SpokEasy

SpokEasy

Author name: CAL

Cycling enthusiast; classical music lover; experimenter in the kitchen!

Bike the Pyrenees

BACK ISSUES, bicycling /

Bike the Pyrenees Let’s bike the Pyrenees, and make a visit to Andorra. This tiny principality offers a variety of road cycling routes. They look to me like they’re not for the beginning cyclist, though. For the MTB enthusiast, there is a variety of options, too. You can bike the Pyrenees by registering in one of the local races; or sign up for a guided tour if you don’t want to worry about logistics. There are tours for MTBs and those in which the entire family can participate. Refuel in one of Andorra’s bike-friendly cafés or restaurants; and you can stay in a bicycle-friendly hotel. The Tour de France doesn’t neglect Andorra; but I feel sorry for the riders who can’t enjoy the scenery. They have to keep their eyes and their minds on the race; and if I tried a bicycle tour there,  I’d be so busy struggling with the gradients that I couldn’t enjoy the scenery, either. Andorra has an average altitude of over one mile. I, for one, would find that hard to cope with, even if I didn’t need my breath to ride a bicycle. If I were to plan a cycling vacation there, a Sparthos Training Mask would be a must! 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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Stuck

BACK ISSUES, bicycling, equipment /

Stuck! I’m stuck, you might say; yesterday I got my flu shot for this season. This WOTOW Bike Tire Repair Kit  can keep you from getting stuck beside the road. The WOTOW comes in several versions; you can buy one with an 11-in-1 multitool; a 16-in-1 multitool; or a 16-in-1 multitool with valve core remover. Tire levers; pre-glued patches; and 1 120 psi mini-pump are included in all versions. Waterproof carrying bag hangs from your top tube; and this bag also has room for your cell phone. Great for road, MTB, and BMX cycling. Also good to have on a tour, when you might be a long way from any bike shops. You don’t want to get caught out there!

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What Am I Thinking

BACK ISSUES, bicycling /

What Am I Thinking? What am I thinking, considering doing RAGBRAI next year? Most of this week my legs have felt tired; and it’s hard to put in even 15 miles. RAGBRAI is about 500 miles in seven days; and that’s an average of  roughly  71 miles per day. For some reason I was thinking the daily average was about 40 miles. Maybe I need to skip the long ride come Sunday; and haul out the foam roller, too. If I ride, I need to get out very early. This crazy heat continues to plague us. Today it was almost 8:00 am by the time I got going. I used the Camel-Bak; and took along electrolyte drink. I wanted to put in about 16 miles; and managed less than 12! You can that training for RAGBRAI? Or even a personal century? It wasn’t a fun ride, at all. To begin with, I had to take a detour of several miles to get to the bike path. Sometimes, as today, there’s a train blocking both the closest crossing and the next nearest one. Then there was the wind. Not that it was really so very strong; 6-8 mph. But it seemed very hard to make headway against it. RAGBRAI can include headwinds as well as hills and heat. So what am I thinking?  

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Am I a Dwarf

BACK ISSUES, bicycling /

Am I a Dwarf? Am I dwarf; namely, Sleepy? It seemed like it this morning.  I turned off my alarm clock; and fell asleep again! It was 8:00 am by the time I was ready to ride; and already 85 degrees. By about 2:00 pm, it had hit 100 degrees! I decided not to ride on the levee. Instead I rode the hybrid over to the park; made two or three circuits; and headed for the drug store to pick up a few items. Sometimes shopping can be a problem, as when I want something on a top shelf. It makes me ask myself, am I a dwarf? After I got home, I mostly stayed indoors. I’m becoming quite the delicate flower, aren’t I? There was a good breeze today, and I actually wished I could have an open window so I could enjoy it. When the doors and windows are shut, it gets quite stuffy. But I had work to do. Today I put in a lot more work on navigation menus for various website pages. It’s quite the jigsaw puzzle, I can tell you! This isn’t hard work, really; but it’s very time-consuming. Weather-wise, tomorrow will be a repeat of today. Another day of starting early; and probably taking electrolyte drink with me. For two days my rides have been quite short; and I want to get in a few more miles tomorrow. I mustn’t wear myself out too much, because I want to visit the salvage store the day after tomorrow; and Sunday I want to shoot for 25 miles or so. There’s a 20% chance of  rain and T-storms Sunday afternoon; so I want to go out early. And of course I want to beat the heat!

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Clouds to the Rescue

BACK ISSUES, bicycling, Uncategorized /

Clouds to the Rescue It’s clouds to the rescue this afternoon! The chances of rain/T-storms are only 20%; but there’s enough of a cloud cover that it’s noticeably cooler than usual in here. That’s a major relief! I went out around 11:00 am to get Chinese take-out for my lunch; and off in a northerly direction, I could see what looked like a huge cloud building up. I hoped it would come our way; give us a good T-storm; and cool things off. So far it hasn’t rained; and I haven’t heard any thunder. But does it feel good to NOT have the sun blazing down! Even so, at the moment it’s 97 degrees; and the heat index is 113. Day before yesterday, the temperature hit 100 degrees! So I’m continuing to ride early; and I try to be  home by 8:00 am. It’s already very hot by then; and there’s another excessive heat warning posted for tomorrow. This has gotten very tedious. Today I tried one-minute intervals of trying for 14-15 mph. I didn’t do all that well; but I’ll keep trying. I did less than 13 miles today; so I didn’t use the Camel-Bak. It was nice to not have that load on my back! At present, I have another big website project going on. I’m putting navigation bars all over the place, so visitors can more easily move from one part of the site to another.  It isn’t difficult; but it’s very time-consuming. And I still need to check that all the buttons work properly, e.g. that the “Intermediate” button does, in fact, have the link to the page by that name; and not, let’s say, “Riding for Diabetes“. But right now, my eyes need a break.

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Keep on Rolling

BACK ISSUES, bicycling, equipment /

Keep on Rolling With ROCKBROS Bike Rollers, you can keep on rolling. It doesn’t matter whether it’s 100+ degrees outdoors, and you’d risk heatstroke out there; or you’re house-bound by whiteout conditions. This “treadmill for a bike” will let you have your ride! ROCKBROS Bike Rollers consist of a sturdy aluminum frame; and three rollers to support your bicycle’s wheels. The frame can be adjusted for different-length wheel bases; and it folds for easy storage. It’s also lightweight enough for easy carrying. It can be used with various kinds of bikes, such as MTBs and folding bikes. I had a set of rollers a long time ago. I became tolerably proficient on them with my hybrid; but couldn’t seem to manage my road bike on rollers. In retrospect, I think I was overly tentative when trying to get started. The road bike also has slicker tires than the hybrid; and that may have been a factor. I finally sold the rollers; but now I sometimes wish I still had them. When I must pedal indoors, rollers might be closer to a real ride than being hooked into a trainer. I find pedaling in that trainer extremely tedious; and usually can’t tolerate it for more than 15 minutes. This morning I set out before sunup. I knew it was going to get very hot again; and I wanted to ride early. I was glad to be back in by about 7:30 am. It was already well into the 80s by then. Yesterday afternoon  we  reached 100 degrees; and that was the air temperature. The heat index was 112! Our weather didn’t do this when I was a kid! I can easily believe in global warming!

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Cote-de-Velo

BACK ISSUES, bicycling, Outdoors /

Côte de Vélo? Côte de Vélo is another of my bad jokes. I thought of roller coasters yesterday when I went for a ride, and ended up doing lots of coasting. That led me to think of Bicycle Coast! I don’t know what was wrong with me, but my legs seemed very tired; and my stamina was poor. Maybe my legs need more massaging, much more often. That foam roller spends too much time occupying space on the shelf! I rode not quite 20 miles, instead of the 25 miles I was aiming for. Maybe I needed to eat more? So today I skipped riding. I didn’t spend the day on a park bench amidst Autumn leaves, though. It’s still very hot here; and except for two very short walks, I’ve been staying indoors where I can stay cool. Autumn makes me think of hot chocolate; but on a day like this, I say, perish the thought! Right now, at 4:00 pm, it’s 100 degrees! Tomorrow looks like more of the same. When will this end? I’ve got to ride early again; and hope it doesn’t turn into more côte de vélo. Being hot doesn’t help with that; and yesterday I forgot to wear my cooling band around my neck. Did that omission make such a difference? I must remember it tomorrow. So far, no hurricane trouble. If this heat is keeping them away, maybe the trade-off is worth it. But this is August; and hurricane season has nearly four months left! In fact, September is considered peak season. Thus we can’t let our guard down. I’m stocking gallon jugs of water, just in case. Many a weekday ride sees me wearing my Camel-Bak; and taking along electrolyte drink. It’s already so hot by 7:00 am that I need it. Ride at 5:00 am? That’s a possible solution; but unless I’m after a view of the full moon, I’d rather sleep a little later!

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Circle of Light

BACK ISSUES, bicycling, equipment /

Circle of Light Why not a circle of light for cyclists? After all, in music there’s the circle of fifths! These LED wheel lights make a cyclist visible from more angles than standard head- and tail lights. The flashing mode is especially easy to see. They make a ride on a Summer night more fun; especially for kids. Alas, vacation is over for many youngsters; but soon kids who ride bikes to school will be doing so while it’s still dark. This circle of light makes them easier to see. If it rains, not to worry; this product is waterproof and durable. Batteries are included; installation is easy and requires no tools. Available in many colors; shown here in Pink. This item seems to come in one-wheel packs only; but even one wheel with a display like this should help a lot. And it ought to make a unicycle downright dazzling! I don’t ride before sunup nearly as much as I did before I retired; but I still make an effort to go out early when there’s a full moon to be seen! As most of my riding is away from traffic, I don’t feel the need for a circle of light on my wheel. But it’s something to keep in mind in case things change.

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All in Vain

BACK ISSUES, bicycling /

All in Vain Riding early was all in vain this morning! Or partly so, anyway. I wanted to see the full moon over the river. I got up at 5:00 am; and was out on the road bike by 5:30. Alas, the clouds were too dense for me to have any chance of seeing the moon. I hope I can see it tomorrow morning. I’m not sure I’ll want to try to see the moon this evening. There’s an excessive heat warning in effect until 7 pm; and besides, it’s mostly cloudy. Thus my efforts to see the moon might again be all in vain. Moonviewing wasn’t my only reason for going out before dawn. I knew the heat was going to get bad today; and I wanted to ride before it got too hot. I put in 18.1 miles?; and was home by 8:00 am.  There’s something very satisfying about that! To be on the safe side regarding hydration, I used my Camel-Bak; and took along electrolyte drink. After a large supper yesterday, I ate only a small protein bar before my ride; but I took along another protein bar, just in case. It’s a good thing I did; I wound up eating about a quarter of it. Getting back to mileage — now that I have more time to ride, can I start dreaming of a century? But when shall I do it? It’s too hot to do it anytime soon; and can I train up sufficiently by, say, November? Next April might be a more realistic target date!

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