SpokEasy

Author name: CAL

Shortchanging Myself

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Here I go, shortchanging myself! Today\’s \”long\” ride wasn\’t all that long. As you can see, it wasn\’t any too fast, either. My weekly long ride, however, isn\’t about speed so much as endurance. But I did hit a peak speed of 21.71 on the way home — nice tailwind! I\’ve put in too many late nights during the last few weeks; and it seems to be having a negative impact on my endurance. That\’s just what I do not need! But better now than in October, I guess; because that\’s when Tour de Cure will be too close for me to have such problems crop up. I don\’t want to wind up shortchanging myself on the big day. If you\’re doing a long ride, don\’t shortchange yourself in the nutrition department! Be sure to keep fueled and hydrated. The best preparation can be undone if you don\’t eat enough during the event. Be especially careful if you\’re doing an unsupported long ride. Take along extra bars!  

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Anti-UV

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I\’m on the anti-UV warpath! This morning I visited the local Whole Foods. To my delight, I found this sunblock on sale; and at $3.50 off the usual price! I go through the stuff pretty fast; so I bought two tubes of it. I made a long-term savings of $7.00🙂 I applied that savings towards the new mirror that I bought for the hybrid. Yesterday I took a spill; the stem of the mirror got cracked; and it couldn\’t hold the mirror snugly any more. Without a mirror on the end of my handlebar, I feel like I\’m riding blind. The mirror itself is still in good shape; so I\’m going to hang onto it. Who knows, it might come in handy! But back to the anti-UV warpath. I need plenty of sunblock when I go on my Sunday long rides. Sometimes I\’m out there for four hours; and that sunblock needs to be reapplied every 80 minutes. It\’s no wonder I use it up so fast! I get frustrated at the expense, but I don\’t need to get sunburned; and possibly develop melanoma sometime down the line. I don\’t like being cold; but when the weather is cool enough for long sleeves and leg warmers, I can use much less sunblock. I like that; but the trade-off is that I have more laundry to do! Why am I so hard to satisfy?

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Frustrated Performer?

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Am I a frustrated performer? Sometimes imagine that I\’m doing fancy show-riding to music; such as this fast-and-furious polka. It would take terrific stamina both of leg and heart; and strength far beyond what I have. Maybe I never will have the strength and stamina for such a performance. For one thing, I lack the time and resources for such training; and at my age I\’m too old for it. But what fun it would be  to work out the moves! I could start with some leave-the-ground turning jumps on those two accented chords; and there would be a lot of furiously fast pedaling. During the more lyrical middle part, I\’d go into some wide, sweeping, lean-into-it curves. Then, just before the end, sweep up a ramp; fly through the air; and land/freeze on that final chord. Or maybe it\’s just wild fancies? I guess you could say that I\’m a frustrated performer. Or, perhaps, a show-off at heart.

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Wishful Thinking

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Wishful thinking sometimes takes over. OK! I have the James washer! (No pic available, alas). And there\’s a wheel! Let\’s assume it\’s the rear wheel of a bicycle. Suppose I had enough space to set up a bicycle near that washer. I could attach one end of some kind of rod to the rim of the wheel, and the other end of the rod to the agitator handle of the James washer.  The attachments at both ends of this rod would need full 360-degree rotation — right? This piston would also probably have to be as least twice as long as the wheel\’s diameter. Otherwise it would be useless! I guess that, if I hopped into the saddle and pedaled, the rotation of the wheel would cause the agitator lever to move  back and forth? Or, would it be better to have two pistons, attached at opposite points on the wheel? Would that provide more power? The catch here is that the agitator lever is at about waist level, and the bicycle\’s rear wheel is below that. Well, I can always dream. Dreaming and wishful thinking is how some great inventions/discoveries came about!

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Just OK?

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  Sometimes things go just OK — barely. I had planned this morning\’s ride to  be an easy one; but it turned out to be a very short one as well, because I overslept. I tried to go easy; but my Garmin\’s screen persistently showed that I was in heart rate Zone 2 (out of 5 zones). I wanted to stay in Zone 1. And, for the second day in a row, the Recovery Check showed \”Fair\”. Usually it says, \”Good\”. Today, because I got up late, I didn\’t bother with taking my blood pressure and pulse; but yesterday my resting heart rate was lower than usual. This is a sign of possible overtraining. Or maybe I\’m just overtired from getting to bed too late? Looks like a day off from riding might be in order; and then maybe things will go better. It annoys me when it goes just OK.

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WELCOME!

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  Welcome to SpokEasy! This web site is a continuation of  my former site, www.threewheelstwowheels.org. You may follow my adventures as I progressed from an adult tricycle to a road bike. See the Archives page for descriptions of my early efforts at adjusting to two wheels; including a brief YouTube video! Along the way, I rode a century on the tricycle; and in fact, I wore out that trike! When I got it, I never expected to ride as much as I did; but I was hooked on pedaling before I completed my first mile. For a long, long time, it was a rare day when I did no riding at all. And I thought I was just buying a way to get to places more than a mile or two from home! Eventually I rode centuries on the hybrid and the road bike. Maybe, one of these days, I\’ll do a 100-miler again. It\’s hard to train up properly, though, when your riding time most days is limited. I sometimes dream about doing an Adventure Cycling Epic Tour. Or maybe I should call that pipe-dreaming. Those tours are about three months long; and the cost is beyond my budget! Once again, Welcome to SpokEasy!

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