Blennerhasset Bicycle Club February 2009 Newsletter
How to Survive Road Hazards
By Fred Matheny and Ed Pavelka of www.RoadBikeRider.com
Cycling is a unique sport because its arena is the open road. That’s the same place frequented by traffic, potholes, snarling dogs and absentminded pedestrians.
But sometimes we’re our own worst enemy. Inattention and poor technique can put us on the pavement as fast as any hazard. Use these tips and you’ll be less likely to take a tumble.
Always ride with your head up. While cruising along, it’s tempting to stare at the whirling pattern of the front spokes or fixate on your cyclecomputer’s numbers. A momentary downward glance that lasts just a second too long can mean riding into a problem that could easily have been avoided.
Focus. The smooth and rhythmic motion of pedaling can have a hypnotic effect. Daydreaming cyclists have crashed into the back of parked cars, wandered far into the traffic lane or blithely ridden off the road. Don’t let yourself be separated from the outside world by the vivid canvases created by your imagination. Keep your head in the game.
Keep your bike in top mechanical condition. Repair or replace faulty parts sooner rather than later. It’s a loser’s game to milk “just one more ride” out of worn brake pads, a frayed cable, or tires with a threadbare tread or bulging sidewall. Your first line of defense against the challenges of the real world is a bike with all parts in good working order.
Punctures
It’s every rider’s fate to flat. But it’s relatively easy to limit the frequency.
Choose your line with care. The best way to avoid punctures is also the easiest: Steer around broken glass, road rubble and potholes.
Use tires with a Kevlar belt under the tread. Kevlar does a good job of stopping nasty things from penetrating. Inspect the tread after every ride for embedded debris. Remember, most punctures are caused by something sticking to the tread and working through during numerous wheel revolutions. Replace tires before they become so thin that they’re virtually defenseless against pointy things.
Check inflation pressure every couple of days. Tubes are slightly porous and may lose several pounds of pressure each day. Soft tires slow you down, corner poorly, wear fast, and don’t protect your rims against metal-bending impacts. Potholes
Hitting potholes can bend your rims beyond repair. If the chasm is deep enough, it will send you hurtling over the handlebar when you bury the front wheel and the bike suddenly stops. Here’s a primer on pothole evasion.
Note where potholes lurk on your normal training routes. Plan your line well in advance to avoid them. Don’t expect the road to be in the same condition every day. Potholes have a habit of sprouting up out of nowhere, especially in the winter and early spring due to the daily freeze/thaw cycle.
Treat potholes like glass. Ride around them, first checking behind for traffic. Be mindful of riding partners when you change your line. Newly minted potholes present a double hazard—the chasm itself, and the chunks of shattered pavement around it. If the pothole doesn’t bend your wheel, the sharp bits of rubble might puncture your tire. Give these highway craters a wide berth.
Jump your bike over a pothole, if you have the skill and are unable to ride around it because of traffic or adjacent riders. Learn this move on a grassy field. Level your pedals, crouch off the saddle, then spring up and lift with your feet and hands. Start by jumping over a line on the ground, then graduate to higher but forgiving objects such as a rolled-up towel or a shoebox.
Railroad Tracks
Unlike most dangers, tracks can’t be ridden around. You can suffer an instant crash if your tires slip on the shiny steel rails. Ride with extreme caution and follow these safety tips.
Slow down! Tracks are rough, and even if you don’t crash you could get a pinch flat. This happens when you ride into something abrupt, like a rail, and it pinches the tube between the tire and rim, slicing two little holes in the tube.
Rise slightly off the saddle. Have equal weight on your hands and feet. Let the bike chatter beneath you. Use your flexed arms and legs as shock absorbers.
Cross tracks at a right angle. If the rails are diagonal to the road and you cross them at an angle, your front wheel can be twisted out from under you. A perpendicular passage is essential in the rain. Wet metal tracks are incredibly slippery. The slightest imbalance or abrupt move can send you sprawling.
Jump if you’re real good. Racers who need to cross tracks at maximum speed will jump them. They use the same technique that works for potholes, but with more speed and lift because they must clear two rails. Coming down too early means the rear wheel will hit the second rail, guaranteeing a ruined rim or a pinch flat. In most cases, jumping isn’t worth the danger. It’s better to slow down, square up, and creep across.
Additional Slick Spots
Painted lines. These can be slippery, especially the wide markings for pedestrian crossings at intersections. The paint fills in the asphalt’s texture, producing a surface that’s uncertain when dry and deadly when wet. The danger is worse when the paint is new.
Dry oil slicks. These may be nearly invisible, but you can spot them as darker streaks on a gray pavement. Be real careful in corners. You aren’t safe if you ride through oil on the straights. The greased tread might slip in a corner just ahead.
Wet oil slicks. If it rains, a small oily patch can grow until it covers the whole lane. Be on the lookout for the telltale multi-colored water. There’s no pot of gold at the end of this rainbow, only a black-and-blue meeting with the pavement.
Wet metal. If it’s been raining and you come upon anything metal in the road (manhole cover, steel-deck bridge, road-repair plate), it’s as treacherous as riding on ice. Cross it with the bike absolutely upright. Even a slight lean can cause the wheels to slip. Smart riders walk their bikes across wet steel bridges.
Wet leaves. Be very careful in the fall, or you will. Even if the road is dry, there can be moisture trapped between leaves littering the pavement. When you see leaves in a corner, slow down and round the bend with your bike upright, not angled.
Sewer grates. Some old ones have bars that run parallel to the street and are wide enough to let a bike wheel fall through. If this happens, you can look forward to plastic surgery and possibly a lifetime of lawsuit riches. Many municipalities have replaced such grates with bicycle-friendly versions, but be careful in case a town hasn’t gotten the message yet.
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Let’s Help Make West Virginia More Bicycle Friendly Excerpts from a letter by Kim Broughton of Adventure Pursuit, Parkersburg, WV
Last fall a report published by the League of American Bicyclist of bike friendly states. rated West Virginia 50th, yes dead last, as being a bicycle friendly state. As a result several cyclists from around the state have decided it is time to do something so I called the League and asked if they could help. Their response was a enthusiastic YES!
The League of American Bicyclist is coming to Charleston, WV on April 18, 2009 to meet with cyclists interested in progressing the state of cycling in WV! We are so excited! The date was confirmed last week and we are working on the details now. The meeting is tentatively scheduled to be held at the Civic Center.
We welcome all who are interested in participating! To stay up on the news as it is developed, please sign up for our mailing list. We are excited to keep you posted on what is going on! Please forward this message to all interested parties! If you cannot come, still sign up to get on our mailing list for future updates.
The Steering committee for this event includes:
Bill Nesper Director, Bicycle Friendly Community Program League of American Bicyclists Washington, DC
Dave Pray President and Founder West Virginia Cycling Foundation Charleston, WV
Frank Gmeindl Positive Spin Morgantown, WV
Dennis Strawn Mountain State Wheelers Charleston, WV
Kim Broughton Creative Crosswalks LLC Parkersburg, WV
Please contact Kim Broughton if you have questions at kimberlyjoshi@gmail.com
Double Your Shorts To Double Your Comfort
Maybe you're seriously training and logging mega mileage. Maybe you signed up for a week-long cycling vacation to ride further than you ever have. Maybe you're on a four-day mountain bike trip and you're now beat up from the first long, rough day in the saddle. Whatever the reason, sometimes we cyclists need extra relief for our main contact point with the bike, our rear ends. One great trick for preventing and dealing with saddle soreness is wearing two pairs of cycling shorts (don't laugh; even professional bikers use this trick at times). Not only does adding a second pair of shorts double your padding, it also reduces the friction on the chamois (pad) as well. How? The outside pair of shorts moves with the saddle while the inner pair moves with you. Try it on your next century or epic trail ride. You'll be amazed at the difference!
Stars on Bikes - Famous People Riding Bicycles
Get on the Internet with the following web address and take a look at some famous people caught on film while riding a bicycle:
http://bicycling.about.com/od/thebikelife/ig/Stars-on-bikes/
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It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle. ~Ernest Hemingway
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Rear-Mount-Car-Rack Repair Stand
If you’ve got a car rack that attaches to the trunk, bumper or a receiver hitch, there’s a good chance that it will double as a bike repair stand. As long as it will support the bike in such a way that you can pedal by hand without the inside pedal striking the car, you’ve got a great place for doing your repairs. The rack will hold the bike high enough so that you don’t have to bend over and so you can see what you’re working on. This set-up is handy at home and at cycling events, too!
Watch Out for the Shiny Stuff
Riding along the roads in our area in the winter and spring bring an added concern for tire care. Cinders used to treat the roads contain chards of very sharp materials much like glass. They shine and glisten in the sunshine. When you are going down the road don't ride where the debris collects. Cinders, glass, nails, wire, small sharp rocks, etc., are all pushed to the shoulder by the sweeping action of the car tires. They don't want to drive in it, and neither do you. In particular, watch out when you see shiny stuff ahead. That's where the small shards of broken glass are
If you don't see the glass in time and do run over it, get off at once and check the tires. Carefully brush the surface of the tire and make sure you don’t have glass stuck in the tire that will eventually cut into the tube and leave you along the road fixing a flat. Try your best to avoid running over road kill critters too. Their small bones will cut into a tire and tube instantly!
Pedaling Is About Spinning, Not Stepping
The circular motion of the pedals on your bicycle is a marvel of engineering efficiency but is contrary to how our bodies first learn to move. The motor skills and muscle "memory" we develop in learning to walk encourage us to support our weight with each push of our feet, as if climbing stairs. When we learn to ride a bike, we think of the pedals as rotating steps: pushing down on each one, one at a time, propels us forward.
The best cyclists soon learn they can increase their efficiency, endurance and speed by pedaling through a more complete circle instead of just the front "step". As you pedal, concentrate on using your feet together, with each one mirroring the other in its movement through the circle. Drop your gearing to a lower gears that will make you spin your feet faster but easier with less effort. A professional bike rider will spin with a cadence of 100-120 RPM. That is fast! Many recreational riders will find they are spinning at 50-60 RPM with lots of physical effort being exerted. Try spinning faster and see how you can do.
One way to improve the technique of pedaling through a complete circle is to pedal with one leg at a time. Unclip or take your foot off of the left pedal, and pedal with the right one for 20 or 30 strokes. Repeat this action pedaling with the left foot only. Perform the one-pedal sequence 5 or 6 times. This works best on a straight level course, and with clipless pedals or toe straps.
Cycling shoes and "floating" cleat-and-pedal systems are essential for taking full advantage of this technique. You'll be amazed, with practice, at how much less effort is required to go farther, faster.
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Importance of Bicycling
Bicycling can add minutes to your life. This enables you at 85 years old to spend an additional 5 months in a nursing home at $7000 per month.
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Product Review – Thermo Soles By John Pellegrin
This past Christmas, Santa brought me a biking accessory that he thought I really needed. Since I like to ride all year long, but my feet freeze when the outside temperatures are below about 40 degrees, I awoke on Christmas morning to find a pair of Thermo Soles under the tree. These inserts look like normal shoe insoles and are the same size, but are not ordinary insoles. They have heating elements inside the front part of the soles, and flat lithium batteries under the heel section. The batteries are recharged with an AC adapter. A small switch at the rear of the insole turns the heating element on and off, while a tiny LED light indicates when they are on.
Because the small switches are at the very rear of the insoles, they have to be turned on before the insoles are placed in the biking shoes. Like ordinary insoles, these electric inserts can be trimmed for the ideal fit with your shoes. However, you must not cut inside of the lines, or you could risk cutting the heating elements. The Thermo Soles have a built-in thermostat to keep the temperature of the insole between 78 and 99 degrees. Because of this, they do not feel warm to the touch.
Since the outside temperature this New Year’s Day was about 32, well below my minimum riding temperature of 40, I decided to try out my new “toy”. Years ago when I tried to ride in this temperature, my feet would start to freeze about five miles into the ride. After I rode beyond the five-mile barrier on New Year’s, I began to think that these electric insoles were working. After 10, 15, and 20 miles, my feet were as warm as when I first began the ride. They were not as toasty as sitting in front of the fireplace in flannel pajamas with feet, but they were not in borderline frostbitten pain either. These electric insoles do seem to work. Fully charged, they are supposed to provide heat for 6 to 8 hours. Since I normally don’t ride more than 2 hours in sub 40 temperatures, I don’t know if that claim is valid or not.
Besides the North Pole, the Thermo Soles can also be obtained from Hammacher Schlemmer (hammacher.com) for about $100. They’re a little pricey, but do help.
