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Ai-yi-YOWCH!

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Ai-yi-YOWCH! None of us wants to have muscle cramps fit to make us do like this poor fellow here. But suppose a nasty cramp strikes during a ride? We could try these tips to prevent cramps from occurring in the first place. Preventing cramps ought to be easier in the long run than dealing with them when they happen. I, for one, am a long way from being sufficiently skilled to try a quad stretch while actually riding. It would be better for me to stop and rest for a while if I get a quad cramp that bad during a ride. At least one source I\’ve seen suggests this remedy when a cramp hits while riding: grab your upper lip and pinch it. I believe the theory is that the pinched lip does something to distract your brain from the kinking leg muscle. Of course, if you begin to get cramps, try to figure out why. Are you riding much faster than usual? You might need to slow it down for a few miles. Are you increasing your mileage too quickly? Dial back the distance for a day or two. Are you using a gear that\’s too hard for you? Shift to an easier gear. Is the day hot? Maybe your body is telling you to replenish the electrolytes; and especially sodium. Or, maybe it\’s simply time to pull off the road and take a break.  Let\’s do what we can to keep our muscles happy, because we sure don\’t want them to cramp our style! Let\’s keep the ai-yi-YOWCH away.  

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Hang Loose!

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Hang loose! Long rides can result in tight muscles as the miles wear on and on. Those muscles can feel even more tight and sore the next day. To help keep your hard-working quads, hamstrings, etc. from getting too tight, let\’s try some on-bike stretches. Naturally we can\’t stretch quite like this kitty while riding a bicycle (or at any rate, I can\’t); but it\’s possible to coast briefly while straightening one leg and stretching the heel downwards. Then repeat with the other leg. To prevent rigor mortis in the arms, sit up for a moment or two and straighten and stretch the arms. How about post-ride? The longer you wait after you get off the bike, the stiffer your muscles get. Not that it\’s easy to plunge into a stretching routine the minute you\’ve parked your bicycle. I know I\’m always eager to get out of my sweaty shorts; visit Mrs. Murphy (as people used to say); and down my recovery drink. This foam roller routine is one I could use more often. It really doesn\’t take long to do, unless you want to spend a long time at it. When you hit a spot that needs extra rolling out, you\’ll know! This stretching business is rather a nuisance at times, but hey — it helps you to hang loose!

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Creme de la Creme?

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What\’s creme de la creme? These cream puffs? They look delicious, despite the goodies overload of the holiday just past. Then there\’s the kind of \”creme\” that keeps your hands from getting chapped. As soon as the weather begins to turn cool in Fall, I turn to Better Basics for the Home. On page 76 is a recipe for Basic Waterless Wax Formula. It\’s actually meant for wood furniture; but the first time I whipped up a batch of this stuff and use it on a bookcase, I noticed how good the polish felt on my hands. It was far better than any commercial hand cream or lotion I had ever tried. Besides that, it didn\’t have either an overpowering \”fragrance\”; or the weird odor of \”unscented\” hand lotions that I had used. I make very small batches. Measured by weight (not volume): 2 oz olive oil; 1 oz jojoba oil; 1 oz natural beeswax beads; 1/4 oz bleached carnauba wax. I put it all in an 8 oz Pyrex® cup; and put the cup in a small pot with water up to about the 4 oz line on the cup. I set the pot over medium heat, stirring with a wooden chopstick until the wax is melted. Then I pour the hot mix into another container* and beat with a fork until it\’s cooled and emulsified. You can vary proportions of oils to wax, depending on how stiff a product you want. This makes enough for one Winter season, for one person. It\’s my creme de la creme! *If I don\’t do this, that Pyrex cup retains heat and it takes a wrist-exhausting eternity for the mix to cool down!

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Off with a Bang?

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Did I start the New Year off with a bang? Not so fast! Today\’s ride wasn\’t exactly a bang, although I rode past many patches of fireworks debris from last night\’s New Year\’s celebrations. It was more like a slosh. Last night the forecast said, overcast. Instead, it was raining this morning. By about 8:30 am it seemed to have stopped; so I went out for a ride. I discovered that there was still a fine drizzle; and several miles out I ran into rain. Riding in the rain is rather wearisome; so I turned back a mile or so earlier than planned. (Yeah, I know — shame, shame!) On the way home, I made two or three short, untimed \”surges\” at 17 mph. If there was a \”bang\” it came during the final mile, when I pushed for 20 mph. I made it to 20.75 mph; and I even got my heart rate up to its max. I\’m also delighted that I can now hold 20 mph for more than a split second. Un-fun though this ride was, I\’ve made a start towards my year\’s mileage goal; even if I didn\’t start off with a bang. Every little bit helps! Good luck with your bicycling goals this year!

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Another Year Already!

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Gosh, another year already! Those calendar pages sure flip over quickly, don\’t they? Now that it\’s 2019, I can start plugging away at the year\’s mileage goal: 6000, between my two bicycles. I\’m even thinking of working up to a 100-mile day; perhaps in April or May. I\’ve done self-supported centuries before. In a way they\’re a drag, because I must carry everything with me; including a cable lock so I can secure my bicycle during stops. I can always arrange my route so that I can make a stop at home to replenish my supplies; but stopping at home during a century ride feels like cheating. On the other hand, an organized century will probably have a cut-off time. That means I\’m likely to have difficulty in completing the ride on time. It\’s another year already, and I still have not met a goal that I\’ve had every year for at least five years: to increase my cruising pace to 15 mph. It\’s true that I\’m a little better at riding for 15 mph for more than a few seconds — sometimes for 10-11 miles! — but I can\’t yet do it for hour after hour. Where am I falling short? Too little \”force\” work? Do I need to get out there and push it to 18 mph for five-minute intervals twice a week? Are my \”recovery\” rides too hard? Am I too afraid of the discomfort of pushing my effort level into my max heart rate zone? The local Tour de Cure for 2019 doesn\’t seem to have been arranged yet. I might have to give it a miss this year, for a number of reasons. But maybe next year!

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The Numbers Are In!

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The numbers are in! Between my two bicycles I rode 5185 miles during 2018; and my total time is 437:28:09. Sure, there are riders out there who accomplished far more. Some riders put in several times the mileage; and my own accomplishments pale in comparison. But seeing what I can do is exciting. In fact, so see whether I could is why I did my century rides. I guess I\’m a bit like the Little Engine. First I did a century with the tricycle; and what a long, hard, cold day that was! Later, I put in two centuries with the hybrid; and finally I did one with the road bike.  Admittedly the road bike century didn\’t end so well, although I was pleased with a pedaling time of under 8 hours. July isn\’t the best time for a 100-mile ride when you can\’t escape the hot sun. I think I got dehydrated; and next time I try, I hope for a better outcome. When the numbers are in, how did your riding go in 2018? I hope you had a lot of fun! Best wishes for a great 2019 full of riding!  

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Ring out the Old

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Ring out the old, be it carillon; bicycle bell; or whatever. It\’s already time for an old year to depart. What do you do on New Year\’s Eve? When we kids were old enough, we\’d stay up until midnight. My mother would join us, and we\’d nibble on hard candies and pretzels; and play Monopoly® or Clue®. Despite their being illegal, a LOT of people would have fireworks. Another subdivision nearby always sounded like a fort under fire; and the air was full of the reek of gunpowder smoke. Phew! We\’d set aside time to tune in to the Boston Pops New Year\’s Eve concert; conducted back then by Arthur Fiedler. One number was Twelfth Street Rag. We kids got a big kick out of that one. New Yorkers might head for Times Square for the midnight ball-drop. New Year\’s Eve Abroad Germany. Lead pouring? I don\’t care to inhale lead fumes; and I think I\’d substitute wax! The lucky mushrooms are kind of cute. All those foods look so good; and I, for one, want to try a lot of them! Starting the New Year with racket reminds me of an old German custom called Polterabend. France. Apparently New Year\’s Eve is noisy in other countries, too. Galette des Rois sounds delicious, thanks to my sweet tooth. I love those blue lights shining from the capstone of the Arch of Triumph. England. That\’s interesting about the shifting date of New Year\’s Day. I\’ve always lived near the Mississippi River; and as the New Year came in, we\’d hear tugboats honking. Train tracks were nearby, too; and any train driver out there would be blasting his locomotive\’s horn. Spain. Friends and food sounds like a nice combination. Chow down a dozen grapes by the time the clock can strike twelve times? As midnight arrives,  I\’ll have eaten too much other food to be able to try doing that. Start with your right foot? Always a good idea. When I begin a bicycle ride, I start with my right foot. Wherever you are; however you ring out the old; stay safe, enjoy yourself, and remember Auld Lang Syne.  

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Dream Big!

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Don\’t forget to dream big! Now that we\’re on the verge of a new year, it\’s a good time to catch a few cycling dreams. It\’s fine to make New Year\’s resolutions; and to set goals.  Resolutions can give us a jump start, so to speak. Without goals we might not make progress. But what about dreams? Oh, the things I can dream of! A double century! Long bicycle tours, such as those offered by Adventure Cycling! And my impossible cycling dreams: a sub-5 hour century; and successful completion of Paris-Brest-Paris! Long-term dreams, so Joe Friel says, can become goals (The Cyclist\’s Training Bible, page 19 in the 4th edition). I can see the sense of making a dream into a goal. A goal gives you something definite to work towards. It makes the dream more tangible, and therefore more attainable. That doesn\’t mean that making dreams come true is easy. Training for a double century requires longer training rides than I have time for during the work week. I\’d need several years of grueling workouts before I\’m ready to try a sub-5 hour century. Preparing for a long cycling tour would mean working to increase my daily ride distance; and likely a considerable amount of simulated hill climbing. As to \”PBP\”; well, our cycling dreams can involve more money that we have. PBP would mean transporting myself and my bicycle to France; and, of course, back home afterwards. Not to mention the randonees required to qualify for PBP. Talk about dream big! The work required to make a dream come true is worth it — as anybody knows who has done a long day\’s riding, and finally sees the mileage meter hit 100! So let\’s hang up our dream catchers, and snag a big dream!    

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Don\’t Forget Why

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Don\’t forget why we ride! So, why do we ride? For fun, or for exercise? Do we ride to compete; or to lose weight? Or is it just to get around town? For me, it began because I needed a way to get to places beyond walking distance; and without a car. I immediately took to riding almost every day because my legs liked the way it felt to ride. They still do; and I hope to enjoy many more years of pedaling. This leads straight into cycling for exercise. They always say, choose a form of exercise that you like; or you\’re unlikely to stick with it. No matter how much you enjoy your chosen form of exercise, there will be days when you don\’t feel like doing it; or when it\’s not fun. It\’s OK to take a short break from cycling now and then. It can benefit both body and mind. Some folks have an innate urge to compete; and what do they do? They race! Racing is far in the future for me, if I ever do it at all; so I can\’t say much about it. Losing weight? I need to work off a good 15 pounds!  There\’s plenty of info out there about diet and weight loss; and what works for me might not work for the next person. Thus I shall excuse myself from making recommendations. Touring sounds great; and Adventure Cycling offers a wide variety of tours. Look for one that meets your budget and your current level of cycling fitness. A bicycle is helpful for just getting around town. You can bypass traffic jams; and parking is so much easier than with a car! So don\’t forget why you ride; and may 2019 be a great cycling year for you!

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