OK, to start with, as is so often said on the Internet as a disclaimer: I Am Not a Lawyer. However, I have spent the past 33 years of my life working in the field of regulatory law, and have often been in the position of figuring out how to apply court decisions to the work of administrative agencies. Actually, I guess that this is the first thing you need to understand about the decision:
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
Monday, June 23, 2014
Thoughts and observations from two long days in the saddle
This past weekend, my wife and I did another MS Bike tour, this one 200 miles over 2 windy days. It was a great opportunity to spend some quality time together, as well as a bit of a physical challenge. It was a good couple of days, both physically and spiritually, and in some ways, the lessons crossed in both directions.
We tend to think of the physical and the spiritual as two things, thanks to the legacy of Greek philosophers like Plato. I am seeing this as less and less the case. As human beings, we are both physical and spiritual entities, and it seems foolish to subdivide our nature.
Anyway, this is a fistful of observations, lessons and humor from the weekend.
We tend to think of the physical and the spiritual as two things, thanks to the legacy of Greek philosophers like Plato. I am seeing this as less and less the case. As human beings, we are both physical and spiritual entities, and it seems foolish to subdivide our nature.
Anyway, this is a fistful of observations, lessons and humor from the weekend.
Monday, May 26, 2014
Riding Tips and links
I just thought I'd put together some links that I have found helpful in understanding and developing riding technique, and training. I'll add to these as I come across things:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxXqQqAc2pA
You might not think that these are important tips for those of us on a long tour, but every time you hit your brakes for a curve, that's energy that you expended getting up to speed, that you just threw away. Certainly better than overcooking the corner and crashing, but still, it adds up. Save the energy for the next hill.
You can accelerate without stress this way, too. Just pick your RPMs up a little, then when it feels like you can't spin any faster, shift up 1 gear. Repeat. If you can get a stretch without traffic lights or stop signs for a mile or so, you'll be doing 17 - 18 MPH without noticing it.
NOTE: If you've never tried it before, you may not be able to handle pedaling at that cadence, it takes practice to do it smoothly. In terms of learning to do it, I find that music helps, and this website is a dream for learning a cadence:
http://cycle.jog.fm/
Just put in the RPM you want to hit, and it will pull up a songlist that matches that tempo. You can pick a genre, or just scroll down the truly eclectic collection. DO NOT USE EARBUDS WHEN RIDING ON THE STREET, but you can listen to a song ahead of time to make it a helpful "earworm" or use a compact battery-power speaker. To get you started, the Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There" is a perfect 80 RPM.
http://www.bicycling.com/training-nutrition/training-fitness/ride-faster-three-days-week
I generally find James Hererra and Selene Yeager (a.k.a. "FitChick") to be good sources of advice on training and nutrition.
http://www.bicycling.com/training-nutrition/training-fitness/best-stretches-cycling
http://www.bicycling.com/training-nutrition/training-fitness/sore-no-more
101 of the best Cycling Tips:
This article form Bicycling magazine has 100 tips, tricks, and just plain excellent advice for riders of almost any skill level, and one blatant ad for a pretty decent book.How to handle curves:
This is a video of Fabian Cancelarra on a fast descent in the Tour de France. Fabian is one of the best descenders in the pro peleton, because his technique for handling curves is second to none. This is also a nice video because he's out there pretty much by himself so you can see the technique in detail. Things to look for:- The "line" he takes through the corner, from as far "outside" as possible to as far "inside" as possible at the apex of the curve, than back to the outside. As cyclists on roads that are not closed, we need to stay on our own side of the yellow line, but we aren't doing 50 miles an hour either.
- Outside pedal down, inside pedal up. This keeps you from jabbing the inside pedal into the ground, it also helps set up the proper weight transfer.
- Weight transfer. He is putting most of his weight on the outside pedal and outside handlebar, and shifting his shoulders slightly towards the outside of the curve (leaning the bike more than his body). This lowers the effective center of gravity, increases the downforce on the tire, and reduces the side forces, all of which helps with traction.
- Sometimes, you will see him swing his inside knee away from the bike, towards the inside of the curve. This is a very refined bit of balancing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxXqQqAc2pA
You might not think that these are important tips for those of us on a long tour, but every time you hit your brakes for a curve, that's energy that you expended getting up to speed, that you just threw away. Certainly better than overcooking the corner and crashing, but still, it adds up. Save the energy for the next hill.
Cadence:
Most people on bicycles pedal about 50 - 60 RPM (about 100 - 120 pedal strokes a minute.) This is way too slow, is hard on your knees and quadriceps, and generally will wear you out quickly. Better to pedal between 80 - 90 RPM (160 - 180 pedal strokes a minute) against slight resistance. You will take the load off your leg muscles, and take better advantage of your cardiovascular system.You can accelerate without stress this way, too. Just pick your RPMs up a little, then when it feels like you can't spin any faster, shift up 1 gear. Repeat. If you can get a stretch without traffic lights or stop signs for a mile or so, you'll be doing 17 - 18 MPH without noticing it.
NOTE: If you've never tried it before, you may not be able to handle pedaling at that cadence, it takes practice to do it smoothly. In terms of learning to do it, I find that music helps, and this website is a dream for learning a cadence:
http://cycle.jog.fm/
Just put in the RPM you want to hit, and it will pull up a songlist that matches that tempo. You can pick a genre, or just scroll down the truly eclectic collection. DO NOT USE EARBUDS WHEN RIDING ON THE STREET, but you can listen to a song ahead of time to make it a helpful "earworm" or use a compact battery-power speaker. To get you started, the Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There" is a perfect 80 RPM.
Training:
Not all of us can do the kind of every-day, 2-3 hours at a crack, riding that Marcy and I can schedule. James Hererra outlines a 3-day a week training plan that will make you faster and give you more endurance.http://www.bicycling.com/training-nutrition/training-fitness/ride-faster-three-days-week
I generally find James Hererra and Selene Yeager (a.k.a. "FitChick") to be good sources of advice on training and nutrition.
Post-Ride Nutrition:
A number of recent studies have demonstrated that the best "bang-for-the-buck" post exercise recovery drink, and one of the best in general, is not only effective, but a nice treat after a tough ride: Low Fat Chocolate Milk. It has the ideal ratio of fats, protein and carbs to give hard-working muscles what they need to recover. Best within 30 minutes of the end of a ride.Stretching:
I tend to get tight in the hips on a long ride. These stretches help me a lot, and avoid pain and injury:http://www.bicycling.com/training-nutrition/training-fitness/best-stretches-cycling
http://www.bicycling.com/training-nutrition/training-fitness/sore-no-more
Ohio MS Rides:
Here are links to MapMyRide course profiles for the 3 MS Bike rides this summer:- Bike to the Bay (Official Route)
- Day 1 http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/423063804
- Day 2 http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/423064374
- Central Ohio Challenge (NOT official, based on my GPS track last year)
- 95 Mile http://www.mapmyride.com/us/new-albany-oh/97-14-mi-road-cycling-on-07-20-2013-route-250025435
- Pedal to the Point (NOT official, based on my GPS track from 2012)
Monday, March 3, 2014
Bike Fitting - How to ride Fast & Comfortable - Part 1
All too often, I see cyclists riding bikes that don't fit them well, or not as well as they could. These people are often hindered from progressing as cyclists by pain. I don't know how many times I've seen someone complain of pain on one online bike forum or another, and someone quotes the age-old mantra of HTFU (Harden the {expletive} Up, i.e. endure the pain, get used to it.)
Look, pain is a signal that something is being damaged. Some temporary damage is going to happen under certain cycling conditions. Climbing a long hill is going to make your legs hurt, but they will respond by getting stronger (IF you rest and feed them right, which is the topic of another article.)
Some damage takes a long time to heal, and may never heal properly (especially if you follow HTFU.)
Ironically, the best and most comfortable bike fit is often the fastest for a long ride. Comfort = the body moving smoothly with no wasted effort = efficiency. Efficiency of the body helps both speed and endurance.
How can this be achieved? Fitting. People who would never expect to look good in the first shirt off a rack that has the right sleeve length somehow expect to feel good on the first bike they can stand over.
OK enough of why you should have your bike fit. How do you get it done?
A few basic measurements are critical, and many of them are counter-intuitive until you think about the mechanics of riding.
Here is how I approach bike fitting, with some explanations of the why and wherefore. It is presented in the order in which I approach a fitting. This is Part 1 of who knows how many, and starts with the foundation.
To the extent that you put weight on the saddle (and it should be limited) that weight needs to be borne on your Ischia. Your ischia are the two bones at the bottom of your pelvis that are there to bear your weight when you're sitting. Orangutans have brighly colored, hairless, callouses over theirs. You don't, so where your ischia are is less obvious. Here is a way to find them:
Because of your ischia, padding extremes are bad. Your ischia will sink into a soft and cushy saddle, and the delicate tissues between your ischia will end up getting skrunched or pinched. This is bad. It can lead to numbness and/or pain in places that it is not good to be numb or have pain. A rock hard saddle will concentrate the pressure on your ischia, and damage the muscles in the region that you're trying to use to move the bike. I find about 1/4" to 1/3" of firm padding is about right.
You are not done with saddle measurements yet, you need to take care of your hands, arms and shoulders, too.
Hunh? You adjust the saddle to help your hands, arms and shoulders? Yup. Absol-freaking-lutely! (Told you some of this would be counter-intuitive at first.) If your hands, arms and shoulders ache after a long ride, you need to move your saddle back. If your butt aches, you need to consider moving your saddle forward. I'll prove it to you:
Now do the same experiment, except this time move your feet out in front of you so that your heels are "digging in". Your posterior is pressed pretty hard against the wall, isn't it?
Now do it again, but this time, as you bend forward, shuffle your feet forward a little bit so that as you bend forward to a reasonably comfortable position, your weight stays on the balls of your feet. You're putting a lot of pressure on the balls of your feet and your butt is barely touching the wall, but you don't fall forward, do you? Picture all the pressure on the balls of your feet as force pushing the pedal down, and you get the idea. If you measure that distance, you'll have a first-guess approximation of a good fore-aft position for the saddle relative to the "forward" pdal.
Again this is a starting point. Do some riding and make adjustments a little bit at a time. Butt hurts? Move saddle forward. Hands hurt? Move saddle back.
EXCEPTION TO THIS RULE: If your saddle is well back, but your arms and hands hurt and you're having to push yourself back onto the saddle? The saddle may be too far back, or the handlebars are forcing you to lean forward more than you should be. Move the saddle forward OR consider moving the handlebars closer in or up.
Look, pain is a signal that something is being damaged. Some temporary damage is going to happen under certain cycling conditions. Climbing a long hill is going to make your legs hurt, but they will respond by getting stronger (IF you rest and feed them right, which is the topic of another article.)
Some damage takes a long time to heal, and may never heal properly (especially if you follow HTFU.)
Ironically, the best and most comfortable bike fit is often the fastest for a long ride. Comfort = the body moving smoothly with no wasted effort = efficiency. Efficiency of the body helps both speed and endurance.
How can this be achieved? Fitting. People who would never expect to look good in the first shirt off a rack that has the right sleeve length somehow expect to feel good on the first bike they can stand over.
OK enough of why you should have your bike fit. How do you get it done?
A few basic measurements are critical, and many of them are counter-intuitive until you think about the mechanics of riding.
Here is how I approach bike fitting, with some explanations of the why and wherefore. It is presented in the order in which I approach a fitting. This is Part 1 of who knows how many, and starts with the foundation.
Saddle
Note, not a "Seat." The saddle is the primary point of control of the bike, NOT the handlebars.To the extent that you put weight on the saddle (and it should be limited) that weight needs to be borne on your Ischia. Your ischia are the two bones at the bottom of your pelvis that are there to bear your weight when you're sitting. Orangutans have brighly colored, hairless, callouses over theirs. You don't, so where your ischia are is less obvious. Here is a way to find them:
- Sit on a hard surface with your knees above your hips, leaning forward. Give it a few seconds, and their position will become obvious. Slip your hands under your tush and feel for the spots.
- Now comes the hard (and possibly embarrassing) part. Get up, with your fingertips still on your ischia, bend over, and have a friend measure the distance between your fingers. This will be a critical measurement in picking a saddle. No saddle narrower than this measurement is worthy of consideration. It will hurt you, badly, on a long ride.
Because of your ischia, padding extremes are bad. Your ischia will sink into a soft and cushy saddle, and the delicate tissues between your ischia will end up getting skrunched or pinched. This is bad. It can lead to numbness and/or pain in places that it is not good to be numb or have pain. A rock hard saddle will concentrate the pressure on your ischia, and damage the muscles in the region that you're trying to use to move the bike. I find about 1/4" to 1/3" of firm padding is about right.
Saddle position
This is critical to comfort and efficiency. Except on a "relaxed" "comfort" or "semi-recumbent" bike you should not be able to stand flat-footed on the ground with the saddle underneath you This is far too low for riding efficiency. Expect to have to move your hips forward off the saddle to stop the bike or dismount. The Saddle should be high enough that you can just put your heel on the pedal with your leg straight (this is a rule of thumb, to be refined later in the fitting process.)You are not done with saddle measurements yet, you need to take care of your hands, arms and shoulders, too.
Hunh? You adjust the saddle to help your hands, arms and shoulders? Yup. Absol-freaking-lutely! (Told you some of this would be counter-intuitive at first.) If your hands, arms and shoulders ache after a long ride, you need to move your saddle back. If your butt aches, you need to consider moving your saddle forward. I'll prove it to you:
- Stand with your back against a wall, with your heels against the wall as well.
- Bend forward, but don't move your feet.
Now do the same experiment, except this time move your feet out in front of you so that your heels are "digging in". Your posterior is pressed pretty hard against the wall, isn't it?
- If the horizontal distance between your feet and your tush is too small, you bear your weight on your hands and arms, instead of your feet.
- If the horizontal distance between your feet and your tush is too great, you bear your weight on your tush, instead of on your feet.
Now do it again, but this time, as you bend forward, shuffle your feet forward a little bit so that as you bend forward to a reasonably comfortable position, your weight stays on the balls of your feet. You're putting a lot of pressure on the balls of your feet and your butt is barely touching the wall, but you don't fall forward, do you? Picture all the pressure on the balls of your feet as force pushing the pedal down, and you get the idea. If you measure that distance, you'll have a first-guess approximation of a good fore-aft position for the saddle relative to the "forward" pdal.
Again this is a starting point. Do some riding and make adjustments a little bit at a time. Butt hurts? Move saddle forward. Hands hurt? Move saddle back.
EXCEPTION TO THIS RULE: If your saddle is well back, but your arms and hands hurt and you're having to push yourself back onto the saddle? The saddle may be too far back, or the handlebars are forcing you to lean forward more than you should be. Move the saddle forward OR consider moving the handlebars closer in or up.
Monday, February 10, 2014
The Modern-Day Molech Machine
We have a piece of equipment in the gym I work out at called a "Jacob's Ladder" It's like a treadmill, except it is a continuous chain of ladder rungs that you climb. It is exhausting, and you can pack in a serious cardio workout in a very few minutes. On a good day, it turns me into a dishrag in 10 minutes.
This morning, it made me think about similar ladders in life, where the climb is constant, and will go on as long as you endure it, or tolerate it. Because of a conversation I had with my daughter, I began to think about the pursuit of "beauty" as a Jacob's Ladder.
OK, bear with me here. It's pretty well established that we (in our public media, advertising, etc., etc., ad nauseum) are teaching our girls and women a hideously distorted idea of beauty. For that matter, we're teaching it to our boys and men, too.
It is equally well established that we are teaching our young people to continuously pin their self-worth to achieving a distorted, humanly impossible, unhealthy, physical standard. (I refuse to call it an "ideal", because it is far from ideal.)
I think we need to take a step back and understand the "Why?" Who benefits from this?
Think about this for a second. Who benefits the most from a generation of people trained to pursue a goal of physical appearance that cannot be attained? Who stands to gain the most from our young people expending themselves trying to rise higher on an eternal ladder of beauty, where every step just brings another higher step into view?
The fashion industry, the makeup industry, every business that makes its almighty dollars from keeping that ladder running.
And.
They.
Don't.
Care.
Here's another view of the problem: If you think about it, a plastic surgeon is a Photoshop expert who works in living human flesh. I don't intend to demean the profession, because there are some plastic surgeons who have dedicated their careers to curing actual deformity, healing, and improving life. However, we've all seen the hideous and ridiculous excesses of plastic surgery that is increasingly becoming the norm in Hollywood.
Is this the future we all have to look forward to? I hope not, for such is the theme of more than one dystopic Science-Fiction novel.
So how do we prevent that future?
Now I have a crazy idea here, if we want to stop off the flow of distorted beauty and body image that is becoming the "norm" in our culture, we need to do one thing:
Cut off the flow of money that feeds the machine.
If we don't model the decision for our kids and young adults, they won't believe it. Words are a start, passion is good, but they aren't enough.
Slay the dragon by starving it to death. Stop feeding ourselves and our children to the machine. Can we? I, for one, will try.
Here I am, the son of an advertising executive, advocating telling most of the industry to stuff it. Sorry, Dad, but this is your granddaughter and her friends we're talking about here. I know you'd understand.
This morning, it made me think about similar ladders in life, where the climb is constant, and will go on as long as you endure it, or tolerate it. Because of a conversation I had with my daughter, I began to think about the pursuit of "beauty" as a Jacob's Ladder.
OK, bear with me here. It's pretty well established that we (in our public media, advertising, etc., etc., ad nauseum) are teaching our girls and women a hideously distorted idea of beauty. For that matter, we're teaching it to our boys and men, too.
It is equally well established that we are teaching our young people to continuously pin their self-worth to achieving a distorted, humanly impossible, unhealthy, physical standard. (I refuse to call it an "ideal", because it is far from ideal.)
I think we need to take a step back and understand the "Why?" Who benefits from this?
Think about this for a second. Who benefits the most from a generation of people trained to pursue a goal of physical appearance that cannot be attained? Who stands to gain the most from our young people expending themselves trying to rise higher on an eternal ladder of beauty, where every step just brings another higher step into view?
The fashion industry, the makeup industry, every business that makes its almighty dollars from keeping that ladder running.
And.
They.
Don't.
Care.
- They don't care that they are killing relationships, because none of us is ever going to achieve that goal, but we're coming to expect it in ourselves and others.
- They don't care that they are killing imagination by stamping out dreams.
- They don't care that they are killing children who have given up hope of ever climbing "high enough."
- They don't care that they are killing the classmates of the children who have given in to the despair.
- They don't care that real beauty is extinguished, when "plastic beauty" is the goal.
Here's another view of the problem: If you think about it, a plastic surgeon is a Photoshop expert who works in living human flesh. I don't intend to demean the profession, because there are some plastic surgeons who have dedicated their careers to curing actual deformity, healing, and improving life. However, we've all seen the hideous and ridiculous excesses of plastic surgery that is increasingly becoming the norm in Hollywood.
Is this the future we all have to look forward to? I hope not, for such is the theme of more than one dystopic Science-Fiction novel.
So how do we prevent that future?
Now I have a crazy idea here, if we want to stop off the flow of distorted beauty and body image that is becoming the "norm" in our culture, we need to do one thing:
Cut off the flow of money that feeds the machine.
- Teach our children to spot the BS, ignore it, and not buy in with either their minds, or their money.
- Teach our children to understand true beauty, and buy into that with their hearts and minds and dollars.
- Grab ourselves, as adults, by the scruff of our collective necks and refuse to purchase or consume any product that is sold via a distorted body image or view of beauty.
If we don't model the decision for our kids and young adults, they won't believe it. Words are a start, passion is good, but they aren't enough.
Slay the dragon by starving it to death. Stop feeding ourselves and our children to the machine. Can we? I, for one, will try.
Here I am, the son of an advertising executive, advocating telling most of the industry to stuff it. Sorry, Dad, but this is your granddaughter and her friends we're talking about here. I know you'd understand.
Friday, January 17, 2014
Bicycle Maintainance 101
This started out as a personal "Spring Cleaning" checklist for getting the household bikes ready for riding season. After messing around with bikes for as long as I have, it takes me about 30 minutes to "do" a bike end-to-end using this list, though if any of the checklist items turn up trouble, it takes longer.
Given the number of bikes I need to do to keep me and my household happily pedaling along, I can spend a good chunk of a Sunday afternoon with what is, for me, the pleasant task of getting things ready for the season. Note, that if you have been keeping your bike "in good nick" (as the Brits would say) you may not have to do some of the more detailed things, or may spend only a moment or two on them. Ideally, you did this stuff before putting the bike away for the winter, or have been doing it monthly if you ride in winter weather.
As time permits, I will stick in links to other articles that serve as a "how to" for the repair aspects. If you have time to peruse the best resources of bike-mechanic lore on the interwebs, you will do well to start with one of these two:
Given the number of bikes I need to do to keep me and my household happily pedaling along, I can spend a good chunk of a Sunday afternoon with what is, for me, the pleasant task of getting things ready for the season. Note, that if you have been keeping your bike "in good nick" (as the Brits would say) you may not have to do some of the more detailed things, or may spend only a moment or two on them. Ideally, you did this stuff before putting the bike away for the winter, or have been doing it monthly if you ride in winter weather.
As time permits, I will stick in links to other articles that serve as a "how to" for the repair aspects. If you have time to peruse the best resources of bike-mechanic lore on the interwebs, you will do well to start with one of these two:
- http://www.sheldonbrown.com/ One of the wise old heads of cycling, who started putting his knowledge into basic web pages back when html was a new thing. I never met him in person, but conversed with him via e-mail and web forums, and was glad to be one of the many called "a friend of Sheldon's." His kind demeanor and willingness to help even the annoyingly clueless won him many friends, even among those who disagreed with him about some detail or another. Sadly, he first was struck with Multiple Sclerosis some years back, then passed away in 2008. However friends and family keep the site up-to-date with the latest changes in technology.
- http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help The official site of one of the big names in bicycle-specific tools, they produce some of the finest bike-specific tools available. (The only exception is the equipment produced by Campagnolo for working on their own stuff, which is both exquisitely crafted and insanely expensive, but I digress...) The link above is to their website for repair techniques.
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