I’m tired of the cycling helmet debate that isn’t a debate.
The first thing I’ll say is, in my own opinion, a cycling helmet should never be the business of a government agency, local, state, or in the case of the US federal, or otherwise. Seems like governments have enough trouble balancing a checkbook, lately. They don’t need any more confusion than that right now.
The second thing I’ll say is, in my own humble opinion, a helmet isn’t necessarily for every ride. If I’m out riding the back dirt roads with my daughter, or by myself, I think I can do without – or at least I did when I bounced better as a younger man. A person has to take that into account.
Now, with that out of the way, if you missed it, Gordon Ramsey loves cycling and had a crash with a car. After which, as one would expect, he heaped quite a bit of praise on his Specialized Prevail helmet for saving his life. A helmet has saved the melons of five or six of my friends, one of them six or seven times. I love cycling helmets for that.
As one would assume, whenever someone thanks a helmet for saving their melon, the comments go nuts. And this is what I hate about the BS in the helmet debates:
“You’re likely to find data that says wearing a helmet makes riders seem less human to drivers. You’re also likely to find a study or two saying that a helmet-wearing cyclist might have a higher rate of falls than non-wearers. Time and again, vocal cyclists say that requiring a helmet while riding a bicycle actively dissuades folks from riding a bicycle rather than driving a car.”
This isn’t wrong, but it is. And the way this gets framed, as if helmets contribute to accidents is simply poorly thought out. Helmets are worn by people who ride in riskier situations, so naturally helmet use and accidents correlate. To explain, for the cheap seats; I ride in a group, a manner that is inherently dangerous, so I wear a helmet. Riding in a peloton, without a helmet, is crazy. It is crazy because if one person makes a little mistake, I may not be able to react fast enough to not crash. Therefore, a helmet is a wise option between my skull and the ground. By the way, a skull has the consistency and resistance of a cantaloupe or watermelon when it hits the ground. Now, maybe you’re okay with the odds you won’t fall when you’re out for a daily jaunt around the block.
The chance you’re crashing on that daily around the block is slim to nil. The chance of a crash in a peloton of cyclists sprinting for a City Limits sign is considerably greater. Worse, the damage inflicted in a crash at 30 to 35-mph would be significantly worse without a helmet betwixt one’s melon and the asphalt. And that’s the point of a helmet.
Now, here’s the crazy part; I’d ride the same way if helmets were outlawed. Riding with friends is simply too much fun. I wonder what the data would say if nobody was allowed to wear a helmet in a club ride scenario! Let’s just say fatalities and vegetative state accidents for the helmetless would go up exponentially.
Which is why we wear helmets when we ride with friends… and most times. It’s like a Second Amendment discussion. Better to have one and not need it, than need one and not have it. I’d carry a cop everywhere I went, but they’re so damned heavy!
Every year, the struggle is the same, though this year has been a little tougher/longer than usual; the first heatwave of the summer shows up, and I struggle for a day or two to get acclimatized. There’s nothing new this year, it just that it took a little longer. Longer than I’d like.
I was tempted to just keep it indoors yesterday. It was hot, yet again, and we were going to have a family dinner… so I had an excuse. I wanted to get over the heat, though – I’ve historically done very well in hot weather, so I readied my Trek and headed out the front door.
It threatened to rain in the first few miles, but cleared up and the sun came back out to bake me as I rode along… but I didn’t suffer like I had the last three days. I wasn’t fast by any stretch, but I felt more like me; like I wanted more miles. Sadly, no time for that, so I marched it home, took a shower and got dinner ready.
Dinner was lovely, then some euchre with our daughter and her boyfriend, followed by glorious sleep. I crashed hard about 8:30 and by 9 I was looking at my eyelids. It was fantastic.
I’ve got some maintenance things to take care of this weekend on the tandem, but all is looking well for our first road trip of the year, coming up… and the camper is amazing and ready to go!
If you follow me on Strava, you’ve noticed a pattern in how I’m posting my short weekday afternoon rides of late… it’s all about the heat. As Walter Matthau’s “Max” sang in Grumpy Old Men, “We’re havin’ a heat wave, a tropical heat wave”. It wasn’t really tropical, though. Until today, the humidity was down around 60%. Not quite the “dry heat” they talk about in Arizona, but it isn’t horribly oppressive, either.
I’ve gone out three times in a row with temps over 90° (32 C) when I walk out the door. I feel good and strong for about six or seven miles, usually carrying near a 20-mph average, but it goes downhill quickly after that. I should be cleaning my bike with a squeegee when I get back.
This is a yearly thing, though usually there’s a little more time involved this year than in the past. Normally, it’ll take a couple of days and I’m good to go. Unfortunately, I’m not as skinny as I once was and the extra BBQ is taking a toll. That hasn’t deterred me, though. I’m still going out every day and will continue to until I break through this.
My wife and I had a great weekend on the tandem. Two rides, 98-miles, and averages at 18.5-mph with big groups each day. We were in-sync to a point I can’t remember having such an enjoyable time on the tandem in a big group. It was perfect weather, too. Mid-50s to start, then warming into the low 70s. Two 50-mile rides in a row, at that pace, was a big deal for us.
We have a little bit of a noise problem, however. I’ve also wanted to reroute the cables since we brought the bike home, and being Father’s Day and having all of my normal chores done, I took to tinkering. I don’t know if it’ll be any quieter, but the shifting is vastly improved. The tech at the shop who built our tandem, crossed the cables on the down tube rather than the bottom tube. The cables just barely touched the paint, so I’d had helicopter tape between the cables and the frame since day one… and I just didn’t like looking at that tape anymore.
Then for the heat acclimatization; it’s nasty hot this week. In the 90s. My wife had no desire to ride yesterday, so when I got home, I got the bike ready and went out for a short ride to get used to the heat. I didn’t get used to the heat. Holy moly, it was hot. I cleaned up after, and we ate dinner… and that led me to truing my first wheel.
My wife had noticed a serious wobble in the rear wheel while I was working on the cables Sunday, and that had to be tended to. In true Rolf fashion, we’d been cruising around without problem for a couple of weeks on two broken spokes. I swear, those wheels are bomb-proof. I love Rolf wheels. Anyway, when the local shop closed, the owner gave me one of his truing stands. It’s a nice one. The Pro Park Tool stand weighs at least 20 pounds, and I bought a spoke kit for each of the tandem wheelsets when we bought the bike, so fixing a couple of broken spokes didn’t even require a trip to the bike shop.
I replaced the spokes and trued the wheel on my new stand. Let me just tell you, working on a stand is a whole lot easier than trying to true a wheel using the brake calipers as a guide!
*I should add, I am the opposite of “good” at truing wheels.
We rolled out to a perfect morning. A mild breeze, abundant sunshine, cool but glorious temperature (54 and rising [12 C])… and we had a bit of an adventure in the works; a route I can’t remember ever having done. We had a decent group of eight for the start that ballooned to eleven before we were six miles in.
Jess and I were in a zone. We were about perfectly matched on the tandem. We’ve done well for quite some time, but this was some kind of next-level cycling. We were laughing and ribbing friends, along with taking some ribbing ourselves, and simply having an awesome time of it.
And that’s when I got to thinking about how fortunate we are to have the group of friends we do. We crunched out the miles and had our laughs, from start to finish it was as close to a perfect cycling experience as I can remember. The pace wasn’t too hot or cool. The quips were fast and witty. And the weather, well into perfect room temperature just a few miles into the ride, was perfect.
I’ve done a lot of fun things, from golf to running, but cycling with friends is simply good times and noodle salad. Literally, as good as it gets. I don’t think I stopped smiling all day long.
When I got home from work yesterday, I was faced with a dilemma; I really wanted to ride but I knew my legs were smoked. I’d hammered them over the last week, and as nice as it was outside, I needed to rest them. My wife was working – from home, but working away. Well, being indoors simply wasn’t going to do. Then I looked over at my wife’s Assenmacher… it needed some cleaning. In fact, I was pretty sure it needed some drivetrain cleaning and lubing as well. She doesn’t ride the bike much, but it’d been a while. Then I thought about my Venge. That hadn’t gotten a good once-over since last fall. Same idea, though; I don’t ride it much. I had my “something to do”.
I pulled my stand out and set it in the driveway in the sunlight. I grabbed my bag of tools and spare parts and went to work… on my wife’s bike, first. See, I find I can lose steam when cleaning the bikes, so if I start with hers first, she’s guaranteed to get my full attention. The Assenmacher’s drivetrain was a little gunky, so a good cleaning and it was sparkling again. I wiped everything down and got the blue-glitter nail polish out (it’s almost a perfect match) and touched up a few places where the paint was chipped. I took the wheels off, cleaned the cassette, put the bike back together and it was done. It looked fantastic.
Then it was time to turn my attention to the Venge. I thought it’d be a quick job, until I got into it. The poor thing was a mess. Wheels off, chain off, upside down in the grass, I cleaned everything. Derailleurs, chain rings, the works. Then the chain, with an old toothbrush. It was gunky. Nasty, really. I couldn’t believe I let my Venge get that gnarly. I took my time and went to it… I made it look new again.
So, some interesting things I learned over cleaning the bikes this past few days (I cleaned the Trek and the tandem up days ago after damp to wet rides)
Shimano Crank on the Trek 5200; I loosened the snugging nut for the crank arm and the crank now spins super-freely after watching a clip about it on YouTube… I used to think it had to be a little more snug to keep it from creaking. I was mistaken (Shimano crankset).
Washing my wife’s Assenmacher, I couldn’t help but recognize the excellence in the Campagnolo Record 10-sp. components. They really are amazing. I spent extra time brightening them up.
My Specialized Venge was dirty. I can’t let it get like that, ever again.
CeramicSpeed bearings; my Venge’s crank bearings are CeramicSpeed. Must have been when the shop put the new bearings in for the bottom bracket (the originals were fried), they put in the good bearings (no wonder that cost so much!). With a simple spin of the crank when I don’t have a chain on there, it’ll go around several dozen times before slowing to a stop. It’s quite amazing.
The tandem is always clean and well taken care of. I’m glad to have brought the rest of the road bikes along to the party.
The weather has stabilized and the major rain is a thing of the past, even though we’re expecting storms this afternoon/evening. The weekend looks to be amazing and I’ve already got just shy of 60-miles in for the week. I’ve been on a bike every day since last Friday… 140-miles since my last day off.
These are my happy days of summer. I can relax a little bit about what I’m eating. As long as the calories out is greater than in, I’ll be good (though in my current state, I should like to keep my intake as low as possible so I can go into winter… erm… a lot thinner.
Last night’s ride was pure awesome. My wife and I took almost 50 minutes to go 12-1/2 miles.
I still love going fast. I really dig it. There’s something about a fun ride on the tandem slow enough we can have a conversation, though!
And so, with the weather turning into summer… Here. We. Go.
Jess and I were both laughing about how nervous we were before the ride. The Tennis season is done. Swimming finished just a week before tennis started. Our senior is graduated and the open house is in the rear view. Our Tuesday nights are free at last. Now, technically, we could have gone out last Tuesday, but it was hot. We didn’t want our first Tuesday night to be in a sauna – we already knew we were way out of shape, so we rode from home. Around 5:00, the bike was ready and we were loading up my wife’s SUV. We were at the start a little after 5:30.
After saying hi to friends I hadn’t seen for quite some time, we got ready and got to the line to roll. And just like that, we were hitting it. It was a mess at the start, but once we let the A Group go because one of ours had dropped, everything smoothed out and we had a fantastic ride. On the flat and downhills, my wife and I were awesome. On the ups, though, our lack of fitness showed. We took our time and did our best to catch up after the climbs. I learned a new way to climb on the tandem that appears might help us out substantially, but it’ll take some more testing… a lot more testing before I’ll write about it here.
We rolled across the finish line, the group intact, at just over a 20-mph average, and I couldn’t stop smiling. I told Jess, after we finished, that it felt like home being out on a Tuesday again.
We shook hands and caught up with friends after the ride, then went to find some food. We shared our thoughts and insights and talked about how the ride was while we ate our dinner. It was great to be back. I really missed it.
And I woke up in desperate need of a Dual Action Advil/Tylenol. Oh my.
It was a perfect afternoon; a little cool by early June’s norms, but sunny and not much wind to speak of. It’d been a while since I had to worry about riding before a Tuesday night, but we’re heading out to Lennon tonight to try to help rekindle the B-Group. The A Group is exceedingly fast this year, 24+mph average over 33-miles.
I readied and took the Venge out for an easy-ish spin. I was aiming for about a 15 to 16-mph average, but had a feeling I might not be able to keep it that slow. I was right.
There were far too many times I’d glance down at my computer and see 19-ish-mph (30+ k/ph) for my average to be in the 15s… but I didn’t necessarily care, either. The idea was an easy spin to keep my legs fresh heading into Tuesday.
The route was a simple out-and-back with a couple of loops added in for subdivisions to add miles. Not much in the way of elevation change, a few simple hills here and there, but nothing worth getting out of the saddle for (something which I find increasingly odd trying to do, spending so much time on the tandem – it was really unsettling the first time I tried to ride out of the saddle this year on a single bike!). The evening was glorious and sunny and I put my saddle time in and arrived home feeling fresh and happy.
A lovely dinner with my wife and oldest daughter, watching The Hitman’s Bodyguard and it was time for bed. It was darn near a perfect Monday, looking back on it. How rare! And nice.
We had a fair weekend in the makings as far as weather goes. We were going to have some late spring rain, but nothing terrible and all of the rain was to hit at non-riding times. We even had a west wind both days, which bodes well for route variety (a south works, too, but east and north are very limiting for us).
Saturday’s ride was great. Cool temps and clear skies, just a bit more than a breeze to contend with on the way out, but a nice push home. We ended up with a great group and more than 42-miles… and an 18.5-mph average (30 kph). My wife and I worked well together on the tandem and even picked up a QOM for her (or tied, actually). I was feeling the affects of allergies, though, so I struggled a little bit.
Sunday’s ride was a little more difficult. Cooler temps, more wind, cloudy skies… it wasn’t as cheery to start, and we only had two others with us at the beginning. We picked up Phill and Matt on the road, though, and Greg joined up with us on Lennon road to make it a saucy group. The clouds parted and it warmed up a little bit (not too much), and our pace was decidedly slower with a ton of headwind at the beginning. We did have a tailwind on the way home, though.
We finished with a little more than 39-1/2 miles and some tired legs..
But that wasn’t all for the day. We had to move my daughter home from college. She’s going to do her senior year from home to save some money and headache that comes with living with several party girls. I had some heavy lifting, but it wasn’t horrible. The down side was, my day didn’t finish till 9. I was cooked.
I woke up fresh this morning, though! So I’m raring to go with a new work week… and I can head to the office for some rest!
Fit Recovery 