Newsletter Issue No. 1088
September 28, 2023
Cycling in Your 60s: Activities in the Fall
By Coach John Hughes
Note that I titled this “Activities” not “Working Out” or “Training.” The latter two sound more purposeful and may imply something you must do. For 60-year-olds fall is the time to kick back and enjoy other activities in addition to training for cycling.
Here in Colorado changing from daylight savings to standard time means it’s time to put the snow tires on the car, start chopping wood, dig out my thermal tights and wool jersey, and put on wider bike tires with good tread. It’s also time to change my activities. How should your activities change this fall? Read more.
The Shimano Crank Recall
Jim’s Tech Talk
By Jim Langley
By now I’m sure some of you have heard about the huge Shimano crank recall. If you don’t ride the cranks in the recall you have nothing to worry about, though you might wish to let your friends know if you think their Shimano cranks are affected. Read more.
Follow Doc’s Advice, Foil Offseason Weight Gain
By Kevin Kolodziejski
In one of his lesser works, Mark Twain wrote that there will be no humor in heaven.
While you can’t be asked to confirm or deny his claim until sometime in what we both hope will be the far-off future, I can ask if there will be no humor in your bathroom in the near future. When you step upon the digital scale one morning, say in mid-December, and see that you’re pounds past your optimal riding weight. Read more.
7mesh RK2 Bibshort Review
By Brandon Bilyeu
The 7mesh RK2 bib short is a performance short designed for speed and hot days. The fit is skintight with generous compression and the fabric is made with ‘coldblack’ technology which avoids heat buildup by reducing the absorption of sunlight. A cooler athlete performs better, but these bibs did not feel noticeably cooler or warmer than other bibs on hot days. This does not mean that ‘coldblack’ doesn’t work, just that it is not a perceptible difference and likely only measurable in a lab or temperature probe. Read more.
HeyChy Mini Muscle Massage Gun Review
By Sheri Rosenbaum
The HEYCHY Mini Massage Gun is another tool in your arsenal for post-ride recovery. It reduces muscle soreness, increases flexibility, and improves overall performance. This massage gun provides a deep-tissue massage to help cyclists and athletes eliminate knots, reduce muscle tension, and relax tight muscles. I often targeted my IT band and knots in my shoulders during product testing. Read more.
Do I need to wear gloves when riding my road bike?
QUESTION: Do I need to wear gloves when riding my road bike? They leave me with tan arms and white hands, which looks weird. —Linda A.
RBR’S STAN PURDUM REPLIES: No, there’s no requirement that you must wear gloves. Even some professional road bike racers don’t use them, claiming that barehanded riding gives them more “feel” for the bike and its controls. But there are darn good reasons to wear them, and primary among those is the protection they provide your hands if you crash. In a crash, your hands are often the first part of your anatomy to contact the pavement, and you can skin them up badly if they are unprotected. Read more.
Cycling Past 60 Bundle
In this 2-article series, Cycling Past 60, Coach John Hughes shares his personal insight and the current research into how the human body ages, especially past age 60.
Part 1: For Health gives you six different health maintenance objectives for different components of your physiology, including comprehensive fitness programs that address these objectives. It shows you how to measure your “Athletic Maturity” to assess your relative fitness in terms of all aspects of good health. This eArticle includes three balanced, full-body exercise programs for different cyclists of different athletic maturities.
Part 2: For Recreation uses the concept of “Athletic Maturity” to design programs for riders of different athletic maturity. It includes six different structured workout programs, three each for Endurance and Performance cyclists, based on levels of athletic maturity.
Question of the Week
Do you own a bike with the recalled cranks from Shimano?
Cool Stuff to Read
Road.cc: Check Your Own Chain with the Birzman Chain Wear Indicator II
Cycling Weekly: Motor-doping isn’t rife, there’s no way cyclists would use it discreetly enough
GCN: Butyl vs latex vs TPU: what are the best inner tubes for cycling?
Bicycle Retailer: Shimano recalls 760,000 Hollowtech road cranks after receiving 4,500 incident reports
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10 Common Cycling Nutrition Mistakes
End Notes
