Innehållsförteckning för November - December 2015 från Bicycling

When muscle cramps hit Dr. Rod MacKinnon while kayaking in rough waters, two things smacked him like a raging rapid: fear and insight. The fear of being stuck in shark-filled waters triggered an insight for the Nobel Prizewinning neuroscientist that set him on course to invent the most effective way to prevent muscle cramps. His genius discovery? To treat the nerve instead of the muscle. Along with fellow kayaker and Harvard Medical School professor, Dr. Bruce Bean, Rod set out to find a solution. Their four years of researching, testing, and electrifying led to a scientific breakthrough that will improve athletic performance forever. Get the story at itsthenerve.com…

THE BETTER YOU GET, THE MORE FUN IT IS PROTECT YOUR MUSCLES 63 phytonutrients give maple syrup antioxidant properties comparable to those of red wine, tea, and berries. Antioxidants can help undo some of the damaging effects of regular exercise on your cells and muscle tissue, leading to faster recovery after workouts. 261 CALORIES PER 100-GRAM SERVING C12 H22 O11 SUCROSE. The primary source of carbohydrates in maple syrup. Sucrose breaks down in the body into both glucose and fructose, which you can absorb simultaneously. As sports nutrition guru Allen Lim says, “It’s like having two lanes open on a highway instead of just one.” You can metabolize more fuel than if you ingested complex carbs like pasta, which just break down into glucose, or fruit sugars, which become fructose.…

Helpful Advice From All Kinds of Riders TURNING LEFT When I graduated from high school in 2005, I had no car, no rent—I lived in an art gallery in Los Angeles. I was riding my Cannondale R800 to pick up cookies when I stopped to check out a bike shop. People started looking me up and down. A man named Frank Potts said, “You should be a bike racer.” When he took me to the velodrome in Carson, California, I was overwhelmed by how cool the wooden, banked track was. Not only did I get certified to ride the track that day, but I also accidentally won three beginner races. The instructor let me line up, and I just went as hard as I could. I’d never seen cycling as…

1984 The year Australian pro Phil Anderson and American world champion Greg LeMond began wearing Oakley Factory Pilots. “Greg and I started giving them to selected riders,” Anderson says. “No one really wanted them. But once the price ($150) was released, they became extravagant, and all of a sudden every pro wanted to be a friend and get Oakleys.” 75 percentage of the peloton that was wearing Factory Pilots by the middle of the 1984 season BUMPY ROAD AHEAD NO-FLY ZONE Modern lids like the Giro Synthe and the POC Octal come with docks designed to keep glasses from sailing off your helmet, even on bumpy roads. Hardshell helmets became required in the pro peloton in 2003. Great Britain’s David Millar was one of the first to pioneer the practice…

IN HIS NAPA VALLEY SHOP, chocolatier Chris Kollar concocts tantalizing confections (including the nut-and-seedpacked Kollar Fuel shown here) that are inspired by his rides. To get through hard efforts on the bike, the 42-year-old former bike racer relies on a variety of mental tricks. “On long rides, when I’m just trying to survive and get home, I’ll look for herbs growing on the side of the road and stick a handful between the cables on my handlebar,” he says. The aroma, it turns out, takes his mind off the pain. Although Kollar admits that he doesn’t have “much scientific proof” for why it works, the idea that scent can influence brain chemistry is the premise behind the centuries-old practice of aromatherapy. Sometimes this mental scorcery results in a culinary breakthrough.…

The in-house testing lab at the Morgan Hill, California, headquarters of Specialized Bicycle Components is a gleaming example of engineering efficiency: a spacious, well-lit shop where brutish machines rip and wrench bicycle frames and parts to—and past—their limits. On this particular morning, a special frame sits on the frontal-impact rig. The Venge is an intimidating broadsword of a bike, with a menacing coat of matte-black paint bisected on the down tube by a murderous red slash. A bright white decal spells McLaren on the top tube, the logo of Britain’s storied supercar maker and F1 racing team, and Specialized’s longtime technology partner. The pedal-fatigue test is long and numbingly dull. Test engineers fix the fork to a rigid point on the test jig, and the rear dropouts to an extension…

ALL THE GOOD STUFF TREK MADONE 9-SERIES PROJECT ONE THE FIRST THING you should know—which is pretty obvious—is that this is an aerodynamic road bike. Actually, Trek claims this is the most aerodynamic road bike, thanks to the slippery frame shaping and highly integrated components, which hide every possible wire, cable, and small piece from the wind. (It has yet to be compared with the new Specialized Venge ViAS in a wind tunnel.) The second thing you should know is that everyone at BICYCLING who has ridden the bike loves it. It’s rare for a test bike to receive unanimous praise; in fact, it’s never happened before with an aero road bike. Our testers are also unanimous on what they like about this Madone. One evaluation summed up the praise…

1 On page 60, we talk with Lewis Howes about the ideal of greatness as it applies to cycling. Howes, who I got to know when he interviewed me for his online summit, Unleash Your Greatness, is a scrapper with an interesting backstory I could identify with, and the author of the new Rodale book, The School of Greatness. You can see our talk about overcoming adversity—and what could be more fitting for a cyclist?—at GreatnessSummit.com 2 A good ride sometimes reminds me that the literal meaning of carpe, in Latin, is pluck. A day doesn’t always have to be seized. It ought to be, when ripe for the doing so, plucked. 3 MY FAVORITE WATCH IS A MECHANICAL automatic, and this summer I decided that even though electronic shifting…

1 PUMPING YOUR TIRES WAY UP Prep your bike with a bigger set of tires. “Wider tires with lower pressure will give you more comfort, control, and traction,” says Brandon Dwight, a four-time US national cyclocross champion and owner of Boulder Cycle Sport in Boulder, Colorado. Install the biggest tire that will fit your frame (most road bikes can accommodate 25mm or 28mm tires) and experiment with different pressures. Try dropping three to five PSI at a time to see what feels best for you, he says. 2 STAYING GLUED TO SOMEONE’S WHEEL Riding dirt is all about picking good lines and avoiding hazards. If you’re riding in a group, give each other a little more space than you would on the road. This will allow you to scan farther…

BEFORE YOU GO FIT AND TUNE-UP “You can have a really nice bike, but if it doesn’t fit well, you’ll struggle.” Take your bike to the shop a few weeks before the event so you can make sure everything is dialed. PROTECT YOUR BABY If you’re shipping or flying with your bike, shift it into the farthestin gear before boxing it. Even better: Unbolt the rear derailleur from the hanger, pack it in bubble wrap, and tape it to the chainstay. HAVE A PLAN B “If I were driving across the country, I’d be better off in a Ford than a Lamborghini— I’m going to be able to find a radiator belt.” Spare parts can be hard to come by in remote areas. Riding exotic boutique wheels? Bring a few…

HOW MANY TIMES CAN I PATCH A TUBE BEFORE IT’S TRASH? If yours is looking less like a tube and more like a pair of ’80s jeans, it’s time to install a fresh one. Your tube will start to lose a significant amount of air overnight once you hit four or five patches, says Rick Danielsen, service manager for Performance Bicycle in Phoenix. For racers or anyone who likes to ride hard, Danielsen advises caution: He’s seen patches fail and cause blowouts under hard cornering. If you pin it on a regular basis, be safe and get a new tube. Should I Strava my rides to work? It depends on what you’re trying to achieve. Whether or not your daily ride to the office nets you any trophies, using Strava…

1 Threshold French Bulldog Cookie Jar When I moved to Emmaus, Pennsylvania, to work at BICYCLING, I was excited to decorate my first “real life” apartment. This cookie jar never made it home, but resides on a shelf in my office, wearing stunner shades. I could keep ride snacks in it, but I don’t—there’s something messed up about eating the dog’s insides. $20 2 Liv Envie Advanced Pro 0 I didn’t know love until I met this aero road bike. It’s designed to slip through breakaways and win field sprints, but it’s also forgiving enough for hammering out a century. My partner in crime and I have racked up numerous podiums, wins, and, yes, jealous glares. $8,300 3 Panache Full Stripe Kit I’ve been obsessed with Coloradobased Panache for ages.…

1 #battenspill This is an example of great storytelling. Angelo Calilap (@angelocalilap) took a bad tumble at the Tour of the Battenkill. Over the next few weeks, he used this hashtag to document his recovery on Instagram. If you are going to cover an event, make a plan. Look at all the content you’ve created and don’t be afraid to trim—post only what moves your narrative forward. 2 Squaready Sometimes my most creative content comes from working within a set of rules; for example, Instagram’s square-only format forced me to pay extra attention to photo composition. While you can now upload landscape and portrait photos to the platform, landscapes in particular will display more cleanly in your feed if you use an app like Squaready, which allows you to format…

Make it personal All my designs tell a story; one came to me in a dream. Don’t just pick something off the wall. That’s not going to mean anything to you down the road. Choose the right artist Take the time to find someone who can execute it in the style that suits you and your personality. Look at their line work, their use of color. Or if it’s black ink, their ability to do shadowing and not be too heavy-handed. Go with someone who is just as stoked on the design as you are. If the artist thinks it’s stupid, that’s going to come out in the execution. Be sure you’re sure Usually, an artist will do a copy on your skin so you can see how it looks.…

1 LOW-KEY HI-VIS Building reflective details into cycling garments suited for high-intensity activity has proven challenging: Reflective materials historically have been inflexible, not super breathable, and generally unattractive. But some apparel makers have figured out how to infuse reflectivity into stretchy, breathable, and printable textiles, so it disappears when you don’t need it, and doesn’t inhibit performance. Nothing looks unusual about Pactimo’s RFLX arm and leg bands until they’re hit with a light—then they burst into hi-vis awesomeness. Pactimo Summit Speed RFLX Jersey Women’s, $110 2 AERO DIMPLES Textured fabric provides a wind-cheating benefit by inducing a turbulent boundary layer of air, which reduces drag. Why not put it everywhere? Because dimples work only in areas that actually are exposed to air resistance and big enough to provide a significant…

Companies routinely conduct in-house safety assessments. Here’s how two counterfeits fared in recent testing. GIRO AEON HELMET Helmets sold in the US must undergo Consumer Product Safety Commission testing and carry a sticker certifying that they pass (or a Snell B90A sticker, essentially the same standard). Many fakes purchased in the US have incorrect markings, such as a CE (European standard). The CPSC test has multiple components: One measures the integrity of the straps; several others measure impact. DYNAMIC RETENTION TEST The helmet is strapped and adjusted to a level head form. A 4kg weight is secured to the chinstrap and dropped .6m. The straps can’t stretch more than 30mm. The Fake Exceeded 30mm = FAIL IMPACT TEST A helmet is strapped to a 5kg head form and dropped from…

MONICA GARRISON 36, founder of Black Girls Do Bike, a group that empowers women of color to ride PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA 1. I’m secretly an urban hipster at heart. 2. David Letterman once said cats are pets for smart people. 3. I’ll take a good solid workhorse with flair any day. 4. We can worry about the price later. 5. It’s extremely hilly here in Pittsburgh and I’m anti-hill. I like a relaxed ride and just hanging out and taking in the scenery. 6. That was the first one I discovered and it helped me fall in love with cycling. Getting to see the countryside of France is just part of the draw. 7. Plans are like rules—they’re made to be broken. 8. The most fun-to-watch athletes are graceful in all…