Ride Like It's Your Last One
// August 18th, 2009 // No Comments » // Baby, Cycling, Personal Crap
So today, we’re at a month until our little one’s due date. It’s also the start of my official blackout period of road biking I agreed to with the wife. Basically she wants Tyler to meet her dad, and wants me available and not 50 miles out in the middle of nowhere when she goes into labor.
I also want to be close and available in both those situations. Sure, I’ll be back on the road in a little over a month or so, but Anyway, that being said, I got a final road ride in today (though my official last ride will be a bike commute on Friday if the weather forecast continues to hold up). I can’t explain it, but I flew over my normal routes. It was quite hot, but even that didn’t seem to slow me down. I glanced at the trees many-a-time, thinking I had a nice hard tailwind, but the trees were almost completely still through my little 45+ minute ride.
Here’s a quick simple slideshow/list of ways to help yourself on the bike immensely, just by doing some easy (and mostly common sense) tasks on and off the bicycle:
I’ve got big quads, so I’ve always been a bit of a gear masher. Over the past couple years, I’ve worked to utilize higher cadence, but when push comes to shove (or I’m racing), you’re most likely to find me in a big ring bigger gear at a lower cadence. They both have their place in cycling, and after being inundated with the inevitable that heart/lungs can take more repetitive stress (with the right conditioning) than those be ol’ quads, high cadence should be a goal to work towards.
A lot of this is common sense stuff, but nothing like a few reminders to help you (me) in check for the upcoming season.
