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Archives for April 2011

The Most Important Thing: Aaron West

04.21.2011 by Ray Niekamp // 5 Comments

Aaron West

The latest contribution to our series of guest posts, What’s the Most Important Thing You’ve Learned About Cycling?, comes from South Carolina biker Aaron West. He’s only been on two wheels for nine months, but he’s blown past my accomplishments with a single-minded determination to achieve a lofty goal. Here’s his story:

A year ago I was a broken man. Literally. I had been active for about two years, had lost a good bit of weight, and then suffered a running injury that shut me down completely. It was crushing. I remember going to the gym, trying to do anything to get my heart rate up, only to leave in pain and frustration 15 minutes later. After a couple weeks of this, I decided to dip into my savings and buy a bike. That opened up a whole new world to me.

Getting on the bike was a major learning experience and it took me awhile to get the hang of it. I rode by myself for awhile at a safe location with little traffic. I was still injured, but the bike rarely caused unnecessary pain. In fact, it seemed to help me rehabilitate. As I became more comfortable with the bike, I started to feel better and gradually increased my mileage.

I’ll never forget the first time I decided to try a “long ride,” which back then was 25 miles. That was my milestone, farther than I had ever ridden before. I mapped out the course, and pushed myself for 20 miles at around 13 mph before having to take a break. I was wiped out, dripping sweat, my butt hurt and an isolated park bench looked like paradise. After 30 minutes of rest, I got back on the bike and gutted out the remaining five miles, making sure to only stay on flat or downhill roads. What is amazing is that this ride was just nine months ago.

Over the fall I did more and more rides. The highlight was the Tour de Leaves in Tryon, NC. I went with the easiest of the organized rides, which did not go over any mountains but compared to the flats where I live, was a challenging, hilly course. This was my first “group ride” and taught me a lot of lessons. I remember drafting off a nice lady unintentionally and she got a little mad at me. Of course I didn’t have the fitness level then to “pull” anyone, including myself. Even though this ride was also a struggle, I pushed and made it, feeling exuberant for completing such a daunting challenge.

Fast forward a few months later — I was still a beginning rider, but had learned a few things from riding with a cycling club through my office. By that point my longest ride was 55 miles and my average speed was around 14-15 mph on the flats. At this time I was feeling a little more confident in my abilities.

One of the seasoned riders sent out a challenge for members of the club to participate in the Assault on Mount Mitchell ride for 2011. Not knowing what I was getting into, I threw my name in the hat. I later discovered that Mount Mitchell is the highest mountain in the Eastern United States. This is a 103-mile ride with over 11,000 feet of climbing. I remember my shock after watching a few YouTube videos and seeing how people in impeccable shape struggled and failed this challenge. What in the world did I get myself into?

Not wanting to back down and especially not wanting to hurt myself, I started training. I did a lot of reading, watched what I ate, and made sure to ride as much as I could over the winter (which wasn’t much). I also upgraded my bike and now have something that is better at climbing.

Ray asked us to share what we have learned from cycling. For me, it’s this: ANYONE CAN DO IT! I only needed the proper training and motivation. My incentive came to me by accident (and ignorance), but it didn’t have to. Cycling is a great sport because progress can be made by simply continuing to ride. The more you put into it, the more you’ll get out of it.

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Categories // guest post Tags // guest post

The Most Important Thing: Clive Chapman

04.19.2011 by Ray Niekamp // 7 Comments

Clive Chapman

The latest post in our series of The Most Important Thing I’ve Learned About Cycling comes from across the pond. Clive Chapman, a 47-year-old engineer, lives in Birmingham, England. He’s married to the “long-suffering Liz,” and they have two children. Clive is an army veteran and rugby coach, who once played rugby at a very high level. But he let himself get out of shape. Now, he cycles to regain his fitness, and blogs about his efforts at www.massivemtber.co.uk. Here’s his story.

As my Army and rugby background indicates I was as fit as a butcher’s dog back in the day.  Besides rugby, I mountain biked regularly and have been a regular cyclist since I was around 6 years old!

June, 2009

For reasons I cannot fathom I stopped all sport and cycling when I hit my late 30s. The phrase, “It kind of just happened” seems as good a reason as any.

Then in June 2009 I found to my horror (unbelievable but true,  it was a total surprise) that I was 312 lbs (22 stones 4 lbs here in England) and had a number of health issues related to morbid obesity.

Earlier I had discovered by chance http://frank.kinlan.co.uk and his blog about a bloke roughly my age and condition whose life was transformed by cycling. It struck a chord and inspired me to do the same.

April, 2011

To cut a very long story short, here I am in April 2011 weighing 214 lbs (15 stones 4 lbs) and no longer have the health issues, having lost 98 lbs so far and am continuing to lose.

I’ve achieved this by commuting every day to work by bike, a 24-mile round trip, MTBing as often as I can at the weekend, (I road cycle too) and watching the old grub intake. I’ve even sold my car as it was not being used.

I’ve pedalled through two of the worst winters on record here in England and now cannot imagine doing anything different.

So onto lessons learnt about cycling. For me there is only one:

  1. DON’T EVER STOP!

From fit bloke and regular cyclist to fat bloke and dead man walking in a few years all because of my cessation of hostilities with the trail is something I’ll always regret. The hard work and heartache it has taken to get where I am now could have been avoided.

But I’m nearly back to where I want to be and the “Don’t ever stop!” phrase is now placed at the head of my blog as a permanent reminder to me of what can happen if I take my eye off the ball again.

Finally on the subject of blogging, I have made a load of new friends via the blogosphere, all top people who encourage, cajole and support this poor weak-willed sap when the going gets tough. Do not underestimate the power of the Internet, because I wouldn’t be where I am now without it. So thank you to my cyber pedalling mates!

Oh, OK — that’s two lessons!

If you would like to join Clive with a guest post on this blog, write one on the topic: What’s the Most Important Thing You’ve Learned About Cycling? Details available here. These posts will run periodically on Bike Noob.

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Categories // guest post, Tips Tags // most important

You’re Going to Fall – Here’s How

04.17.2011 by Ray Niekamp // 31 Comments

Note: The series of guest posts on The Most Important Thing I’ve Learned About Cycling will reappear later this week. I must resume contributing to my own blog!

You might have noticed in the Twitter box on the right of this blog last week that I had a minor crash on my bike. I missed a shift on a hill, dropped my chain, was unable to clip out, and I went over.

Just a bruise on my hip and a sore hand, but that was enough to trigger this reprimand:

“Hands on the bars at all times,” commented Mike Weiland, who should know, because he’s had his share of hard falls.

But that’s the problem. When you find yourself going down, what’s the most natural reaction? To put out a hand to brace yourself when you hit the ground.

“You brace, you break a hand or a collarbone,” said Mike. Or an arm, or dislocate your shoulder…

Even experienced riders brace for falls. It’s a natural reaction.

Okay, so I’m going to resist the temptation to brace next time (yeah, right). What can I do instead?

It depends on the type of fall. If you find yourself going over the handlebars, you can plan to roll on your shoulder. I did this in the first bad fall I had on my road bike, and although I was sore, I wasn’t hurt badly.

The guy in this crash looks like he might be able to drop his right shoulder, and roll on it.

Ted Rogers, who runs the blog, Biking in L.A., urges cyclists to do two things: stay clipped in, and hold the handlebars tightly. He tucks his elbows into his body. “At the same time,” he says, “I tuck my head down between my shoulders, and round my shoulders to shape my upper body into a ball. My momentum will continue to move my body forward, rolling me over the handlebars, still attached to my bike, which helps me maintain my curved position.” With luck, you’ll be able to roll on your shoulder rather than fall on your face. If he finds himself going down sideways, instead of over the bars, he does pretty much the same thing. When I went down last week, I stayed clipped in (not intentionally). That may have prevented me from being hurt worse than I was.

The roll might work for low-speed crashes, says Mike Weiland, but at higher speeds, all you can do is just skid. “Of course the one a few months ago at 24 mph I ended up hurting my hand/wrist not from bracing, but more or less punching the ground as my hand was still in the drops when the bars made contact with the pavement,” he told me.

It appears the best place to land in a crash is on your side. Hitting your chest or back on the ground could mean worse injuries. “As you hit the ground,” said one commenter on a biking forum, “try to stay as loose as possible. If you’re tense or stiff, it’s easier to get hurt.”

In practice, none of this might be possible. One cyclist posted to a forum that he’d been in two bad road crashes. “In neither case, do I remember having any time to react,” he said. “I was aware that I was in trouble, and then on the ground bleeding.”

What’s the old saying? “There are two kinds of cyclists: Those who have crashed, and those who are going to.”

Keep the rubber side down.

During the coming week, Bike Noob will feature two more posts in the series, What’s the Most Important Thing You’ve Learned About Cycling? If you’d like to submit your thing, check here.

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Categories // crash, Injury, Technique Tags // crash, Injury

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