Don't bike without a tail light
Chain Facts For Bicyclists
By spokesman | September 12, 2011
Chain maintenance is often neglected by most bicyclists. A dirty and under- lubricated chain will wear out faster and will wear out your cogs more quickly. Never-the-less, most cyclists don’t regularly do routine maintenance. Chain maintenance can be quick and simple with the right tools and approach. The chain should be cleaned prior to adding lubricant. A rag and some degreaser are adequate for cleaning the chain on most road bikes. A toothbrush or some pipe cleaners are great for getting to some of the hard to clean portions of the drive train near the deraillers and between the cogs/chain rings. After a thorough cleaning, it is time to lubricate the chain. The key is to place a light layer of oil on the chain and remove any excess. Excess lubricant will just collect dirt. I recently discovered a new product that helps to put a light layer of lubricant on the chain. It is called the GreaseNinja and works with aerosol lubricants. The GreaseNinja is connected to the can of lubricant and a part of it straddles the chain. When the lubricant is sprayed though the GreaseNinja as the bicycle pedals are rotated, a light uniform coating of lubricant is deposited on the chain. If you use aerosol lubricant without a GreaseNinja, you will likely get less uniform coverage and get lubricant on other parts of the bike. After applying lubricant, use a rag to wipe any excess off of the outside of the chain with a rag. Since the GreaseNinja directs the lubricant to the chain from above, most of the lubricant gets to the inner parts of the chain where it belongs.
Chain Facts
- The bicycle chain has more moving parts then the rest of your bicycle combined
- In the Tour De France, the typical rider wears out 2 chains
- Never use WD-40 on your chain
- You don’t need to remove you bicycle chain from the bike to clean it.
- Changing the chain prior to it wearing out will increase the life of your cogs
- Sheldon Brown’s website has some of the best information on bicycle chain maintenance
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Topics: Maintenance and Repairs | No Comments »
Levi’s Tour De France Sandwich
By spokesman | August 23, 2011
Levi Leipheimer won multi-stage races immediately before and after the Tour De France this year. He won the Tour Of Switzerland several weeks before the Tour De France. After the Tour De France, he won the Tour Of Utah. These victories show that Levi was in great shape before the Tour De France and despite his crashes in the tour, he is back in top race shape.Unfortunately, Levi’s Tour De France was dominated by crashes that resulted in time loses on early stages. Radio Shack team members Chris Horner, Andreas Kolden, Yaroslav Popovych, and Janez Brajkovic had to withdraw from the Tour as a result of injuries from crashes.Levi is scheduled to ride in the USA Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado which starts on August 22. The three leaders of the Tour De France from this year - Cadel Evans, Andy Schleck and Frank Schleck will also be in the Tour Of Colorado. This is the first time that the top three winners of the Tour De France have come to the United States to race following the Tour. The last time that several Tour De France podium finishers raced in the United States after the Tour was over ten years ago. Lance Armstrong and Jan Ulrich raced in the United States in the NYC Criterium after they had finished first and second in the Tour De France.The Tour Of Colorado will be televised by Versus and NBC from August 22-28. There will be daily coverage of the race on Versus with a preview show at 3:30 each day and coverage of the daily stage at 4PM.
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Topics: Professional Racing | 1 Comment »
Bikes For The World Delivers
By spokesman | August 16, 2011
Three months ago, I wrote a blog post entitled “Why Does Whole Foods Hate Bicycles” that discussed a new Whole Foods that opened along a bike path but didn’t have a bike rack for shoppers. Coincidently on the first weekend that the Whole Foods was open, they sponsored a collection of used bicycles by Bikes For The World for distribution in developing countries. A recent Washington Post article on Bikes For The World documented the delivery of donated bicycles in Costa Rica. For the recipients, the bicycles can make a significant difference in their lives. Some use their new bike to ride to school and others ride to work. An impoverished worker in Costa Rica may ride one of the bikes to a plantation to pick coffee beans that are sold by Whole Foods to the former owner of the bike.
Costa Rican Coffee At North Bethesda Whole Foods
Whole Foods never responded to my original post despite the fact that I emailed them and printed out the post and gave it to the store manager. However, Bikes For The World did respond. They wrote:
Thanks for your message. Sorry for the delay in reply—it’s been a hectic few weeks. In the meantime, I trust you have brought the matter to Whole Foods’ attention. Given the company’s attempts at a green image and the fact that they have bike racks at other stores I’ve been to, it is a surprise to me that they didn’t initially have one at the new N Bethesda store. Although, like you, I find it disappointing they didn’t have a bike rack on opening day, I would imagine that it’s coming, only it’s disappointingly lower in their construction priorities. SO yes, ironic the juxtaposition of the lack of bike racks and the collection of bikes. Where I object to your text is your stated assumption that for Whole Foods Markets or Bikes for the World to collect unwanted and unused bikes DISCOURAGES cycling here. On the contrary, Bikes for the World is very much about supporting biking here, and everywhere. Bikes are not just for poor people in poor countries, they are for all of us. To that end, we help U.S. residents put their old unused bikes to good use, making space for purchasing a new bike – one that fits them better, is of better quality, is in ride-able condition, etc. Except for retirees who donate to us, most people have upgraded before or will upgrade after donating their bike, and continue riding—hopefully more. So please take that message to the cycling and general public. We make use of bikes that people here are not riding, but that through taking advantage of lower wage scales and greater need for affordable transportation, can be used productively overseas, empowering the recipients and building a cycling culture worldwide. Thanks for hearing me out. And thanks again for doing what you do to nudge corporate and citizen America toward a more sustainable, bike-friendly culture.
If you have an old bike in your basement or garage, consider donating it to Bikes For The World. And if you are in Whole Foods, ask about a bike rack.
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Topics: Washington DC | No Comments »
2011 Purple Swim
By spokesman | August 9, 2011
Although this is a biking related blog, in the past year I have begun to do triathlons. Swimming is my weakest area so this weekend, I participated in the Purple Swim. It is an open water swim in the Chesapeake Bay near Baltimore. There were two distance options - 1 mile or 2 miles. Since the two swims were held sequentially, a swimmer could do both distances for a total of 3 miles. The 1 mile distance was enough for me.
This is the fourth year that the event has been held. It has grown from 5 swimmers in the first year to over 200 swimmers this year. The event was founded and organized by Tim Beatty to honor the memory of his father who was an avid swimmer. The purpose of the swim is to raise awareness and money to help fight pancreatic cancer. The video below has an interview with Tim and his mother that provides more details on the history of the swim.
Overall the swim was very well organized. A few more buoys along the course would have been helpful especially to me. The combination of my nearsightedness, foggy googles and choppy water sent me a bit off course. The organizers said that they would look into adding some more buoys next year. The kayakers did a great job keeping swimmers on the route and providing any help when needed. After the swim there was a big BBQ and musical entertainment. The event was held at Rocky Point Beach, where the facilities include a bath house with showers and real bathrooms (not porta-potties). The park is a nice place to hang out and many of the swimmers (and friends & family) stayed after the swim.
I highly recommend this event to anyone who wants to get some open water practice. It is a well run event and a good cause. Pancreatic cancer is fourth leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States and has one of the lowest survival rates among all major cancers. Although the swim is over, it isn’t to late to donate. See the Purple Swim website for details.
I didn’t know Bud Beatty, but I’m sure he would be proud of the event that bears his name.
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Topics: Flotsam | No Comments »
A Change Of Heart On Capital Bikeshare
By spokesman | August 4, 2011
When Capital Bikeshare was initially announced, I was against it. The program is partially funded with transportation funds from the government. At the time, I thought that the money could be better spent on other bike related projects such as dedicated bike lanes and paths. I believed that if more lanes/paths were available, people would be more encouraged to ride. I thought that it was access to safe routes and not access to bicycles that was limiting the use of bicycles. As an example, the Capital Crescent Trail has enabled many people to commute by bicycle. Without that path, many of those daily bike commuters would never ride bikes to work.
While bike paths/lanes would encourage more commuters, I can’t argue with the success of the Capital Bikeshare program. The 114 stations and 1100 bikes have become very popular. There are more than 14,000 annual members and have been 40,000 daily members. The system passed the milestone of 500,000 rides and will surpass 1,000,000 in a few months. Many non-bikers have given it a try and have become regular users. It has provided a new segment of the public transportation system to augment Metro trains and buses. The increased number of bicyclists make bicycling safer for all bicyclists as drivers become used to seeing more bikes on the road. Many of the users of the system will also become advocates for other biking infrastructure such as the dedicate bike lanes and paths that I would like to see.
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Topics: Washington DC | 1 Comment »