First Flight of the P7



Maserati, Seen in the Doctor Parking Next to the Entrance to Baylor Grapevine Medical Center on Monday. Doctor Visit 3 of 3 for the Day
Don't Those Doctors Understand? - "Alfa Romeo, es mas macho."



Veggies Need Not be Starchy!

I’ve used Cateye headlights a lot, but it is time to move on. I’ll keep them for occasional use in ways that their shortcomings do not cause problems. To replace them, I have acquired a “2W Planet Bike Blaze” and a P7-C. The P7 actually came on Monday, though I couldn't have used it, instead spending the day discovering how my medical adventures have affected local doctors, and allowing my local restaurant to prove that dinner side dishes need not be starchy. Anyway, this morning I used the P7 and it is a great light as long as one is prepared to live with its idiosyncrasies. While I haven't done too much fact checking, I've heard that the P7 uses the brightest available single LED to make its light. It certainly IS bright whether that claim is true or not.



Bike With Lights Turned Off

Apertome reported on the light and on a battery recall involving it here, and here. I must admit that the battery/light interface is certainly rather strange. Unlike any light I’ve ever seen, the on/off button is lit when the battery is hooked up – and stays lit. The situation is compounded by instructions that are worse than worthless.

The light itself, however, is brilliant, albeit with a fairly wide beam. No matter – it’s got so much light that it is brighter than any of my other lights, including the fatally flawed Cateye HL530 with fresh batteries. On the high setting, the maker claims 3 hours of light. On my new commute, that’d be about a recharge once a week. On the v2 commute, it’d be a recharge every other day. The light is also very solidly built and doesn’t depend on an unreinforced plastic mounting bracket the way the Cateyes do.



P7 in "High" Mode. Note that Street Color Sets the Brightness on Each of These Three Photos



In addition to the “high” mode, the P7 also has a “low” setting and a “flash” setting. I don’t think I’ll use the "flash," instead I'll ride with high when there's no oncoming traffic and drop it down a notch when all I need is to be seen.

So far, the P7 does what it needs to do – light up the way forward.

Should you consider a P7? Well, it definitely isn’t a light for everyone. For starters, it probably isn’t available in your local bike shop, or even on Amazon ("unavailable"). I got mine off eBay and Apertome got his online. For a second reason, as noted by Apertome, the batteries and battery/light interface is suspect. This might or might not get better in the future. It also throws a broader beam than is optimal for a headlight - I worry about blinding oncoming motorists, which is why I'll operate it as I would an automotive high/low beam combo. ON THE OTHER HAND, the light is half the price of any equivalent lighting power and gives you the lighting of a generator light without the weight, drag, cost, and complexity. Simply charge this puppy up – and GO. Perhaps, tomorrow, I'll find out how it does in the rain...

P7 in "Low" Mode is About the Same as the Planet Bike 2W Blaze on "High"

My Medical Release

The Off-Side Chainstay Acquired Some Scratches When I Fell

I went to our primary care physician for a follow-up visit. I got referred to an orthopedist for my still-hurting shoulder. I also got advice about how careful I should be riding my bike while I continue to heal. "Back off if you find you can't stand the pain, but you won't make things worse, and therapy probably won't help." Pretty simple. Actually, I felt it prudent to back off a bit from his recommendation and translate that into "Don't ride so hard that the pain distracts me from what's going on with traffic."

And so it went. I picked today to ride for the following reasons:

• No Doctor appointment today!
• No rain today!

I also noticed that the road on which I fell has experienced substantial added work. They've finished their new median, which should help motorists from crashing head-on into each other as often. I don't think it'll do anything good for local neighborhoods or businesses. Having ridden it this morning and again on the way home, I can't say it does anything to help encourage cyclists. I DID think of another (legal) way to avoid getting swamped by a crowd of overtaking morning motorists due to poor signal timing. For whatever reason, the eastbound lights don't have timing problems so the afternoon stretch on FM1709 is drama-free.

The New, "Improved" FM1709, Sporting its Freshly Poured Median

BTW, my doctor did not forget to remind me to get rid of the old helmet. He appeared a bit curious about my intention of using it for simulation testing. He'll have to wait for the video. I also stopped by to pick up a "Wally World Best" helmet, since my previous winter helmet melted when I made the mistake of leaving it in the car on a hot day.

On the way home, I noticed that the bike hadn't gone totally unscathed. I'll have to be careful with the touchup paint. I also noticed dirt and dried blood on my gloves. Those gloves were beginning to fall apart anyway and I got a new pair at the HH100.

While at it, I had a chance to rate "bike riding pain" with other versions. From 1 to 10, with 10 being the worst of the lot (about a 3 or 4 on an absolute scale so we’re not really talking serious pain even for a perfect “10”), here’s how shoulder pain when cycling to work stacked up against other pain producing activities:

• Cycling – 1
• Stuck in MRI machine while they scan my shoulder – 2
• Making a left turn signal while cycling – 3
• Cycling when encountering an unexpected pot hole or rough pavement – 4
• Showering after riding to work – 5
• Driving – 3 (5 if steering, using left arm to make a turn)
• Working at the desk – 5
• Sleeping (by early morning) – 6
• Drinking coffee from a large (or heavy) cup using my left arm – 7
• Reaching forward to turn car lights on – 7
• Reaching up into kitchen cabinet with left arm – 10
• Seeing the chainstay scratches – 10 (actually, this was more a mental anguish)



MRI is More Painful than Cycling



Cycletherapy

Frankenbike, with Kermit Looking all Innocent

I took Frankenbike out for a couple of relatively short road test runs this weekend. Some things were as I expected and others were not. As expected, my left shoulder; seriously dinged on Monday, made some things more difficult when riding, but overall it hurt less to ride than it does to drive an automobile. Unlike the car, most of the action involving getting a bike from point "A" to point "B" involves fairly small body movements. There is no real major motion of the left or right arm. As it transpired, getting on and off the bike was easier than I expected and left turn signals were also easier than I expected, since a little wobble could be employed to help the old left arm up. Right turn signals, braking, and shifting with the right hand turned out to be a total nonissue. On the other hand, I did not expect to experience a general arm soreness that gradually accumulated. It appears that long rides are not in the equation until the left wing heals a bit more. This seems a doubly wise policy because, while normal bike handling is pretty much normal, I'm not confident I could perform emergency maneuvers at 100%, and didn't feel like doing parking lot drills to verify the impression.

Out on Probation

Came on Vacation, Left on Probation
Well, after a lot of discussion and delay, they let me out of the hospital this afternoon - on a probationary status. Unable to find any evidence of brain damage or continuing tendency to form blood clots, the doctors decided to obsess over my heart rate. Specifically, they thought it was too low when they took it in the middle of the night last night. In the final analysis, I got out by promising to go visit the cardiologist tomorrow so he can decide if I have "bradycardia." I could see it if there was some symptom (the heart beats strongly and regularly), or my blood weren't properly oxygenated, but it seems a little overcautious since the heart rate is just fine when I'm awake and sitting up. What's more, Miguel Indurain had a resting heart rate of 28. I have a long way to go before I get into THAT class. As I told my wife, "I think I've gotten into a medical treadmill."

Darn Water Pump Must Need Work!
The neurology doctor said it was a bit like taking the car in for a shifting problem and the mechanic decides there's a water pump item that needs attention. At least they took me off the darn blood thinners so I won't bleed like crazy at the slightest provocation any more.

A close inspection of Buddy reveals no apparent damage, other than some grease on the chainstay, caused when the chain came off, apparently while I was not alert to what was going on.

I'm also under rather vague orders to "not overdo it" while on the bike for a while. I guess if I ride hard and something lets loose, I've overdone it. In the short term, my left shoulder hurts when I move much so I'll not be putting in many miles, at least for the rest of the week. I'd really also like to be done with bleeding before I ride any long distances. Regardless, I don't think I'll ride to work before next week.
Helmets
A little blurb on helmets: it is interesting to note that the presumption developed among the staff, while I was in the hospital, that I was NOT wearing a helmet. I have no idea why this was the case, because I WAS wearing a helmet, which did me little, if any good because those things offer virtually no face protection and certainly do not protect shoulders. On the other hand, I have no evidence that the presence of my helmet made things worse than they would have been otherwise. The only evidence that the helmet was present was a little ding on the left side, with no evidence of foam compression. Certainly, the helmet was not used in a manner consistent with the CPSC test standard. In this case, a helmet made to the Snell standard might have done a little better because those provide added coverage area, but I don't think it would have made a big difference. It is also interesting to note that the small amount of brain bleeding that occurred was almost directly opposite the point of helmet contact. Perhaps my brain bounced around and the helmet might have made things either better or worse. In the final analysis, I'd have to say that wearing the helmet saved me from having to listen to a lot of well-intended post crash lectures. Whether or not it did more than that, we shall never know.

Damaged Helmet, Above My Left Eye

Alternate View of Damaged Helmet

Thursday Update: Take Asprin and Call Me in a Year
So, dutifully, I went to the cardiologist, in accordance with my parole. He was totally unconcerned with heart rate, instead telling me to just take an aspirin a day and call him in a year, unless I had some tangible reason to be concerned. FWIW, and because Cycler asked, my heart rate has always been on the low side for whatever weight and physical condition I happened to be in. I really can't say that cycling has really changed it a whole lot, because as I cycle more, I do other stuff less. It all balances out. The lesson is: when getting a pulse checked in the middle of the night at a hospital, I'm going to think "stressful thoughts" or start waving arms around to get things pumped up a skosh. As for the cardiologist, I think he had enough sick people to make his Lexus payments that he didn't need me cluttering up his office.

It was also interesting to hear the cardiologist talk about the heart rates of pro cyclists. Basically, he pays them no mind, because they're often doped up enough to rob their heart data (and other health indicators) of any meaning for regular people.