Dog Days of Winter

Salmon fishing the American River. Taken from the Watt Ave Bridge while scouting a new ride.

For cyclists, it's not the summer, but the winter when we have those dog days with nothing to do, and too little time to do it. I can't believe it's been 10 days since my last post, but for me, there has been a LOT going on. On tap for Techie Tuesday is everything you'll  ever need to know to replace (or re-grease) your headset. Sometime soon a very detailed special on optimal bicycle lighting for seeing and being seen.

I'm sitting here, right now, waiting for my riding clothes to dry, and that reminded me that there is a better, and much more energy efficient way to dry clothes than crank up the heat and turn up the ceiling fan. Centrifugal dryers, like this one, sold by Amazon for $179, may be the perfect Christmas gift for an athletic family.

These leave no minerals, nor detergents behind, and require only a few minutes of finish drying to get completely dry. They also make your clothes last a LOT longer because they don't cook, stretch, tear, chafe, cut, or infuse them with  residual dryer sheet oils.

Rain is on the way, and it has been getting cold, especially on the night rides I have been doing, so the volume of clothing has really spiked. I almost NEVER wash my cycling clothes in a washer, preferring to take them into the shower with me and wash them in anti-bacterial soap in the tub with the help of a strong shower spray.

When I get home from a ride, I don't always want to jump right in the shower, but don't want the clothes to mildew either. I either hang them to dry, or a great trick, and one that will leave your clothes sterile, is to run 4-5 inches of cold water in the tub, and then add a shot glass of bleach.

If it's hot, or you're tired, this allows you to shower and not have to deal with laundry right away. It's also very effective at removing salt from a chamois after a long summer ride.

OXO 1/4 cup measuring cup. Super-accurate angled scales in ounces, tablespoons, and cups. A nice conversation piece for a bartender too

I checked, and the shot glass I use to measure bleach holds the standard 1.5 oz, or 3 tblspns. The standard fabric sensitivity test is 2 tblspns in a quarter cup of water applied to an inside seam for 1 minute and blotted dry. The usual laundry doze is 16 oz in a standard load, which is about 10 gallons of water. I think 4-5" in a tub is 10-12 gallons, so I'm using less than 10% of the usual laundry dose.


BE CAREFUL. You're trying to make swimming pool water, not kill Anthrax. You can leave your clothes to soak this way for days if you want to, but I usually want them done the next morning when I shower.  This treatment is especially great for a thick chamois, which can start to host some nasty bacteria after awhile.

High tech shells have very fragile coatings which shouldn't even see harsh detergents, should never, ever see the inside of a commercial washing machine or dryer, and should not be wrung in any way, shape or form as it will form creases which will displace the coating.

Short of a centrifugal dryer, laying synthetic clothes out flat on a thick towel, rolling the towel up, and twisting it to wring a little, works pretty well. Then just hang under a ceiling fan, or furnace vent, and let air dry.

My long sleeve PI jersey is circa fall 2007, and except for the tear over my shoulder from when I crashed and broke my collarbone, it's only showing wear at the sleeve ends. I like my clothes being available, clean, sterile, durable, and not ruined by someone else's dryer sheet residue.

UPDATE: 7/12/2012
My Voler Vertice bib short has gone very baggy, and the cloth is seriously degraded where the chamios is stitched to the short. This may be due to excessive exposure to bleach. My best guess is it got a couple of "hot shots" while I was searching for the minimum dose that would sanitize my clothes.

One ounce of bleach in 6" min bath water, BEFORE the clothes get into the water, NO overnight soakings, AND a thorough rinsing are recommended. Soaking in 6" of rinse water overnight is just fine. Squishing the water out of the chamois by giving it a "back massage" with your feet is recommended. You want ALL of the bleach out of the thickness of the chamois.

Bartender, Set Me Up!

Rowing team on Lake Natoma viewed from the "hitching post" off south side bike trail

After banishing the flu bug with a nice high fever, I took a ride to Beal's Pt again, and found something very unusual - water! Folsom Lake is blue again! It hasn't been this full since last spring, so the prisoners at Folsom Prison are enjoying a much "bluer" view while paying their debt to society. I had used the last recovery day putting new cleats on my shoes, adjusting the pedal tension, and raising the seatpost 4mm. I also took a few more links out of my chain and broke out my very favorite shorts, the Novara gel shorts.

Novara is REI's house brand, and for the first time in years, decades even, REI's house brand products are on par with anyone else's. The chamois is quite thin, about 4mm or so, vs the 7-11mm of Pearl Izumi, but that is some amazing gel. I sometimes get sore after a long, 4hr + ride wearing them, but it's at worst a dull achey sensation, not a sharp, chaffy burn-through. It also stays planted very well, not having the tendency of the PI shorts to want to squirm off to one side of the saddle or the other. I had to stop wearing them in Nov because when the temps drop below 40 degrees the gel gets too hard and stiff to be comfortable. The gel also absorbs a lot of cold and your privates are then pretty much sitting on an ice pack. I was happy to be getting reacquainted again with an old friend.

I had resolved to take it easy - at least for the first 5 miles or so, to give my body a chance to warm up and get reacquainted with the bike and adapt to the new seat position. With the thinner chamois and higher seat I expected the forward aerobar position to be a lot more comfortable, but was a little worried about possible pain in the back of the knees - the sure sign of a seat that's too high. I had also moved the cleats a bit to try to adapt the cleat better to my left foot's outward wander, and wanted to make sure I had it set right before I started hammering down the power.

The first part of the ride was slow, and even a bit weak. In spite of stepping up the effort level after 10 miles, I didn't set any new records to the split behind Bicycles Plus where the bike trail ends at the back of their parking lot. I used the stop at a couple of lights in old town Folsom to take long pulls off my Gatorade bottle, and hoped that would put me in good stead for the climb up to Beal's.

I used myself as a Guinea pig, spiking my Gatorade with Zola Acai berry drink. My goal was to see if I could reduce inflammation and increase performance by adding at least some anti-oxidant to the glucose produced from fat, liver glycogen, energy bars and Gatorade. It's somewhat insidious that the very process of oxidizing glucose to produce ATP in the muscles also produces free-radicals that can lead to a cascade of cell oxidation. One of the downsides of consuming the highly targeted foods we need for high output over extended periods of time, is many of the natural compounds that normally are attendant with our foods are omitted - fiber and antioxidants especially.

I used 2 scoops of Gatorade instead of the normal 3 for a quart (which is not at all helpful for filling a 24oz bottle, as a quart is 32oz) - which would have been perfect for 21oz bottles - and then dumped about 10oz of the Zola juice in the top of the Polar bottle before heading out the door. If I had worked out the strength of the mix I would have known better, but doing some algebra here it's obvious why the mix was too strong and gave me the mild cotton-mouth that too much sugar in a sports drink always brings on.

Fortunately, I had also brought a 16oz bottle of pure water, well, OK, tap water. Pure water would be distilled water, and that is of interest too, as it's lack of minerals or anything else in solution would lower the osmotic pressure of a Gatorade mix and may allow for more optimal fueling. Another experiment for a future post.

Alas, coasting down onto the replica of the old train bridge, with it's wood floor throbbing out a dull clatter, and making the turn uphill towards Folsom Dam, I just didn't feel as strong as on that amazing ride a month ago when instead of going up a 7% grade at 9.5mph, I somehow managed it at 16.5mph. After 10 days off with the flu and more, I was reasonable in my expectations and focused on finding a good rhythm and settling into a good form.

The asphalt is still pretty broken up at the start of the bottom steep but when a guy on a cyclocross bike with disk brakes passed me I decided to take up the challenge. I closed up a 25 meter gap in 90 seconds, and then stayed in the aerobars spinning up to 112 rpms to keep from having to move my hands down to the shifters while going through rollers and tight turns. I was on his wheel tight all the way to the construction zone where I passed him. It put a smile on my face, but it was far from my best performance.

Downing more of the spiked Gatorade I stayed in the aerobars, opened my diaphragm and focused on getting my wind back. By the time I made the right turn and headed for the swamped section of the trail where I soaked my feet, I was ready to hammer again. After gingerly trying to forge the flooded bottom of an underpass without hitting anything nasty that might be submerged and hidden, I got out of the saddle and launched up out of the dip and kept the power down until making the final right turn that starts the final climb.

I made one last check behind me to see if cyclocross guy had taken the ad-hoc gravel bypass to avoid getting wet feet, and found myself alone. I had noticed that I could safely slide my elbows as much as 2" forward to get more power in a climb by pulling my hands up until they are half off the bars. Settling in I saw a rider about 500 yards ahead near the top, and made a challenge of catching him before he finished the climb. Not very likely, but I liked the audacity of that hope.

Things went a little better here, and I managed to hold 12.5 until the final 100 yards when I dropped back to 10.5mph - and more importantly - caught the other rider just as he was making the turn for the parking lot. I had hit my legs a lot harder than I intended to, but at least I had something to show for it. It was also mid-afternoon, so no need to hurry home for a change.

Rolling up to the concessions building, long closed now, I was almost blinded by the brilliant blue coming off the nearly full lake. Ok, it's still 20-30 feet below maximum, but at least it's looking like a lake and not like a rutted jeep trail in early May. I drained my water bottle and then walked to the drinking fountain and refilled it and topped off my Gatorade mix. I laid down on the seat of a picnic table and stared up at the sky while I straightened out my back and stretched my neck.

The warmth of the sun on my face was a welcome change from cold, windswept winter days. I closed my eyes for a few minutes and caught my breath. When I opened them I was looking at tan-yellow trees with tiny, bright green buds just coming out against a robin-blue sky. Just then a red-tailed hawk glided expertly along the water's edge 1,200 feet above, skirting the shoreline where the dense, cold air over the water met the shoreline, warmed, thinned and rose in a constant updraft. The hawk was very still in flight, barely a dip or twist as he glided silently across the twig-laced foreground and brilliant blue background. No camera. My bad. This time of year is just gorgeous in California, I have to get a skinny camera for these occasions as they are not to be missed, and my A640 is a bit bulky to safely travel in my jersey pocket.

After a long 30 minute rest I broke open the Energizer Powerbar and chewed it slowly, waiting for it to dissolve in my mouth before swallowing. After reading up on maltodextrin last month I have resolved to use the salivary amylase in my saliva to help break down this starch, instead of spitting out what can be a rather ropey wad. (Gross! I know! ... in my best Craig Ferguson) Taking a few long draws off the water bottle to wash down last of the Powerbar, and dilute it a bit in my stomach, I rolled across the parking lot, powered up the driveway and headed downhill.

After some sparing going down the descent, I hit the flats past Nego Bar and settled into the aerobars for the backstretch of the ride home. I could feel the Powerbar's snap in my legs, and a quick glance at my computer confirmed my subjective impressions. I was holding 19-23mph into a bit of a headwind and passing bike after bike. In fact, from Negro Bar home nobody passed me - a trend I am growing fond of!

At Bannister Park one of the local girl's X-country teams was competing. There was a crowd of about 250 screaming "Girl Power" as I came up that little stretch of 12% grade and as I was about to pass the last of the crowd, noting the girls were turned and already halfway across the soccer field, I raised an arm and shouted "Grey Power". I laughed at what was actually a pretty good cheer, waved, and tried to hide my gasping breath.

The final stretch home from Bannister Park to my front door has a half-dozen long rollers, which I was able to attack and roll right over. I had no idea how the ride had gone in terms of my race against the clock, but hit the stats button as soon as my foot came out of the pedals as it keeps recording zeros for 30 seconds after I stop. I was pretty happy when I saw the numbers, and scaled the stairs, bike in hand, tap-dancing around my neighbor's black cat, anxious to check my ride sheet. I was pretty surprised to find I had just recorded my best time ever to Beal's and back. It wasn't my strongest day, but the aerobars still made it my fastest because I had cheated the headwinds on the return leg so effectively.

It's been about 30 hours now since I finished my ride, and I am quite intrigued that my legs are in pretty good shape. I hit them a lot harder coming home than I really should have, much harder than I usually do, but have had no discomfort and so will continue with my experiment putting Acai juice - about 2 double shots per 24 oz bottle - in my Gatorade made with 2 level scoops of powder. This could be big!

Dressing for the Amgen Tour of California

Having ridden all winter here in Sacramento, in much colder weather than what the Tour of California riders have ridden in so far, I wanted to offer a few tips on how to dress for warmth with breathability sufficient to keep the heart from having to pump 20% more blood to cool the body during climbs, but with enough protection to avoid hypothermia on the descents.

Doing a head-to-toe, I'd like to start by recommending the Turtle Fur 2mm micro-fleece balaclava. For it's slight weight and low bulk it offers more thermal benefit than any other garment. As a bonus you get free wind-burn protection for your face, it tucks under your collar to keep your neck warm, and keeps your ears from freezing.

It allows enough air through to wick the sweat out of your hair, and keeps the rain from running down your hair into your eyes. I am wearing it here with a PI headband because where your glasses' stems go under the balaclava it forms little air scoops which will freeze your temples below 40 degrees. The PI headband has holes to push the stems through and solves this problem, but it's not nearly as helpful by weight or bulk as the balaclava is.



Before we go onto any more particulars, let me just say a word about coloring. When riding in the winter your eyes will often be teared by the cold wind, your glasses will often be fogged from sweating on climbs, and the short days mean starting out and ending up rides will often be done in poor light.

Having layers with dramatically different colors will be a huge advantage when groping for zippers stacked on top of each other in layers. Make your own zipper pulls, and make those as unique as possible too, but please use color to your advantage. It's free, and it's a BIG help groping for a zipper when cresting a hill.

I suspect everyone has their own favorite base layer, especially the jersey, but I will put in a plug for the Slice Kodiak Light Long Sleeve Jersey. Mine is bright orange, on sale at a great price, but I have noticed from group photos that it can be seen for at least a mile away. Not what you want when mtn biking, but on the road, a great color.

When the temps drop below 40 degrees I have an REI fleece sweater that I wear instead of a jersey (no 3 back pockets like a jersey) that is a big step up in warmth. It is very warm even when you're soaked in sweat. (note in hydration planning)

They don't sell the exact REI fleece base layer I have anymore, but this Mountain Hardwear Power Stretch Lightweight Zip-T is pretty close. Mine has the Napoleon pocket like the Marmot Mountain below, but this one's arm pocket should hold keys, cell phone, or ride fuels just as well. At 314 grams, this is the heaviest weight base layer Mountain Hardware sells.

This Marmot men's Power Stretch half zip is almost EXACTLY the same garment I have - except mine is a 3/4 zip. Use as a base layer only as it has no pit zips. Again, absolutely warm even when wringing wet. That Napoleon pocket will hold at least 4 Powerbars and the folded balaclava.


For the kind of low 50's temps we've had for stage 1&2, this is too warm. Stick with a good jersey. With snow levels dropping though, keep this in mind. Campmor has it on sale most of the time for ~ $75.

The best 2nd layer I have found is a Columbia Men's Ballistic II Windproof Fleece Jacket with pit zips. If it doesn't have pit zips, forget it. You'll never get rid of enough heat on climbs. You could even go with a short-sleeve jersey under this. Fleece is bulkier than say, a wind shell, but I've tried both and the nylon windshell had me soaking wet in 10 miles and steaming hot on climbs. Shells just don't work well. (if you stop and your skin is wet against your base layer, your outer layers aren't breathing well enough) This does. Both this and the fleece base layers above come in women-specific versions. .



Mountain Hardware makes a similar wind jacket. My Columbia Titanium is an '05 and has wind resistant material everywhere but the front of the chest. This sounds like it would fail as a biking garment, but with a mesh backed vest this gives you tons of venting options. Also, this jacket does NOT have a zipper wind-barrier on the inside, and this is not a mistake. It is designed this way to allow the maximum amount of air to pass through the jacket when you open the front zipper.

... inside-out view with no zipper barrier


So what do you wear over the wind vest on a day where the wind and rain are competing to make you miserable? My suggestion is a fairly tight, lightweight, but breathable water repellent windbreaker. Having both the vest and the windbreaker, especially if the vest and windbreaker have good venting in the rear, gives you a lot of options in letting air into your arms, into the pit zips, or into your core with all zips open.

The fleece jacket is bulky and I'm sure controversial, but doesn't weight that much, provides ready places to store energy bars, and will protect your body in a crash - always a concern in the rain. I almost never ride with a windbreaker over my fleece wind jacket because it seals off the pit zips too much, but I am rather barrel chested, so if you have trouble keeping your core warm, this is something to consider.

I think you'll find the wind fleece jacket's arms are very wind-tight, but if your core gets chilled easily, go with the thick fleece base layer, the fleece jacket, and a vest or convertible vest that has zip-on arms. This should take you down to below freezing weather, or gale-force winds.


For the kind of temps encountered in the first 2 stages of the ATOC, I would recommend a jersey, Titanium wind fleece with pit zips wide open, and the Novara wind vest with a full mesh back as pictured below.

The Novara vest's back zip pocket is HUGE. You can fit a small loaf of bread in it, and can stuff your windbreaker in it if you need to take it off and put it back on. I wouldn't wear the windbreaker - too warm - and the fleece jacket probably eliminates the need for a long sleeve jersey or arm warmers while providing better protection. On long descents pull the pit zips shut and zip the vest all the way up - it's windproof to 60mph. How good of a descender are you?

I usually have a thin piece of cardboard I fold to 5"x10" that I slip inside my leg warmers or tights before putting them in the back pocket. It not only keeps them from wadding up at the bottom of the pocket, it helps them dry out and keeps my kidneys and lower back super warm. Packaging from stuff at REI seems to work really well. Thin, but quality cardboard.



Gloves are a sore spot with me, as are Shimano shifters. I have the Pearl Isumi AmFib and have a friend with the Gavia gloves. Neither of us is completely happy with the warmth nor the dexterity they provide. I sure wouldn't try riding with fingerless gloves in this weather.

I love the Novara gel shorts, but find in weather below about 45 degrees the gel gets very hard and cold, so I am riding PI 3D shorts like everyone else is. I do think bib tights with a full chamois is a great way to go, as long as your cadence doesn't suffer.

I wear snowboarding knee socks with the thicker calf pads, then PI MicroSensor leg warmers and then pull my shorts over that. I wish I had bib shorts because my lower back tends to get chilled and that would help keep it warm, but right now I don't.


I noticed that Lance Armstrong gave up on the macho but self-defeating "Belgian Knee Warmers" and rode with full tights, or at least leg warmers today. I'd recommend the rather hard to find Pearl Izumi MicroSensor legs warmers. They are far superior to the more commonly available ThermaFleece ones. In fact, they are warmer than full ThermaFleece tights!

They have sticky rubber stuff both top and bottom inside and spatters of it at the top of the legs on the outside. Also, the zippers are in the rear, so you can wear tights with side zippers over them without issues. (yeah, laugh, but when the temps drop below freezing your 'nards will freeze with just leg warmers!) They also have loads of reflective piping to silhouette you at night.

The reason mammals succeeded where reptiles failed is because we have the ability to regulate our body temperatures and keep ourselves warm and fully functional when the weather turns cold. Turning glucose into ATP in the Krebs/citric acid cycle is a chemical process that works faster with heat. Don't be a reptile, ride like a human. Mother Nature worked hard to give you that gift, use it!

Now for the shoes. I bought a pair of full length PI AmFib neoprene road shoe covers in early December and still my feet got cold. I tried putting aluminum foil over my shoes before putting on the shoe covers, and that worked for 2 rides and then tore. I happened to be showing a neighbor what a space blanket was and got the idea to try folding a swatch of space blanket over my shoes and taping the ends together behind the cleats. PROBLEM SOLVED.


Space Blanket - the crazy tough winter shoe covering material

The stuff is crazy tough. My first attempt is still going strong after 2 months. 100 lbs of pulling on it won't tear it, it is more reflective, absolutely windproof, and seems to move heat around inside the shoe somehow. If you drag a toe it will tear through, so you might want to tape over the toe with duct tape, but this is an amazingly effective solution for keeping toes warm. You may well decide to ditch your shoe covers entirely - and your cadence will thank you!

Speaking of Space Blankets, keep one like this in your seat bag just in case. If you crash and go into shock, this may very well save your life.


"She froze to death 30 ft from the road..." NOT!!!

This is a high dollar wool blend snowboarding sock, but Thoro and Burton snowboarding socks are also excellent. Snowboarding socks have extra padding over the calf to pad it when leaning to carve when heel-side on the board. For cycling, this extra thickness keeps your calves much warmer under tights or leg warmers (or both on a really cold day).

UPDATED: 1/22/2010 to update links and refresh content