Most riders know that they should learn how to ride in a paceline before joining a group ride, but is that all? Nope. There is at least one other thing you should know – hand signals.

In most group rides, you will be communicating using hand signals. So it pays to know the most common hand signals so you know what to do when you see them! (And of course, know how to use the signals yourself!)

Here are five common hand signals:

[-- left hand/arm out picture --]

1. The Left Turn

To signal a left turn, stick your left arm out straight out to your left side.

[-- right hand/arm out picture --]

2. The Right Turn

To signal a right turn, stick your right arm straight out to the right.

You can also use your left arm to signal a right turn. In that case, you put your left arm out and bend your elbow 90 degrees so your hand it pointing upwards.

That is the standard hand signal if you are driving a car because you can’t signal with your right arm. But when riding a bicycle, you can signal with both hands, so it usually makes more sense to fellow road users if you signal using your right arm.

[-- right arm pointing down picture --]

3. Pointing Out a Pot Hole or Similar Hazard

When riding in a group, the riders up front will have a good view of the road surface. It is up to these riders to pick a good line and point out any road hazards. This signal applies for pot holes, sewer grates, road kill, sand, broken glass, etc.

Commonly, these hazards are pot holes. To signal a pot hole, you point one of your arms straight down with an extended index finger.

If the hazard is on your right side, point with the right hand index finger. If the hazard is on your left size, point with your left hand index finger.

[-- left hand facing backwards picture --]

4. Slowing Down and Stopping

Bicycles don’t have brake lights, so you have to use a hand signal for this.

Put your left arm out with your palm facing down and backwards. I recommend bending your elbow at 90 degrees. (Otherwise this signal could be confused with pointing out a pot hole.)

[-- right hand waving behind back picture --]

5. Move Over!

If your group is coming up on a parked car in the way, passing an oncoming runner, or overtaking a slower rider, you will use the “move over” signal.

Typically this means taking your right hand and waving it behind your back. The motion goes from right to left, signaling everyone to move left.

You may also use your left hand motioning to the right, but that is rare since that road lane probably contains oncoming traffic.

Now you can join in group rides without getting confused about hand signals. Have fun.

Have you seen those funny looking grips called the Ergon grips? They really took the mountain bike world by storm in 2008-09.

After hearing so many good things about them, I picked up a pair of the Topeak Ergon Gx-1 Grips for my 2009 mountain bike race season.

The Gx-1 grips are a slightly slimmer version of the original Ergon grips, and they’re fairly light (128g) since they don’t include built-in bar ends.

I was hesitant to purchase the grips because I had felt them before in the packaging, and they just seemed weird! However, I heard many good things about them, so when PricePoint.com had them on sale for $32 (normally $40,) I grabbed a pair.

Thirty bucks for grips is still expensive, but if they eliminate hand pain, it’s a bargain!

Holding them in my hands, they felt awesome! The firm surface coupled with a soft rubber wing/flared section seemed to be a great combo.

First step, installation.

This was very easy. The grips just slide on, then you tighten the hex bolt. Unfortunately, on my left grip, some of the threads were stripped on the integrated nut. Lame!

Instead of bothering with a warranty issue (a pain when you buy mail order,) I swiped a bolt from a spare stem and used that. It was longer, so it reached down and grabbed the threads that were still intact. it sticks out a bit more, and now my stem is missing a bolt, but it works in a pinch.

Then I just had to get them dialed into position and I could say good-bye to hand pain!

Well, that’s what I thought!

First, I installed the grips so they were parallel to the ground. Then I went out riding, with a 4mm hex wrench in my pocket.

I went for an easy ride on dirt roads with flats, ups, downs, and a few spots where I could hit a few technical sections in the woods, over logs and rocks, etc.

The grips felt alright for 10 minutes, but not ‘good.’

Next, I tilted the grips down slightly. That felt better. After a while, I tilted them down a bit more. That proved to be too much tilt, so I went back up a little bit to the last adjustment.

I also tilted the grips upward, and that was really weird!!

So I thought I had found a great position for the grips in under one hour. They seemed fine for all terrain. Climbing was superb. No problems descending. I also hit a small jump, hopped some mud puddles, hopped a log, and took some sharp corners. No loss of control anywhere.

So I went out for a two hour ride…

At first, the grips felt pretty good. I’d even say ‘great’ while climbing. But after a while, I got hand pain, especially on the flats and descents.

[Note: I did not normally get any hand pain on rides with regular grips.]

For my next ride, I adjusted the grips once again. Just slightly. I thought I had them perfect! But still, the comfort wasn’t spectacular.

So it was time to go to a race…

During my pre-ride the day before a race, I was spinning around the parking lot without gloves. Being a hot day, my hands got sweaty. The Ergon grips became extremely slippery! Since the grips are hard/solid, it was like trying to hold onto a piece of PVC pipe that was covered in baby oil!

So on race day, I was obviously wearing gloves! What better way to test the grips than a 4 hour marathon race over rocky trails?

After about 1.5 hours, I noticed a problem. Turned out the right grip was slipping! Argh! Both grips were clamped down, but the right grip was slipping and putting my hand in a bad position.

I stopped and readjusted the grip and tightened down real tight. It still slipped a tiny bit.

But the real problem… After two hours or so, my hands hurt like crazy. And I had blisters all over my hands! Plus, the hard waffle pattern on the grip felt like it was slicing into my hands.

Time to try Ergon grips on a riser bar…

I like to race with a flat bar. Therefore, my initial tests had my Ergon grips on a flat bar.

Well, funny thing. I go and put these on my other mountain bike with a riser bar. They go on the riser bar and instantly feel at home. The grips are oriented with the pointy end of the grip pointing back and slightly up at my chest. Perfect position, first try!

The comfort still didn’t live up to the hype surrounding Ergon, but it wasn’t as bad as before.

So I switched back and tried that grip position on my hardtail with a flat bar. Awful! I went to the horizontal position (roughly parallel to the ground) and it was bearable; neither comfortable nor uncomfortable.

In the end, after three months of screwing around with these Ergon grips on two separate bikes, I just couldn’t get comfortable.

So what did I do? I kept trying the Ergon grips for another year!

Yes, despite the discomfort, I kept trying to get the grips positioned correctly.

My one last hope was a 9 hour mountain bike race, with tons of log hopping each lap. As well as 900′ climbing per 6 mile lap.

As before, the grips were pretty good for a few hours, then my hands were getting blistered. My hands got too sore to ride – it was the first time in my life where hand pain from grips kept me from riding!!

That’s the last straw. No more Ergon grips for me!!

My final verdict is…

If you experience any sort of hand pain while mountain biking, try these grips. If you regularly ride long distances, like 4+ hour XC races, you may enjoy these quite a bit.

Unfortunately, I am not one of the many people who fell in love with Ergon grips. I never had serious hand pain until I started using Ergon grips! I adjusted them into every possible position and tried them for well over a year, but never got them to be comfortable!!

Also, I just don’t like the hardness of the grips nor the lack of grip when your hands are sweaty.

So: if you’ve never had hand pain with regular grips, stick with regular grips!

Ergon has a great idea with these grips, and they might work great for 80% of the population, but they’re not for everyone.

Official website: www.Ergon-Bike.com

Buy online: www.PricePoint.com | www.REI.com

Just take a look at this list of my Bear Naked reviews so far: Bear Naked Native, Bear Naked Fit, Bear Naked Trail Mix, Bear Naked Peak Protein.

But today I want to review the regular granola. (I started off by only reviewing the Peanut Butter and Jelly flavor, but it wasn’t long before I had sampled every other flavor from Bear Naked!)

So for those of you who want a complete review of the regular Bear Naked granola, here it is.

Bear Naked Ingredients and Nutrition Facts

I’m looking at the Fruit & Nut flavor for this part, but most of the granolas have very similar ingredients, so this overview applies to basically all the regular Bear Naked flavors.

In general, this is a mix of oats, nuts, and fruit. It appears very natural, which is what I like to see.

Fruit & Nut Ingredients:

Whole Grain Oats, Honey, Canola Oil, Almonds, Raisins (Raisins, Glycerin, Sunflower Oil), Coconut, Sweetened Dried Cranberries (Cranberries, Sugar, Glycerin, Sunflower Oil), Pecans, Walnuts, Maple Syrup, Oat Bran, Ground Flax Seeds, Toasted Sesame Seeds.

For the most part, the ingredients are natural and haven’t been processed too much. You could nitpick if you wanted, but for a pre-packaged granola, this is about as good as it gets.

Nutrition Facts:

The Serving Size is 1/4 cup, which gives you:

Calories 140
Total Fat 7g
Total Carbs 17g
(Sugars 6g)
Protein 3g

As with most granolas, this is calorie-dense and contains plenty of fat and carbs. The sugar is fairly low, though, which is nice.

As I’ve said before, it would be healthiest to avoid all processed snacks (even this Bear Naked,) but that’s usually not practical or enjoyable. So if you want some enjoyment, Bear Naked is a pretty healthy way of getting it.

Bear Naked Granola Taste Test

Here are my thoughts on all the Bear Naked flavors…

Fruit and Nut

This one is awesome. Soft and sticky texture, sweet flavor. My favorite of the bunch. (Almost as good as the Native granolas.)

Peanut Butter

Pretty soft granola chunks with bold peanut butter flavor, plus peanut halves. Pretty good.

Peanut Butter & Jelly

Pretty good. It’s like the peanut butter flavor, but with little chewy raspberry pieces serving as the jelly.

Banana Nut

Good soft granola chunks with walnuts and banana chips. Sweet, but not too sweet. If you like banana nut bread you’ll like this.

(Sweeter than Peanut Butter, but not as sweet as Fruit and Nut.)

Peanut Butter + Heavenly Chocolate Hybrid

Very good mix. Tastes like you’re eating some good homemade no-bake cookies. (The ones that are basically oats, chocolate, and peanut butter mixed together.)

Maple Pecan

N/A

My final verdict is…

Bear Naked granola is great stuff. One of the healthiest, least processed cereals out there. This is one of my favorite snacks in the world.

If you like sweet flavors, try the fruit and nut types. If you like bold flavors, peanut butter is good, and the chocolate + peanut butter is even better.

Official website: BearNaked.com

For years, I was a PowerBar, Clif Bar, and GU gel user. I never really bothered with the Hammer Nutrition stuff, but after hearing so many good things about it, I figured I’d try to go exclusively Hammer for a while.

And I figured an 8-hour solo mountain bike race would be a great time to try it! Along with the gels and drinks, the Hammer Bar functioned as my go-to energy bar.

In general, the Hammer bar is a well-balanced, natural energy bar that fits in with Hammer’s philosophy. Unlike most energy bars, this one is based on almond butter, giving it a more balanced fat/carbohydrate/protein profile. It’s pretty cool, but different, so let’s review it…

Ingredients and Nutrition

Let’s start by listing the Almond Raisin ingredients:

Certified Organic Ingredients: Organic Almond Butter, Organic Date Paste, Organic Agave Nectar, Organic Brown Rice Protein, Organic Bio Sprouts™ – Flax, Organic Raisins, Organic Bio Sprouts™ – Quinoa, Organic Sesame Seeds.

As you can see, there is a good combination of nutrients from natural, organic ingredients. Rather than a bunch of corn syrup, Hammer uses date paste and agave nectar. That is then mixed with almond butter and rice protein to create a well-balanced bar.

Nutritionally, it looks perfect for endurance events.

As with the LaraBar, these are very natural and would be good for the health-conscious athlete. What sets the Hammer bar apart from even the Larabar is the balance of fat and protein with the typical carbohydrate content.

Taste Test

First, I have to mention the texture, as it’s unique. This bar is based on almond butter, which makes it really wet and oily, almost like a paste, rather than a solid bar. Good news – it goes down very easily!

I guess it’s most comparable to a Dr Will Bar as far as texture. It’s similar to the Larabar, but slightly more oily.

Chocolate Chip: Has a moderately strong dark chocolate taste. It’s much closer to cocoa than to a Hershey’s milk chocolate bar, but it’s not actually bitter. I tasted a few chocolate chips in there, too.

The taste is alright if you like chocolate, but I don’t plan to have this flavor again.

Cashew Coconut Chocolate Chip: Chocolate and coconut combo really reminds me of a Mounds bar. Coconut is noticeable in the texture and adds a sweet flavor. There is some cashew taste in there, but if that wasn’t part of the name, I probably wouldn’t have noticed it. And while chocolate is prevalent, I only noticed one true chocolate chip in there.

A pretty good flavor overall. It’s sweeter and much better tasting than the plain chocolate chip.

Almond Raisin: Good taste, like a not-too-sweet oatmeal cookie. Contains whole raisins, which really stand out, since the rest of the bar is so soft and smooth.

My favorite Hammer bar!

Hammer Bar, In Use

My first Hammer bar was during an endurance race at a pitstop. The bar was so soft I ate the whole thing really quick. Bad idea! It hit my stomach like a rock. It bothered me for a while, but I was fine later. No upset stomach or anything, I just ate it too fast.

On future rides I paced myself and took smaller bites. That worked much, much better!

The Hammer worked fine throughout my tests – it tasted good, went down easy, gave me some energy, and didn’t upset my stomach.

The downfall was that it was not filling at all. It’s a 220 calorie bar, but it’s very small, so it seems like you’re not eating much. I tried having two in an hour, and I just kept getting hungrier.

It’s small in size because it’s calorie-dense (full of fat from the almond butter.) But I just didn’t get as much satiety as I expected.

What’s also holding me back in using Hammer bars is the price. Be warned – they’re about $2.50 each. For that price (and since there’s nowhere to get them at a discount,) I’d consider just buying a jar of almond butter and eating that with a spoon during pit stops!

My final verdict is…

These are about as healthy as you get for an energy bar, and they taste good, too. The only problem I had with them was the lack of satiety when used during moderately paced endurance events (the more intense the exercise, the less I had this issue.)

If you’re looking for a healthier, more natural energy bar, definitely try the Hammer Bar and see if it works for you.

Official website: www.HammerNutrition.com

Buy online: www.REI.com

Then there are triathlon jerseys, with maybe one small pocket in the back. You can’t carry much other than a gel packet.

So how do you carry stuff if you’re out there riding a triathlon on your own? You might be riding up to 112 miles, which usually requires gear!

Here’s how I would carry the essentials for a triathlon:

Carrying Water

On bike:

For a shorter triathlon, my ideal water bottle would be one of those aero bottles that hangs down from your aero bars. These bottles come with a straw, allowing you to drink without leaving the aero position.

If you will need more water, you could carry a regular or aerodynamic water bottle on the seat tube of your bicycle.

If you need more water than that, you could get a water bottle holder that goes behind your seat and holds two bottles.

If you need lots of water and have money to spend, consider a system such as the NeverReach (www.NeverReach.com.) This holds plenty of water and lets you drink from the aero position! A slightly cheaper alternative to the NeverReach is the SipAway (www.SipAway.com.)

What I would not do is get a hydration pack for a triathlon. Those take a while to refill and are not comfortable in the aero position.

On run:

A Fuel Belt (www.FuelBelt.com) is my personal choice for carrying water with me while running. They have a variety of options to suit your personal needs.

Similar hydration belts can be found from Amphipod (www.Amphipod.com.)

Another company is Nathan Sports (www.NathanSports.com,) which makes hydration belts and other goodies, such as a device to hold a 20oz water bottle in your hand without using your grip strength.

Carrying a standard water bottle in your hand for the whole run is a pain in the butt and outdated strategy!

Carrying Food

On bike:

The gold standard for carrying food on your bike is a Bento box (seen here.) This is a small pack that velcros around your bicycle frame and sits on your top tube, near the stem. That makes it easy to access while riding.

You could carry energy bars, energy gels, cookies, etc. in a Bento box.

If you just want to carry energy gels, there are a few other options:

The cheapest solution is to tape the gel packs to your stem and/or top tube. You tape the pull-off tab down so you can easily rip the good part of the gel off and consume.

If you don’t want the mess, look at this interesting invention called the Gel-rilla grip (seen here.) It attaches to your bike and then clamps the gels down so you don’t have to mess with sticky tape.

Also fairly inexpensive is getting a gel flask for $5-6 and getting a stem mount for it.

Another option is to get a Gel-Bot bottle, which stores gel in your water bottle.

To get your electrolytes, try the SaltStick (www.SaltStick.com.) This little device will actually sit inside your aero bars or clip anywhere on your bike, allowing you to carry a sort of salt tablet anywhere you want.

Or, to avoid solid food, try drinks like Hammer Perpetuem or Sustained Energy, which provide hydration and are very high in calories.

On run:

I would make use of my Fuel Belt again. You could either carry a gel flask in it or pin energy gels to the belt.

Normally I’d do gels safety pinned to shorts, but that wouldn’t work so well with tri shorts that you’ve been wearing for the swim and bike already.

Carrying Accessories

On bike:

If you are racing self-supported, your best option is to carry your spare tube and tools in a seat bag.

One energy drink that looked really cool, but proved hard for me to find, was the Sea2O Energy Drink. It’s organic, natural, caffeine-free, etc. Very rare to see an energy drink like that!

Unfortunately, the company is based in Washington state (far away from me,) and there is definitely limited distribution throughout the rest of the country. Online, the only option I saw was a case for like $50 on Amazon.com.

Then one day, I found Sea2O lining the shelves at Big Lots! I picked up ten cans at 50 cents each. (Looks like they started offering more flavors and updated the cans, so the old cans must have been shipped to Big Lots stores.)

Anyway, I finally got some Sea2O to try!

My first thought was, “woah, what’s with the sparse ingredients list?”

Water, Organic Agave Sweetener, Organic Inulin Fiber, Organic Natural Flavor, Citric Acid, Seaweed Extract, Ascorbic Acid, Salt, Vitamin B6.

Really, what gives you energy? I thought maybe the “seaweed extract,” which was the only odd ingredient. You know, perhaps it does something like the quercetin in FRS supposedly does. Seaweed is high in antioxidants, after all.

Then I read up on Sea2O and it turns out the energy comes from the agave nectar! Yep, you heard right – Sea2O is sugar water that gives you a sugar high. That’s it. Granted, agave has a lower score on the Glycemic Index than plain sugar, but still, it’s just sugar.

I thought it was something new and innovative, but it’s really nothing special.

It tastes interesting though. I wouldn’t call it amazing, but it’s pretty good. It has a light, sweet taste, with a dash of citrus or lemon-lime flavor in there.

The energy boost might be noticeable, but 75% of the time, I noticed absolutely nothing. It’s nothing like a highly caffeinated drink – much, much more subtle. More subtle than FRS even!

I can’t complain about the sugar rush though because I didn’t notice a sugar crash with it. That’s the only positive thing I can come up with.

When I do get a kick, it perks me up right after I drink a can. But within an hour, it’s like nothing happened. No crash, just a temporary pick-me-up.

Once I had one at 7pm when I was feeling a little tired but had a few things to do. No effect whatsoever. I was hoping it would give me a one hour boost and then let me relax again, but I stayed relaxed and tired the whole time.

Really, this shouldn’t be called an energy drink. Mountain Dew is more of an energy drink than this.

My final verdict is…

Sea2O is an interesting drink, but really, it’s just sugar water. I’d recommend trying one for fun, but it’s not something I’d drink often. And I certainly wouldn’t drink it hoping for an energy boost.

Official website: www.Sea2o.com

Like most mountain bikers (and really anyone into action sports,) I’ve always wanted to create those really cool point of view videos. You know, the ones filmed with a helmet cam that put you right in the action and make it feel like you’re the rider.

But making a video usually required a very expensive professional setup (if you wanted decent quality,) or you had to settle for short, terrible quality video clips from a helmet cam that still cost nearly $300. So I put the idea on the backburner till 2009 when I found a camera called the GoPro Helmet Hero.

It’s a wide-angle video camera that mounts on your bicycle or your helmet and makes it fairly simple to create such videos.

I heard good things about this device, and at just $189.99 direct from the GoPro website, you can’t go wrong. After watching a few sample videos from the company plus some from average Joes on Youtube, I immediately ordered one for myself.

Note: I ordered my memory cards from Amazon.com rather than GoPro. The same 2 GB card was $16.99 from GoPro, but $5.50 from Amazon (including shipping!) So I ordered three cards from Amazon for $16.47 total.

Now I’ll tell you if it actually worked well…

First Impressions

GoPro’s packaging looks great, but it’s a huge pain to open! It was a tight fit and glued together, so I had to rip it all apart.

Once I got to the camera, I realized it was super heavy! Heavier than my helmet! I’m sure the weight wouldn’t be noticeable if you’re a Motocross racer, but it will take some getting used to when used with a lightweight road cycling helmet.

It was easy to figure out, though, and I had it mounted to my helmet in no time. The Helmet Hero comes with a helmet strap that wraps through the air vents on your helmet, or you can use a stick-on mount if you have a skate-style helmet without the air vents. Heck, it also came with a handlebar mount and a headstrap mount, so there are plenty of options!

After mounting, the tricky part is figuring out the correct angle at which to mount the camera. It takes some trial and error. The first problem came from the tilt adjustment screw. It is meant to be adjusted by hand, but it was so tight I had to use a big Phillips head screwdriver to loosen it initially. (There was NO WAY that thing would budge with my hand strength!) Luckily, after that, I could tighten and loosen it without a problem.

Roll Camera!

It was still light out when I got the camera mounted, so I took it out for a few test rides!

I knew I’d have to ride laps around my yard, slightly changing the camera angle each time, then watch them on my computer to see which angle worked best. I think I did six trial runs (about 30 seconds each) before I was happy with the angle. I thought it would take forever, but it wasn’t that bad.

Basically I started the camera at vertical and tilted it down a little between laps. Then I watched all the videos on my computer. (I went by memory to reset the camera to the angle it was at for the preferred video.)

To fine tune this adjustment, I rode longer laps on varied terrain. You’ll need to download and play all the videos once again. It was a bit of a hassle since your head moves differently depending on terrain (paved roads, rock gardens, steep hill climbs, etc.) I’m glad I had a laptop I could keep outside during the process!

But, by the time it got dark, I had found a good angle!

The First Real Use

Now that I had the angle corrected, I could figure out how to work everything else!

One thing I had noticed in the videos was that there was a terrible clicking and clacking with the audio. That turned out to be the ends of the helmet straps flapping against the helmet’s shell! So tuck them in or tie them down somehow. (I tucked them back into the air vents so my head holds them still.)

Unfortunately, once I eliminated that noise, I heard another one! This one was a rattle.

It turns out that whenever I clip the camera into the helmet mount, the two plastic pieces rattle together. It’s not a good fit, so when the camera moves at all, you get an annoying rattle. (It’s annoying because it’s right by your ears!)

I can even feel the vibration being transmitted through my helmet to my skull, and I can’t imagine the shaking helps it record a clear video!

What really sucks is that you can’t adjust it. It’s either clicked together or not. You can’t tighten anything. You’d have to wedge something soft inside the buckle to sturdy it. I might try to put some really thin (i.e. worn out) handlebar tape in there and hope it still clicks together.

The other issue is working the buttons properly. To be safe, you want to hit the buttons while you’re looking at them and get it recording before you put your helmet on. You also have to hold your hand over the red light to see if it’s blinking or not, since the glare from the sun makes it hard to tell.

Yes, I’ll admit it, there were times I hit the button to stop recording, but the camera started recording since I got mixed up. You can laugh, but the button doesn’t have a good feel to it, so you might just do the same thing!

Other than that, I didn’t notice much while using the camera. The weight is noticeable, but not really a problem.

What I Learned After Watching All My Videos

Watching what you recorded is where you really learn how the camera works!

The audio, or lack thereof, is the first thing I noticed. If the camera is encased in the waterproof enclosure, you’re not going to get any worthwhile audio. Seriously, you can yell to other riders while recording, and this won’t pick it up! In my experience, the only audio I got was the sound of the camera rattling!

Next, I could not get over how shaky the picture was. I got shaky videos whether I was on a smooth road or mountain biking, so I think it’s the sensor on the camera. You’re just not going to get smooth, clear videos on a tiny $200 camera.

I could only watch a little bit at a time because I’d start to feel a little nauseous due to the weird movement. I’d suggest watching a lot of Youtube and Vimeo videos shot with the GoPro before purchasing one!

The other thing I noticed with the video was how the camera reacts to changing light conditions. It actually does a good job in a variety of lighting conditions. For example, when you go from open terrain to a shadowy trail, the camera automatically lightens the image.

Unfortunately, it’s a very noticeable transition! You’ll head into a dark trail for a moment, then it’s like a flash of light as the trail lights up, thanks to this feature.

Lastly, if you’re looking at the sun, you get black spots in the video. It doesn’t ruin the video, it just looks funny.

My Advice For Getting The Best Results

Here are some tips for getting the best video from your GoPro, based on my personal experience.

To start with, place the camera at the center of your helmet and strap it down as tight as possible. Then use the knob to make adjustments.

For recording the trail and having my handlebar and front tire in the viewfinder, I have the camera tilted slightly downward. To record riders, I have the camera almost vertical, just tilted down in front just a hair.

* Note that these angles are based on holding the helmet in my hand, parallel to the ground. the angle will be different once the camera is on my head, but this is an easier system to go by.

Also, remember that your body angle changes as the terrain changes. So you might have a wide open, straight ahead view on dirt road sections. Then on technical rock gardens, you might look down a bit more. And on downhills, you’ll be way back and the camera might even include more of your feet and legs than the trail ahead!

As a general rule, I say, the rougher the terrain and the faster you’re going, the more you want to tilt the camera back.

Above all, it’s best to test the camera in the exact situation in which it will be used. That is time consuming and inconvenient, but it’s reality.

Sample Videos From the GoPro Helmet Hero

The first day I was testing out the camera, I realized it was great for recording while doing wheelies!

Next up, I recorded some footage of the trails for the Greenbrier NORBA race around Hagerstown, MD:

That’s a good one to show you the audio. You can see my friend Brad explaining the course to me, but the GoPro picked up absolutely nothing of either of our voices! But then on the downhill, you can hear the camera clicking/rattling back and forth in its mount.

Lastly, here is some sample footage I took during one of the VisitPA.com team run races where I was trying to record the racers:

That video really shows how close you have to ride to someone to get a decent video of them.

Biggest Problems with the GoPro

Unfortunately, the GoPro Helmet Hero doesn’t come without its fair share of problems and nuances.

The first thing I noticed was the rattle while mounted in the helmet mount. It really sucks. It is due to the plastic mount design – you can’t tighten it down or anything to stop it. It just rattles back and forth.

The battery life indicator is useless. It will go from “full” to a dead battery in no time. Lots of battery indicators have this problem though. To mitigate this hassle, make it a habit to replace the batteries any time you switch out the 2GB card.

Also, there is no remote. I didn’t think it would be a big deal, but it is (unless you enjoy taking your helmet off all the time to check things.) And without a preview screen, you have to carry a laptop and hook the camera to that all the time. And the camera has to come out of its case for that! Another huge pain!

Lastly, I should really emphasize, the wide angle only works well if you’re recording the trail. If you are recording fellow bike riders, the wide angle works against you! (You’d have to literally ride an inch away from their back tire to get a good recording.)

My final verdict is…

The GoPro provides a decent picture, especially for the price. It’s fairly easy to use, and the wide angle is neat.

It’s a good choice overall, but it’s definitely not a superb, “best of the best” kind of helmet camera. It has plenty of annoying drawbacks.

If you have an unlimited budget, take a look at the Vio POV ($700) and the VholdR ($300) cameras. I wish I had saved up and got the Vio, but if you only have $200 budgeted for a camera, and just want to get some trail footage to share with friends, get the GoPro.

Official website: www.GoProCamera.com

I started out doing weighted pull-ups by looping a leather strap through a 10 lb cast iron plate, and then looping that strap over a regular web belt (made to hold up your pants.)

It worked, but it was not comfortable nor sturdy. And you couldn’t adjust the weight without untying many knots. But it saved me $35 and bought me some time until the E-Z Dip Dumbbell Dipping Belt came out!

See, I always wanted to do weighted pull-ups, but I never liked the regular old dipping belts because they didn’t look safe. The price is not too bad ($30-50,) and they can hold 100+ pounds of plates. But they balance on your hips and look dangerous and uncomfortable!

Then there are weight vests, but they’re way too expensive for this purpose – like $50-80 or more just for a 10-20 lb vest.

Luckily, I found the E-Z Dip Dumbbell Dipping Belt before my homemade solution ripped apart. The E-Z Dip is a new style of dipping belt. It’s awesome!

What really sets the E-Z Dip apart is that it holds dumbbells rather than plates. Rather than wrapping a chain through a cast iron plate and hooking it up (as you do with every other dipping belt,) you simply stick a dumbbell into the hanger.

The dumbbells stick in there and don’t slip at all. (Standard dumbbells only though. Those adjustable dumbbells with the rubberized handles are too fat.)

If you want, you can also get a plate holder that hangs off the chain. It’s pretty cool because I don’t have a huge selection of dumbbells, but I do have some heavy plates.

Along with that, the E-Z Dip is very easy to load and unload. With dumbbells, you just lay it in or pull it out of the holder and put a new one in. It couldn’t be faster. No need for belt adjustments when switching dumbbells either.

This is great if you want to keep the belt on between sets, but don’t want the dumbbell weighing you down. You just take it in or out between sets since it only takes (literally) one second.

The plate holder isn’t nearly as slick as the dumbbell holder, but it’s useful to have around, especially if you don’t have a huge dumbbell collection. (The plate holder needs removed from the chain each time you want to change weights.)

Once loaded and you get working out, the E-Z Dip stays on your waist!

The belt stays on your waist because it has a big, thick belt around your hips and back, which balances nicely. Then there is an adjustable nylon strap on the front you tighten down like a regular belt. Every other dipping belt I’ve seen lacks this feature!

With my 32″ waist, I basically had it pulled as tight as possible. It didn’t need to be very tight to feel secure though.

Tightened down, the belt is comfortable.

It doesn’t dig into your sides. There are extra neoprene hip cushions underneath the belt for supreme comfort. Way better than a plain leather strap!

Also, you can adjust the chain length to whatever you want. Since it’s a linked chain and there are two hooks on the belt, just hook into whatever link you wish.

Comfort-wise, you can adjust it to fall into that sweet spot between your thighs, so you’re not banging weights off your knees or your family jewels.

The belt and chain are also sturdy and secure.

I started out using the belt for chin ups and pull ups. I tested it with 5-50lb of weight, using both the plate holder and the dumbbell holder. All were secure.

Supposedly this belt holds up to 300lb. Well, if you know anyone who can do pull ups with 300lb hanging off their waist, have them test this belt and let me know how it goes!

I mentioned this before but I’ll mention it again since it has to do with safety – the belt actually tightens down on your waist and is held in place. It does not just balance on your hips, as most other dipping belts do.

The price is definitely at the high end – about $70 plus shipping ($81 total for the complete package.) That’s double what some other belts cost, but I think it’s worth it for the lack of hassle and increased comfort and safety!

My final verdict is…

The E-Z Dip works great. No complaints here. It is expensive, but if you want to do weighted pull-ups safely and without a lot of fumbling around, it’s worth the money.

Of course, if you can’t do more than 5 or 10 pull ups with nothing more than your body weight, you won’t need to invest in something like this for quite some time. But if you plan to spend the money on a dipping belt, I encourage you to look at the E-Z Dip.

Official website: www.Hold-Ons.com

Crash simulations are important drills for cyclists, especially mountain bikers. If you crash nearly every single race, like me, these drills help a lot!

The point is to practice the proper way to crash, in a controlled environment. Then it becomes ingrained in your mind, and when you crash for real (eventually you will,) you naturally crash properly and sustain as little injury as possible.

Here are two different ways to practice:

1) The Survival Roll

The “survival roll” is where you tuck and roll over one shoulder. (It could also be called a “shoulder roll.”) You may have done these during gym class as a kid. We had a “tumbling” day and did these. It’s also part of a typical high school football practice.

This drill will teach you how to roll through a high speed crash when you are thrown off the bike.

The basic maneuver

First, imagine you are being thrown forward through the air (because that’s when you use this move.) The basic movement is the shoulder roll, in which you turn slightly to one side and tuck your head so that the impact is taken as lightly as possible by one shoulder and dissipated across your back during the roll.

Depending on your speed, you may roll once then sit upright, roll a few times and stop, or roll once and end up back on your feet running.

The practice drills

First things first, location. I suggest practicing these drills in a soft grassy field.

For the first drill, start out crouched down on your hands and knees. Spring forward and perform a shoulder roll.

Next, stand up on your feet, but stay bent over. Lunge forward and perform a shoulder roll.

Next, stand up straight, take a step forward, and do a shoulder roll.

Once you are comfortable with the shoulder roll from an upright position, add some speed. Progress to where you are running and then dive forward, performing a complete shoulder roll.

If you want, you can even practice riding an old bike, slam on the front brakes, dive forward, and do a shoulder roll.

Tips

1. Start slow and progress as you get more comfortable. This is about practicing to not get hurt, so there’s no need to rush into it and end up getting hurt from the practice drills!

Take it one step at a time.

2. Do rolls onto both your left and right shoulders so you feel natural going either way. In a real crash situation, you could end up going either way.

3. Wear your cycling helmet and some pads at first while practicing. Not just for protection, but to make the drills resemble real riding conditions! If you wish, wear just your spandex and helmet.

2. The Slow Speed Fall

Sometimes when navigating technical sections at slow speeds, you will fall. But at low speeds, instead of rolling, you just kind of hit the ground and thud – so the survival roll won’t work here.

What you can do is increase the amount of time your body makes contact with the ground, decreasing the force of the impact on a single area.

The basic maneuver

Imagine you stuck your front wheel against a rock, lost all momentum, and you’re going down on your side. The goal is to lessen the impact.

First, unclip your foot as you fall. The side of your foot or calf muscle should hit the ground first, followed by your knee, thigh, hip, and shoulder. Do NOT stick your arm out! That is more likely to lead to a broken collar bone than to save your fall.

The practice drills

There is one drill here, but two places to practice it.

Start out on a soft grassy hillside. Roll along slowly then hit the brakes to come to a quick stop. At this point, fall over to the side. (Fall uphill, which will be less painful.)

Once you are comfortable with that, practice in a soft grassy field. You’ll fall a little further on the flat ground, so make sure you have the technique down first.

Tips

1. Imagine your body as a piece of rubber, rather than a piece of wood. See, you can snap a stick in half by slamming it on the ground. You could bend a piece of rubber or slap it around, and it could get bruised (if it had veins like we do,) but it won’t snap. (I’ll take a bruise over a broken bone any day!)

So when you fall, stay loose and relaxed. Be like Jell-O.

2. If you have good reflexes for getting your foot unclipped quickly, you might end up dabbing instead of falling over completely. That’s a better outcome, but watch out – you could get your foot stuck in a hole and twist your knee.

Now go practice crashing and ride safely!

Years ago, I lusted over the King titanium bottle cages. They were so cool, but I just couldn’t justify spending $55 on a bottle cage.

Then one day I won a stainless steel King cage at a race, used it, and realized it was awesome! It’s a lot cheaper than the titanium version but still very nice. (I think the retail is about $15.)

The King is a bit more expensive than Forte cages, but it’s worth it, in my opinion. The construction just seems better. It certainly is durable – I’ve used this same King cage for over four years now and it’s still perfect!

It’s made in the USA, so that might explain it.

Other than durability, the only thing to consider is the grip on the bottle. The King cage grips bottles perfectly!

It’s tight enough that it won’t slip, but just loose and flexible enough that it’s easy to get the bottle out and back in while riding off-road.

And if you do have a slightly small or large bottle, you can bend the cage to fit it better. Then bend it back later. (Try that with an alloy bottle cage! There’s a 99.9% chance it will snap.)

My final verdict is…

My #1 bottle cage recommendation, hands down. Eventually I’ll probably have one or two King stainless steel cages on every one of my bikes.

Official website: www.KingCage.com

Buy online: www.ColoradoCyclist.com