Newsletter Issue No. 1164
March 13, 2025
Protect Your Clothes And Work More Efficiently With Park Tool’s Heavy Duty Shop Apron
Jim’s Tech Talk
By Jim Langley
I got in the habit of wearing a mechanic’s apron while working in bike shops. All the mechanics wore them. Every week a Mission-Linen Supply truck would bring a big batch of fresh rags and clean aprons too. So we wrenches always had access to clean aprons. Read more.
What’s Being Pedaled Today? The Role Practicality Plays in Your Health
By Kevin Kolodziejski
Sometimes it’s not a matter of what you do, but what you don’t.
Don’t exercise, for instance, and you die.
The World Health Organization isn’t quite that point-blank about it, but about a dozen years ago it tactfully reported 3.2 million “physically inactive” people die each year as a result of their inactivity. And while the WHO’s 2024 update is more disheartening, it’s just as tactful, disclosing that if only the global population was more physically active, up to 5 million deaths could be “averted” each year. Read more.
Quick Tip: Feeling Like Something’s Wrong? Don’t Ignore It
This tip comes from RBR reader Mark Pryor.
Being a long-time newsletter reader and serious roadie, I wanted to send along my experience with a serious health issue that may help fellow aging roadies. About five years in to my retirement, I was riding 100-150 with a local group three times a week. In the Fall of 2023 (I was 69), all of a sudden my cycling performance took a nose-dive. One particular instance caused me to take action: a flat group ride was heading home at about an 18-mph pace and I fell quickly off the back, barely able to hold 14 mph. Read more.
Bikebac Tracker – Quick Review
By Sheri Rosenbaum
If you’ve ever had a bicycle stolen, you know all too well that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach. I had that feeling firsthand in the summer of 2019 while vacationing in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. We walked out of a restaurant only to find an empty hitch rack. Two fat bikes were gone! I wrote about our ordeal several years ago here and how we got one of the bikes back. Read more.
My Puzzling Ebike Problem: An Interim Report
By Stan Purdum
In his RBR column a few weeks ago, Jim Langley, RBR’s Technical Editor, published an email conversation he and I had regarding a puzzling ebike problem I was experiencing. He did so with my full consent and our shared hope that you — our readers — might be able to help us figure out the cause of this problem. Read more.
Question of the Week
Have you experienced any heart problems related to or in spite of exercise?
Other Cool Things to Read
Road.cc: “Within three years of retiring I was a drug addict”: Sir Bradley Wiggins
Bicycling: Can Bicycling Help You Become a SuperAger?
Cycling Weekly: Why I learned to stop worrying and love the puncture
Most Clicked Last Week
Radian’s Zilch Pump Promises An End To Pump Attachment Problems
End Notes
