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bicycling

If the Shoe Fits

BACK ISSUES, bicycling, equipment /

If the Shoe Fits 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.” If the shoe fits, especially if it’s these Shimano SH-MT502W shoes, how about a good off-road ride? This footwear is great for off-road cycling. The midsole, of reinforced fiberglass, transfers more of your power to the pedals. The Shimano SH-MT502W is lightweight; and the mesh uppers help keep your feet cool in hot weather. Outer sole is of grippy rubber, for more secure footing both on the bike and off. If the shoe fits, it might also bring the happy news that you don’t have a bunion. I’ve got one at the base of my left big toe; and it has bone spurs as well. So I have surgery scheduled for two weeks from tomorrow. If it were only the bunion, I think I’d let it go; but those bone spurs mean I have little flex left in the joint. Sometimes it hurts — both for walking longer distances; and for cycling. I just bought a new pair of cycling shoes, because my old pair was getting soft around the heels. When I tried them on in the bike shop, they seemed OK; but when I wore them for a ride — OUCH! So they’re on the shelf until my foot recovers from the surgery. Today I did only a short, easy ride; and I had to take a detour because of a train! Tomorrow I might have to let riding wait until late morning. (Pre-op visit with the podiatrist at 8:30). I’m glad we’re past the 80-degrees-at-5:00 am season! I need to get out there and do some short, very hard efforts; I’ve been too lax about them. And my (old) shoe still fits!

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Train Trains

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Train Trains 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.” I wish I could train trains. Then there wouldn’t be one sitting across the place where I need to cross the tracks to get home!  At the start of my ride, I just barely beat a ftrain. In fact, it was cutting things almost too close; 10 seconds later, and I wouldn’t have dared to try crossing those tracks. But I got across safely; then headed out to do some miles. Today there wasn’t much wind; and I enjoyed an RXBar Blueberry along the way. I didn’t try to push the pace; although maybe I should do more of that during these Sunday long rides. I’ve never really shaken off the fear that I might overdo things, and find myself totally exhausted when I’m a long way from  home. As always, the Sunday long ride means an electrolyte drink in addition to a Camel-Bak full of water. I sure wish that BioSteel could give me muscles of steel! So I rode at a pretty steady pace; and at 11.5 miles decided to turn for home. And now we’re coming to the train trains part of it: a stopped train blocking the crossing; and of course I couldn’t know how long it might stay there. So I rode on to the next crossing, maybe .7 miles away. I was almost there when I heard the locomotives rev up, and start ringing the bell; and I decided I probably couldn’t beat the train. That meant turning around and heading back to my usual crossing. And that train was slow. All that detouring and waiting delayed my getting home by some 10 minutes. I’m glad it wasn’t cold or raining!

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Which Bike for Me

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Which Bike 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.” * “Which bike for me?” is a very sensible question for anyone who wants to take up cycling. How to choose? I admit I’m no expert; but I do know several things that must be considered: where and how much you plan to ride; whether you’ll need to carry loads; and, of course, your budget. Will your riding be primarily on paved surfaces? For the person who is brand new to cycling, I’d suggest a hybrid, because it’s more stable than a road bike. This Schwinn Discover hybrid bicycle for men and women has an easy-to-mount, step-through design; front and rear fenders; and a built-in cargo rack. Its 21 speeds let you adapt to a wide variety of road conditions. Just hang on a set of panniers, and you can bring home a load of groceries; or carry lunch and a change of clothes to work. Some folks will opt for a mountain bike, such as the Schwinn Traxion. The Traxion has 24 speeds, with trigger shifters; full suspension; and disc brakes. The catch with riding an MTB over pavement is, those knobby tires offer more rolling resistance than the smoother tires of a road bike or a hybrid. What about people who have balance issues? There are adult tricycles, such as the Tricycle Adult Folding Bicycle!  No worries about balance; and  you can even bring along a passenger! Front basket holds your cell phone and other needs. I know from experience that a trike is fun to ride. For the sheer enjoyment of putting in the miles, a road bike like the Tommaso Imola Endurance is great. It has 24 speeds; and delivers high performance at an affordable price. Built to last, too; an important aspect of anything you buy, I would say. The above are only a tiny percentage of the available bicycles out there; but I hope they can get you started on making your choice!

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Feels Like October

BACK ISSUES, bicycling, Outdoors /

Feels Like October 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.” * It feels like October at last; now that October is over! Our temperature yesterday morning was about 72; today it was some 20 degrees cooler. I went for a ride, but the wind was rather strong; so I was a sissy and went to ride laps around the park. Before I had ridden one mile, my hands and feet were starting to feel the chill. Maybe I need some Rabbitroom Gloves! My feet were getting cold, too. My intended five laps got reduced to a measly two laps. The sky was overcast; and it began to mist. The wind seemed to be strengthening; and I decided it might be better to go home before it began to pour. Then, of course, it didn’t!? I forget sometimes that learning to deal with adverse weather is part of being a cyclist. Pushing your pace against the wind helps to develop strength and endurance; and it you’re to commute to work or school by bicycle, you must know how to ride in the rain. Tonight is supposed to be even cooler; with a wind advisory in effect until mid-morning tomorrow. I might have to postpone my ride!  Yes, it feels like October — now that November is here!

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Pushmi-Pullyu

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Pushmi-Pullyu? 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.” * I thought of Dr. Dolittle’s pushmi-pullyu about two days ago, thanks to a couple of trains.  Rounding the turn before the last mile on the bike path, I heard the compressed-air sound that idling locomotives frequently make. Then I saw the train sitting there; and I hoped it wasn’t so long that it was blocking the crossing. As I rode further, I could see that the crossing was clear. Then I saw more locomitives! At first, it seemed that there were “locos” on both ends of the train; but then I noticed that there were two trains on idle. One was headed one direction; and the other one was pointing the opposite way. The pushmi-pullyu is one of the few things I remember from reading the book, Dr. Dolittle. (Not surprising, as that was decades ago.) It might be interesting if some enterprising inventor created a tandem bicycle to resemble the critter. The two saddles would have to face in opposite directions, each with its own set of handlebars. One pair of pedals would have to be operated in reverse; and that — captain or stoker? — pedaling backwards sure would make people look twice!

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Katy Bar the Door

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Katy Bar the Door? 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.” * I hope all my work today doesn’t mean, Katy bar the door. On the contrary, I hope it makes navigation easier! Speaking of navigation, I’m glad Hurricane Tammy is far away from us; if it did some weird maneuvering, we might be in for a rough time! This morning I just did one easy circuit around the park; but I plan to do a longer ride tomorrow. At the moment, the wind is pretty strong; so I’m glad I’m not trying to ride against it. I’ve been trying to get into the routine of a longer ride in the middle of the week, in addition to the Sunday long ride. I’m also experimenting with starting my mid-week long rides before I eat. I cut up a protein bar to take along; and I eat pieces of it as I go. So far, it seems to work pretty well. The weather is weird enough without any visitors from the tropics. It still gets into the 80s in the afternoon. When the weather does turn cold, it’s likely to abruptly drop from the 80s into the 40s overnight. Does that happen everywhere; or is it just us? It makes me feel like saying, Katy bar the door.      

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Kaleidoscopic Effect

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Kaleidoscopic Effect I’d feel like the kaleidoscopic effect if I went for a ride attired in the jersey shown above! I must say, it’s very colorful. But when we’re riding, we don’t need to worry about kaleidoscopes. What we’ve got going is the gyroscopic effect. Ever notice how much harder it is to hold a straight line at a slow pace? Or how much harder steering is? That’s because of the gyroscopic effect. As a new rider, increasing the pace is scary. It made me feel like I was going out of control; but as I got more practice, I learned that the opposite is true. In an easy gear/high cadence, it’s still hard to ride in a straight line; but I suspect that’s a core-strength issue. Today I created no kaleidoscopic effect; my jersey was sky-blue, with black side panels. It was mostly covered by my vest (which is white). Things got a bit more garish when I added my reflective vest. It’s neon yellow, with orange-edged reflective stripes. Even so, I was sporting relatively few colors. I needed the visibility, too. When I went out, there were areas of light fog; and the sky was mostly overcast. It was still rather early anyway; so the light level was rather low. Getting my Sunday mileage back into the 20s now; but still a ways to go before I can do 40 again. Especially with a lapiplasty coming up next month!

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Cadence

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Cadence Cadence isn’t only about marching and military tattoos. We cyclists engage in cadence every time we ride. Yesterday I did some work on pushing the RPMs; and somehow that seems to make it easier to push the pace as well. Apparently that shift in mental gears helps as much as any shift in bicycle gears! For 30-60 seconds at a time, I worked to push my cadence anywhere from 85 to 95 rpm; and without shifting to a lower gear. That sure gets my heart rate up; and it was easier to go 16 mph! (For me, that’s fast). Which naturally leads to the question: What should my cadence be? I’d say that that is, to some degree, a matter of personal choice; and it also has something to do with muscle-fiber composition. Spinning uses slow-twitch muscle fibers; while mashing calls slow-twitch fibers into play. Everyone has a unique slow-twitch/fast-twitch ratio. Mashing a hard gear at low rpm makes your muscles tire faster because of lactic acid build-up. Rapid pedaling in an easier gear can make you out of breath faster; so each cyclist need to find the happy medium that works best for him/her. I’m glad that I don’t have to worry about marching. A marching stride is typically too long for my short legs. I have to almost lunge-walk to keep up! This morning I got lazy, though. I rode to the supermarket, but that was all. Tomorrow, the salvage store! After that, back to the kitchen.

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Dancing Shoes

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Dancing Shoes? Since when are cycling shoes, dancing shoes? I don’t think I would want to dance in my cycling shoes. The soles are too stiff; and even MTB shoes, with their recessed cleats, might lead to slipping. This morning, however, I was at my bike shop, buying a new pair of cycling shoes. The shop owner was teasing me about my dancing shoes; and I said, yeah, I’m ready for the foxtrot. I got a size larger this time, because of the bunion/bone spurs on my left foot. The shoes still feel a bit too snug at that spot; but I figure they’ll stretch over time. Shoes do that, you know. The pair I’m replacing are a good three years old; and they’re getting pretty soft around the heels. I read somewhere that you’re risking bio-mechanical trouble by “trying to milk more miles out of shot shoes”. I’ve got enough trouble without that! Better to pay for a new pair of shoes now, than have major doctors’ bills farther down the road. The weather forecast over the next few days shows a warming trend. I hope it doesn’t shoot up into the 90s again! Rain chances are low to none until next Wednesday; so at least I won’t need a rain suit.

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Not a Bike?

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Not a Bike? When is a bike not a bike? That depends on your exact definition. To me, a bike is something that  you can pedal to make yourself move, be it a two-wheeler; an adult trike; or even a unicycle. An indoor exercise bike is in the gray area. You can pedal as fast and hard as you like; but no amount of effort makes you and that thing get anywhere. Your CV system might be getting a terrific workout; but I’d rather have my efforts transfer into forward motion. Hence I came up with the term un-bikes!  Our weather is finally turning into something more like October. It was below 60 degrees this morning; and with a 12 mph wind, it felt quite chilly. And down to 54 tonight! We’re into another spell of dry weather; and who knows how long it will last. We still need rain. This morning I rode in the park, short and easy. I didn’t feel like battling the wind on top of the levee. Incidentally, sometimes I see things up there that are not a bike, such as scooters. Those things can fly; but they don’t have pedals. Neither do roller blades.  Of course I’ll be getting chilly while riding; and that means it’s hot-chocolate time! In recent months, I stocked up on reduced-calorie hot chocolate that I found in the salvage store. I didn’t care how hot the weather was; I knew I would want that stuff come Winter. I’ve got four or five boxes of it; so I should be all set!

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