[JorgeGortex]

What I can add, based on Tim’s link to DCRainMaker is that I run my strap under warm water and then smear warm water on my chest where the contacts will rest against my skin. Then I put my HR strap on. I do this before any outing. My HR readings are usually fine. I also make sure my chest strap is fairly tight so I get good contact with the skin. I just wish the Polar straps worked with Garmin products b/c the soft ones are more comfortable than the soft Garmin units.

I think proper care after use is important to keeping the units working too. I rinse with clean water and dry the strap with a towel before I hang it to air dry.

JG

[JorgeGortex]

Dr. Christoper Walsh is in Shirlington. He used to be the team Dr. for the Caps. Great guy, and a runner too. His entire staff plus fellow Drs. in his practice have been really good. Plus he’s connected to a lot of specialists and they keep your info going back and forth between them so everyone seems to be on the same page better. I should add though that he is very popular. I am not sure if he taking new patients right now, but the rest of his practice is.

[JorgeGortex]

Danny is a rockstar. Just amazing what he does with two wheels. I saw a great video of a 5 or 6 year old who had seen a Danny video and was trying to emulate his hero… the kid was already doing stuff that would have the rest of us face planting regularly. Really inspirational.

[JorgeGortex]

Rats! I came rushing over here from Urbanvelo going “ooh, ooh, ooh, I can’t wait to tell everyo….beat to the punch.”

Looks like a handy app to have.

[JorgeGortex]

@Bilsko 29850 wrote:

I know that the seat stay connecting to top tube instead of seat tube is not entirely new, but I kind of like the look of these Volagi bikes – I dont care much for the carbon road, but the steel road/CX looks covet-able.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/874048428/the-viaje-bicycle-engineered-for-adventure – $600-ish for the frameset isn’t too bad, either.
[IMG]http://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/000/116/670/6ca835bd579c78f75c470fedc2f2df68_large.jpg?1345095259[/IMG]

Yeah, I had heard of Volagi and bookmarked their site long before Specialized took them to court. Glad they are still going and hope I can throw some money their way one of these days. An all day, smooth riding, road frame sounds great and I like the looks too. Unique!

[JorgeGortex]

@KelOnWheels 29162 wrote:

VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION:

Do I need this? Because I kinda think I do.

http://www.twinsix.com/gear/mens-tech/the-hellcats#2

Yes you do. I don’t own any TwinSix gear, but love their attitude.

[JorgeGortex]

https://shop.ridewithfiks.com/
http://www.bikeglow.com/
http://www.monkeylectric.com/wheel_light_comparison/

I funded the fiks through Kickstarter. They are bright! And you can put them on any rims so you are not dependent on certain tires only.
JG

[JorgeGortex]

All I can say is that I’m glad it came out OK in the end and you are here to talk about! I admit, your story sounds like a fairy tail ending compared to most. Cheers.

ps- cool photos are, well, always cool!

[JorgeGortex]

You all have it all wrong… its for wind resistance training. The helmet catches the air like a parachute. They are just training harder than the rest of us….

[JorgeGortex]

@bobco85 28411 wrote:

I’m glad the guy got his bike back, but I would never try and get it back in that way as it would be too risky. The thief could have had a weapon on him. Also, it irked me when they said that the thief almost got away with it had they not gathered this evidence (confession by the thief that he knew it was stolen).

I think this guy had scoped things pretty well before confronting him, otherwise I’d agree. He checked him out before he approached him and started the ruse. I think the owner lost his cool a little soon too. Might have avoided the walkabout. Looks like the officers were helpful this time around too.

In any case, owner- 1, stupid thief with stupid gf- 0

[JorgeGortex]

@DaveK 28474 wrote:

My favorite trick is to write a note detailing your ownership of the bike and put it inside the endcap of the handlebar, then replace the endcap. If it ever gets stolen and you’re in a situation where it’s in question (i.e. proving it’s yours to a cop) just pop the end cap off the handlebar and ask the thief how it got there.

I was thinking the same sort of thing. Except putting the note inside the seat tube. If it was rolled tight enough, the note would fall back out easily if the bike was turned over. Also protects against losing your note if they swap bars… but if they swap seatpost/saddle like the thief had done, this trick might not have worked either.

[JorgeGortex]

@Dirt 28256 wrote:

Some spokes are proprietary. The most common of these are straight-pull spokes. They don’t have a bend at the head of the spoke.

Not all shops will have those in stock.

“If you shop has no Mojo Nixon, your shop could use some fixin!” -Dead Milkmen

Random, totally unrelated comment that just had to get out. Carry on.

[JorgeGortex]

@Jason 28100 wrote:

Maybe another issue was caloric intake, if you go under a certain amount, your body starts eating itself, maybe that contributed to your muscle loss.

Its also a matter of what you eat. A healthier diet is going to help with the lowering of body fat percentage no matter if you are doing body weight or iron workouts.

An alternative to the clean and press movement is a related one I do: load up a dumbell and place it in front of you. Squat down and grab the handle with both hands. Now, execute the movement as you would a clean- straight arms, chin up, back flat, core blocking. Drive hips and knees up bringing the weight off the floor, keep the momentum up and bring weight past shoulders and press over head until arms are straight. I usually alternate pressing to either side of my head for each rep. Return weight to floor in controlled manner and then immediate spring back up for next rep. Not sure if these have a name already, but I jokingly call them baby throws. A nice all body lift.

[JorgeGortex]

@Jason 28090 wrote:

+ for Reg Park and Steve Reeves and all the rest of the old time bodybuilders in the pre-sterioids era.

Just as a follow on, I dont see the point of body-weight lifting except for beginers or people with too much bodyfat. If somebody is lean, it shouldnt take even a year to make bodyweight only exercise anything more than a warm-up or cardio.

To each their own I guess… and every body is different (no pun intended). I am an experienced lifter… at 130lbs I was one able to 1RM 200lbs. for bench. I still can get a workout from body weight stuff. Shocking the body in different ways, the bonus of strengthening stabilizer muscles. Whatever works for a person is what’s best.

JG

[JorgeGortex]

Potomac, I have to agree with Jason on this one. I am not sure how steroid use got into the conversation, as no one here would advocate their use. They really cause more harm than good. I’m sorry you had a bad experience with some body builders or weight lifters. There are some real meat heads out there… but I don’t think they speak for the sport. Heck, you only have to go out in Clarendon anymore to run into a whole passle of bros doing the same crap without the steroid use. Ah, society.

I for one start bulking up whenever I start lifting, using body weight or iron. Its a natural progression. You can gain strength through lighter weight and more reps, but for real strength gains you have to lift heavier, with lower reps. When you do that, bulking up is a natural expression of the work. Muscle fibers naturally grow as a result of the stress introduced upon them by lifting. Now, whether that is important to an individual or not is up to each person. Bulk is also irrelevant to cycling, but certainly won’t impede it… unless you grow to the proportions of some body builders.

On that topic, I always enjoyed looking through those mags, Jason, merely for inspiration. Its cool to see the human body pushed to those levels. And it may be less the case in the sport, but there are some body builders who are clean. They may not get all the attention, but they are out there. Guys like Steve Reeves, Reg Park, and the like. OK, they aren’t modern, but ya know.

In any case its a challenge to fit in a longer commute by bike and maintain the energy to lift hard too. Or vice versa (if you think of Olympic lifts as they take so much out of you). But hey, its fun to try!

JG

@PotomacCyclist 27800 wrote:

Massive muscle bulk is not necessary for basic strength and bone density. It’s not completely separate, but many of the basic gains in strength come from neuromuscular improvement, with better coordination of movement patterns and recruitment of more muscle fibers. This does help with general life, especially with core strength and stability and basic strength in the large muscle groups. Bulking up is something separate from general strength and stability for everyday life. Sure, someone who doesn’t lift super heavy isn’t going to be able to pick up a refrigerator. But that’s something I will never do or want to do. If I need something that heavy to be moved, then I’ll get someone else to do it, or have someone use a machine.

Basic strength and stability help with everyday issues such as back pain (which is usually the result of weak core muscles) and lifting modest weights such as groceries. But you don’t really have to be able to squat 600 lbs. to get those benefits.

I know there’s the bodybuilding mindset that everyone should ideally be massively muscular, but that’s really not necessary for the average person. Other than strength athletes like football players and competitive bodybuilders, for everyone else, bulk is something entirely optional. If someone wants to bulk up, that’s a personal choice. But it’s not necessarily the best approach for the non-bodybuilder or non-football player. Strength training for endurance athletes will result in a modest amount of muscle development but it won’t result in a bodybuilding physique. That is by design.

If someone who bikes for fun and commuting wants to do more strength work and he/she has the spare time, I think it’s a good idea to do strength training throughout much of the year. (But some breaks are a good idea.) For those who train for endurance sports like road cycling races and triathlons, year-round heavy lifting is kind of a bad idea. If you go super-hard in strength workouts, you simply won’t have the energy and motivation to do the hard bike (and run and swim) workouts that are necessary at certain times of the year, assuming that person has a goal of improving his/her race performances. During the main part of the season, much of the strength work comes in the form of sport-specific exercises like hill intervals on the bike and/or run. Heavy lifting during those key training phases can disrupt the bike and run training quite a bit. Bodybuilders sometimes lift so heavy on their “leg” days that they have to let the muscles recover for several days afterward, maybe as much as 5 to 7 days.

As an aside, I’ve had some not so pleasant experiences with individuals who are focused on muscle bulk when they aren’t professional athletes. I had one boss who was flat out on steroids or an extreme amount of stimulants. That fellow was simply not right in the head. I had to essentially work with him one-on-one for the better part of two years. Even though it was a professional office setting, I can honestly say that I almost suffered a concussion, a broken hand and a broken ankle during that time — during regular office hours or lunch breaks, not in after-hours recreational sports! He would go into what had to be roid rages, and throw rock-hard objects into the office, sometimes within a couple inches of me. He would give me long lectures about how (exact quote) “caveman society was superior because you were judged on your ability to beat people up.” This is a professional saying this too. He would also get drunk at happy hours attended by many people in the office and one time started screaming about getting one of the women in the office on a pool table that was in front of him. She was in the other room of the bar at the time. And he had a fiancee (now wife, I think).

I know that not every bodybuilding enthusiast is like this. But I remember from when I used to read some of the bodybuilding magazines that almost a third of the entire page count of each issue was devoted to a section covering drugs and other performance enhancers (including IGF and insulin). I was shocked by that. It’s also no secret that modern bodybuilding is based on steroids. I’m not aware of another “sport” where they have to have a separate “natural” division because the mainstream division is assumed to be based on steroids, GH, etc. (Admittedly, sports like baseball, football and cycling have had their steroid/GH problems too. But those sports aren’t built around steroid use the way that pro bodybuilding is.)

[Author]

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