The Biking Trail Addict

A Good First Trail Ride with Your Downhill Mountain Bike

2009-12-13T18:16:00.001-05:00

Trail biking is an enjoyable sport if done correctly. It is all a matter of preparing your bike, yourself, and just go to it. At first you will be slow and maybe a little too careful, but experience is the best teacher. So after a few trips you will be more aware and better set for a good trail.

1. I recommend you read everything about tril biking. Surf the biking forums, and read blogs, articles, magazines, and books. If this is a hobby, you should enjoy all this reading. Become a sponge and try to learn everything you can about riding the trails, the weather for whatever area you are interested in, and experiences others have had. Knowledge is power.

2. Practice riding around more, in inner-city trails if there are any where you live, and on the road. This seems obvious, consider it training, and increase your general fitness and abilities to the next level. There is no need to do long rides every day, just ride often, especially in hilly areas before you take on a trail. If you are riding on a regular basis, adding a longer ride on a weekend will be an important indicator of how you will react to a long trail with overnight camping. You will learn a lot with this preparation.
While training on the road may be a bit boring, it is excellent training. You can rack up a ton of miles relatively easily, and it is a big confidence builder.

3. Selecting food for a long overnight trail ride should be a top priority. Try a lot of different foods because it is fuel and a major part of your success. What you eat and drink could be the difference between a good finish and a never-ending ride. So, try different drinks, bars, and real foods such as bread, fruit, meats, etc. Experiment with what tastes good after four to eight hours in the saddle. Find what your needs and cravings and plan accordingly. It is all a matter of organization.

4. Make sure you take warm clothing, emergency equipment. Be flexible, realistic, and reasonable. Read up on what is recommended.

5. Most important, plan well. But don't forget to have fun. Ride the day with a good attitude. Enjoy the scenery. Roll with the punches. Ride with a smile and you will have a great experience on the biking trail.

A Kiwi Biking Trek

2009-01-14T12:33:00.000-05:00

I just got back from an interesting biking trek thru the some of the woods and dales of New Zealand. I met Chad, an old school chum of mine, in Wellington, New Zealand, and we biked along a magnificent trail. It has very impressive scenery and it was a lot of fun. I also spend several days in Chad and Joan's home outside of Wellington.

I wish to thank Chad and Joan for a wonderful time, and good experiences.

Getting Your Fix During The Off Season

2008-06-22T22:46:00.000-04:00

During the winter, I have to go a long way south to get to good riding country. Of course, going there is an impossibility. So, I've come up with a few things to keep from going crazy!

Lights
Winter brings shorter days and longer nights. I've been caught on late rides too many times without'em. I know they're spendy, but they worth it. Go out and get a nice pair and don't let the lack of daylight slow you down. I still feel that NiteRider makes the best lights for the money.

Popcorn and a Video
OK, so you aren't actually riding, but this has gotta be the next best thing. On the safety of your couch, you can watch others feel the pleasure and pain. You usually won't find them at Blockbuster or Hollywood. Recent favorites have been Freeride Entertainments Fat Tire Fury (New World Disorder 2), Ride to the Hills, Double Down, and Kranked 4 (Search for the Holey Trail). Try your local bike, motorcycle or skate shop, or order online. Grab some popcorn and enjoy!

Happy Trails
Until recently, I wasn't one to much enjoy road riding. I admire the Trials riders from a distance. Nonetheless, I'm convinced there's nothing better for improving your balance and control than trials riding. Check out www.biketrials.com for some great riding and photos.

Snow Schmo
Don't let the weather stop you. Bundle up, eat a hearty bowl of stew, and head out. Make sure you have nice warm wool or substitute material socks and warm winter bike gloves. Your hands and feet will freeze first. Get some studded tires or make your own and go. Edmonton Bicycle Commuters (www.edmontonbikes.ca) have some helpful information on studding your tires and general bike winterizing.

Womens' Bikes: Thoughts On Frame Size and Design

2008-06-13T17:44:00.000-04:00

The most most important part of buying a bike is frame size and design. The frame is the heart of the bike and it is a complicated topic. Here are some considerations for women.

Bars and Stems

A main concern for women is getting the bars closer to them. In short, get the bar futher back (a shorter stem) and get the bar higher up. A good way of getting the bar higher is to get a bar with an upward slope in the extension part. The old-fashioned quill stem consistes of two parts, the quill that goes down into the steerer tube, and the extension that goes forward and grips your bars. If you have a threadless stem, the entire length of the stem is the extension. If you use a quill stem, get a longer quill. If you have a threadless stem, then get a longer steerer tube on your fork.

The width of your handelbars is another concern. For road and mountain bikes, the width of the handelbars should be approximately the width of your shoulders. Since women generally have narrower shoulders, more narrow handelbars are in order. Keep in mind that MTB magazines will speak about bars that are too narrow. Remember, the writers are exclusively men. Only pay attention to articles about women's specific bikes.

The Juliana Handlebar

Many MTBers use a "riser bar." These are handlebars that bend up and back from the stem area. They are useful for raising the grip up if you have trouble getting a hand position that is high enough. The problem for women is that they are usually significantly wider than flat bars. This means that you can end up with bars that are far too wide for you. Unfortunately, they can't actually be shortened because of the design. They curve at the wrong position, preventing proper positioning of the shift and brake levers. Fortunately, some relief is had with the Juliana handlebar, by Wylder. It has a narrower grip, and they are better padded than standard grips. However, be aware that a thinner grip area will prevent you from using bars ends or SRAM twist-shift levers.

The Terry Handlebar

The Terry handlebar has a nice feature. The handelbars have hand indentations that allow you closer to the brake levers when your hands are on the drops. A nice feature especially if you have smaller hands. This is useful if you want to use Campagnolo or Shimano integrated shifter/brake levers. These levers put the brake lever even further from the bar than the usual drop bar brake lever, making them more difficult to use from the drops with small hands.

Brake Levers

The choice of levers is especially important to women. Women may wish to avoid Dia Compe short-reach brake levers (BL-24C) for drop bars. These levers have more cable friction than brake levers from Campagnolo and Shimano. This is a particular problem for women because a strong grip is required. Of course, Magura makes hydralic rim brakes that with drop bars. These breakes reduces cable friction and stretching.

Many women prefer to use the Campagnolo and Shimano integrated brake/shift levers combination because it is convenien to operate from the brake lever hood. Nevertheless, women may have some difficulty reaching the brakes/shifters from the drops. Women that have small hands may want to use and want to use the Terry handlebars with Campagnolo/Shimano levers.

Shimano Sora conveniently places an adjustment screw that allows shift/brake levers to be closer to the bars. Setting these up properly makes it much easier to reach the brake levers.

Cranks

It is very important that the crank length suit the length of the rider's leg. Unfortunately, many manufacturers may little regard to the shorter leg length of women. It is necessary for shorter women to look hard in order to locate an appropriate crank length. It is time well spent.

I hope these ideas have helped.

Unintentional Automatic Upshifting

2008-06-04T16:37:00.000-04:00

Unintentional upshifting is a common complaint among cyclists, particularly with strong riders who use fairly flexible frames. The typical moaning is that the *%#* bike shifts up to the next smaller rear sprocket when standing or pedalling hard.

To remedy the situation, the first thing most guys check is the shift lever. In ages past, the friction shift lever required periodic re-adjustment. The thing is, most friction shift levers have a screw or wing nut to keep unwanted upshifting under control. However, at times the screw becomes too loose. Note that in some cases the problem is not insufficient friction, so tightening the lever won't cure it.

Today, with the indexed shifting, the problem is much less prevalent, but sadly, it does still exist. When unintentional upshifting occurs, the problem is not the friction regulation screw, but the cable guide that the derailer cable uses to get around the bottom bracket. As you pedal the bike, the bike frame flexes from side to side. This will cause the gear cable to get tighter then looser with every other pedal stroke.

If the bottom-bracket cable guide has too much friction, it can act as a one-way clutch, pulling the cable down from the lever, but not allowing it to retract on the opposite pedal stroke. Thankfully, greasing the cable guide is all that is usually required.

Cycling Photography

2008-05-31T13:09:00.001-04:00

Photography for cyclists raises several points. Now we are talking about taking pictures when you’re out riding a bike. I'm talking about shooting from the side of a road during a race, or even shooting a picture while on a bike. There are specific shooting techniques that you should use. But don't forget you also have to think about the best way to carry a camera when you’re riding. But first there’s something even more basic to think about first.

The basic issue is this: you have to stop to take a picture. Well, yeh, you can be shoot from your bike seat, but most of the time it isn’t a good idea - certainly not on roads shared with other traffic, nor on tricky mountain bike trails. Most of the time, both for safety and to get the best pictures, stopping is a very good idea. The thing is to make your stops count.

This is definitely a huge issue in cycling, more so than in many other activities. For example, when walking you might just stop a sec to click a pic.However, while cycling you need to jam on the brakes, pull to the side of the road, getting off the bike and find somewhere to put it. That's irksome, at best. So make every stop count by thinking ahead about what pics you want to grab.

This bring to view ye two holy writs of shooting pics:

You need to be at the right place at the right time.

* You need to have ye camera ready.

That means you must use forethought.

Taking a pic of a great view is one thing. But if you ride with friends, you’ll probably want pics of them. Of course, if you simply pull into the side, they’ll probably all have gone sailing by before you’re ready, leaving you with a distant view of rapidly diminishing rear ends. Wouldn't you rather see some smiling faces - or even grimacing from the effort on a climb?

This is where thinking ahead really counts. If you think there’s a good spot coming up, it’s time to sprint well ahead of the troop, then stop to take the pics as they come towards you. Then mount the bike and catch up.

This all underlines another central point: cycling photography is action photography.

Serious Trail Riders Need a Camelbak

2008-05-29T11:32:00.000-04:00

Serious bike cyclists and trail riders use a camelbak, period. A Camelbak is a convenient, light, stable, and comfortable means of carrying a lot of water and other stuff essential to your ride. Only amateurs carry water bottles and fail to bring all the equipment and food needed for short or long rides. Camelbaks keep the water cool and has all the room you need for everything else. It is essential.

What would you want to bring on your ride? Well, you need to bring everything you really need. That also means enough of what you need. Only jerks travel unprepared. Here is a list of items you should carry:

* Enough water

* Compass

* Map

* Extra Tube

* Tire Wrenches

* Chain Tool

* Spoke Wrench

* Hex Wrench Tool

* Hand Pump (not too cheapo)

* Patch Kit and maybe also a quick patch kit

* Needle / Dental Floss (Very handy for repair of a tire sidewall)

* First aid kit (small basic stuff)

* Multipurpose pocket knife

* Flashlight & New Batteries

* Waterproof Matches

* Whistle (when you need it you really need it bad)

* Emergency Foil-Blanket (if you are forced to camp)

* Money

* Pen / small pad of paper

* Sun Block

* Chapstick

* Insect Repellent

* Aspirin or other pain reliever

* Tums

* Power Bars and maybe a snacks you like.

There are many camelback models to pick from. For short rides, a Rocket or Lobo will work well. For one-day rides, the accepted standard and the most popular is the Mule. For multi-day treks, something larger will be needed such as a Blowfish (expandable main compartment), or better yet a H.A.W.G. The top of the line is the Transalp.

Hope this helps.

Riding in Cold Weather

2008-05-28T22:12:00.000-04:00

Serious bike riding in cold weather can be great fun, but only as long as you can keep all parts of your body warm. Normally when we go outside to walk on a cold day, we put on a heavy coat, maybe a hat, and we can either put on gloves or put our hands in our pockets. This is fine for walking to the bus, subway, or around town or campus. We wear no protection on our face and we wear jeans or the like, and we wear gym shoes or whatever. However, when we ride our bike in cold weather, we need to be mindful of three things:
(1) A heavy coat will be too heavy and we'll end up sweating like a pig.
(2) The hat, gloves, and shoes for walking outside are all wrong for serious riding in chilly or cold weather.
(3) Concern should be focused on controlling wind contact as well as warmth control.

For a good riding jacket in cold weather use polypro or any one of its cousins (thermax, caprilene, etc), polyester fleece, or wool. Avoid cotton; it can soak up water, stops insulation, and will feel really disgusting.

For wind control, use a non-stretchy nylon. Or you can go fancy with Gore-Tex, Silmond microfiber, and friends. The difference between non-stretchy nylon and the fancier stuff is the weight of the fabic and water-restistance. They are all equal in wind protection.

On a chilly day:

- Padded tights (Performance Polypro).
- A fleece vest, a wicking T-shirt, or short-sleeve jersey is good as a base layer.
- A second vest of windproof nylon, a plain nylon jacket, or a cycling jacket with nylon on the front and insulating material elsewhere.
- A bike jersey with pit zips and a thin hood (such as Performance). They are thin enough to fit under a helmet and will not move around. If you don't need the hood, you won't need to put it in a pocket. Pit zips are adjustable so you can control the amount of wind cooling. This will keep you from overheating when you're working hard, and allow you to keep out drafts when you're not. A fabric such as Activent is very nice.
- A Gore-Tex helemt cover pretty much non-stop from Autum to Spring.
- Select a pair of Long-fingered gloves appropriate for the temperature. You don't want your hands to sweat.
- Socks, then cycle shoes. You may want a pair of hiking socks for warmth.
- Either your regular glasses or in windy weather, wear a pair of cycle-specific glasses.

On colder days, add:

- Wear several layers of nylon pants. You can wear padded tights and on top pair of tights with a wind-stopping material.
- A balaclava, which is stretchy fabric that goes over your head and face. It will also cover your neck. You can usually pull it up to cover your mouth when needed.
- If its below freezing, then also use a Gore-Tex helmet cover. It stretches over your helmet and will block the wind from entering the vents.
- Gore-Tex ski gloves.
- Wear several layers of socks. Two pairs of socks (one pair thin, the other pair fleece) or a pair of fleece socks with a pair of polypro sock liners. Or try Gore-Tex socks. Chemical heater packs are available if you have the room.
- Winter cycle shoes, for insulation and water protection.

So, there you have it.

Old Bikes Are Worth Selling

2008-05-27T13:34:00.000-04:00

There are places, nice places, where you can advertise (usually free) and well that wonder bike you never use any more. You can sell local or you can sell on the Internet. Selling local means dealing with the buyer face to face, and just handing the bike over after they pay (get cash not a check). Through the Internet, you can find potential purchasers easily, but you'll have to box it and send it to the buyer. Open a PayPal account and require payment thru PayPal.

Where Can you find such nice places?

Local want ads - Ye old community newspaper for strictly local sales (with no packing and shipping).

Local bulletin boards - Ye old bulletin boards are located in some neighborhood schools, supermarkets, stores and other public places. They're usually free and are worth a shot (again, with no packing and shipping).

CraigsList.org - is a free want-ad service, branches are located in many U.S. cities.

rec.bicycles.marketplace - This Usenet Newsgroup is widely read.

eBay.com - The famous auction place, must join to sell, a hassle. It is not free. You never know how low or high the bids will move (or not go). With the present economy, things move slow on eBay and are getting lower prices.

When Advertising:

Do NOT advertise a bike without a price. No one wants to be bothered if you can't tell them what you think it's worth.

Be HONEST about the condition. One look at a misrepresented clunker and your potential buyer won't trust you, and away he will go (without buying the bike).

Mention positive features, but avoid commonly misused terms like "Mint" "NOS" & "Perfect" unless they actually apply.

Mention the size. The size is the most important thing to know about a bike. If you don't know the size, find out at a bike shop.

Mention as much detail as possible, brands and models of such parts as hubs, wheel rims, crank sets, derailers, pedals, handlebar and stem, saddle.

Oh, one more thing, a photo is a big help.

Well, good luck.

The Perfect Trail

2008-05-26T22:58:00.000-04:00

At one time, I thought I know what made a perfect trail. It was near my home and had easy access. It sported rollers, a huge drop called "death hill," and a giant jump. Well, now 20 years later, I still look for rollers and all those neat things but now I know that's not all to look for.

A trail should always end while you are still having fun. Part of the fun is not finding traffic, including horses or hikers walking in the opposite direction-- toward you! The sad news is that some trails are far too long and become torture to complete. However, some trails such as the Great Western Trail are, indeed, perfect with the right mix of this and that that makes for a great ride.

All trails should be a single track about 24" on the straights, with somewhat wider areas at the corners. I think corners and turns should be together in sections between long straight sections.

All trails should be downhill and the sides should curve slightly 3 to 5 inches at each edge. That amount of curve is safe. Did I mention that all trails should be downhill? I hate climbing. Ideally, the descent should prevent the need for much pedalling, while preventing the need for constant braking. The soil should be soft but packed. It should have just enough moisture to allow the biker behind you to breath without a filter. Obstacles should also be together in sections with long stretches between them.

Well, that's what I think the perfect trail should be like. You can find trails like this. But sadly, many are not as nice as my perfect trail as I have described it. So, anyway, happy hunting.