Category Archives: Cycling

Tour de France ~ Mountains, Inclines and GPS…

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Anyone who has read this blog knows that I really enjoy le Tour de France and I have been watching it this year since it started on 6/30. I am always a little behind because, first of all I am in the U.S. so they are usually playing the previous days race when I get to seeing it and sometimes I am not able to see it until late in the day.

Modified TDF Logo

Although I am currently working on another local bike trail article (the North Branch Trail), there are some things that I have seen on le TDF recently that I just had to make some comments on.

You can get all of the latest news, stats and current standings on the TDF on the major news websites or the TDF website so I for this blog post I’d just like to comment on some things that I’ve noticed and that seem interesting to me.

First of all, we have just been getting into some major mountain stages of the TDF and it blows me away how the TDF riders can race up these incredible inclines (I’ve heard them refer to 17% to 20%  inclines recently) for fairly long distances and at speeds that would be pushing my limits on the flat lands! 🙂

If you haven’t been watching the Tour de France, this is a great time to tune in. They were in the mountains of France yesterday (which is actually 2 days ago since I am watching this after the fact) and will be in the Swiss Alps today (OK, yesterday). Regardless of the delay the scenery is beautiful and the mountain rides are exciting and fun to watch. The crowds swarm around the riders cheering them on on the steep inclines and these guys fly down the mountains at 50 to 60mph or so! BTW, they are broadcasting the TDF on the NBS Sports channel here in the U.S.

A few days ago I heard one of the announcers talking about how the riders were getting a nice little break on a 4% incline. Nice break on a 4% incline?! That doesn’t seem like a break to me! I have been much more aware of the exact percentage of inclines since my new bike GPS computer has a barometric altimeter.

OK, I live in the flatlands of the Chicagoland area and I’ve noticed that most of the steep inclines on the rides that I have been on around here have been around 4% to 6% and usually for a fairly short distance (especially compared to the TDF mountain stages). I don’t know what kind of shape you are in but a 4% incline is pretty difficult for me and it gets my heart beating pretty fast. Once again, this just shows what kind of athletes the TDF riders are.

Another thing that I have noticed (speaking of bike computers) is that it looks like most of the TDF cyclists have some kind of bike computers. I don’t really know what kinds they use and it looks like some riders choose not to have one but I see many riders reaching down to their handlebars at the end of each stage to (presumably) turn off their bike computer ride recording.

I know what it is like now to have all of this incredible ride data available (from a GPS bike computer) after your ride is over review and analyze and it  does not surprise me at all that the pros would be totally into this technology. They also showed one of the riders changing his jersey during one of the stages (still riding, of course) and I noticed the familiar heart-rate monitor chest strap. So it seems like this would be common among the pros too.

I have also noticed a lot of references to the Tour of California (along with references to the other grand tours in Europe) this year and I’m glad to see that we have a major event like this here in the U.S. (although I have never followed the TOC. Maybe next year). I have also seen a couple of commercials (local, I’m sure) for the Tour of Elk Grove, which is a professional, international race right here in the Chicagoland area. This takes place August 3rd through August 5th of this year. I wanted to mention this now since I heard about it last year right after it was over.

I was also glad to see Thomas Voeckler win a stage last night. It reminded me a little bit of last year when he wore the Yellow Jersey for so many stages and really got the French people into it (he’s French, of course).

Well, there is probably a lot more to write about and there is a lot more Tour de France action to come but I need to get some more work done (on that trail article) so I can sit down and watch tonight’s recording of le Tour de France!

le Tour de France 2012 continues… TDF updates and perspective

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le Tour de France is well underway now and they just completed Stage 3 today. I have really been getting into watching le Tour (I usually record it and watch it when I get  a chance) although I have not yet seen Stage 3, which will air later tonight. I would definitely recommend watching this event to anyone that is into cycling (even if you are not into racing).

le Tour de France logo

le Tour de France is on now!

Personally, I am just amazed at the condition of the riders in le Tour de France and how they can average around 25 mph for over 100 miles and do that for 3 weeks straight! And don’t forget racing up the mountains! Even if you do not get caught up in the race itself, there is still some beautiful scenery and the fanatical spectators can be an interesting show also.

The TDF is being broadcast on the NBS Sports channel and has been aired throughout the day until today. They are now playing some of the Olympics events throughout the day also although they still have the TDF on in the morning and early evening so there are still plenty of times to catch a stage or two.

I have only ridden over 100 miles in a day one time myself. That took most of the day and I was too tired to ride the next day so I just can’t imagine doing a ride like that in around 3 hours and then doing it again almost everyday for 3 weeks. I also stopped for breaks and to have snacks and a meal at my turnaround point. Last night I noticed that the TDF riders grab a “feed bag” from people on the sidelines as they continue riding.

Since I put so much time and effort into this cycling website, I am also very in-tune to the cycling related stories and commercials. Aside from the car and beer commercials I noticed that Cannondale, Trek and Proform had a pretty major presence.

The Cannondale commercial, that I’ve seen, advertises the Cannondale Supersix Evo as “The worlds best bike”. Well, I do like Cannondale and I think they make excellent bikes but this really should be qualified since the “best bike” for anyone is going to be the bike that fits your own particular riding style the best. I am sure that the Supersix Evo is one of the best road/racing bikes (in the world) but it would not be much use to a mountain biker.

Anyway, the Supersix bikes are Cannondale’s top of the line bikes in their Elite Road Bike category. Which is just above the Cannondale CAAD10 bikes, which I have reviewed and rated (highly) on this site.  Another nice thing about Cannondale Bikes, aside from their high quality, is that you can actually order them online. They are still only sold through authorized Cannondale dealers but you can find a good selection online, order online and then pick your bike up at a local store (see the link above for more on this).

Trek also makes some very high quality bikes (along with mid-range models) although I don’t know of anyplace (at least not any national merchant) where you can order Trek bikes online.

And finally, I noticed that they are now referring to the Proform TDF Gen2 model (exercise bike) as the “2012” Proform TDF Indoor Cycle and they have a new commercial this year. Actually I think that I liked last year’s commercial better.

OK, back the the actual TDF, I just read that Peter Sagan of Slovakia won the “crash-marred” third stage of the Tour de France although Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland is still the overall leader (who will continue to wear the yellow jersey).  I don’t normally like to look ahead at the TDF news until after I have watched the day’s race but I had to look-up a few things today and saw that story.

The “crash-marred” third stage does not sound good. I saw a few crashes on the first few stages this year but it did not look like there were any serious injuries. Of course, any crash is serious for these riders who have obviously trained hard for years to get to the TDF. I just hope that there are no serious or permanent injuries.

The TDF can be exciting to watch but it can also be very dangerous. I still remember the crash from last year when the TV car clipped a rider (Juan Antonio Flecha) and knocked him down into the pavement and consequently knocked another rider (Johnny Hoogerland) down and threw him into a barbed wire fence. That looked nasty. It also looked like the car did it on purpose to me. 😐

Well I hope that you will get a chance to catch at least some of this year’s Tour de France. I’m sure there will be a lot more exciting stuff and interesting scenes and information for all cyclists.

 

2012 Tour de France ~ Stage Zero

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Here we are right in the middle of Stage Zero of the 2012 Tour de France. Yep, the  2012 Tour de France is less than 2 weeks away now.

2012 Tour de France

2012 Tour de France (stage 0)

Actually, I have not seen the term Stage Zero used in any official capacity for the Tour de France bike race but I am using it here to indicate the final days of anticipation and preparation for the big event.

Personally, I am not a racer but I have come to really enjoy watching and following this event. This year the TDF runs from Saturday, June 30th through Sunday, July 22nd so check your local TV listings to find the station where the event will be  broadcast (providing you are not able to make it to France this year 🙂 ).

Even if you are not a racer, I think any cyclist (or even casual rider) can relate to the incredible condition that these athletes are in, the beautiful scenery of the various stages of the race and even the excitement of the riders and the crowd.

I remember Cadel Evans of Australia winning last years race and had just read about how Andy Schleck was officially declared the winner of the 2010 TDF after the disqualification of Alberto Contador but I did not realize that there have only been 2 Americans that have ever won the TDF – Greg LeMond and Lance Armstrong.

Aside from the race itself I was wondering about this years sponsors and commercials. Here in the US there is usually a lot of hype about the commercials that will be aired during the Super Bowl and I was wondering if there was any interest in that for the TDF.

I doubt that there is the hype of the Super Bowl commercials but I really can’t say since I live in the US and I don’t think that the TDF is nearly as popular here as it is in France and Europe.

What I remember from the commercials last year were the extremely popular commercial for the Proform TDF Indoor Cycle and various big name brand bike commercials along with the “Clean Water Bottle” guy who dressed up as a water bottle and ran alongside the riders at various parts of the race!

I have heard that Proform will be advertising the Proform TDF exercise bike again this year but I don’t know if they will be using the same commercial. I know that the Proform TDF has been very popular since last year but has also been controversial. See Proform Tour de France Indoor Cycle for more on the positive and negative reviews on this exercise bike.

I know that Garmin is also a big sponsor in  the TDF although I don’t specifically remember their commercials during last years race. Maybe now that I have my Garmin Edge 800 I will be much more in-tune to their commercials.

OK, that’s it for the pre-TDF race reminder. I hope that many of you will tune in this year. I know I will!

Cycling, Health and Chiropractors

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It has been so nice to be able to get out on the bike trails again and I just wanted to mention how important it is to stay healthy ~ for cycling and everything else really ~ and how I managed to get back on the bike trails again this year after a recurring leg injury.

I injured my leg last fall and although I was still able to ride, I had to cut back on how often I rode and really take it easy or the pain would get much worse and I would not be able to ride at all.

This was not too much of a problem since it was very late in the riding season. When the weather started getting colder (and the days shorter) I eventually put my bike away for the year and got into my winter exercise routine (usually walking and running, mostly outdoors) and although there was still a little pain, it was not all that bad.

Unfortunately, my leg had never completely gotten back to normal and when the weather got warmer this year (very early this year, actually) and I started cycling again, I took a couple of long and fast rides and re-injured it once again. 🙁

At first I just stopped riding for a while and tried to give it enough time to heal on its own. Well, that was taking forever and driving me crazy that the weather was beautiful and I was not able to get out and ride.

Touch of Health, Buffalo Grove, Il

Touch of Health in Buffalo Grove

This is when I decided to take action and see my Chiropractor. I had had back issues in the past and had seen Dr. Steven Ciolino at Touch of Health in Buffalo Grove. It took multiple visits and adjustments for my back problems (which I have had all my life) but after my chiropractic treatments my back has been much better and I rarely ever have any back pain.

I really believe that chiropractic therapy plays an important role in health care and is often overlooked by people that like to see their regular internal medicine doctor for any and all of their health care issues.

This is not to say that chiropractors  can do everything and that we do not need regular (internal medicine) doctors also. It’s just that there are certain kinds of health issues and injuries that are just much better off when treated by chiropractic methods rather than by taking a pill (or worse yet, having surgery without considering alternative therapies).

So getting back to my leg injury, after waiting for my leg to heal on its own for weeks ~ and missing out on a lot of great riding days ~ I finally saw my chiropractor. It did take about 3 or 4 visits but gradually my leg got much better and it is now almost 100% and I am back on the trails again!

When you have health issues or injuries and then get better you really appreciate how valuable being healthy is. I try to keep this in mind and never take my good health for granted.

Cycling is, of course, an excellent way to stay in shape and stay healthy but you also have to be careful not to push yourself too hard and/or injure yourself and loose the benefits of  the workout.

Even when you are very careful you still may end up with an injury of one sort or another. If this happens you may want to look into chiropractic care. I have certainly have found it to be very beneficial.

Stay healthy and enjoy the ride!

2012 Bike the Drive Ride Report and Photos

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Last Sunday I did the Bike the Drive ride in Chicago for the first time. They close down 30 miles of Lake Shore Drive (Route 41) to automotive traffic for this event and the road is only open to bike riders for about 5 hours.

2012 Bike the Drive, Chicago

2012 Bike the Drive on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago

According to Wikipedia this even has been going on since 2002 so I guess this was the 10th annual Bike the Drive. The main reason that I had not participated in the ride until this year was because the event is so early in the morning. It starts at about 5:30am so for me to get up, get ready and be downtown by that time (I did not want to be late and miss any of the riding time) I had to get up at 2:30am!

OK, aside from the start time, this was an excellent ride and really a lot of fun! I wish they would do this more often (and later in the day 🙂 )

As I had mentioned in one of my previous posts, I just got a new DSLR Camera and I have been chomping at the bit for a good event, like this, to get out and get some good photos. Well, I finally got my chance and I got quite a few good photos at this event. Unfortunately, it was an overcast and cloudy day, which caused some problems, but I was still able to get quite a few good shots. I am still learning how to use this camera so I messed up a lot of the photos too (even though I have uploaded many that were not technically that great).

I wanted to get my Ride Report and the Photos posted on the internet much sooner but it took some time to sort through all the photos, select the good ones that captured the feel of the ride and format and post the photos and report. Since this was such a fun event I wanted to do it right rather than just blasting out a ton of photos as quickly as possible.

Anyway, you can now see the 2012 Bike the Drive Photo Tour and Ride Report here.  I also had my Garmin Edge 800 GPS bike computer on the ride (of course) and I posted the route that we rode also. If you look closely at the map you will see where we branched out off of LSD a little. This was from after the ride when we rode out to the Shedd Aquarium and the planetarium.

Salsa Fargo Hybrid Bike Review

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I just completed my review of the Salsa Fargo and this is really quite an interesting ~ and fairly unusual ~ bike. Generally, this bike is usually classified as a hardtail mountain bike but I had a hard time deciding exactly how to classify it on this website since, IMO, it is technically a Hybrid bike by definition.

After all, how many mountain bikes do you see with drop down handlebars? This bike is really designed for multipurpose use. The 29 inch wheels qualify this bike as a 29er as opposed to the 700c wheels that you see on most traditional hybrids. The Fargo is not only a hardtail, there is also no front suspension (once again, a little more hybrid like).

Salsa Fargo 2 Hardtail/Hybrid

Salsa Fargo 2 Hardtail/Hybrid

So, due to this bikes unique design, I have listed the Fargo Salsa on this website under both the Hardtail MTB category and the Hybrid Category. You can see the actual bike review at Salsa Fargo Bike Review.

Salsa calls this bike a drop-bar, off-road adventure bike for off-road touring and bikepacking and I have seen a number of customer reviews where people also use this bike for commuting and utility rides.

Actually, the term bikepacking was new to me but it fits perfectly and the meaning is obvious right away.

In addition to the technical review (the link above) I have read numerous customer reviews on this bike which were overwhelmingly positive ~ which doesn’t surprise me based on the other Salsa bikes that I have reviewed.

 

Salsa Spearfish XC MTB Review

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As I mentioned in my last post, I am still on the DL with a leg injury which has disrupted my bike trail blog articles here but fortunately, I am still able to get some bike reviews done (technical reviews that is).

Salsa Spearfish 3 FS XC MTB

2012 Salsa Spearfish 3 FS XC MTB

One of the bike review that I just completed is on the Full Suspension, Endurance XC Salsa Spearfish. The high-end full suspension MTBs can get very expensive but this one actually sells at a very reasonable price online (even the 2012 model).

If you have read some of my other blog entries you will know that I am not really a mountain biker ~ although I have ridden MTBs,  MTB trails and also spent countless hours on dirt bikes (the motorized MTBs) when I was younger ~ but I have always been a little envious of MTB riders that live out west or where there is access to real mountains (unlike Illinois and most of Wisconsin).

I also think that the new full suspension mountain bikes are really cool even though they can get expensive, which is one argument for getting a hardtail MTB for cross country rides.

Anyway, you can see my full review at 2012 Salsa Spearfish Review. I have also looked up and read numerous customer reviews on this bike on some of the popular bike review sites and I have found most Salsa bikes to be rated very highly by their owners.

One little piece of info that I thought was interesting was that the Salsa Spearfish bike is named after the town of Spearfish, South Dakota ~which I just looked up and I see that it is in the Black Hills area of South Dakota. I have been there (although not on a MTB) and it is a really scenic area. I can see how the hundreds of miles of single track trails out there would be a real lot of fun!

Cycling Events and Bike Trail Articles Delay – Leg Injury

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This is the time of year when I am usually out blazing new bike trails and taking photos (and even videos sometimes) but if you are wondering why I haven’t been posting new trail pages and photos recently it is because I am currently on the Disabled List. 🙁

I have had leg injury that I have had for months now but seemed to be in remission. Well, it acted up again and I have been unable to ride (and even having a hard time walking) for the last few weeks now (since just after Easter weekend). It is driving me crazy to be missing out on all this good riding weather! Actually April has been a little chilly (March was better this year) but it is still quite acceptable riding weather.

Anyway, as for the injury, I am off to the chiropractor this afternoon. I am hoping that he can perform some of his voodoo and speed up the recovery time a little.

Door County Dentury Ride

Door County Century Ride

The other thing that I wanted to mention today is that I just updated my Cycling Events Calendar Page with a new ride that I just heard about from a contact that I have at Livestrong who I just discovered is also a pretty major cyclist.

The ride that I just heard about is the Door County Century Ride which takes place this year on 9/9/12. Although, I am not really into a lot of organized rides myself, this one sounds very interesting to me. I like that there is no formal start time (they suggest between 6:30am and 10am) and you can do the full Century or they have routes for 28.5, 50 and 70 mile rides. The ride is not until September but registration is open and there is a link to the website on the Cycling Events Calendar page.

I have also rearranged the Cycling Events Calendar page so that the events that are coming up first are at the top of the page. Initially I did not have many events or rides out on this page so it really didn’t matter but as I add more this makes a lot more sense.

As I was rearranging this page I noticed that the Bike The Drive event is coming up next. This is the ride where they close down Lake Shore Drive in Chicago to cars and trucks and open it up for cyclist for a few hours in the morning. So if you are considering doing this ride this year it is coming up soon!

I have always wanted to do this ride myself but it is always so early in the morning (yawn) that that kind of discouraged me. Maybe this year… Just maybe ~ well, I have to get my leg back first anyway.

Good Information on Exercise for Cancer Patients

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I had a request recently to post an article on our website related to exercise reducing fatigue for cancer patients. I received the article yesterday and it is a good article with some nice references so I have posted this article on our site.

I actually do believe that exercise ~ like cycling ~ is an excellent way to reduce fatigue for anyone so I’m sure that it would have great benefits for cancer patients whenever that is possible.

I had some more thoughts on this but rather than ramble on myself I would rather just direct you to the article that was submitted to our site. You can find the article “Exercise Lessens Fatigue for Cancer Patients” ~ Here.

This article was contributed by David Haas, Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance.

Digitize Your Ride ~ With Garmin Edge 800 Bike Computer

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Garmin Edge 800 Bike Computer

Garmin Edge 800 Bike Computer

I’ve been giving my new Garmin Edge 800 GPS Bike Computer quite a workout and review lately and I gotta admit, I really love this thing! As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am a little bit of a techno geek anyway and, of course, I love to ride. Bike GPS computers (like the Edge 800) are perfect for people with this combination of traits.

As I mentioned in my last post, I have just purchased the additional maps for my unit (City Navigator, TOPO Maps and Rails-to-Trails). Well, I have received, loaded and used all of these products now and I’ll give you my first impressions of these software products after a brief review of some of the new things that I have been discovering on the Edge 800 and some of the things that I really like about this GPS  unit.

First of all, I really like the touch-screen. I almost always swipe the screen to switch between windows and almost never use the arrows on the screen. I have also used this with gloves on it it works great (actually maybe even better than with no gloves on).

One of the other features that is also really great is the programmable screens on this unit. It is really easy to change the windows that are displayed on each screen and it’s great to be able to arrange them in almost anyway that you like (some screens have some limitations but most are pretty flexible) in addition to being able to select which screens are even displayed or not. You can include up to 10 windows on most screens (the photo above shows 8).

When you have made up your mind and decide to upgrade to a GPS enabled Bike Computer, we have included some good information and online resources Here on our Bicycle GPS page.

Today I just discovered the window that displays “Grade” and gives you the percentage up or down grade that you are on at anytime (there seems to be a very slight delay as to when the grade is displayed but that is not really a problem).

I was also paying attention to the total ascent and total decent windows. It’s nice to know how much of your ride has been uphill and how much has been downhill. They are close to the same at the end of a round trip ride (although there are some minor variances). Unfortunately, the unit does not come with both the ascent and descent windows on the same screen with the default settings. Of course, that’s not a problem because you can just program one of the screens to include both (which I am going to do before my next ride).

The upload and download features of the Edge 800 are really nice too, of course. The Training Center Software is pretty basic and it would be nice if that gave you a little more but the Garmin Connect site and software is loaded with features.

Finally, the MicroSD slot for loading additional maps is great. This is one of the reasons that you pay more for the Edge then for the lower priced models but IMO it is well worth it. The Base Map that the units come with is pretty limited (very few smaller side roads and no bikes trails (that I’ve seen)) so it is nice to be able to include additional maps.

Which brings me nicely into my last topic that I referred to above:

Garmin Bike GPS Mapping Software

I’ll start with the least expensive GPS maps that I have recently purchased which is the Rails-to-Trails maps. This is actually a nice addition to the TOPO or City Navigator maps (described below), can be used at the same time as the other maps (when you select the download) and it only costs $10. The Rails-to-Trails software is for a smaller area so you’ll need to select the correct map for your region (I have the Northeast version). These maps do not include ALL the trails in a particular area but it does have most of them (even some smaller, lesser known trails).

The next mapping package that I used was the TOPO Maps. Actually I really didn’t think that I would use this particular mapping package that much but now that I have it it just may be the primary mapping software that I use. This package does include plenty of bike trails and it also includes small side streets and subdivision streets as well as having the points-of-interest to reference.

The last mapping software package that I received was the City Navigator software. It’s actually redundant (to have both the TOPO and City Navigator software)  because you can only use either the TOPO card or City Navigator card in the unit at any one time.  It might be nice to have both once in a while but you really should probably decide which one of these mapping products suits you the best and just select one of them.

The City Navigator package includes all of North America (the version that I bought) where the TOPO software is limited to a smaller area (I have the Great Lakes version which includes the Chicago area where I live).  City Navigator has more points-of-interest than the TOPO package but the TOPO maps do include many of the important POIs. City Navigator does include some bike trails but it does not seem to be  nearly as extensive or detailed as the TOPO package.

On my ride today, I was just thinking about this vast amount of ride data that I now have (speeds, averages, distances, elevations, maps, heart-rate, lap info, ascents, descents…) and how my whole ride has been digitized for me enjoy and review later if I like (which I usually do).

That’s about it for the latest Bike GPS updates for now. These things really are a lot of fun. Check out Bicycle GPS for some good info and resources if you are considering getting one of these units.