Step Up: a Bicycle Tip

Years ago I spotted some vintage bicycles parked out in front of the Irwin's Bike Shop in Johnston. There was a 70's campus green Schwinn Varsity 10-speed for sale for $49.99. The some-what snotty sale tag suggested it might be good for lawn art. I liked the bike, so I bought it anyway.

It looked like this one:

I hosed it off and filled the tires with air once I got it home. I lowered the bike seat so I could get on easily, and took it out on its maiden voyage around the neighborhood. 

I hated it. It wasn't long before my thighs were burning up and my back was throbbing. What was wrong? Riding bikes used to be a lot of fun when I was kid. This sucked. Was I that far out of shape? I pedaled home in disappointment. 

I polished the chrome, waxed the frame, and scrubbed away all the grease, as is my nature. The Varsity sparkled in the sunlight, but rides up and down the street were still miserable. I eventually gave up and sold it on Craigslist. 

Later that year, the UHS library had this book in their discard box:

I didn't need Glen's New Complete Bicycle Manual, but I liked the cover, so I brought the book home. It sat on my book shelf for a year before I actually opened the cover. I was grilling low-and-slow in the back yard, and I brought the book out with me to kill time. 

Page 20 was an epiphany. I actually stood up and shook my head when I read these two captions: 

What? I thought you were supposed to be able to touch the ground when you were sitting on the seat? Nope. That's not the case at all:

No wonder I was so uncomfortable. I didn't know you were supposed to use the pedal as a step to get you up to the saddle. That was a game changer. I was making my legs work so much harder than they needed to. My knees were coming up well above the frame when I pedaled. It wasn't the Schwinn's fault. I was the one who didn't know how to fit the bicycle to my body. Dang.

I passed this information onto Daphne when she was shopping for her World bicycle. When Daphne took a test drive, the bike shop employee applauded the way she mounted the bicycle, "Nice. About one in fifty shoppers know how you do that right." 

I see more people biking as a safe way to exercise, and when I see someone struggling on a bike, I often notice that their saddle looks to be way too low. I want to yell, "Hey! Raise your seat. It will make riding so much easier!" But I don't. Yelling is rude.

Char took her bike out last spring when the weather turned warm. She had grown quite a bit over the winter, but Charlotte wouldn't let me raise seat for her, "Don't Dad, leave it the way it is." I think she was afraid she would lose her balance sitting on a higher seat. I watched her ride down the side walk with her knees almost hitting her chin.

A few days later Char whizzed past our house while I was standing in the front yard. She flashed me a big smile and she yelled, "See. Dad? I can pedal just fine!"

What Charlotte didn't know was that I had been secretly raising her seat 1/4" after each ride. Dads are sneaky like that. 

We took a family bike ride this afternoon, and I noticed that my seat on the Rollfast was too low. I took my own advice, and the ride was much better later when I raised the seat post and the (handlebar) stem. 

The more I learn I find how little I really know - David Baerwald "Good Times"