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Archives for November 2008

Bikely –> Bike Radar

11.23.2008 by Ray Niekamp // Leave a Comment

picture-1Way back last spring, I posted about ride mapping sites that let bikers trace favorite routes on a map and post them online. One of the featured sites was Bikely.com.

Today I learn that Bikely is being merged into the web site BikeRadar.com. Bike Radar is a British site, connected with Cycling Plus and other biking magazines. It turns out that the company that owns these magazines also owns Bikely.

It looks like an obvious move. Bikely members who log onto Bikely will be automatically redirected to Bike Radar. “We want you to enjoy all the brilliant content that BikeRadar.com has to offer,” their email said. “Which is why we’re integrating Bikely into BikeRadar.com.”

picture-3I guess I’m surprised only that it took this long. The inclusion of Bikely turns BikeRadar.com into a one-stop site for biking info. Now, along with bike news, training and nutrition info, product reviews, and forums, the visitor can also check out bike routes in his or her area and elsewhere. It’s a good traffic builder for Bike Radar, which in turn can lead to more advertising sales on their site.

The transition won’t take place until the end of November. Until then, you can log onto Bikely and it will look as it always has. A check of the Bike Radar site shows it to be its familiar old self, too.

By the way, I still use Map My Ride for my ride mapping needs.

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Categories // Rides Tags // Bikely, BikeRadar.com, Map My Ride, maps

Shaving legs

11.20.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 10 Comments

The idea that shaving your legs can make bicyclists faster always struck me as silly. What will it gain you — three-tenths of a second over 100 miles?

Besides the increased speed, doubtful except at the highest levels of biking, there’s another reason to do it. Road Bike Rider says shaving our legs makes it less painful to remove the bandages that you’ll have all over them after a crash. We all know how much it hurts to rip a piece of adhesive tape off a hairy leg or arm. But even so, to shave your legs so you won’t appear to be a wuss also strikes me as — well, silly.

Until this week. After my fall last Friday, I wound up with a badly skinned leg. It’s not a deep wound, but it’s enough that it must be bandaged. The open sore doesn’t seem to want to scab over, so I change the adhesive bandage pad on it every day — and it’s no fun. In fact, it’s probably the most pain I’ve had from cycling. Just the act of removing the bandages gets me hyped up and nervous.

This morning, I was able to cut back from two bandages to one. One almost covers the expanse of the wound, and maybe by Sunday, I’ll be able to cut back to regular Band-Aids instead of the larger pads. I can’t wait for this thing to heal, if for no other reason than I’ll be able to avoid my daily painful bandage removal.

So maybe shaving legs does make sense. But I’m still not going to do it.

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Categories // crash Tags // crash, legs, shaving

If the cleat is rockin’…

11.18.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 2 Comments

…at my bike shop’s door I’ll be knockin’.

All right, there’s a reason I’m not a poet. Or a lyricist. But it was a little disconcerting to me during my ride the other afternoon to feel my right cleat rock in the pedal. Side to side. I use Shimano SPD-SL pedals, and the cleats that have zero degrees of float.

The cleat is not clipping into the pedal solidly any longer. When I fell last week, it popped out of the pedal on an upstroke, which was the cause of the crash. This time, I was applying some pressure to ride a slight grade on a residential street, and the cleat just came out. Not good. It’s one thing when it happens on a steep hill, but on a one or two percent grade? Corrective action must be taken.

It’s my own fault. I’ve posted before about the sorry condition I’ve allowed my cleats to slip into. At the time, I said I was going to replace them, but I never did.

So tonight, on my way home, I thought I’d stop at a brand new bike shop just a mile and a half from my house. I hadn’t been in there yet, and they’ve been open only a month or so, so it was a good excuse to check out the new place.

The door was locked. A sign on the door said the owner (and apparently the sole proprietor) had stepped out for lunch, and would be back within the hour. The time was 5 p.m. Uh oh.

There’s no rush. I’ll work late the next two nights, and then on Friday I’ll leave for a weekend out of town. So I don’t know when I’ll get in my next ride. But before I do ride, this time I’ll make good on my intention to get some new cleats. Somewhere.

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Categories // Equipment Tags // cleats, clipless pedals

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