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FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | JULY 2024 23 By Steve Benoff By now, both of my faithful readers know that I ride a bicycle regularly. A little over 30 years ago I was kind of forced into it. Our son was working out some issues; in fact, he more than worked through them. As a way to support his new interest in bike riding, Martha bought a bike and rode with him. It soon became clear that if I wanted to see her on weekends, I'd have to get a bike, too. What started as a reluctant activity became a passion. I've been riding weekly ever since, interrupted only by vacations and one bike crash coming down Oak Glen at 35 miles an hour (three ribs, one shoulder). Somewhere along the line I developed a passion for riding my bike up hills. Fact is, I no longer like to ride on the flats. These days I drive to my rides. I now ride Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in Banning, Beaumont, and Redlands with about 8,000 feet of climb a week. Funny thing is, the most common question I'm asked is how far I ride. Fact is, I pay no attention to miles, only feet. But as I've aged, I need help going up some of the climbs. Not a motor; lower gears. The smaller the chain ring in front and the larger in back, the easier it is to pedal uphill. Over the years I've changed the gearing on my bikes to make climbing easier. And I've grown more cautious in my riding. Most of the hills I ride are dead ends or residential. I have what's called a bike computer mounted on my bike which tells me lots of things including my heart rate. If it gets to 150, I stop and let my heart slow down. Since I started riding, I've used a mirror attached to my glasses to look for overtaking traffic. I can usually hear cars coming behind me (even electric ones) which prompts me to look at the mirror instead of the road. I recently added a device that makes it so I can keep my eyes looking ahead and yet know when a car is approaching from behind. This new item is a combination radar detector, camera, and tail light. When a car approaches, sometimes before I hear it, I hear a tone and the right edge of my bike computer screen turns red and shows a dot (or more dots for more cars) which travels up the screen until it disappears with another tone. Hopefully I won't need it, but a camera records the car. There's also a red taillight that flashes to call the drivers' attention to me. So, where's the app? Actually, to allow the bike computer, the radar camera, and my phone (which sends audio to my hearing aids) to work together, I have two apps on my phone — Garmin Connect and Garmin Varia. These apps allow me to set these devices to operate the way I want them to. This includes being able to view recorded video in the unlikely event I'll need to. Obviously, I have a strong interest in apps. It turns out there are tons of apps geared to cyclists, and you might expect me to have some of them on my phone. I don't. While I am a member of the Los Angeles Wheelmen bike club, I ride alone. So, I don't have the very popular Strava app. "Strava makes fitness tracking social. We house your entire active journey in one spot — and you get to share it with friends." And there are many apps to show you bike routes and allow you to create your own rides. Riding a bike is fun and good exercise. If you ride the Four Seasons Circle, you'll get a good workout. Always wear a helmet and I encourage you to use a mirror that attaches to protective glasses. One observation I've made as I see other riders on the road is many of them have their seats too low. This leads to inefficient riding and can result in back and knee issues. Look for "bike fit" on Google or YouTube. Or take your bike to a bike shop to have your seat and perhaps your handlebar adjusted. If you use an app you'd like to share with others, let me know at steve.benoff@verizon.net. THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT! I want to ride my bicycle I want to ride it where I like

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