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Archives for May 2010

Rude Cyclists

05.16.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 14 Comments

I saw a tweet recently complaining about rude cyclists. Thinking it was another rant about bikes interfering with cars, I replied to the writer (twitterer? twit? This person is definitely not a twit) asking for clarification.

What I mean, she wrote back, are cyclists who are rude to other cyclists, not motorists. They pass without warning, don’t call out, “On your left,” and generally have an arrogant attitude toward others they meet on the road. That attitude could contribute to accidents.

I chewed on that for awhile, and tried to remember instances I’d run across where other cyclists were rude to me. But then I experienced first hand what I think she was talking about.

I was taking my weekly run around the Veloway, chatting with my friend David. The Veloway is wide enough for two lanes, with a white stripe painted down the center. Slow cyclists are supposed to stay in the right lane. In practice, things are less formal.

As we rode along, catching up (I hadn’t seen him in weeks), he was in the right lane, and I was in the left. We didn’t hear anyone, but suddenly, the call, “On your left,” came from right behind me.

Before I could react, a rider passed me on my left side. He was down in the drops, moving fast. I didn’t think much of it — the lanes are plenty wide enough for two bikes to pass without a problem. But suddenly, a second cyclist shot between us without warning.

He was obviously the riding partner of the first guy, and was going just as fast. I looked at David, and he looked back at me and raised his eyebrows.

“Good thing you didn’t move right when that first guy called ‘On your left,'” he said.

“I would have, but he was by me too fast,” I replied. “We could have had a pretty good crash there.”

The problem, as I saw it, was that the first rider indicated he was passing on the left, but his partner passed me on my right. Now, you never pass on the right. And this guy was more than a bike length behind his buddy, so why didn’t he grab his wheel and follow him around me on the left?

The whole thing left a sour taste in my mouth. I know I’m not the fastest guy out there, but I do get out of the way when faster riders come by. There was no reason for this cowboy behavior.

What kinds of rudeness from other cyclists have you experienced on the road?

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Categories // Safety Tags // rudeness, Safety

Don Blount Crashes!

05.16.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 5 Comments

In a sling with ice.

Don Blount, who frequently guest posts here on Bike Noob, is the worse for wear today. He was riding his first century yesterday, the Sunrise Century in Lodi, California, when his front wheel caught in some railroad tracks that arc across a road he was on. Don went down and broke his wrist.

“I have an ulna skyler fracture of my left wrist and maybe torn ligaments,” he wrote in an email to his bike club. “This is my second wrist fracture in 9 months, altho this one is much worse. [Note: same wrist.]

“The first kept me off the bike for 3 weeks. With this one I’ll be fortunate to be back in 6 weeks. Both falls occurred when my wheel got caught. I’ll have plenty of time to figure it out.”

Rotten luck, Don. And just when the nice summer biking weather is hitting. Here’s hoping you have a speedy recovery and are back on the bike soon.

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Categories // crash Tags // Blount, crash

WTB Speed V Saddle (Review)

05.13.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 12 Comments

It’s been a familiar pattern: Ride, get sore bottom. Ride, get sore bottom. What to do about it?

I’ve fiddled with different saddles.

Three years ago, there was a Trek gel saddle of some kind, that I appropriated from my wife’s bike when she got a new saddle for herself (an Avocet gel — too bad Avocet is no more). I knew the Forte Classic from Performance would be a big improvement. Nope. Then, the Specialized Alias that came with my new bike seemed to hold some promise. Until I did some really long rides on it, and started looking for an alternative. The Selle San Marco Ponza was the answer to my prayers — for about an hour.

Most of these saddles had one thing in common: Little padding. So when I decided to spring for a new saddle, I looked for something with a little more cush. A couple of lines in particular offer saddles with more padding than I’ve been used to: Serfas and WTB. I liked the looks of the WTB Speed V, so a couple of weeks ago, I paid a visit to the local Performance store, and bought one. The fact that it was on sale for $25 helped in the decision-making process, too.

The Speed V is wider across the back than the Ponza, which I figured I must need. I liked the feel of the Ponza’s narrow seat, but maybe a slightly wider platform would offer better support. The Speed V also has the distinctive WTB “Love Channel” (how could you not like that name?) — not a complete cutout, but not flat, like the Ponza.

It’s a comfy saddle, no doubt about it. I immediately liked the feel of the seat on my butt. The wide part of the seat has padding that gives, without being overly soft. The nose of the saddle is also padded more than I’ve been used to, which was welcome when climbing.

The first couple of rides were great. I actually went 16 and 18 miles without thinking about the saddle. But I knew the acid test would come on a long ride — something well over one hour.

That came last weekend at the Armadillo Hill Country Classic. I rode the 50-mile route, and was on the bike for over three hours, with only two short breaks. And I’ll admit it — there was some discomfort. However, I’m coming to the conclusion that the problem is not so much with the saddle as it is with my riding position.

The part that gets sore is my taint — that area between the boys and the uh, exit. On the Armadillo, I found myself standing on the pedals while coasting, just to take some weight off the taint. And it occurred to me that I shouldn’t be putting weight there anyway. After all, when getting fitted for a saddle by companies that use an ass-o-meter, or whatever it’s called, the key measurement is the distance between the sit bones — not where your taint hits the saddle.

I started deliberately putting more pressure on my sit bones, and sinking them into the Speed V’s padding. It helped. Ah ha! so this is the pelvic tilt I’ve heard about from time to time. Pressing down on the sit bones causes the pelvis to tilt forward, and relieve pressure on the taint.

Problem is, I’ve been riding the other way so long, it’s going to take some effort on my part to get the tilt down to where it’s second nature.

I figured I’d help it by adjusting the tilt of the saddle. I’ve always been meticulous about keeping the saddle level. After the Armadillo, I dropped the nose about half a bubble on the carpenter’s level. No definite conclusions yet.

For the time being, I’ll keep the Speed V. One of the reasons I bought it at Performance was their no questions asked return policy, so I do have other saddle options if the Speed V isn’t the answer to my saddle woes.

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Categories // Equipment, Review Tags // Review, saddles, WTB Speed V

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