Friday Five: Thanksgiving 2012 Edition

I figured that since the "30 Days of Thanks" thing seems to be the cool thing to do on Facebook (but understanding that I have a hard time doing anything for 30 consecutive days...) I'd do a RoadRageCycling version here on the blog. So without further adieu:

5 Bike-related Things I'm Thankful For:

1. Derailleurs: They open up new roads and trails without making our knees scream out in pain.
2. Clincher Tires: Modern clinchers are good enough that we can almost forget the old tubulars. Flat changes are so much easier

Matching Bike Fit to a Second Bike

MULTIPLE BIKE BLUES
If you're fortunate enough to have multiple bicycles; tell me if this sounds familiar: You have spent endless time and possibly funds perfecting the position on your main bicycle. It's flawless. You feel like you could ride on it all day, in all conditions without pain - and then get on it again tomorrow and do it all over.

Then you get on the other bike. And, while you've taken some measurements and tried to match it up to the first one - stuff still isn't right. It could be any number of things that you don't experience on the first bike: Maybe your knees hurt, you have hand numbness, get saddle sores, have after-ride headaches, or just plain don't feel as strong or fast. Maybe it is something else entirely. Whatever it is, you know something isn't right in spite of your effort to fix it. What now?

In a similar post; I gave you an outline of some different bike fit symptoms, what may be causing them, and potentially how to fix it. Ultimately; the underlying theme though was to seek the help of a qualified and professional fitter. I'm going to do a similar thing here: walk through the bike's contact-points and offer some suggestions; but the help of a professional is still priceless here and many shops offer services to help match the riding position between multiple bikes for less cost than having each one fitted individually.

That said: let's move on.  Bikes can seemingly be set up to fit identically when you measure them; but there are a variety of small details that govern why your body may not be sliding into the same position when you ride the others. Let's take a look, starting with some standards:

What’s More Important Diet or Exercise?

This is a guest post from Jamie Knop of Electric Bloom. I thought the topic was pertinent given that we're entering the off season where we think a lot about our diet! Enjoy.

In order to be healthy and look good, we need a mixture of both a good diet and exercise. Some of us prefer to diet whereas others prefer to just exercise and eat what they want. A big question that many have is what’s more important?

What’s your goal?

In order to answer this question, it really depends on what your overall goal is. Whether it’s to lose weight or just tone up. It should be apparent based on your end goal as to which is more important to you.

In a perfect World

Ideally you should do a combination of both, as they are both equally as important. It’s also important to have a mixture of the two for your overall health.

Friday Five: November 9, 2012

Five Ways to Avoid Ruining Your Bike!

We are seemingly bombarded by all the things we ought to be doing to our bikes to help them last longer - I'm as guilty as anyone else! And if I were to try to turn all of those into a Friday Five topic - well, it would take weeks!

So let's make it simple: What should you not do? Give these a try:

How To Buy the Right Cycling Shoes

Part of my new "How To" series

Some may have read my guide on helmets, and if you are in that group you will likely find this guide a little familiar. It's just because I'm getting lazy and I don't feel like writing more - so I just copy and pasted the content below. Just replace the word helmet with shoe and you'll be good.  Have fun!

Kidding! It's not because I'm lazy, it's because the theory is actually pretty similar. Both items are something that you'll wear potentially for hours at a time and how well they fit will determine whether you're distracted and have a miserable ride or can enjoy your ride without thinking about your gear. (I've said before that the right gear is the kind you don't notice. Saddles, shorts, gloves, helmets and yes: shoes.

Friday Five: November 2, 2012

Five Myths About Bicycle Maintenance

There are a lot of little maxims, guidelines, and rules-of-thumb out there about taking care of your bike. Some of them are founded in mechanical truth and good to go by (maybe that could be another "Friday Five"...) while others are founded in perception and ought to be ignored or forgotten.

Here are five that fall into the latter category based on my years at the repair stand in 3 major bike shops and now my own operation. Enjoy:

1. New Chains need re-adjustment after a few rides due to "stretch".
   Chains do stretch. I've covered that before in a few places on the blog. (Here, and here) However, the stretch is slow - or slow-ish depending on the conditions you ride in and your maintenance habits.

PDW Full Metal Fenders: Tested

You may be fortunate enough to live in a climate where fenders for your bike are a laughable diversion from reality - I know my years living in Nashville were a fender-free utopia compared to Portland. But here in the Pacific Northwest; where people have "rain bikes" and "sunny-day go fast" bikes, we take our fenders seriously as they are our ticket to riding more than 3 months out of the year.

Seriously - it rains almost 9 months of the year here! You can't get any reasonable saddle time from October through May or June - outside at least - if you don't have rain gear and fenders.

So - you'll learn a thing or two about fenders when you come to Portland. Think any ol' thing will do? Nope: those mud guards and easy on/off fenders are like a mere hand-towel after a long shower - not nearly adequate. Think fenders only belong on old beach-cruiser ladies bikes? Wrong again: we'll put them on anything here (and make it look cool to boot).