Wind

I am feeling very conflicted about wind. I used to windsurf quite a lot, and in those days I loved every and any kind of wind, because I knew I could use it one way or another. These days, however, I find myself both blessing and cursing the wind as it helps me or hurts me while riding my bike. Here in London Ontario (where windsurfing won't be happening, by the way) the prevailing winds are West or Northwest, it seems to me, with some nice variations in Spring and Fall. As such, as I ride eastward to work in the morning I most often enjoy a tailwind, and on my way home I can usually count on lower speeds and more work as I battle a headwind. Wind is the primary reason that I have drop bars on my bike... I spend most of my time with my hands on the brake hoods, but it is good to be able to really hunker down when riding into the wind.

In thinking about wind I have come up with a hypothetical that I would like to conduct a poll on. Here it is:

In Cycling Heaven, The Wind is...

After creating the first poll, I realized that there was a "that depends" element needing to be addressed. So, keeping in mind your first answer...

In Cycling Heaven, the Wind is...

I am hoping that the results will be nicely varied, just as people are. If you answered c) and e), respectively, please get treatment. You are a certifiable masochist, in my professional opinion as a velopseudopsychiologist. Please come in to my office, and we will use the over-worked vent holes near the front of your bicycle helmet to access your skull, drill some nice holes and let those demons out, just like I have to do twice a year for my most regular patient...

I'm winded. See you next time...

R A N T W I C K

P.S. I now realize the second poll is flawed, since the first offers "dead calm". Those of you who answered a) on the first poll are kind of stuck on the second; sorry about that.

Cadence Computation, The Rantwick Way

I used to have a cycling computer on my bike. Somewhere along the way I lost the little magnet bit that goes on a spoke... ah yes, I remember! The bike was stolen and the magnet stolen with it! It was my own damn fault; I left the bike unlocked on the porch. Who wouldn't take an unlocked bike of medium quality off of somebody else's porch, really? Anyway, I didn't bother to get a new magnet thing, partly because I am lazy and partly because I thought the computer was taking away from the pleasures of riding. I couldn't keep my eyes or paws off of it, and I was becoming fixated on things like average speed and total distance. When I was using the computer, I remember wishing that it was the kind that measured cadence (rpm), which is in my opinion one of the more useful numbers you can get out of such things.

What cadence you ride at is a matter of personal choice, of course; people ride at all different rpms for many different reasons and purposes. Many cyclists espouse higher cadences for greater fitness and efficiency, but like I said, how you turn your crank is your business. Anyway, if you have an interest in what your cadence is, you don't need a computer to figure it out. I still don't have a cycling computer, but I have developed a system of cadence computation that works really well, and I would like to share it with you.

Step 1 - Counting:

While pedalling your bike, choose a foot and start counting every time it hits the bottom of the downstroke. You may count silently or aloud. I find that counting quite loudly works best, and helps clear busy multi-use pathways much better than an "on your left". Listen to the counting, and pretend that you are playing hide and seek and that you are 'it'.

Step 2 - Classify Yourself:

If you were one of the kids running off to hide, what would you think of the counting? Here are 5 main types of "counters" to help guide you in your cadence computation exercise:

Type 1: The Fair Kid

If you sound like the fair kid, your cadence is around probably 60 rpm or less, so if you were looking to ride for fitness or calorie burning or are an aspiring racer, either gear lower or step it up.

Type 2: The Competitive Seeker



If you are the Competitive Seeker type of cyclist, you are pedalling between 90 and 110 rpm, a good range for fitness and many other riding situations. If your goal was to really spin, however, you want to sound like our next Counting Type...

Type 3: The Big Fat Cheater

If you are a Big Fat Cheater (in a cycling cadence sense only, of course) you are spinning around 120 or even more... keep it up, and you will be the king or queen of spin, likely developing a smoother pedal stroke and sexy, supple leg muscles! Oooh baby.

Type 4: The Speed Freak



If your cadence count sounds like the Speed Freak, stop counting and get control of yourself and your bike, you maniac!

Type 5: The Confused Little One


If you sound like this, for the love of God, get off your bicycle and walk home if you can. You, my cycling friend, are drunk.

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

PS: While searching for hide and seek videos, I found this slightly disturbing tidbit, and y'know, why not share my mild discomfort?

Aren't Bikes Great?

Something Fat Cyclist posted last week about how upon taking a real road ride after a winter on the rollers, he thought to himself, "Whether on road or mountain, I love riding bikes." has put me into a simple state of waxing enthusiastic about riding my bicycle. For a change, I'm not going to post any pictures, or try to be funny. Instead, this time, I want to try to capture bike love as it has been so well expressed by so many. What follows are a few quotes on cycling that I stole from quotegarden.com... some people are so good at putting it into words that I needn't bother trying on my own. Still, I am writing a blog here, so I'll take a crack at it myself at the end.

When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. - H.G. Wells

Cycling is unique. No other sport lets you go like that - where there's only the bike left to hold you up. If you ran as hard, you'd fall over. Your legs wouldn't support you. - Steve Johnson

Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride. - John F. Kennedy

Cycle tracks will abound in Utopia. - H.G. Wells

The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart. - Iris Murdoch, The Red and the Green

Bicycling is the nearest approximation I know to the flight of birds. The airplane simply carries a man on its back like an obedient Pegasus; it gives him no wings of his own. - Louis J. Helle, Jr., Spring in Washington

When I'm riding my bicycle my body sings, and the world I'm moving through, be it gritty or serene, seems to sing along. The bicycle gives to me a unique, soul-feeding music. - Rantwick

Bike Love Springs Eternal, I Guess.

R A N T W I C K