Keepin' it a clean machine...

I ride my bike a lot and I’d be the first to tell you that I don’t have the best record of keeping the bike as clean as I should. Now there’s a good reason for this: I’m lazy! If the bike is looking extra dirty, I’ll do the quick wipe down with spray cleaner, so it doesn’t look like it’s been through a mud storm. Even that takes time and patience. But a deep cleaning, degreasing and lube requires time be set aside, something I have never had a problem not doing!

My ride buddy Marc finally broke down and deep cleaned his beloved Trek, degreasing the gear cassette and chain, washing it and lubing it. He pointed disapprovingly at my gear cassette and noted it was blackened and gritty, with no evidence of the shiny silver metal that the gears are made of. I admitted it was sad, pretty cruddy, should be cleaned. So, shamed as lax in my bike maintenance ways, I broke down and bought some bike wash, degreaser and lube.

I’ve been using Tri-Flow spray lube for a lot of years, first on my mountain bike and on my road bike. But even though Tri-Flow gets high marks for its lubrication qualities, the one thing I noticed is that it tends to attract road grit and dust like a magnet. I asked the guy at the local bike shop, and he said Tri-Flow is a great lubrication, but does attract dirt. Other dry lubes don’t bring on the dirt, he said, but they’re not quite as good, in his opinion. But being the lazy bike maintainer that I am, not keen on doing a lot of degreasing of a sludge coated cassette and chain, this time I decided to try a spray on dry Teflon lube made by Finish Line. It goes on with a milky color and seems to be a bit waxy, which is probably the main property that repels grit. So I’m giving it a shot. Let me know your thoughts.

It absolutely is nice to ride a clean, nicely lubed bike! It feels better, so I’m telling myself to stay on it to keep it that way. Now, it remains to be seen if I follow my own advice. Sometimes that’s hard to do!

Earbuds and music, pros and cons

 I like to ride with music playing over my Bose earbuds, because to me, music of my choice is a perfect compliment to bike riding. Now, at least three guys I ride with don’t agree with me at all. They want to completely tune into their surroundings while they ride, and think music interferes with that. They kid me about always riding with my music playing.

But for me, especially when I’m pushing the limits of my endurance on a ride, music has many times taken my mind off the suffering and plugged it into the inspiration from hearing my beloved tunes. Others say it can keep you from hearing cars in traffic and in doing so, possibly cause a wreck. But I tend to turn down the music when I’m riding in traffic, so I think I hear everything I need to. So for me, music and earbuds work well, enhancing the built-in fun of riding. I have ridden plenty without music, in fact I never have had it while mountain biking. But to me it goes better with road biking, where rhythm is everything, which is what is key to music, too. I do think high quality earbuds make all the difference. While Apple earbuds do OK, Bose earbuds are top notch, the best, and they’ve hooked me. So I’ll keep on riding with ‘em, as my buddies keep on shakin’ their heads!

Sunglasses outside

While the guys I ride with have chided me about riding with music playing, we have another difference. They wear their sunglasses inside their chinstraps. Now, to me, no other riders I’ve seen do that! The pros definitely wear their glasses outside of their chinstraps, so I figure, hey, I gotta do what they do, so I always wear them on the outside. But not the guys I ride with. They insist it makes more sense to wear them on the inside, so if the helmet somehow flies off, they’ll theoretically still have their sunglasses on their head! That may be right, I don’t know. Pat, one buddy does it for a good reason. He rides with a GoPro on his helmet a lot and likes to take it off while riding to give a head shot narrative of his video. So Pat gets a pass. But not Marc. If the pros don’t do it that way, it’s a no go. No brainer. Unless videoing, sunglasses, outside!

Cold riding ahead

Autumn rides, then winter rides are ahead – unless you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, of course – and that means keeping warm while riding through frigid air. Toe covers, arm condoms, windbreakers, undershirts, leg condoms, thermal gloves, get ‘em all and wear ‘em. Because it truly sucks to freeze your butt off in the saddle!

Layer it up and remember to keep drinking to keep feeling as strong as possible in the cold. Last spring my buddy Marc and I got caught in a sudden hailstorm while descending a twisty rough road. No gloves, but that was because the rest of the ride had been much warmer and only light mist. But the combination of hitting an ice cold cell of air, and hail peppering us, and the icy wind of the descent, took all feeling out of my feet and hands within a few seconds. I had to alternately sit on my hands to get feeling back in them! Which was dicey because the other hand had to guide the bike over rough road and if necessary, brake effectively.

So now if I’m in the mountains and there’s a chance of rain, I figure it could also hail and maybe even snow in pockets, so I put on the toe covers and thermal gloves get stuffed in my back pockets of my long sleeved winter jersey. Nothing like learning the hard way how to be prepared!

Here’s a coolish, pre-snow autumn ride in the foothills near Placerville, Northern California that Pat, Marc and I did last year, and Pat videoed. Serious descent on the end of this video that seemed like it was straight down, a bit hairy controlling speed. Wouldn’t ever want to climb back up it! We climbed out of the deep ravine on the other side, which was very steep itself, but wasn’t nearly as long as the descent we’d just done. Otherwise we would have definitely needed a sag wagon and oxygen tanks! Here it is. Enjoy!

Thanks for the video, Pat!

Until next time, remember to strap on a helmet before every ride. Then do all in your power to keep the rubber side down!

-- Mark Eric Larson

Mark Eric Larson has written two books of essays, "The NERVE...of Some People's Kids," and "Don't Force it, Get a Bigger Hammer. To read, visit: 
http://www.scribd.com/Mark%20Eric%20Larson/shelf