Cycling Questions and Answers
How should I train for the Iceman contained by Kalkaska, MI for November, 2007?
Question:I signed up and paid the tax, now I hold to take the ride. How should I prepare myself? My bike (hardtail, front suspension)? What equipment should I use? What should I wear?
Answers:
Reading this it seem that this is your first time at Iceman and perhaps your first bike see. My wife did the race final year and did very resourcefully. Here are some of what we did for her.
1. Ride a lot on gravel and two track roads (seasonal non-maintained) until that time the race. Start this at smallest 6 weeks ahead of the race week, that mortal the last Sunday beforehand Iceman, (The week of the Iceman, taper down and should not be counted as a training week), and try and ride at least once a week on these type of roads for 2-2 1/2 hours Seasonal roads are great prep because they recurrently have adjectives conditions that the trail does with some fun stuff approaching branches, big holes filled near water and narrowing track next to soft sand you need to muscle through.
2. Start training for your see in the spring. Do lots of road riding, if you hold a road bike great, if you don't it's okay, to build up your aerobic and endurance level. This is not a technical see, it's better to have a stronger lungs and legs than skills.
3. Race at least possible once, or twice before Iceman. Experience the anxiety of the start row and getting ready for a see. Riding and racing are two different things and getting a few below the belt will help you greatly within November. This will also give a initiate rider experience with race with other riders. Many newbies achieve spooked by other racers yelling at them, or endorsement them in come to a point areas. This gives you the knowhow of what to expect from others and what to say and when to surpass. Depending on your wave and category at Iceman you could hold up to 100 riders. My wave ending year had 165!
4. Have a bike that works okay and is properly maintained. By see day you should enjoy all problems economically worked out and be riding smooth. If you haven't ridden in a while hold someone check your position on the bike. Sore backs, shoulders, and knees are sometimes not the sufferer of hard training but of poor position on the bike. Check near local shops at their fit-kit abilities. Remember: a trait fit is not the mechanic or sales guy watching you ride surrounded by the parking lot and make a few observations. A flawless fit-kit person will bring 30-45 minutes and set you and your bike on a trainer to watch you ride. This might cost money, depending on the shop, but resourcefully worth it.
Hope these help. See you surrounded by November.
Ride your bike! :)
How about greatly of Dirt road rides with hill. If this is your only see.. then that should be fine. If you are from Michigan (close to Rochester, MI), do a great deal of riding at Stoney Creek.
Hardtail is fine. Heck, use a rigid if you want.
Ride, ride, ride, ride, and ride. The trail is not technically difficult, but you will have to resembling climbing plenty of hills. Most of the see is on wider two-tracks with some singletrack and sand pits thrown contained by. The trail can also be anywhere from soft and very sandy to firm and icy depending on the weather. Bike choice is very personal, I've see cross-bikes, fully ridgid singlespeeds, full suspension bikes and even a Surly with 4 inch wheel. What to wear depends on the conditions. One year they had an icestorm the darkness before and it be snowing the entire time, other years the temps were within the high 40's at the finish.
I am planing a 550km bicycle trip alone. Can anyone pass me a suitable suggestion,routine and programme?
Question:for this 550km trip. Is it good if i break it into 10 days( which is more or less 50km per day ) to finish it. What must i prepare? What things to lift notice of? What to bring? I inevitability people who have experience in long bicycle trip to give me warning. Thanks.
Answers:
I planned a 444 mile (710.4 km) trip from Nashville, TN to Natchez, MS in September on the Natchez Trace. Two of us be going to do it in 4 days. We have to carry 40 pounds of stuff next to us (each) since we had to take what we were going to devour and we had to military camp out the first two nights. We be going to stay at hotels the last two night and then hold someone drive us back from Natchez, MS. Since your trip is singular 31.25 miles per day, you own less to plan for. You'll requirement 8 ounces of water for every 30 minutes of riding, you'll entail about 100 calories for every 20 minutes of riding, you'll stipulation inner tubes(!), an air pump, bike shorts, bike tools (to fix a flat, adjust your brakes, adjust your spokes, etc), you requirement a helmet, you need an ID bracelet contained by case you crash, carrying a cell phone simply for emergency would be helpful, hold your map, know where you're staying, a cyclometer would serve, sunglasses, and the right weather clothing. You might be riding for two, maybe three hours per daytime. If you forgot something, you have plenty of time between rides to find what you need. If you're riding alone and depending where on earth you're riding, we brought a handgun.
I've had experience near SHORT bike rides - and I can tell you this. Make sure you hold a VERY COMFORTABLE seat on that bike!
I havn't have a good long ride contained by awhile.
My longest ride, I do not know the conversion...
178.6 miles in soon...
Including two "mountain Passes" From Tacoma WA. , up to PARADISE MT. Rainier (5,500 ft.)
and then up and over CAYUSE PASS, (5,000 ft.) plus another 2-3000 foot of little UPS AND DOWNS LIKE BOX CANYON, 1,500 ft...etc. etc.
Okay to answer your question...
More info may be required,
Are you CAMPING along the instrument, or ROUGHING IT in HOTELS?
If you are camp, take Dehydrated FOODS, or FREEZEDRIED, Lightweight you know...
It have been too long for me since I even enjoy BEEN on a BICYCLE...
Plenty of food, water, match, first aid, innertubes,small tool kit,cel phone, camera...map are good within a small handlebar bag and you can also preserve some HIGH ENERGY Snack food in in that.
You may want to use rear panniers, unless you want an achy breaki backbone...
but I would imagine you enjoy that all figure out.
Have a good time...and a risk-free ride.
DJH
If you want to be cautious nearly your planning, do some two or three day trips first, so you can cram about what you necessitate to carry, how best to transport it, how your body responds to the long hours on the bike, and whether you'd really want to do it for ten days. An average of 50km per day is a sensible dream - you can always do some side trips if you own spare energy. Remember that you can't control the weather so some flexibility may be within order. I usually don't wish where I'm going to stop for the hours of darkness until I'm halfway through the time. For your first long trip consider planning a route that allows you to bail out and take a bus or train.
Unless you are already riding a great deal, a long tour can take saddle-soreness to a undamaged new horizontal, and your neck, shoulder, and unsurprisingly leg muscles can also suffer. The more accustomed you are to long hours on the bike beforehand, the more easily your body will modify.
The same applies to keeping the fuel up. If this is a lot more vivacity than you've ever expended in ten days, after a couple of days you're possible to get hungry close to you've never known. It's a great sensation when you're sitting down to a meal, but not when you own 20+km to ride in a headwind. Carry high-carbohydrate snacks at lowest possible.
Hydration can be an issue if the weather is warm, and is the most critical article to take distinguish of if you aren't accustomed to managing your body through daily exertion surrounded by the heat. Carry more than adequate water and top up your supplies at every opportunity.
If you're camp, when you're on the road remember that it take time and energy to set up military camp. Don't exhaust yourself on the bike.
When should i replace my derailleur hanger?
Question:i have a cheap schwinn frame and the derailluer hanger seem to get bent purely riding around around town and jumping bad things. anyway, its slightly bent right now - by merely a few degrees - but satisfactory to cause problems beside the chain and the shifting. i already straightened it out once, and i read that when a hanger have been straightened twice, it should be replaced. i already broke two hanger, and replaced them with Specialized hanger (as close a match i could find, i couldnt proclaim the one specific for my bike).
my question is, do i spend the $20 to buy a tentative hanger and replace it now, or straighten it out and risk it breaking? (if nearby is a risk) i already put a nice wobble in my $200 controls when the last one broke. how much longer will it closing?
are there any stronger brands/material for these or any mode at all to get them stronger? i know they are supposed to break instead of the derailleur itself, but in my luggage, they are the same price. i don t vigilance either course.
Answers:
If the bike is fairly fresh, and the dérailleur hangers you option to use really do match, take 3 or 4! When selling the bike in the adjectives, that will help it provide. Replacement parts get harder to find the elder a bike gets.
Also, you do NOT want the dérailleur hanger to be strong than the frame of the bike. (and/or dérailleur), thats the unbroken point of a dérailleur hanger. Cheaper bikes do not come with an odds to change the hanger, once its bent (or broke).
yes, you should replace the hanger...
but if you verbs to have problems, it is probably because you are riding too knotty on a cheap bike that can't handle the verbal abuse. consider saving your money and buying a better bike.
Buying a stronger one defeat the purpose of the hanger. It breaks (bends) so more expensive parts (de-rail) don't.
Bend the heck out of it until it snaps and pop a new one within. I keep one contained by my camelback. We snap them all the time.
whats up dude. dont know if youve be to the Park site yet but u might wanna check it out. and that other place too. next man.
http://www.derailleurhanger.com/...
http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto...
It sounds like you might own more of a problem with your frame, vs. the derailleur hanger. If you progress to a good bike shop, they should be capable of tell you if your frame is bent or if something else is the problem. A majority derailluer hanger should not bend unless something hits it. In any case, if you are jump off things, I would suggest spending the extra coin and getting yourself a virtuous bike that can handle some swearing versus using your POS schwinn.
I be afford a bike beside gears, but the cuff keep slipping stale. Can anyone inform me how I can fix this.?
Question:Also if i want to ride the bike on mainly flat surfaces should i set the gears to 1 on the departed and 7 on the right??
Thank you any help is appreciated!
Answers:
Let me first communicate how the gears work. In the back (right lever), the larger sprockets are the low gears, and the smaller ones are the large gears. In the front, the larger sprocket is the highest gear and the smallest one is the lowest gear. So if you own the smallest pulling the largest, you are in the lowest gear combination, and if you hold the largest pulling the smallest, you are in the chief gear combination.
What you say roughly speaking flat surfaces is good. Just experiment beside how it feels. The 1 on the gone and the 7 on the right is good, but so is 2 on the vanished and one on the right. It is all more or less preference and touch. If it feels too intricate, go to a lower gear, and if it is too confident or you need to move about faster (assuming you are not already getting winded or the "burn"), go to a sophisticated gear.
On the chain slipping, it depends on which side it slips, and if it is the front or the subsidise. First of all, engineer sure the rear helm is about as centered as possible, while still have plenty of metal holding on the left bolt. If it is give or take a few as far forward as possible, you probably don't need to do anything beside the wheel.
If it is slipping past its sell-by date in the backbone, it depends if it is passing the largest sprocket, or if it is getting hung subsequent to the frame. There should be two small set screws discoloured H and L on the rear deraileur (the article that moves the chain around). If it jump off the immense sprocket in the rear, tighten the L screw about a quarter of a turn, try-out, and readjust if necessary. If it jump off the smaller sprocket and get hung between it and the frame, then tighten the H screw a quarter of a turn, examination, and readjust if necessary. If you hold the opposite problem of not person able to make all the gears, you can try loosening the appropriate set screw.
If you are losing the secure on the front, it works the opposite of the above. If you are losing the secure on the inside (smallest sprocket), tighten the L screw on top of the front deraileur. If you are losing the tie up in the sprocket guard, afterwards tighten the H screw. Loosen the appropriate screw if the chain cannot realize a sprocket.
On the rear axle in that are two nuts that hold the axle to the frame. Loosen those nuts and move the axle as far toward the opening on the frame as possible. This will tighten the secure some. If it is still too loose, you may have to remove a join from the chain. This is something best moved out to someone with experience working next to bikes. Taking your bike to a bike shop would be your best bet. It would likely cost smaller quantity than $10-15 for the adjustment.
As for the riding around on flat surfaces and what gear to use, try them all. Find the one that most fits your requirements. Lower gears are for climbing and starting off. Higher gears are for cruising and better speeds.
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