July 4, 2019
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15 Tips for Riding Your Best Century
By Coach John Hughes
For many of us the big event of the season is a specific century or a gran fondo in which we want to do our best. You may want to finish your first century. Or have more fun and finish your local century without feeling trashed. Or set a PR in your club’s classic century. Or conquer a particularly hard 100. Or compete against others in a gran fondo. Or ride another endurance event ranging from 100 km to a double century. Whatever your goal(s), here are 15 tips to help you ride your best. Read more.
Inspecting ICAN Cycling’s Aero 40 Chinese Carbon Wheels
By Jim Langley
A few months ago, I wrote a story about ICAN Cycling’s Chinese carbon wheels, the Aero 40s. These 40mm profile Toray carbon tubeless-ready aero clinchers weigh only 1,314 grams and cost only $640.
Lots of roadies looking for inexpensive carbon wheels have discovered that they’re widely available on eBay.com. While at RBR, we knew this, we hadn’t actually tested a pair until ICAN contacted us offering a pair for review. Read more.
Roundup of GPS Bike Computers for 2019
by Stan Purdum
GPS computers are great devices for bikes, not only for navigation, but also for tracking your performance. Garmin and Wahoo are the big brands that most people are familiar with, but there are several other suppliers offering a range of choices. Some of them have very low prices for the simpler models. Here’s a roundup of all the available GPS bike computers we could find. Read more.
9 Aerodynamic Cycling Tips For Increased Speed
by Coach Fred Matheny
John Cobb was Lance Armstrong’s aerodynamics consultant for his first five Tour de France victories. [Aerodynamics, of course, have nothing to do with PEDs, so Cobb’s advice holds true no matter what one’s opinion of Armstrong might be.] Cobb was known to draw artful pictures on an easel to illustrate his points. Here are nine you can use. Read more.
Running 101 for Cyclists
by Jordan Galeles
We walk every day and have since we were about a year old, but how often do we run? “Only when someone’s chasing me!” is what you’ll hear from many cyclists.
Cyclists are often turned off by running, and sometimes for a good reason. If you don’t start slow and make sure the body has plenty of time to acclimate, it can be a miserable experience! Read more.
Endurance Training and Riding
Coach Hughes has been cycling for over 30 years, including completing seven 1,200 km brevets and the Race Across America (RAAM) and winning three qualifiers for RAAM. In the 3-article Endurance Training and Riding bundle, he shares his accumulated wisdom from his personal riding experience and years of coaching as well.
Coach John Hughes emphasizes that low intensity endurance riding brings about specific physiological changes that don’t result from harder training. These include improving your:
- ability to utilize fat for energy;
- capacity to store glycogen in your muscles and liver;
- muscular endurance by increasing the number of mitochondria, the subcellular structures where aerobic energy is produced; and
- neuromuscular efficiency of pedaling.
Why You Should Consider an E-Bike
by Gabe Mirkin, M.D.
I predict that in the next few years, virtually all cyclists will have motors on their bikes. I think that you can get a better training effect with a motor than without it. Anyone who has difficulty accelerating a bike will benefit from an added boost from an electric motor. Read more.
Yes, Time Trials are for Everyone!
by Coach Peter Wimberg
I know what you’re thinking. Time trials are for everyone? Seriously? Riding alone at or above your Functional Threshold Power or Lactate Threshold or 9.5 plus on a Rate of Perceived Exertion scale of 1-10 is something we should do, and possibly enjoy? I think so, and I’ll try to convince you why. Read more.
Strength Train Regularly to Avoid Upper Body Muscle Soreness as a Cyclist
Question: Why do my upper arms, the outside area of my shoulder (where many people have tattoos located), ache on long rides? I have had my bike fitted and I do resistance weight training for my shoulders once a week. – Kevin S. Read more.
How Can a Flatlander Survive a High-Altitude Ride?
Question: I live in New Jersey’s flatlands and have become interested in riding Colorado’s Triple Bypass in July. I’m intrigued by the challenge — not the distance as much as the 12,000-foot altitude. Can you give a sea-level rider some pointers? — Lou F. Read more.
Quick Tip: How to Clean / Buff Aluminum Rim Brake Tracks
RBR reader Frank Daugherty sent us this quick tip for aluminum bike wheels:
My best all-time tip, so old I can’t remember if I came up with it or read or heard about it from someone else, is: To clean/buff the brake pad residue off the aluminum rim braking track, cut small pieces, about brake pad size, of either gray (best) or blue (more aggressive) Scotch-Brite cleaning pads. Read more.
Hairy Situation
by Scott Martin
Noted bicycling expert Abigail Van Buren once wrote in her Dear Abby newspaper column that cyclists shave their legs so they won’t get hair caught in the chain. Now, I always defer to Abby on sneaky spouses, meddling in-laws and anybody else who needs to Wake up and smell the coffee! But here I think she might’ve been sniffing something besides espresso. Read more.
Question of the Week
Do you use a GPS bike computer?
More Cycling Stuff to Read
Science Daily: After 70, higher fitness levels can determine lifespan.
Science Daily: Four weeks of riding an e-bike promotes fitness and health.
Jan Heine Blog: You don’t need wide rims for wide tires.
NY Post: Not just drivers! A disturbing number of cyclists are riding while distracted by electronics.
Bicycle Retailer: Yikes. Wholesale bicycle sales down 14 percent so far this year.
Consumer Reports: Bontrager Ballista MIPS helmet and two others judged “Don’t Buy: Safety Risk.”
End Notes
I’m on vacation this week, but fortunately for you I worked ahead on the newsletter! If you enjoyed reading it this week, consider forwarding it to a fellow roadie with a note and suggest that they sign up too. Each week’s newsletter is made possible by the support of our awesome premium members and supporting members. This support allows us to turn off the ads on newsletter articles for everyone for the first three days after each newsletter goes out. Pretty cool of them, huh?
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