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What\’s YOUR Group?

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What\’s your group? As cyclists, we have a pack. Or a pace line, peloton, group ride, etc. Then there are other groups. Most of them are new to me, all right. I didn\’t know this morning that I was looking at a gaze of raccoons! I first saw their eyes gleaming, and though I was seeing reflective material on the backs of somebody\’s shoes. As I got closer, I saw a group — sorry, a gaze — of \’coons! I didn\’t have the chance to count them; but I\’d guess there were five or six. This was at about the same place where I saw a single raccoon several months ago; and it looks like that \’coon found a mate and started a family. I\’m glad they moved away from the path, rather than trying to run across it to get to their hideout. If they had, it could have been very bad news for me! I suppose you don\’t belong to a gaze; so what\’s your group? Probably not a parliament; but perhaps you belong to a peloton! I often see pace lines of other cyclists when I\’m out riding. They typically whiz past me so fast, I feel like I\’m backing up! Sometimes, when there\’s a curve in the path a way ahead, I see such a line approaching from the opposite direction. If it\’s still dark, I see the line of their headlights as they round the curve; and I love the sight. There\’s something beautiful about it. When they\’re actually passing me, it\’s not quite so pretty. Those lights can be blinding; but I\’m sure my headlight is just as bright to them. Maybe one of these days I\’ll find my group; but I\’m still too slow for most pace lines!    

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Weird Or Not?

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Is this weird, or not? Does it happen to everyone? Let\’s say I go for a long ride in the morning; 30 miles or so. Later in the day, and the next day as well, I have orthostatic hypotension. WHY would it happen? Do I go too abruptly from strenuous exercise to sitting? Whatever the cause, it sure is annoying. When I get up from sitting on the floor, it feels like I\’m going to keel over. My blood pressure tends to run low anyway. At least one doctor has told me to be sure to eat enough salt. Imagine an M.D. telling a patient to eat salt! Usually we hear a lot of talk about the need to reduce sodium intake. \”OH\” is why I take my time getting out of bed mornings. I can\’t jump up like a jack-in-the-box, or I\’ll go staggering uncontrollably; and that\’s not how I want to start my morning. Some folks like to put the alarm clock across the room from the bed, so they\’ll be forced to get up to turn the thing off. That doesn\’t work for me! But all too often, I have to urge myself to get going if I want to go for a ride. Is that weird, or not? After all, I love to ride; so why is it so hard to get moving in the morning?

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Long Not So Strong

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Today I rode long, not so strong: I finally cracked 50 miles! But I kept feeling tired on the way home; and I\’m trying to think why. Did I need to eat more? Was I flirting with dehydration? Of course there was the wind. It was blowing 13 mph before I finished my ride; and a headwind on the way home, of course! At such times it\’s hard to remind myself that my weekly long ride is more about improving my long-range endurance than working for any set speed. Going for a ride of more than 20 miles means extra preparation. Here are some things I use for those rides: First and foremost, the Camel-Bak. It can hold up to 100 oz, or about three liters. In this hot weather, I also bring along a 24 oz bottle of water, stowed in a the bottle cage on the seat tube. During one of my stops today, I emptied the bottle into the Camel-Bak; and later refilled it at another stop. It\’s lucky I had that extra water! The Camel-Bak was almost drained by the time I got home. (Total time, 4:33:00). Electrolyte drink is important for any long ride; but especially when it\’s hot. This morning I used Nuun. I began with an energy type, which has a bit of caffeine in it. I also brought along Nuun hydration-style tablets. When I stopped on the way home, I dumped what was left of the energy Nuun; put 16 oz of water in the bottle; and dropped in a Nuun hydration tablet. Even if I\’m riding long, not so strong, I need that Nuun! The \”Skinny\”? Sunblock! What a nuisance that is. The type shown at left needs to be reapplied every 80 minutes. One reason I use a visor on my helmet is so that I don\’t need to put sunblock on my forehead. With heat and sweat, sunblock gets runny; and it is not fun to have the stuff get into my eyes!  Chamois Butt\’r makes for more comfortable long-distance riding; especially in hot, humid conditions. I carry a tube of it in my Camel-Bak\’s pocket, so I can use it when I make a \”pit stop\”. Which sunglasses I use depends on expected conditions. If it\’s overcast, I prefer the Tifosi® vermillion lenses shown at left. If it\’s going to be sunny, the HDO dark lenses at right are what I need. Today I wore the vermillion lenses, because the forecast was for partly cloudy — even the chance of a thunderstorm by 8 am. I ended up wishing I had worn the dark lenses! It was sunnier than I expected. I\’ll have to learn to pack along whichever pair of sunglasses I\’m not wearing; or else find a pair of glasses that automatically adjusts the degree of darkness. Don\’t Forget About Food! And of course I took along food: several GU-Gels; Clif Bars cut into pieces; and so on. I try different things; partly to prevent boredom, and partly to see whether one thing or another works better. A cable lock adds to the load on my back; but I bring it anyhow. Is that extra weight why I rode long, not so strong? But I never know when I might have to make a stop where I\’ll need to secure my bike. Besides, if I practice riding loaded down like that, things should be a bit easier when Tour de Cure comes. I won\’t need to lock up my bike at rest stops; and will be riding at least a pound lighter! And I take my cell phone in case of an emergency; extra food; and — er — tissue in case there isn\’t any where I make my pit stop. I usually don\’t pack along rain gear on my weekly long ride, because even with a poncho I\’d get wet. Rain slows me down, too; and I have to remind myself that it\’s about long, not so strong.

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Enough Already?

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Have I done enough already? We hear/read all the time about how little exercise the population in general gets. Supposedly most of us don\’t get nearly enough; and this opens the door to all sorts of ills: overweight/obesity; diabetes; heart disease, and so on. They say you should get one hundred and fifty minutes of physical activity a week. That\’s less than three hours. Most of the time, between the two bicycles, I get over six hours a week; and a certain amount of walking as well. Technically, I\’m easily getting the recommended amount of exercise. Is that enough already? Now if I could only get my sweet tooth under control, I\’d be doing much better!

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Hit the Trail

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Let\’s hit the trail for some adventures! I often wish I were able to try out more bicycle trails. The variety would make riding more interesting, as well as providing some new challenges. Unfortunately that\’s much easier said than done. I don\’t have a car; can\’t afford one; and, about 99% of the time, don\’t really want one! If I did have a (motor) vehicle, though, here are some trails I\’d love to ride. I could drive to the trailhead; ride; then drive back home. Louisiana has several trails. This list doesn\’t include the Tammany Trace, perhaps because it\’s a Rails to Trails path. The Natchez Trace would be a great place to ride, I suspect — if only I were able to get to it. Its 444 miles could be done in a 10-day trip doing about 45 miles per day. There\’s got to be something somewhere about the Trace\’s profile, i.e. how  much climbing there is. If you want to try out new paths, I\’d say the trail\’s profile is an important thing to know; especially if you aren\’t used to hills. They say, don\’t wait until your bicycle tour begins to train up. It\’s essential to prepare yourself beforehand; and then you\’ll enjoy the tour much more. Adventure Cycling offers a variety of bicycle tours. Their epic tours last several months and cover several thousand miles; and they sound wonderful. Adventure Cycling\’s list of tours also includes fully supported tours, among others. Unfortunately those tours are beyond my purse. C\’mon, lottery, bring up my numbers for once! Then I can retire from work; and have the time to train up for such a tour. I\’ll have the wherewithal for buying camping equipment; and then I can hit the trail!

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Progress Sort of

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I\’ve made some progress, sort of; but I\’m glad I don\’t have to keep track of multiple gauges while riding. I\’d probably get too fixated on the instrument panel to watch where I\’m going! At any rate, my Garmin lets me see how fast I\’m moving. This morning I worked at keeping to 15 mph. Out-bound, with a bit of a following breeze (maybe 4 mph), I maintained an average of 15.5 mph for almost 6.5 miles! On the way home I couldn\’t keep that up, which worries me. True, an average of 14.69 mph isn\’t bad; and is a little better than I used to be able to do. That\’s progress, sort of. And adding together those two segments, I did average a hair over 15 mph🙂 But that\’s still not what I want to be able to do for Tour de Cure🙄 Now that the big day is three months away, I expect training rides to be announced any day. They\’ll probably say how fast a rider must be on each particular route; and then I\’ll know whether I\’m truly on track. BTW, speaking of instrument panels: a new bicycle computer, power meter, etc. seems to come out with every turn of the wheel. I\’ll let things be, and continue to use the gadgets that I already have. I don\’t have to have every new \”toy\” that comes out.

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Alarming Trend?

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Lately I notice an alarming trend:  I\’ll shut off the alarm clock; and the next thing I know, it\’s an hour later! It drives me crazy when that happens; and it happened today. I was too tired and sleepy to get hustling for even a short ride. Night before last I didn\’t get much sleep at all; so I guess my body was playing catch-up. At least I could ride the hybrid to work. With a \”partly cloudy\” forecast in the offing, I decided to leave the rain gear home. About an hour before I left work, it began to rain. Luckily it stopped in time for me to get home dry. A location not far away is getting a T-storm with strong wind. I\’m glad it\’s not here! Sometimes T-storms happen every day for what seems like an eternity; and that\’s an alarming trend. Having to ride through rain plus lightning is quite unnerving. If it\’s time to go to work, I there may not be time wait out bad weather; and if it\’s time to go home after work, I don\’t want to wait. Of course I can\’t do anything to make storms go away; but what can I do about trouble waking up mornings? Obviously, get to bed earlier; and that\’s easier said than done. I always have too much to do!

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Coming up Short

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Am I coming up short? They say that, if you use a step-up box for off-bike exercises, it should be approximately twice as high as your crank length. The box I have, meant for aerobics,  is about the same height as my crank length. According this advice, that\’s too short. But I use it because it\’s what I have. That\’s how I was brought up: Use it up; Wear it out; Make it do. And when it\’s worn out, do without. Besides that, I\’m reluctant to bring more stuff home. I\’ve got more than enough stuff already; and I don\’t need to crowd myself or my bicycles out of here. If I did buy a taller box, the old one would have to go. And who would want it? It\’s ancient, after all. I\’m not even sure it\’s in very good condition any more. So, even if it\’s technically too short, I\’ll keep on using it. Better I should be coming up short than to have no box at all! Speaking of stepping up, I\’d like to know this: why is climbing a flight or two of stairs more tiring than riding a bicycle for several hours?

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The Well Tempered Bicycle

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Presenting the Well Tempered Bicycle… Sorry, J.S. Bach. Seriously, though, bikes can seem quite ornery at times. There was the time the tricycle threw me. It was a misty morning; and apparently it had been misty for hours. That let the dampness seep into everything, including the trike’s brakes. I had always heard/read that bicycle brakes grip less well when they and the wheels’ rims are wet. With the trike I found it to be the opposite: they grabbed harder when wet; and I had front-wheel brake only. That morning I started out on my ride; and was braking as I approached the stop sign a block from home. Before I knew what was happening, I was on the ground with the trike on top of me. It”s not as though I had been flying along at 20 mph, either. Under 10 mph, probably. Luckily I wasn’t hurt; but the thought that flashed through my mind was, “The old gal’s developing temperament!” As to J.S. Bach, I bet he would have been glad to have a bicycle. The story goes that he walked 200 miles to hear Buxtehude play the organ. Mark Twain, I suspect, would not have thought, \”the well tempered bicycle\”. Quite the contrary, in fact!  

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Steamy!

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It sure is steamy out there today! It was like a sauna, even before sunup.Sometimes we start getting weather like this as early as March; and it can persist well into November.  I often wish I lived where it weren\’t so humid; and where there were four well-defined seasons. Spring and Fall typically are fleeting here; and the Summer heat and humidity are liable to set in abruptly; and without much of a warm-up into it. Then it\’s steamy for what seems like forever. It makes me long for a cooling vest; especially on those afternoons when the heat index creeps over 100 degrees. Even the short ride home from work seems brutal on such days. Similarly, cold weather is likely to arrive without much of a cool-down. One day it will be close to 90 degrees; and overnight it drops to 45 degrees! During Spring and Fall we got a lot of such fluctuations; and people complain that you never know how to dress. If I want to ride in our sauna-season, however, I simply have to go out into the steam bath; and bide my time until cooler weather makes riding a little more pleasant. Unfortunately that won\’t be for at least two more months!

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