Fly with the bike? Or simplify...

If you’re planning a trip with destinations where you want to include cycling as part of the adventure, there are two ways to go: Ship your bike on the airplane with you, or take the easily transportable most important parts of your bike in your luggage.

Taking your bike with you is expensive. Domestic carriers charge from $50 to $175 – one way – and that’s after you’ve plunked down the $100 you need for a shipping box, which all airlines require. International fees vary greatly. Qantas Airways, the Australian connection, doesn’t charge extra for hauling a containerized bike. But Lufthansa, the German carrier, charges $200. So if you’re not really ready or willing to pay all that to have your own bike with you on a trip, do what my buddy Marc does.

He packs his pedals, cleats, helmet and riding kits, then rents road bikes by the day wherever he goes, which can range from $50 to $100 a day, depending on how fancy a bike you want to rent. He even says you can pack your seat/seat post to put on a rental if your seat is that important to you. So the key is to know about how many days you plan on riding on your trip, then doing the math on which one works best for you.

But not having the hassle of dealing with the bike carton and keeping your bike secure while on vacation, is probably worth a few bucks in convenience alone. I haven’t done this yet, but I plan on the pedals, helmet and seat route. I’d rather spend any money I save on food and beverages! And, if you take the economical option, you can rent a hot bike or two that you’ve wondered about.

I ran into a woman rider in Northern California riding a Wilier, which I complimented her on. She said she’d rented a Wilier in Italy while vacationing there, and fell in love with it. She gushed about it to her husband, and to his credit, he actually managed to make a mental note on this. He bought her one for her birthday after they got back. Talk about bonus points! Now that’s a bike rental experience with about as happy an ending imaginable. For the woman, too!

Forecast not so accurate

Got caught in the rain on the back half of a 50-mile ride the other day. Not fun! Yes, it was cloudy when I left, but the Weather Channel forecast said there was only a 30 percent chance of rain. So, like an idiot, I figured that meant it wouldn’t rain, based on my theory that any prediction of 30 percent chance or less, means no rain. But it turned out that the chance of rain was 100 percent! That’s a 70 percent miscalculation! That sucks on the prediction credibility scale, right? Anyway, what are you going to do? You’re riding along and start feeling a few sprinkles. Then they turn into more than sprinkles, and the pavement is wet. At least it wasn’t super cold. And it wasn’t a downpour. Just enough rain to be annoying! And to soak me as I continued riding.

Like most riders, I figure it’s not so bad to be caught in the rain than it is to start a ride in the rain. A couple years ago, I rode on a rainy day in an early summer ride in the Sierra Nevada foothills with a buddy.  And I can report that that ride definitely sucked all the way through! It was cool enough, but luckily not cold if you just kept pedaling. Another time a buddy and me got caught in a blast of freakin’ hail while doing a technical descent down a mountain road. The temp was warm and misty where we’d just started the descent. Then all of a sudden the air temp dropped like a rock. It felt like a walk-in freezer. Before we knew it, it was hailing, the little ice pellets bouncing off my helmet as my hands and toes lost feeling. Meanwhile because we were decending through sharp turns, we had to brake, which became really dicey! First thing I thought was, man, don’t want to do a pavement slap from braking too hard. But I could barely squeeze the brakes because my hands were so cold.

My buddy did the sensible thing and stopped under the canopy of a big tree. I rode by and decided to keep on going because I thought, I don’t want to be in this any longer than I have to. I’m not stopping! The hail stopped, then it was rain, and eventually there was sunshine, so I’m glad I just kept going. That’s become my policy in the rain, just keep riding for home, keep the non-fun as short as possible.

A few days after the long rain ride I did, I was moving my bike and heard a sloshing sound from the bike. I took it outside and pulled the seat stem off, and turned the bike upside down. Water poured out! A lot of water! No idea how that much got inside the frame tubes. Must have streamed in from the wheel into a vent hole or something. Anyway, great to get it out! Who wants unnecessary water weight when riding the bike?

And now, for something completely different…

Here’s a video that captures some of the banter that goes on during rides with buddies. Check it out:

My buddies and I mostly yak it up during rest stops, when everybody’s a comedian!

Hey, until next time, remember to always put on a helmet before every ride. And don’t forget, it’s then up to you 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/shelfHis blog of personal essays is at: http://marksmuzings.blogspot.com/

Be good to the back on the bike

I found out after getting my back checked out last year at a sports clinic that the position you have on a road bike can contribute to back pain. So I got a bike fitting at the clinic, where they align you on the saddle, and adjust pedal and handlebar heights to keep your back in good form. I found out I had been riding a little bit off the saddle to the right to compensate for a somewhat shorter leg to the pedal. The guy put shims under my cleats to square me up.

Then he raised my drops slightly to keep me from bending too far forward while riding. He did those basic adjustments, but recommended I get the drops raised a little bit higher for optimum back form. He suggested I try riding them as adjusted before deciding whether to raise them further. I took the bike to the shop, and the owner pooh-poohed the idea of raising the handlebars higher. He’s done it for other riders, he said, on the recommendation of the same clinic, and he said it put them too high in the saddle. Climbs become much harder to get a leveraged center of gravity. 

On steep climbs, “You’re too far back, and you’ll have a hard time keeping the front tire down,” he said. I’d ridden my bike a bit with the new pedal balance, and had to get used to not slightly hanging off the saddle to the right. Once I did get used to it, I felt more balanced in the saddle. Even though I hadn’t noticed it before, my back wasn’t getting pulled more to one side than the other. I was squarely on the saddle. After the sports clinic bike fitting, the handlebars felt a bit high, so I figured the best way to go forward was to leave them as they were: slightly raised, in favor of better back position. I didn’t want them any higher, though. I saw the bike shop guy’s point about their problem with climbing. So while I now have them a bit higher, they still feel low enough to get good climbing leverage and descending aerodynamics. A middle ground seemed the best way to go.

So a bike fitting for better balance and less forward leaning can definitely help you keep your back in shape. It just takes knowing how far you want to compromise your climbing and aerodynamics with raised drops.

Beyond that, I just keep my back stretched and as loose as possible through core workouts and leg stretches. That works fine to keep any occasional back pain at bay.

Don’t hurry, be deliberate

When I’m getting ready to go on a ride, I’ve noticed that sometimes my eagerness to get out on the bike makes me rush around too much. Sometimes I want to leave as soon as possible because I have to be back for something else. But I’ve been working on stepping back when I feel the need to rush. I’ve gone out on the bike while feeling hurried when I leave and it takes away from the ride. Something about getting settled in the mind, being mindful, knowing that you’ve taken care of everything before you go, pays off. If I feel I’ve taken the time to get everything properly done pre-ride, it puts my mind at ease when I leave. Then I’m really ready to ride the bike. I can completely tune into the present and get the most out of it. Try it!

Til next time, remember to strap on a helmet before every ride. Then, it’s all important 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/shelfHis blog of personal essays is at: http://marksmuzings.blogspot.com/

Riding Rut Syndrome: Make it stop!

In cycling, as in life in general, there are ruts (not so good) and there are grooves (very good). Cycling ruts happen when we ride the same route too often.

Grooves, on the other hand, happen when we are clicking along with a nice mix of routes, with different, interesting conditions. When we’re cruising on a riding roll, some of the rides are short, some long, some have a lot of climbing, some with a lot of flats, some have both.

I definitely fall victim to rut riding on occasion, and if I’m not mixing it up as well as I should, I think about what I can do to make it stop! But sometimes it’s unavoidable. Our schedule may be too full to allow the extra time it takes to drive to and from different rides. Cold weather can be another rut inducer. But when it really can’t be helped, a good thing to do is work within the framework of the rides we are able do. Even if they’ve become too much of the same, and are in danger of getting, uh, boring and too predictable, there are cures.

I have a phenomenal bike path near my home that goes for many miles. It offers a convenient opportunity to get time in the saddle when the cold or wet weather in higher elevations or closer to the coast keeps me off routes in those areas. But when I need to break out of the bike trail habit, I look to go on different routes, if at all possible.

I just got a chance to do just that on a 25-mile ride in the Sierra foothills around Placerville. It has about 3,000 feet of climbing and some great descents. I’ve done the ride many times in good weather, and it’s a fun one. But this time, I knew it would be icy and cold with snow on the side. Plus I was pushed for time. I would have to drive about 50 minutes to get there, do the ride, then hurry up to drive back to get to my next scheduled thing to do. But I always have a good time riding with my buddies, cracking wise and trying out my latest jokes.  So I was torn. Should I stay, or should I go?

I decided the crush for time, the driving required and the sure to be icy cold ride, trumped the camaraderie. So I passed. One buddy who did the ride later confirmed that, no, it wasn’t a fun ride. It was really cold, he said. There was slush on the road, black ice in spots, and enough traffic to make it really not so fun. So, OK, I was glad I passed on it.

So it turned out to be good that I sized up the pros and cons of the ride. Sometimes, the best thing to do is not to ride, even though a voice inside says, “Just go.” 
But even though I felt the self-induced pressure to break out of my route rut, I begged off. The ride just didn’t look like it would be much fun. After adding everything up, saying no was a no brainer.

Meanwhile, I’ve still been left to figure out how to keep from the quicksand feeling of riding rut syndrome. And I’ve come up with something that works pretty well on my 51 and 33-mile keep-in-shape rides, which are mainly flat with some rollers and minimal climbing.

I do regular Yoga and Pilates classes to keep flexibility and a strong core, and my instructor Cindy always tells us that we come to each class with a differently functioning body. Very true, but easy to not really notice. For some classes I feel more flexible and energetic than usual. Other times I feel stiff and low energy. Or I'll feel somewhere in the middle.

Same on the bike. Every ride the body performs a little differently, depending how much sleep we’ve had, how well we’ve eaten, or not, if we’re dehydrated, or not, etc. We can have fresh legs, and lots of energy. Or the legs can feel heavy, while we have varying levels of energy. We can feel stiff in the back and neck. Or not. So to keep out of riding rut syndrome, I take inventory of how the body feels on each ride, then adjust my riding to make the most of it.

If I feel strong, I ride hard. If I don’t, I just ride to the upper limit of my energy for that day. Either way is OK since it’s time in the saddle that maintains riding strength. So if I’m dragging and my speed is below average, I don’t worry about it. I slog it out, and just pedal to push my energy level without burning out. Just like fast rides, slow rides do build overall stamina. We just tend to notice it more when we’re flying along with high energy and having a great time.

So even on rides where our legs are heavy, or headwinds are slowing us more than we’d like, just think of it as the heavy lifting that pays off with a strong base of riding power.

Hopefully, this can keep riding rut syndrome at bay and cultivate a riding groove while we weave around weather, work schedules or other obstacles. Give it a shot, see if it works for you!

Til next time, remember to always put on a helmet before you get on the bike. And after that? Do everything possible 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/shelfHis blog of personal essays is at: http://marksmuzings.blogspot.com/