Advice on Taking Advice

In all groups there are those who like to offer advice*. In the cycling community which I participate I would dare to suggest that the percentage of advice offerers is high when compared to other groups of folks who gather together in a common cause such as work or family reunions. Ok, you are correct, we won't  bring family reunions into this. 

Advice

Generally unsolicited. Offered to help. Loosely based on YouTube videos, Facebook ads, and sketchy late night web surfing. Advice can be cloaked as instruction and will arrive in many forms but is always meant to help the receiver to improve something. The advise giver (usually) means well but often the delivery is, being kind, awkward. 

Some simple examples... 

Perhaps about your pedaling form:

• "Use a lower gear, spin faster!"
• "Use a bigger gear, grind it out!" 

Perhaps on your climbing: 

• "You need to stand up more." 
• "You stand up too often, you'll tire too quickly." 

Perhaps flat prevention and ride comfort: 

• "You should run your tires at 125psi to prevent flats."
• "You should run your tires at 90psi to prevent flats." 

Perhaps on determining if the weather will be ok to ride in:

• "WeatherSpark is amazing! Best radar on the web."
• "Would Eddy Merckx worry about the weather?"

All kind words, words designed to help you, the receiver of the advice improve. But when you go to apply the advice and spend half your ride standing and spinning in a lower gear riding on 47psi and the other half sitting and grinding that 53x13 up Mt. SugarBrush on 93.5psi all you really gain are are tired quads, a sore butt, a sore arm from pumping up your tires and another day when you get dropped. 

I'm here today to offer you sage advice on how to pick from whom you will take advice. I'll let you decide, once you've read this, if you should take this advice but I believe you'll say, "YES! Best advice ever. But Sully, you should get some advice on laying out a blog." And I would take that advice! But I digress. This is about helping you, not me. 

You know what makes this advice so credible? The fact I'm not explaining to you on how to ride faster and look good doing it. You'll see as we move through this sage advice that it is true I don't meet the criteria to give cycling advice, well, maybe I do when it comes to tire pressure, but not on cadenance, gear ratios, or climbing style**. But you will find that the advice I offer is good advice on taking advice. Probably. I still need to get this story out of my head and into this document and during that process I often spill a few words on the floor and the meaning is lost or the point evolves. 

But not today! No. For I am upon vacation and upon vacation I can think clearly***! I have ridden my bicycle 3 days in a row which gives me the opportunity to let the words gather within my head and now is the time to spill them. Some might say vomit. 

Today is a day of word spillage regarding who you take advice from when it comes to cycling. I will put a caveat upon that: that is what the unformed words in my head look like before they land in this page. You might say the words currently lay naked and I am about to clothe them for you, my friend! (Or, you probably wouldn't say that.) 

We begin the criteria that you should apply with examples to help illustrate the necessary benchmarks for you to make a wise decision in your selection of advice givers from whom you will listen instead of nodding your head politely and hoping they will just go away. Or at least a decision that once you've made it you'll know why everyone else is laughing at you, I mean, with you. 

Adviser Giver Selection Criteria

1. What sort of Beer do they consume and how do they go about opening it? 

Notice in the picture the use of a Park Tool BO-3. Clearly this indicates this is an individual who not only takes their rehydration strategy very seriously they also use only the best tools. A Surly Furious and a BO-3 to open it is a SUPER POSITIVE sign this guy knows what he's doing! 

It really shows nothing regarding how good his cycling advice might be, but any photo with beer and bike tools has to be included. 

We award +1 on the "Take advice from this person" scale.

2. Do their socks match their bike? 

Clearly this rider is one who cares about details. Notice that both the "Right Sock" and the "Left Sock" match the "Frame". Not only that but if you zoom in and really look carefully (put those bifocals on) you can see the leg stockings are no ordinary pair of leg stockings, those are compression socks! Clearly this guy is one whom if he/she chooses to offer you advice on your choice of socks for the days ride you should listen! 

We award +.5 on the "Take advice from this person" scale.

I'm going to pause here for a moment to allow that those of you reading this who are not professional cyclists like me can still use this advice giver selection criteria in your everyday life. The tips I offer here can be applied to any line of activity. Beer? Socks? You need these nearly everywhere you go. The key for you, you non-cyclist, is the attention to detail that these experts show in all they do.  And you should apply that criteria for selection of your advisors. 

At this point you are likely thinking, besides "Why am I reading this drivel?" that "This adviser advise is supposed to involve bikes, where are the bikes? This is about cycling! Get to the bike part!". 

So here we go. The nitty gritty on choosing your advice giver. 

3. A Bike. 

This picture speaks for itself. Just say no. 1 wheel? Really? Clearly a single speed which denotes "cool" in some circles. We, however, are not in search of cool. We are looking for a Professional, an Expert, well conceived advice givers! And this guy, whoever he is, ain't one of them. 

Honestly, maybe he is. I don't know. But I really needed a way to work a picture of that unicycle into the story. Pretty cool! 

Onward... 







3. The Bike. 

The bike is the key. It really is About the Bike.  The bike will be your guide. Is this person legit? Is this someone that when they explain to me that running tire pressure between 34 and 36 psi on the Cross Bike when running tubeless is really something I should pay attention to? (I will let you define your own analogy if you are a non-cyclist). 

Lets look over this crime scene. First - how about that helmet hanger? Clearly this individual thinks outside the box, is inventive, and just does not go with the norm. Wow. This is a huge +1 on the "Take advice from this person" scale. In fact, let's go +1.5! 

Next - A subtle tip of the hat to the greatest bike race in the world - notice that yellow water bottle holder. Get it? The same color as the leaders jersey in the Tour de France! Who ever this is must have it going on. Out of the box thinker who gets the best race of the season? Another +1 on the "Take advice from this person" scale. How many points is that already? I can't even count that high, well, at least not when I'm on vacation and frankly bored with the points. 

Continuing with the bike, from another angle. 
We'll begin with the trunk. A rider with a trunk indicates an individual...

Ah... never mind. We'll ignore the trunk. Everyone has a fault, right? Even an advice giver? 

But let's return to the Yellow and paying homage to the Tour de France. Not only is the water bottle holder yellow, but take note of the way the bike was parked with the yellow flowers to accentuate the yellow of the bike. Such a subtle touch indicates one who has a large attention to detail! And when seeking advice givers I would suggest that you put high merit on their ability to seek out fine details and weigh those against the problem you very likely did not ask for advice on. 

Really? Who ever asks for advice on tire pressure? You are correct - I know that person too. What normal person ever asks for advice on tire pressure? 

Onward! 

I think at this point you now have a good base of sample criteria to work out from whom you should solicit and take advice. Clearly I am one. But with the above you now have what you need for a solid start when I am not available, like when I've been dropped. 

But please, let the author know if you need more, he's happy to provide it, but only when asked. A good advisor knows when to say when. 

Right? 




If you have any other interest in crap like you just finished reading, or skipped past the end just to say you got to the last line, view some of ArgonEighteen's aka Sully aka Sutcliffe other  'Advice'  over at Chilkoot Velo where our hero (me) is often off the back. 

* One great example of Advice I offered can be found here. It is THE KEY to boosting performance! 

** I will forever deny this in every other story I contrive, at least when it suits the story. 

*** I am prone to the unsubstantiated grand statement when I "write".