FIRST in a Four Part Series

Based on last month's BICycle Post, informing us of an increase in registration fees for RAGBRAI, it's automatically gonna be tougher to get our money's worth this year. That means we really ought to prepare carefully to ensure an enjoyable ride. I would say that's just "common sense," except that we're talking about riding a bicycle 500 miles and sleeping on the ground for about a week. "Common sense" doesn't seem to have much to do with it so I'll try to avoid that term.

Preparing for an enjoyable ride requires attention to a few areas of conditioning: (1) The Motor, (2) The Rolling Equipment, (3) The Motor Mount, and (4) The Elements of Riding. I'll go into one of these areas each issue for the next few months. I'll start with the most important one now.

Short of getting Lance Armstrong to forego the Tour de France this year, we'll each have to make do with our old motors. That means getting it into tuned up well enough shape to keep going all week without breakdowns or fuel shortages. (Either of these translates as pain to my bike's motor.) There is a lot of training advice published each month in bike magazines, and it won't hurt much to read it. But it usually sounds like work to me. So I just let my goals guide my training. If my goal is to finish a long ride without pain, and still be able to ride the next day, my general rule is 1 week = 1 day for a month. That is, for the whole month before an important one-day ride of a certain distance, I ride at least that day's miles each week in training. That has the advantage preparing your heart, lungs, bike skills, and attitude to meet the goal. It also has the added advantage of warning you about problems in the rolling equipment (the bike) or motor mount (riding position). (I'll cover these in the next two segments.)

For Ragbrai (about 500 miles in 7 days), that means a month of at least 70 miles per week is enough. Only seventy miles a week? That's just ten miles a day, less than 45 minutes, if you ride every day! But it's a benign way to remind your seat to get used to the saddle, your hands to get used to the bars, and your knees to bend a lot. Getting your seat used to the saddle is the one point where help might be needed-goo. I've found that rubbing Vaseline or Bacitracin on the spots that might be chafed by the saddle, or the bike shorts' chamois, really keeps me more comfortable during and after a ride. This is especially important when starting out a new season or going on a really long ride.

Frequent repetition is all you really need to avoid pain on the first day of Ragbrai. Riding several days a week will help you avoid pain while accumulating those training miles, and it will remind your motor that it has to keep working for several days in a row on Ragbrai. Riding the same 70 miles on one weekend day each week will not accomplish the benign seat, hand, knee, and heart conditioning that is all important. Usually, it just turns training into work-i.e., instant over-training.

If your goal is to make each day of Ragbrai into a time trial or a race, then you should approach full speed on a "hard day-easy day" training schedule for more than a month. But if you just want to see Iowa by bike and make it the whole way in relative comfort, don't go out and whup yourself in training. Enjoy yourself; take it easy (especially at first); remember, junk miles are good miles. Just spend several days a week reacquainting yourself with that two-wheeled vehicle. You may soon find that you enjoy training as much as Ragbrai. Your motor will love you for the health benefits you give it.

SECOND in a Four Part Series

The simple motor overhaul I discussed last month gives you a great opportunity to check the functionality of the next most important part of your Ragbrai vehicle-your bike. The frequent short training rides I suggest will not only help you notice any nagging equipment problems, but will also let you know whether your repairs were adequate and permanent, especially if you pay particular attention to any squeaks, ticks, or rubbing that you can feel or hear during your training/shakeout rides. Except for the motor, any of your other bike equipment can be replaced-but not conveniently during Ragbrai, and not without expense-both time and money. So it's best to make sure it's all working well before you put it on the truck. I'm compulsive enough to give you a checklist of the major possible bike problems that you could face on Ragbrai. But if you watch for them on your shakeout rides, you probably won't have to deal with them out on the road in July.

Here is the list of equipment that might need repair, with the most likely ones first, and the common problems associated with each:

• [ ] chain: wear, stiffness, sideways play, rust
• [ ] cables: frayed, rusted, about to break or come loose
• [ ] chainrings and cogs: worn, cupped teeth
• [ ] brakes: worn pads, looseness, play, rubbing
• [ ] tires: tread wear, cord showing, cuts, frayed sidewalls, bulges, dried rubber [ ] derailleurs: cable attachments, adjustment
• [ ] hubs: bearings, bearing races, looseness, spoke attachment, quick releases
• [ ] wheels: untrue/wobbles, dishing, tightness, spokes, rim cracks
• [ ] bottom bracket: smoothness, looseness, play
• [ ] pedals: cracks, bearings, play, slop
• [ ] cleats: wear
• [ ] frame: straightness, stress cracks, dropouts bent or cracked
• [ ] fork: dropouts, straightness, cracks
• [ ] stems: cracks, retainer bolts
• [ ] handlebars: fractures of bar at stem and bends
• [ ] saddle: mounts

Reading the bike mags about the latest developments in cyclery would suggest that it's almost imperative to buy a new bike, made of the latest materials, with the latest derailleurs, and with the weirdest looking wheels for optimum performance. You may especially want to go this route if your old frame suffers from some of the potential problems listed below:

[ ] frame: scratched paint, rust, worn decals, old Ragbrai bands, dirt

You could actually lower your bike weight this way by five pounds for less than three or four thousand dollars. It would probably take over a week of watching your diet to lose the same amount of weight off your motor. And that would eliminate the necessity of nourishing that extra weight and supplying it with oxygen while riding. Unfortunately the diet approach probably wouldn't take any extra weight off your wallet, and you'll have to carry that up several hills in July.

Most of the suggestions I'm making in these articles are things I've learned the hard way over the years. Based on my own experience, never use new equipment on an important ride. (An important ride is one that's away from home, that you had to pay for, where somebody keeps track of the finishers.) Something is bound to go wrong. So don't ride anything you haven't used almost daily for the last two weeks of training. That way you can be sure it actually works. Old reliable stuff is better than new untested stuff.

THIRD in a Four Part Series

Motor Mount

Once you're assured of an adequate vehicle (a steady, sturdy bike) and an adequate motor (a well-conditioned you), the major remaining challenge is a good motor mount (your riding position). This is more crucial to your riding comfort, and more difficult to achieve than you might imagine. Getting a good riding position involves saddle height and tilt adjustment, handlebar height and stem extension, and handlebar wrapping. Saddle height is the most important of these. So it's best to get it right before you fiddle with the other adjustments.

If your saddle is too low, you will inevitably develop sore knees. If it's too high, you will develop a sore back on long rides. There is about a half inch of slop between too high and too low that won't result in pain over a long ride like Ragbrai. When your saddle is too low, your legs stay bent throughout a complete pedal stroke. That means your legs never get to their strongest, nearly straight, position. The result is strain on your knees. In order to prevent knee problems, each leg should get almost straight, but not locked, for a moment at the bottom of each stroke. You can probably feel whether your legs are getting straight enough. If they aren't, raise your saddle a bit. If you can't tell, get a co-rider to watch from the side.

In order to compensate for a saddle that's too high, the rider's hips must rock up and down with each pedal stroke. That causes a constant sideways back-and-forth flexing of the lower spine, which leads to back pain. Since rocking hips are quite noticeable to a riding partner, it will behoove you to ride with someone who will watch your legs and hips from behind. If your hips are rocking, lower the saddle a bit.

A bit? How much is that? If you're used to your bike riding position, you probably shouldn't change it by much each time. When I went through this procedure long ago, I found that changes of 1/4 inch or so were quite noticeable. By the time I made the last 1/4 inch raise in saddle height, I could tell that it was too much. The next change was a bit smaller, a 1/8 inch, decrease. So... Keep it up until you get the saddle into the comfort zone.

All those short training rides will give you lots of opportunity to get the saddle height right and test it. Then you'll want to try the other adjustments. If you tend to slide further back on your saddle than you like, or your euphemism tends to go numb, adjust the saddle's nose down a bit. If you tend to slip to the front of the saddle, or if your hands have too much pressure on them, raise the saddle's nose a bit. Changing the saddle's tilt may require you to readjust its height some too, so it's good that you are doing such frequent short training rides, getting so many chances to optimize your riding position.

Girls are shaped different from boys. Most of us know that, but bicycle makers don't seem to. Sexism in cycling ensures that most bikes are OK for boys and uncomfortable for girls. That's because the frames of most bikes are built to fit average men, not women. Women tend to have longer legs and shorter upper bodies than men of the same height. As a result, a frame that is the right height for each will have a top-tube that's too long for the woman if it's been designed for a man. Thus women will tend to have a longer stretch to the handlebars, and a greater propensity for numb hands, sore shoulders, and sore neck. The easiest adaptation for this problem is a handlebar stem with about an inch shorter extension than is standard on a man's frame. But since that correction may have already been done, don't race out for a new stem unless you're having numb hand problems with yours. But do pay attention on the training rides.

The other place girls are shaped different from boys is at the seat. Saddles designed for men are somewhat too narrow for most women's comfort. Several saddle makers now sell saddles made to fit women. Don't settle for a saddle that's not right.

Another potential motor mount problem is numb hands. It comes from too much weight on your hands in the same position for too long. If your little finger and the outside of your ring finger go numb, that's cyclist's palsy. If your first two fingers and the inside of your ring finger go numb, that's carpal tunnel syndrome. If your computer keyboard isn't causing these problems, your bike position shouldn't either.

Prevention is twofold: minimize hand pressure and vary hand position constantly. One involves your bike; the other involves your habits. On the bike, besides stem extension, there are a few other adjustments to test. A handlebar stem that's too low increases the weight on your hands. The comfort range for riders from racers to tourists is from about 5 inches below saddle level to even with it. Generally as you raise the handlebars a given distance, you'll want to lengthen the stem extension by about half the same amount. Fooling with this can be expensive since it involves new stems, so if you're really having hand troubles that handlebar padding can't cure you may want to get a totally adjustable stem such as the Look Ergostem, which is easily adjustable in height and extension.

The other prevention for numb hands involves varying your hand position regularly while riding. We can classify the four major grip positions as "on the flats," "on the tops," "on the (brake) hoods," and "in the drops" moving outward on the bars from the stem. "On the flats" is conducive to carpal tunnel syndrome. "In the drops" is conducive to cyclist's palsy. "On the hoods" strains the wrists. And "on the tops" can cause all three. I tend to ride "on the flats" with a tailwind, "in the drops" into a headwind, "on the tops" while climbing a hill, and "on the hoods" when I need extra control. Extra fat bar tape will help in all positions by widening the bar where you grip it.

Ragbrai Prep
Jim Woodhead
Writing from Beautiful Pasadena

LAST COLUMN IN FOUR PART SERIES

The Elements of Cycling

The elements of cycling are pretty easy to grasp. Point the bike towards your destination and keep the wheels turning until you get there. But the elements of nature that you will be confronted with or might be exposed to are something else again. They are challenges that take "common sense" out of our planning picture. Some can be depended on: light, dark, sunrise, sunset, hills, rumble strips, gravel, and hunger. Others are likely, but not dependable: sun, heat, humidity, wind, rain, cold. Two of the worst won't be a factor on Ragbrai: ice and snow. That's good, because as a Southern Californian, I can't give you any advice on them.

The dependable elements are easy: always wear sunglasses while riding in the bright sun. They cut down on glare that would make riding less safe, and they protect your eyes from things thrown up from the road. Unpolarized glasses are best because they don't suppress the sparkle that alerts you to broken glass in the road. If you plan to get on your bike at night you should have a bright blinker taillight and a headlight with good batteries so you can easily be seen in the dark.

The most challenging of the dependable elements are the hills. In a Westerner's view, Iowa is (mostly) flat. That makes the big hills, which the Ragbrai planners obviously design their route to encounter, more of a challenge. Since most of the riders on the road in July are "flatlanders," they don't know how to climb or descend safely. That increases the chance of a mishap for the rest of us.

Besides your short regular training rides, all it takes to get over the steepest hill is planning, low gears, and a little Zen. As you come to a hill, don't wait until you are crawling up it to shift down. Do it while you still can, before the hill becomes hard-keep spinning. That will help save your knees.

If you're starting to have trouble when climbing a long, steep hill (like Piffer Hill-some of you may remember it), don't search for the top to see how far you still have to go, and don't look back to see how far you've come, just zone out while telling yourself, "I can keep doing what I'm doing for the time being." That's Zen, the Zen of Cycling. It will get you over the hill and all the way to the end of a ride, even when you don't feel absolutely great.

Eat before you're hungry. You need fuel to keep going. But don't eat things that you are totally unused to-especially high tech foods like Power Bars if they are new to you. They may give you diarrhea. I have learned this the soft way. You can't get anywhere when you're stuck in a Kybo.

It's those pesky undependable elements that drive most of us crazy. We just have to learn to cope with them. The Zen of Cycling will help here, too, but specific planning will really help.

Sun-A sunburn can totally ruin your Ragbrai experience. Sun block with SPF 15 or higher, one that doesn't wash off with rain or sweat, is the way to go. This is something to experiment with on your short shakeout rides. Cover legs and arms at least a couple of inches up under the edge of shorts or jersey because they'll ride up as you're riding. Also, the elastic at the edge of tight cycling apparel tends to constrict the cooling blood flow in skin capillaries, making the skin more easily burned. Don't forget the other spots that need sun block protection such as the neck (back and front), cheeks, lips, nose, ears, and back of hands. Parents-your kids will get sunburned unless you supervise the sun block application or apply it yourself. Otherwise, their bright red glow may make it hard for you to sleep in that little tent at night.

Heat-I'm familiar with this one. It reached 103ø when I did the Century Loop with my 11 year old daughter on a tandem several years ago. I carry several water bottles on the tandem. We stayed hydrated and managed to live through the experience. I still remember the frozen fruit cups we got at a stop on the loop that year. I've also ridden successfully in Death Valley at 106ø this past fall. Drink before you're thirsty, right from the start. Drink on a schedule, so you won't forget and get dehydrated. Every five or ten miles will work.

Humidity-I think that's invisible water in the air. We don't get that in Southern California.

Rain-We do get this in Southern California. I can still remember some from just last year. It makes riding uncomfortable. So I plan for it. In Iowa, I bring along a really classy, very compact and lightweight, custom rain jacket similar to the ones used by Girl Scouts on hikes-a plastic garbage bag with cutouts for head and arms. It really works, and it may easily be kept in a jersey pocket or seat bag just in case.

Cold-This is something that I remember from Ragbrais past, also. Since we usually start riding at the crack of dawn, it's usually coldest in the beginning of each day. I always pack my duffel with long-legged tights and a long-sleeved jersey or jacket in case I need them. On cold days, we start out wearing them, and stuff them into the tandem's rear trunk when we don't need them anymore.

This is the last of my four columns on Ragbrai preparation. Best wishes for an enjoyable ride!