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Archives for April 2014

Strava Speed vs. Bike Computer Speed

04.20.2014 by Ray Niekamp // 14 Comments

I’m now able to irritate a lot of my friends because I use Strava. The record-keeping is useful, and the segments — while they do prompt one to speed up when one might not want to — provide a nice progress report on one’s ability over certain parts of rides. But there’s one thing I’ve noticed: My speeds according to Strava are different from the speeds registered by my bike computer.

screen

Now, I know I have el cheapo computer. However, I’ve been pretty satisfied with it. I measured the circumference of the front wheel by hand, and found that I need to enter 19 more millimeters than the 2096 commonly used for 23mm tires. My tires are 25mm, so 2115 mm is less than the suggested measurement for that size. Anyhow, when I compare my readouts to known distances on some of my more frequent rides, they are accurate to a level I find acceptable.

So I was puzzled when I noticed a difference between the stats in Strava and the stats on el cheapo. After the first couple of rides with both, Strava settled in and registered total distances for rides within one-tenth of a mile of my old computer. Even this morning, when I did a longer ride, the two were only four-tenths apart, and that was because I neglected to start my old computer at the beginning of the ride. I lost the data for about four blocks of riding.

But on Friday’s ride, there was a real disconnect. The problem area is maximum speed. For one downhill leg I do, the old computer clocked 31.9 mph. Strava had me at 36.4! That’s too much of a difference. Wonder what causes it? I also know from experience that the old computer’s speed was more likely to be the accurate of the two. I’ve ridden this stretch once or twice a week for the last several years, and I know what to expect. I also know what 36 mph feels like on my bike, and I didn’t have that feeling this time.

Therefore, while Strava is fun and useful, I have learned to be skeptical of it sometimes. I’ll continue to enter my ride stats on my spreadsheet (Yes, I know) according to my computer, and use Strava to gauge improvement.

 

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Categories // Accessories, Records & stats Tags // computer, Strava

This is a Bad One

04.17.2014 by Ray Niekamp // 6 Comments

A cyclist was hit and killed this morning by a pickup truck in Edinburg, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley. The two men in the truck allegedly tried to hide the cyclist’s body, but were caught by police.

The victim, Eddie Arguelles, was a close friend of Ramon H., who has commented here several times and even written a guest post.

Our thoughts and best wishes go out to the family.

http://www.krgv.com/news/cyclist-killed-in-hit-and-run-2-in-custody/

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Categories // Safety Tags // crash, hit and run

Keep Those Knees In!

04.15.2014 by Ray Niekamp // Leave a Comment

Back when I started riding, I was with a friend who was an experienced biker, taking a few laps on the Veloway. At one point, a young woman passed us, and my friend picked up the pace to stay close to her. This surprised me, because this particular friend isn’t interested in women.

I caught up to him, and he said, “I wanted to see her position on the bike — if she kept her legs in. She does. Looking good.”

Huh?

“A good rider keeps the knees close to the top tube,” he replied. “Some people ride with their knees sticking out to the sides.”

Uh, guilty as charged. When I walk, my feet splay out a bit. I even have my cleats adjusted, ever so slightly, to maintain that foot position on the bike. But I realized that my knees not only looked bad, they were putting pressure on some of the muscles in my upper thighs.

I paid attention to my knee position after that. It took some work, because it wasn’t a normal position for me. But over the ensuing years, I forgot about knee position.

Just last week, I noticed it. I’m not sure why, but it came to me that my knees were sticking out again. I moved them toward the center, and whadya know — it felt a lot better. It seemed as though I was putting more power to the pedals.

Putting the knees toward the inside has another benefit. It helps get the feet into a heels-down position. I had been gradually getting on my toes when riding. It seemed as though I was generating power. But it had been flexing my calves, and they were often sore and achy after a ride. With the heels down, I really am generating power. It’s easier to pedal in a circle, and I’m getting a little faster. And when I finish a ride, my calves don’t ache.

But it’s not something that I can attend to once, and adopt it as a new habit. In the last few days, I’ve caught myself with my knees sticking out on every ride. I pull them in. But another mile or two down the road, they’re out again. It looks like it won’t be easy for me to keep my knees in.

But I know it’s the right way to pedal. I’ll keep working on it.

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Categories // Technique Tags // knee, riding position

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