biking is hard to do
 

I do squats and leg presses, lunges and such. But today I finally tried out my brand new bike and the hills where I live killed me. In just a few short minutes. Cardio is ok, it's just the legs.

If tshtf and we are out of gas, I will walk the bike out of the hills first before riding it.

Re: biking is hard to do
 

Heh, heh, you should try riding my Redline 925 single-speed in the hills. Talk about a workout!

I used to road race in my teens and early twenties. I was very good in the hills, that's where I gained ground on other riders.

http://www.redlinebicycles.com/adultbikes/925.html

Re: biking is hard to do
 

Heh. I've ridden a bike uphill a few times.

FWIW, just about everything you do uses different muscles. I stopped doing pullups when I started digging a few hours every day. Digging is way more easy for me now, but I can do only 1 less pullup than I could when I was doing pullups but not digging. Keep riding the bike and you will get stronger biking muscles.

Even if you walk the bike you can carry way more by mounting it on the frame and rolling it than trying to walk it out on your back.

Re: biking is hard to do
 

In jr high I lived in CA. I used to ride my bike up hill both ways to school and back...

I would concentrate my gaze about 15 feet in front of the wheel and pump.

What I learned was that if I didn't look at the top of the hill I would gradually make it.

Some call it "chunking" it down into smaller bits. Sometimes I would even traverse the street. Longer, but easier....

Re: biking is hard to do
 

Hills hurt even on 10 speeds, in my experience, though gears help. But I also found the more I biked the better I adapted. Eventually my knees complained too much and I stopped bike commuting. But it took biking as a kid plus 10+ years as an adult of long commutes to get a bad response from my knees.

And if your lady is into that cut look, it gives you some thighs like a bodybuilder, in time.

I sure miss the workout and quiet thinking time that put in my ordinary day. And really being out in the seasons. I had a backstreet route parallel to the artery roads so motorists would be few and not run me down.

Re: biking is hard to do
 

If you want destroy your prostate and possibly balls+develop a hunchback,by all means bike.Biking is the worst sport ever,period.

Hunchback
 

So you have smashed balls and a hunchback, or what?

BTW I ride mostly a single speed. :D

Re: biking is hard to do
 

If you need a little help pumping and want to keep your manhood intact try something like this. Nitto Albatross bars on a 3 inch riser, Ergo "The Seat"
and an www.elationebikes.com.au/ electric assist kit. For some reason the .au/ isn't embedding with the web address so if you want to take a look add that to the address. This company is in Oz.

Nice upright riding position allows one to be better seen in traffic and the snoutless seat puts all the pressure on your sit bones not the old prostate.


This is the version 250 watt 1.0 which is in the process of being replaced. Not quite up to my hill climbing needs given the local terrain but would be just fine for up to 5 percent grades. I will be upgrading to the 500 watt version 2.0 which is better suited to steep hill climbing and has easily changed gearing. The designer Allan Dow has taken input from users of the early version and come up with some great improvements.

My Pee Wee Herman in the 21st century ride. Since this picture I have trimmed the fender struts and added a heavy duty rear rack and use this for most of my errands and grocery shopping.

Re: biking is hard to do
 

That's a nice design. But the only seat I've ever used that are comfortable to the prostate are those fat ass huffy seats they sell at walmart. They don't look cool, but they'll save ur nuts...

I'm waiting for a GIMMER to design a bike that is a motor/generator. Motor for uphill, generator to charge battery downhill. I imagine they are out there, but my prostate chringes at the thought of sitting on one.

I used to bike alot until about age 35. Now I'd rather hire a kid with a rickshaw than climb back in the saddle.

Re: biking is hard to do
 

This is uphill, against the current of the drainage:

http://friends-n-family-research.info/FFR/Merrill_ebiking.wmv

Re: biking is hard to do
 

The seat on this is actually a bench about 9 inches wide so as long as you remember to remove the wallet and comb from the back pockets is quite comfortable.

Regenerative braking is available on the hub motors like the BionX but with two freewheels, one on the crank and one on the motor this set up won't charge. The trade off you make to have independent motor and cranking speeds.

Re: biking is hard to do
 

The Jackal is a bike I'd like to play with. Not for the timid. Be prepared for some serious rip snortin dirt kickin torque. Top speed is about 45mph and it holds a charge for about twenty miles.

Looks like they stopped building them. Too wicked. Now they are designing something a bit more tame.

http://www.thunderstruck-ev.com/jackal_home.htm

Re: biking is hard to do
 

They're pretty hot but not a legal bicycle in Washington as we've a limit of 1000 watts and/or 20MPH without pedal assist for on road use. Also missing are pedals which I use. The electric is for assist up hills etc. in my application. Plus I can lift mine and it's ok to haul on a bus/transit bike rack.

With that Etek motor and no pedals I classify it as a scooter. My health insurance would not cover any expenses from an accident on one of those but will with my pedalec. Another serious consideration.

Re: biking is hard to do
 

This is the only way to ride. 0-100 in 4.6 seconds. If it ain't got a motor, I'd rather walk.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...n37879/111.jpg

Re: biking is hard to do
 

That's really nice and all but in stop and go city traffic a bit of overkill.

When I want power in town I fire up my old Servi-car.

0 to 35 in less than a minute!

Re: biking is hard to do
 

First I don't/won't live in a city. That picture is in front of my shop. When I do go to the city I don't sit in traffic, lane splitting is the only way to ride in the city. What year Servi-Car? My wife has one, a stock (almost) 1969. That's how we met. She came riding into a Harley junkyard I was working in 25+ years ago. She needed generator work. Flat 45s are Coool!

Re: biking is hard to do
 

If you're worried about your nuts, and who isn't?!, try a recumbent bike. They're faster, too. As far as going up hills they are said to be slower but easier. I haven't had the chance to ride one up a real hill yet.

Re: biking is hard to do
 

That looks pretty cool. I think I'd go with that electric assist rather than a gas powered bike in a post SHTF scenario, a dual..... or triple fuel combo on a bike would be cool. Electric, gas, and foot powered :D

Here is a pic of a gas powered bike that's for sale here in Chile, I'm not sure if it's made here or not. I doubt it, Chileans aren't good at making stuff.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...a-centro10.jpg
500 bux. Yeah, it has the nutcracker seat.

Re: biking is hard to do
 

I kind of figured you weren't a townie judging from your avatar picture and the content of your posts. Me I ended up one in spite of myself.

My Servi-car is a '55, pretty much stock, the motor has been ported/polished and I run aluminum heads. Kept the M18 Linkert and 1" manifold for the extra bottom end torque. Used a squish tube from a Panhead and a larger muffler and tail pipe to go with it to free up the exhaust flow a bit. I run an earlier front fender cause I just don't care for the air flo straight edge fender look on a springer.

Gave up on white lining after encountering a door of a '74 Monte Carlo opening at a rather bad time for me.

Re: biking is hard to do
 

The main reason I went electric is that here gas power means its a moped and requires title/license/insurance etc. Electric within the regs is considered a bicycle. No license/insurance/title plus you can use the sidewalk and bike trails if the road is crowded. Electric is the lowest operating cost least regulated option, so far.

They do sell those Whizzer type conversions in the US but made in China, surprised?

Re: biking is hard to do
 

yes bikings tough when you first get into it. I could ride about 7mile before being totally wiped out when I began. Now 12.5miles is a warm up and about 25 or so is a reasonable ride. In the hills around my city are heaps of great trails for off road riding. I have wondered how useful it would be when SHTF to put distance between me and the city.

Slow and steady I could probably cover 50miles a day and still be standing but at the moment the 25mile 2hr ride still leaves me wiped out for the rest of the day. working on improving my recovery from these rides. So far it seems to be working. Times inching down and I'm staying awake for the rest of the day now instead of passing out from exhaustion.

those electric motors and battery pack bikes www.elationebikes.com.au are great. I have seen a few of these around. I am from oz. Mostly retired gents going to the store. Very quiet though so if some old guy goes whizzing past you don't get too despondent.... chances are he is not just wind assisted.

glass

Re: biking is hard to do
 

Once did 100 miles in a day, most of them up the A1 from Berwick upon Tweed to Edinburgh into a headwind (most unpleasant). Another time I did Edinburgh to Dundee of a Christmas Eve.

I like biking and still ride wherever I am. Not so far these days.

Re: biking is hard to do
 

My brother manages the west orange bike trail that loops about 30 miles of orange county fl. He rides a recumbent. I never got used to them, especially in traffic. I feel way too vulnerable in traffic in that reclining position. I want my weight on my feet, not on my ass. That's the key to bike riding. Use your legs. Going up steep inclines, you need to get off the seat and lean forward. In first gear on a 21 speed mountain bike you can go up a ski slope... well, maybe traverse up a ski slope.
But going back down is the payoff. Single track down a mountain on a recumbent, then tell me what you think of a recumbent.
Recumbent bikes are fast though, or rather they have some advantages.
Wind resistance primarily, and maybe a little advantage with the leg stroke as well as being able to rest more effectively while coasting.
Out on the road though, with truckers and soccer Moms putting on lipstick?
Yikes! I want better control than I've been able to get with a recumbent.
I've argued the point with my brother for 20 years now about what's better.
He can out distance me in a race by a few bike lengths and maybe he's not even hurting as much, but I still prefer the upright.
If I want to recline, I'll find a recliner.

West Orange Trail won't allow any form of motorized anything, gas or electric. If you have a motor on your bike, whether your engaging it or not, my brother the bike nazi will kick you off the trail. Or one of his brown shirt henchmen/women will.

By the way, he hates that part of his job.

Hill training is the key. I've a running background and rode the bicycle a few times during interims, leaving guys way behind on the hills who could dust me on the flats. Also I would train for them now and then, for example 1/2 mile repeats up a 6 percent grade at 96-102 rpm, 1/2 mile easy, spinning and tucking 1 mile down, easy in between and repeating 4 to 6 times. Another was a 1.1 mile 10 to 20 percent grade where I alternated standing and sitting to the top, riding the brakes down and repeating 4 or 5 times. Third was a 9 mile climb with the last 2 miles at 15-20 percent where I was spinning most of the lower parts and standing most of the last 2 miles of it.

I loved the hills but hated the downhills. A guy I dusted by 10 minutes in an 8 mile uphill race rode down the other side with me and was skidding sideways to the other side of the road with one foot down around the switchback turns. He's a hyper type AAA personality who raced downhills at 60 mph between trees, which he can have that, it's fine for him but not me lol.

I was doing the group rides once a week and gave it up because of too many accidents plus they liked to screw around which made it more dangerous. A nice fellow in his 60's was taking a bike tour in Oregon around that time and a truck ran right over his wife in the bike lane. Devastating. I hung my bike up in the garage and haven't touched it since and that was 10 years ago.

The other touring bike I have used occasionally to measure a couple of running routes around town but mostly use it on the bike stand inside for exercise. A lot of people say the Concept2 rowing machine is excellent for improving their cycling, even cyclists say this. I like the rowing machine and use it quite a bit.

Re: biking is hard to do
 

Those are really tame hills. I should point out I live in Colorado. I was doing really steep graded hills. If I leave my immediate neighborhood, then all is fine.

Re: biking is hard to do
 

It's OK...just remember that when the oil gives out the muscle-power economy will only be able to support 1/3 of today's population. Pedal faster.

coffee shop
 

I like finding coffee shops and restaurants with outlets.

While not the scenic parts, that drainage is in Colorado. I recently replaced the motor with more torque, better for hills. About the opening post, there are definitely two types of strength. There is the strength to lift wieghts and squats - like that which takes a couple weeks to translate over to endurance and second wind strength. The muscle strength is good for bicycling up hills for sure; but it may take a few rides to really enjoy the power in your legs in the new workout.


Regards,

David Merrill.

Re: biking is hard to do
 

'They say that biking up is, hard to do.
Well I know, I know that it's true.
Don't say, that this is the end.
Instead of biking up,
I wish that we were hiking up again.'

chorus

:wink: