Runners Guide to Biking

Blogging Marathon: Day 14

So let's say you are a typical runner training for a marathon, and you have another injury.
You just got back from the doctor with a diagnosis of severe "plantchillies fashionitis", and you have swelling from the tip of your left big toe all the way to your right ear lobe.

Everyone tells you that it's time to take a break from running and start cross training. And that means biking.

Now, I know you hate biking. You're a runner and that's all you want to do. But I'm here to help make your bike "cross training" as painless as possible.

Today's Tip: Tires

If you went and bought a  mountain bike, you have those big knobby tires.

First thing you want to do is replace those with some smooth tires. Like the one on the right. Here is why:

1. smoother ride
2. less rolling resistance, faster
3. good for riding indoors on a "trainer"
4. you're not going to be riding in the mud anyway

You will notice that these tires say 65 PSI MAX on the side, but that's a lot of crap. They want you to ride on the tire with low pressure so they wear out faster and you have to buy more.

Don't fall for that! No, you want to inflate that tire to 100 PSI or more. You get really nice easy ride out of it.

Flat Tires
Expect to get a lot of flat tires. I know I do, and  I have no idea why.


Up Next week:
"The Joys of pushing your bike home 3 miles"