Horse and Auto Racing

Did you ever play the ponies? I have a neighbor, a nice lady with a unique background, who said that she used to love going to the track. She never bet a lot; just the equivalent of a few dollars in the currencies of the countries she was living in, but she said that there was a thrill in winning....

With that in mind, I watched the Kentucky Derby recently, and then the Preakness.

I found the Derby to be the better race, at least to watch. It was more exciting, and the finish was more impressive. The winning horse, Mine That Bird, won by a wide margin, and he was a long shot beforehand. Apparently, only his jockey thought he had a chance; that jockey pushed to ride that horse, thinking he'd win the race. Lucky guy.

The Preakness was won by a filly, a great big female three year old, who was held her own against the colts. Normally, in horses, the males are bigger; this is the opposite to the trend in most mammals, and, in fact, to most animals. This filly, Rachel Alexandra, was one big horse, though. She took a lead early, and even though the colts, including Mine That Bird, came close and challenged her, she never lost her lead. Her jockey was the same guy who'd won the Derby. He'd switched horses, wanting to ride a winner.

I think, if I ever to bet on a horse race, I'm gonnna follow this particular jockey. He's got some good horse sense. And winning will be fun.

Most of my biking is road biking, and I do own a very nice road bike. It's an older Schwinn frame, chromoly (but I don't mind the weight), with the componentry that I've put on over the years. Most of it is older high-end Shimano stuff. That's the bike I use for the really long-distance stuff; the centuries, or the two- and three-day rides that I'll go on a few times a year.

For ordinary riding, especially around city streets, I ride a mountain bike. I like having the range of gears, including, as I get older, the low gears that are easier on my knees. Of course, I can't ride on knobblies on the sidewalks, which brings me to my favorite bike modification: the tires.

I buy Continental, because I like real rubber. It's got a natural propensity to self-seal the small knicks and tears that will wear out a sythetic tire over time. For city riding, I use a good set of road slicks, tires that are bald or nearly bald, and mount them on my mountain bike. I even have a whole second rear wheel, with a higher ratio gear cog, for road riding with the mountain bike. It helps to keep things comfortable.

For off road riding, I use the same bike, but with differential directional tread knobblies. These are tires with rugged tread, and the front and rear are not identical. In addition, the tire needs to be mounted in the correct direction, as the tread only grips properly when it turns in the correction direction. My rear wheel for trail riding has a much smaller gear cog than the road riding wheel.

Too often, we overlook our tires, but that's at our own risk. They're important; after all, they're the contact between you and the road!

Bicycle computers and lights are essential accessories, if you're going to ride long distances or in poor-visibility condidtions, but there are some things that you must always have, for any ride. I'm talking water bottles here, people. Water bottles.

The first water bottle I ever put on a bike was a plain, one-pint plastic bottle, with a pop-top and metal cage. The cage was held onto the frame by flexible metal bands. Eventually, the cage and bands rusted, staining the bike's paintjob....

These days, most bike frames have built-in fittings for mounting water bottles, usually on the seat tube and downtube. The bottle cages are plastic, and of standardized size, so there is no problem fitting them onto the bike. The bottles themselves have gotten larger: the last one I bought was a 2 pint bottle, and most bottle cages will even accept 1 liter plastic soda bottles.

All of this is important, because drinking enough water on a ride, especially in hot weather, will prevent dehydration, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. Having succumbed to heat exhaustion before, I can tell you that it's not fun. Not at all.

Whenever I ride in the summer I carry two bottles on the frame of my bike: a 2 pint on the downtube and 1 pint on the seat tube. I keep them filled with electrolyte drinks, like Gatorade or Powerade, and I try to drink at least 1 pint per hour. On longer rides, I also wear a Camelbak water bladder. I only fill this with water, and I keep it clean. It's my backup water supply for rides going longer than 50 miles. Personally, I prefer the bottles; they're easier to clean between rides.

It's impossible to overstate the importance of drinking enough on a long ride. Between sweating and breathing, we lose a lot of water, and it's vital to replacethat water as it's lost. Make a plan for hydration, and stick to it.

I've talked about bike computers before, so now I want to talk about lights.

There are few bike accessories more important than lights, especially if you do any night riding. On the road, at night, the main purpose of a good set of lights is no so much to see, but to be seen. Good lights are bright, long lasting, and visible from a great distance. Let's talk about that middle factor, long lasting.

When I first started riding seriously, back in 1989- (wow, that long ago?), there were two choices for poweing lights on a bike: batteries, or generators. Both had lots of flaws.

Alkaline batteries are heavy, and short lived, and not particularly powerful for the task at hand. Some riders, myself included, tried using small generators to power front and rear lights. The generator mounted to the frame, under the seat, and had a rotor that touched the rear tire. As the tire turned, it turned the generator, producing electricity and turning on the lights. Very nice. The price was paid in the great weight of the device, the drag it produced on the tire, and the lights' dimness at lowspeed and darkness at full stops.

Today, there are numerous models of lightweight lights on the market, using more powerful, longer lasting, lithium ion batteries, LED-type bulbs, or combinations of the two, to produce bright, long-lasting, beams. There are lights that can be mounted on the handlebars, under the seat, on the front or rear fork, or even on the rider's arm or leg. When used with reflectors, they really do make night riding a lot safer.