SpokEasy

SpokEasy

Author name: CAL

The Nose Knows

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The Nose Knows The nose knows, they say. Or does it? I’m not so sure. It seems to me that, if my nose knew what a nuisance it is, it would stop getting sniffly when I’m bicycling. I do have a few minor allergies to plants and mold; but it seems to me that that proboscis of mine is plain old perverse. My crazy nose gets sniffly even when I ride in hot weather. When it’s cold outside, especially when there’s a good wind, the sniffles are so bad that I’m forced to resort to “snot rockets”. Either that, or I’m constantly wiping my nose on my gloves. Both are disgusting; but I can’t just let my nose drip, right? Besides, I get tired of breathing through my mouth. For one thing, mouth breathing makes me get thirsty faster. Good reason to use a Camel-Bak even is the weather is freezing! Apparently I have exercise-induced rhinitis. Whatever the name, it drives me bonkers.  As a contributing factor, cold and wind make my eyes water. Sure, there are over-the-counter allergy remedies; but I don’t like taking them as a regular thing. There really doesn’t seem to be much I can do about those sniffles. If only I could find a way to make my nose, well, run some errands for me! It ought to know how because, you know, the nose knows.     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! 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 ✍? Dead? January 12, 2025 Easing Up? January 11, 2025 Trashed? January 10, 2025 Here Comes the Freeze January 7, 2025 Load More TRANSLATOR

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What\’s Up?

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What\’s up with me? Am I doing something wrong on my weekly long rides? I seem to get tireder than I should on the way back home; and I have to make more rest stops that I really want to. Is my nutrition off-base? Do I need to eat more before starting out?  The catch is, if I\’m to get underway before it gets too hot, there\’s not time to eat a hearty breakfast and let it \”settle\” before I ride. Not, that is, unless I get up at 3 o\’clock in the morning. No, thank you! Am I doing something wrong when it comes to on-bike food? Do I need to eat more? Less? Are Clif Bars and Fiber One bars the wrong kind of food? Do I need to drink more water? More electrolyte drink? What about my distance? It\’s not as though I suddenly began shooting for 40-50 miles. I\’ve been working up to it; and trying to take it gradually. Am I pacing myself wrong? In my zeal to improve my pace before Tour de Cure, am I pushing too hard for too long? It\’s one thing for me to work for a faster speed during shorter rides; but when I\’m aiming for 40-50 miles, it might be better for me to slow down. That\’s easier said than done, unfortunately.   More FAQ It gets so hot before I can finish a long ride. I wear sunblock, of course; but maybe the sun is still sapping my energy. Is that the problem? Cooler weather is probably at least a few weeks away. I\’ve known us to get a cool front on October 6, though; so maybe relief is closer than I think. Temporary relief, anyway. After a cool front it gets hot again. Then there\’s the fact that, with a sleep disorder, I\’m always tired. I\’ve battled it for 31 years now; and don\’t remember what it\’s like to feel truly awake and energetic. And all that about the Sunday long ride! I wonder whether my weekday rides have been on the right track in my prep for Tour de Cure. If not, there\’s very little time left to try to correct the errors of my ways. I\’ve got these final few days of September; and then there are the first two weeks of October. I can still work during that time to improve my force. After that I\’d probably be wise to ditch the on-bike force exercises and just work on my pace. Then, during the final week before The Day, I\’ll need to taper — shorter rides (but at normal intensity), and just a few very short hard pushes to keep the muscles sharp. Those are the FAQs. What\’s up with me? Where are the answers?

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Railroaded?

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Sometimes I feel like I\’m getting railroaded. I hope young children can keep their fascination with \”choo-choos\” as long as possible; but I, for one, have no great liking for trains. This morning, when I was still about four blocks from home, there was a freight train coming along from the opposite direction. For some reason it was blaring its horn for a crossing that no longer exists. OUCH! My ears did not like that. Shortly I reached my usual crossing; and dismounted to wait for the train to clear. It was a very long one; and wouldn\’t you know? The dratted thing stopped. I waited a minute or two, and the train hadn\’t started up again. There was no telling how long it might sit there, so I headed for the next crossing, 0.3 miles away. That crossing, too, was blocked by the train. If it had only moved along the length of about three cars, the crossing would have been clear. The train was still immobile, too. The next crossing was another 0.7 miles away, which meant I had taken quite a detour by the time I finally reached home. By then, the train had gone. I probably would have done much better to wait for it to move. That drives me crazy. Last year or the year before, trains would sit and sit for several days! It might easily be 24 hours before a train blocking a crossing would finally be split so that the crossing was clear. I didn\’t know what was up with all that. One day, I saw large bundles of railroad ties at my crossing; and realized that they\’d been replacing ties. I hope they don\’t start that again for about another 20 years! I\’m tired of getting railroaded.

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Word Association

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Word association makes odd things happen. This cyclocomputer of mine is a Garmin Edge 520; but I\’m always trying to call it a \”Garmin Sharp\”! I suppose I\’m comparing \”edge\” to the edge of a knife, which is — of course — sharp. Having it does seem to help me to sharpen up my training, so maybe \”Garmin Sharp\” isn\’t so far off. I can watch my cadence when I shift to a very hard gear, and then want to pedal at a higher rpm. Before I had that readout screen on my handlebars, maintaining the cadence (or any cadence!) was far harder; and, indeed, was little better than a guessing game. When I want to work to attain a specific speed, I can see whether I\’m really doing it. That\’s especially helpful when I want to push for 16-17 mph, instead of 15 mph. If I want to get faster, riding faster is part of training. I can watch my heart rate as well. If I start to feel too \”gaspy\”, I check my current bpm. If I\’m getting too close to my max, I\’ll know that I need reduce my efforts for a while and recover. The Garmin has many features that I haven\’t gotten around to using yet, such as setting a route. So far there\’s been no real need to set routes — but maybe someday! Then word association might trigger some more oddities, such as setting down roots.* *\”route\”: is sometimes pronounced like \”root\”

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Pairing Up

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Want to try pairing up on wheels, like Daisy Bell? I\’ve been familiar with the song Daisy Bell since childhood. These aren\’t the exact words that my mother used to sing, but I guess it\’s like a lot of such songs; there are a lot of variations. How would it be to ride a bicycle built for two? So far I\’ve never tried riding a tandem. I would think that it must take some doing. From what I\’ve read, a tandem is good for two people of differing abilities who want to ride together. Each can pedal at his/her own strength. I guess the trickiest part would be starting and stopping. Both riders, it seems to me, must use the same foot to start, and put down the same foot when stopping. Do tandem riders ever swap positions? (The front rider is the captain, and the rear rider is the stoker). That way, both riders would learn how to ride both positions. I see a tandem-riding couple around here pretty regularly, but haven\’t had the chance to speak with them about these things. Oh, and what would it be like to crash on a tandem bicycle? I don\’t even like to think of it. If one rider goes down, both go down. It would not be pretty. I hope Daisy Bell never had that problem!  

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Ring Out Wild Bells!

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Ring out, wild bells! Let people know you\’re coming! Okay, so the poem is about \”Ring out the old, ring in the new\”. Riding a bicycle might or might not be poetic; but I sure wish more riders had — and used — bells on their bicycles. It\’s a bit unnerving to have a rider come up from behind and whizz past me without calling, \”On your left!\” And also without sounding a bell. I don\’t always hear a rider approaching from the rear; and I can\’t watch my rearview mirror nonstop. I\’ve got to watch where I\’m going. Add to that the difficulty in getting the mirror positioned correctly in the first place. For the hybrid, I have an Incredibell; and I like it much better than the bell I have for the road bike. The Incredibell has a much better sound. I tried to switch the bells from one bike to the other; but the band for the Incredibell doesn\’t fit around the road bike\’s handlebars. These bells, incidentally, are not waterproof. When I get caught in the rain, and my bell gets full of water, it makes hardly any sound at all. Then there\’s no use in saying, ring out, wild bells.

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Lab Report?

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How about a lab report, here? Today\’s experiment with using Clif Bars for my long-ride fuel went pretty well. I seemed to have a little less trouble with feeling tired on the way home. The wind, however, was pesky for the return ride. I did a lot of pedaling on the small ring, using a rapid cadence. Even so, my overall average speed was well over 13 mph. Fast enough for Tour de Cure? My hopes that I wouldn\’t get rained on were not fulfilled. When I still had about 10.5 miles to go to reach home, I saw a big cloud in a southerly direction; and clearly somebody was getting some pretty heavy rain. I hoped to beat the rain home; but with about six miles left to go, I ran into the first shower. Fortunately it wasn\’t as heavy as I thought it might be; and luckily there wasn\’t lightning. What got really annoying was that the sun came out while it was still raining. I took my sunglasses off when it was raining because it\’s hard to see through wet lenses. When the sun came out, my eyes weren\’t any too comfortable. My ride was 51.00 miles, round trip; and roll time was 3:44:21. I actually was tempted to skip riding today, because I was so sleepy that I could hardly get myself to get out of bed. Typically I plan, perhaps over-optimistically, to start my Sunday long ride at 6 am. Today I didn\’t get going  until about 7:25! When I got home, I had my usual recovery drink. (See video at ~1:13 minutes). Then what did I do? I ate a couple of toaster pastries and a fun-sized candy bar. That doesn\’t look any too good on my lab report!

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Get a Grip!

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Do you need to get a grip? Or is your grip already too hard? I notice that, the more slowly I ride; the more likely my hands are to start feeling numb and tingling. Does that happen to you? It can be very annoying. I guess the reason for that is, slower riding means less pressure on the pedals; and that makes my weight go forward, resulting in more pressure on my hands. When the weather is cold, this problem is worse. I find that worrisome, having already shown some symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome. I don\’t need to have hand numbness curtail my riding. I\’d better get a grip on it, and figure out this thing.

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MUSH!!

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I wish it had been the \”mush\” hinted at on the left: strong and energetic; and just a\’-rarin\’ to go. Instead, my legs felt like mush as in cornmeal mush (or oatmeal) this morning. Why, I don\’t know. It\’s not as though I rode either long or hard yesterday. In fact, yesterday morning I did a short, easy ride. Was it DOMS; that is, a  delayed reaction to Wednesday\’s force exercises? Yesterday afternoon I rode home through a downpour; did that trigger something? Maybe I need a rain suit instead of a poncho. The local Tour de Cure has announced the ride times necessary for this year\’s event. Riders on the 63-mile route will need to finish in six hours. That means that, unless the conditions are truly horrific, I shouldn\’t have trouble. If I continue to prepare as I have since last November, I believe I\’ll do fine.  All I\’ll need to do is to tell my legs to mush!  

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Tis the Day

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\’Tis the day for… Bike Friday, of course! I\’ve never tried one, and know very little about them; but I\’ve seen people with folding bikes a few times. The Complete Book of Long-Distance Cycling discusses the Bike Friday (pg. 68-69); including a photo of one of the authors riding a Bike Friday. The Bike Friday does look odd to me. The wheels are much smaller than those of a regular bicycle; and the seat tube is tall, so that the saddle is at the usual height for the rider. I wonder whether that makes it tricky to balance and steer. Does a Bike Friday feel different from a conventional bicycle? A folding bicycle is handy for the commuter who must take some form of public transit for part of the way, since it takes up less space than a conventional bicycle. If you must take along a bicycle when traveling by air, a folding bike is easier to pack. They say that one of the signs of a true cyclist is always wanting one more bike for something. Maybe I\’m not a true cyclist? (Perish the thought!) I haven\’t become interested in getting a Bike Friday; but even if I did want one, I have no room for another bike. That means that, even though today is Friday, I can\’t say that \’tis the day for a Bike Friday.

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