Things I've learned: - The importance of riding with water cannot be stressed enough. During an 11 hour mountain bike race in Pisgah Forest a couple years ago, my race partner and I decided not to stop and filter water into our hydration bladders because we thought we had only 45 minutes to the finish line. It would have taken us 45 minutes if we were hydrated, but we weren't. Instead, the last bit took us almost two hours. Tongue was dry, blood was thick, heart was racing. Scared the shit out of me. I was so thirsty, I sucked the sweat out of my helmet's headband - no shit. I took foot-long steps while pushing my bike on any grade steeper than horizontal. Riding was out of the question. Never ever ever ride without water. - Too much water is very, very bad. Drinking too much water can upset your electrolyte balance.... it literally waters down your body's electrolyte concentration. There's no such thing as 'overhydrating' - don't do it. - If you're not peeing about every hour or two, drink more water. - For me, the best drink mix for long rides (4 hours plus) is Hammer Nutrition's Perpetuem. It gives my racing partner stomach cramps. - Friends I race with swear that vinegar helps reduce cramps. If you run out of Gu or Sport Legs, pickles and mustard contain vinegar and can be found at just about any convenience store. Every body is different. What works for one may not work for someone else. Get to know your body and always carry what you need to get through a ride.
This confused me some (easy...I know) You seem to contradict yourself but I may just be reading it wrong...
Bummer and congrats at the same time. I was trying to figure out WhyTF my cylinder was bottoming out right before TDC. Think this may have something to do with it? I don't remember if the cylinder and piston came out of the same vintage Husky as the one I'm getting running (06/07) or not. ...regardless, I'd say there was an issue! M
At the Devil's Backbone 'cross' ride I did a few weeks back, it wasn't so much fun as 'I'm gonna kick X's ass when I see him! That sadistic, evil, little man! Glad I did it and I'll probably get talked into it again, but next time I'm NOT doing it on 34c knobbies. I'll settle for my 28c Gatorskins to make the road sections mo bettah. The people that have em seem to like em. I've never ridden one, so don't ask me about em. M
Yeah, there's always gotta be one. Just like on the motos: ride your own ride. If the guy's strong enough to last, let him hang out there and chit-chat. (sounds like something I'd do on a slower ride ) Trick is... I *know* I can pull at 35-40kph for a few hours if I have to. I've BTDT Slower rides get awful boring sometimes. M
Oh yeah Hyponutr(somethingoranther) is a very serious bidness. I can't tell you how many people I drew blood from that ended up in the hospital in Flag with electrolytes out of whack. More than you'd imagine. The Grand Canyon is at 7k feet. The air is VERY dry. People are told 'drink lots of water!' so they do. Sometimes way too much. Then they get a trip to the hospital as they fall out on a hike. Hopefully not at the bottom of the GC then you get a chopper ride too! THAT'LL cost ya a pretty penny. M
Nah - you didn't read it wrong. It does sound contradictory. It's like Goldilocks and the three bears... not too hot, not too cold but juuuust right. Or in the case of water.... not enough, too much and juuuust right. It's called Hyponatremia (and yes, I had to look it up )
Bicyclists have gotten used to going slow on two wheels, so the WRR appeals to them. . . . . (That's a fun bike, I've put a few miles on one- probably wouldn't have one as my only bike unless I could start dual sport rides out my backdoor though).
Nice! I'm loving mine. Granted, it's my first motorcycle in several years, my first dual sport, and the lightest bike I've ever owned, so my judgement isn't worth a lot -- most of the things I love about this bike I'd probably love about any small dual sport. Guilty as charged. It doesn't take a lot of motor to feel fast to me right now. But even before my layoff from motorcycling I was firmly in the "more fun to ride a slow bike fast" camp.
Actually, now that you're in the bay area, you're in one of the relatively few good places to ride a bike like that on the street- there are enough really twisty roads around here (you're not too far from alpine dam, king mountain, and tunitas, along with the south end of skyline, and Mt. Hamilton/Mines just to the east), that you can rip around riding your slow bike plenty fast. But I guess I should leave the motorcycle discussion to the rest of the site, huh. . . .
I don't think I've ever had too much water when riding. I do know the feeling of bonking when I failed to bring along enough food/electrolyte replacement magic. I once cramped up as I turned across a freeway acess ramp headed for the shoulder. Everytime I tried to relieve the cramp the other leg would go. I rode off the shoulder and fell into the weeds and gravel at the side. Flailing about trying to get my feet out of the shoes/pedals and relieve the cramps; up walks a CHP. Woman. She thought I had been hit and having a seizure. I said as calmly as I could that I was fine, I just needed to get my feet off the bike so I could stand and un-cramp the muscles. I finally got her to un-latch the Time Crit shoes and I could stand in the dirt and trash and finally get my drink bottles downed and the muscles relaxed. She kept telling me I couldn't stay there. :huh Once I got the legs calmed down I got my shoes back on and back on the bike and rode the mile back to my office. When I'd left on my two hour lunch ride I was certain I had two granola bars and a couple of plastic bags with electrolyte powder in them along on my jersey pockets. I'd forgotten I'd switched to the lighter jersey at the last moment. Luckily I remembered my wallet, and at the water stop near the dam found this out. Headed off to a not so near by 7-11 type shop. That bottle of ice cold gatoraide was good. But did not kick in soon enough or rme to avoid the cramps that lanede me in the weeds. Those little packets of Gu I see littering the paths work for me for about an hour. I only use them as a last resort. For example on a long ride and the wind kicks up on the way back home and I've done too much chasing. I'm lucky here to have parks with water fountains and plenty of scattered stores. I'm getting to where I know where the bike shops are so getting more fuel is pretty easy. That and I plan better. Long rides over 50 miles I wear the hydration pack with 3 liters of water and ice to start. Two bottles of electrolyte on the bike, two tubes of Gu, a couple of packets of Gummy Chomps and I'm good for 6 hours riding. I once rode from my home in Yorba LInda California to Westminster Colorado eating only a half packet of chomps, and lots of water. Nothing else. Only stopping for gas, and the toilet, and to put on every piece of gear I had with at the top of Vail Pass. It was over 100 degrees F in the desert and light snow up high, with drizzle as I came into town 1,054 miles later.
I underestimated the time it'd take to do the loop I just finished riding. Instead of 3hrs it took 3:35. Weather guessers were saying T-storms all day and I went out anyway. Took the Gore Tex jacket 'just in case' tho. So I got out the door and looked west towards where I wanted to ride. Rain. Hmmm. Looked south at the puffy white clouds and sun. Guess I'll go *that* way! So I did. Managed to ride around all the rain except for one little bit of sprinkling just outside Bealeton. Went Nokesville to Summerduck to Remington to Bealeton to Casanova almost to Catlett and then north to 605 then to 28N back to Nokesville. I can make loops from 1 to 8 hrs on secondary roads and usually not hit the same road twice. Stopped at a MC repair place asking em how much to replace the clutch in Dad's Wing (and to get some agua). They're doing research... We'll see. I'm suffering from a crisis of motivation on that project too. M
So having conquered all the easy and intermediate trails at Santos, I'm feeling ready to make another attempt at the Expert level trails this weekend. The ONLY part of those trails where I constantly get stuck is on the steep uphill climbs, so I'm looking for some pointers from the experienced mtb riders here. You've probably all seen the type of hills I'm referring to: they range in height from 5-10 feet, they're very steep, and often littered with rocks and exposed roots. The biggest problem is that they're sometimes hidden from view until it's too late: you go around a corner and suddenly you're confronted by one, but you don't have the momentum to make it over the top. The obvious solution is to downshift and just winch yourself up, but what happens then is that the front wheel won't stay down due to the extreme slope. Having that front wheel barely touching the ground also means you can't effectively steer while climbing. This happens even with my weight shifted forward over the handlebars, which sometimes results in a loss of traction at the rear. Shown below is the dreaded Ant Hill trail at Santos, which is full of those kinds of climbs: <object style="height: 390px; width: 640px"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4n4pPRSqCtk?version=3&feature=player_detailpage"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4n4pPRSqCtk?version=3&feature=player_detailpage" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="360"></object>
Get out of the saddle and learn to position your weight in such a way that you're balanced between the need to keep the front end down and the rear hooking up. I know that bending my arms and getting my chest close to the handlebars helps a lot with this.
You have to 'row' your bike when it gets really steep. Pull the bars back and down to drive the rear wheel into the ground. The steeper the climb, the farther forward you need to sit on the saddle. If its really steep, you're all the way up on the tip of the nose of the saddle. M
Re-posted because some don't go where it was originally posted. The Tour of CA rolls into town We stood to watch it although we did find a bar that had it on TV. The crowd was crazy and VERY enthusiastic. (The winner is behind that camera. amn!) And the winner is...Sagan Most Aggressive Rider Jersey - Jeremy Vennell (NZL) King of the Mountain...Sébastian Salas (USA) (in red) - Most Courageous Rider Jersey - Wilson Marentes Torres (Col) (in blue) Edit to add: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ayscLVtKbKM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I got out again last night for a short ride down the river trail and back. I had a pretty good headwind but kept it steady and slowish. I figured to ride 45 minutes and make my turn. On the way back I could click up two cogs out back. That was pretty cool. BUt, that still didn't reall bump my overall slowness. And once I hit the bump up to the road, I was done. Lots of folks past me. But, I was able to maintain focus. Primarily due to not having anything in the tank to go faster. I oly had to stop once to swap bottles around. A little calf cramp tried to get going at about 50 minutes but I just kept an even cadence and pressure and it subsided as I drained my first bottle. No electrolytes or Gu or anything other than ice water this trip. Tomorrow night I'll take a bottle of go-juice. The work computer doesn't allow me to see the stuff from Strava anymore. I guess I'm supposed to spend my lunch time reading policies and processes. Excellent.
I've been reading that it was in the mid-90s. I was about 4 hours north of there, and it was mid-80s. Plus the wind. 155 miles =
