Test Ride

Trade your car for a bicycle? probably not, but it’s fun to commute some. Unless of course your commute involves chasing Sean back and forth across the Palouse. The intensity is a bit more than I customarily use but it’s better than time-trialing. At least I get some mileage as well as a high intensity workout.

Test Drive: Trading In The Car For A Bike

Published July 16, 2008 by CBS News
by Kelly Wallace

When I was assigned a story for tonight’s CBS Evening News with Katie Couric on bike commuting – how more Americans are getting to work on two wheels instead of four due to gas prices – I had a couple of questions. A few were serious, one somewhat vain. Who is really doing this? Could it be the start of a new trend? Is it safe? (Biking on New York City streets is not for the faint of heart!) Should I consider commuting by bike? And now to the superficial inquiry – what do you do about helmet head?

Read More

Bike Inroads include health benefits

Part two of the NBC news segments. This one is on increased longevity.

Apparently somebody at NBC News is discovery the benefits of cycling. Some of the statistics they sight in this piece are pretty startling as far as increasing longevity by biking.

Watch the video frfom NBC news

Too old to cycle?

I did my last century on my Lemond, the Pilot being temporarily garaged. I’ve done plenty of centuries on the Lemond, but I found the saddle uncomfortable. Or maybe it was my cycling shorts. Whatever, I survived it to ride another day.–Corrie

Senior Bicycling Complaints

Afraid of Traffic? Sore Butt? Knee Pain? Exhaustion? Weight Gain?

© Grace Lichtenstein

Jul 2, 2008

Don’t let safety or health issues stop you from cycling, a lifetime sport. Here are answers to problems seniors and boomers have pedaling to fitness and happiness.

Read More

So do I need that sports drink?

Good nutrition is good nutrition. Lot’s of offers for secret ingredients that will make you strong on the bike. Trust me, I know. I’m on Hammer Gel’s mailing list. These nutritionists have a slightly different take. I’ll stay with my sports drink though. I remember the washed out feeling I used to get at the end of a long ride until I started using more replacement drink.–Corrie

Real Thought for Food for Long Workouts

Filip Kwiatkowski for The New York Times

DR. MARK TARNOPOLSKY, a muscle physiology researcher at McMaster University in Canada and a physician, knows all about the exhortations by supplement makers and many nutritionists on what to eat and when to eat it for optimal performance.

Read more

Beat the Heat

Maybe it’s not Hell. Maybe it’s just hot–Corrie

Health: Beat the heat

By Joe Beer

Burning and dehydration are the enemies of summer cycling (BikeRadar)

It’s great to be out with the wind in your hair and lots of daylight to play with – but there’s a negative side to the warm weather riding – the sun. Yep, that round golden disk brings two additional challenges for the cyclist: accelerated dehydration and ultraviolet damage.

10,000 mile challenge or let’s just say 9600.

Okay, now I’ve got it correct. A couple of last minute corrections came in yesterday reducing our total mileage. Darn. What’s most interesting to me is not how close we came or didn’t come. That doesn’t really matter.

We never expected to have every cyclist we knew participating. What interests me is that so many really don’t keep any track of their mileage.

I find that hard to understand. I’ve got logs going back to the late 70s noting my running miles and routes. It just goes to show we all have different reasons for cycling. For some, it is the competition. For others, its the spinning along on grass lined trail spotting the birds; for others its exploring back roads under full pack with only the sketchiest idea of where you’re going; for some its pounding down a single track dodging brush and hopping logs.

For me it does often come down to the miles. I love being on my bike. I love being out all day long with nothing to do but make the pedals go around. I feel younger, stronger, leaner. I’m not interested in how fast I can go but I do like to go fast for me pushing my upper limits.

But I confess that if I weren’t shooting for a mileage goal, I’d slack off on the distance and probably the frequency. For me, getting out must be a goal or I’m likely to remain in my LazyBoy. “I just can’t find the time,” I’ve heard people say. That’s what would happen to me without mileage goals. I’d find reasons to do something else: Oh, the wind’s too bad, looks like rain, too cold, too hot, too hilly, don’t feel energetic, too busy.

But planning my rides around a weekly mileage goal often gets me out when I’d otherwise stay in. Sometimes I overdo and have a bad ride. More often I return feeling better than when I left and full of plans and routes to get my mileage goal for the week.

This week is a down week. The weather is poor, the White Bird hill climb is a long drive away for a short ride (remember competition and speed aren’t my motivators), we’ve got a midlength ride coming on Sunday and I have no expectation of meeting my mileage goal for the week. It’s a down week for me with little to anticipate for the weekend.

So if you didn’t participate in our challenge, we don’t care so long as you are finding your own reason to stay on the bike. If you have trouble finding the time, try keeping a log and setting mileage goals. It might just help.

Guess I might as well go mow the lawn.–Corrie

	Total	Commuter	Combined
Week 1 May 1-3	602.87	82.3	685.17
Week 2 May 4-10	1649.46	109	1756.46
Week 3 May 11-17	1942.36	666	2616.36
Week 4 May 18-24	1366.32	441	1807.32
Week 5 May 25-31	4134.6	888.1	5408.7
Running total	9695.61	2120.4	11816.01

Cramps

You fair weather cyclists have a problem you may not know about. If you haven’t been training much and the temps climb suddenly as they are doing this weekend, you may find your muscles not ready for this double whammy. Be sure to carry and drink lots of water on the Sage Bakery Ride today. It’s also a good idea to use electrolyte replacement drinks such as Gatorade since water tends to wash out the minerals you need. –Corrie

Cramp!

Why? And now what?

Fred Matheny has suffered from leg cramps throughout his cycling career. Whenever he mentioned that in the RoadBikeRider.com Newsletter — as he did after his crampfest on one epic Colorado ride — RBR would receive a rash of remedies from subscribers.

In fact, Fred reckons he’s now heard about every cramp cure known to science — and some that should be placed more properly in the realms of folklore, voodoo or the occult.

But as Carol Torgan points out here, cramps are multifactorial. No single cause seems to exist.

Read More including lots of suggested treatments.

Commute by bike and get fit at the same time!

I’ve lost 20 lbs since the first of January. Can’t seem to go below 170 but I’m hanging in there. Climbing is easier too. Stats say the average first year cyclists looses 13lbs. ‘Course you actually have to be on that bike. And don’t be fooled–diet is the single most important factor in weight loss. Exercise alone won’t do it. Riding a century can’t make up for all those burgers and fries–believe me. I’ve tried it.–Corrie

Commute by Bike and Get Fit

There is an epidemic that is growing every day in this country. That epidemic is obesity and generally poor health. With every passing day people are getting fatter and fatter with ever more degrading health and quality of life. There are more and more quick fix, fat burning, diet pills and scams popping up every day.

UltraFit - Large Fella on a Bike

Linda spotted this on Active.com. Thanks for the contribution.

According a stat on the League of American Cyclists page the average first year cyclists loses 13lbs. The folks at the Clarkston Chamber wanted to know what constituted a cyclists. Sorry, I had to tell them. You actually have to get on the bike. This Large Fella is skewing the average weight lose.

By Stephen Regenold
The Gear Junkie

The rebirth of Scott Cutshall began Thanksgiving Day 2005, a bowl of vegetable soup for breakfast kicking off a new life where nothing would be the same. Cutshall, living in Jersey City at the time, weighed 501 pounds. He was having breakfast. And then he was getting ready to go on a bike ride.

He rode 1.9 miles that day, rolling through neighborhoods, biking on the street, stopping to rest four or five times to sit on a curb. Head down. Panting. Hot even in November.

The ride of less than two miles took Cutshall three hours to complete. But the wheels were turning. His body was in motion. The journey had begun.

Read more of t his story

Riding With Kids

Korbin and Marley Jones preparing for a ride.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Jones

By Karen Brooks
Dirt Rag magazine

[This article is excerpted from Dirt Rag magazine, Issue #131. For the full story, click here.]

A love of riding bikes can be seen as a childlike quality in adults, something that allows us to play and have fun. What happens when actual children enter the picture, and the adults have to grow up? Here are a few examples of lifetime cyclists who, rather than abandoning their playful pursuit, are bringing their kids along for the ride.

more