Archive | February, 2014

Sun Protection for Bicycle Rides

11 Feb

As I get ready to ride my bike across the country, one of the concerns we all have is how to deal with the daily doses of sunshine.  While most of us love being outside all day in the glorious sun…it can build up when you are riding every day, all day.  This can create damaging exposures.  As I plan for this long ride.  I am thinking about all the products that exist to protect from the sun.  Most people just gob-on the sunscreen, which is chemical based and then naturally absorbed into the body as such.  As a society, we don’t currently know the full effects of long term usage of heavy doses of sunscreen, I am one who would prefer to go chemical free.   So, I am thinking long sleeves and white arm warmers for the upper body.

Endurance_Cycling_ArmWarmers_White

For my neck and ears, I am thinking about this do rag. to wear under my helmet.  I have gotten some really bad sunburns on the back of my neck under the helmet and I am hoping this do rag will solve that because it has a back flap that comes down behind the neck.  It also doubles as a sweat band.  Image

What to wear for cross country bike ride?

3 Feb

To ride across the country in the middle of summer…what should I wear?  We have lots of choices of fabrics and garments.  See Norm below with our stockpile of high performance fabrics… and all we need to do is create.  Now that I have just five more months to get ready.  I am thinking that I want our clothes to be high visibility, lots of 3m reflective and long sleeves to protect from the sun.   For shorts, I think we will use the elite chamois pads as they are my new favorites.  Since we will need to ride 85  miles each day, I am going to need a high quality chamois pad. 

 Image

The Big Ride – 2014 – Seattle, WA to Washington, DC

2 Feb The Big Ride

The Big Ride
Start:   Seattle, WA
Finish:  Washington, DC

Start Date: June 16, 2014
Finish Date: August 2, 2014
Total Number of Days: 48
Number of Riding Days: 40
Number of Rest Days:  8
Total Approximate Miles:  3,300
Average Miles per Riding Day:  83

Number of Riders:  40

States Visited: 12

The Big Ride

Washington to Washington