Fitness

Welcome to all who have an interest in anything cycling of any kind.( road, mountain, commuting, stationary, whatever).

This is the place to come to ask that question you have been wanting to ask,

or tell that story about your latest adventure riding your bike,

find out how to use cycling to get in better shape, or anything else you can think of.

So, to start, tell us, what you ride, where you ride and what type of riding you enjoy.

Come back often too check out what's going on and see what's on everyones mind or add your knowledge to the group. 

 

pozesara,

very nice, wish it could be thus.  Maybe we would all get along so much better if we could get rid of the automobile and the cell phone!!!!!!!!

DAN

it's embarassing to even share it, but what's a little embarassment in the vastness of all the internets ? ;-)

i have a small mental trick for taking on hills. as i'm climbing i visualize that the road is rising up to meet my wheel. for some reason this makes it feel like i'm doing less of the work. like the road is meeting me half way. sounds stupid, but it's kinda zen and i really do relax into the climb. remember, i'm not attacking these hills, just slow & steady.

as for sayings, my favorites are :

"pain is weakness leaving the body"

"pain is temporary, pride is forever"

I think it is pretty cool how each of us has a different approach to hill climbing.

Ahhh, hill climbing, actually I have improved my climbing a lot, but still have one small nagging problem.

I keep hearing "passing left" as my wife goes by and drops me like a bad habit on her merry way up the mountain. On some of the longer switchback climbs, she actually gets out of sight before I "spin" my way to the top. I am blaming it on her 118# and my 161#. I don't have a chance, lol.

I have a plan though, I am going down to 155# and then I am sure I will be able to stay in sight of my cycling partner when we go climbing "together".

Thats my story for the amusement of all

Regards, Norman

leinad

The parked car I hit was around the corner of my cul de sac parked in a fire lane where it was not supposed to be parked. Since I knew a vehicle wasn't suppsoed to be there I didn't pay as close attention as I should have when I went around the corner. I was tightening my shoe straps and bam.

I have no scars (physical anyway). It was quite a traumatic experience though seeing the top tube and down tube crinkled on my pride and joy.

I also one time hit a tree that had been blow over by a storm. I was coming down a slight grade at about 25 mph and when I came around the bend there it was. I ended up in the tree on the ground. My helmet was really smashed up and I had a good bruise on my hip but I had no road rash or bike damage.

I hit a dog one time at 25 mph that ran in front of me also. He was running with his owner and it was dark and I did not see him eventhough I had head lights. I stopped and hit the ground like a ton of bricks. Again, the helmet was smashed and I had a bruised hip but no road rash or bike damage. The dog walked away as though nothing happened. I was lying on the street with 5 women joggers standing over me to help me. I made sure I got up slowly :-) They offered to give me a ride home but I was only 8 miles into my 25 mile ride so I did the rest of my ride.

The moral of the story is if any of y'all are thinking about riding without a helmet -- don't. I am a living testment to how they can save you and how quickly a crash can happen where you hit your head on the road.

Frank

I have family that are really huge into biking, so I spent the evening with them.  I can now take off my front and rear tires and change them completely by myself.  I am learning alot of new vocabulary very quickly and my cadence isn't working b/c the magnet and the computer aren't close enough to each other.  (I didn't lose the magnet...thank goodness!!!)

Not only that, they had a bike rack they don't use...so they gave it to me!!!  Woohooo!  I almost spent close to two hundred buying one :).  Hoorrray for free stuff!

Good friday everyone,

Just a quick post to say hello.  HELLO!!!

spring, if we ever have the chance to ride together I will keep a safe distance and let you hit whatever first, LOL, nice to know the helmets did there jobs and that you only got minor scraps and such.

deanna, wireless cadence I presume? You can't bet free stuff that is for sure.

DAN

deannad70, by free bike rack do you mean for your home or for your car?  The one I bought for my car was only $40 and it holds 3 bikes.  I can't imagine spending $200 on one.

Yesterday's regular ride went very well.  I got my first minor bit of rain while riding, yet I was paid for that beforehand by the most perfect bright rainbow I think I've eve r seen.

So the payoff was worth getting a little wet.   Nothing was soaked, other than through sweat anyway... so no biggie.

We ended up starting somewhere different on the trail... which allowed us to ride to the other end.   Still, we rode for just over 30 miles... so it worked out nicely.   Under 2 hours of riding, average speed 15.7 (and it was 15.3 on the way... so you can imagine we rocked some areas on the way back)... and the top speed was just over 25mph (which was my doing as we hit a good long slight downhill on the way back and I got a  good second (or third, or fourth... et c) wind.

Speaking of wind... the wind on the way was really bad.... the wind on the way back was pretty aweful at times.   I'm suprised we managed to do so well upping our average speed and all.

My co-worker remarked how I have improved over the weeks.   For someone that weighs more than he does, is older, and rides a heavier bike... to be pushing just over 25mph in some areas was pretty good.

Monday or Tuesday (pending weather), I'll aim to commute for the first time.   I'm confident I've got a good path for doing the ride which will have me avoid 95% or more of the AM traffic.

Night-  The bike rack was for my car.  Originally, I had the bike shop put on a Thule.  It goes in the reciever hitch of the jeep.  However, with the jeep's spare tire it didn't quite fit.  So I took it back.... It was priced at 185 but I get a discount...so originally payed 169 for it.  My family gave me a swagway? (I think) and it holds up to four bikes. However, you need to wrap the bike tube...otherwise it will scratch it up.  For a free bike rack, I think I can wrap the tube no problem :).

My co-worker friend that I ride with has a hitch mounted bike rack as well.   His cost him $80 I think.   I'm not sure if he bought it at a LBS or at a big department store.   It's really a nice rack too and it doesn't seem to interfere with the spare.  It's also a 3 bike rack.

Tonight I am riding my bike to work. I have a few concerns and I am hoping you guys can help me. First of all, it is 91 degrees outside. What can help me keep cool so that I don't keel over from heat exhaustion? Second, I will be riding home at around midnight. Any safety tips for riding that late at night?

Jane

Jane:  Keeping cool is probably not an option.  It's difficult to give you exact recommendations without knowing your exact situation.  How far is the ride? What kind of roads? What equipment do you have?

Here are some things you need: Helmet, lights front and rear (I have a 12 W LED headlight and a 15 WLED headlight -- the 15 W is definitely better), reflective clothing, hydration -- either water bottles in cages mounted on your frame or a hydration pack or a fanny pack.

I recommend that you use well lit streets if possible.  Carry a cell phone and know who you can contact in case of emergency.

Counterintuitive -- wear an undershirt, cotton will do fine.  It will act like a wetsuit to stabilize your body temperature and minimize moisture loss.

I got my first flat today riding into work.  That lesson my dad gave me on changing a tire when I was eight years old came in real handy.  I got the tire off, tube replaced, and tire back on just fine then came the hard part: pumping your tire up to 150 psi with a baby hand pump.  I couldn't even get it close but the bike shop was about 1.5 miles ahead of me on my way to work so I stopped in and used their floor pump. 

All in all it was a great commute with a story to go along with it.  I totally kicked that flat's butt. Might want to look into a CO2 cartridge, wouldn't want to ride on a low inflated tire any farther than I did.

It's only a 5.5 mile ride but with some pretty good hills (for a beginner). My bike is a Swinn Clearcreek road bike. I do have some good lights on the bike but the reflective clothing sounds like a good idea. I have two options for going home. One being a mostly downhill road with hardly any traffic on it. Downfall is absolutely no street lights and very secluded. Racoons, deer and other critters a big possibility (not to mention the fact that I am afraid of the dark, lol). The other is a well lit four lane road. Downfall on this one is that part of the road is under construction and there is absolutely no room for me on the very right side of the road. Traffic is minimal at midnight but there is a sportsbar just around the corner and I am a little worried about tipsy drivers.

With my autistic son out of school, riding to and from work is my only option for getting on the bike right now (until he starts summer school the week after next). I am having severe withdrawal just thinking about not being able to get on my bike so I really want to give this a shot. I manage a fastfood restaurant at night and I am supposed to drop our deposit off at the bank - that is not going to happen on a bicycle!!!! Oh well, that is the least of my problems. Now here is another thing I could do; I could drive my car to work with the bike, give it a try and if it just does not work out I can go back and get my car.

Jane

I think the big man upstairs is trying to tell me something. The sky just turned completely dark and it is thundering like crazy. There goes my ride for the day. The rain I can deal with but not the lightening. Ugh, oh well I will give it a shot tomorrow.

Jane

Yeah today we are getting soaked.   NOAA was way wrong.  Sure it was saying rain was evident... but there's a lot more than .17 or whatever inches that's come down in the last 2 hours.

But hey maybe this will atleast get us closer to being out of the drought faze.  We really have been needing the rain, so no complaints here at all!

I'm working on the bills today.  Eh, it has nothing to do with cycling... but man it's always depressing on payday to shove most of what I make right back out the door :( .  Atleast we don't have any car payments... but there's plenty of other debts to make up for that.

Jane, you're an inspiration!!

I have a Yakima roof rack & couldn't love it more. I had a couple of lame hitch mounted racks before & our bikes would swing around in various bothersome ways, but when I bought the Subaru Outback it just BEGGED for a snazzy yak rack for the roof. It makes the whole car :-)

I have given up on the weather channel. It will tell me there is a possibility of rain while it is pouring down outside.

I need a rack of some kind. Right now my bike would have to go on the backseat, lol.

Well, I have officially chickened out - I was outside getting the mail and a big lightening hit across the street. I would take the dark any day over this. I am really bummed though 'cause I was all determined and stuff.

I am off to the dreaded workplace

The trunk/hatchback rack I use was $40 at walmart.   I use a few extra bungee cords with it to keep the bike from moving forward and back since it's a 3 bike holder and I only take around the 1 bike most of the time.

So 1 cord to firmly have the bike anchored to the rack itself so no sliding and a second cord where I have the front wheel turned all the way on the outside, then pinned to the back of the bike in that position.

It works nice... and since the straps on the rack are velcro it makes for a nice quick release when I get where I'm going.

If I had to leave my bike on it without being around I'd invest in a long cable lock and lock the bike & rack to one of the posts underneath the back of my car ;) .


/////////////

Got a good freebie today!  It's an ugly bright orange safety vest with yellow reflexlite strips going down the front and back.   This was one thing I needed for my commute.  As ugly as it may be, it stands out better than anything I've ever seen.

I noticed yesterday on my way to the bike ride that there were some construction guys out.   The orange I could see for miles... even just a tiny orange sign  was visible for miles... but the guys  working were as well.... the yellow was sucked into the green background quickly.  I was going to go with yellow, but the orange is so much brighter.   I should stand out well (too well) on my commute.  But better safe than sorry.  And hey no need to invest in more reflectors, reflective tapes, or other stuff :)

Jane:  I'd say there are two ways of looking at your situation other than riding in a thunderstorm is always a bad idea.

I leave for work around 6 a.m., which is pretty dark during part of the year and I have used my lights on the way home in January and February.  I have a couple of segments that are less than ideal so I believe that you can do what you are planning on doing.  One note about that road under construction: The right hand lane is the right most lane that you can ride in.  If 3 lanes of a 4 lane road are under construction, you have a one-lane road situation.  Everybody including you uses that one lane.

When I was much younger, I commuted downtown (Norfolk, Va) for graveyard shift work at the Virginian Pilot.  I didn't wear a helmet.  I had no light on my bike.  I probably didn't wear reasonably visible clothing.  I survived anyway.  But I wouldn't ride like that today.

My suggestion is that you stick to the well-lit road.  Take it easy and give the motorized vehicles plenty of leeway.  I try to stay away from drivers that are weaving unpredictably even when I am in my SUV.

Joe