Provider: River Valley Mountain Bike Association (RVMBA)

Come Ride With Us

Beginning in March 2009, we will be having regularly-scheduled rides, weather permitting. Please note that none of the March weekday rides will have a designated ride leader. The assembled group will need to select a lead rider for each day from those that come to ride.

Ben Kuhlman will lead the shorter route of the two weekend rides. The weekend rides will LEAVE the 5th Street Tim Horton's parking lot at 8:00 AM. If you wish to congregate, get breakfast, socialize, etc., please allow ample time to do so and still be ready to ride by 8:00 AM. Please do not bring any bicycles into the restaurant.

There will be two routes to follow - one being 10 miles, as well as an extended route to total approximately a 30-mile ride. The beginning of the loop will ride through the South side of town, with a mid-way point of Fort Boreman Park, overlooking the confluence of the Little Kanawha and Ohio Rivers. Bring a camera if you wish to have a picture or two taken of you at the historic overlook. Those wishing to complete a longer loop will head in another direction while the 10-mile loop will return to Tim Horton's.

Focus, Focus, 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.

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Mankind has invested more than four million years of evolution in the attempt to avoid physical exertion. Now a group of backward-thinking atavists mounted on foot-powered pairs of Hula-Hoops would have us pumping our legs, gritting our teeth, and searing our lungs as though we were being chased across the Pleistocene savanna by saber-toothed tigers. Think of the hopes, the dreams, the effort, the brilliance, the pure force of will that, over the eons, has gone into the creation of the Cadillac Coupe de Ville. Bicycle riders would have us throw all this on the ash heap of history. ~P.J. O'Rourke

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Gee, What Do I Do With All Those Gears! By David Mays

Knowing when and how to change gears on your bike seems like it should be simple. But many people find gear selection to be intimidating. When you first try to ride a new bike you will invariably shift into a much harder or easier gear than the one you really wanted. Selecting gears while moving is not easy for most people right away. It seems like it should be a simple thing to do. But somehow it ends up more complicated than that and many riders feel frustration the first few times as they shift into a wrong gear. Gee, I’ve been riding several years and still catch myself shifting to the wrong gear every now and then! The actual shifting of gears, clicking from one to another is not difficult. It's just a matter of getting the feel for going up or down in the range of gears. The good news is that being able to shift smoothly is about 80% practice and only about 20% understanding what's happening. With practice you can be shifting like a professional changing gears smoothly without even thinking about it. Bicycles have gears to allow your pedal speed or cadence to stay relatively steady and at about the same level of effort. It doesn’t matter if you're going down a big hill or up it. Your speed may change but having gears means you can climb without killing yourself as well as to go down hills fast as you pedal and still push the bike forward. If all the riding you ever did was on a flat level road at a constant speed, you wouldn't need multiple gears. Your bike would have just one gear in the front and one in the back. They would be set at just that right spot where you can keep pedaling at a nice comfortable pace without killing yourself. A bike set up like this is called a single speed bike.
But the world is not flat and there are hills that we go up and down. Putting gears on the bike allows you to keep pedaling at that speed you're most comfortable, regardless of the incline. From the riding you've done so far, you know the feeling when you are cruising along in the speed or cadence that is just right. You are going along at a steady clip but not straining yourself. That's what gear selection it is all about.
The tradeoff to get easier pedaling up a hill means you're going to be going slower. And to be able to zoom fast down a hill, you ride in a gear that is much higher than you'd ordinarily be able to start out in or even use to ride on the flat. In both cases your effort pushing on the pedals feels about the same. This happens because the gearing makes adjustments that allow you to either climb easier or go faster than you would if you had just one gear. Most bikes have a set of gears in the back called cassettes. They have between five and ten gears. Just last year some manufacturers introduced an 11 speed cassette. These gears are the most important to you and where most of your shifting takes place. The shifter for these gears is usually at your right hand. Get in the habit of using these first. The shifter on the other side changes the front chain rings. For most bikes in our area there are three gears that make up the chain rings.( Big Chain Ring, Small Chain Ring, Granny Gear) In flatter parts of the country there may only be two gears that make up the chain ring. When there are only two gears, the smallest gear we normally see around here is not on the chain ring.
You actually won't shift the front gears very much at all. This is especially true when you first get started riding and you should make a point not to worry about shifting them. With a three gear chain ring, leave the chain on the middle gear as you learn how to select gearing. Most experienced cyclists will pick one gear and stay in it 90% of the time. You will also get along just fine by one and sticking with one gear. The rear gears are what you use almost continuously for small adjustments as you go. It will not be uncommon for you to make several shifts over a couple hundred yards as the terrain goes up and down. In the back, the biggest sprocket would be the one closest to the inside of your wheel. It produces your easiest pedaling when climbing hills. The smallest sprocket on your rear wheel is toward the outside and allows you to go the fastest. This smallest rear gear is not going to be easy to pedal in unless you're already moving pretty good. What you're ultimately trying to get the feel for is to shift when you sense that your pedaling is becoming easier or more difficult so you maintain perfect and comfortable pedaling speed and effort. This gear selection will become second nature with a little practice of trial and error. If you use a little computer that indicates cadence, you can watch it and change the rear gearing up or down to keep that steady cadence you are after. As pedaling starts to get just a bit harder because of a small rise in the path and you automatically flip it into an easier gear to maintain your cadence or pedaling rhythm. When the road starts to flatten out and go downhill in front of you, your speed increases. Now you flip quickly into a higher gear. This allows you to go even faster with the same amount of effort. Soon you notice that you're shifting gears without even thinking. Then one day you will be riding along and suddenly realize you have gotten the hang of shifting! Once you've mastered the basics of shifting there are a couple more things to remember that will help you make changing your gears go even more smoothly.

1. Anticipate shifts: It is very difficult to change gears (and bad for your bike) when you are pushing the pedals very hard. So get in the habit of downshifting into an easier gear as you come to a stop or begin the approach to a big hill. If you have to down shift while pedaling hard, ease off just a little on the pedals and let the chain shift gears easier.
2. Don't try to shift when you are stopped. Bikes with traditional gearing are designed to be shifted when the pedals are moving, so don't try to shift when you are stopped. It's bad for the bike to shift when the pedals are not turning, and so you want to remember this and anticipate your stops, shifting to the right gear that you want to be in starting out before you actually stop.
3. Avoid cross-chaining: Cross chaining is having the chain on the smallest gear on the front crank and the largest gear on the rear cassette at the same time. Or having the chain on the largest gear on the front crank and the smallest gear on the rear cassette. In either case, it's hard on your chain and your gears to be at extreme angles. Avoid cross chaining by keeping the chain in the mid range either the front or rear gears. You can also avoid cross chaining by keeping the chain to the outside gears on both the front and rear or the inside gears on both the front and rear.
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Cyclists Put Drivers at Risk and Danger

Cyclists are the biggest threat on the road. When I'm busy driving, talking on my cell phone, changing the track on my iPod, taking a sip from my latte, grabbing a handful of fries, puffing on my cigarette, screaming at my kids, and swigging from the bottle of Jim Beam I keep under the driver's seat, I don't need to have to deal with some crazy bicycle rider forcing me to slow down and pay attention.

I'm a good driver. Those cyclists need to be arrested for riding their bikes on my road and putting my life in danger.

Interested in a Rather Flat Century Ride?

Kenyon Cox (aka FalconDriver) has mapped out and posted a rather flat Century Ride over in the Athens area. You can find the description and map of the route posted on www.mapmyride.com The century route includes riding the full Hockhocking Adena Bikeway in both directions. By adding a section along Rt. 50 to Guysville and back to the bike path on one end and adding a section that takes you into Nelsonville, on to Rt. 287 to Lake Hope and return to the bike path, you can ride a total of just over 100 miles.

http://www.mapmyride.com/route/us/oh/athens/108843352607

Think Spring!

Athens Spring Ride, aka Tom’s Trillium Tour, #8

Saturday April 18st, 2009 Registration: 8:00-9:30 (day of ride only). Hocking College, Nelsonville Ohio (Parking and registration in front of Robbin’s Crossing).

This is a scenic spring bicycle ride with budding dogwoods, redbuds, and wildflowers. The route consists of rolling to hilly terrain with the last 12 miles on flat & scenic Hockhocking Adena Bikeway. It is a budget ride ($3). Bring and carry your own food, water, cash, and tools. Maps and arrows provided. Distances include the riders choice of 30, 40, 60, 70 or 100 miles.

This is a fun ride that many riders from the Parkersburg area have taken part in for the last few years. Two years ago the ride was delayed a week because of heavy rain. Watch the Athens Bicycle web site http://www.athensbicycleclub.org/ for last minute changes for this ride.

Check your tires when you start a ride

It is always a good idea to check your tires before you set out on a ride. Check the tire pressure to make sure it is proper to your liking. It makes for an easier ride if the pressure is up to proper level. Also make a quick check of the tread to make sure there are no cuts or pieces of glass or cinders that may cause a flat while you are out on the ride.

Check Your Tires After You Ride

You can also help yourself avoid flats by thoroughly checking your tires after rides. It just takes a couple of minutes and can save you lots of hassle later. Position yourself in good lighting and take the time to slowly spin each wheel, looking for embedded objects or damage to your tire, like cracks, cuts or punctures on the sides and top.

For the March BBC Ride Calendar, please see the events tab on the o!pam's homepage.