Pony Of Prey Blog

Bicycling is a brilliant means to increase your cardiovascular capacity, save fuel costs, while aiding in keeping the environment unpolluted at the same time. Biking does not injure your joints that running and working out in the gym can. It’s also pragmatic as one can keep fit by riding to work, or doing the shopping, so it’s not like you’re having to put time aside for exercise as most other forms of exercise impose on you.

But what variety of cycle to purchase? One that is comfortable for you while sitting in the saddle, and has many gears so you can take on hills with general ease - after all, we don’t all live in Cambridge! One should be able to pick up your bicycle with comparative comfort as you’ll find yourself needing to do so from time to time, for example over a low hurdle. Claud Butler mountain bikes are a good range of bikes to start looking at.

Further more, make sure you buy the appropriate accessories for your bicycle : a pump, front and back light, mudguards, reflector lights, reflective jacket, helmet and strong lock. Such bicycle accessories help you keep safe in bad light, and the bike out of reach from robbery. Make sure you lockup your bicycle in a fairly public location.

And finally, it’s a good idea to commit some time into studying bicycle repairs. There’s no need to become an expert, but it’s handy if you can discover how to align your brake pads and brake cables as these often require fine-tuning after heavy usage. Also ensure you keep the cycle well oiled and the tyres pumped hard to make it that much easier to actually bike. And it almost goes without saying, have good road sense - use your arms to indicate while turning, and stay to the left on all roads.

Since the dawn of the age of motorcycling, it was apparent that something was needed to protect the exposed human body from the elements. The natural solution was leather. The leather motorcycle jacket, a style made popular by such movie icons as James Dean and “the Fonz”, not only serves as a fashion statement, but is an essential piece of equipment to any serious biker for keeping warm, dry, and in one piece. A good “riding grade” leather jacket combined with motorcycle chaps or leather pants, will act as a second skin between you and the road, and can quite literally “save your hide”. With all this in mind, let’s explore the things to consider when purchasing motorcycle leathers.

The most common material for motorcycle leather is cowhide, chosen for its strength and durability. Buffalo hide, another high quality leather, is made not from the U.S. buffalo, but the water buffalo most commonly found in India and Pakistan. Many leather products come from this part of the world, and the Pakistanis are world renown for their expertise in the manufacturing of leather garments. Whichever type of hide you choose, you must understand the tanning process, and how it adds or detracts from the quality of the leather.

Leather was of course once the skin of an animal, and therefore must go through a tanning process to strengthen it, and to keep it from decomposing. Tanning makes the skin stable and rot proof without sacrificing its structure and strength. The tanning process involves several stages, including the removal of the hair and the outer layer of skin, as well as the fatty part of the flesh. The hide is then stabilized by one of several methods using animal oils, alum, chrome salts or vegetable tanning. How it is actually finished determines the quality, or riding grade, for our purposes.

Types of Leather
To fully understand the types of leather available, one must first know the term “grain“. The grain is simply the epidermis, or outer layer of the animal’s skin. While imperfections such as cuts, scars, and scratches will exist, the grain in its natural state has the best fiber strength, and therefore the best durability. The grain also has natural breathability, resulting in greater comfort to the wearer.

Finished Split Leather
The middle or lower section of a hide that has been split into two or more thicknesses. A polymer coating is applied and embossed to mimic grain leather. Finished splits should only be used in low stress applications because they basically have no grain. If the polymer coating is left out it is often used to make suede. Not considered to be riding grade, but can look good nevertheless.

Top Grain

Top grain leather has been sanded to remove scars and imperfections, then sprayed or pasted for a uniform look. The smooth side is where the hair and the natural grain used to be. Top grain is not the same quality as full grain or naked leather, but thicknesses of 1.2-3mm make this type of leather a very strong and durable riding grade material.

Full-Grain and Naked Leather
Full-Grain leather is made from the finest hides, and has not been sanded to remove imperfections. Only the hair has been removed. In the case of Naked Leather, where nothing other than the dye is added; this very soft leather requires no breaking in period. Hides are typically 2mm thick, and must be hand picked for uniformity. The natural full-grain naked leather will wear better than other leather, and will actually improve over the years. This type of leather is the ultimate riding grade; the most sought after, and consequently, the most expensive.

Now that we know what type of leather we want, we must understand the fact that leather is hot, and understand the options that we have for the climate we live in. For winter biking, a jacket with side laces and a belt will allow you to adjust the jacket to fit snugly against the upper body. Of course, being able to fully zip up only adds to your protection from the wind. You can also wear a leather vest underneath your motorcycle jacket for extra warmth. For hot summer days, a leather jacket with air vents allows the air to circulate underneath the jacket and around your body. For an all year round jacket, consider one with a zip or snap out insulated lining.

Leather is not meant to get wet, as that tends to deplete the natural oils, and it is advisable to wear a rain suit over your leathers in inclement weather. However if they do get wet, allow them to dry naturally away from extreme heat. If the leather seems to be losing its luster, it can be oiled to improve its appearance. This supplements the natural oils in the leather itself, which can be washed out through repeated exposure to water. Frequent oiling of leather with mink oil or other commercially available products will keep your leathers supple and improve their lifespan dramatically.

Now that you have found the perfect biker jacket, take care of it, and it will reward you with years of wear. The typical lifetime of a heavy textile jacket will be from 3 to 6 years at the most. A well maintained top quality leather motorcycle jacket will easily give you 10 years and more of riding pleasure!

About the Author:
Michael Talbert is the founder of Florida based Biker Leather Ltd., an online retailer of leather and textile
motorcycle apparel.

For more information on naked leather and top grain leather motorcycle jackets, you can visit this web page at http://NakedLeatherBiker.com.

The research done to date on the effects of weight training on cyclists has brought mixed results. The study done by Ben Hurley at the University of Maryland had 10 healthy men take up strength training (bench presses, hip flexions, knee extensions, knee flexions, press-ups, leg presses, lat pulldowns, arm curls, parallel squats, and bent-knee sit-ups) for 12 weeks, while eight other healthy men served as controls. After 12 weeks, the strength-trained men improved their endurance while cycling at an intensity of 75 per cent V02max by 33 per cent and also lifted lactate threshold (the single best predictor of endurance performance) by 12 per cent.

However, these men were untrained prior to the study and did not carry out regular cycling workouts during the research, so the applicability of these findings to serious athletes is questionable

The study carried out by R. C. Hickson and his colleagues at the University of Illinois at Chicago was considerably more practical. In that investigation, eight experienced cyclists added three days per week of strength training to their regular endurance routines over a 10-week period. The strength training was incredibly simple, focusing on parallel squats (five sets of five reps per workout), knee extensions (three sets of five reps), knee flexions (3 x 5), and toe raises (3 x 25), all with fairly heavy resistance. The only progression utilized in the program involved the amount of resistance, which increased steadily as strength improved.

Nonetheless, the strength training had a profoundly positive impact on cycling performance. After 10 weeks, the cyclists improved their ’short-term endurance’ (their ability to continue working at a very high intensity) by about 11 per cent, and they also expanded the amount of time they could pedal at an intensity of 80% V02max from 71 to 85 minutes, about a 20-per cent upgrade.

On the negative side, we have research, carried out by James Home and his colleagues at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, seven endurance cyclists who averaged about 200 kilometers of cycling per week incorporated three strength training sessions into their normal routine. The strength program was relatively unsophisticated, consisting of three sets of up to eight repetitions of hamstring curls, leg presses, and quadriceps extensions using fairly heavy resistance.

After six weeks, the strength training had produced rather impressive gains in strength (the gains averaged a bit more than 20 per cent). However, actual cycling performances were not improved; in fact, they were worse than before the strength training was undertaken! 40-K race times slowed from 59 to 62 minutes, and the strength-trained cyclists complained of feeling ‘heavy’ and tired during their workouts.

Why did Hickson’s study uncover clear advantages associated with strength training for cyclists, while Home’s work revealed the reverse?

No one knows for certain, which means it’s time for a personal observation. It seems quite likely that the strength training carried out by Hickson’s charges improved fatigue resistance in their muscles, permitting them to persist longer both during high-intensity tests of endurance and prolonged efforts at a submaximal (80% V02max) intensity. Meanwhile, it’s likely that Home’s added strength training sent his athletes into the overtrained - or at least ’stale’ - state. The feelings of fatigue which originated shortly after the beginning of strength training suggests that the athletes were simply doing too much work.

Home’s cyclists were averaging 124 miles of weekly riding when they started their strength training, while Hickson’s athletes were logging considerably fewer miles, so one might be tempted to suggest that strength training can produce major benefits for low-mileage cyclists but does much less for experienced, higher mileage competitors who have already built up considerable strength merely by riding. That certainly wouldn’t be an unreasonable thought, but it doesn’t explain why strength training per se would actually slow down endurance performances, as it seemed to do for Home’s performers (no other study has shown this). It seems very likely that Home’s added strength training was simply the straw that broke the camel’s back; it wasn’t the strength training which slowed the cyclists but the total amount of work they had to complete.

Another issue that was not kept controlled in the studies was nutrition and supplementation which also would have a major impact. It is my personal feeling after three decades in the physical training world that weight training is advantageous in almost all sports when done properly and paired with the correct nutrition.

Gregg Hall is a business consultant and author for many online businesses and has been in the fitness industry for over 25 years.
He currently lives in Navarre Florida with his 16 year old son. Get the performance bike accessories you need at www.performancebikeandaccessories.com