Weekend News

Well, the only bicycle news I have from the weekend is that we took in my wife's bike to get overhauled. They are going to pull the drivetrain, clean it up real good and adjust everything else to get it into good shape. We are also going to have them install some new pedals that she has been wanting (Shimano makes some great pedals that are platform on one side and have cleats on the other) since one of her pedals broke in the crash.

It is really a bummer having her off the bike since most of the riding I do on the weekends involves her coming along. However, she says she feels like she would be ok doing some shorter safe rides (no big hills) already, so we should be good to go once her bike is out of the shop.

The other news I have is that I will be on vacation from the 4th of July for two weeks. I may get up here and post about how much I wish I had a folding bike with me to ride around wherever we are, or maybe post some pictures, but don't expect all that much in the way of news during that time.

For those that are interested, we are taking a road trip with my in-laws. Spending some time in Zion National Park, Mesa Verde National Park, the farm where my great-grandmother lives, the town where her grandmother grew up, Santa Fe and the Grand Canyon. Should be a real blast, assuming we don't all kill each other from being in a car together for two weeks.

Anyway, I've just about hit the small two minute window where I have internet service while on the train so I need to make sure this is ready to post. Hope everyone has a great day.

-Matt




Direct link to REI Cycling store

Gig tonight

For those of you in the area:

I will be playing at the San Diego County Fair tonight. From like 5-7pm in the Sports Hall, just to the right of the main entrance. 

I play with the Pep Band at San Diego State University so we will be playing between speeches by Football Coach Chuck Long and Basketball Coach Steve Fisher.

Should be a good time and I'll be debuting my new 5-string bass. Emily will be there too with her sousaphone (tuba).

Hope to see you there!

-Matt

Direct link to REI Cycling store

Gloves

I'm in the market for new cycling gloves. I know what features I want, but I'm *cough, cough* too lazy/busy to go find them.

Here is what I want. To start, all of the general safety and comfort features that seem to come standard with good gloves (good padding in the right places, etc.) I want three fabrics used: A thin spandexy, lycra-y fabric for the back of my hands, a leathery but breathable palm fabric to promote grip and an absorbent material to go around the thumbs to wipe sweat from my face. The two things I want that might make these gloves harder to find: bright colors and reflectivity. I want bright yellow or orange colored fabric on either the palm (preferable) or on the back of the hand so that my hand signals are as visible as the rest of my ridiculous (but safe) get up. My reasoning is the same for a reflective strip or panel but for nighttime visibility.

Can anyone find a pair that fits this criteria? Hopefully I'll get around to looking at some point soon because as you can see, the pair I'm using are in dire need of retirement.

-Matt







Direct link to REI Cycling store

Cycling in 40-degree Weather

I've noticed that some of you are finding this blog after a search for "can you ride your bike in 40-degree weather?" Although it is not really the right season for this question, I'll go ahead and give it a go (even though there are other fantastic bloggers out there who are far more qualified to answer).

My answer is: Absolutely!

I should preface that by saying that 40-degrees is about as cold as it gets here in San Diego. But then, I've lived here all my life and to me 40-degrees is pretty dang cold. The key to riding in colder weather is knowing your ride and having the right gear.

Knowing your ride is important because it affects what gear you will need. If your ride is less than 5 miles on flat ground, your body won't really have time to warm itself up so you'll need to bundle up. If your ride is more than 15 miles or there is a big hill in the first half of it, you will either want to stop and lose layers before the hill or suck up the cold while your body warms up from the riding. Just know that it will be really cold when you start and you will hate yourself for being out there. Then, as you go along, you will warm up and forget that it cold at all. Until you get to that big down hill that blows cold air all over your sweat soaked body (don't worry, once you slow down you warm right back up. So plan your wardrobe around your route.

Now, when I say you need the right gear I don't mean that you need to go out and spend $300 on long cycling pants and all that. (But if you do, use the REI link at the bottom of this post). When I started riding in cold weather I didn't buy anything, I just used things I had around already.

Things you will need to ride comfortably in cold weather:

Polyester Pants (like Dickies)
A bandanna or tall socks
2-3 long sleeve layers
A beanie (or skullcap)
Winter gloves

Let me explain.
The polyester pants do a better job of keeping the wind off your legs than cotton pants. Wool works even better at keeping you warm so if you have some wool pants laying around, go ahead and use those. I have several pairs of dickies that I don't use (from back when I worked food service in college) that do a great job of keeping my legs warm.
The bandana and tall socks are to keep your pants out the chain. Either tie your bandanna around the leg or pull your sock up over the bottom of your pants.
The key to keeping your torso and arms warm is layering. As you ride you will get warmer and want to remove a layer. I would usually lose the cotton layer that had already been soaked with sweat. That bad boy will chill you to the bone if it sees any air flow.
I found that my ears were always cold when I rode. Painful cold. So I just loosened the strap on my helmet and started wearing a large beanie that covered my ears. Again, polyester or wool here is key.
My final piece of gear was a pair of Isotoner gloves I've had for cold weather for about 8 years. The didn't look all that nice anymore so I was comfortable sweating them up with my hands. They did an admirable job keeping me warm.

Once you figure out that cold weather riding isn't that hard you might want to upgrade a few things for comfort and ease of use (listed here in the order I would purchase them):
I would start with a reflective leg band or two. This replaces the bandanna or tall socks. Just wrap it around the bottom of your pants. Really, you should get some of these anyway and just always wear them. The movement of your legs makes them far more visible than your stationary reflectors.
Next I would get a bacalava. This is kind of a full face covering like you see on olympic skiers. This covers your ears like a beanie and if you need to you can pull it up over your mouth and nose if you want.
Next would probably be a non-cotton layer for your torso. I currently wear a thin breathable, wicking layer covered with a cotton sweatshirt and then my cycling jacket. Probably next winter I'll replace the cotton layer with something that wont soak up all my sweat.

So there it is, everything you need to know about how to stay warm in cold weather (that a guy from San Diego could tell you).

-Matt

Let's be honest here. This will be handy for very few of the readers at this point in time. I did get a hit from a search for riding in 40-degree weather. Mostly, however, I wrote this so that I wouldn't have to do it next October.





Direct link to REI Cycling store

Rudeness

I don't know which is more surprising that a guy in a truck took time out of his busy commute to tell me how much I was slowing him down or that it hadn't ever happened to me before.

My ride from the office to the train station passes over the freeway crossing both onramps. As I approach the freeway, the bike lane becomes two car lanes that both get on the 5 north. I ride in the middle of the left exit lane. I figure that way any cars that can't wait the 30 seconds it takes me to get past the first onramp can always just get into the other lane and pass me, meanwhile I stay out of the one lane that becomes the onramp for the 5 south.

Today as I did that section of the ride I kept an eye out for cars behind me (to know how much effort to show) and I noticed a truck behind me, biding his time. This is not uncommon, so I thought nothing of it. That is, until he shouted at he passed me "Get out of the lane, idiot!"

Unfortunately, I cannot claim to have taken the high road or chased him down to explain the law (he was getting on the freeway). I shouted that he should F off and then after a little bit shouted an explanation that he should just use the other Fing lane.

I'm not known for my modesty of language.

Once I was able to gather myself from this interaction, I found myself flummoxed on how I could've better dealt with the situation. I like to think that I subscribe to the idea put forth in the The Cycling Dude blog post about "Shake don't Wag." (Link) But what could I have done here?

(Honestly, I've been sitting on that article for awhile. I've wanted to write about it but not until after I had a chance to try it out, which never came up.)

-Matt




Direct link to REI Cycling store

Just a note

I won't be posting mileage from last week. I didn't keep track after the accident. Doing a much better job this week however. I promise.

-Matt




Direct link to REI Cycling store

Comm-unicycle

Sure news organizations everywhere are reporting that bicycle sales are up but only the Globe and Mail in the UK (paid link, sorry) is reporting on the news that you really care about.

Unicycle sales are up 400% in Halifax.

Not sure how much this relates to commuting, but there is a long distance unicycle tour going on in UK. So theoretically it could be done.

The story also notes that until recently there was little innovation for the (apparently large) unicycle community. They are developing their own types of unicycles to fit their needs much in the same way that mountain bikers did.

Would you give up your two wheels for one?

-Matt





Direct link to REI Cycling store