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Strava

Of the apps for tracking performance while exercising, Strava has the best features.

As far as capturing signal, Strava has the quickest response. It picks up signal when the other apps don’t, or can’t. This is kind of important since the activity of mountain biking happens in faraway places. This is not me educating you, the reader. I’m telling all two of the employees of the IT division of any company starting or continuing a performance measuring app. “You gotta be able to get signal. That’s the number one most important feature.”

So, now that they know, we can rest assured that every company wanting to design and publish a fitness tracking app for mountain biking will perfect the signal capture first and foremost. You’re welcome.

Another thing Strava does finest is that they offer multiple map styles. You can switch from an overhead view to a 3D view, or about four other styles. As far as the other apps go, I haven’t seen one which offers as many map styles.

The playback feature on Strava is perfect for those moments when you want to relive your ride. Of course you have to imagine yourself as a little orange line going up and down and around the mountain, but it is still fun to watch the progress sometimes.

Sadly, there are drawbacks to Strava. One is that there is a way for people to create “segments”. Segments are what they sound like: portions of the trail. When people create these segments, they often name them with the same naming style as used by the county planners who should never be allowed to name trail systems. You know, the kind of people who don’t ride, but want to shovel their influence on everyone and everything around them. With names such as: Tree Trail, Windy Line, and Stan’s Cutoff, you’d think they wanted to scare people off the trails.

Segments are often shorter than a tenth of a mile. What possible purpose could that have? Is there really someone out there riding a 32nd of a mile multiple times? Is this mysterious person trying to get faster each time? “Yaaaay! I did it in two pedal strokes, instead of three like last time.”

Anyway, I ignore the segments now. They interested me once upon a time, but now that I know the general gist of them, I can see that they are meaningless mindlessness.

All anyone really needs is the time of travel, the time of recording the ride, travel speeds, and comparisons with previous runs on the same trail. These are all things which Strava performs well.

Strava works well for runners too. I have a few friends who enjoy running. They use Strava for running and say it works well for giving them an idea how their runs went or how they can improve. There isn’t an app (that I know about) that can track you while swimming.

As far as apps for recording rides go, I like MTB Project second, and Trailforks comes in at a close third. There are some features mentioned above that either of these two apps could improve and then they would secure the spot as my new favorite. (Both of these have had a hard time picking up signal, when Strava did it easily.)

So for now, Strava remains the best.

Helmet

No.

Sorry.

This article isn’t about the band named Helmet. Although, that might be a super fun follow-up, next week, next Saturday, next time…..or whenever.

This one IS about the safety headwear named ‘helmet’.

Helmets. They are necessary, in many situations. Helmets are essential for some sports. Necessary for the younger set because they have limited motor-skills. Necessary for survival in some cases.

In fact, I feel sorry for some of the younger folks when they just want to ride their new wheeled contraption, whatever it is: a scooter, a mini-motorbike, an electric bike, a longboard, a Penny board, or even Heelys. Their parents worry so much for the life of the child they force it, the child, to put on a full face helmet, kneepads, elbow pads, hockey pads, shoulder pads, and an inflatable sumo suit.

The helmet, of course, becomes debatable in its effectiveness when you’re a round ball of padding, able to roll for a mile and a half on your own mid-section. At that point you don’t even need wheels or a wheeled contraption.

What really makes me pity the children though, is how sweaty and uncomfortable one of those motorcycle helmets is. And they are being forced to wear one while riding a scooter? How humiliating. Bad enough, I would say, that you can’t look cool on a scooter. It’s an impossible task to make a scooter look cool. Then to throw a kid out there on the street on a scooter and slam a motorcycle helmet on his head…..you may as well drive him to school on a really short bus.

Helmets don’t make people look weird, or less intelligent. In fact, the opposite is true. Watch Andy Anderson skateboarding on YouTube.

Crazy Wisdom – @authenticandyanderson

It says a lot about a pro when one puts a helmet on his head. The action is admirable because the pro is showing kids, and the parents who force them into helmets and padding, that the helmet is not a bad decision on anyone’s part. The type of helmet, however…..

A fact I’ve been neglecting so far is that there are specific helmets for specific actions. You don’t wear a mountain climbing helmet to go underwater exploring, for one extreme example.

You do, however, wear a motorcycle helmet when riding a motorcycle. Seems obvious, but there are those people out there in the world who need this kind of reminder.

The helmet is an amazing creation. It can be used well, and it can be misused. If you sweat inside your helmet, don’t forget to wash it often. If you crack it, get your head checked for cracks too. And if you lose it, get a new one right away. (Yes, your head, and/or your helmet.)

Lastly, for those parents who pad their children excessively: when you do that, you may be telling the child not to get hurt, but in one way you’re telling them that you’re daring them to get hurt. You’re saying, “Just try to get hurt in this body armor.”

Photo by Anastasia Shuraeva on Pexels.com

Lost in the Woods

If you ever get so busy you need to tell your friends you can’t make it to their events and happenings, you might feel inclined to tell them, “I’m lost in the woods.”

In the metaphorical sense, you’re not lying. It doesn’t matter if you’re literally in the woods, or not. The sensation may be the same when you’re walking in an unfamiliar place as when you’re juggling work-life and private-life.

You could always say you’ve “gone surfing,” but the aura of this phrase is way different from, “lost in the woods.”

It’s a lot more playful to say you’ve gone surfing. So, if you’re trying to convey a sense of how much is piling up in your life, you can let your friends know how far you’ve gone into the trees.

Hopefully you have a good close friend who will offer to help you find your way back out.

It’s no fun to be overwhelmed with stuff you are required to do, especially if there are lots of things you’d like to do.

I’m going to sum this up in a breezy way, though I promise it’s not meant to be thoughtlessly disrespectful.

If you are in the woods, but you’d rather be surfing, remember surfboards can be made of wood. Make that metaphorical surfboard and turn your forests into ocean swells.

It’s all mind games. Play well.

No Dig, No Ride

One aspect of riding bikes in the dirt is that there will always be opportunities to make the trail better. At times, the trail may need to be made safer, such as removing huge trees which have fallen. Other times there may be a need to divert water off, or away from, the trail. And then there’s the really fun way of making trails better: adding features.

Of course adding features is the fun part, but the safety part really does come first. The last thing anyone wants is for the newbies to get hurt. They’re the future of sports, so we want to make the trails safe for them.

Before I get you thinking that making a trail safe is all about removing hazards, let me make it clear, that’s not always the case. In the case of a tree falling across a trail, especially if it’s on a turn, or down a drop, or anywhere it’s not visible right away, then it has to be removed so people don’t get killed. Some obstacles can be left on the trail and made safe by signs warning any riders that a significant obstacle is coming up.

In fact, some of the best trails have difficult sections and easy sections, so anyone and everyone, no matter their skill level, can enjoy them.

All that said, the point of this article is to get people interested in making their own features to make the trails near them better.

Do you enjoy jumps? With a shovel and some water you can make some sweet jumps. Mound up the dirt. Get it a little wet, then smack it into the shape you want.

Do you enjoy berms? These beauties can be shaped with the same tools as are used to make jumps.

Do you enjoy riding skinnies? A good skinny can take a bit more craftsmanship, but the tools can be as simple as a hatchet or as complicated as a chainsaw and a drill. The most complicated is of course by using no nails or screws.

Do you enjoy bridges? These are like skinnies, except usually wide enough so riders can pass each other going opposite directions. They require some carpentry skill to build properly.

Dirt and wood are what the above are commonly made of, but there is a way to build all of the above using rocks. To make jumps, berms, skinnies, and bridges out of rocks takes a huge amount of patience as well as a great deal of spatial recognition. If you don’t have either of those, start small until you’ve developed those skills. Otherwise, stick to building with dirt and wood.

The last feature I want to bring to your attention is the seesaw. It’s what is pictured at the beginning of this article. They can be built right, and they can be built poorly. The good ones are balanced in such a way as to return to one side or the other but never hover above the ground. In other words, one side is weighted so the rider knows to enter on that side.

If you’re not sure what any of the previously mentioned features are, you can check your local YouTube…or you can check your local trail system. I bet you can guess which one I would recommend.

Enjoy Bike Month!!!

Bicycle Time

June is bike month. Bike month begins with beautiful weather. It’s difficult to spend any time indoors on an electronic device when the trails are beckoning and the weather is fabulous.

But first…

…it’s time to invite some friends.

The trails are calling my name, your name, everyone’s name, so we may as well make it a group event.

Let’s go ride a bike.

Sure biking can be done solo, but isn’t it so much more fun with some friends? Isn’t it much better with a group, especially if the group is full of people you love/admire/respect?