BEST DAYS CYCLING

BACK AT A PLACE TO START TALKING ABOUT CYCLING

by PETER THOMAS BUSCH

The long haul since my last boarding day is matched only by the long haul still yet to go to the first riding day of the next season.

In between, I still have the Tea Run and the Rollercoaster for the summer road cycling season.

The shoulder season has so far been primarily about recovery – in various forms, but generally, as I now realize, the tremendous amount of time required to rebuild the strength in my knees and upper legs.

On the second of four days snowboarding on the mountain in Banff National Park, I fell back onto a sheet of ice (after my snowboard slipped away forward) and bruised my tail bone. On the morning of the forth day riding, I fell back again onto a sheet of ice, but this time, to protect my already bruised tail bone, I braced my fall with both hands, and fractured both of my thumbs.

I was starting to feel a bit like a Calgary Rodeo star, when on the afternoon of the fourth day, I got frost bight on my face.

I can write about that now because I consider much of the rehabilitation has occurred in the past, possibly as much as 90 per cent, with about 10 weeks left in the road cycling season here in Vancouver.

My thumbs have sidelined me from the gym, and so I am losing upper body strength from the lack of weight training. But if I do not wait long enough, my thumbs will not heal correctly. Going back into the gym next month will be a tough, long haul climb back into shape.

The reduced activity over the last 12 months took a substantial toll on my overall fitness. So, I am at today where I would normally be about six weeks ago.

While I did strength training to get into shape for a few days snowboarding, I have not gotten many riding days in during the winter. And that lack of activity really caught up to me this spring when I got back on the road for cycling.

I wont dwell on it, but probably my best year was the winter just before Covid hit, when I got 26 snowboarding days in and then got an early April start to road cycling. Last year I only got 4 days riding in, and the year before only about 8 days.

I have turned the corner on that problem though as of today, I suppose. My tail bone has healed up and my thumbs are at about 80%.

I am so positive about my road cycling that I tuned up my road bike to get ready for the best cycling days of the year typically through August and a warm, dry September.

I also picked up a new habit this year of taking care of my bike’s drive train before or after each ride, by first cleaning the chain and spin wheels, or whatever they are called, with heavy chain oil on a cloth and picking off the built-up chain grease. I often use Q-tips to get into the hard to reach drive train areas where grease develops, and generally do a dry clean of the moving parts.

Just like car oil, you know, if the chain oil is black and heavy, it is no longer doing any good, and may even be causing a lot of damage.

I then use a light dry chain oil to drip onto the chain links. I let the dry chain oil slide down a few minutes and then I turn the wheels so the oil gets spun about all the moving parts.

I use pieces of old clothing, like an old sock with holes in it, to clean the chain.

You know the bike is upside down, resting on the seat and handlebars, when I work on it, right?

I was a bit embarrassed about getting a few flats over a few rides last week, so I decided to buy new tires and new tubes. I bought soft tires for speed. After examining my old tires, I found lots of punctures that didn’t get through to the tube, and a few abrasions from having to jam on the brakes a bit too quickly to avoid running a red light or plowing head-long into a moving car.

The new tires just barely fit on the rims. And I almost got frustrated and gave up at one point after not being able to get the tire on the wheel. But I kept working the tire, moving the tire on to the rim, in the end, about one inch at a time, and working the tire back and forth a bit to make it more flexible.

When you put new tubes in or new tires on, you’ve got to use a bit of spit polish as well and wipe down the wheels and the frame. I just use a sponge with a light household cleaner on caked-on dirt and grease, and sometimes, just water and dish soap will be enough.

Especially if you take the wheels off, it is nice to get at the built up grime on the inside of your forks.

But you don’t need to get the bike spotless. You know, the next ride, it just gets dirty again.

I also replaced the two sets of brake pads. And then I used the new brakes to true my wheels.

With the tires on, you just run the wheel to find the bulging points using the brake pads as a guide. Tighten the spokes to pull the wheel one way, and then also loosen the alternating spokes in the same range of identified spokes. Often, playing with only three or four spokes will get the wheel to bend a bit.

One or two additional tuning tips would be to slightly deflate the tires first, thereby taking pressure off the spokes, and only turn the spokes a quarter turn so as not to cause more damage than good to your wheel.

One year, I did not check for the longest time, and I was quite embarrassed when I used the tension test on the spokes, by taking my hand and lightly trying to squeeze two spokes together a bit. You quickly find out if you have one or two spokes that are way too loose.

I also took off my rear tool kit bag and put on a rear flashing red light. I lost the rear light I used last year. I also have a front white light to deter oncoming cars wanting to turn left in front of me, and to reduce the amount of dooring mishaps from the little people inside parked cars.

This was not a cheap tune up.

Each tire cost me about $100 CDN, and each inner tube cost $25 CDN. The lights are expensive, but rechargeable on a USB port. But nevertheless, the price for a rear light came in at about $56 CDN. (All prices before taxes) I bought the brake pads on-line last year, for about $20.

At the beginning of the season, I broke down and paid a bit more for new cycling bib shorts. I no longer purchase these on-line, and instead insist on trying them on prior to a purchase, after several wrong sizes arrived from the Canadian Customs House at YVR. This year I got two at $120 each. I also bought two last year, which I can still use, at about the same price.

I wear all four before throwing all four into the laundry. I take one day off from cycling while the little seat cushions dry.

I also bought four new sports shirts this year for cycling, ranging from $30 to $50. These also must be tried on before purchase. I have previously bought two different shirts from the same brand in the same size, that fit differently once I got them home and went to take the price labels off them.

I find this miss-sized apparel situation to be a rather infuriating outcome after spending an hour in the sports shop choosing so carefully a particular style and color. Anyway, try cycling clothes on first no matter how good it looks.

So, here is where we are at.

My favorite ride this year so far has been from Vancouver’s West End across the Burrard Street Bridge, following the bike path down to the Planetarium (when the road work trucks are not blocking the way) and then into the bike lane around Kits Beach and toward Spanish Banks.

I keep cycling up into UBC, including along the slight but long hill into the University road system. I muster passed the staircase down into Wreck Beach and make my way all the way to the Arbutus Greenway.

At the beginning of the season, I would head up the Arbutus Greenway, which cuts about one-half hour off the trip, if you can believe it. But now I do a U-Turn by crossing at the light, and then heading back the same way.

The long drawn out cycle back is worth the exhilarating descents back down into Spanish Banks or working a bit harder and continuing on Chancellor Boulevard and then coming down the hill at Jericho.

Once I am at Musqueam View Street and West 4^th Avenue, I turn left toward Point West Point Gray Road again. I really start to wind down here with about 20 minutes left in the ride at this point. Instead of sprinting to the door and winding down at home, I wind down on the bike and then head straight to the fridge for a cold, refreshing drink.

I just finished the Roller Coaster route across Lions Gate Bridge and to Horseshoe Bay and then back again, today. And a couple of days ago, I did three laps of Stanley Park during a heat wave – having lots of fun doing the Tea Run.

Anyway, I ‘ll see you out there. Stay safe on the roads.