SpokEasy

SpokEasy

Author name: CAL

Oh to Retire!

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Oh to retire! No, not re-tire as in putting new tires on a bicycle. Retire as in leave the work force. I\’m not saying that I\’ll retire soon; but I\’m at the age to be planning for it. Just as a pro cyclist needs to have something after the racing career is over, I\’ll want something in retirement, too. Of course there\’s blogging; that\’s already in my plans. And, what else? Reading! Maybe more time for core/upper body work. More time to cook and get more into really healthful eating. For this, super-fresh veggies would be great. I think it would be nice to have a place that\’s all my own, with enough of a yard for a small garden. I could try out my green thumb. Supposing, that is, that my thumb is green! Some people have a \”black\” thumb; that is to say, they manage to kill even the \”easiest\” plants. And oh to retire and have more time to ride! Maybe even to train for some ultra-long rides, such as one of Adventure Cycling\’s tours. Probably I\’d go for one of the fully-supported tours. My budget doesn\’t have room for a touring bicycle. Not having to be at a job at 8:00 am would mean that I didn\’t have to get up so early to go riding. I might even be able, at long, long last, to catch up on sleep! Or do I daydream?  

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About More than Wheels

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It\’s about more than wheels. We hear all the time about the need for balance in our lives. Just as we have to balance on two wheels while riding a bicycle, we must strike a balance between cycling activities and everything else: job, family, and so on. Find out here how some people have managed to do it. They\’re way ahead of me! Training 15-20 hours a week in addition to a full-time job is more than I can do. Between the road bike and the hybrid, the most I\’m likely to get in is  10-11 hours a week; maybe twelve. Then there\’s balance within cyclist training: enough intense work to bring about improvement; but not going hard every day. All hard, all the time is the fast track to exhaustion; burnout; injury; and even loss of interest in cycling? At the same time, a cyclist who is serious about training must guard against falling into the \”sorta hard all the time\” trap. (Which is where I suspect I am!) Always riding at the same pace can get quite monotonous, and is likely to result in a rider becoming a so-called \”one-speed wonder\”. And what of cyclists who have chronic health problems? For them, it\’s about more than wheels in a big way: there\’s at least one pro team out there made up exclusively of riders who have diabetes! Imagine managing a serious condition like diabetes with the demands of pro cycling. That must be quite a balancing act!  

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Hang Tight!

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Hang tight! Or something. A nice, straight track like this is what I could not manage this morning. There was a pretty stiff wind, 17 mph, with gusts up to 23 mph. Outward-bound, I did fairly well. The wind was behind me; and I tried to hit 25 mph again, the way I did day before yesterday. Maybe I wasn\’t ready for another such effort; I got up to just over 22 mph. Coming back home was another story. The wind kept pushing me around, especially when I needed to ride one-handed while I got a drink of water. The gusts were unpredictable. Once I got so frustrated with it that I stopped when I needed to get out the water bottle. I\’m glad it wasn\’t raining. Precipitation with a wind like that makes for a miserable ride. When I wear a poncho on the road bike, it: one, flaps all over the place and creates a lot of wind resistance; two, makes bike control even more difficult; and three, causes visibility problems when I try to look behind me. That\’s when instinct makes me hang tight; but a death grip on the handlebars, so I\’ve read, can actually cause your track to be more erratic because of the tension; so I try to avoid it. But I wander from the point. What can I do so that I\’ll be able to hold my line better, even when the wind is trying to shove me around? More core training, maybe?  Even if I won\’t be able to ride like I were on a rail, I\’d like to be able to keep from wavering so much in the wind.

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Just Because!

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Just because! Ride because it\’s for a good cause, that is. \”Just because\” rides abound. There\’s Tour de Cure for diabetes, and Bike MS for multiple sclerosis. Those two are the only two I\’ve done, and they appear to be merely the tip of the iceberg. Many other fund-raising rides exist, such as ClimateRide. The Adriatic Ride must be beautiful.  Now if only I could be sure of getting in sufficient training so that I could handle any climbing! There appear to be a number of localized rides for autism. I don\’t see a nation-wide society under which they all fall. I\’m sure there are many fund-raising rides for the various types of cancer. I guess it\’s a matter of pick your cause; get out the bicycle; pump up those tires; and start training.  

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BioWall

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BioWall? What\’s that? I\’m not sure how much of a green thumb I have. Truth to tell, I\’ve never really tried much; but I wonder whether having a BioWall might help with my sensitivities. At work, where I really need it, having a BioWall installed would be a major undertaking; and not up to a single individual. I don\’t know how expensive it might be, nor how long constructing it would take. Even then there\’s the question of tending it, so that it doesn\’t wither and die. Whose job would that be? No, don\’t look at me. I\’d be sure to kill it in short order. I doubt that a plant at my desk do any good; and at any rate there isn\’t room for it. Filter masks don\’t help me much if anybody anywhere nearby is loaded with overpowering scent; and it happens much too often. Would a BioWall be helpful in a bicycle workshop? Could it filter out some of the inevitable fumes from lubricants, cleaners, and that new-tire smell (which can be irritating to the sinuses)? Anything to help reduce indoor air pollution is worth trying, I think. Healthy employees = quality work! Healthy cyclists = a happy peloton!

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ARE We Inferior?

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Are we inferior, really? Cycling alongside motor traffic can make us feel might small sometimes, especially when an 18-wheeler roars past; a bit like standing below the Eiffel Tower and looking up at it. But just because cyclists take up much less space than motorized vehicles; and aren\’t as fast; doesn\’t automatically make us inferior, does it? We hear about cyclists becoming the victims of road rage because they were \”in the way\”. Or, \”They\’re too slow\”. The effects of road rage upon cyclists range from \”You need to get on the sidewalk!\” (which I\’ve heard a few times — and I was in the BIKE LANE), to serious injury/maiming, to death. Apparently many non-cyclists don\’t realize that a bicycle is a vehicle, and has the right to use the roads. But are we inferior because they think that? I don\’t think so! John Forester\’s Effective Cycling is one of the earlier books about cycling that I read. Admittedly that was so long ago that I remember little of it! However, a glance through the Table of Contents makes it apparent that this is an in-depth book. Maybe I should read it again! I won\’t deny that riding with cars and trucks can be scary; and I\’m thankful that I can avoid riding alongside of traffic most of the time. When I can\’t avoid it, I try to go out early in the day, before traffic builds up. Is that merely common sense? Or do I have an inferiority complex?

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Muddle

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My mind was a muddle this morning. Today I did only a short ride with the road bike. I\’m not supposed to use straws because of recent dental work; and that meant no Camel-Bak with its drinking tube. I had to be content with riding a bit over 19 miles, taking along two bottles of water. While I was getting ready to go out, I was really in a muddle. I turned on the Garmin, and saw a blank for heart rate. I had to go back and put on the chest strap. Then, when I took my road bike outdoors, I thought, Whoops, I forgot my sunglasses! Go back for the sunglasses. There\’s a good wind today; at the moment, 17 mph. On the way out to my turnaround point, when I picked up a tailwind, I could push the pace faster and faster. I saw myself getting up to 21, 22, then 23 mph; and decided to see whether I could hit 25 mph. AND I DID!! To be exact, 25.57 mph. A new speed record! On the way back home, the wind seemed to get stronger and stronger. The clouds were gathering, too, but there\’s only a 10% chance of rain until tonight. Then, it\’s 50%. According to Intellicast, both pollen (grass pollen) and air quality are Moderate today. I know that I have some mild allergies to certain grasses and trees. Maybe that\’s why I had a sneezing attack shortly after I got back home. I\’m glad I didn\’t start sneezing while I was still out there on the bike! With the wind already making handling tricky, I didn\’t need explosive sneezes to make things even harder!

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Side Effects?

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Side Effects? ? You never know what side effects might be; whether it’s from riding when you’re older, or from having your mouth worked on. Day before yesterday I had some heavy-duty dental work done. I had lost a crown, and it couldn’t be reattached. That meant extracting the roots left from the original tooth. As a result, I have several stitches at the site; and the dentist told me to avoid drinking through straws for at least a few days. That’s not good news as far as the Sunday long ride goes. Drinking from a Camel-Bak is, in effect, using a glorified straw. Two 24-oz bottles aren’t enough water for a 40-mile ride; and using both of my bottles for water would mean no Zym. Out of the Box ? Oh, dear, what shall I do? It’s time to think out of the box, for sure. One possibility is running an errand by hybrid; that would give me 4-5 miles. Then I could take a short-ish ride with the road bike. I could probably do without any electrolyte drink if I don’t ride over 20 miles, especially as it won’t be very warm. I don’t want to skip the ride entirely, because I did that only a few weeks ago. There’s always “riding” in the trainer, but that is tedious as can be. It might make indoor pedaling less of a drag if I could rig things so that I could run my sewing machine by pedaling; and sew as I “rode”. That would, unfortunately, be tricky. I’d have to get the hang of not holding the handlebars; and using my hands to manage the machine. What weird ideas I do get. Who would have guessed that oral surgery had side effects like this?   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.” 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; and I hope I can provide a bit of inspiration.   Along the way, I got into blogging; presenting my kitchen experiments; and even setting up a store. You can visit my Facebook page here; or check into my Twitter (aka X) page, Cyclo_Pathy. 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 ✍? Facebook Twitter Youtube Persistence October 18, 2024 Wind Relief October 17, 2024 Take the Cake October 16, 2024 Easy 100? October 15, 2024 Load More TRANSLATOR

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Effectiveness

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How can we measure our effectiveness? Wouldn\’t we all like to be able to make such a dramatic impact as the one that formed Meteor Crater? I\’ll skip the K-T Boundary type of impact. That would be overdoing it, to put it mildly. I, for one, am unlikely to cause such an effect on the cycling world at large. I\’ll never win a big, important race on the global cycling stage; nor will I ever coach a cyclist to a major championship. Most of us, in fact, won\’t. But what can the ordinary, everyday cyclist do to effect the best possible impact on his/her riding abilities? How about interval training once or twice a week? I\’m not sure I\’ve done enough such work, or done it correctly, because it usually seems that my cruising speed during weekly long rides isn\’t increasing. What kind of effectiveness is that; IF it even is? I do notice that I\’ve gotten better at going faster for short stretches; so I guess that the \”force\” intervals I did have helped. Lately I\’ve been letting such hard efforts fall by they wayside. I\’ve been feeling persistently tired and stuffy-headed, so I\’m focusing my efforts on just getting in some miles. What other possibilities are there? Find a fast-ish group to ride with? Not too fast, or constantly getting dropped would erode my morale; but if I want to get faster, I have to work to ride faster!. Mini-races as the above article mentions? Whatever you choose to do, I hope the effects are all good.

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If Only

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If only riding fasted would MAKE me fast! But I would say, be cautious about going out on an empty stomach, especially when you know you\’re going to be fighting a headwind. I wouldn\’t do it on a day when I plan to do hard efforts, either. For years I\’ve noticed that, once my stomach starts to growl, bonking could be seconds away; on the bike or off. That goes back to long before I even began to ride; and I believe it\’s part of why I\’m hanging at 15 pounds more than I really want to weigh: I\’m afraid of getting hungry. Riding in a fasted state is supposed to help your body learn to be a better fat burner. When glycogen levels are low, the body has to tap into its fat stores. At some point, however, you\’ve got to have some carbs. The body\’s fat has been compared to the wax of a candle; and its glycogen, to the candle\’s wick. A candle can\’t burn any too well without a wick. A week ago, when the temperature was 57 and the wind a stiff 22 mph, I tried an easy, 20-minute \”fasted\” session in the trainer. It seemed to go OK. Maybe some day I\’ll try a short, easy, fasted outdoor ride. The caution here is to take along something high-carb that you can eat if you do feel the bonk coming on. You don\’t want to have to ride miles to get home to your food if you do bonk! This, in fact, is why I carry a few GU-Gels with me on all rides; even just going to and from work. Now, if only I could get faster!

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