Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Bike Insurance: How Much Would You Pay For A Little Piece OF Mind?
Fall Quarter Will Start Without The Professor: Laurent Fignon (1960-2010)
Monday, August 30, 2010
Guide Of The Century: How To Prepare For A Century Ride
1. Be physically prepared: Ride longer distances leading up to your century and try to emulate the conditions (hills, flats, estimated wind direction...). If you know the route and you now the landmarks then you know where you are in relation to your goal. It helps rein in a defeatist imagination that seems to want to imagine you are further back. You don't need to long distances to get into shape. Shorter, high intensity rides, can increase your overall fitness so the long miles won't seem so long. Two weeks before your first century, you should complete a longer ride, maybe 50-75 miles. Cut back on the riding the week prior. When you ride, pace yourself. Do the first 50 miles at an easier pace and see how you feel for the other half. A slow 15mph pace can easily get you to your destination in 8 hours with the occasional pit-stop.
2. Make sure your equipment is in good working order. The last thing you need are mechanical problems on a long ride. This goes with shoes and clothing. Can you imagine finding out your chamois rubs or you get hot spots in your shoes at 50 miles? Once you start to think about any article of discomfort, you will think about it all day. Be sure your bike is fit well and is comfortable with properly inflated tires. Every imperfection is magnified the longer you sit on a bike. Overinflated tired might not be noticed on shorter rides, but an beat you up on the long rides. One century ride I got a flat and filled with CO2. I usually inflate to 100psi, but I bet I was around 130 and it just beat the crap out of me. A helmet that doesn't fit can give you neck and back aches down the road as well.
3. Food and nutrition management is vital. Start eating and drinking for your century a week before. You want to make sure you have plenty of glycogen stored in your muscles. Start really packing in the fruits, veggies and carbs mid week. If your body is ready it helps ease the mind. Cut the caffeine and the booze. These will only dehydrate you. Start taking in the carbs to fill your glycogen stores for maximum exertion.
4. Eat during your century. Maybe one thing every hour if you are not conditioned for regular centuries. Eat before you are hungry. Granola bars, raisins, a ham sandwich... whatever works for you. Try not to eat candy unless you are 20 miles from the finish.
5. Drink during your century. Drink before you are thirsty. If it is hot, you may want to add one sport drink for every two bottles of water.
6. Start stretching more the week before your century.
7. Read for pleasure. It gives you something to think about on the ride if you go solo.
8. Don't worry too much. You put down a few miles and take them one at a time. Next thing you know you have put together a string of 'em and they make 100.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Pollution and Cycling
The study found that motorists registered the highest levels for all pollutants except nitrogen dioxide, while "cycling commuters had significantly lower levels of exposure to benzene compared with car commuters".
Dr Chris Rissel of the Central Sydney Area Health Service, one of the authors of the study, explains: "There are two competing explanations for our findings: the tunnel effect, where everybody is travelling in the same polluted corridors, and the leaking of the exhaust and fuel systems into vehicles."
So while cyclists are often able to take routes with little or no motor traffic and produce no pollution themselves, motorists get a double dose from vehicles around them and their own cars. High levels of benzene exposure for motorists in particular can be due only to the leaking of their own vehicle fuel system.
A similar European study in 1995, found that "even when account is taken of effort (a cyclist breathes on average two to three times as much as a motorist), the cyclist emerges as the victor of this comparison" (quoted in Cycling: the way ahead for cities and towns).
Victorian health professional Dr Jan Garrard points out that a regular cyclist is better able to deal with air pollution as well: "Physical activity enhances the immune system, so in general terms a fit person will have a stronger immune system".
CNN Ranks Kaohsiung Third Best Cycling Metropole In Asia
I Love A Rainy Night
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Wentlands in Changhua: 85mi./137km
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Welcoming A New Member To The Stable: It's A Nag!
Monday, August 23, 2010
Vuelta a Espana...Ole!
Mixed Messages: Giant's Message Abroad
I would just like to draw the comparison to this promotional video for Giant to a non-Asian audience. The message is markedly different.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Hill Climb Equation:136+100+21+133+14+136=Pain
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Treatise On Superfluous Things: Giant "Woos" Women
“To get more women on the road, we have to get them to think of these things as accessories... Natural, everyday accessories, like handbags."-- Bonnie Tu, Giant CFO
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
10yo Boy Collapses During Forced Bike Ride
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Police were called to rescue a 10-year-old boy, who collapsed by the roadside with exhaustion after his mother made him cycle part of the way on a 63-kilometer trip yesterday.
With not enough room on her 50cc scooter for her three children, the mother forced them to take turns on a bicycle during a journey from Nantou to Taichung.
The family was traveling from Taichung to visit relatives in Nantou. A one-way trip using their form of transportation took them six hours to complete. Their return trip was brought to police attention when a passerby saw a little boy sprawled out on the side of the street in exhaustion.
The woman claimed that she and her children — aged 12, 10 and seven — were unable to fit onto the small scooter. She found them a bike and made the siblings take turns riding it while she gave the other two a lift in the scooter.
When a passerby noticed a 10-year-old boy lying by the side of the street, they quickly took him to a nearby police station. The officer in charge described the boy as “soaked, tired and hungry,”noting that there were wounds on his elbows that possibly resulted from falling off the bike.
After treating the boy's wounds and feeding him instant noodles, the officer was told about the extent of his onerous journey. The family had already made the trek once, when they left home in Taichung for the children's grandmother's house in Nantou. It was on their return trip that they were nearly crippled with exhaustion.
In total, the family traveled 120 kilometers in 12 hours. Under questioning, the mother said she did not want to spend money on train tickets because she was afraid of motion sickness. When the police officer offered to give the family a lift home, the mother reportedly refused, put on her raincoat, and told her kids they had a long journey ahead.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Fat Zoning and Muscle Memory
Taiwanese World Cyclist Goes Into The Wild
Wu said he first thought that riding around the world on a bicycle was a romantic thing to do. After setting out, however, Wu said he came to realize there was nothing romantic about it, as he instead had to deal with loneliness and learn to survive.
Every day, he was busy thinking about how to make his food last until the next food stop 100km down the road and about where he would set up his tent that evening.
Wu said that during the first few days of his ride in Alaska, he miscalculated and didn’t bring enough food. With the next shop more than 100km away, his blood sugar levels dropped and he started feeling dizzy, as all the trees seemed to be white. After that experience, he said he never dared set out again on an empty stomach.