SpokEasy

SpokEasy

Author name: CAL

At Ease?

BACK ISSUES, bicycling /

At Ease? Being at ease like this critter here would be wonderful, if only we could manage it. Unfortunately it isn’t so easy to relax when your muscles are all in knots. How do we get rid of those knots and cramps? Prevention is, of course, the best cure. What can we do to keep cramps at bay? More specifically, what are some natural means of preventing and relieving cramps? Proper hydration helps. Use a Camel-Bak, so you’ll have plenty of water. Using electrolyte drinks is said to help, too. Warm up before riding, paying special attention to muscles that you know are prone to cramping. OK, so you’ve done all that, and you still get nasty cramps while riding. Here’s a remedy that one of my cycling books mentions: when you feel a cramp developing, grab your upper lip and pinch it hard. Somehow that helps, although it’s uncertain why. Some experienced riders/bike handlers relieve on-bike quad cramps by unclipping the foot; bending the knee; and lightly pulling on the foot. I, for one, am not skilled enough to attempt that move. Then, what about post-ride cramps? Grab a foam roller and ease out the kinks. Perhaps an epsom salt bath. See here for some other natural cramp/spasm remedies that might help ease those sore, aching muscles; and don’t push too hard on the bike for a few days. At ease!

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Riding to School

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Riding to school sounds like a great idea. It lets the kids get exercise and is supposed to help increase mental sharpness. When I was a kid, there was no way we could have walked or ridden a bicycle between home and school. Our school was several miles away; much of the route had no shoulders; and there was heavy traffic besides. We had to ride an overcrowded school bus, which was not fun at all. I hope kids these days have a better chance riding a bicycle to school. How can you help your child become a bicycle commuter? Get the right size bicycle. Get a helmet. Check to see whether your child\’s school has a bicycling safety program, or look for a bicycle rodeo in your area. Don\’t forget lights, and some kind of reflective equipment is also a good idea. These days it\’s essential to lock up your bike anywhere you go, so don\’t forget about that. Then there\’s choosing the route. If the most direct route has too much traffic, is there an alternate one that is less traveled? Even if it\’s longer, it might be wiser to use it. Finally, if you yourself are a regular bicycle commuter, you\’re able to set a good example for your children. School isn\’t the only place for learning.  

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Lucia Bride

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When I heard about the Lucia Bride as a kid, I had no idea it had anything to do with Saint Lucy. My mother\’s version of the story was that the oldest daughter of the household would serve the other family members breakfast in bed, while wearing a crown of burning candles. She said she wondered how many girls were unfortunate enough to set themselves on fire. Nowadays I\’m sure the Lucia Bride wears a battery-powered wreath. It\’s a lot safer than candle flames, but I think that real candles would be prettier. The Swedish Christmas season also includes Tomte. To be honest, I think a cheerful-looking gnome is a nice change from the Santa Claus that we\’ve become accustomed to in the USA. I like what it says here about non-flashy Christmas decorations. There\’s nothing wrong with toning it down. I\’ve seen houses with displays of lights that make have me shuddering at the thought of the power bill that will result. Has anyone ever tried to power such a show with bicycle power? Christmas Eve as the day for opening the presents seems quite common in European countries. Wrapped with a rhyme? My mother would have enjoyed that, I bet. Watching Donald Duck? H\’mm. I prefer the one about the Grinch. Long ago, when it was still possible to catch the program on regular TV, we\’d watch it every year. As I grew older, I would watch it just to see the moment when the Grinch gets his \”wonderful, awful idea\”. Throwing the Tree out of the window at the end of the Christmas season? Well, the Grinch stuffed one up the chimney, so I guess getting one through a window isn\’t such a tight fit!  

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Cycle Antarctica?

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Cycle Antarctica? 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.” Cycle Antarctica? Could Antarctica be the next big thing for cycling tours? Why not? After all, I’ve touched on big rides in all other continents; so why leave out the South Pole? Maybe we could start by trekking across the Ross Ice Shelf. Would a Mongoose Malus Fat Tire bicycle be best for that? I’m sure of this much: to cycle Antarctica would be extreme icebike! An Antarctic two-wheeled trek would be a great opportunity to penguin watch; and to get acquainted with the continent’s animal life in general. There’s other wildlife to be seen besides penguins; and maybe it’s not quite fair that penguins seem to steal the show all the time! A bicycle ride in Antarctica in itself sounds mad enough, doesn’t it? You might want to get really, really crazy; and use your fat-tire bike to go  zooming up and down the slopes of Mount Erebus! My fantasizing, it turns out, isn’t completely off the wall. I though I was writing a humorous bit about what cycling “way down South” might be like. Some people have, indeed, done it. One of them used a bicycle with 8 inch wide tires! The Antarctic Summer is cool according to my experience of temperatures: parts of it get up to 60 degrees (~15 degrees Celsius). See here for more on Antarctic weather. Several months of the year, the sun never sets. Even at that season, parts of Antarctica seldom get above freezing; so you might want to wear a scarf across your face, and forget about sunblock. And you might need special goggles to guard against snow blindness; super high-tech polar clothing; and who knows what all else. Come to think of it, I don’t believe I’ll try to cycle Antarctica.

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South Africa

BACK ISSUES, bicycling /

South Africa Cycle South Africa? Sure, why not? Many tours are available; and if you’re not keen on climbing, much of the country is flat. The catch? How high is “high”? I think I’d want to train up using a hypoxic mask! Cape Town & the Garden Route follows the nation’s southern coast. Along the way is a penguin colony; and you’ll roll along the fringes of two oceans during this trip. Daily mileage is 31 miles or less; and this tour is rated Easy to Moderate. It’s suited to riders at all skill levels. This moderately difficult South Africa Cycling Tour takes in beautiful scenery (both coasts and mountains); includes wine sampling; and you’ll get to visit a penguin colony. The roads for this route are paved; you can use a road bike; e-bike; or hybrid. Daily distances are about 19 miles to 44 miles. A support vehicle will assist you if necessary. For the MTB enthusiast, there’s the South Africa Mountain Bike Tour. Along the way, you can sample some of the nation’s top wines; and roll through a nature preserve. On a scale of 1-4, this one rates 3 for difficulty. I suspect it isn’t for me! 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 © 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 INTERPRETER

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Big Nuisance!

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Trains are a big nuisance sometimes. I was almost home from my ride this morning, with just a mile to go. I rounded the curve and saw a LONG freight train just sitting there. Such a sight invariably elicits an inward groan. How much longer might the train sit? How far might I have to ride to be able to cross the tracks in front of the lead locomotive? I was down to a quarter-mile to go when I heard the metallic creaks and groans that mean a train is getting under way. That meant that I could wait it out at my usual crossing, but it seemed to take an awfully long time for that train to get by. A lesser nuisance today was the wind. It wasn\’t strong, but as always I could really feel it. My left ankle is behaving itself much better, which is a good sign. I actually feel that I\’m pedaling more strongly than I used to. At one point I even got a bit over 19 mph! It was only for a second or two, but I guess it means I\’m making progress! Also a big nuisance is fixing a lunch. Today I bit the bullet and did some work in the kitchen for a change, and made a real lunch. In fact, I went Mexican. I cooked a pot of brown rice. When it was about done, I got out some of the canned stuff from the salvage store: refried black beans and green Mexican salsa. I heated some of the beans; stirred in some Cheddar cheese; put the beans over some rice; and put some salsa on top. Ole′!

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Sawi Proba

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Sawi Proba “Sawi proba” is an expression that crops up in Agatha Christie-Mallowan’s “Come, Tell Me How You Live”. According to the book, it means “make trial”; and was a favorite saying of one of the drivers who worked for Max Mallowan while he was conducting archaeological work in Syria. Isn’t “sawi proba” what we cyclists do all the time? If we want to improve our speed, we might try interval work. If we have our sights set on a century, we try longer and longer rides to get our bodies ready. We try different food and drink on the bike, so we’ll know what agrees with us; and will be suitable for a long event. It could also pertain to girding one’s self up to go out and ride in foul weather. That’s a trial, all right, as is braving cold and wind to get in some miles. Since we’re only a week into December, there are at least three more months of it ahead of us! “Sawi proba” + bicycles of course brings to mind the time trial. That event even has its own special kind of bicycle! Sometimes when I’m out riding, I hear a peculiar whirring sound coming up from behind; and it turns out to be somebody riding a bicycle with one of those disc wheels. Gosh, will I ever get around to doing another century? Well … sawi proba.

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Wrapping It Up

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Wrapping it up? Oh, my, yes! It\’s already December 7! That means getting Xmas gifts ready to ship off. Merely getting the presents ready has its own difficulty. The rolls of gift wrap which are so popular are far too wide for most of the things I\’ve bought. That means that I have to cut out chunks of it. The edges usually come out ragged because 1) I\’ve never  been good at cutting on a straight line unless there\’s a marked line to follow (and sometimes not even then!); and 2) I don\’t have a solid surface to work on. Neither am I good at wrapping things neatly. The presents in this pic here must have been done up by professionals. No way can I get the packages that I do up to look like that! And what do you do when you\’ve got, say, a pair of slippers that doesn\’t have convenient angles to follow? Find a box to put it in? I\’m glad I\’m not trying to wrap up a bicycle. Wrapping that up would be a major headache. Despite my lack of enthusiasm for gift paper on large rolls, I bought one at the salvage store this morning. The regular price was $6.99; I got it for ninety-nine cents! Now comes the nuisance of getting all those gifts packed into sturdy boxes for shipping. I\’m glad I\’m able to get to a Fed-Ex where I work. It would be a lot harder if I had to get to a regular post office on a Saturday. It\’s also Christmas -card time. I\’m glad I don\’t have to bake cookies, too!

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Winter Activities

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Winter activities can mean quite a lot of things. If  your area gets a lot of snow and ice; and giving up cycling until Spring is anathema to you; check out icebike. If, like me, you live where year-round riding is possible, keep riding. Just don\’t burn yourself out before Spring! Maybe even take a day off here and there. If you\’re in Russia, where I hear that Winter can be quite gloomy, perhaps a ride in a troika would lift your spirits. Just think of it! Gliding along over the snow, perhaps under the full moon. Or even the midnight sun? Snow is very rare here, but it it weren\’t, I think I might like to learn snowshoeing. I\’ve seldom had the fun of building a snowman, making snow angels, or participating in a good old snowball fight. Other winter activities take place indoors; there\’s all the culinary cavorting. Cookies, roast turkey (or roast goose, in some countries), eggnog, plum pudding … we need all those outdoor activities to burn off all the calories!

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This Would Have Helped

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This would have helped a lot: if only I had received the instructions shown in the video linked below when I first began working at riding on two wheels! Here you see my hybrid\’s \”cockpit\” when I was able to do longer rides on a BIcycle. By then I was using a Camel-Bak, and I\’m probably about ten miles from home! But when I first got that hybrid, it took some doing to get going! It would have been easier, I believe, if I had had someone to talk me through me this. It sure would have helped; I could have skipped the \”glide biking\” stage, and might have gotten the hang of pedaling sooner. If I were to try to teach someone to ride, I\’d approach it as I demonstrated in the video. I\’m not strong enough to hold up someone, even a child, on a bicycle. An adult, needless to say, would not want to be held up. I, for one, would have felt exceedingly foolish! Some advice I could add: watch out for the front wheel. It tends to swing around, and it took me a while to remember to hold the left (i.e. front) brake to prevent it. I had had fenders added to the hybrid before I even wheeled it out of the shop, and the ends of the supporting struts were sharp. They cut through the rubber caps, and more than once cut my legs! The effort paid off, though. Now I can hardly imagine being unable to ride a bicycle!

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