Do Recumbents Crash More Than Regular Bikes?

..
:
: As a diabetic I must eat carbs but in measured and controlled amounts. An
: ultra-low carb diet such as Atkins would not be good for me.

You are wrong about the Atkins diet being "ultra-low carb". Atkins only
starts off at 20 gm carbs per day. After 2 weeks, you start adding more and
more carbs until you get to the point where you start to gain weight. Then,
you cut back to your personal level. Nothing "ultra-low carb" about that.

Also I have
: been taught to count all carbs. Atkins lets you subtract fiber and other
: low-impact carbs. My diabetes educator does not allow me to do that. What
I
: have learned about healthy eating for diabetic is that I should eat carbs
: but they must be controlled and their impact on my blood sugar must be
: monitored.
: Jeff

The reason the Atkins diet subtract fiber is because Atkins is geared toward
eating low glycemic carbs. Dr. Atkins didn't even call it a "low carb" diet.
He called it a "controlled carb" way of eating. Not all carbs are alike.
Atkins was trying to keep people's insulin levels, well, level. Maybe
diabetics use the Atkins diet because diabetics try to eat low glycemic
carbs to avoid the sugar spikes of high glycemic carbs. Don't use the Atkins
diet if you wish, but, first, you have to actually know what the diet is,
not just what you speculate it is.

Pat in TX
:
:

Pat,

I read several of the books and I have used the diet several times. I have
even written a ten page synopsis of the Atkins diet based on the books.
Don't let my casual conversation lead you to believe that I don't understand
it. However, according to my diabetes educator, FOR PURPOSES OF DIABETES
MANAGEMENT ONLY (which means for me), all carbs are alike. Essentially all
carbs are carbs and they must be controlled.

I am supposed to eat 120 gms of carbs per day which is way more than Atkins
recommends.

The fatal flaw in Atkin's plan is the assertion that you can eat as much as
you want as long as you don't over-eat carbs. This is simply not true. There
is no escaping the calorie balance equation. Prior to the proliferation of
low-carb foods, the result of going on a low-carb plan such as Atkins was
simply that people didn't eat as much. Since the expansion of low-carb
foods, however, a lot fewer people are finding success with Atkins.
Overeating is overeating regardless of what you over eat.

If you really want to follow this type of plan and want to arm yourself with
science (which Atkins is not), then I recommend "The Ketogenic Diet, A
Complete Guide for the Dieter and Practitioner" by Lyle McDonald.

This book will give you the most up to date research on this type of dieting
without hype. It also focuses on how to use this type of diet for achieving
different objectives such as body building or weight loss.

The book is not a "program" such as Atkins but rather is a comprehensive
look at the type of diet that leads to diet induced ketosis.

Thanks for the input.

Jeff
"Pat" wrote in message
...

.
:
: As a diabetic I must eat carbs but in measured and controlled amounts.
An
: ultra-low carb diet such as Atkins would not be good for me.

You are wrong about the Atkins diet being "ultra-low carb". Atkins only
starts off at 20 gm carbs per day. After 2 weeks, you start adding more
and
more carbs until you get to the point where you start to gain weight.
Then,
you cut back to your personal level. Nothing "ultra-low carb" about that.

Also I have
: been taught to count all carbs. Atkins lets you subtract fiber and other
: low-impact carbs. My diabetes educator does not allow me to do that.
What
I
: have learned about healthy eating for diabetic is that I should eat
carbs
: but they must be controlled and their impact on my blood sugar must be
: monitored.
: Jeff

The reason the Atkins diet subtract fiber is because Atkins is geared
toward
eating low glycemic carbs. Dr. Atkins didn't even call it a "low carb"
diet.
He called it a "controlled carb" way of eating. Not all carbs are alike.
Atkins was trying to keep people's insulin levels, well, level. Maybe
diabetics use the Atkins diet because diabetics try to eat low glycemic
carbs to avoid the sugar spikes of high glycemic carbs. Don't use the
Atkins
diet if you wish, but, first, you have to actually know what the diet is,
not just what you speculate it is.

Pat in TX
:
:

"Mike Rice" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 31 Jul 2005 21:34:45 -0400, "Jeff Grippe" jeff@door7 wrote:

Jeff you're still making me worry. This really doesn't look like the
writing of an IDIOT!.

How could you?


Sorry. I wasn't paying attention. Let me restate that last message.

All hail the gods of our godless liberal agenda. Praise be to Kerry and
Clinton and all right thinking lefties. May the fires of the non-existent
hell consume the evil Bush and his minions.

Better Mike?

Jeff

"Jeff Grippe" jeff@door7 wrote in message
...
"Mike Rice" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 31 Jul 2005 21:34:45 -0400, "Jeff Grippe" jeff@door7 wrote:

Jeff you're still making me worry. This really doesn't look like the
writing of an IDIOT!.

How could you?


Sorry. I wasn't paying attention. Let me restate that last message.

All hail the gods of our godless liberal agenda. Praise be to Kerry and
Clinton and all right thinking lefties. May the fires of the non-existent
hell consume the evil Bush and his minions.

Jim Hightower of Texas was on Iowa Public TV the other day. He is a
Progressive and a Populist. If the Dems had any brains, which they don't,
they would get behind a progressive and a populist agenda and maybe they
could start winning some elections once again.

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota

I am a top poster = industry standard for technical fields. For some
reason this really bothers Ed Dolan.

Back on topic:

I has found that my close encounters with earth on a recumbent tend to
be at low speeds when the bike is least stable. These have occurred
when the front tire has lost air or the road has turned to soft dirt
[also read: sand]. To avoid these situations:
1) I check my front tire as soon as the front tire gets wobbly
2) I stay on the pavement and will walk the bike over dirt sections of
the road.

My falls on a recumbent are sudden ungraceful butt bounces or hip sits
with accompaning bruises or scrapes. I consider these low speed
impacts a vast improvement over the arm, rib or shoulder injuries that
I have been awarded with while riding an upwrong.

I echo the much earlier comment that pedal clips prevent many [not all]
injuries both like you experienced and the well known "leg suck"
manuever. Warning: pedal clips questions can spontaneously generate
flame wars.

Snowman

Mike Rice wrote:
On Thu, 28 Jul 2005 02:02:33 -0500, "Edward Dolan"
wrote:
yada, yada, yada

wrote in message
oups.com...
I am a top poster = industry standard for technical fields. For some
reason this really bothers Ed Dolan.

We are on literary standards for ARBR, which most definitely is NOT a
technical field. What is required for posting to ARBR is an IQ of about 100,
although we have some few here who are bona fide idiots and morons. All the
idiots and morons top post without giving any quotation or even attribution
to anyone.

There is nothing more reprehensible in the entire universe than top posting.
Every time I see it my blood pressure goes into the stratosphere. It has
gotten to the point where I think some are top posting on purpose because
they are trying to cause my premature death. But I am determined to hang in
there for as long as I can and forever excoriate such miscreants to my dying
breath. Curses on all top posters! I will see them in Hell.

Back on topic:

I has found that my close encounters with earth on a recumbent tend to
be at low speeds when the bike is least stable. These have occurred
when the front tire has lost air or the road has turned to soft dirt
[also read: sand]. To avoid these situations:
1) I check my front tire as soon as the front tire gets wobbly
2) I stay on the pavement and will walk the bike over dirt sections of
the road.

My falls on a recumbent are sudden ungraceful butt bounces or hip sits
with accompaning bruises or scrapes. I consider these low speed
impacts a vast improvement over the arm, rib or shoulder injuries that
I have been awarded with while riding an upwrong.

I echo the much earlier comment that pedal clips prevent many [not all]
injuries both like you experienced and the well known "leg suck"
manuever. Warning: pedal clips questions can spontaneously generate
flame wars.

Well, if you have only had slow speed falls, then consider yourself lucky.
If and when you have a high speed fall, you will not be so blasé about it
all. The fact is that you can get hurt very badly on a recumbent the same as
you can on an upright. I have seen several recumbent cyclists being picked
up off the road in an ambulance and being taken to the hospital emergency
room.

By the way, the older you get the less you want to fall. Your chances of
breaking some bones goes way up with age - and the healing process takes
forever.

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota

Edward Dolan wrote:
"Jeff Grippe" jeff@door7 wrote in message
...

"Edward Dolan" wrote in message
news
I remember something I read once what Gardner Martin, the designer of the
Tour Easy, said about how to design recumbents. He said he designs them
for
250 pound guys like you because they constitute a large share of the
market
for recumbents. I think that is true. I do see very many heavy folks on
recumbents. This makes a lot of sense because it is very hard for big and
heavy guys to ever get any comfort on an upright.


I'm not surprised to learn this. I came to recumbents because of my search
for the ever more comfortable bicycle. I've done centuries on upright
bikes but the sensation of getting back on the bike after a rest stop was
just awful.

What makes recumbents bad for people my size is how terrible they are on
hills. I recall one hill in CT that I finally walked up after falling off
my bike (Infinity recumbent) 5 times because I couldn't keep up enough
speed.


I have two Infinty recumbents, one being the all square tube. I don't ride
them much anymore but I still think they are the best looking recumbents
ever made. I first saw them in a Bike Nashbar catalog and immediately wanted
one.


This is what led me to trikes. I test rode some trikes on a fairly hilly
test course and found that I could just drop it into low gear and make it
up anything at whatever speed I desired. As you know, I can even stop in
the middle of a hill to rest (I never do though but I've tried it just to
convince myself that it could be done.)


I have walked up many a hill and think nothing of it.


So I sold all my bikes and I now ride trikes exclusively.

Ah but then I discovered rail-trails which are essentially flat. I will
probably pick up a bike again just to take on "rail-trail only" trips.


Rail trails work equally well for both bikes and trikes. But hills are the
pits for recumbents. I just about die of laughter when I hear guys saying
that recumbents are just as good on hills as uprights. Some idiot even told
me once that recumbents were better on hills. You have to work twice as hard
to get up a hill on a recumbent as you do on an upright. This is so
elementary that I refuse to even discuss it anymore with anyone.


BTW it is easy for heavy guys to get comfort on an upright. They just have
to lose weight. Losing weight is the hard part, however.


Forget about losing weight. We Americans, like most of the world's better
off peoples, are destined to be over weight for all eternity. It is what
comes of having too much leisure and too much food. In India, until
recently, only the well to do were heavy. The peons were thin as rails. Who
wants to be a peon.

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota







I have prostate problems, consequence of getting older, I guess.

I remember riding for hours w no problems back in the '70's.

now, after 1/2 to hour of riding, I have penile numbness.

So in 1994, I bought an Infinity, square tube, aluminum, long wheel base.

I have ridden the Hotter than Hell Hundred with it several times, with
no problems, however, it was slow.

Last year, I got a Vision 40 short wheel base. It is significantly
faster. I rode the hundred at the HHH in 6 hours and 54 minutes, my
second fastest time, fastest on a recumbent.

This year, I rode the metric century, without stopping in 4 hours flat.

I have had two crashes on a Recumbent, only one of consequence.

Once, going down a hill in rain, don't know what happened, but I was on
my face, and the bike was on top of me. Driver of car following said it
was quite spectacular. Just contusions, rain lubricated my skidding on
road, so not too bad, for doing about 20-30 mph.

Second, going around corner, on the Infinity, the front wheel hit some
gravel, and skidded, dumped me on my butt at about 6-10 mph. only fell
about a foot, kinda humorous really.


j.

"Into the living sea of waking dreams" wrote in message
. ..
[...]
I have had two crashes on a Recumbent, only one of consequence.

Once, going down a hill in rain, don't know what happened, but I was on my
face, and the bike was on top of me. Driver of car following said it was
quite spectacular. Just contusions, rain lubricated my skidding on road,
so not too bad, for doing about 20-30 mph.

Second, going around corner, on the Infinity, the front wheel hit some
gravel, and skidded, dumped me on my butt at about 6-10 mph. only fell
about a foot, kinda humorous really.

Your crash on the Infinity is the classic crash for long wheel base
recumbents. I think it has happened to just about everyone. The only cure
for it is to be careful when going around a corner, especially if loose
gravel is present on the road surface. It comes from the front wheel being
lightly loaded. These type of crashes seldom happen on an upright.

--
Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

I never crashed my Infinity. I still wonder why I didn't hang on to that
bike.

All of my crashes (2) were on the Vision. One was clearly my fault (I
piloted the thing into a railroad tie at about 20 MPH). The other I blame on
the Vision. I never liked the seat held together with velcro. The person who
sold it to me assured me that he sold them to heavier riders and they had no
problem. Maybe the heavier riders didn't actually ride much. My seat came
undone while I was doing about 20 MPH (I detect a pattern here. Visions tend
to crash when you are going 20 MPH).

Jeff
"Edward Dolan" wrote in message
...

"Into the living sea of waking dreams" wrote in
message . ..
[...]
I have had two crashes on a Recumbent, only one of consequence.

Once, going down a hill in rain, don't know what happened, but I was on
my face, and the bike was on top of me. Driver of car following said it
was quite spectacular. Just contusions, rain lubricated my skidding on
road, so not too bad, for doing about 20-30 mph.

Second, going around corner, on the Infinity, the front wheel hit some
gravel, and skidded, dumped me on my butt at about 6-10 mph. only fell
about a foot, kinda humorous really.

Your crash on the Infinity is the classic crash for long wheel base
recumbents. I think it has happened to just about everyone. The only cure
for it is to be careful when going around a corner, especially if loose
gravel is present on the road surface. It comes from the front wheel being
lightly loaded. These type of crashes seldom happen on an upright.

--
Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

"Jeff Grippe" wrote in message
...
I never crashed my Infinity. I still wonder why I didn't hang on to that
bike.

All of my crashes (2) were on the Vision. One was clearly my fault (I
piloted the thing into a railroad tie at about 20 MPH). The other I blame
on
the Vision. I never liked the seat held together with velcro. The person
who
sold it to me assured me that he sold them to heavier riders and they had
no
problem. Maybe the heavier riders didn't actually ride much. My seat came
undone while I was doing about 20 MPH (I detect a pattern here. Visions
tend
to crash when you are going 20 MPH).

Jeff

I never had a problem with my Vision crashing above 20 and unless you are
grossly overweight (?) the velcro seat will stay on