Topic: The Cycling Thread

[WC]

I know it is bad but I wear in the ear ear buds to listen to music. I know I know it's bad but I am on side streets or in the forest preserve and I don't have them on loud enough to block the outside noise. It cuts down on wind noise.

I err on the side of caution, and often rant and rave at all the cyclists with earbuds in... I have, however, taken to wearing a bud in my right ear, with a mic for phone dangling down (not that I'm in the habit of taking calls in the saddle), in order to get through hour after monotonous hour of repetitive lonely pedaling with casts or audiobooks. (The no headphones for cyclists laws are in force round here, but I've gotten away with arguing the "hand free"- the freaking drivers use it; bluetooth, so WTH? schtick on more than one occasion with trail and bike cops). Left ear is open to sounds of traffic and things about me. I'd like to believe my system works, but I know I'm loosing hearing in my right ear.

[pandamonium]

I know it is bad but I wear in the ear ear buds to listen to music. I know I know it's bad but I am on side streets or in the forest preserve and I don't have them on loud enough to block the outside noise. It cuts down on wind noise.

The sound of wind in my ears is sufficiently distracting that it makes me a more dangerous cyclist when I don't have my headphones on.

[khendar]

Some days, you head into town in the morning, and the wind is in your face

have they invented anything to keep the hissing of the wind out of your ears?

I've thought about trying those neckband headphones, not for music, but just because it looks like the design might shield the ear.

Earplugs ? Thought that'll reduce your situational awareness...

exactly.
what I want is something like sunglasses for ears -- to keep the "wind" off so that I can still hear normally.
it's quite frustrating when people yell and you and think you can hear them, but all you hear is WHHSSSSHHHHH

http://www.frsport.com/Sparco-Nomex-Hood-Head-Sock-Balaclava-Open-ICE-X-Cool_p_15952.html

[GodSlayer]

http://www.frsport.com/Sparco-Nomex-Hood-Head-Sock-Balaclava-Open-ICE-X-Cool_p_15952.html

lol, it's summer, but I suppose the right placement of a headband might help.

EDIT: nope, not without looking like an old Italian woman.

[khendar]

http://www.frsport.com/Sparco-Nomex-Hood-Head-Sock-Balaclava-Open-ICE-X-Cool_p_15952.html

lol, it's summer, but I suppose the right placement of a headband might help.

Maybe this then ?

[GodSlayer]

I know it is bad but I wear in the ear ear buds to listen to music. I know I know it's bad but I am on side streets or in the forest preserve and I don't have them on loud enough to block the outside noise. It cuts down on wind noise.

I err on the side of caution, and often rant and rave at all the cyclists with earbuds in... I have, however, taken to wearing a bud in my right ear,

I just hold my teeny tiny mp3 player in my non-braking/non-dominant hand, and can pause my player with two clicks whenever I approach an intersection/any other situation that might be significant.

[GodSlayer]

http://www.frsport.com/Sparco-Nomex-Hood-Head-Sock-Balaclava-Open-ICE-X-Cool_p_15952.html

lol, it's summer, but I suppose the right placement of a headband might help.

Maybe this then ?

naa, I think this's the best I'll find

[khendar]

Why you should not chain your bike to a tree:

(click to show/hide)

I was watching an episode of CSI:NY the other day and there was a series of events which included a guy walking down the street with a running chainsaw, spotting a bike chained to a tree, cutting the tree down and stealing the bike. The courier whose bike it was had to flee on foot from the drug dealer he had just ripped off before falling down a set of 130 stairs to his death. In his courier bag was a cheque that he was supposed to deliver to a council official as a bribe for not condemning an old hotel full of broke artists. The building was condemned, and one of the evicted artists decided to murder the building owner who was supposed to pay the bribe to the council man.

So don't chain your bike to a tree, you could get someone killed.

[xenu]

Here's a question that's always bugged me. Do you physically burn weight away during exercise, to the extent that if you weighed yourself before and after the exercise you would notice a difference ? Or is there a lag between doing the exercise and the weight coming off ? I'm guessing your body has reserves of energy like glycogen but purely from a physics standpoint if you're burning stored chemical energy then by definition you must have less fuel than when you started.

I have weighed myself before and after a ride and have lost 5 lbs. This is only water weight and not mass. I would think that yes you are losing some mass but it would be a very small amount. Think of E=MC2. I would think that with a power meter you could calculate it in some sorta way. Very crudely. The math is beyond my ability though.

(oh and if I am wrong on this let me know I am just giving it my best guess)

[WC]

I would think that yes you are losing some mass but it would be a very small amount. Think of E=MC2.

If we really are getting into general relativity, cycling velocities don't approach any measurable time dilation.

[pandamonium]

If you're radiating energy (you are) you're losing a nanoscule (smaller than minuscule) amount of weight. I suspect most of the weight you lose isn't due to energy radiating, but through biological processes--eg, pooping/peeing/sweating it out. /slightly educated guess

[khendar]

But at some point you'd have to be literally burning fat away right ? That's the point of exercising after all. I'm just wondering about the timeframe of that loss, whether it happens as you're exercising or at some point afterwards.

[pandamonium]

But at some point you'd have to be literally burning fat away right ? That's the point of exercising after all. I'm just wondering about the timeframe of that loss, whether it happens as you're exercising or at some point afterwards.

iirc, the liver is responsible for breaking down fat. You don't burn it off in the sense of a car engine burning gasoline (can you say inefficient use of fuel?) but in the sense that chemical reactions happen. When fat is 'burned' for energy, I suspect that the waste from the chemical reactions will have to be pooped out before you notice a loss in weight.

This is all based on a very basic knowledge of biology and physics, btw. I know that in order to notice a significant weight loss, you'd have to radiate a LOT of energy (as xenu pointed out, E=mc^2). The weight of energy--in this case infrared light, which we usually think of as heat, iirc--is reallyreallyreallyreallyreally infinitesimal.

[lonely moa]

Here's a question that's always bugged me. Do you physically burn weight away during exercise, to the extent that if you weighed yourself before and after the exercise you would notice a difference ? Or is there a lag between doing the exercise and the weight coming off ? I'm guessing your body has reserves of energy like glycogen but purely from a physics standpoint if you're burning stored chemical energy then by definition you must have less fuel than when you started.

Elite marathon runners can lose up to 10% of their body weight in water in those ugly 2 hours.  More than 7% in iron man comps.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1724978/

Dr Timothy Noakes is the man in this realm.  His book on sports hydration is coming out soon and his research turns some conventional wisdom on its head.  There has been two really good interviews with him at Ben Greenfield.

[khendar]

http://www.frsport.com/Sparco-Nomex-Hood-Head-Sock-Balaclava-Open-ICE-X-Cool_p_15952.html

lol, it's summer, but I suppose the right placement of a headband might help.

Maybe this then ?

naa, I think this's the best I'll find

Just discovered there is a specialised product specifically to tackle this issue:

http://www.slipstreamz.com/