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Skittish

12.21.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 5 Comments

Maybe it’s my experience with two crashes in the last three months, but on the road lately, I seem to be a less aggressive rider than I used to be.

The other day, I was doing my weekly ride on the Veloway. It’s got some nice sections with tight curves — curves that invite you to stomp on the pedals and lean hard into the turn. I always look forward to those, especially a right-left-right combo near the end of the loop. I get down in the drops, and always check my cyclocomputer to see if I’ve hit my goal of 22 mph through the esses.

This time, I didn’t even come close. I did 18 mph on the first lap. Wow. I chalked it up to a warmup lap, and figured it would get better. The second time through, I hit 20 mph. That’s still off my goal.

I noticed that the line I took through the curves both times was wider than the one I follow when I’m really “on.” Why would that be?

Well, it’s been foggy the last few mornings, and that left the road surface damp. But it’s only really iffy at the approach to the hill I’ve mentioned in the past — the one where I lost control and crashed last month. A puddle collects right at the base of the hill, right on my line. So I’m going to go slower through there in any case, until it’s acceptably dry.

The esses don’t have that problem. They were damp, but not wet. I made a point of concentrating on the line the third time through. But by now, the light mist that accompanied the fog had turned to drizzle. I picked up a little speed — 21 mph — but cut my ride short and headed for home.

I guess I’m just out of practice. The amount of riding I’m doing has suffered lately because of cooler weather and demands at work. I know that more frequent riding will get me back into the feel of the bike. Now that we’re into the year-end break, I’ll get out there more often — I hope.

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Categories // crash, Technique, training Tags // improvement, training, Veloway

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

Another fall? You gotta be kidding

11.14.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 12 Comments

Raced home after work this afternoon to get in a ride before dark.  We have a cold front coming through tonight, and this might be the last warm weather ride I’ll have for awhile.

Did the usual run to the Veloway.  It’s an easy way to get in a quick 15, or 18, or 21 miles, depending upon how much time is available.  I’ve been bad this week — haven’t ridden since last Saturday.  I was looking forward to a few brisk laps around the course.

The Veloway is mostly flat.  But on the back side, about halfway around, there’s a short, but steep hill.  I hit the bottom of the hill at about 20 mph, and did a quick downshift to spin up the grade.

hillThe camera always flattens hills.  This one is much steeper than it looks.  I crashed near the top, on the left.

I must have shifted down more than one gear.  The pedals started spinning fast and free.  My right foot unclipped from the pedal, which caused the bike to lean left.  I lost control.  The front wheel went off the left side of the track, onto a sloping gutter.  No way to recover.

The scrape on my shin stings, but that's about it.
I'll be nursing a large scrape on my shin.

The bike went over on its left side.  I managed to stay almost upright, except that my right leg scraped across the front derailleur, and my left hand scraped the rocks along the track.  Otherwise, no endo — no major bruises.

I got the bike up and pushed it across the track, out of the way of any other riders who might be behind me.  A quick damage assessment found the handlebars knocked askew, and my nice bar tape was scuffed down to the bare metal — but not where my hand contacts it.

Once I straightened the bars and checked myself over, it seemed things weren’t too bad.  I hopped back on and finished a 15-mile trip (The crash happened just over four miles into the ride).  The bike rode fine.

I still can’t believe I lost it on this easy hill.  I’ve ridden the thing hundreds of times — and that’s just this year.  It just shows to go ya — you can never take things for granted.

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Categories // crash Tags // crash, pedal, Veloway

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