This blog is about my experiences and observations as a recreational road biker who after many years away from the sport has rediscovered the benefits and joy of riding once again.
Hello all! The Road Biker here. As we come to the end of the year, but certainly not the end of the riding season for some of us, I wanted to take a few moments to look back on a few places I rode during what many consider the best time of year to ride, the Autumn.
So, I put together some video clips of curves, turns and roadways I enjoyed riding this year and yes, pumped up the speed to keep things moving in the following video. I invite you to come along for the ride and enjoy this short and colorful video.
One of the YouTube channels I watch provided a tip for us road bikers that said we need to learn to relax when we ride. The tip even mentioned that professional bikers use depressants to help them to relax. Well, don't think I'll be popping any pills anytime soon, but sometimes to help me relax on my ride I will ponder certain questions. Questions like, "How often and why do I ride"?
I suppose this habit I have of letting things bounce around in my head as I ride is my way of getting to my "moment of Zen", or maybe I just have an active mind. Anyway, I try to ride 100 miles a week and if I can get in 2 to 3 rides a week I'm happy. Of course, weather and obligations and previous rides kind of dictate if I hit that mark and sometimes motivate me to ride more or less.
I ride for the exercise, or at least that's how I started out. Lately, I've let go the idea of "training" rides and now I'm more about just enjoying the ride and reaching a destination that I haven't been to by bike before.
So on this holiday as so many of us reflect on all that contributes to making our lives happy and fulfilled, I know that road biking adds a good measure to my contentment and joy for being alive.
Road Bike Plan Your Ride MapQuest MapMyRide Google
One of the first things we learn as road bikers is to plan where to ride before throwing a leg over our bike. And in a digital world we rely on the internet, a smart phone app or a GPS device to view, plot and track routes we want to ride.
I recently wanted to expand a route I sometimes take and decided to check with MapQuest to review a possible additional loop of about a mile and a half to include in my ride. I had a general sense of the area and wondered if there were roads that I could ride and sure enough MapQuest showed exactly what I hoped to find. So, I headed off to explore this newly discovered loop only to find that I either missed a fork in the road or a turn I should have taken and ended up on a dead end and on a private road.
I didn't have my phone with me at the time as I was absolutely certain that I knew where I was going and as soon as I got home I pulled up the MapQuest map only to be even more confused. I thought to check Google Maps and discovered MapQuest was completely wrong. MapQuest was showing a road that did not exists!
So, the next time you plan a ride and blindly rely on the information provided to you by your choice of technologies I suggest that you might want to check with one other source before taking off.
If you are a recreational road biker like me and somewhat new or returning to the sport here's a tip for you regarding your saddle position.
When you first got your bike undoubtedly you had the seat and handlebar positions set for your optimal riding position and comfort. However, what did you use at the time for determining a base line of your comfort or riding position? You may have been fortunate to have someone at a local bike shop guide you through the process of fitting the bike to you, or perhaps like me you did a bit of research and adjusted the saddle and handlebars on your own.
Regardless, you are the one who provided the feedback to the shop techie or to yourself as to what felt comfortable to you. I know I did and without much knowledge back then as to what is correct or comfortable for me. After all this was all new to me at the time.
So, today my tip is to revisit the process you used to set your saddle position back then and don't be afraid to tweak previous settings that you made. I found that after riding for a while I begin to "scooch" forward on the seat because my sitting bones were too high up on the saddle. By moving the saddle away from the handlebars I now have a lot more riding comfort, and I feel like my pedaling has more power, Its a win win! You may benefit from doing the same.
Any kid growing up who gets his or her first bicycle instinctively knows that this event signals their crossing of some mythical threshold into freedom. Once balance has been mastered and a child first escapes a parent's guiding hand the freedom to fly away takes hold and their journey thru life begins.
There is no invention like that of a bicycle and poets will tell you that the wheels of a bicycle are given to use in place of wings. Every child who rides a bike imagines that they are flying and can travel over the ground ever faster and farther than before, that its possible to sail passed the moon as though they are Elliot from the movie ET.
For us all the sense of freedom and flying that we gained from riding bicycles as children will never be lost. For those of us who continue to ride we renew our sense of freedom and enjoyment with every turn of our pedals, every spin of our wheels. We still believe we can fly.
Close Call Road Biker Nearly Head On Collision Drive Defensively
I have to believe that the number one tip anyone can pass along when it comes to motor vehicles is to drive defensively. You can not stop motorists from doing stupid things on the road and there is just no stopping drunk or texting drivers. All you can do is to keep alert. At least that's what I try to do and its saved my butt a few times over the years and it came in handy yesterday while riding my road bike.
There are two things that I notice drivers do that makes me just wish I owned a shoulder fired rocket launcher so that I could just take these morons out. The first thing I see more and more of is an oncoming motorist coming around a bend in the road and driving over the centerline and in my lane. Do these motorist feel that no one will be using the other side of the road and its just fine to ignore the center line??
And the other thing I don't get is when an oncoming motorist comes across something blocking their lane like a parked delivery truck that instead of waiting for traffic to be clear before going around the truck they simply drive right into oncoming traffic forcing other drivers to the shoulder.
So, that's what happened to me yesterday while riding my bike. A woman in an oncoming car came upon two pedestrians on her side of the street and instead of stopping and waiting for me to pass she just pulled into my lane and headed directly for me. Did she not see me? I doubt it. Just another case of an arrogant driver who couldn't wait 5 seconds to let the road clear for her use.
In a perfect world we would all own Star Wars like blasters and be able to dish out immediate justice on these life forms - but its not a perfect world, so lets use our heads and just be careful out there.
The other day I ran a Google search for tips on "How To Breathe While Riding a Road Bike". From some of my videos you can tell there is a good deal of huffing and puffing at times on my part. But, try climbing a hill and control your breathing and talk at the same time. Not so easy. Anyway, I found a bike tip in my search results that I felt may be a bit misguided.
The bike tip was "Taking The Lane", which essentially suggested to ride in such a way as to block motorist from going around you unless the motorist is willing to pass you by using the lane meant for on coming traffic. YIKES!! Reading the logic behind this tip made the argument that you are more visible to motorists and therefore more safe if you ride in the "middle" of the lane rather than on the side of the road. Personally I find that idea a pretty thin argument, and if you are concerned about visibility then turn on your tail light and use the flashing mode to make yourself even more noticeable.
I guess what I found most unsettling about this road biker tip was no mention of getting out of the way of a motorist when and if you are taking the lane. I mean, c'mon! Don't poke the bear! There are far too many jerks and aggressive drivers on our roads to gamble your life and limb on the notion that "Car Back" doesn't mind following you doing 15 or 20 miles per hour.
I did reread the tip more than once to be sure I didn't misunderstand, but clearly whoever wrote the tip didn't think it through. Let's just say I won't be following that advice, and for me I feel safer staying out of the way of motorists, riding on the side of the road and using my flashing tail light to provide as much notification to motorists of my location. My tip is "don't poke the bear" and "don't be a dick". Ride to the side and be safe.
You may suffer a stiff or sore neck after being on your bike for more than an hour or so and you may have already spoken with a techie at your local bike shop looking for a remedy to this annoyance. It's possible that you were told the issue will diminish over time as you ride more and develop those now sore muscles. For the most part that is very good advice and is correct. But what can you do to mitigate that pain in the neck sooner?
Here is what I found works for me. For starters just get off your bike! If your neck typically bothers you after riding for an hour or so then plan to take a break before that time and set a destination where you get off your bike for 5 or 10 minutes. Have a snack or take in the view and let's not forget it might be a great time and place to take a selfie!
The other thing that works for me is to occasionally nod my head while I ride, in other words I don't always just look straight ahead. I lower my head and look down at my front wheel from time to time. Obviously I only do this when I know there is nothing ahead of me and I only do this for a few seconds at a time. Once you get into this riding habit you'll find your neck is much more comfortable over a longer period of time.
Having said that I should also say that this applies only if you have established a good and correct riding position on your bike. Saddle height adjusted and handlebar reach is correct for you.
On the other hand if you are considering raising your handlebars to provide you a more upright and therefore more comfortable riding position and you are considering doing so by installing an adjustable riser stem, then you should reconsider and you may want to view this video.
Here's the deal. You can spend whatever you want when purchasing a road bike, and ultimately the only person who matters when deciding which bike to buy is you. You can seek the advice of others and you can spend hours going over the pros and cons of the bikes you are considering. You'll find you will have "bike envy" along the way and there's nothing wrong with that, just keep your head when making your choice.
For me, it was all about the sport of cycling and less about the equipment. Did I make the right choice? I think I did. I spent a modest amount on my road bike and threw in another 90 bucks for better tires. And within a 10 week period I rode the bike over 1,000 miles-which is to say I enjoy riding the bike. It works well for me and is very dependable.
My road bike is a Vilano SHADOW. It has two chain rings (50/40) and 7 cogs on the cassette (14,16,18,20,22,24,28). The Vilano SHADOW is an affordable entry level road bike well suited for commuting, exercise / fitness, or club rides. Shimano STI brake lever integrated shifters, a lightweight 6061 aluminum frame ( approximate weight is 23lbs) with an integrated headset and even ships with free pedals. The Shimano STI shifters offer precise and controllable braking and shifting in a convenient single unit designed for the road. The Vilano SHADOW is an excellent entry level road bike. I purchased my bike from an online store and with free shipping it cost me less than $325.00.
For quite some time I have notice this woman jogging by my house on nearly a daily basis. She lives down the road from me and while I have no idea how far that may be my sense is her home is within a mile or so of mine. I mention her only because as I think back on what lead me to return to riding bikes I believe that seeing her jog by nearly every day inspired me to pull out a hybrid bike I bought second hand some time ago.
When I first started noticing her jog by I could tell she was working hard and that she was new to jogging. Her efforts reminded me of when I tried running some years back and how hard it was for me to get started and how impossible it seemed that I could ever run even a 5K event. Well, within a month I went from speed walking to running 4 miles, but I also remember how much I had to push myself and how much agony I felt at the end of each run that I did. I give her a lot of credit for her effort, but at my age I didn't want to go thru the punishment of running again. But I wanted to "get out there" again and turned to my bike for the answer.
And so, sometime in July of 2015 I began riding my hybrid bike. The first couple of rides I took couldn't have been more than 2 miles, and soon I used my car to determine a route and distance to ride. Before long I was riding 5 to 8 miles a day and very soon the same daily ride began to feel more like a routine and less like riding. I then expanded my rides and started to explore more distance trips until one day when a road biker and his female companion rode passed me leaving me feel as though I had been only chugging along. The kicker was that the bike rider and his companion were older than me and on top of that they both passed me while we were riding up hill.
That day it became clear to me that it's Never Too Late To Start Riding Road Bikes and that is when I rekindled an old passion of mine for riding road bikes. Please watch the video below.
