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. 

 

ah ha, seatpost rack, that makes sense. mine is attached to the braze-ons and isn't coming off too easily.

if joe bell recommends the lemon pledge, i'm happy to pass along the tip. he knows his stuff :-)

http://www.campyonly.com/joebell.html

[darn pagebreaks!! how on earth do i always end up at the top of the new page??]

I am very happy that I found the snake (she is seriously my favorite pet) so I will just have to pedal some extra miles tomorrow - after I go get a huge lock for the snake cage. If it had been our big spider that was lost I would have moved out of the house before nightfall. I hate that nasty thing but my son loves her.

Speaking of my son. Any of you have any advice on teaching him how to ride a bike? Remember, he is 11 years old, autistic, lazy and very uncoordinated. I can't find training wheels that will hold his weight.

Jane

Because you own page 30 ;-)

Ah, well then Welcome to Page 30 Everyone!!!

Jane, my only suggestion is that you put your son on a bike where he can put both feet flat on the ground while sitting on the seat, like a cruiser-style bike, or even a BMX style bike. That way he can practice sitting on the bike and rolling along while sort of also walking the bike to retain his balance. That will get him used to the sensation of rolling/riding, but he'll be safer from falling over since he can put either foot down if he starts to lose his balance. Also maybe try a bike with a coaster brake instead of hand-brakes, depending on his coordination. I think practicing on grass is also a good idea, but it can be hard to really get rolling smoothly unless there's a slight downhill grade to get gravity working with you.

or I always think of this when considering this topic (although I'm not sure this is in production; probably expensive if it is)...

http://www.engadget.com/2005/04/16/the-shift- morphing-tricycle-bicycle/

Jane: IMNSHO getting a child to ride a bike is primarily a motivational issue.  If the child is motivated, he/she will figure it out in no time.  Otherwise, you aren't going to get to first base.  That is based on experience with 2 daughters and 2 granddaughters.  You might want to try something like, "Ride this bike or I feed your spider to my snake."

Bicycling.com has about 500 articles on teaching a child to ride.  Go to the home page and in the search window type "teach child to ride".

You might want to look into tricycles.  We think of them as child's toys but they are designed for adults and for serious business as well.  If you can get your son going on a tricycle, you can take him along for some rides to give him a taste for riding.

Joe

carrihound, that is the most awesome bike/tricycle I have ever seen. I will have to check that out some more.

jc343, feeding the spider to the snake would make him move! I love that suggestion. Motivation is definitely an issue. He gives up sooo easily and he absolutely hates sweating. I really think he will like it once he gets the hang of it. I can lower the seat on the bike he has so that he can reach the ground and then just practise. He really, really needs the excersise. I am going to do some reading on the bicycling.com website.

Thanks bunches. You people are the best!!!!

Jane, I think your kid just has to want to do it.  It took my oldest son till this year (he's 7) to finally decide he was tired of the training wheels and wanted to bike without em.   He has a Schwinn Stingray and the training wheels that came on that thing are SUPER beefy!   I'd offer mine up but I've got two younger sons that will end up on the stingray and probably learn to ride on it as well after some time with the training wheels back on.   Maybe you could find em on ebay though?

Heck just check walmart or target for a bike with training wheels.

My 4 year old (he'll be 5 next month) is already starting to ask for his training wheels to be removed.   I'm not so sure yet.  But I'm willing to give it a shot maybe out at the paved bike trail where there's a nice long straight to ride.

Expect em to fall.   Try to give em enough protective gear to not get too banged up.

Jane, after thinking a little more about it,  I would like to add two suggestions.  You might want to consider a tandem bike.  I was thinking in terms of the trailer bikes I have seen at REI but when I checked them out, I found that they are only designed to carry 80 pounds.  Perhaps a dealer near you has some other suggestions.

In terms of motiviation, it seems the best motivation is peer pressure.  A lot of kids learn to ride because their friends or playmates are riding.  Perhaps you can find a way to organize a playgroupd that would do some bike riding.

Joe

nightc1 and jc343, those are awesome suggestions. I will go to century cycles and see if they have some suggestions.

The falling part is what has me worried. One time of getting hurt and he will not come near the thing ever again. I will have to put him in a bubble on the bike, lol. Seriously though, he definitely needs knee and elbow pads and the helmet. Because of the autism he has sensory issues and does not like anything touching his head but I may be able to bribe him. Once I get him going, I am confident that he will like it because he always wants to come with me but then backs off when he realizes that he has to ride his own bike. We will definitely stick to the driveway and front yard at first.

Tonight on my way home the battery in my headlight died. And of course it was on the most deserted part of the ride. Full moon, wooded area and no headlight. Oh I was so delighted!!!! I made it to the gas station though and was able to get a battery.

Jane

Jane, while at walmart tonight I checked and they have training wheels that are beefier than the standard ones on smaller kids bikes that you can add onto ANY bike with standard bolt on wheels.  Nicely they retract as well so if you want to let him practice regular riding he can.

And hey yeah elbow, knee and heck wrist pads too if you want em.

If you do the training wheels thing steer clear of grass.  I know your kid is going to be a bit different than mine but a nice flat consistent surface IMO promotes easier riding so they can put more attention into balance.  I've only got 1 of my 3 son's riding though.  The 4 & 2 year old (soon to be 5 & 3) sons are next.  So I don't have a huge history of training kids to ride yet... but I do have recent history with atleast one of my sons.

I think the spur that got under his butt to want to finally ride without training wheels was this smart alek kid down the street that's a year younger than my son that rides without training wheels.  He just had to show this other boy that he could do it too.

It's sad to think the next 11 years of my son's life are going to be more influenced by outside forces like this but I remember too that age and it took me wanting to do something (usually because of my older bros) to actually put the effort in.

Best of luck to you!  Post an update if you manage to get him out riding.

And yeah training wheels work fine on the road.  Even my 4 year old rides around on an 16" (or 18"... I forget) bike with training wheels on the street (with me and his older bro only).

i too recommend not only knee & elbow pads & a helmet, but also gloves, especially if he might take a spill on concrete. it's instinct to catch yourself when you fall & that usually means scraped up palms & wrists.

Good luck!

Now I am all excited! I am definitely off to Wal-mart this morning. Thank you so much nightc1 for checking that for me. I like the peer pressure thing (even though you are right about them being more influenced by others than their parents). I am going to start pointing out every time we see a kid on a bike.

carrihound, didn't even think about golves but you are definitely right about the instinct.

It is a perfect day out there so keep your fingers crossed - hopefully I will be riding down the sidewalk with my kid.

Jane

Hello gang!!

Well I'm back from the big ride and WOW, what a ride it was.  102 miles, 13,111 feet of climbing(highest climb was at 4800 ft), it took me 6 hours and 7 min officially, and I finished 213 out of 750, yep, much to my surprise it was a race, as well as a tour ride.  I wish there was a way to tell you every detail about it but there isn't enough space for all the things I'd love to tell you about, but if you ever want to go and see what you can do on a bike ride in true mountains this ride is for you.

The people (volunteers) were some of the greatest people I have every meet on a bike ride.  All the interestions were protected by police and fire personnel so you never had to stop, even the rest stops were fly though like you see on the Tour de France (you could stop if you wanted too), I only stopped for a total of 8 min.

The climbing was amazing, snake mountain was just as hard as I could have imagined, if not worse, I have never seen so many people walking up a road and I'm talking about guys and girls that looked more thatn capable, at times my speed was less that 3 mph and I would be willing to bet it was less than 1 at some points. Man I loved it!!!!

One thing that was cool was the people who lines the roads on the climbs and cheered everyone on as they tried their hardest to make it up each one, there were 6 I think.  One comment I over heard, that I will keep in my heart forever, as I rode past this group of people was a lady who said "look at the smile on that guys face" and that was as I was climbing Snake, even in that much torment i was smiling the whole time.

 The hardest part, much to my surprise, was the decents, if you had the nerves 60mph was doable, but oh boy the hair pin turns on those moutains made a flat lander like me more than a little nervous. The best I could muster was 49mph and that was on a curveless section.

It was great! but enough about me, I see we have some new members on board.  Welcome to all and I will get the roster updated, as soon as possible.

Gotta go for now, be back later, DAN

Ok, all you cycling club members,

please check the roster on the original posting and see if you want me to add anything or change it.  I try to get as much info off your posts as I can, but I do screw it up now and then. DAN

WOW, some nice disscusions have been going on while I was away!  Nice too see all the people who started out to improve their health with biking and have keep it up because they found a real love for the activity.

DAN

Welcome back Dan! Wow, way to go finishing at 213. Did your wife go? If so, how did she do? Do you have pictures?

All, I got the training wheels for my son's bike and he is ready to try it out. Didn't get that far today because I had to go to work. Funny thing; my in-laws bought the bike for him a couple of years ago. At that time I had no idea about bike brands and stuff. Well, today when I looked at the bike I realized it is a Trek bike. I am so jealous - I want one!!!! I told him that and he graciously offered me to borrow it, lol. We won't be able to practise until Monday because I have a horrible 12-hour shift tomorrow. Cross your fingers and hopefully I will soon be riding down the street with my son.

Jane

Dan: Sounds like a great ride.

Jane: Sound like you might want to pack spare batteries with your spare tube.

Already done jc343. I  am never going to have that happen to me again. Brings new meaning to "afraid of the dark".

Got up at 7 this morning and put in 20 miles. It was so peaceful out there. Saw lots of bunnies, racoons and even a deer.

Now I have to go to work. If I pout long enough, you think they will close Arby's for the day? NOT!!!!!

Jane

Congrats on the epic ride Dan.

Sounds like you are ready for this ride next summer.

http://www.teamevergreen.org/HTML_MAIN_PAGES/ triplebypass.html

Progress of sorts: Yesterday's 39 mile ride put me at 150 miles for the week; 530 miles for June and 2001 miles for the year.

It was a bit strange because I had to venture down into Southern Md again.  I got to the ride start about 10 minutes late because I got lost when I turned on the first of 3 Livingston Road intersections.  Saved by the GPS.  A group of CC riders was just getting ready to shove off when I reached the ride start so I went with them.  Then I got three pin holes and a slow leak in my front tire when we crossed a railroad track.  I swapped tubes and made it to the rest stop.  I left the rest stop with 2 B riders but we were riding pretty well, 17 to 20 mph in sort of pace line for about 9 miles.  Half way through, we had a 3/4 mile climb.  I started at the back but they were going too slow so I moved up to the front thinking I would pull them up.  When I got to the top and looked  around all I could see was too tiny figures slowly working their way up the hill.  I dawdled and then waited for them to catch up (at this point I had a sweat-soaked cue sheet and no idea where I was).

A little later, the ride leader stopped to puzzle out some street signs that didn't agree with his cue sheet.  The other guy went on ahead.  When we started again, the ride leader said, "We should catch Sam."  So we rode at 22 mph for the next mile and caught Sam.  After all of that we averaged a little better than 14.5 mph overall -- a nice relaxing, recovery ride.

Oh yeah, this follows Friday's ride.  Friday is normally my day for resting.  But I was feeling pretty good and I had a 50-50 chance of decent weather.  I took the extended route and knocked 5 minutes off of my time for the same ride on June 14.

So today is my rest day.  I got my wife out on her bike for about an hour on the Anacostia Trail.

gmule,  That is one wicked looking ride!  I'd need two weeks of altitude training just to get ready for that one.  Boy I'd love to try it though!!  A 700 rider waiting list!?  There are just too many sicko's like me I guess,LOL!

Well here's how the 10000 mile challenge is going, miles for june=1042, YTD=5727(over half way). I'll need to put some more in the bank during the rest of the summer to be able to get me by the cold weather later and make it over 10000 by years end.

BTW, after the BSG ride I had my wife drop me off 16 miles from Mt.  Mitchell and did my own solo assault on the peak, this is one of the easts holy grails of cycling. I started at 3300 ft elevation in grabtree meadows and finished at 6700 ft at the summit. One small mistake on my part was not realizing that it was a non-stop climb from the first pedal stroke, 21 miles total, all up hill, but I made it!!

Jane, the wife did not do the BSG ride, but I took her out on two of the climbs we did to see how she would do and she did in fact do great.  The ride was over george's gap, a 3 mile 8% climb with 10 switchbacks, actually she had to do it twice, when we got to the road we wanted to use to return, it was gravel, so we had to go back over the gap a second time and  she did the second climb even faster ( I think she was holding back the first time to make sure she could do it).  Good luck with the training wheels and getting the son out on his bike! I didn't get any pictures of the ride, didn't want to carry the camera and we forgot to bring it to the ride start, would have loved a picture of all those bikes at the beginning.

jc, nice ride report there, if it weren't for all the strange twists and turns in riding what would be the fun, LOL. good for you on the time drop that's more than a mile farther you could ride in the same time.

DAN