Car Courtesy

There are reasons why we bikers often feel like we're not getting the respect we deserve on the road. First, bikes are small and weak. We don't pose much of a threat to vehicles. Second, bikes can be unpredictable in relation to cars.

I do a few things to get more r-e-s-p-e-c-t on the road. These are just my personal opinions.

1. Use hand signals and take the lane. If I don't feel like there's enough room (for a cellphone talking coffee drinking fastfood munching driver with screaming kids in the back seat) to pass me without having to think twice, I'll take the lane. The whole lane. If I get honked at, it just means that I've been noticed instead of run off the road or worse. I try and use hand signals to indicate which direction I'm going, especially at intersections, and I will point even when I'm going straight. If I'm about to merge onto a bridge path from a roadway, I'll signal to drivers that I'm slowing down. There are some good tips for urban cyclists in the book urban biker's tips and tricks.

2. Bike Lights. This may sound silly but I often use my bike lights during the daytime, always when it's overcast, raining, or very early in the morning. It's as a simple courtesy to drivers, reminds them that I am not the same type of vehicle as them even though I am on the road. It is a subtle way of asking motorists take notice. I believe it also helps pedestrians realize that a vehicle is coming at them at a high rate of speed when I'm riding in New York City. Rechargeable batteries keep costs low and prevent dead nicads from reaching the landfills.

3. Never ride on the right hand side of a truck near an intersections. Trucks make wide right hand turns and it's easy too easy to get swept under a wheel.

4. This is a bit more subtle and takes a while to get a feel for it but I try and ride in between waves of traffic. If I'm stuck in a motorcade of vehicles racing to make timed lights I try and adjust my speed so I'm either off the front or off the back of the bloat.

5. Bike lanes can be just as dangerous as roadways. If riding in a bike lane I try to either ride far enough from parked cars to avoid being doored, or ride slow enough to be able to stop abruptly if necessary. Because I sometimes ride faster than traffic, I avoid some bike lanes.

6. MUPs (multiple use path) can also be dangerous places when pedestrians, skaters, joggers, kids, and sometimes pets all mix together. I keep my speed under control in these places depending on how busy it is. If they're too crowded to ride safely I let everyone else enjoy them while I take the road. I'd rather not be the jerk on the bike yelling at people to move out of my way.


7. If you ever get in a verbal confrontation with a driver it rarely matters who was right or wrong since it's all adrenaline. This tip may help tone things down a little. Maybe... Ask them if they know anybody else who rides a bike - their kids, significant other, friends, whatever. Ask them if they would consider this person the next time they do whatever offensive thing it was that they did to you.

Know your rights. These two organizations are both local to New York and have done a lot of work on behalf of cyclists. Times-Up.org, and Transalt.org.

Have fun, be safe!

Apology

I apologize if my previous nutrition post sounded like a shill for Hammer products or strawberry Yoo-hoo. I'm not paid or endorsed by anyone to write.

If you expected to read something bike related, this time check Matthew's blog at no one line. He's a good writer and I really enjoyed the Stephen Roche video on his site.


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An Idiot's Nutrition - Avoiding The Bonk

One of the things about being a cyclist is that at some point, you will find yourself in an unfamiliar situation, ill prepared, and success will come through perseverance and maybe improvisation.

Last week I scheduled a longish morning ride with two friends, both bike messengers and strong amateur racers. I also decided to skip breakfast. Instead of eating I'd prepared a flask of Hammer Perpetuem mixed with Hammer Gel for the ride.

A few miles into the ride, I realized that I'd left the flask at home. A banana wasn't going to be enough to keep me from bonking on this ride, so we stopped at a bodega in Spanish Harlem before heading over the George Washington bridge into NJ. Unfortunately the deli did not have any energy bars or useful food. It was mostly beer, chips, kitty litter and pet food, and two friendly cats.

My friend JP had once mentioned that Yoohoo can work as a cheap recovery drink, and it was available so I bought myself a strawberry Yoohoo. The stuff is pretty foul in my opinion, but I suppose I prefer fake strawberry over fake chocolate flavor.

I didn't think the Yoohoo would be enough for me. Luckily they also had sweetened condensed milk (scm) and I asked to have it opened at the counter. Scm is used to make dulce de leche and also makes a nice thai iced coffee. It's delicious and very sweet.

I mixed a bit of scm with water in a bottle, and it dissolved nicely - but the taste was gross. I added a bit of Strawberry Yoohoo to the mix. The tartness of the Yoohoo made the mix drinkable, and in fact quite good. I was able to log just under 70 miles with no breakfast and NO BONK. The cool thing is that I rode a personal best for max 5 seconds effort two hours into the ride. Personal bests don't mean much, but for this time of year I was surprised.

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= personal best?

I believe the fuel made the difference, and I became curious about the nutritional differences between strawberry scm and the good stuff that I'd left at home.

Wikipedia explains that condensed milk was invented in the 1850's and issued as a field ration for soldiers during the civil war.

To have an idea what kind of calorie rocket this stuff is, a full can (14 oz) contains about 1,300 calories, and 30g of protein + 30g of fat, with 225 g of carbohydrate. I'd used about 1/2 a can and had some left over after finishing the ride.

The amount of Perpeteum that I'd planned on using was about 3 scoops, or 400 calories with 3g of fat, 9g of protein, and 8Og of carbohydrate. I also added a bunch of Hammer Gel to that.

The expensive energy drinks have almost the same ratios as sweetened condensed milk, though the carbs in condensed milk are indicated as coming entirely from sugars, while the carbs in Hammer are described as only about 7% sugars.

Hammer Nutrition fills their products with something called "Long-chain Maltodextrin," which seems to be an easy to digest complex carb. Milk contains lactose - a double sugar but still not a complex carb. Complex carbs are good because they provide energy for endurance, while simple sugars like those in milk give a quick spike but burn out fast. On the other hand, milk is still pretty good nutritionally.

Anyway, it worked pretty well. For the long term I'm going back to Hammer... I think.


I'm not paid to endorse Hammer products but you can use the link below to get a discount on your first order.
Click this link to get 15% off at Hammer Nutrition.


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Spring is not here... (yet)

Ritchey Tom Slick "Fortress" tire with metal shard
Originally uploaded by 40x14

But it's coming soon. One thing about winter riding is that the roads often contain hidden surprises.

Starting in November I installed a set of Ritchey's tom slick "fortress" tires. I don't know if these are still made or not, but they're pretty tough. For example, I pulled this metal shard out of the tire and the innertube was undamaged.

The Ritchey is even tougher than the Continental all season or gatorskin tires.

Power Profiling Tool

No more whining, no more excuses.

Instead of writing about the club championship I am going to post my most up-to-date power numbers here because I found this profiling tool interesting.

Duration 5 sec	Watts/kg 15.53
1 min	7.34
5 min	4.58
10 min	3.98
30 min	3.58

It seems that I'm less of a sprinter than I thought I was, and more of an "all-arounder". Food for thought.