As my wife and I were riding along the beautiful Main River Route in Central Germany an older couple passed us. They were typical of many European bike tourists; gray haired, dressed in street clothes, one pannier each, and riding what we call comfort bikes here in the States.
I am not a gear snob, contrary to what my wife says, but I do take note of what people are riding. For instance, on this trip I observed that out of the hundreds or touring bikes we saw, only 5 of the obvious touring bikes had drop bars.
The first thing I thought of was how much easier it would be for them if they were riding modern touring bikes rather than old utility bikes. Changing the bullhorn bars for flat bars will change the aerodynamics, and will look a lot better too. Everyone knows that replacing those heavy fat tires with light, narrow, kevlar-beaded slicks will noticeably decrease rolling resistance, increasing speed, and reducing weight.
Thinking about the couple, I couldn’t help but wonder if their enjoyment and efficiency could be improved by incorporating some of the wisdom I have acquired over the years. The first and most obvious area was appropriate cycling clothes. How can you ride all day wearing “golf” clothes; polo shirt, slacks, jeans or Bermuda shorts for the men, and similar attire for the women? I would bet that they both would be much more comfortable in padded shorts; and just think how handy those three pockets on a full zip jersey are. While we are discussing attire, a pair of gel-padded cycling gloves would certainly be a welcome addition.
I’ll bet that they would also really be thankful for the boost in pedaling efficiency and comfort gained by replacing their sneakers with cycling shoes. Adding toe-clips and straps has the potential to add miles to their touring day.
As my wife and I cruised along, I was wondering how I could share some of my hard earned touring wisdom with this couple. I finally decided it really didn’t matter because I don’t think I could catch up to them anyway.
