad I had worn leg warmers. Because I rode so little during the past week, I figured it would be unwise to try banging out 50 miles; and decided to leave today\’s distance at 29-30 miles. I did a little experiment: I tried having a bite to eat once every 20 minutes, instead of every 15 minutes; and brought SIS electrolyte drink instead of Zym. I like Zym better; but now and then I need to try new stuff. The usual Sunday ride plan is to go long and steady; but today I threw in two sets of three 20-second hard pushes to see how fast I could get. I touched 19.47! I really need a lot more of such work, or I\’ll be stuck at 13-14 mph forever =( After I got back home and had some lunch, I sat down to try some toe-spacers. It was hard getting them between my toes at all; and they fell out too easily. Maybe they\’re too thick. I bought them from the drug store, and chose them because they were the cheapest ones that the store had. Maybe I should have expected it. You know what they say: If you buy cheap, you get cheap. Remind me not to buy cheap if I need a new bicycle!  That was a ride and after!

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On My Toes?

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On My Toes? Do we cyclists need to keep on our toes? How can I keep on my toes? I need some ideas; and so I’ve revisited this Ballet Hacks video. The first hack discusses using pedicure spacers to help relieve cramped toes after a day in pointe shoes. I haven’t ever worn pointe shoes; but I thought that spacers might help my feet if they feel cramped after a long Sunday ride. The first time I tried them, it was a cold day. It was rather frigid in my apartment; and the trial wasn’t much of  a success. It was too chilly for me to not have socks on; and it was too awkward trying to pull socks over feet plus toe spacers. How can I keep on my toes like that? Today, now that it’s warmer, I tried wiggling the spacers between my toes again; and it seemed to go better. I hope to try it after tomorrow’s long ride; not that it’s going to be 50 miles. I haven’t been able to ride much this past week, thanks to nasty weather. I use orthotics in my cycling shoes, and really “should” use them any time I wear shoes; but they aren’t very comfortable in my sneakers for walking more than very short distances. I need to “work up” to them more. Maybe the toe spacers will help in that respect?

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