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Bike the Florida Keys

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Bike the Florida Keys Bike the Florida Keys! Combine your love for cycling with your love for the water and the outdoors! Senior Cycling offers a number of bicycle tours. They sound like fun; but there’s one big precaution. Be sure there isn’t a hurricane prowling around! That could wreck your ride in a hurry. Distance-wise, the tours seem easy; and the terrain is mostly flat. I think I’d like to bike the Florida Keys!  I suppose these tours are held in January to minimize the chances that a hurricane will interfere with them. In addition, holding such a tour in Summer would very likely present a serious chance that riders will suffer from heat-related illnesses. These tours are aimed at older riders, after all, who may be suffering from chronic conditions as diabetes. SAG support is included, which might mean that bottles of water will be available. Even so, I would be sure to bring my Camel-Bak. Then I could be more sure that I wouldn’t run out of water. The description of Bike the Florida Keys doesn’t seem to say anything about wind conditions. I checked Google, and it says that the wind in the Keys is usually “calm”; maybe a bit over 9 mph. That’s not exactly my idea of calm, but all the same it’s not bad. This is yet another “maybe someday” ride. If I ever get to bike the Florida Keys, let’s hope I don’t get so keyed up with excitement that I crash. 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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SPOOK-Easy

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SPOOK-Easy SPOOK-Easy is today’s twist on SpokEasy! Yes, it’s Hallowe’en again! I used to love going trick-or-treating on Hallowe’en  when I was a kid. It was fun seeing the different kinds of candy than landed in our treat bags. There was some kind of peanut butter-flavored taffy, and squares of taffy called, if you can believe it, Banana Bikes. And sometimes fun-size candy bars! Those were considered something special. We lived in a small, somewhat isolated neighborhood, with only two streets. As we kids got older, we would cover more and more territory until we were hitting all the houses on both streets. A couple of years after that, we outgrew trick-or-treat. I remember some of the costumes I had over the years. When I was eight, I wanted to be a penguin, of all things! The neighbors down at the end of the block always had a “witches’ cauldron”; a lump of dry ice in a bucket of water. They would also hang lengths of thread from the ceiling of the porch over the front door, so they’d feel like spider webs brushing against our faces. As always, ride safe, and go SPOOK-Easy! Be sure those spooks don’t get into your spokes!

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Gambling

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I\’m gambling? Why don\’t I head for the nearest casino if I want to play \”games of chance\”? Well, weather is a gamble, isn\’t it? Early today it wasn\’t raining. After checking the forecast last night, I expected it would be storming. I went for a spin on the road bike, but rode in the park and kept it short. I wanted to be fairly close to home in case the weather did turn nasty. That gamble paid off; but just after I got back home, the power went out. I was going to write a Facebook post, but my laptop told me I wasn\’t connected the Internet. Maybe because I didn\’t have \”juice\”? By the time the electricity was back on, it was time for me to leave for work. Despite the rain risk later in the day, I rode the hybrid to work. I was getting tired of not riding to work! In this case, gambling didn\’t turn out so well. When I left work, there was a light rain. I donned the poncho and went out to my bicycle. Before I could get ready to start home the rain got heavier. For almost a mile it was pouring. There must have been a heavy rain band right over me. Then, quite suddenly, the rain was much lighter. I\’m glad there was little lightning, and I didn\’t get caught by a train. Now it\’s 7:45 pm, and raining on and off. Yet more rain is expected tonight and tomorrow. Maybe I\’ll walk to work, but that might mean wading through some deep puddles. Walk or ride? Either way it\’s a gamble.

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How Things Have Changed

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How things have changed in the realm of ladies\’ cycling attire. At one time, the idea of lycra as cycling wear for ladies was unthinkable. A woman who did entertain any such notion would have been considered most improper.  Even if she were so proper as to put Queen Victoria to shame, she would have been ashamed of her thoughts. She wouldn\’t have dared to dream of it! Ladies in those days, if they rode at all, were expected to ride bicycles in their everyday clothing.  Can you imagine having to ride a bicycle while wearing skirts down to the ground? Things sure have changed since then! The cycling attire enjoyed by women today would have been longed for by a female cycling enthusiast of those times: clothing that is comfortable; breathes; allows unhindered movement; and isn\’t suffocating on a hot day. Clothing that\’s easy to wash, dries quickly (OK, that depends on whether you live in an arid or a humid climate) and doesn\’t require ironing! Except possibly for a few places, such as in churches, a lady in cycling kit would hardly cause a raised eyebrow in our day.  So let\’s enjoy our freedom, and wear our lycra at will!    

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Cyclus Domesticus?

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Cyclus domesticus? Hold on, isn\’t that a \”domestique\”? This is where you\’d think a domestique would be, wouldn\’t you? The word sounds like a household servant of days gone by. In the world of two-wheeled racing, domestique means \”servant\”, but those folks aren\’t scrubbing floors, or polishing the woodwork, or carrying water. Wait a second. I\’ll take that last one back. Carrying bidons of water and sports drink from the team car to other team members certainly is one of the tasks of a domestique. They also fetch food from the team car. They\’ll even carry items of clothing, such as jackets, back and forth. The job of the domestiques is to help their team\’s leader to win. They\’ll create a slipstream for the leader so he or she can conserve energy until it\’s time to make the crucial move. They\’re there to help if mechanical issues crop up; a domestique might even give his/her bike to the team leader if necessary. I\’m not sure whether I\’d rather be the team leader, or a domestique. I suppose that the leader feels the pressure to perform well, even to win. A domestique might well want to win the race, and might be completely capable of doing so; but domestiques aren\’t there to win. You could call them the \”supporting cast\”, aiding their leader home to the finish line. I\’ll never be in the pro peloton; I just ride for the joy of it. The small, everyday stuff, you know. I\’m for sure a Cyclus Domesticus.    

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Power Cranks

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Power cranks? Why not? Power meters seem to be a popular way for cyclists to train nowadays. The rationale is that other aspects of riding, such as speed, vary too much according to factors beyond the rider\’s control. Let\’s take a look at speed. I\’ve seen that my average speed on any ride can vary quite a lot according to wind conditions. I seldom get to ride in hill country, but when I do, my pace really suffers. Training by power, it is said, does away with these variables. Regardless of your forward speed, if you can consistently crank out X more watts than you could two months ago, you\’ve made progress. Power Cranks are designed to let you work your legs independently of each other, even while riding a bicycle. They\’re said to be good for developing the core. Power Cranks even let you pedal both legs in the same direction at the same time! The downside to power meters, by all I\’ve heard, is their cost. A few years ago I was considering buying one of the least costly models, and even that was about $800. Before I made my move, I had to have a root canal, and I was forced to put my money where my mouth is! Before starting to ride/train \”by instrument\”, it\’s advisable to do some tests to determine your heart rate zones and power zones. Otherwise, all these monitors are likely to me nothing more than \”expensive toys\”. I want more bang for my buck than that!

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Bad Match

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My road bike\’s fourth-largest cog and large ring are a bad match, all right. They just don\’t seem able to hook up. Today I tried to shift up to the big ring (50 teeth) while I was on the 24-tooth cog. I pushed the brifter; held it; and the chain rattled and clattered, but did not get onto the big ring. I shifted back to the small ring, or tried to. That was futile; the chain had fallen off. I had to stop and put the chain back on the small ring; then hold the rear wheel off the ground while I turned the pedal with one hand and shifted back to the biggest cog with the other hand. I don\’t know why that happens, unless it has something to do with the fact that the tooth-count ratio between my big ring and the 24-cog is very close to 50/50. If so, I say it\’s weird. Fifty-fifty is so often considered a good thing. I suppose it might be a quirk of my particular bicycle. I\’m glad the bicycle in general isn\’t a bad match. Later addendum: the problem turned out to be worn pulleys. I got them replaced, and now the shifting works fine.

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Product Report

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A product report isn\’t necessarily about something brand-new. Better Basics for the Home is, in my personal opinion, a wonderful book. I\’ve had a copy of it for many years. Just today I made the coming Winter\’s supply of hand cream, using a variation on Basic Waterless Wax Formula (pg. 76). Want to scrub the bathtub without having to inhale nasty fumes? No problem! Just mix baking soda with liquid soap or liquid detergent to the consistency of creamy frosting. Viola! This book even includes instructions for making soap, and I made my own soap for about five years. I stopped when the people in the unit adjacent to me started having children; I didn\’t want to risk having an an energetic, curious kid appear on the scene just as I was mixing up the lye solution (I always did that outdoors, per instructions). Sometimes I wish I could still make my own soap; it was the best bar soap I\’ve ever had. BBH, as I call it, was written by a woman who developed Multiple Chemical Sensitivities following accidental exposure to a gas leak, and then to pesticides. My guess is that the fumes from chain lubricants and such would be intolerable to her; thus BBH isn\’t cycling-oriented. But what does that matter? Sometimes I wish I had my own house to paint, so I could try milk paint! And then I could write a product report about it.

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Chopsticks

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Many an Oriental restaurant offers inexpensive wooden chopsticks to diners. Next time you go for such cuisine, you might want to bring home a pair of those chopsticks. Here\’s why: With the weather cooling off, my hands are getting chapped and dry. I need hand cream; and I make my own! Maybe you\’d like to try it , too. My \”recipe\” is derived from the formula for Basic Waterless Wax Formula, on page 76 of Better Basics for the Home. I use 1/4 cup of grape seed oil; 1-2 tablespoons of jojoba oil; 2-3 tablespoons of  natural beeswax beads; and 1 teaspoon of bleached carnauba wax. I put all the ingredients in an 8-oz Pyrex measuring cup, and set the cup in a 1-quart pot half-full of water. I let it \”cook\” over low heat until the waxes have melted, stirring now and then. Here is where chopsticks comes in. A wooden chopstick is a great stirrer for anything you\’re whipping up that has wax in it. After the waxes are melted, I pour the contents of the Pyrex cup into a coffee cup; and beat the liquid with a fork until it emulsifies. I don\’t leave it in the Pyrex cup for this step because the Pyrex holds the heat too well; and it takes forever for the mixture to cool and thicken. Meanwhile I\’m killing my wrist. The entire process, from measuring the ingredients to cleaning up afterwards, might take 45 minutes. It seems like a long time in today\’s rushed world, but if I went to the store and bought hand lotion, it would take about the same amount of time. This hand cream keeps for 3-4 months. I think it\’s well worth the effort.  

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Scaling Back

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YIKES!!! I sincerely hope that none of us weighs anywhere near this much. If so, some very serious scaling back would be required. Scaling back on what we eat, that is. Like so many people nowadays, I have a certain amount of concern with my weight. About 15 lbs of concern, and that\’s a lot when you\’re 60\” tall and have a small frame. There are oodles of books and other materials already out there about weight loss, so we hardly need to have me add my voice to the clamor. Besides, I couldn\’t say anything that we don\’t all know already. Some of my gain in the past 18 months or so is the result of my overly-zealous taste-testing of the various cereal bars I found at the salvage store. I\’m virtually always ready to go for anything sweet, whether I\’m hungry or not. Thanks to a sleep disorder, I\’m always somewhat tired. It\’s also been my experience that, once my stomach begins to growl, a major crash is imminent. Thus I\’ve become afraid that I\’ll get hungry. That\’s no help. When I get home from work, I often don\’t want to prepare a meal because I want and need to get to work on my web site. There\’s always something that needs tweaking, or even downright fixing. I need to be more careful to keep raw carrots cleaned and ready to eat, and do more cooking over the weekend so I won\’t have to cook during the week. My food intake really does need some scaling back.

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