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Social Media and Bicycling

04.13.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 7 Comments

This evening was the first Run Far Time Trial of the year in Austin. It’s run every other Tuesday from now through September. I didn’t ride it tonight, because I’m pointing toward this weekend’s MS 150, but I did head out there for my usual Tuesday evening Veloway ride.

I won’t go into details about the time trial itself, because I’ve written about it once or twice in the past. For me, being there held the prospect of putting some faces with the names of people I see all the time on social networking sites.

I like social media. Besides this blog, I use Twitter every day. I have two accounts — one is work-related and the other is dedicated to bicycling (my most recent Tweets appear in the right column here).  I’m also on Facebook. It doesn’t eat up as much of my time as you might think.

This afternoon, the Tweets started appearing about the time trial. My friend @weiland said he would be there, and @T_Starry replied that he would, too. Then @cyberjunkie21 said he’d join the group. I replied that I’d meet them there as well. We all posted what kind of jerseys we would wear.

I got to the Veloway, where riders check in for the time trial, a little early, and decided to take a lap. Most of the time trial riders had the same idea.

Rider takes a warmup lap on the Veloway before heading out on the time trial. The wildflowers are spectacular this spring. These are Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrush.
Tim Starry, aka @T_Starry, aka Old Guy On Two Wheels.

When I got out to the parking lot, I saw @T_Starry right away. His coach from Austin Cycle Camp was explaining how to attach the timing chip. I first met Tim Starry through his blog, An Old Guy On Two Wheels, then met in person back in January at an MS150-Tour de Cure training ride. We follow each other on Twitter, and read and comment on each other’s blogs, but I hadn’t seen him since then.

While we were talking, an attractive woman pulled up on her bike and greeted Tim. She introduced herself as Patti Hill. I stuck out my hand and introduced myself with my real name. Her reply was polite, but lukewarm.

“I’m Bike Noob,” I said.

“Oh, Bike Noob! Hi!” @pattidhill answered with a smile.

Another rider stuck out his hand. “I’m cyberjunkie,” he said.

“Cyberjunkie! That’s terrific!” I exclaimed.

A man standing by laughed. “You guys are a lot more friendly when you use your phony names instead of your real names,” he said.

Maybe. It’s our common ground — a starting point. We joked about our Twitter pictures, talked about rides we’d been on recently. But it was time for them to head out on the time trial course. I resumed my easy laps of the Veloway.

When I finished, I found @T_Starry and @weiland back from their time trial runs. They exchanged stories about how it went. The southeast wind was tough tonight, and smacked riders in the face during a nice downhill when they’re supposed to be making good time. Tonight, it was a struggle.

They’re all great folks, and without social media, I doubt we’d have ever met, even if our paths crossed at various cycling events. Now that I’ve met their real selves, instead of merely their virtual selves, the connection is that much more meaningful.

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Categories // Blogging, Community, Odds 'n ends Tags // Blogging, social media, time trial, Twitter, Veloway

A Bike Fitting – The Best Thing You Can Do For Your Biking

04.11.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 14 Comments

For some now, I’ve realized that I needed a real professional bike fitting. I’ve been getting sore on my bike after about an hour in the saddle. So finally, I made an appointment to have one done — at Nelo’s Cycles in Austin, Texas.

Nelo Breda is the owner of the shop. He’s a former pro bike racer himself, and then coached the Brazilian national cycling team. His shop sells high-end bikes: Wilier, Kuota, Guru, etc. — but he caters to all walks of cyclist.

I got there a little before the scheduled appointment time. Nelo was wrapping up in his shop, and an assistant put my bike next to a trainer and offered water, a soft drink, or beer — and cookies. I took the cookies. It turns out they read Bike Noob in the shop. The assistant remarked that the kinds of things we talk about here are the same kinds of things they hear from people bitten by the biking bug, who are looking to upgrade after some time on their entry-level bikes.

Then Nelo walked in. He’s a slightly built man, who talks fast in a thick Brazilian Portugese accent. I listened closely as he explained the process.

Nelo looks over the bike before the fitting.

The bike fitting is 65 percent below the waist, and 35 percent above, he said. First, he adjusts seat height, then seat fore and aft. Once that’s done, he looks at the reach to the cockpit. If you’re not fitted correctly for seat position, the rest won’t matter. “We gotta get you in a comf’ posish,” he said.

He had me pedal a bit, then I stopped and he looked at the angle of my knee bend. He had me clip out of the pedals and relax my legs so they fell straight down. He put the pedal directly under my heel. There was a gap about the thickness of a finger between the heel and the pedal.

Well, I’ll be. The seat was too high. Nelo had me step off the seat, and he adjusted the height.

Nelo adjusting the height of the seat.

Then, he did the plumb bob test, to determine if the knee is directly over the pedal axle. Not mine. I was about a half-inch behind it. “Most people who come in here think their seat needs to be farther back,” he said. “But they really need to go more forward.” Count me in that bunch.

I sat on the bike again, and got into the drops. He had me lean farther and farther forward, until my chin almost touched the headset. I put my hands on top of the bar, then on the brake hoods.

“Looks pretty good,” he said. “We don’t gotta make any changes here.”

I sat still while he drew a tape measure across my upper back. “Whadya do to work out?” he asked. “You got real broad shoulders. They’re 48 centimeters wide.”

He measured the handlebars from the center of one brake hood to the other. They were 42 cm wide.

“You don’t have to change these right away,” he said. “Maybe next time you change your bar tape, you get a new bar. Should be 46 cm, at least 44.”

Then he surprised me again. “Your crank arms are 175 millimeters” he said. “You need 172.5. Again, don’t worry about it now. But you should try them.”

He said the combination of the lower seat and shorter crank arms would help me climb hills. I liked the sound of that.

With that, we were done. The whole process took about a half hour. Nelo usually charges $75 for a fitting, but because he made so few changes, he cut the price to $50.

I couldn’t wait to get out for a ride. I put in 22 miles in the neighborhood, including some fast laps on the Veloway and some repeats on a moderately challenging hill. Despite the small changes Nelo made, I could feel the difference. I sat a little more forward on my saddle. I was a lot more comfortable going up the hill.

Saturday was the acid test. Pat and I did a training ride with Hill Country Ride for AIDS, 29 miles for her and 45 for me. The southeast wind was blowing hard, and it was right at us for the second half of the ride. The improvements I noted Friday were still there. Plus, I noticed that in my new riding position, my elbows were naturally bent, compared to the previous setting where I had to consciously relax my shoulders and bend my elbows. It was a better riding position.

I’ve been having some trouble with saddle sores lately. No longer. The lowered seat position ended the rubbing that caused them.

Sunday morning, I had planned a long ride preparatory to next weekend’s MS 150. The morning broke overcast and misty. Normally, I would go back to bed, but I decided to ride anyway.

I cut my mileage in half from my planned ride, but again noticed how much more comfortable I felt on the bike.

One problem, though. My butt still hurt after an hour or so. Nelo had suggested I consider a new saddle, but I figured a proper fitting would take care of that issue. I do sit a little more forward on the saddle now, which I understand is where you want to sit on a narrow racing style saddle like mine. I’ll ride this saddle through the MS 150, and if the soreness persists, I’ll start trying out new ones.

If you haven’t had a full-blown pro bike fitting yet, you really need to treat yourself to one. It’ll be the best bike money you’ve ever spent, after your bike, of course. And if you buy your bike from Nelo, he’ll insist on fitting you first. Then he’ll show you some bikes.

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Categories // Equipment Tags // bike fitting

How To Join a Bike Club – Part 2

04.08.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 3 Comments

Guest poster Don Blount continues his quest for the perfect bike club.

Stockton, Calif., where I live, is not far from the foothills of the Sierra Mountains. There is plenty of serious climbing and steep grades available for any rider who goes there. Everyone tells me that you can fake it on the flats but that climbing really shows the type of rider you are.

The Stockton Bicycle Club does a lot of riding in the hills.

During a day off from work, I did a first-time solo 27-mile ride around Lake Camanche with 1,900 feet of climbing and some 14 percent grades. The friend who provided me with the route described it as a nice “introductory” ride in the hills.

It was not easy but it was fun. Some of those roads obviously were not designed by a highway engineer but were once cow paths that someone decided to pave over.

A few days after I did this ride, I received an e-mail notice of a 40-mile ride with the Stockton club. It was described as a longer but similar ride to the Lake Camanche ride.

I was in.

It took me about 45 minutes to make the 29-mile ride to the meeting place – Charles Howard Park in Ione, Calif. The park is named after the owner of Seabiscuit. The group of about a dozen people included both men and women. Introductions were made and we took off.

This was a talkative group, which makes sense if you’re going to spend a few hours with someone whether on or off a bike. Of course quiet settled in as we hit the rollers and more steeply graded hills.

Again, all of these riders were older than me, a few retired including a 62-year-old podiatrist who rode 18,000 miles last year. He planned on riding 100 miles that day.

We ended up with just under 43 miles and 2,300 feet of climbing.

I think I held my own as several other riders asked me if I had ridden much in the hills and were surprised when learning I had not.

I submitted my membership a few days later.

It was not much money and riding in the hills with anyone will help make me a better rider, which is ultimately what I want.

I eventually heard from the Stanislaus County Bicycle Club.

I was told I hadn’t heard back sooner because the “general email address” I found on its website went to spam. Apparently had I kept looking I would have found more specific contact information.

However, I was fine with how things worked out.

When deciding on a bike club I would ask: What are you looking for? Do you want to be challenged? Do you like to ride fast? Do you want to climb? Do you want to just go out leisurely and putz around? Do you want to volunteer at events or mind if you are required to do so? And how deeply involved do you want to become with the club and its events?

Some of these things I still need to figure out, but I probably made the biggest decision in joining a club, which also enabled me to meet one of my cycling goals for the year.

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Categories // clubs Tags // Blount, clubs, guest post

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