Month: June 2017

What is Cross Chaining?

I’m by no means an expert when it comes to the technical workings of bicycles, and a lot of folks are like me; you want to hop on your bike and just go. Just want everything to work. I have taken the liberty to learn some of the very basics, such as how to properly clean and lube the chain, change a flat, etc. However, when I was picking up my family’s bicycles from the shop after their yearly tune-up, I overheard a conversation of another customer with the store owner that reminded me of the same conversation I had a few years prior. The question I overheard was, “Cross chaining? What is cross chaining?”

 

cross-chain-triple

 

I had never heard of it either until one year, picking my bike up from the shop, the mechanic, out of the blue, started lecturing me on All Things Bikes. Some of it went over my head, but the cross chaining thing caught my ear. The below link takes you to an article that nicely explains what it is as well as why and how to avoid it. Enjoy!

 

How to Survive a Cycling Crash

While hitting the pavement isn’t a thought most of us like to contemplate, if you ride long enough, you’ll find that this is indeed an inevitable reality. But just as you learned to steer, brake and push your body to the limits of your endurance, the art of the fall is also a skill that can be learned — and it could be the difference between a serious injury and just a few scrapes and scratches which is something you would do if you’re serious about your training, of course if you also want to train at home, you can get resources from Commercial Gym Equipment Design to create a perfect place for this.

Use these tips to minimize the damage the next time you’re in a worst-case scenario out on the road.

First Things First

Before you learn how to fall, there are a few things that cyclists should always do to help prevent a serious injury from occurring. These include:

  • Wear a helmet. While most of your other body parts will heal from a crash over time, a head injury is harder to recover from — and could even be fatal.
  • Accept that a crash could happen. Instead of not thinking about it, accept the dangers of the sport. It could help to modify your behavior on the road and remind you to keep safety a No. 1 priority.
  • Follow all traffic laws. Coming to a complete stop at stop signs and using hand signals when turning could help you prevent an accident.

How to Fall

When that unlucky incident does swing your way, learning how to fall can help minimize the damage.

Once you’ve realized that hitting the ground can’t be avoided, here’s what you should do:

1. Keep your arms and legs close to your body. The natural reaction will be to put your arm out to brace for impact. This will place most of the force on the wrist and shoulder — and make a broken clavicle much more likely.

2. Get the air out of your lungs. By tightening your diaphragm before you hit the ground, you’ll be less likely to suffer a broken rib.

3. Keep your eyes closed. In the moments before impact, keeping your eyes closed will prevent an injury from your sunglasses or handlebars. It’ll also reduce psychological trauma if you’re lucky enough to remember the crash.

4. As you hit the ground, roll onto your shoulder and hip. This will distribute the force of the impact along your entire body instead of one specific area, which can keep you from sustaining a serious injury. Keep your arms and legs pulled in as close to your core as possible, with your chin touching your chest.

5. Stay down until you’re sure it’s safe to get up. If you’re riding in a group when the crash occurs, the cyclists behind you still present a dangerous situation. Stay down with your hands over your head until the other cyclists have maneuvered around you.

After the Crash

Regardless of how certain you are that an injury has or hasn’t occurred, you should always follow these steps post-crash:

  • Assess the damage. Make note of what hurts. If an injury to the head or neck is involved, don’t move. Have someone get medical attention right away. If you have trouble breathing, this may also be a signal to call 911.
  • Get out of the way. If you can stand without too much pain, move to the side of the road to avoid further danger.
  • Call someone. If the accident occurred with another vehicle, you’ll want to contact local law enforcement. If it occurred alone or with another cyclist, make sure you call a significant other to let him or her know what’s happened.
  • Get checked out. Because of the dump of adrenaline in the body following a crash, you may not realize how hurt you really are. To be safe, have a loved one take you to the doctor and get checked out. It’s always better to err on the side of caution.

 

Source

How to Build Your Home Workshop

There are a few ways to build your home workshop. One is to purchase all of the tools you need at once. Most people won’t be able to do this. Another way is to purchase tools here and there as you can afford it. And a third way is to purchase the tools as you need them. However you decide to do it, here is a list of tools that will make a fairly (not fully) complete workshop. This list isn’t all possible tools, but the ones that will help you get just about any job done. Without further ado, here we go:

All sizes metric unless otherwise noted

Gear brush
Chain lube (waxless) Rock n Roll or Pro Gold
Spray lube (GT85)
Degreaser (Simple Green)
Waterproof grease
Good floor pump
Hex wrenches
Tire levers
Torque wrench, the kind that clicks (one up to 15m)
Sockets (3 to 10)
Allen wrenches that go on sockets
Dedicated chain cleaner
Open ended wrenches (7mm – 19mm)
Cone wrenches
Screw drivers of various sizes
Chain checker (Park)
Digital pressure gauge
Needle nose & regular pliers
Patch kit (glueless for tubes, glue type for tubeless)
Chain tool (dedicated one)
Chain hook (usually homemade out of a coat hanger)
Bike stand (ParkTool PCS-4)
Lock ring tool, Whip chain, Crescent wrench (For removing cassettes)
Spoke wrenches
Picks (with different kinds of tips)
Park CNW2 (For holding back of chainring bolts)
Wire cutters (Cutter that does both the inner and outer wire)
Park BBT-9 bracket tool
Truing stand
Rim wrench (For taking dings out of rim)

 

Why Get Into Bicycling?

You don’t have to be a hardcore cyclist, riding 50-100 miles a day (although, you may if that’s your thing) to experience the joys of cycling. There are numerous benefits of getting into cycling. Including, but not limited to:

  • Getting some exercise: Nothing like breathing nice fresh air and getting a little cardio in at the same time. Nice way to get in shape and lose a few pounds!
  • Reduce stress: This one kinda goes with the first one. It was been proven that exercise can help reduce stress and anxiety, and even help cheer you up when you’re feeling a little down.
  • Save Gas & Go Green: Gas is expensive. Cars pollute. Why not do your part, when you can, and go green?
  • Explore Your Environment: How often we drive by beautiful scenery, surroundings/architecture in our cars. On your bike, you can take it in and enjoy it all at a slower pace.

So let’s go, what are you waiting for?

Stravistix

Stravistix is a free analytics and monitoring utility that is somewhat comparable to TrainingPeaks, SportTracks and the like. It’s a Google Chrome Plugin that adds more data and information to your Strava data. It is recommended to have Strava Premium to get the most out of it.  While it’s not as robust as the previously mentioned tools, it’s a great addition to your Strava data.

Works with Google Chrome and Opera

Stravistix for Google Chrome

Stravistix for Opera