Re: The bicycle thread

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Mason wrote: Mon Apr 19, 2021 9:05 pm I signed up for the Shenandoah Mountain 100K a couple of weeks ago. It will be a really long, hard bike ride. I have until September to be ready.
That's about 5 times further than I can ride!
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

Re: The bicycle thread

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Mason wrote:I signed up for the Shenandoah Mountain 100K a couple of weeks ago. It will be a really long, hard bike ride. I have until September to be ready.
A metric century in the mountains, is no joke! I always found my issues would be my saddle soreness, hands and neck during a long ride. I always try and blast through the first 40 miles, but when you get over 50m it gets painful in the saddle. Good luck training for that one.


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Re: The bicycle thread

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INVICTVS138 wrote: Mon Apr 19, 2021 11:22 pm
Mason wrote:I signed up for the Shenandoah Mountain 100K a couple of weeks ago. It will be a really long, hard bike ride. I have until September to be ready.
A metric century in the mountains, is no joke! I always found my issues would be my saddle soreness, hands and neck during a long ride. I always try and blast through the first 40 miles, but when you get over 50m it gets painful in the saddle. Good luck training for that one.
E f

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I did similar off-road metric centuries in the mountains in 2018 and 2019. Yes they are hard AF but that’s why you do it, right? To prove I still can at 47.
'Sorry stupid people but there are some definite disadvantages to being stupid."

-John Cleese

Re: The bicycle thread

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YankeeTarheel wrote: Mon Apr 19, 2021 7:21 pm

30# is just about what an early 1970's 10 speed weighed. Hill climbing on a standard bike you can stand and use your body weight. Does the position give you equivalent leverage? What about e-Bike versions?

With recumbent bikes, it's more about the spin (pedal RPM) than about brute force. That said, if you are pedaling slow enough, you can push against the seatback. I found it far better to use a slightly lower gear and spin.

Whether I was as fast as the next guy was far more about how many miles I was putting in than about bicycle shape. I was always just exactly as fast as I was going to go that day.
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Re: The bicycle thread

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INVICTVS138 wrote: Mon Apr 19, 2021 11:22 pm
Mason wrote:I signed up for the Shenandoah Mountain 100K a couple of weeks ago. It will be a really long, hard bike ride. I have until September to be ready.
A metric century in the mountains, is no joke! I always found my issues would be my saddle soreness, hands and neck during a long ride. I always try and blast through the first 40 miles, but when you get over 50m it gets painful in the saddle. Good luck training for that one.


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Yeah, that soreness is what kept me on recumbents for so many years. NO saddle soreness, no hand/arm/neck pain from the riding position, only muscle fatigue if I was overdoing things.
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Re: The bicycle thread

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Mason wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 7:33 am
INVICTVS138 wrote: Mon Apr 19, 2021 11:22 pm
Mason wrote:I signed up for the Shenandoah Mountain 100K a couple of weeks ago. It will be a really long, hard bike ride. I have until September to be ready.
A metric century in the mountains, is no joke! I always found my issues would be my saddle soreness, hands and neck during a long ride. I always try and blast through the first 40 miles, but when you get over 50m it gets painful in the saddle. Good luck training for that one.
E f

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I did similar off-road metric centuries in the mountains in 2018 and 2019. Yes they are hard AF but that’s why you do it, right? To prove I still can at 47.
Used to do stupid rides like that on a rigid singlespeed. Hurts so good.

Re: The bicycle thread

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keenanmj85 wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 1:35 pm Nothing to add to the current conversation other than a photo of our pride and joy: tandem on tandem (with optional carry seat to get five individuals on three wheels)141697121_10107025441505779_2329262296170160824_n.jpg
That's awesome!

In 2001, I was doing the Bike Virginia summer tour (five days of cycling!!). One of the rest stops was at Thornton's Gap, where there was a Federal facility (since closed) near the entrance to Skyline Drive. I saw a family approaching the rest area as I was getting ready to leave: (presumed identities) Father and Mother on a tandem, one child on a trail-a-bike or similar (may have been a Burley Picollo--the equipment was better than average), and younger child in a trailer being pulled by the whole team.

It was almost long enough to need a CDL.

Speaking of needing a CDL, I have two of the Bikes at Work trailers (didn't pay full price for either--got both used, traded some work for one, and a few dollars for the other). I had been off my bikes for a few months for reasons that I'd rather not discuss (although I will mention that I survived my case of COVID-19 that was part of why...). Got on one of my non-recumbent bikes a week or so ago, and in honor of the return to pedaling, did something I don't usually do with a car (my car isn't big enough to haul this much stuff without leaving a MESS inside).

The bike is a Surly Big Dummy, a long-tail cargo bike that has an advertised four HUNDRED pound weight limit. The trailer is my Bikes at Work 64AW (I also have a 96AW that I've converted using the other module from the short trailer to a 128AW). The payload is ten bags of mulch, and I'd say that payload weight is about 220#.
Image
In the past, I have used my 96AW to haul mulch (twenty bags a couple times, thirty bags one time!!) and, when I was working for a bike shop in the Highlands area of Louisville, cardboard to the recycling facility (one such trip wound up being five HUNDRED pounds of cardboard).


Twenty bags:
Image
Image

Low gears are crucial. It's also helpful that I didn't have to climb any significant hills.

Edited to add the Bikes at Work link: https://www.bikesatwork.com/
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Re: The bicycle thread

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Mason wrote: Mon Apr 19, 2021 9:05 pm I signed up for the Shenandoah Mountain 100K a couple of weeks ago. It will be a really long, hard bike ride. I have until September to be ready.
I should have recognized the Stokesville bit, but it's been a while since I lived in the Valley.

I lived in Staunton for a few years fifty years ago, and went back through there often (until my last surviving grandparent died six years ago, and I don't have family I want to visit in the area).
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Re: The bicycle thread

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Hope this is an okay place to post this. How is biking on someone with patellofemoral syndrome / pain?

I don't bike. Mostly I run. Last year wasn't my most active year for running (understatement). I've been taking it easy on my runs to try to play it smart while i get back in shape, and currently am just running about 3.5 miles. However, 3 days ago I ran a loop with a lot more hills than I expected. I felt like a beast afterwards because I survived it with just a little soreness in the muscles, so I did it again the next day. Yesterday, I had acute onset of self-diagnosed patellofemoral syndrome. I am a physician, but self-diagnosis is fraught with problems...still I'm pretty confident that's what I've got. Pretty predictable--52 yo male with BMI 27 abruptly ups his running workout with hills and...ta dah! (I am open to alternate diagnoses from other runners.)

Anyhoo, the pain is enough to make me want to keep off the running for awhile to let things settle, but I want to keep doing some aerobic exercise. Anyone here with history of patellofemoral syndrome and biking? I have read medical literature available, and it looks like a mixed bag. Looking for anyone who's been down this road with actual experience. Or if not direct experience, thoughts on how much stress I'd be putting on the patello-femoral region by biking. I'm thinking flat rides to avoid loading the knee too much, but I really don't know much about biking.

Thanks for anything you've got. It's spring, the weather is beautiful, and I gotta get out.

Re: The bicycle thread

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lurker wrote: Sat Apr 24, 2021 2:30 pm i'm not a dr and wouldn't recognize a patella or femur if they bit me in the kneecap, but i ran track in hs. bicycles are very good exercise, without all the jolting and slamming and wrecking of joints that goes with running. nowadays i don't run unless something is chasing me.
Sorry. I put too much detail in my description. Should have written:
Fat middle-aged guy felt good on run, so ran long steep hills. Didn't die, so the idiot did it again next day. Now knee cap hurts. Wants different exercise for short term. Anyone successfully nurse knee pain while riding bike?
Honestly, the level of discourse here on politics, ballistics, history, engineering, woodcraft, etc., is above me, so I guess I put too much jargon here.

Thanks for vote for bike, lurker.

Re: The bicycle thread

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Cycling puts almost no strain on your knees. In fact if you only cycle, with no strength training, running etc., your knees, glutes and hips will get weak.

Running outs far mor pressure on ankle/knee joints. Especially for if you are carrying a bit of extra weight. As a fairly large 6’3” guy I only find long distance running economical (anything longer than about 7-8 miles) when I am below 200lbs. It’s tolerable at 2012, and way worse at 230 where I am now; due to a winter of inactivity. Normally, I run and strength training through the winter so my joints are strong and my weight is down before I switch to heavy cycling.

But with now, 2 years of no racing I won’t have to make a decision until like October want to go hard through next winter. I don’t miss it as much as I though I would. I was a huge ego thing that I don’t seem to care about now ...


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Re: The bicycle thread

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cooper wrote: Sat Apr 24, 2021 11:05 am Hope this is an okay place to post this. How is biking on someone with patellofemoral syndrome / pain?

I don't bike. Mostly I run. Last year wasn't my most active year for running (understatement). I've been taking it easy on my runs to try to play it smart while i get back in shape, and currently am just running about 3.5 miles. However, 3 days ago I ran a loop with a lot more hills than I expected. I felt like a beast afterwards because I survived it with just a little soreness in the muscles, so I did it again the next day. Yesterday, I had acute onset of self-diagnosed patellofemoral syndrome. I am a physician, but self-diagnosis is fraught with problems...still I'm pretty confident that's what I've got. Pretty predictable--52 yo male with BMI 27 abruptly ups his running workout with hills and...ta dah! (I am open to alternate diagnoses from other runners.)

Anyhoo, the pain is enough to make me want to keep off the running for awhile to let things settle, but I want to keep doing some aerobic exercise. Anyone here with history of patellofemoral syndrome and biking? I have read medical literature available, and it looks like a mixed bag. Looking for anyone who's been down this road with actual experience. Or if not direct experience, thoughts on how much stress I'd be putting on the patello-femoral region by biking. I'm thinking flat rides to avoid loading the knee too much, but I really don't know much about biking.

Thanks for anything you've got. It's spring, the weather is beautiful, and I gotta get out.
I am not a medical professional, and refuse to pretend to be one on television or in a comments section. I do have a lot of time as a cyclist, bike shop service manager, and cycling instructor, however. In those roles, I've learned a fair bit about fitness cycling, even though I won't claim to be a racing coach.

It's a good idea to keep your cadence (pedal revolutions per minute) up to reduce pressure on the knee joint.

If you are cycling for fitness in lieu of running, I would encourage getting cycling shoes that connect to your pedals, to enable you to maintain a somewhat faster cadence. When I was doing high-ish-performance cycling (I wasn't a racer, but I was riding with a club and "informal" racing happened a LOT), I tried to maintain a cadence of 95RPM +/- 5, and shifted to stay within that range. I've known racers who kept a cadence of 110 RPM, but that's hard to do for most folks.

The key here is to not overload your knees. While the description isn't totally accurate--I'm sure someone with more "chops" can clarify the terminology I'll use--I think of it as trying to maintain a one-hundred-watt output one watt at a time instead of a hundred watts through my knees at once, or even fifty.

Even without special shoes, 70-80 RPM should be possible.

The majority of my cycling over the last eight or nine years has been utilitarian in nature (commuting, hauling groceries, hauling products for home projects, see pictures above). More often than not, I don't bother changing shoes just to ride the bike to the grocery store two miles away, or even to the Lowe's four miles away (unless I plan to haul a heavy load home, and want the extra sole stiffness of the cycling shoes). And my usual cadence for commuting is closer to 70 RPM than to 95.
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Re: The bicycle thread

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wooglin wrote: Sat Apr 24, 2021 3:51 pm A key will betting your saddle height correct. Too high or too low will definitely strain your knees. Get fit at a shop then adjust saddle height in no more than 0.5 cm increments until you get it right.
Plus 1 on this. One of the shops where I used to work did specialist fittings, and it makes a huge difference.
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Re: The bicycle thread

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cooper wrote: Sat Apr 24, 2021 3:06 pm
Fat middle-aged guy felt good on run, so ran long steep hills. Didn't die, so the idiot did it again next day. Now knee cap hurts. Wants different exercise for short term. Anyone successfully nurse knee pain while riding bike?
Sounds like me! But having had both hips replaced, running is what I do only when the house is on fire, or something equally dire.
But I have torn medial meniscus in my left knee and possible damage in my right one. So I put on knee braces, the kind with the donut around the knee cap, and ride 10 to 13 miles a day--if I can get free. Since we have lots of hills here, including our street, I found that even with a 30 speed mountain bike they were awfully hard on my knees. So I went to an eBike and that allows me to go my distance, usually without my knees bothering me.
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

Re: The bicycle thread

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lurker wrote: Sat Apr 24, 2021 4:54 pm
cooper wrote: Sat Apr 24, 2021 3:06 pm Honestly, the level of discourse here
:bananadance:
I was serious. Most people head to the internet to shout into an idiot-filled echobox. Not here--I like this place. I can tune in here and read some pretty deep analyses of a broad range of topics. Usually peppered with some pretty feisty but civil disagreements over fine points. Sometimes people even know what they're talking about. And sometimes it's about guns.

And sometimes everyone's wrong and I have to chime in to give the right answer. :laugh:

Re: The bicycle thread

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Thanks all. Lots of good information here. Mostly not worried about the usual pounding of the joints as much as I am worrying about putting too much stress on kneecap with too much force. The kind of force you exert on the knee when walking up or down stairs as opposed to the pounding on the joint you would do jumping off a short wall.

So the correct cadence and saddle height adjustment make a lot of sense in this regard. Today it's ice and Ibuprofen. I'm away from home and don't have my bike so maybe tomorrow I'll try a short, slow and FLAT run, then start biking with this new advise in a couple of days.

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