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Dem Bones — Saris Bones, That Is

04.25.2013 by Ray Niekamp // 7 Comments

Guest poster Don Blount reviews a popular bike rack.

BlountOnBikingI recently traded in a 1988 Toyota Camry for a 2010 Mini Cooper.

The Camry had seen better days as it had more than 239,000 miles on it.

When I am asked why I selected this new car I respond one of two ways: 1) It is my mid-life crisis car or 2) It fits my bike rack. Bike_On_Car2  Click images to embiggen.

And in truth when I looked at the vehicle I took along a tape measure to check whether the width of the bumper would accommodate my Saris Bones 2 trunk mount bike rack.

I purchased this bike rack three years ago, after I joined a bike club. A number of the club rides began in the foothills, a good 40-minute drive from my home.

Quite frankly, I tired of taking both wheels off of my bike and then loading both the frame and the bike into the car.

I did not want to deal with a trunk hitch nor did I want to spend a ton of money on a rack. And when I began looking for a bike rack I discovered the Saris. Saris2-2

It was the look that initially caught my attention. I liked the arc shape of the injected molded, arms and how the bike is carried away from the car where it won’t scratch the paint. It also holds the bikes on two different levels so they do not bump into each other, damaging their finish.       Bike_Away_From_Car2

Although it is categorized as a trunk-mounted bike rack, the rack actually rests on the vehicle’s bumper. Bumper2

It took me some effort to set the rack up the first few times but I eventually was able to get it ready to go in about 10-15 minutes.

The rack has a 70-pound limit – 35 pounds per bike. I found that it holds my bike securely and the anti-sway bar prevents it from swinging while the car is in motion.

The rack’s rubberized feet and coated hooks are gentle enough to not mar the car’s paint.

I added to the rack a Yakima trunk mount security strap. The strap has some sort of cable in it for reinforcement. One end of the strap loops around the bike rack while the other end goes in the trunk.

The space between at the top of the hatch of the new vehicle was too narrow to secure the rack’s original hook; I had to replace those with hatch hugger straps. These go inside of the hatch instead of hook onto the edge of the hatch. Hatch_Huggers2-2

Folds_For_Storage2The Saris Bones 2 retails for about $140 but it can be purchased on sale for about $125, maybe even less at a good bargain. I paid $117 for mine and $17 for the strap in 2010. Prices have not moved a whole lot since then. The company also says the rack carries a lifetime warranty. It also folds for easy storage.

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Categories // Accessories, guest post Tags // bike rack, Blount, guest post

A Climber’s First Organized Ride

02.24.2013 by Ray Niekamp // Leave a Comment

My friend Aaron West, who dazzles us with his exploits climbing tough hills and even mountains on his blog Steepclimbs.com, favors us with a guest post. He wasn’t always a mountain goat, and here,  Aaron recounts what it was like when he joined his first-ever organized ride.

We all start somewhere. My first organized ‘cookie’ ride was ambitious, unflattering and sometimes embarrassing. In reality, I had no idea what I was getting into.

I signed up after hearing about it from the cycling club at work. It was late in the year when I joined, and there were not many events remaining. Rather than wait through the winter, I threw my hat into an autumn mountain ride. The ride was the Tour de Leaves out of Tryon, NC, just across the border from Spartanburg, SC.

Green River Cove, part of the Tour de Leaves route.
Green River Cove, part of the Tour de Leaves route.

I signed up for the shortest route — the ‘Lite’ version. This was 31 miles, and did not go over the toughest climbs. I can handle this, right?

After arriving early, I watched with awe as car after car pulled in. Athletic beasts emerged with their expensive bikes. Many riders were from out of town. I marveled that these weekend warriors probably went from town to town just to ride their bikes.

After fumbling around with my steed, an inexpensive yet robust Specialized Allez, I scooted to the starting line. I was wearing bike shorts, an Under Armor T-shirt, and a brand new pair of arm warmers. No jersey meant no pockets, so my car keys and cell phone went in a big, brown fanny pack. That pack stayed with me for months until enough chiding convinced me to throw it away. I was caught off guard by all the bright colored polyester. It was like being surrounded by a cult or aliens. Who were these people anyway?

The ‘Lite’ riders left together, and this was an easy going group. I rode most of the early going with a trio. We spoke a little, not much. If they snickered at my outfit, I didn’t hear. The course was hilly, but I was able to keep up with these folks.

The organizers had said to follow the fishes to know the route. What in the world? I thought they would be elevated signs at intersections. I kept looking ahead and found no fishes anywhere. If I ended up riding ahead of the group, I had to stop at intersections, bewildered as to where to go. When I was behind them, they turned without hesitation. How in the world did they know where to go?

Eventually, as I expected, I got tired. The hills added up, and I simply wasn’t used to this type of riding. The other riders sped past me. At that point I was worried I would get lost in the North Carolina country. I remember stopping at an intersection, fumbling through the cue sheet to figure out where I was. An older gentleman, who I later learned was over 70, sped on past pointing in the correct direction. How did he know?

I would finally wise up to the fish mystery at the very end of the ride, when I saw three fishes spray painted on the road pointing to the finish line. At first I wondered why someone would draw such a thing on the roads. I considered reporting the vandalism to the police, until finally making the connection. Doh!

At one point we reached a higher elevation. I have no idea how high it was, probably not more than a few hundred feet from the start, but it was enough to see a view of the colorful countryside. Despite being exhausted, at that very moment is when I became hooked. It was baffling that I had climbed to such heights under my own power, and was rewarded with a breathtaking view.

Towards the end of the ride, we went down a steep descent. Now that was awesome! After the road leveled out, there was a marking that said “Steep Grade, Use Lower Gear!”. The road turned up, straight up, and it killed me! Not only did I not have the fitness, I didn’t have the gearing either. I would later learn that this short hill is a 17-18% grade at its steepest. It was too much for my rookie legs. Maybe a quarter way up, I got off my Allez and started walking. That was humiliating, especially as I got passed by other riders who climbed without issue. I looked back and saw my senior citizen friend a few hundred feet back, also walking. At least I wasn’t completely alone.

I learned a few things from watching those other riders climb such a beast of a hill. Gearing was important. It would have been tough to attack that hill even with stronger legs. I also noticed that they got into a comfortable rhythm, and slowly spun their way up the hill. They did not exert themselves too much, just found their pace and stuck to it. When I got back on the bike, I had no choice than to ride hard, which would tire me out and force me to walk again.

I will never forget the Tour de Leaves. It was a great experience, however painful. It motivated me to challenge myself, and learn better how to become a climber. Over time, I worked at improving my cycling fitness. Other hills would fall, and then mountains.

The rest is history.

A long way from the TYour de Leaves.
Aaron West — A long way from the Tour de Leaves.

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Categories // guest post Tags // climbing, guest post

Quality Time on the Bike

02.19.2013 by Ray Niekamp // 4 Comments

Guest poster Don Blount has been working on improving his biking.

BlountOnBiking Time on the bike.

Ask any serious cyclist how to improve and that will likely be the essence of the answer you will receive.

It makes sense, as to improve at anything you have to spend time doing it.

However, I would qualify that statement by saying that to improve as a cyclist you have to spend quality time on the bike.

I worked hard at that last year in my attempt to become a better overall rider and to become a better climber

Now I doubt I will ever be a climber others will look up to, neither my body type nor skill set is made for climbing. (That is a topic for another post.) However, given those limiters, I want to become as proficient as possible.

Although it is early in the year and I only have a bit over 500 miles through mid-February, I am in better shape now than I have been at this point during the past five years I have been riding.

I would attribute that to riding more purposefully both this year and last.

I am not regimentally structured but I make sure to work in a variety of rides – fartlek (random change of pace), intervals, long rides, tempo rides, hills and recovery rides. I even scheduled a late February metric century, something that I would have never considered in the past. But I realize that organized rides are good landmarks and motivators for me as I am less likely to lag through my training when I have a ride scheduled.

In retrospect, I do not think I was solely riding junk miles but I was not working in a manner to help myself improve. And when I saw that if I hurt more during my solo rides that I would hurt less on group rides or in the hills, then follow through became easy.

Does this mean that a rider should go out and beat him or herself up at every opportunity? Of course not. It means look at your goals and then set up your training so that you can reach them. Whether you want to be able to ride 30-flat miles (48 kilometers) in two hours or do100 miles (160 kilometers) with lots of climbing.

As you get stronger, you will enjoy hearing  someone say to you: “Wow, you are sure riding strong today.”

 

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Categories // guest post, training Tags // Blount, guest post, training

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