Do You Live Here Or Ride Bikes?

Mountain Bike Short Track race #2 -- Yahoo again!

2011-06-13T23:11:00.000-07:00

Last week, at the first short track race I had a blast. I smiled a lot and just had fun. I also felt strong, caught a few riders and never wished the race would be over. I can remember many times last year, in both short track and cyclocross just waiting waiting waiting to hear the bell ring sometime after my second lap. But two races into this season? Nope. I hear the bell and immediately begin to coach myself:

"Okay, you're half a lap away. Keep pushing but don't blow up. If you make the bell lap you'll need that last bit of go juice..."

"Okay, almost there. Keep going."

And I'd bass by the finish banner with the bell still ringing! YEAH! Got my bell lap, baby!

I also have no intention of riding anything but my single-speed this season. In Short track, I mean. Cycloscross is different. (I might switch to 1x9, though.) Friend Will set me up with some Avid SD 7 linear-pull brakes and compatible aero-levers. That bike is sweet now. I love it.

I am just so stocked right now—I'm having so much fun racing my bike! I love it!

Crazy urban downhill race. Wow. Just... wow.

2011-04-03T21:51:00.000-07:00

I don't have much to say about this. But this video, in particular, is really well done. I love the transitions between the two points of view!

Should cyclists pay for the roads?

2010-11-02T12:19:00.000-07:00

Okay, for the last time, cyclists DO pay for the roads we ride our bikes on.

In a nutshell: gas taxes and other fees and taxes directly related to automobiles go towards (but do not entirely cover) the costs of building and maintaining highways ans freeways. Local roads are paid for from general tax funds (property taxes, etc). So if a person has a house and/or a car they PAY FOR THE ROADS! So stop with the whining and bogus "bike taxes/registration fees" arguments already.

Read more here-- it's worth it:
http://www.grist.org/article/2010-09-27-why-an-additional-road-tax-for-bicyclists-would-be-unfair/

Don't forget to down load the PDF of the 2004 report "Whose Roads" by economist Todd Litman.

So don't flip me the finger as you drive by because you're outraged that I'm mooching off YOUR roads. I have a car that I rarely drive. I pay registration fees and taxes for it. I also pay OTHER taxes that pay for all the local roads. But because I'm riding a bike, I'm causing less damage that you are in your car and costing taxpayers (you included) less money.

Cyclocross!

2010-10-12T21:58:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I was getting the heebie-jeebies about the looming cyclocross season. Deep down inside, a secret part of me was dreading the upcoming races.

Yeah, I know. Blasphemy, right?

I tried to ignore that. But I kept returning to those feelings and thought I'd better take a good look and see if I could figure out what was going on.

Well I guess it was just that. Heebie-jeebies. Because once Alpenrose hit, it was like falling off a cliff and discovering that you can fly. Not that I was actually flying at Alpenrose. More like slogging. But you get the idea.

Adam Myerson has a little feature over on bicycling.com that sums up the ineffable nature of cyclocross pretty well. (Disclaimer: I'm not a big fan of Mr. Myerson. He did a lot of skeevy whining on the DVD "Transition" and I followed him on Twitter for a bit and then just had to stop. Bleah.)

So anyway: Why I Race Cyclocross

Alpenrose was busy. Soooo many racers were out there it was more a ride than a race at times. Still... I love it so. Alpenrose, in 2005, was my first-ever cyclocross race.

Then there was Rainier. Muddy! Yay! That cursed hill! Yay!

So I'm glad that cyclocross season is here.

BMX, BMX everywhere...

2010-10-12T21:57:00.000-07:00

I just noticed that my last few posts have been about BMX this or that. What's up with that?

Avid's Single Digit brake... aptly named

2010-10-12T21:39:00.000-07:00

I love it when something just works really well.

I recently picked up a set of Avid's Single Digit 7 linear-pull brakes for my BMX bike. I got a good deal and... well I don't really need to try and rationalize it. It was bike stuff. Simple.

So I installed the SD 7's replacing the Tektro brakes that came OEM on the bike. One thing I noticed was that the arms were a few millimeters longer than the Tektros. They also felt a little lighter, but I don't have a kitchen scale and can't say for sure. But who cares. They look really nice and glossy.

I had read many favorable reviews of the Avid Single Digit brakes with many folks saying that they out-performed Shimano V-Brakes! Okay. I can dig it.

Once installed the first think I noticed was that the pull at the lever was noticeably lighter. Nice. Yeah. I know-- "It's the springs, silly!" But I had already backed off the Tektros to try and get a light pull at the lever. I'm sure that the feel was a product of the longer arms. At least in part. (Why didn't pay more attention to my math classes? Wouldn't some math and geometry be good right about now?)

A couple of quick test runs confirmed the reviews of the Single Digit 7's. They do indeed require only a single digit to lock up the wheel! Very nice.

I also installed a set of Crank Brothers Mallet 1 pedals. But something's not quite right-- The left side pedal is wobbly. It's not the spindle-- I just bought a set of replacements from CB. Is it the crank? The pedal body? But that's another post...

2010-09-20T23:07:00.000-07:00

Oh the agony. Oh the embarrassment.

So kiddo had the cool idea to head to the BMX track to practice a little. I was actually a little surprised-- it was one of those obviously good ideas in the category of "Why didn't I think of that?"

So that's what we did.

Second lap I decide that I need to be pedaling UP the rollers. Isn't that what I was told? "Just keep powering through"? I think I remember seeing the fast guys just pedaling like crazy UP the rollers. Anyway-- now I can't remember.

I can't even remember what happened. I think I must have hit my knee on the handlebar. Then maybe my foot came unclipped from the pedal? After that all I really remember is thinking "Oh flapdoodle... I'm going to crash in the berm. I hope this won't hurt."

Then I became aware of a searing pain in my thigh, like a hot poker just being stabbed right into the soft, tender, meaty part of my leg.

It was one of those sudden surprising injuries that just takes your breath away. You don't dare stop just then because if you do you'll likely just sit down and burst out bawling the pain is so intense.

So I manage to wobble my way around the rest of the track and then I stop at the foot of the starting gate and take stock.

I have a tire burn on the OUTSIDE of my left knee. Outside? Who'd that get there? Where did my knee go? What? And my thigh? Oh wow. I look down, sure that I'll have to pull out the flaming arrow that was shot through my leg. What hit my leg? I notice that the point of the saddle is twisted to the left a few degrees.

What? So my leg got stuck under the front wheel AND the saddle? This is one of those weird anatomical impossibilities. I don't even understand how it happened but the point of my saddle stabbed the inside of my thigh. I guess I'm lucky I didn't lose my leg! But I sort of wish I did-- surely it would hurt a lot less than the pain I was experiencing right now!

So for the rest of the practice session pedaling draws a line of fire along the inside of my thigh. I take it as easy as I can.

Stupid, silly, little mistakes in technique always seem to hurt far worse than the actual physical injury. Then I started thinking about how old I am and if I'm behaving foolishly, recklessly. Last few races I've been talking with some of the "old" racers (early 30's) and they remarked about the possibilities of injuries and old bodies and it just made me feel like an ancient, has-been dilettante. Isn't BMX a kids' sport? What am I doing here? Am I going to break myself zooming around the track? Then I realize that it's just a bunch of indulgent self-pity as I approach my 40th year on Planet Earth. Every time I race BMX I'm racing against guys that are older and far far faster than me. I race the pure sweet hell of cyclocross. I'm not too old for anything. 40 more years and maybe I'll be too old to ride crazy crap. Not too old to just ride though.

Did I just have my mid-life crisis? Was that it? Is that what it's suppose to feel like?

Anyway.

I hope my leg will recover sufficiently so that I'll be able to race Tuesday night. The BMX racing season is fast approaching its end around here and I feel like I've just barely gotten started and I don't want to give up any more races than I have to.

Yeah... CX is coming up fast and I'm looking forward to that. First weekend in October and the Crusade series starts up. But I'm not done with summer! I didn't get enough of fun in the sun and hot days. It only stopped raining in June!

Well. Tuesday is going to be sunny. Time to race.

I have a new tribe...

2010-08-30T20:04:00.001-07:00

...And its name is BMX.

It's funny how we got here. It started last year with my son attending the short track races at PIR. He liked racing the "kiddie" races but they left him wanting more. I could understand. As they were they certainly weren't very challenging and he despaired every time I reminded how old he needed to be to qualify as a "Junior" for OBRA races.

Anyway.

At the time he was riding your typical department store klunker. The things were deceptively heavy-- first time I tried to hoist it up I almost dislocated my shoulder! It would be like me trading in my 24lb MTB for a 60lb bike with 37" wheels that was made out of cast iron.

Bleh.

So I saw a kid in the kiddie races on a super sweet little Redline bike. Narrow 20" wheels. Alloy axle nuts. I recognized it as a BMX bike but it was unlike any BMX I had ever seen and it shattered my outdated mental model of what BMX bikes were. But right away I knew that it would be the perfect bike for my son. It was proportional in size and weight. It wouldn't be a pig.

So after looking around, checking CL, asking around and casting a pretty wide net, a friend (Hi Will!) sends me an email that links to the GT bikes site. Up pops an image of the sweetest little GT BMX bike. I instantly want one.

Long story short-- a couple of months later I'm mounting a GT Power Series Expert on top of the familymobile and heading home.

My son digs it. His other klunkerz? Instantly reassigned as "Loaners".

So we go to more races and he seems to like racing more and more. But the kiddie races just leave him cold now. But I'm starting to see more kids on the same kinds of bikes. Where are they coming from?

It remains a mystery until we attend a short track race sown in Salem. Guess what? Part of it is staged on the Salem BMX track! I bump into the track operator (Adam Treadwell, all-around nice guy) and find out that there is an actual BMX race the very next night. (Oh jeez. Driving down to Salem again??)

www.capitolcitybmx.com

Well kiddo is instant game. We hit the race and it's awesome. Very much a family-oriented sport. Everyone is very friendly-- A couple of folks help us out and show us how to read the "moto sheets" ("Moto" is BMX-speak for "race").

So finally kiddo get a REAL race. There are places. He come in third and vows to work up to second next week.

So we go the next week. It looked like so much fun that I decide I should give it a go. I rent a bike and helmet and I'm set.

As I rest my front wheel against the upright starting gate I get pre-race jitters like never before. I feel like I'm on a precipice of a huge drop-off.

And then the gate drops.

I'm 8 years old again, jamming my old beater bike around and around a vacant dirt lot daring myself to see how high I can go off the dirt jump.

...

So now I have my own BMX bike -- A Redline Proline 24 Cruiser, in red, even! -- and both me and my son are ABA members.

The bonus is that I still fit into my old O'Neal motocross pants that I wore when I was a teenage riding dirt bikes (the kind with stinky 2-stroke engines) and so I score old-school cool points.

Ha ha! Oh, I kill me.

BMX is awesome!

2010-08-18T11:46:00.000-07:00

Last night me and kiddo went down to the Salem, Oregon BMX track (Capitol City BMX). It was his second race. He wants to keep racing so we got him all signed up with a yearly ABA membership. The $45 memership fee includes a monthly magazine plus his first race was free (actually his last race was free, too, under the ABA one-day trial). Every race is $5. Just five stinking bucks!! (Take that STXC.) Plus the track is open for gate practice for the hour during registration, open for practice during the intermission between races 2 and 3 (the last race or "main") and then open again after the races for another 45 mins or so (no gate). So you get a bunch of track time, plus the three (very short) races for a measley $5. What a deal! :)

Well, after watching my son have all the fun last week, I thought I'd give it a try too. I raced for free under the one-day ABA deal and only had to pay $5 to rent a bike and helmet.

Dudes-- BMX is awesome. Those little bikes on the jumps and whoop-de-doos just don't want to stay attached to the ground. It's like they've got helium in the tires and just want to take off! It's been a long time since I've had that kind of fun on a bike where I kept thinking "Let's go again!!" Sure, I love bikes and riding and cyclocross in general, but this is just pure, simple goofy fun. Pointing a little bike and a big jump and hanging on! The berms are cool too-- zooooom!

Now I just need to get a bike of my own!

The vibe is pretty cool-- very family friendly. Everybody that I interacted with was very nice and friendly and super helpful. Kinda like cyclocross, but a little less crazy and without out the beer. :)

One thing that really surprised me was the bikes themselves. Over the years I've been aware of BMX bikes as those teensy things that I see hipster teeny-boppers tooling around on. Horrible looking things with gigantic pegs on the front and rear axle nuts that had all the grace of a blunt instrument.

Well...

Actual BMX race bikes are little packages of tech sweetness that are on par with everything that I'm familiar with in my world of cyclocross and mountain bikes. This is the discovery of a whole other world for me!

It's almost like getting a new bike... almost. Until I spotted the Niner.

2010-07-21T16:27:00.001-07:00

Last Monday's STXC (Does that even make sense? "Short Track Cross Country"?) took a little of the shine off my recently repainted (and now rebuilt) SS MTB. Falling over in some realllly soft, rutted, dirt made my handlebar twist sideways. Twisting it back was way too easy-- something is up with the stem. So the whole rest of the race had me mentally shopping for a new 1" threadless fork, headset, and stem. Although I hate to get rid of my Tange Switchblade fork.

Then I saw a new Niner. Fully composite frame. Thing was almost so light that a breeze could carry it away. Single-speed and 18 pounds. With "heavy" wheels, according to the rep (?) hanging out around the Niner tent.

As much as I don't care for composite stuff, this bike made me WANT!

Awww, gee. I still wuv you 21 year-old SS MTB of mine. :) Twisty quill stem and all. We'll get that fixed, I swear.

Comments will now be moderated.

2010-07-21T16:23:00.000-07:00

As if family life, work, racing, trying to keep my bikes running and keep the stem tight on my "new to me!" SS MTB, annnnnd working on the damn creaky house (new bathroom! new closet! new living room!) weren't enough, I now discover (rather late) that the comments are being spammed by creepy car salescreeps and creepy asian porn Creepy McCreepsters.

Thanks creeptards. Begone!

It's almost like getting a new bike! Almost.

2010-03-31T22:43:00.000-07:00

I think it's taken me three WHOLE years to get around to having the old 1989 Stumpjumper frame painted. Poweder coated, actually. But I finally did it. Hurray! Brooker Enterprises in downtown Portland took care of business.

Behold!

Signal red.

Now I need to have the head tube and bottom bracket shell prepped. Need a new headset too. I think I can get a bit more use out of the current Shimano BB. It still turns smoothly enough(16 years later!!).

The headset has seen better days, I think. Hopefully the shop can set me up with something that isn't a piece of overpriced junk.

Oh. I still need to rebuild the front wheel with the "new to me" XT hub. I rebuilt the rear wheel last year because the freehub was making threatening "KA-BONG!!!!" noises and felt like it was skipping.

I also need to finish putting together my errand bike. The MTN-TEK klunker fo' sho. How are you even supposed to pronounce "MTN" anyway? "M'ten"?

Anyway-- I'm excited to get the red SS MTB put together.

As an added bonus, I cut out a weird filler in the dropouts. Oddly the bike had "sort-of" semi-horizontal dropouts. It had a filler or bridge that was part of the mold when the drop outs were cast that prevented the axle from sliding all the way back. I took a Dremel with a cut-out wheel and cut it out and then filed it smooth. Now I get the full use of the drop out. Yay.

So this is what it used to look like.

Note the sub-awesome rattle-can paint job that artfully incorporates rustiness. Yeah. When I'm done it's going to look Super-Rad.

My Midge handlebars. Let me show you them.

2009-12-09T23:09:00.001-08:00

I love the Midge handlebar by On-One. Perfection!

Out out damned cantilever chatter!

2009-12-08T12:09:00.000-08:00

Lennard Zinn had been teasing us for weeks now with his apparent solution for all time! -- to the dreaded and hated cantilever brake chatter that seems to be so common on cyclocross bikes these days.

Unfortunately the article doesn't go into quite as much depth as I'd like but it does confirm a few things for me-- namely that the brake pads were skip-slipping on the braking surface. Erk-erk-erk-erk! Some time ago Sheldon Brown had indicated that fork-crown mounted housing stops reduced or eliminated front cantilever brake chatter. And it's for the same reason that linear-pull brakes also don't suffer from the chattering.

A prime factor is the rigidity of the front end of the bike. Van Dessel discovered that forks with a tapered steerer (1.5" at bottom to 1.25" at top) vastly improved braking action. The larger crown race plus larger fork legs created a more rigid structure that resisted flex.

But what do you do if you have a convention bike? I sure as hell don't have the budget to go buy a new bike.

Well there are a few things you can do-- number one seems to be to run a linear-pull brake. You'll need to get a "Travel-Agent" adapter to enable use with your aero (or STI) brake lever or buy an aero brake lever designed to work with linear-pulls (Cane Creek and Dia-Compe both produce such a lever). Shorten the front brake pads-- this would entail cutting off the rear end of the brake pad as mush as possible. Apparently this is something the Richard Sachs CX team does.

Fortunately this is not something that's a problem for me. My LeMond still has its OEM Kenesis aluminum fork and I'm running Paul Neo-Retros. Under hard braking from speed I do experience some front-end shuddering but it's not "scary" or "dangerous" as some other riders have reported.

Go here to read the full article on VeloNews:
velonews.competitor.com/2009/12/cyclocross/technical-qa-with-lennard-zinn-return-to-cross_101807

Good Stuff: Topeak SmartHead upgrade kit

2009-11-18T20:46:00.000-08:00

So I finally got a replacement chuck (and hose) for my floor pump. The Topeak SmartHead.

#1 It's pretty nice that I was able to replace only the broken part instead of having to buy a new pump.

#2 It's pretty nice that the replacement part actually improves the performance of the pump as a whole.

Pssssss...

2009-10-21T16:17:00.000-07:00

No matter how fast and furiously I pumped the handle, air just continued to leak out of my floor pump's chuck. Take off, turn bezel tighter. Must have been leaking past the seal. Damned pump. Replace and flip the lever viciously-- that'll make it work! PSSSsssss...PSSSSsssss...PSSSSsssss.

No amount of fiddling seemed to have ANY effect. I finally discovered that air was leaking from the Schrader side of the pump's chuck. What? I've had an uneasy relationship with this Performance brand pump. I want to heave it through the nearest window (preferably with glass in place to give a supremely satisfying ker-ash!) but that would just be a waste. The damned thing has always been a little fiddly-- all because I was trying to be a tight-wad.

Can I get a replacement chuck? Looks like Topeak produces an "upgrade kit" for any floor pump. Hopefully I can find a replacement chuck locally. I hate ordering stuff anymore. We'll see.

Wheel repair...

2009-10-05T21:02:00.000-07:00

Remember my "dented" rear wheel on my F700? Yeah... about that. Well I took an adjustable wrench and gently coaxed the rim hook back into shape. And then it just broke. A big chunk. Right out.

Yeah-- there's no fixing that.

Fortunately I managed to score a "new to me" set of wheels. Mavic X139 rims with a Deore rear hub and... zuh? A Specialized "Stout" front hub with some sort of crazy-ass skewer... axle... thing. Oh wait-- I get it. So it's a big fat skewer/axle. A skaxle. A skewrle. So I guess the deal is that it makes the whole thing stronger and capable of putting some serious squeeze (skweze?) on the fork drop-outs. A good thing with disc brakes, I suppose. Although damn, it's got that stupid external cam design. Jeeze. I put some REAL Shimano quick-releases on there not too long ago. (Real as in-- internal cam.) Not these cursed scrotty externally cammed things that are impossible to close properly because they rely on those stupid little plastic meniscus things that deform under load and don't really do anything else besides annoy the heck out of me and why are they the only deal now? Cheaper to make? Lighter?

Sherman, set the WayBack machine...

Once upon a time (like 1991??), some teensy company thought that there wasn't enough color in our quick-release world and decided to churn out CNC'd bits. What on earth was their name? Man... that's bugging me. Anyway-- the stupid levers (externally cammed like most of the levers today) were a pain in the ass to get sufficiently tight and even harder to open! Stupid things. So guess what? After a year or so they re-released them called "Twist-Flips" or "Flip-Twists". The idea was that first you flip them closed to get them initially tight and then twist the lever to snug it down. How retarded. It's still stupid.

Don't believe me? Well, here's what Sheldon had to say about the damned things. "Despite the marketing hype associated with these "boutique" skewers, they are actually considerably inferior in functionality to the traditional type."

So now what.

I guess I need to find a new front hub-- a Shimano.

Oregon Action: Cross Crusade #1

2009-10-05T11:01:00.000-07:00

Note: This is a repost of my entry at the Crossniacs blog

A few days of light rain prior to Sunday’s opener of the Cross Crusade series had me hopeful for some mud at Alpenrose dairy. Not so. We wound up having “excellent” weather– sun and mild temps in the high 50’s/low 60’s. Since my family was coming along this was indeed perfect weather.

The course was not dusty which was a plus, but all the bumps were there out in the back straightaway.

The Alpenrose race always seems to be the most highly attended, likely due to its close proximity to downtown Portland, and this year saw a NEW record set for attendance — 1438 racers, not including the huge crowd of spectators — handily breaking last year’s record of 1267. Where do all of these people come from?

Anyway– parking was a mess and we rolled in about 10 minuted before my Master B race. Spying fellow Crossniac Jim Hendricks, I pulled up seeking help locating parking and was instead treated to a view of shirtless manflesh. Hurrying on my wife spotted a vacant parking spot. After shearing off the side view mirrors I hustled everybody out the windows, threw the cars keys at my wife, waved to my son and sprinted to the registration shack to barely, I mean barely, get my registration in for the race.

Caffeine overload plus Pre-Race Bladder Syndrome forced my to the row of Honey Buckets. (Ah! That self-sponsored racer’s home-away-from-home!) After what seemed like hours (but what was less than 5 minutes) I rolled up the back of a field of 248 racers (Master B, Master 50+, and Junior men). I had missed the lottery-style call up based on race numbers (I should have been in the very first group!). Ever the humble push-over I accepted my fate as just.

The start was typical Cross Crusade #1 Alpenrose Wal-Mart After Thanksgiving Sale stampede.

Fortunately the course designers had done a pretty good job and bottlenecks were greatly reduced.

Time for an “Unfortunately/Fortunately” story!

Unfortunately, halfway through my race I flatted. Fortunately I was almost to the pits! Unfortunately, in my haste to get to registration I had left my pit wheels in the car. Fortunately there was neutral tech support provided by Shimano! Unfortunately I was hypoxic and the pit officials had to walk me over to the wheels and actually put one in my hands. Fortunately I was able to get the wheels changed! Unfortunately the Dura-Ace wheel (nice wheel, btw) had a fat-ass tire on it and was rubbing on my brake pads! Fortunately I had plan. Unfortunately it involved leaving the rear brakes disconnected– whee! Fortunately the Shimano tech twiddled with my brakes, told me I had the wrong kind of brake pads (Get away from my Kool-Stop Eagle Claw II’s shut up!) and sent me on my merry way.

After two more laps I struggled back to finish DFL. Wait what? How could I push until I saw stars to finish DFL… ow wait. In my category. There were still hundreds and hundreds of racers out there.

So. DFL my first race in Crossniac colors. 123 out of 123 (There were two that DNF.) But I finished with a smile and squeak of the shark horn and ON THE SAME LAP AS THE WINNER. So I was DFL but not lapped. Booyah.

Fellow PacNW Crossniac Will Cortez had finished 88th in a field of 159 Cat C’s (Zoinks!), Jim Hendricks was 42nd out of 58 Clydesdales, and Guy Smith was 180 out of 187 Master C’s (Double Zoinks!!)

Next up: Rainier.

I’ll see about getting a photo or two to post here…

Complete "Duh" moment.

2009-08-31T23:36:00.000-07:00

So the latest SS klunker (actually the only klunker since what I was previously calling a "klunker" really isn't since it's my SS MTB) project has been sitting hanging in my Man Cave waiting as new-ish parts slowly accumulate. A few weeks ago I realize that the project is pretty much a "go" for reassembly save for a big wrench (a couple of 'em) to disassemble the 1.125" threaded headset.

Boy well I'm going to have to go BUY a couple I guess. Provided I can FIND headset wrenches that big.

Well what the hell. Tonight I discover, in MY OWN tool chest, not one, but TWO such wrenches. And I don't even remember buying them. Why would I buy such huge wrenches (36mm)?

Duh.

Game on! Project "Grocery Getter Errand Bike With Fenders (Oh. I need to buy some fenders!) Rack And Pannier Bags" commences!

Oh, But I just remembered. I need to repair the dented rear wheel on my F700. Not only did I pinch-flat on that damned curb, I put a dent in the wheel. Now it has a nice hop and wobble. That means I'll have to remove a couple of spokes and go at it with a mallet.

Having more than one bike is nice, but sometimes they can be lots of work! :)

Time to get serious...

2009-08-31T23:28:00.001-07:00

So according to my training schedule today was my "off" day. Tomorrow (Tuesday) is my "on" day. Bring the intervals.

Evenings on alternate days is for strength training.

Cyclocross season is nigh upon us!!

Super-Duper Seriously End Of The Summer Wrap Up...

2009-08-31T22:56:00.000-07:00

Just when I thought I might be "done" with racing for the summer I realize that I had forgotten about the new mountain bike short track (stxc) series down in Salem. I had almost slipped into "lazy" mode and begun to put on my protective layer of later-summer flab when I was awakened by the siren-call of inexpensive racing fun.

I managed to get in the last two (of four) races. All in all it was a fun little race on a very short course-- I was able to get in about 9 laps in 30 minutes compared to half that at the PIR series.

My fellow Crossniac Jim and I managed to activate our wonder twin powers for the final race by donning matching Super Grover jerseys.

Me (L) and Jim (R) absolutely failing to "get air" of the top of this teensy molehill.

However, the race would not be quite so frabjous for me. The evil (not really) race dudes had the course going around the OTHER way and sent us all UP an evil (really) curb. After doing a pathetic monkey-hopping thing up the curb I thought maybe I should actually just hop over the curb. Well the curb said "No you won't, either!" and ka-pow I dented the hell out of my rear wheel and got a pinch flat. Psssssss-sss.

We were racing for not 30 but 40 minutes tonight so I figured that I had plenty of time to fix a flat. Which is rather funny because I had thought about taking off my seat bag. "Nah... I'll just leave it on."

Which reminds me of the time I went hiking with my family at Silver Falls. As I was hoisting the pack on my back I thought "Should I take the first-aid kit? Ah, sure. What the heck." And of course my son fell on the trail and hit a nice pointy rock with his head (resulting in a wound which required being glued together later).

Good thing I brought that seat bag! And remember that time I broke my chain at the PIR races? Good thing a spectator had a chain tool! So Maybe I should start packing my seatbag for the races?

So, where was I? Oh yeah-- ka pow. There goes the "Lunar-Light" innertube. I lost a lap and a half. Never did catch up to my SuperGrover teammate.

My son had fun riding his race again-- but the big payoff, for him, was getting to ride on the BMX track after all the other races were done. Whee!

I want a new road bike

2009-08-14T00:39:00.000-07:00

I guess. I dunno. I bought my Cannondale road bike in 1994 because I just HADDA have a road bike and took what they had on sale (as it turns out, a 56cm frame) and I've finally come around to thinking it's a little on the big side for me. It's got about an inch of seatpost showing above the collar.

I keep thinking about those inexpensive SS road frames hanging in the Performance store (they ARE a "local bike shop"). But I'd need a headset, stem, fork, and, eventually, new wheels. But they also sell a built up SS for a paltry $299! But the frame is blue. Woah-- wait. What am I DOING? Wanting a cheap-ass bike? What happened to my dreams of a nice bike? Something custom? (Or at least custom-ish.)

But what the hell, I want to repaint Stumpy so it can be an AWESOME bike again so it's not really wise to be wanting to buy something else and put off paining Stumpy AGAIN. And what's wrong with my road bike right now? So what if it's a little big. Is that really REALLY a problem? Is the real problem the fact that it's only showing an inch of seatpost above the collar? Am I afraid of what others will think of me? Oh, I'm so vain.

Still... a nice steel road bike would be nice. Single speed free/fixed.

My kingdom for a seatpost or two...

2009-08-14T00:34:00.000-07:00

So I need a new seatpost for my SS MTB. It's a 1989 Specialized Stumpjumper. Every other bike I own uses a 27.2mm diameter seatpost. Thus a have a few extra posts laying around.

But noooo... the Stumpy needs a 26.5 (!) diameter post. I can go down to the Performance store and pick up a 26.8 (smallest they carry). But no... Now I have to hit the used bike shops in downtown Portland. Oh twist my arm. But it's still a bit of a hassle since I have to get around downtown Portland. And I hate driving.

Oh and my beater (truly) SS MTB? It needs a 26.2. What?! Really. I'm not imagining things.

Late Summer Wrap-up...

2009-08-13T23:59:00.000-07:00

The end of Mountain Bike Short Track at PIR
Well boo-hoo. The MTB Short Track series is all over and done with. Just fading memories now as I start thinking about the approaching cyclocross season. The final race, with its ultra-crazy team relay race, was big fun. After my single, all-out, lung-bursting lap... I thought I might just pass out. And then explode. Or something like that.

No, I didn't win the Chris King custome wheelset. Again. Luciano (the man on the mic) had to go through a few tickets before he pulled the name of someone that was still present. I tell you, one could have cut the tension with a knife with each successive name pulled from the tub. Oh the huge manatee!! Pick me...pick me...pick me! Awwwwwwwww. Damn.

Winning a Yakima rack would have been nice. Could definitely use something other than the pathetic Thule racks I'm dealing with now-- those things keep failing on me. Out of 5 I'm down to 3 now. Fiddlesticks. And now I've got a goofy-ass trunk rack. I won't bother going into that. I really don't know why the manufacturers even bother producing a trunk rack that has NO WAY of preventing the bikes from swaying and banging into each other. Seriously, how hard is it to make some sort of flippy-gizmo. I'm NOT using wads of towels and rags and shit to secure my bikes.

Well, anyway-- the thing is for emergency additional capacity. Not regular use.

Portland Bridge Pedal
The Bridge Pedal was great fun this year. Kiddo enjoyed it. At first he wanted to ride his own bike. Then he waffled and wanted to ride the trailer bike. Then his own. And finally the trailer bike (probably a wise choice). But I think he could probably ride on his own next year... well, maybe not. That's 14 miles over a couple of hours with a few nice and steep climbs. I did it on the SS MTB again. Booyah. I grateful that I'm relatively young and strong. Such a pleasure to ride a bike and keep those pedals turning. If I had to explain... you wouldn't understand.

It's an indescribable feeling sharing the bridges with nothing but bikes. It's just fantastic.

Death to bike lanes?

2009-07-21T10:56:00.000-07:00

The Tigard (Oregon) city council just voted to amend city planning codes to NOT require bike paths on specific downtown streets.

BikePortland.org has the details.

In the comments there was a lot of fuss and bother about how Tigard has magically become bike-hostile.

However, the city's planning manage had some very rational sounding reasons for the amendments.

I don't really care for bike lanes. I think they're terrible and often filled with debris. After the winter storms, they are filled with gravel and go from annoying to hazardous. Furthermore, bicyclists just become invisible to cars once in the bike lane.

The best solution is education! Everyone must understand that they are sharing the road and must learn how to do that effectively.

It can be done. Bike lanes are not the answer. They're really only a "band-aid" that make people feel like they're being taken care of.

MTB Short Track #5

2009-07-21T10:52:00.000-07:00

It was "casual night" at this week's short track race.

Which was excellent. We had just come back from a weekend camping trip and some camp food was not sitting well with me. After my second urgent trip to the bathroom that day, I had begun to worry about even racing. So the invitation to dress in "casual" attire for the race was a salvation. Or excuse. I could dress in my loudest Hawaiian shirt and just toodle around the course. Yay.

It was scorching hot, too.

But it was a fun time-- lots of noise, cat-calls, cheers and jeers.

Oh-- about Lance

2009-07-17T00:16:00.000-07:00

Yeah-- I've kinda had it with Lance-mania. But still. Still... it's a little thrilling to see him do so well in Le Tour.

It's also fun to see local company Columbia plastered all over the jerseys of a ProTour team. But their kit design reminds me of some Underoos I had when I was a kid.

Tillicum Beach

2009-07-17T00:11:00.000-07:00

Going on a two-family camping trip to Tillicum beach this weekend.

According to "Kissing the Trail" by John Zilly, there's a short little loop nearby. Close to Yachats/Cape Perpetua.

Well well... maybe I can get in a little trail riding this weekend. I'll feel so guilty sneaking away. They probably won't even notice.

MTB Short Track #3 and #4

2009-07-16T23:49:00.000-07:00

Work work work. How does life get this crazy that I'm so messed up so easily? For the past few weeks I've managed to get out and ride maybe one other time besides the short track race. When I don't get exercise I get grumpy. I hate it.

I though that all the riding I did over the winter would add up to something. Apparently not. I though that the "fartleks" that I was doing would confer some badassedness. Nope.

So I continue to suck. But you know what? Monday nights I'm out at PIR redlining and enjoying it. I'm not pissy that I'm not really moving up in the results. I just can't get angry. Is this what keeps me from being a badass? That I'm having fun? Must be. Out in the middle, maybe with less than two laps to go I feel like pulling over and taking a nap or maybe barfing and THEN taking a nap, but at the same time I want just one more lap. And then another. And once it's all over and I've recovered I'd like to go again. Although I'd likely be even slower and good for fewer laps.

What the heck.

So about race #3. I can't really remember race #3 except that my son didn't want to go.

"Will there be a kiddy race that's just one lap?"

"Yes, I think so."

"Eh. I think I'll go watch mom play volleyball."

What a bummer. My race was fun, though. Until my beloved Botrager InForm R saddle's pointy bits RIPPED GIANT HOLES IN MY BIBS!!!!

Oh gosh. I was just sick. Still am. My favoritestest bibs. Pearl Izumi Slice. (Oh, the irony.)

So I made the saddle PAY.

The first photo doesn't really do the point bits justice. They are POINTY.

Once I hacksawed the points off, getting the cover back into place was terribly fiddly. Anyway-- I managed to get it done and while it looked a bit ugly (I hope to remedy that soon) it worked really well for...

Race #4

My son came out again and had a lot of fun. We stayed out after the races playing on the MX course until the OBRA folks were ready to kick us out.

My hacked saddle worked out really well-- I was able to move around WITHOUT my shorts getting ripped to shreds.

I wonder-- why the hell did Bontrager, after spending two years and millions of dollars on creating the most comfortable, ergonomically-correct saddle EVAR -- why did they bung it up by giving the saddle that pointy-ass little cut-out shorts-ripper thing in the back? What good does that do? Why won't anyone think of the shorts!?

Crossniacs kit-- ordered!

2009-07-01T12:24:00.000-07:00

Oh, one last thing. Just ordered my Crossniacs kit.

Long sleeve skinsuit (for CX) and a ss jersey for other stuff.

I would like to have gotten some bib shorts too, but...

Money money money.

*sigh*

Anyway, the new design looks really good. I'm excited.

Carbon composite seatposts on off-road bikes-- take 'em off!!

2009-07-01T12:22:00.000-07:00

Oh-- quick note about Race #1. Saw some guy break his composite seatpost. Jagged, nasty looking pointy shards sticking out of the seat-tube.

Nasty.

C'mon folks. Get the carbon composite components off of bikes being ridden off road.

Well, at least composite forks seem to be doing okay. I've not seen one of those break yet. Just lots and lots of composite seatposts.

Portland Mountain Bike Short Track Series: #1 and #2

2009-07-01T11:15:00.000-07:00

I've been super busy lately. It's weird how much stuff falls by the wayside. A little disappointing, too. So for the last couple of weeks I've been able to get out for a "training" ride maybe once a week. So that's left me feeling a little cold for the Monday night races.

Race #1
Still I had fun. The first race was a HUGE disappointment because in the weeks prior to the first race, the organizers had made note of the fact that they would split the kiddies up into two groups, with the older kids doing a slightly longer race on the more challenging motocross course instead of out in the relatively flat and grassy part under the trees outside the MX course fence.

When we showed up, we were hanging around the MX track awaiting the start of the "big" kiddie race. In fact, once an official set me straight, we dashed over the the trees only to discover that the race had ENDED. A mere three minutes after it started.

Total bummer. My son was visibly upset -- you know, 6 year-olds -- and seemed to be on the verge of tears. I can understand. When you get all keyed up to race and then something happens to prevent that release of pent up adrenaline it can be a hard crash.

What was worse, what I felt like I had let my son down after weeks of talking up the new kiddie race format. My son was stoked about racing on the MX track: "I get to race on the part with all the bumps?"

Last summer he came out to a couple of races with me and at the end, I'd take him out on the MX course (which was part of the race course) and let him ride the whoops and table tops while I ran around picking up cones. He loved it.

"I feel like I'm flying!!"

No kidding. He actually said that.

But the regular kiddie races -- where he's with kids being pushed on trikes, kids on "like-a-bikes", and kids with training wheels -- just leave him wanting something more challenging. And he's obviously not alone.

I wonder if maybe I should try to see if there's something I could do to make a "bigger kiddie" race happen? But's it kind of an issue of time-- it's tough enough getting out of work early enought to get to PIR by 5:30.

Now that I think about it, I wonder if maybe there's a liability issue with having the little kids out on the MX track? I have to admit there were a couple of times when my heart skiped a beat as my son came zooming and bumping down one of the short and steep tabletops.

(But I think we all know how that feels: "I want MORE! Let's do it again!")

Well, he missed race #2. If he comes out with me to race #3 we'll see what happens. I'll have to pay attention.

Race #2
Anyway-- race #2 got off to a good start. I arrived to the course with about 20 minutes to the start. *whew* I was so pumped with nervous adrenaline (Will I make it? Will I make it?) that a pre-race warm-up was not really needed.

I went with the first group -- the Masters -- and was feeling pretty good and holding my own. For a little I was dicing with some guy in WHITE shoe covers.

Yep. White. Shoe covers. Off road. In actual dirt. Dirty dirt.

Shoe covers.

Anyway, there was some pushing and shoving since he seemed to be having some trouble negotiating the turns. That's racing! But I was eager to get by him and those white shoe covers.

After we left the MX track and headed out into the trees, I came to the log between two trees. I was ready to ride over it but the guy in front of me decided to hop off and do the "straddle-tippy-toe" to get across the log. He was occupying most of the opening between the trees so riding through was not a terribly viable option (I didn't want to cause a crash or get caught in one if he keeled over while doing the tippy-toes.)

So I dismounted and ran through on the inside -- bump push 'scuse me -- and dropped my bike back down and hopped on.

Yeeee-hoooooo! My legs just spun round and round so fast! My chain had decided to take a flying leap.

I was rather a funny thing to look down and not even SEE my chain. At all. Where the hell was it? A group of the Team Beer folks across the trail were asking "Dude, where's your chain??" :)

A guy called out that he had a chain tool handy and offered it to me. At first I thought "Foo. I'm done." Then it was "What the hell-- I'd rather be riding than sitting around." So I motioned him over and while I held things in place he removed a link and put things back together. A quick shake of the hands and I found out his name was Jason.

Thanks Jason! You rock.

It was weird how my concentration and rhythm had been broken. For the remainder of the race I felt so off. The chain kept making popping noises and I was worried about it breaking on one of the steep little climbs so I wound up just creeping up them.

But that didn't really matter-- I was riding.

The 8-10 oz. of HEED I had chugged about an hour before kept wanting to come back up. Bleah.

Silly tummy!

I'm looking forward to next week! Maybe I'll put my seat bag back on my bike. Even if I never use it, maybe I can help someone else?

Although I don't think there's any helping someone that wears white shoe covers in a mountain bike race. :)

I'm a new Crossniac and now I find out we have new kit?

2009-06-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

Got a rather breathless (y'know... in tone) message from Will today about a new design for the Crossniac kit.

Unfortunately there was no image attached, or even a description.

Well gee, one could cut the tension with a knife! Let's see it already!

I am now a Crossniac.

2009-06-10T15:08:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a gracious invitation from Will Cortez, I'm now a part of the Crossniacs. I certainly dig their motto "For the love of cyclocross". Indeed! I hope to give a good account of myself while wearing the Crossniac colors. :)

I need to buy a skinny-- time to start gathering change from under the futon cushion and the car seats.

I'm a convicted murderer and I ride...

2009-06-05T10:16:00.000-07:00

I'm all for better looking cycling jerseys-- No one pays me a dime to ride my bike so I'll not be wearing a billboard for a line of pens, pregnancy tests, or an industrial adhesives manufacturer. Or a gas company. Or multi-national bank. Or even a transportation authority.

I have a soft spot for anything featuring a skull or other skeletal components. Primal Wear has produced some of my favorites-- the Bone Collector, Grand Trunk (no longer in production), and X-Ray. There's also the Jolly Roger, but I'm not such a fan of flames. Overdone, IMHO.

Northwave produces a very simple, striking Skeleton jersey. Just black and white. They have a Punisher skull jersey. Very badass, but...

(Sorry, Rock Racing's skull design is right out.)

So whenever I see a jersey utilizing a skull motif I pay attention and go in for a closer look.

This time, however, I was rewarded with a real stinker.

Behold! Deathrow Velo!

So are they a "team" or association of cyclists that are united in their incarceration for heinous crimes (and thus unable to ride-- how ironic)?

No, no... that can't be it. Wait a minute... there has to be something here. Um. "Deathrow Velo" is all about being hard-core. Something about being sentenced to death, right?

"Dude. I ride bikes and thus am sentenced to death! Because I'm hard-core!!"

No, no... that doesn't work. Riding bikes is too much fun.

Wait! I've got it. "Dude, I just murdered that trail/sprint/runup! And thus must be sentenced to death. Awesome!!!"

That still seems just so awkward and clunky.

I give up. Maybe "Deathrow Velo" is just a poorly though-out concept for a line of so-so cycling clothing. Trivializing the state-sanctioned murder of a human being (and the victims of deathrow inmates) seems like a pretty poor tactic to make jersey designs seem badass.

FAIL.

Toxic ProTour teams

2009-06-02T10:33:00.001-07:00

For the last few years I had been wondering about the "carbon footprint" of the big bike races. Especially the big tours and classics in France, Italy, etc.

Well, just recently Lennard Zinn (of VeloNews) fielded just this question. While he wasn't able to provide much of an answer (other than "huge", which I'd agree with) he DID mention a ghastly practice of many of the team mechanics-- cleaning bike with diesel fuel! And then just dumping the rinsate on the parking lots which then drain into nearby waterways.

I’ll let you calculate that, as I don’t know how to do it. I would imagine that on average each of the 22 teams has five station wagons with roof racks full of bikes, one bus and one truck, all of which drive an average of 200km per day. Then of course there’s laundry, food, lodging, etc. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg compared to the entire race itself. Think of all of the transport of race barriers, grandstands, concessions, start village, etc., not to mention transport and lodging of the fans, publicity caravan, media, organizers, etc. Big footprint.
But if you’re interested in environmental impacts of the race, nothing grates me more than team mechanics who continue to use diesel fuel to clean bikes, spraying it and dumping it in parking lots of, for example, seaside hotels along the Lido di Jesolo in the days before the Giro’s start. Many do use biodegradable cleaners, but plenty don’t, and the first rainstorm it goes right in the Adriatic.
Lennard

(Excepted from VeloNews Technical Q&A with Lennard Zinn)

What the hell?

I think that the ProTour teams need an injection of badassery. Enough of this ridiculous pampering and ourtrageous pollution.

They need to ride a dirty bike and have it last. A dirty bike is a working bike.

Contrary to what the nicenastys over at BKW may claim about looking PRO, some buildup of road grime or mud actually demonstrates PRO-ness. The dirt says "I ride." A dirty bike and a well-maintained bike aren't mutually exclusive.

For most of the time all my bikes have encrustations of dirt. When they do get cleaned it's typically a "dry" cleaning-- a toothbrush gets rid of excessive buildup. A good chain-lube precludes the need for constant degreasings and cleanings.

Last chance to see...

2009-05-19T15:45:00.000-07:00

Here's a short video overview of Cannondale's manufacturing process. It's a trip watching the robotic wheel truer.

How Stuff Works: Assembly Line: Cannondale Bicycles

This was pretty much the reason why I liked Cannondale bikes so much.

It's interesting to see how many of the people don't look like the type to ride bikes. I mean, I suppose one could be a NASCAR (I'm recalling the guy who seemed to have a NASCAR-themed deco on his welder's helmet) and still hit the trails on a bicycle. But that's just my bias-- I would never work in a car or motorcycle factory because I don't really like internal combustion engine vehicles.

Perhaps a job is just a job. :)

Holy H. Crow-- do I sound like a dork or what?

Fighting for the right to drive a car

2009-05-19T10:02:00.000-07:00

You may or may not know this, but in Saudi Arabia women are not allowed to drive a car. Apparently it's not law, just custom.

A 24 year-old Saudi woman, Areej Khan, recently completed her MFA thesis at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. Her project "We The Women" is a campaign to spur debate (and dialog) about Saudi women's right to drive a car.

Part of her project are little downloadable "speech bubbles" that women can download and print out, then write in their thoughts and post them publicly. Car windows, utility poles, etc.

Flickr page showing the "declarations".

Her project is getting a lot of attention. Here's a blog post on The New York Times. In it the author quotes another story by the English-language paper Arab News:

"...most women believe it is their God-given right to drive."

Let me start out by saying this: I feel that the oppression of one group by another is a blight on humanity. More to the point it's just cowardly.

I find the notion that driving an automobile is a "God given right" a bit perplexing. But that's just my perspective from the "bottomless bike culture" of Portland, Oregon. I've never felt that a driver's license was a right; it is a privilege.

I see so many ills associated with autos: traffic jams, road rage, pollution, the ruination of neighborhoods, and the current dire financial troubles of the US auto manufacturers (because people stopped buying so many cars).

It makes me feel a little sad that women in Saudi Arabia are clamoring, not just for freedom of choice, but to don the yokes of automobiles that their men have had around their necks for so long.

No no no... I'm not insinuating that women are somehow better off without the "right" to drive. I'm thinking laterally here.

Maybe the women of Saudi Arabia should look to the bicycle for liberation. After all, that's what happened here in the USA in the late 1800's.

Susan B. Anthony is credited with saying that the bicycle had "...done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world."

The bicycle added fuel to the "women's movement" of the late 1800's and enable women to take control of their lives in a way previously unimaginable. The effects rippled through society. Notable was the effect on women's fashions: as more and more women adopted cycling as transport (and even sport-- Here's to you, Annie Londonderry!) the impractical multilayered dresses and restrictive corsets gave way to more practical "cycling clothing" and forever changed the way women dressed.

So I'm all for women in Saudi Arabia taking control of their own lives and "driving" their own destiny.

But I wonder if there might not be a way they could just sidestep the male domination altogether and not try to wrest "rights" from men, to not play that game, but instead to take their ball and start a new game on their own-- one in which they set the rules.

Maybe the bicycle could be their vehicle.

Good Stuff: Bontrager Inform R saddle

2009-05-06T12:11:00.000-07:00

At the end of last MTB season (Which, here, seems to end in May) I noticed that my trusty, relatively comfy Avocet O2 saddle was getting a bit threadbare.

Yay. Time to buy more bike stuff!

I love the OBRA email list. It's a great way to connect with other like-minded folks and there's always a ton of used good stuff circulating. This is where I found the next saddle.

I scored a Fizik Pave Sport for a paltry $30. Yay, deal. It was like new and I happily mounted it to the Thomson seatpost. Well, my mountain bike pretty much sat idle the whole winter as I spent all my time on the SS MTB.

So. A couple of weeks ago I take the MTB out for a little fun in the park-- it's the maiden voyage on the Fizik saddle. (Apparently Fizik is supposed to rhyme with "physique", but it should rhyme with "yeowww", or eventually "What the hell? I can't feel my dick!!")

Immediately the thing is beating the tar out of my ass. It really was like sitting on the end of a baseball bat. With a doily on it. The best part was that the plastic scuff guards were digging into my soft butt. So it was like sitting on the end of a baseball bat. With a doily. With nails in it.

Removing the scuff guards helped tremendously but it was still damned uncomfortable. I mean really, the saddle is so narrow that it's almost inside me.

What, are Italians really that skinny? Or do I just have a big butt?

Well, as fortune would have it, I found myself in one of the local bike shops for an unrelated matter. I discovered that they had all their saddle on sale. I had been eyeing the Specialized Body Geometry saddles for a while since I'd had pretty good luck with one on my road bike. They didn't have the width I wanted in stock and steered me to the new Bontrager inForm saddles. The sales-dude had me sit on this weird squishy bench that revealed my assal pressure points. These correlated to various widths of the saddles.

I was shocked to discover that I was right on the cusp of the widest size-- 154mm!

With tears in my eyes, I blurted out "I've got a big butt!" I turned back to the display wall and began grabbing at several very sporty racing saddles: the "Le Gouger", the "Terriblé Race RL", and the "SuperCry Narrow Sport". I vowed that I'd live with a numb penis before admitting that I had a "wide load". Visions of super-wide "health saddles" crowded out svelte racing imagery.

The helpful sales-dude reASSured me that "internal bone structure doesn't translate to exterior size". Yeah, whatever.

But I bought the 154mm wide Bontrager inForm R saddle because it was barely $60 and I needed a saddle for my first big MTB race of the season in just a few days. Plus the saddle had a 90-day return policy. Parker Lewis Can't Lose!

After mounting the saddle and taking it for a quick test ride out in the street I was amazed at how comfortable the saddle was. It was instant. Like putting on an old pair of jeans. It just fit! The only other time I've had a component fit me so quickly and so well was the OnOne Midge handlebar.

The saddle passed with flying colors just a few days later at the race. Not a single problem. No numbness, no hot spots, no chafing. Just incredible.

And the saddle doesn't look like it belongs on a cruiser or anything.

Old wounds...

2009-04-29T21:18:00.001-07:00

Click the photo for a nice close view of the awesome boots...

I was just recovering my iPhoto picture library after a recent OS meltdown when I came across this photo from 1991.

Me and a few college friends were taking advantage of the new gondola service on Silver Mountain (up in Kellog, in northern Idaho). Ride the gondola up, ride your bike down the various and sundry cat tracks and access roads and trails and stuff.

It was nice enough, I suppose. Unfortunately I don't remember much of the trip. I think this was actually on our first run down that I shredded my knee. About all I remember from the trip is my accident, trip to the hospital, and waiting around down at the base while my pals got in a few more runs. Bastards. And one of them was riding my bike! Bastards! (I think it was Eric. The chain on his bike broke. So I let him borrow my bike. Or maybe it was Doug?? Bastards!!) (Update: It was Eric. And it was the BB spindle that went kablooey, not the chain. I remember now that he spoke with a rather higher-pitched voice for the remainder of the day...)

"Hey dude, my bike's busted. Since you're not using yours, mind if I ride it?"
(Thanks for the photo, Eric! Cycling "fashion" noted without comment.)

So my front end washed out on a very gravelly, rocky access road. I evidently hit a nice big rock with my knee. I remember doing a tuck-n-roll over one shoulder and coming to a stop sitting up. Then I saw my knee. Yipes! It looked really scary-- I wasn't sure what would happen if I tried standing up. Would my leg bones just pop out through the gaping hole in my knee? So I didn't bother standing up. I remember the rocks poking my butt as I sat there, afraid to even wiggle. (Gosh-- such a wimp! In retrospect I could have coasted the rest of the way down. But I was afraid of all that dirt and dust getting into my... leg hole!) One of our gang, Jayson, rode the rest of the way down to get his truck. Nice guy. (But he became a bastard!!! later with the rest of them as they later continued to ride without me. I didn't even score sympathy from "buff nugs" as I lounged around down at the lodge. I digress...)

So we're all sitting there, my pals very nicely hanging around and keeping me company, pretending that they didn't hate my guts for crashing and raining on their collective parade -- Hey, we all had to pay for the damned gondola ride, we're wasting daylight you clumsy jerk! -- as we wait for Jayson to return with the truck/ambulance/meat wagon.

It seemed like we were there for a loooooog time. We must have been. I remember thinking "Hey, this is an access road, wouldn't it be great if an ATV or motorcycle or jeep or limo full of buff nugs came along and rescued me from all these people who are just pretending to be my friends but I can see it in their eyes-- they want to slit my throat, throw my lifeless body in the bushes, steal my awesome bike and rad rad Axo MTB boots and keep riding. So where is Jason, anyway??"

Unbelieveably, an old coot on 4-wheeled ATV DID show up. I couldn't believe my ears! Saved! Such a nice looking chap with a kindly face and a great big comfy looking rack on the back of his large, capacious ATV. He rolled to a stop and inquired politely about my dreadful looking wound, made some small talk about remoteness of our location and how it would be the perfect sort of spot to slit someone's throat, dump their lifeless body in the bushes and make off with their bike and Axo boots. If one was that sort of person who was so inclined. Then he made some sort of encouraging noises at me, kicked his quad into gear and continued his merry way up the road. Bastard.

The rest of the wait is a blur. I can't really remember anything. After about a year, Jason roared up in his truck. Hurray! I very tenderly dragged myself into the bed of the truck and one of my "friends" thoughtfully threw my bike in after me. The ride down the mountain was a joy as me and my bike slid and rattled around the bed of the truck. With every little bump and rattle, every single sharp and poky part of my bike stuck me right in my shredded knee. Right in there!

I got into the nearest hospital ER where the doctor shot my knee up with novocaine and then disappeared for 45 minutes.

He came back in time for most of the effect of the novocaine to have worn off and began picking gravel out of my knee. Apparently I was "lucky" that nothing penetrated the connective tissue capsule surrounding the joint. (See? I was right to have freaked out just a little bit.) I refused to watch and settled for listening to the "tink, tink, tink" of bits of gravel dropping in a metal tray.

Then came the cleaning. So far so good as I couldn't yet feel too much.

However, about halfway through the suturing (Was it 11 or 14 sutures?) the novocaine had pretty much completely evaporated. Jiminy christmas did that ever hurt. The weirdest part was feeling the suturing filament sliding through my skin. Maybe by "weirdest" I mean "worst".

At one point the noise of my teeth grinding must have distracted the doctor as he paused in his work and fixed me with an annoyed glare. "Are you okay? Do you need more novocaine?"

Lying through my clenched teeth I told him "No thanks." I didn't have any kind of health insurance (I was a poor, dumb college kid at the time) so I was trying to be good and not rack up a huge bill with all sorts of needless extras.

Finally I was whole again, fitted with a brace to immobilize my knee and shoved out the door with a sampler pack of Advil.

Jayson, Travis, Eric (I don't think I've ever seen a photo with Eric where he's actually wearing a shirt), Doug, Yours Truly, Kenny, Trent (Sometimes shirts, sometimes skins.)
Kellog Hospital, 8-31-1991 Thanks to Eric for the photo.

Back to the mountain we went. While I put my grievous wound on display at the lodge patio, casting about for sympathy, my "friends" continued their rollicking good time up on the mountain. Bastards.

But who's got the awesome scar? Who ultimately scored the hot chick? I did.

But I don't have the Awesome Boots anymore.

Criminally poor kids bikes

2009-04-27T21:34:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I volunteered my time at a nearby middle school bike safety fair.

A bunch of people came together to help kids ride safely. It was great. The organizers had done a great job and the event ran like clockwork. The kids watched a video, got fitted for free helmets, and then could ride through an obstacle course under the watchful eyes of the Beaverton bike police.

Me, a couple of other guys and a couple of mechanics from Hillsboro REI were spinning wrenches for a few hours making sure kids' bikes were safe to ride. One of the REI guys, Erin (Aaron?) called it "bike triage" I think.

I took it a step further on one bike and performed emergency battlefield surgery. More on that later, maybe.

One thing that struck me was the astoundingly low quality of components on childrens' bikes. Truly awful stuff! It seems almost criminal that bicycles intended for children should feature such poor-quality components-- the brakes in particular.

I saw brakes that were so loose that the caliper arms would wobble back and forth an inch or more when applied; brake pads that were badly cupped and slipping under the rim (and into the spokes); disconnected brakes; and tangled, twisted, rusted, frayed cables and housing.

The fragility of bicycles was readily apparent. They aren't bullet-proof or maintenance free, yet none of the bikes I saw couldn't have seen more than a squirt of WD-40 in the past few years. To be clear, I'm not criticizing the children or their parents for just simply using the bikes. It just seems like the bikes that are destined to receive the least maintenance are the ones that actually need more care due to their lower-quality components.

I worked on a few bikes that were downright dangerous to ride on. One in particular: the right-side pedal had worked itself loose and destroyed half of the threads. The thing was only held in place by one or two threads and a lot of rust. I don't know what it would have taken to break that tenuous bond. Maybe coming down off of a curb? Hopping on the bike? Maybe just some random pedal stroke?

I kept wondering to myself if the collective genius of the bicycle industry couldn't come up with a few simple components that would be durable, reliable, and very low maintenance. I suppose the real problem would be cost-- anything that would meet those criteria would likely add significantly to the cost of the bike. Plus it seems that most childrens' bikes are "disposable" because by the time they DO fail or become unridable the child has already out-grown it and is ready fo the next size up. I guess this is what Wal-Mart is for.

But this brings me back to something that I feel pretty strongly about:
That a bike that is safe and reliable and that functions properly is more fun to ride and thus the child will be more likely to KEEP riding. When a bike doesn't function properly and, as a result, is difficult to ride, I could see the child becoming disenchanted and opting to have mom or dad ferry them around in the car. At the very lease they lose an avenue for healthy exploration and transportation. (I remember my first bike as a child-- what a sense of freedom! It was like I had been given wings.)

Anyway... I overheard that about 400 kids when through in just a few hours. We breathed new life in to lots and lots of bikes that needed a little TLC and I hope that we helped to keep the kids enjoying their bikes and the freedom of riding. I also hope that we gave them a favorable impression of "bike people".

Ride on, kids.

Trials Unicorn chaser...

2009-04-22T21:45:00.000-07:00

This is something of a"unicorn chaser" to counter all the doom and gloom of the previous Cannondale posts. Plus, as I was reminded, I know nuzzink, nuzzink! Of business management and it just rends the souls of the...

Oh forget it.

Watch this. It's just amazing. I mean it doesn't even seem real that a human being on a bicycle could do that stuff! It's like magic or something. I would like to have just a tiny fraction of the balance and handling skills (and brass monkeys) of the rider, Danny MacAskill.

Good grief. I can't bunny hop without clipless pedals. The times I've tried it on platform pedals I've almost neutered myself-- oof.

Poor Dorel- "Pained" to cut the soul out of Cannondale

2009-04-06T09:58:00.000-07:00

The story just keeps getting better and better.

Mind you, this is not a story about "American jobs" being sent overseas. This is a story about a megacorporation clueless about how to take care of the shiny new toy they just bought. Why not about jobs? Well, I'm a graphic designer by trade with a focus on brand identity. I also like bikes. I have several Cannondale bikes. So this particular "story" is like the perfect storm for me. It's also a bummer.

Another thing: I happen to think that Taiwan hosts some of the best frame builders in the world. So does Portland, Oregon. :)

Anyway-- more claptrap from Dorel (actually the following statement was from the president of Cannondale Sports Group. However-- what other "sports" are there in Cannondale? Cycling, of course.But what else? Curling? Cricket? Polo?). The emphasis is mine:

Dorel Industries executives say it pained them to end U.S. production of Cannondale bicycles, but said the cost of domestic production made the decision "crystal clear" from an economic perspective.
...
"It was painful to make the decision we took today; the people in Bedford are the soul of Cannondale," Jeff McGuane, president of Cannondale Sports Group's North American division, told VeloNews Thursday. "We've got a bright future for Bedford, for the team that's remaining and hopefully will expand in the future; but right now the economics around frame construction are just crystal clear."

Read the full story here: http://www.velonews.com/article/90148/cannondale-s-parent-says-the-decision-to-end-frame

The economics might be crystal freakin' clear, but you don't cut the "soul" out of a brand and hope to retain anything. You have no brand. Nothing. A name is all that's left.

I'm going to quote Seth Godin directly here because he puts it so well:

What's a brand?

I think it is the product of two things:

[Prediction of what to expect] times [emotional power of that expectation].

If I encounter a brand and I don't know what it means or does, it has zero power. If I have an expectation of what an organization will do for me, but I don't care about that, no power.

Go read the full text of the article here: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/04/the_brand_formu.html

Beginning in 2011 what will "Cannondale" mean? It will be just another name on a line of bikes produced by bike manufacturing juggernaut, Taiwan. It will be like "Scattante" or "Tirenno" or whatever.

"Innovation"?
"Feel it"?

Zero power. Zero resonance.

Since Cannondale no longer has the "soul" that it once had, since it's just another brand from Dorel, purveyor of all that is bland and boring and "me too" I don't care about it.

Zero power.

So Cannondale is a big nothing right now. Is that what the suits at Dorel want? To start over, fresh and new, to re-invent the Cannondale brand?

I had posted the last entry regarding Dorel's decision to gut Cannondale on the OBRA email list. Someone recently responded that they thought is was no big deal since we live in Portland, Oregon-- the nation hotbed of custom/inependent/small bike fabricators -- and that it would be much better to "buy local".

Sure-- I understand that. Unfortunately that's a bit besides the point. Furthermore I really can't afford to buy a sweet sweet super-custom steel frame from a local builder, no matter how much I'd want to.

My point is that Dorel are a bunch of idiots focused on the bottom line-- not what's important. Marketing isn't about making a fast buck anymore. (It shouldn't ever be, in my opinion.) It's about relationships. People will buy because they believe and care about the company, how it does things, what it stands for. Not because it has the lowest price-- that's just unsustainable.

Farewell Cannondale. So long and thanks for all the rides...

2009-04-03T13:23:00.000-07:00

Dorel is busy consolidating its bike biz into "centres of excellence" and will be moving 100 percent of Cannondale's manufacturing oversease to its Taichung, Taiwan facility.

I can't say that I'm really surprised. I was waiting for this bomb to drop ever since Dorel bought up Cannondale. (C'mon, Dorel?! Don't they make training wheels or handlebar streamers or somthing??) To me, when that happened, Cannondale's brand value went into the toilet.

Now it's been completely flushed and is rapidly degrading in the septic tank.

I bought three Cannondale bikes BECAUSE of how they were made. I bought into the story of Cannondale. I loved (still love) my bikes for that. Some years ago Bicycling magazine published a story about Cannondale and we got to see the folks that built, sanded, painted and assembled the bikes. That article reaffirmed my love of Cannondale and their bikes.

*sigh*

Dorel -- I don't care how much money they make every year -- has absolutely NO IDEA how to deal with brand equity. Yeah, Cannondale really shot itself in the foot by making motorcycles under the Cannondale flag and paid dearly for that. I mean that was pretty much the beginning of the end for Cannondale -- a serious blow -- but it didn't change the way they made their bikes.

Goodbye Cannondale. It's been a fun ride.

Go read the full story here:

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/cannondale-closing-us-production-facilities-21101

Support my local bike shop? Maybe.

2009-04-03T13:02:00.000-07:00

Here's another rant triggered by a post to the OBRA email list.

The owner of a big Portland bike shop sent in a letter to OBRA members urging the support of local bike shops (and other sponsors) in these tough economic times, because the local bike shops (and sponsors) have been supporting OBRA members and activities (races) for so long.

Here's the message:

Open letter to OBRA members

Having just passed our 14-year anniversary, I have spent some time reflecting on River City Bicycle's position in Portland and the biking community. I'd like to thank all of you for the support that you've shown River City over the last fourteen years. While we are proud of what we've done so far, we would not have been able to give back to the community in the many ways we have if we did not have the support back from the bike community.

One of the things I am proud of is the long-term relationship we have maintained with many biking organizations around Portland. Many of these we started at the early beginnings of the store such as Team Rose City, John Benenati's B.I.K.E. Cyclisme' program, and Emerald Velo, and have since expanded to the Vancouver Specialized/River City team, Sorella Forte', the River City shop team, Hammer Velo, and Rapha Racing. We have also maintained long-term sponsorship with some great OBRA events, the Mt. Tabor race series, Tuesday Night PIR (and now Monday Night), Oregon Mountain Bike race series, Alpenrose track series, and the River City Cross Crusade Cyclocross Series. There are probably some others I'm forgetting at the moment. The total costs of these programs to River City exceed $50,000 annually.

Racing sponsorship is a very tricky proposition for businesses. This should be obvious to any fan of the sport, considering the revolving door of trade teams that come and go at every level. From my perspective, it can be a very difficult expense to justify at times, particularly if one just looks at the numbers or at the direct return on investment. But for River City, what we count on most to justify our continued support of racing sponsorship is the fact that each and every one of you is considered to be the expert on bikes to all of your friends and acquaintances, and that you will suggest to them that River City is, indeed, a good bike shop, and worthy of their business, whether or not we support your specific team or event. We do our best to live up to the recommendations that we get from our good customers, and are constantly improving what we do and how we do it. We have a very high caliber of staff here, true bike shop professionals who take their jobs as seriously as you take yours. As the bike industry gets more technical and complex every year, we are able to maintain a high quality of staff for many years, some almost from our inception. This should be considered an asset to the biking community, as I'm sure most, if not all of you, have had bike problems that have had to be fixed by an expert.

To conclude, I would like to thank you for continuing to support not only River City Bicycles, but also all of the sponsors of Oregon bicycle racing. This is a difficult business environment for everyone and we all need to recognize who we count on for support. So when you are thinking about that next bike related purchase please consider that the internet company or national chain that may offer a perceived lower price is doing so without the service or contribution to OBRA and our local biking community that we all benefit from and enjoy. We all vote with our wallets, and we all decide what is important to us in the long run.

To the road,,

David Guettler

He raises some very good -- and important -- points. However, it is the last bit that bugs me-- choose your LBS over the cheapo internet retailers.

I do support local bike shops and sponsors. I send emails to sponsors thanking them for their support (and free food or whatever). I also BUY their product (if it's good and I can use it.) I shop at every bike shop within range-- I have three that are close to me. I also shop on-line. One thing that I take issue with, however, is the discrepancy in the level of service between a physical shop and an on-line shop.

At just about every physical shop I've patronized, I've had various and sundry problems (overcharged, poorly performed repairs, salespeople who try to sell me something that I do NOT want). Who hasn't, I suppose. The real difference between buying from Mom & Pop Bikes and MegaBikeDeals.com is in how they handle those problems. Without fail, the online stores have gone out of their way to help me out or fix the problem. At Mom & Pop's the best I've gotten is a grudging accommodation. I've been made to feel like I'm imposing on their time.

It doesn't matter if a local bike shop will "be there" after the sale when an on-line store cannot, if that physical presence just doesn't seem to care or has an elitist attitude.

Maybe this is why Joe Q. Public stays away from bike shops and instead picks up their ride at Wal-Mart or similar. Going to a bike shop is sometimes too much like going to an auto dealership.

The local bike shops have to capitalize on their advantages over a remote on-line retailer. They have to fulfill their promises every day-- without fail. It's not enough to beg and plead and try to get customers to come in simply because your business is "local".

Cyclists are dangerous road hogs...

2009-04-03T12:53:00.001-07:00

Here in soggy Portland there's much ado over motorized vehicles and bikes sharing the road.

On the local OBRA email list there's been some hand-wringing lately over how our actions on the road affect motorists' perceptions of cyclists.

I got all fired up and drafted a reply to a recent post. After I was done writing, the need to reply to the email list had subsided-- and I would have probably just pissed off a lot of folks anyway. I think I'll post it here instead. This is my journal. So there.

Here's the post that inspired me to finally respond:

I've thought a lot in the last few years about the 'reputation' cyclists
have, and are getting in this town. As a poor excuse for a bike commuter
I've felt all ranges of self righteousness anywhere from being sick of
getting cut off and solving that by holstering a 45 on my left hip with the
back of my jersey being silkscreen with "I carry a Gun, Here (arrow)", to
just being hyper sensitive and slowing down everywhere expecting everyone to
come out in front of me, cut me off, and change lanes into me all the time.
And then this happened.
Meditating at a full spin northbound from se Stark on the 205 bikelane
crossing the Market intersection. Decide that the little stop sign means
rolling through at 20 since my limited periphery shows no vehicles. Shows
no vehicles including the mother in the bronze ford contour coming from my
left and the Old chevy converging on my right. My reaction time was great,
but didn't due much since my hands were not on the hoods or in the drops.
Her reaction time was great too. At try two of breaking, I was already in
the street seeing how my front wheel was going to be connecting with the
front corner of the contour right in front of my fork and that that was
going to catapult me over her hood, into her windshield, and over her roof.
Somehow, this didn't happen.
My judgment was correct though, my bike and her car did infact stop in a
wonderful spooning position. Her bumper corner, and the crux of my fork and
wheel. But unlike spooning, the gaze at which the driver gave me was much
less than loving. Probably due to the fact that like me, she slammed as
hard on her brakes as possible, but unlike me, her 9 month old toddler was
in the back car seat just trying to hold its head upright. Feeling like a
moron is an understatement.
I backed up so I could let her by, apologizing profusely and unable to get
my shaking legs to clip back in anyway. After she passed, then the chevy
rightfully added insult to lack of injury by saying, when I motioned him on,
"You're already in the middle of the road, I'll wait."
Shaking legs and the taste of my breakfast in my mouth, meditation
shattered, I clip in and peddle along.

I did not give bicyclists a good name that day, accident or not. It's our
responsibility as cyclists to ride lawfully, and safely, for ourselves and
others.

I liked the bit about packing heat. I've certainly felt that militant after some jerk seems to go out of his way to threaten me with his car.

Anyway. Here's my response.

I understand the feeling that we (cyclists) have to prove ourselves on the roads. Bicycles don't own the roads, cars do. That we have to be better, cleaner, and smarter than motorists.

However, it seems that many of you, while you're busy falling on your own swords, are missing the fact that motorists already have a bad reputation. Motorists break the traffic laws everyday either through accident, ignorance, or disdain. They receive the same verbal abuse from others in cars.

By all means, please ride safely and pay attention. Slow down and yield. But don't beat yourselves up because you made a mistake. Motorists make mistakes all the time and the cost and consequences are far far greater.

You only give cyclists a bad rap when you really do ride like a jerk and behave erratically and unpredictably in traffic and display a disregard for other users on the road.

Hm. maybe I will send this to the email list...

Press Release

2009-04-01T12:28:00.001-07:00

April 1, 2009
Portland, Oregon

For Immediate Release

Formerly an unattached Privateer, Brian Johnson, who races both off-road and cyclocross, has decided that 2009 "will be the season of more cookies!"

"Over the past couple few seasons I've come to the realization that there aren't enough cookies on my training table and in my jersey pockets. While some folks might think that cookies can be found just about anywhere, this is not true-- especially of gluten-free cookies. Their additional cost and relative scarcity make including them in a training regimen, in any meaningful way, quite difficult. I plan to change that for 2009. To quote that blue furry guy 'Me want cookie!'"

Mr. Johnson has been seriously involved in "middle-of-the-pack" racing since 2006, and will be placing a greater emphasis on mountain bike events for the 2009 season.

"I know that some might look at my results and ask 'Where's the top 30 placing? Are you even in this list... Oh-- here you are. Down here.' but I like to think that I'm doing more that just going 'round and 'round in circles. I'm trying to focus on my message of inclusion... and cookies. You CAN eat your cookies AND have your race, too!"

Surprise! MTB racing is here!

2009-03-31T13:02:00.000-07:00

And by "here" I mean close to home, races that don't require an entire day or overnight stay. (I'm such a homebody/family man.)

I don't know why this surprised me-- the "Horning's Hustle" MTB circuit race is this weekend and I'm not really prepared mentally. I was also off the bike for most of the last two weeks-- a one-two punch from work and personal life. Fortunately my bike's ready to go. There's that at least. And it's really raring to go. I've been on the road so long... I can't wait to hit the trails.

But I've put a different stem and saddle on it and haven't been out on them yet. It's looking like this race will be the first time. No drastic changes, though, so I should be okay. I dunno-- if the saddle kills my ass I guess it's better that this is a relatively short circuit race instead of a much longer XC race.

Wait-- I do need to rebuild the pedals (Crank Bros. Candy Cs). I'll have to double check those-- maybe they've got one race left in them.

The next race is towards the end of April-- the Bear Springs Trap XC race. That was an awesome one last year. There may still be snow up there at race time. We'll see.

A different sort of place, a different sort of bike commuter...

2009-03-31T12:29:00.000-07:00

We spent last week in sunny SoCal in that happiest of places-- Disneyland.

We stayed in a hotel a few blocks from the park gates and had a rental car. I had the need to visit the local grocery store a couple of times and so go to see how the locals did things.

I was heartened to see plenty of adults riding on bikes. At least I figured it was "plenty" considering that I was in Southern California and all roads seem to be what we would consider "highways". I did note some interesting differences between the riders there and what I'm used to seeing around here in the Stumptown area.

Not a fixie to be seen (Not entirely true--I did see ONE as we were leaving Disneyland one afternoon) and every bike I saw was on the department-store variety. All the riders were in jeans and long-sleeved shirts and none appeared to be riding for "fun".

This reminded me of an article in Bicycling magazine a few years ago. I think it was titled "Hidden Riders" or something similar and was about folks (mostly immigrants) in L.A. who rode their bikes -- depended heavily on their bikes, in fact -- strictly as transportation. The notion of a bicycle over US$500 was the wildest of fictions.

Anyway, I don't really have a point to this. It was just interesting to see so many bikes being used as transportation instead of status symbols, toys, or hipster fixations. (Pun intended.)

Dropping 20 bucks to ride around in circles...

2009-03-12T21:25:00.000-07:00

Part of the reason why I enter races, despite being far from awesome, is that a race presents an opportunity to push myself harder than I ever would during a recreational ride. Even if I'm doing intervals ("fartleks").

A race tests me like I cannot test myself. Sure, on some sunny Sunday afternoon in the park I might be able to run barriers and feel like a juiced Belgian pro doing it, but on a cold and soggy Sunday morning, in with scores of other racers, screaming spectators and clanging bells? Yeah-- I can only BUY that. Can't simulate it.

Anyway-- I finally fixed the flat on my road bike and took it out instead of my SS. Wow. After three months off it felt... weird. Different. "Whippy."

I also caught myself just noodling along at one point, taking advantage of all those gears. (Well, the bike is only a 7-speed. Don't laugh, it's a 1994 Cannondale.)

I keep thinking that all the time I spend on the bike (Which I love.) must be doing me some good, right? Maybe not, if I'm slackin'.

I read a good training article ("Finding the Time") by Jason Sumner over on VeloNews. It's got some good advice about the difference in quality versus quantity in relation to busy and changing schedules (you know-- life is what happens when you're busy making your kick-ass training plan.)

"...the key is finding that critical balance between high intensity and adequate rest. Better to crush yourself a couple times a week, and then have several short truly easy days, than to noodle around whenever you can and rarely take time off."

Noodling around whenever I can is a lot of fun. I love riding the bike. But if I want to kick just a little ass this summer and especially this fall I need to stay focused. I want to kick just a couple of asses, that's all. A few maybe. About a dozen or so. I don't need to squeeze all the fun out of noodling around, but maybe not so much with the noodling.

Another good idea presented by the coach in the article is this:

“Try practicing some strategies,” suggested Coach. “Plan a scenario where one teammate is the attacker and another set ups to counter if the move keeps getting brought back. Doing things like that is great way to have a purpose for a training race instead of just dropping 20 bucks and riding around in the pack.”

Of course! It's fun to race, but I should also take those opportunities to look around. Practice some tactics. For instance in CX (or any short-course, multi-lap race) I need to accelerate out of corners rather than just sitting on my duff and mashing the pedals. Watch the good guys and the lines they take. Chase the guys that pass me. Dice with them. Work on my form through the barriers. (Like Tonkin teaches-- run through the barriers, don't jump over them.) Every race is an opportunity to learn and improve, not just go round and round.

Although the last sentence provides me with a great out: "Yeah.. that was just a training race for me."

Lance Armstrong shares tubeless sealant removal technique

2009-03-06T10:58:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I bought a couple pair of ("New To Me!") tires. Two of those tires have old dried-up tubeless sealant on the insides. I posted a question to the OBRA email list looking for a quick-n-easy way of removing the stuff.

A tacky film of tubeless sealant-- likely Stan's

I had hopes of receiving a reply that entailed the use of a squirt of Oxi-Clean and a quick swipe of a ShamWow leaving me with like-new looking tires.

Not so. I got a couple of useful suggestions, but those sounded too much like work.

Undaunted I ran my problem by the email list again. I added in a smidge of sarcasm hoping that this would spur cooperation from my fellow OBRA-listers. This time I received what I assume was a tongue-in-cheek suggestion to invoke the name of the "Lance Armstrong". I thought that I would go one better and seek out the legend's wisdom directly. (Thanks to Rick Johnson, fellow OBRA-ite for the suggestion.)

I appealed to Lance, showing him the above photo of the tacky, elastic membrane.

Lance's unsurprising reaction to the residue of sealant.

After some thought, he came back with this advice: Use your thumbs. (Actually, what he said was "Make your mechanic use his thumbs to get that gross stuff off." I told Lance that I don't have a mechanic, that I was my own mechanic, to which he replied, "I didn't understand a word you just said.") So off I go working working working at rubbing off the cursed rubbery crap with my thumbs. And you know what? It wasn't that hard and it was very effective. No mess. However, this is was my reward for about five minutes of work:

I felt a bit like Brett in Alien when he discovered the xenomorph's molting. Ick.

Nice-- a little stretchy wrinkly bit of junk that looked like something one of those creepy Giger Aliens might leave behind after vigorous dermabrasion at the day-spa. My thumbs were a little crampy, too.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I didn't mean to leave one of my moltings laying around like that. Here, let me take care of that for you."

Anyway, squicky artifacts aside, the technique was relatively quick and easy to do. Well, maybe a little labor-intensive and kinda hard on the thumbs. Well, here's what the tire looked like after about five minutes:

So we've got "after" on the left and "before" on the right.

I showed the results of my work to Lance. He made a show of being pleased with my progress and patted me on the head. He then asked if I thought I would be able to match his power output of 600 watts while removing the rest of the residue. I asked him about Mr. LeMond's persistent questions about doping... to which Lance responded by hurling my Poprad under the wheels of his black and yellow Hummer and driving over it repeatedly until it was unrecognizable.

Timbuk2-- Seriously Awesome

2009-03-05T11:03:00.000-08:00

I recently bought a bag directly from Timbuk2. The whole experience was fantastic. The order confirmation email was fun to read (Yeah-- I actually read these things and they're typically very dry and to-the-point.)

The coolest part? The bag itself was good -- typical Timbuk2 Awesomeness -- but the bag it was delivered in was sheer genius. The tough plastic bag was also a MAP. Of downtown San Francisco.

Click the photo to see a larger image.

No-- I don't live there nor will I visit anytime soon, but as a graphic designer involved in marketing and branding I just totally flipped my lid over this. I've never ever seen such bitchen packaging.

Apple's packaging is also cool-- but after playing with it for a couple of minutes and admiring the lustre of the material and the spare graphics it's off to the recycle bin and/or trash.

But the Timbuk2 shipping bag? Inspired.

Still going...

2009-03-03T11:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was awesome. Another day to lift my spirits-- another message that spring's on the way.

Today is a bit more gloomy and cloudy.

But I'm still riding. I think I'm riding more than I ever have. (Well, it's only 12 miles during my lunchtime that I'm squeezing in, but still...) It's nice because I generally feel better and less irritable. The downside is that if I miss more than a day I get all grouchy and crabby.

My ss is just filthy and there's not much point in washing it. I just go after the dried road grime with a toothbrush.

I hope that this pays off later this year...

Soggy...

2009-02-23T16:06:00.000-08:00

Went out for a quick lunchtime ride.

Quite rainy. I was glad of my "waterproof/breathable" jacket.

However, back at home, as I shook the rain off it I discovered that it was also very wet inside.

It just seems that anything more waterproof than a wind-block is pointless. If you get just as wet on the inside from perspiration as on the outside from rain-- what's the point?

Still, it was good to be outside. It's so good to ride the bike with the pavement rolling by underneath my wheels, the wind and rain in my face.

The UCI vows to act all pig-headed and bitchy

2009-02-23T12:02:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I wonder about these UCI folks. I can just imagine them all sniggering behind their hands as the fiddle the rules again to mess with the racers' heads.

"No this one goes here that one goes there!"

VeloNews story: UCI prez plans to "clarify" existing rules.

I remember a long time ago that they forced Cannondale to make a batch of team bikes with narrow-diameter frame tubes, because the large-diameter tubes were "against" UCI rules regarding frame materials. The delicious irony of it all was that the rule, intended to ensure that "skunk-works" technology didn't give a team or rider and unfair advantage by making teams use "off-the-shelf" equipment (something mere mortals could buy at retail, in theory), had the exact opposite effect.

Cannondale was forced to make bike frames that were not (and never would be) available to normal folks because Cannondale was invested in making large-diameter thin-wall tubing.

A steal of a deal-- only USD$2000!

2009-02-23T11:12:00.000-08:00

I was alerted to this scorching hott deal by a post from Will on the OBRA email list.

I'm not posting the actual Craigslist link, because this deal is just too smorkin' to last long.

Yea. That's an MGX "mountain" bike in the photo. Available at finer Target stores. Or is it Wal-Mart?

USD$129.00 and it rolls home with you. So that's $1,871.00 in tools 'n' stuff. At full retail I suppose. Unless the seller failed to mention the fact that the contents of the garage (drill press, metal lathe, welding jig, complete Super Ultra Park Tool Pro set of tools) was also included in the generous price.

But that bike is a pretty honch set-up.

The Sun is more than a big ball of burning gases...

2009-02-20T23:23:00.000-08:00

...It's a big fat happy pill.

Yeah, we've had a few sunny days already. But this was a special day of sun. It was in the high 50's (F) and, well, it was just so nice out. I could tell that spring was actually getting close. The sense of urgency about making sure all the bikes are ready began building in me.

I went out for a quick ride this afternoon on the cyclocross bike (the Poprad) and it felt so sporty and kick-up-the-heels-y after a couple of months of nothing but singlespeed. It was like a new bike.

I had to stop and take my wind vest off. That's nice out.

Spring is definitely on the way.

Still sick?!?

2009-02-11T10:13:00.000-08:00

I'm beginning to fear a sinus infection.

It's been a loooong time since that scumbag has bothered me, so maybe I'm paying some karmic dues?

Basically I've had a few days of pathogenic plateau. Loads and loads of green goo come out of my head. Twice daily nasal/sinu irrigation seem to provide only temporary relief and have no long-term impact on my sinuses gross domestic product.

So screw this, I guess I'm going riding. (Later, of course.) My head can just deal... the rest of me seems fine. And wanting some time on the bike.

Life in the flat lane

2009-02-09T11:26:00.001-08:00

On my last ride last week, I was zooming down the last big hill before home when I spied a couple of kids walking by the side of the road, with one pushing his bike. After a second glance I realized that the bike had a flat.

My first reaction was "we're in town, they're walking, they're together... no need to stop and help."

After coasting through the intersection I decided to not be an ass and to try and help. Maybe they might end up thinking that guys in stretchy pants are all jerks and that bikes are cool and that flats are easy to fix.

(There was more to this interior struggle-- I was feeling a little off (I would be in the evil clutches of disease the next day), I had a mountain of work back at the office and a deep-seated conflicted feeling that I needed to stop wasting time out on the bike but that if I didn't get some exercise I would die of stress-induced cardiac arrest.)

Anyway, I make my way back and ride up to the two. The tire is rolling off the rim-- flat flat flat.

I open with the classic ice-breaker: "Got a flat, huh?"

"Yeah. I skid for too long and popped the tire."

Say what? I think. Then I see it: The gaping maw of a huge hole burned right through the carcass of the tire. All the tread has been burned down, the cords are showing around the hole and the hole itself is a nightmarish wound seeping white liquid sealant. It's like when Ash flipped in Alien and started spurting white hydro fluid everywhere. Bleah.

I have no tire boot and no way to effectively clean the area of sealant so that I can get a patch to stick. The hole is so big that I don't think a patch would stick very long anyway-- my little finger can easily go through it.

"Wow. You really did a number on that. I'm sorry, but there's no way I can fix that for you."

The kid mumbles something about borrowing a tire from his dad's bike and I laugh "Yeah-- but no more skidding!"

As I ride the last few minutes home, I wonder: What price fail-proof technology against a careless user?

I wonder what this sort of thing does to cycling in general. The kid destroyed a tire and tube. How will he get it fixed? Who will fix it? Will "dad" buy a tire and new tube at a department store and then spend 30 minutes fighting with it, and then trying to get the bike to work properly afterward? Will the kid get the impression that bikes are fragile pieces of junk and secretly can't wait to get his driver's license and start borrowing dad's car instead of a tire off his bike?

Am I over-thinking all this?

I dunno. I've just seen too many kids' bikes fall by the wayside because they fall out of tune and don't work very well anymore. The bike becomes not as much fun to ride and thus get put out to pasture, destined to rust behind the back yard shed.

Powder coating

2009-02-09T11:17:00.000-08:00

My 1989 Stumpjumper/Rockhopper Comp/reborn single-speed is more rust than paint. I think, over its life span, given it two paint jobs.

I think it's time to stop mucking about and finally finally give it a decent coat.

And I think I've found the place.

Brooker Enterprises in Portland, Oregon. Clicking the link will take you to a movie/advertisement on bikeportland.org-- it's apparently an experiment in revenue generation by the site's owner.

Whatever. It's fun to watch. I had always wondered how powder coating worked, and despite reading descriptions, I discovered that I didn't have a complete grasp of the proceedure.

Pinky the bike looked fantastic in the end. I'm imagining my MTB in a new shiny coat of bright red. Converting it to a single-speed and putting on a Midge handlebar made it feel like a whole new bike (almost for free!). A new paint (ahem-- powder coat) will make it feel new new! I'm stoked.

Sick and tired.

2009-02-08T16:52:00.000-08:00

This past week has been crazy.

Plus I got sick. Tuesday I went out and did a short rid and felt really strong. Wednesday I went out and felt off. Thursday the pathogens came out to party and just hammered me.

Saturday I lost my voice. My son thinks it's amusing that I can "yell" and nothing more than a hoarse whisper comes out. :)

It's Sunday and while the rest of me feels okay, if I breathe hard, the back of my throat tickles unbearably and makes me cough.

I can't stand being off the bike. This is a drag. Probably a good thing, though-- going to bed early and getting lots of rest. Last week was really stressful. I'm looking forward to being able to ride again.

I'm also itching to get my 'cross bike upgraded to the bar-end shifters. I want to go hit some trails on my MTB.

Good Stuff: Pearl Izumi AmFib lobster mitt

2009-01-29T10:42:00.001-08:00

I must have a circulation problem because my fingers and toes seem to get so cold so easily. They'd freeze up in the middle of summer on the equator.

I finally decided to buy a pair of Pearl Izumi's lobster mitts after the "big freeze" we had in December of 2008 around these parts.

I've only worn them a couple of times since getting them because they're so warm. Like the other day: We'd had a little snow and temps were in the mid 30's (F) So I figured that'd be a nice test of the mitts. At the start of the ride, my fingers were fine. Yay. During the second half of my ride -- the part with all the climbing -- my warm fingys started to simmer. Fortunately I was able to cool off a little just before arriving back home, but it was a relief to get the mitts off! Good grief! I suppose these things would be good to 20 degrees (F) or below!

The interior of the mitt is a little different-- the liner separates each finger. Imaging putting on a glove with the index and middle fingers sewn together and the ring and little fingers sewn together. (Live long and prosper...) Now put this into an insulated shell. And call it an oven!

I kind of wish Pearl Izumi hadn't made the lobsters quite so warm. The gloves themselves are a bit puffy and bulky, but handlebar feel wasn't compromised. I think most of the insulation is on the top of the gloves rather than under the palm where it would interfere with one's feel for the bike.

If they made a lighter version of the lobster with half of the insulation and just a wind-block membrane that would be awesome.

These will likely work quite well for just playing around in the snow-- they're supposed to be waterproof.

My only worry is that they work too well for me to get much use out of them. It obviously doesn't get cold enough around here to even challenge the lobsters!

OMG... I've got a "rain bike"

2009-01-29T10:22:00.001-08:00

There it is. Full fenders? Check. Single-speed? Check. Dirty? Check. Old technology? Check.

Yup, that must be a "rain bike" alright.

No-- just kidding. That's not really my "rain bike". My road bike got a flat and I don't relish repairing it, tire-bead jack or not. So, in a fit of laziness I took the old singlespeed out instead.

And I liked it! There is absolutely no retreat when climbing-- you either do or you don't. I figure this will be good for my early season "training". Pushing that single gear plus those fatty knobbies should be good, right? When I get on the road bike later, or the 'cross bike, I'll feel like I've got wings on my feet. I hope.

We'll see. Doesn't matter too much, though, because I'm having fun.

Bicycling magazine... huh??

2009-01-23T11:04:00.000-08:00

I continue my love/hate relationship with Bicycling magazine with this month's issue.

I began grinding my teeth before even opening the cover. A special blue box was all a-squee that "Lance is back!" Well, no duh. That's such old news. Tired news. Beat-a-dead-horse news.

Somewhat less annoying was the teaser: "5 Great Bikes Under $3,000"

Really? One can still get a "great" bike under $3,000? That's good. I was a little worried that these days only department-store bikes and "urban" single-speeds were the only rides available under $3,000. *whew* What a relief. I think I'll swing by the store today and pick up a couple. I mean, under three grand? Dude! At those prices why not pick up two or three? Hell-- I can afford to throw them away when the tires go flat and just buy another! I was really sad that the $1,400 LeMond Poprad that I bought a couple of years ago was a piece of cheap junk.

To be fair, Bicycling lists bike all over the place in terms of price, with the cheapest being a $500 singlespeed. Then we see bikes priced thusly: $1,400, $1,799, $1,810, $2,299, $2,699
and the most expensive being $3,700. So I guess we're supposed to ignore the cheapest and most expensive bikes.

I remember wayyy back in 2006 when I was searching for a cyclocross bike and just being surprised at how "expensive" mid-range/affordable bikes seemed to be.

All this does, though, is show how out of touch I've become. Is it because I'm getting older? I remember thinking, as a child, that my parents were tight-wads for complaining about how much things cost. Now I think I understand. Somehow my perceptions of "value" have changed. Maybe it's that I realize that the true value of a thing is not it's brand name and that it's the brand that constitutes a significant portion of the cost of a product.

...

I just spent some time flipping through the magazine trying to find something else to criticize. Sure there were plenty of ads for "super premium" bike tours and super expensive bikes (to me, anything over $2,000 is "super expensive").

But I couldn't really find much to rip on. Actually I think it was just a bunch of little things. The overall attitude of the magazine that irks me. I've been reading for years, and I'm not sure which has changed more, me or the magazine. Compared to some other magazines that I DO really like (Dirt Rag), Bicycling seems to cater to the dilettante. As they stated themselves: "bicycling is the new golf". In Bicycling magazine, bikes are a sport, not a lifestyle. Not something central, but peripheral.

I think I'll leave it there for the time being and think about it. Why does Bicycling make me so grumpy? Is it simply because the pages are filled with bikes that I want (ohhhh, me wantee!) but that I'll never be able to afford? Or could never buy and still consider myself a responsible, rational adult?

Maybe that's it. But I could also just be a loser, baby. So why don't you shoot me.

On second thought, maybe I won't run...

2009-01-19T12:43:00.000-08:00

...'Tis a silly thing.

I thought that, as part of my "New Me in 2009" campaign, I would take up running in addition to my regular rides. Especially useful on the really scummy cold/wet/rainy/windy days.

In the past few weeks I've been out 3-4 times. Got a really good quad burn from just 30 minutes of moderate running. I thought "Yeah-- I'll totally rock the run-ups in CX this fall."

Then all the stringy bits in my left knee started making all sorts of weird noises. It was precisely this sort of thing that made me STOP running years ago.

I had modest goals-- no more than twice a week. Just something to help my legs remember what running was like.

Well, I guess maybe I won't run. My shoes are old, however. Maybe I'll buy some new shoes (but that's money that won't get spent on bike stuff... damn!) and try again.

Perhaps I should try something a bit more focused. Maybe just sprinting up short hills in the park or something.

Riding your bike outside is so 20th century!

2009-01-09T14:44:00.001-08:00

Simulators and faux (sucky, lame) video game add-ons to trainers are nothing new.

Still, there's this weird push to make games more realistic: increased resolution, force-feedback, accelerometers and tilt sensors. More like real life.

Imagine this: a fully immersive environment with super-HD 360-deg view. Ultimate force feed-back system lets you feel the road or trail. Ambient effects like stereo environmental sounds and smells. Even moisture. Ride through a mud puddle? Feel it!

Exercising is fun again!

Am I talking about this?

The XBike "Trixter" (Or whatever the hell it's called.)

No. Actually I'm talking about getting the hell outside and damn well riding yr bike!!

I'm out of here.

New for 2009! A new me!

2009-01-05T11:19:00.000-08:00

After just a couple of proddings by the Ironclad cycling team -- or pimping, or shilling, or whatever -- to go check out Cyclo-Club, I finally did. I looked around. I threw down plastic and subscribed.

I feel kinda of dirty, for some reason. I joined an on-line cycling fitness club? Whaaaa? I felt that I had to come clean with my wife and almost laughed. I actually just snickered a little. I don't know why.

I guess maybe I was admitting that I was a slug.

What really got me to join up was the promise of a "7-day fat loss bootcamp". I've got some flab. I'd like to get rid of it or, perhaps more realistically, reduce the amount of it.

I also just came off of my fourth season of cyclocross and it was pretty pathetic. Some races were genuinely not fun. Which is no good. To paraphrase Ralphie Wiggum: CX not fun?! That's unpossible! So sometime between the last Crusade race and the USGP finale at PIR I decided that I would do something in 2009 to make my races in 2009 less sucky.

I haven't decided on a goal yet. It's tough to figure out how high you want to aim when you're at the bottom. "Let's see... I'd like to move up 30 places. So I'd go from 68th to 38th. Hm." However, I realize that if I aim too high I'm more likely to fail and get all bummed. But, conversely, if I set my sights too low, then I'll just be wimping out.

That said, I'd like to improve my cardio-vascular capability, my power. I'd like to feel like I've got a little something left after the first lap.

I realized last summer that I had no base to build off of. Nothing. I think my longest ride was about 78 miles. And that was just a little over twice my previous longest ride. I suffered a little from that ride-- my knees were telling me about it.

Bottom line: While I've always said that I race for the fun and personal challenge ot it, I want to be able challenge myself a bit more other than simply finishing (yay me!) a race.

And now for something completely... useless

2009-01-05T10:28:00.000-08:00

I think this ranks right down there with Bontrager's stupid US$250 carbon seatpost rack (With a load limit of 11 pounds. Really!)

I discovered this by way of a post by fellow OBRA-ite Will Cortez. How he managed to discover something so silly makes me wonder just what he's doing with his time. Will, stay away from Shimano's corporate marketing communications. Those guys are spending way too much time in the karaoke bars to be believed. I'm sure the engineers at Shimano wish the marketing folks would just sober up and stop dreaming up weird stuff like Coasting and Yumeya. They obviously didn't learn anything from that Exage debacle.

Oh... what am I going on about?

BEHOLD!

I must warn you-- it's an execrable Flash site. In true Flash-based web site fashion, one can't click anything with out having to endure half-an-hour of transitions and looping and spining and things moving about. You want information from a web site? No, you want entertainment!

In case you're feeding from the internet-tubes on anything less than the latest quad-CPU super-computer with a T1 connection, let me sum up for you the wonderful dream-land that Shimano has cooked up for you:

You get a kabuki performer all dressed up in the bling-blong colors of XTR Yumeya-- White and Gold (Yes, those capitals are intentional. These aren't merely colors, but the "frickin' gestalt" of Yumeya.) -- with a bunch of butterfly-things swarming about at every mouse click. There's also some clouds.

According to the site, cyclists (yes, all of us) dream of "lighter, more exclusve and more premium products." (Wait... "more" exclusive"? "More" premium? But don't... ah forget it.) The real deal-closer, however, is "Yumeya delivers the ultimate in efficiency with a superb weight savings for your XTR bike." But... but... I thought XTR was already supposed to deliver those things?? Curse you Shimano! You lied to us!!

Anyway-- remember the bit about "a superb weight savings," it's important.

Once you get into the product line-up (such as it is) you'll find ultimately efficient add-ons such as an outer plate for the XTR rear derailleur; cover for the brake master cylinder/reservoir; derailleur pulleys (White derailleur pulleys on an off-road component group. Hm.); and a bunch of other less interesting titanium and machined alloy bits. Oh and greased shift cables. (I think I stopped greasing cable housing with the advent of lined housings. Since, you know, grease tends to attract and trap dust and dirt. Silly notion, I know.)

Nothing says "bad ass" like white derailleur pulleys. How long will they stay white?

Fortunately the marketing "hype" such as it is is mostly truth. There's not a whole lot to be done with stuff like "0.5g lighter white novelty color for new image" (pulleys) or "Combination of silver and gold color design makes stylish image" (shifter mounts). Unfortunately this last statement is applied to several other components. I suppose if one can't say something good, one should just keep saying stuff about a stylish image.

Oh, and did you catch that superb weight savings? Go back and read it. Yep. Five tenths of a gram. That's about how much weight that registers when you lean over and breath on one of those super-sensitive scales that Jet Propulsion Lab keeps around for weighing their AeroGel. no kidding. A little puff of breath and that's like a force of five tenths (0.5) of a gram.

So yeah, put those pulleys in and you're like climbing like a mountain goat on amphetamines. Voom.

This is all very depressing-- I hate it when I can't afford bling-blong. I can only suffer with my infuriatingly crappy mish-mash of SRAM and Deore XT (boat anchors!!) componentry on my junky-ass MTB as I pine away for the unbearable lightness of being that white and gold upgrades would provide.

I'll sign-off with the Yumeya Kabuki dude shooting his own bad self in the foot: "Yumeya series are designed for the ultimate in performance. Some of the original functions and features may be compromised." That's not a contradiction. That's Yumeya!

So yeah. Pay money to have the functionality of one's XTR components compromised.

The WOMBATS towel review

2008-12-12T10:11:00.000-08:00

I could tell by the sound and feel of the mailbox door opening that this was an especially bountiful mail delivery. I looked inside and caught my breath-- a lumpy envelope, pregnant with possibility and mystery lay inside. The large mailing label declaring WOMBATS confirmed my hopes-- it was here!

The WOMBATS towels had arrived.

I could draft a detailed and giddy description of my shaky hands and sweaty brow as I opened the envelop and gingerly, and with great reverence, removed the towels from their envelope.

But I won't. That might be kind of silly. No, instead I merely yoinked the towels from the envelope and immediately slung one around my neck as a non-functional cape and made "whooshing" noises as I ran around the room.

Without any further ado, here are some photos that document just a few of the towel's supreme usefulness (in no particular order):

A whip.

A stylish (and sweat absorbing) cravat.

If you find yourself sans chapeau-- it's a hat!

Tucked under your cap-- a sunshade for those hot 'n' sunny days.

A non-functional cape. (Does not allow you to fly)

If you'd like to score one of these fantastic, functional, fashionable towels for your own bad self, just head on over to Jacquie's WOMBATS site. (Link takes you directly to the WOMBATS merch.)

Share and enjoy.

My cyclocross season gone by, I miss it so.

2008-12-10T11:30:00.000-08:00

Last weekend the USGP came to town-- the Portland Cup.

I raced on Saturday (USGP race #5) as a sort of last hurrah. My 2008 season has been really awful so this was "just for fun". Like last year, I just wanted to be a part of it-- to race in part of a national series, to race on the very same course that the pro's race on; ask a few burning product questions and mooch freebies off the exhibitors; eat a waffle; ring the cowbell; take a few photos of the "big guys".

I would have eaten at least two waffles, but I forgot the gigantic $10 late entry fee imposed by the USGP-- thanks-a-fucking-lot you money grubbing bastards. So I was left with a fiddling seven bucks. After I tipped the Cyclosportif guys for their wafflery, I was down to a dollar and that don't buy you nothin' at the USGP.

Anyway, to sum it all up (and to borrow from Heidi Swift) , I "raced in the name of cyclocross love".

It was a fun course they had layed out at PIR. I found myself curiously overjoyed to see that they had included the motocross track this year (last year they didn't). I don't know why I was so happy about that-- reminded me of all the barfy feelings from lst summer's short track MTB races. Good times.

Anyway-- the day dawned very cold (for these parts) and I finally got to put my Pearl Izumi therma-fleece bib knickers to good use (the reason why I bought them in the first place). I gave my DeFeet wool Blaze sockses and Ironclad Cold Condition Gloves to good use too.

The gigantic icy-cold, firey-cold... no. Plutonian-like. Frigid planet Hoth-like. The damn cold gigantic mud-puddle in the middle of the MX course was an icy bitch-slap from Jack Frost. The Blaze socks were no defense and my toes went AWOL immediately and didn't check back in until well after the race.

The second lap I decided to take a lef-hand route around the freezing puddle. It was a doughy mess that skewed my bike this way and that. If I stalled and had to get off and run the alternate route would have been worthless.

The next lap I just gave in and plowed through the puddle-- at least under the water was firm ground and I was able to hold my line much more easily. But this time a great gout of ice cold water splashed up on my back side and ran down my butt. "Brrrr" does not even cover it.

As I passed through the finish on my third lap I heard the announcer saying that "everyone was finished". But I could also swear that I heard a bell. The guy that I had been chasing was still going. After a few moments of uncertainty (quit? sneak in another lap?) another racer caught up with me and asked me if "that was it?". I shrugged and told him that I wasn't sure either and that I thought I heard the bell. Then I announced "Screw it. I'm getting another lap." And off I went, to see about catching #301.

I almost got him, too. Very close. But not quite-- a bike length or two, maybe.

In the end I wound up sprinting for 83rd (or 85th?) place.

For the love of cyclocross indeed!

May I direct your attention...

2008-11-24T11:16:00.000-08:00

... to the WOMBATS towel at the left. Yes... over there.

Now, one maybe not be eligible for WOMBATS membership or even drink tea, but these towels are massively useful. Just ask any Hitchhiker.

Partly it has great practical value - combined with a few zip-ties/toe-straps/course marking tape you can fashion a loincloth out of it to protect your modesty as you change out of gloopy muddy kit after a cyclocross race; you can sit upon it at the sidelines of the course and ring your cowbell for the poor bastards still slogging it out in the soupy muck; you can soak the corners in various flavors of carb gels to sustain you in emergencies; use it as a non-functional mini-cape (remember it's 8"x19") during the Halloween CX race at Astoria; wet it for use in hand-to-hand combat or to heckle racers from the sidelines; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious beer fumes emanating from certain segments of the spectators or avoid the gaze of the OBRA officials glaring at you for accepting a beer hand-up; you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough. Although this is highly unlikely at a cyclocross venue.
: More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a fellow racer (fellow racer: one of those other poor bastards out there with you) discovers that you have your towel with you, he will automatically assume that you are also in possession of a toothbrush, Hammer Gel, soap, patch kit, flask of non-OBRA-compliant booze, compass, map, ball of string, pit wheels, wet weather gear, pit bike etc, etc. Furthermore, the fellow racer will then happily lend you any of these or a dozen other items that you might accidentally have "lost". What the fellow racer will think is that any man or woman who can navigate the length and breadth of the race course, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where their towel is is clearly a cyclocrosser to be reckoned with.

With a WOMBATS towel, one will always know where one's towel is.

WOMBATS founder Jacquie Phelan has a stash of these fabulous towels for sale. Head on over to her site jacquiephelan.com and drop her a line to get your bad self one (or two or three) of these fabulous, 8"x19, purple and pink, jacquard loomed beauties.

So go do it.

It finally happened to me...

2008-11-18T10:14:00.000-08:00

I schnoobled myself.

I was pulling up my arm warmers. Just a little more. A final tug and then POW.

I laughed my butt off. Only the cats were around to wonder what the human was going on about.

What's a "schnooble" you might ask? The Ironclad cycling team crazies have the answer.

Noted with raised eyebrows...

2008-11-12T12:02:00.000-08:00

BEHOLD!

The "crotchless bib short" from Selle SMP. No, it's not actually crotchless-- it's got a zipper that goes from the front allll the way to the back. Looking at their site, the short appears to be designed to be compatible with their own split saddles. Is it a solution in search of a problem? Tying shorts to the use of a particular saddle doesn't seem like such a hot idea.

And the idea of having a zipper so close to one's crotchal region? The folks at Selle SMP have obviously never seen "There's Something About Mary". Just imagine: you hang for as long as you can because you don't want to kill the pace... you're with the front. But finally your back teeth are floating and you just have to pull over. Whipping over to the side of the road you pull a CX step-through dismount and hit the nearest bushes. Every rider that passes is one that you're going to have to chase down and pass again. You take care of business at lightening speed and -- bzzzzz-ip! -- You black out only to come to moments later as a concerned team-mate is asking you "Oh man! How'd you get the beans above the frank??"

Go check out Lennard Zinn's report from the Milan Bike Show for more. No horror stories, though.

Flying my freak flag...

2008-11-06T16:01:00.001-08:00

Cut me and I bleed orange and green, take off my socks...

I love cyclocross and I love the Cross Crusade series especially. Over the summer my toenails were dark blue and light blue-- something to match my MTB. Much more subtle and I don't think many people really noticed. Or perhaps they thought that I had managed to catch all my toes in a door jamb or something.

I switch to Cross Crusade orange and green, but with the colder weather I hardly get a chance to air them out.

Still, dyed-in-the-wool, painted toenails cross fanatic.

Update: For fun I posted this pic in the Cross Crusade forums. Jeesh! What a bunch of dorks! Much gasping and freaking out ensued. Apparently I threatened too many male egos. Pfft. Chill out, guys. It's just paint. Toenails are kinda ugly anyway-- paint 'em up!

Barton Park aftermath.

2008-11-04T14:22:00.000-08:00

Bear looks on as the last of my soil sample from Barton Park washes down the drain.

We finally had some real real real cyclocross weather. Last year the race at Barton Park was sunny and dry. Temps in the mid-60's. This year the weather decided to come back from vacation and let us have it. The temps were in the 50's and it was raining-- perfect. The course was classic Barton-- goopy mud, concrete barriers of doom, dooooooom! Rain and big puddles. Lycra does a gread job of filtering all the mud out of the water and keeping it on the inside. Upon extricating myself from a mucky pair of bibs, I laughed to discover gobs and gobs of mud in my crotch!

I raced my singlespeed and got schooled again. If I didn't like cyclocross so much I'd take this as a sign that I need to pack up a go home. Maybe take up something like bowling or golf. Or maybe watching football on TV.

I feel like I still need to fiddle with the gearing a little-- on flat sections I felt like I was maybe spinning out or at least at a point where I wasn't able to really accelerate any more.

I really see the appeal of singlespeeds now. There's no wondering if you have another gear left or whether or not you're in the optimum gear. You have one and you go. If you can't, you get off and run. Or you soft-pedal or just coast.

Over the past few months my singlespeed "klunker" has been evolving. First it was just a klunker-- re-fitted with just the parts to get its rusty, neglected hulk rolling. Then it was tarted up a bit to use as a errand bike and to tow the trailer-bike. Then I switched to a drop bar as some sort of lark. ("Johnny T" my foot! Conventional drops are horrible off-road!) When I got another Midge handlebar and mounted it up, this bike really changed from the ugly duckling into the swan. (Well, maybe not quite yet...) Now I want to get it powder-coated. A nice red I think, sometime this winter or early next spring. I'm already having a hard time deciding on which bike to take to the races.

The weather continues to be rainy rainy rainy which bodes well for next week's race at the Washington Co. fairgrounds. That's a new venue and I'm excited to see that the Cross Crusaders have in store for us.

75 dollar rubber boots.

2008-10-30T10:26:00.000-07:00

I get the feeling that, because I live in the Portland area, publishing my sentiments about this product from this particular company may border on treasonous. Still. $75 for rubber boots?

Vanilla bikes are anything but and Mr. White (the builder) is basically a superstar in the bike culture of Portland. But $75 for rubber boots?

Speedvagen bikes are awesome and I don't know anyone that wouldn't give their eye-teeth for one, but $75 for rubber boots? With the Speedvagen shield?

I suppose these might actually fall under the protection of the "PRO" label, making me just another "wish I could" dork riding a mass-produced piece of junk lacking in any sort of taste or skill whatsoever. But, seriously, $75 for a rubber boot? That's soooo BKW.

The thing that tweaked me, after the crazy price tag, was the fact that they were "US made" and much special-ness was made of supporting US manufacturing.

#1: I have a set of Bad Black Boots that were made in the US. Servus brand. Rubber. Almost up to my knees. Bad Basic Black.

#2: They cost $19.99 at GI Joes.

#3: Buying a US made product should fall under the category of "buying locally". Yes, one is supporting US jobs, but one is also cutting out all the transportation of getting the product to the US. No foreign carbon footprint. Just a domestic carbon footprint.

#4: You really can't top Bad Basic Black. It goes with everything!

#5: What could the saved $55 be better spent on?

A cyclocross Halloween!

2008-10-28T21:31:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was the Halloween race. Two days of cross fun in the sun in fabulous Astoria, Oregon (Goonies!). The weather was awesome for dragging the family along. I normally like my cross weather cold and soggy, but that sort of weather is not so fun for the family to stand around in. It's no fun wearing a costume in that sort of crummy weather, either.

Since we were going to be staying the weekend I decided to make a super-fun maxi-cross-blowout and race both the Master B ANNNNNNNND the singlespeed categories. Two races each day, one right after another, for 90 minutes of hypoxic, anerobic joy. Each day.

I went into the weekend realizing that there was no way I could actually "race" in my usual category and have any fun the remainder of the weekend. I'd be thrashed and hatin' life. No attitude to have on a family weekend at the coast OR on a bike.

My results reflected my strategy! I came in DFL in the SS category on day one and third up from the bottom in SS on day two-- the costume day. I can only attribute this to the fact that there must have been two other riders that were hungover and wearing full-on gorilla suits or something to have done worse than me!

Day two, the costume race, was a blast. I was already a little spent from day one and decided to focus entirely on having fun. Strategy: Rather than a 45 minute race, it was a 45 minute, short course costume parade! We were the Star Wars family that weekend. My son was a Clone Trooper, my wife was Princess Leia (she rolled her own hair up into "star puffs") and I wore a kid's Boba Fett costume. We had to separate the body suit at the waist seam so I could actually get it on. My midriff showed and made me feel a bit like "Bubba Fett". Ha!

Just a couple of days before the race I hadn't settled on a costume-- first I was going to be Chowder (from the eponymous cartoon), then Flapjack (he of the "Marvelous Misadventures of...") . On Wednesday night we were at a party supply store looking at costume stuff -- I was hoping to find a little sailor's hat to kick-start my Flapjack costume -- when my wife spotted an inflatable Boba Fett jet pack. My inner nerd-child went all a-squee over this. My costume fate was sealed! It was just a matter of finding the largest child's Boba Fett costume we could.

Thanks to Shane Young of Oregonvelo.com and HP Chiropractic for the free photos of the weekend!

There was a goup of about a dozen racers that all had Tron costumes. They were most excellent-- they had all hand-painted the colored "traces" on their bodysuits. They had set up on the back section of the course, reds on one side and blues on the other, and were having a disc battle across the course! Not a shark tank, but way more fun. (Apparently all the bodysuits were custom made! I had originally thought they were from a dance supply or something.)

On my third lap through the disc gauntlet Boba Fett decided it was time to dismount and put some Mandalorian-style hurt on the rogue programs. Jumping around and aiming my wrist-mounted flame-thrower and snare-projectors I was able to sow some consternation and confusion among the ranks. Oh, they can dish out the disc abuse to un-costumed racers, but they were unprepared for a little Mandalorian smackdown. They rallied quickly and I was soon forced to retreat. Unfortunately a "wardrobe malfunction" delayed my departure and I was quickly set upon by the Tron guys...

As I was pulling away one of the Tron discs found its mark, striking me squarely in the head. Momentarily stunned, the back of my pants got hung up on the nose of the saddle. Two of the Tron guys were attempting to get me going again. "C'mon Boba, get your shit together!" My pants were pulled back up, I was pushed off and one of them stuffed some candy down the neck of my shirt. A couple of wobbles and the rockets gave a feeble blast and I was off. I was in a curious state: I was laughing my butt off, but because I was already winded I couldn't do much more than gasp.

On the back side of the course there was the dreaded six-pack of barriers. Followed by an increasingly unpleasant uphill. Fortunately Boba Fett had a cheering section-- thanks guys! You helped pull me up that damn hill.

After the Master B race I only had a few minutes to scarf a few Clif bloks and chug some water. I was already ravenous and thirsty. Another 45 minutes on the singlespeed and my stomach would be chasing my liver around my insides. I was hungry! I don't think I've mentioned it yet, but the folks that ride singlespeed are incredible. They can seriously drop the hammer on riders with geared bikes. I found it pleasantly uncomplicated. Just ride. (Although I'm using a chain tensioner and have too much slack so the chain kept bouncing off on the rougher sections of the course.)

I was already in the red zone half-way through the first lap. I didn't even bother attempting the hill after the six-pack. The Boba Fett Cheer Squad was still there and seemed a little surprised that Mr. Fett was back. For all but the very last climb they kept Fett jogging up the hill. By the last lap, my legs were cramping badly enough that I was forced to walk-- which was even more painful.

I have never been so hungry as I was after that race. I was trembling and if I let myself sit down there was no way I was going to want to get up for a couple of hours. The fries and hashbrowns from the fries vendor were ambrosia. And the cold TurkeyBLT sandwich waiting for me back in the car was the best tasting sandwich -- best tasting food! -- I've ever had. If it had been delivered on a beam of sunlight from the heavens there's no way it could have tasted better. I think I ate and drank during the entire two-hour drive back home. And I was still hungry!

Right after the SS race was the Kiddie race. My son really seems to be getting into these races this year. It's too bad that the kids only get to do one lap-- my son is primed for many more and always keeps going for an additional 2 or three laps. If there hadn't been another race I don't think we would have been able to get him off the course! He also seems to have developed his own, very smooth, dismount proceedure. In fact, several spectators nearby were saying things like "Wow-- look at that little kid go! Has he been practicing?" and "Hey! Somebody's learning!". His remounts are very good too-- I think smoother than mine! Really!

It was an awesome weekend-- great weather and loads of fun. Perfect.

Again, thanks to Shane Young of Oregonvelo.com and HP Chiropractic for the free photos of the weekend!

Gallery: Masters Category B 35 , Masters 50 and Jrs

2008-10-21T21:58:00.001-07:00

Gallery: Masters Category B 35+, Masters 50+ and Jrs

Posted using ShareThis

The above was created by using the new sharing capability installed on Shane Young's Oregonvelo photo site.

He takes some really nice photos at the cross races.

This is advertising...

2008-10-20T11:45:00.001-07:00

...And now I want to go for a ride!

This is an ad? It's awesome. I love it! I immediately watched it twice. I'm going to buy nothing but Hutchinson tires from now on. :)

(No... I'll still buy what works.)

Still-- this is great and I don't mind that I'm doing what the adversisers hoped folks would do. Repost on their blogs.

Share and enjoy!

The finer points of the "Porta Potty"

2008-10-19T21:28:00.000-07:00

Through numerous bike races and other cycling events, I have become quite familiar with the "porta potty". Initially it took some nose-holding and psyching-up to get into one of these things, plus a lack of conveniently placed bushes. (What the heck-- pissing just adds nitrogen to the dirt. A good thing.) But sometimes you just have to deal.

Used to be, my attitude was that I'd rather my colon implode rather than use one of these things and the forest with all the bushes? It had to be ablaze. With squirrels running out of it.

It was a hot day in July during the 2002 Seattle To Portland that forever cured me of my porta-potty aversion. An added bonus? It was a #2 and there was NO hand sanitizer. Could have been worse, I suppose. The TP could have been out. I could have experienced the dreaded "poke through". Just no hand sanitizer and the prospect of spendinging another 4-6 hours with a ninky hand.

I was wearing full-finger gloves so that wasn't really an issue, I suppose.

It was during those two sweltering days on the road that I developed an appreciation for the finer accoutrements of porta-potties. And to this day, one of the first things I do upon entering one is to perform a quick assay of the facility.

Is there a hook upon which to hang a coat/gloves/helmet/whatever? A mirror? After launching snot-rockets sometimes there's a little, shall we say "blow back". It's nice to be able to check for this. However, it doesn't matter much in the company of cyclists-- we all do that sort of thing and nobody really cares all that much. Still, it's nice to be able to check one's visage.

I've seen shelves, even. These are nice for holding things that don't hange well but don't substitute for the utility of a hook. A wadded up jersey, for instance is too likely to just un-wad and fall onto the piss soaked floor. (Note: Taking one's jersey off is necessary to do a #2 when wearing bib-shorts. That's why I'd need to take my shirt off in the bathroom-- it's not a George Costanza thing.)

However, the bar was raised infinitely high today by the folks of Team Beer. At the Rainier High School cross race they were hosting an exclusive porta-potty with an attendant. (Or a valet?) They had incense and 2-ply TP. This is all second-hand info, you know. I just didn't feel worthy to visit this particular establishment.

My porta-potty, on the other hand, featured miserable TP that was so thin you could read a newspaper through it. Even when it was doubled up.

No hook either. Or mirror.

Here's to you, Team Beer, for daring to set a new standard.

Look at me, I'm a winner...

2008-10-15T11:40:00.000-07:00

...Not at all.

But I got a taste of what it must feel like to be a winner.

Last Saturday was the first race of a two-race series: Willamette Valley Cyclocross. This first race was held at Heiser Farm in Dayton.

If not for a scheduling conflict I would have skipped this race in favor of Sunday's Cross Crusade race at Wilsonville (an awesome race by all descriptions). I'm glad I didn't miss the Heiser Farm race. It was a good course with plenty of fun parts-- a nice looong and deep mud puddle and a smaller mushy bog that defied efforts at control and skewed my bike back and forth threatening to sling me off. (Will Cortez put it zenly: "Let go of the brakes and let the bike find its way.") There were a couple of nice, slippery climbs and, I swear barriers that were waist high.

Oh, about that "winner" part? Well, the fields were very small-- about 10 or so in each one so I was assured a top-10 place. I took 8th. (I note with interest that I finished proportionally in about the same overall position that I usually do, no matter the field size.)

The best part was that I got to lead for a portion of the first lap-- I was in the lead! In front! First! (This is a big deal to a somewhat flabby, desk-bound, wish-I -could-get-out-to-ride-more, ugly-duckling like me!) At the first off-camber turn, the leader washed out and fell over and the guy in second (at the time) almost overshot the turn with a "Fuckin' course!!" Then the guy in 3rd moved up ahead of me and he slid out on the following off-camber short and steep descent. So then for a glorious few minutes the clouds parted and the sun shone down on me. I was in that rarified territory: First Place. I began to have visions of scoring that $20 first lap prime, or even the 6-pack. Unfortunately the clouds of reality closed in again on the first straight stretch and the power-wagons behind me dropped me. Then the demons of the "late-feed" showed up and my stomach decided to remind me of why I shouldn't eat anything within an hour of the race.

It was a fun race though and the organizers did a good job of course design.

Next up: Rainier High School-- Race #2 of the Cross Crusade series. Back in with the teeming masses of racers. I had my shining moment of glory, and maybe I can score a repeat if I line up 45 minutes before race start...

Thanks Will, for the photos. I'll bring my camera to the next race and snap a few (possibly blurry) of you.

Ultimate proof that bikes are RAD

2008-10-09T10:59:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness. This is wayyy better than Kevin Bacon facing off on his fixie against a car-wielding thug in "Quicksilver".

I must find the DVD.

Behold! Lady Is The Boss: bike fight!

Does your bike have a soul?

2008-10-09T10:07:00.000-07:00

We probably all start out with a bike. Most of us, anyway-- a very unlucky few never get a bike for whatever reason-- economics, geography, over-protective parents. Do you remember the summer days that you went everywhere by bike? You could go places without having to convince your parents to drive you there. You had a degree of freedom that mere walking can't provide. Then, sometime in our early teens it becomes uncool to ride a bike-- it's almost better for your ego to walk. A car is the thing to get. If you can't have one of your own -- a beater is acceptable -- then hitch a ride with a friend. If you can't do that, then walk.

Then, maybe in high school we might have a "renaissance" of sorts where we come back to the bike as a sport rather than as... something more. It's okay as a sport but don't use a bike for transportation. Our attitudes may shift a little as we move into our college years and become tightwad scroungers.

After we graduate, get jobs, get married, move around the country or world the bike may fall by the wayside again or be forgotten completely.

Then we may experience a "second renaissance" of the bike.

* * *

I can't remember the book title exactly... maybe it was "Illusions: The adventures of a reluctant messiah"? You know, by Richard Bach. (Don't groan.) Anyway-- I read one of his books in one sitting when I was a teenager. There was a lot of stuff in it about flying and some of the sentiment appealed to me as my interest in bikes was really deepening. One notion in particular has stuck with me these past 20 years or so. In the book one of the characters (maybe the messiah character?) was explaining to another pilot friend that if you took care of your plane and listened to it, respected it... that when it really counted the plane would pull through for you. My memory may have embroidered upon this a bit over the years, but the basic notion is there: Take care of your ride and it will take care of you.

But what does that mean? I suppose that some interpret it literally-- of course if you maintain your bike properly it will not (should not?) fail you.

For me, there more to it than that. It's not a goofy anthropomorphization of the bike, but something different. None of my bikes are "tools". They aren't ascribed roles such as "rain bike", "A bike/B bike", "race bike", "beater". All my bikes do whatever. I try to respect the basic nature of the bike by not junking it up. You just know it when you put something on your bike and it doesn't feel right. It's not a personal fit issue-- it just doesn't feel right for the bike. It can go the otherway too-- you can tart a bike up with expensive stuff and then it feels unnatural. Like a chicken with lipstick or something.

Some would argue that the dissonance is indeed a personal fit issue and I'm just projecting it onto an inanimate object. *shrug*

What about when you get rid of a bike or sell it? What happens? What if you can't sell or git rid of a bike-- is it because you'd feel like you were losing a bit of yourself? I remember selling two bikes when I was in high school. The first two bikes of my "renaissance". A Schwinn Mesa Runner and a Schwinn Sierra (black chrome, AT-50 cantilevers and Light Action derailleurs). I don't remember feeling any particular attachement. The next bike I still have-- the Stumpjumper. It sat fallow for a few years, getting a little rusty around the edges and I even thought about selling it. I just couldn't do it. Maybe it was made easier by thinking that the bike didn't have any significant resale value.

Is this what is meant by "sentimental value"? Have I invested some portion of my soul in the bikes? Is that how they have "soul"? Is it just my sould these bikes have or is it all in my head? Or is this why I enjoy carrying my bike from time to time? (More so in cyclocross...)

Another carbon post eats it...

2008-10-06T12:53:00.000-07:00

In my race at Alpenrose, just after the concrete barrier by the fence, I heard a loud POP from the rider in front of me. Oh yes-- that distinctive sound of a carbon composite tube giving way.

The rider looked up and yelled "SEATPOST!" I'm not sure who he was yelling at.

So the damn thing obviously broke as he was remounting. Nice. Could have been much worse, I suppose. Could have taken a core sample of his inner thigh.

Thank you, Thomson, for the awesome non-carbon seatpost.

People, people! Enough with the damn carbon seatposts already!! If you want light-weight, get a Thomson Masterpiece. But please, stop wasting money on carbon seatposts! Okay? Alright. I'm done.

Later in the day I spied a true tragedy. A broken Paul cantilever brake! Oh the huge manatee! One of the cantilever arms had snapped right at the pivot. I suffered a case of "the vapors" when I saw that and someone had to dash over and cut my corset strings. Hm. I read somewhere that forged alloy is supposed stronger than machined. All of Paul's stuff is machined, I believe.

It's sort of making me rethink my desire to get some Paul cantilevers for my bike. (Not really-- but there are so many rather nice looking new cantis from the likes of Tektro and Avid.) I wonder what his replacement policy is?

Yay! Cross Crusade is ON!!

2008-10-06T12:14:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was the first race of the Cross Crusade series. My favorite.

Which? The first race or Cross Crusade in general? Yes.

I was a bit worried that it would be sunny and dry. My fears were alleviated somewhat when the weather running up to the Big Day was overcast and rainy. I held my breath as the rain continued through Saturday and smiled big as Sunday dawned overcast and rainy. It was also mid-60's.

Perfect.

Jogging through the slippery grass parking area I slipped and realized that I had forgotten to install the toe-spikes on my shoes! Oh noes! The velodrome run-up of doom will eat me.

I survived the run-up four times and only slipped once-- almost going down. I had to look for the "steps" in the mud left by hundreds of other feet and do a sideways duck-walk kind of step to get up.

My re-mount is teh suck. I've forgotten EVERYTHING and it's like I never even knew HOW to remount! What on earth is wrong with me?

Alpenrose was a fun course and it was nice to have it muddy instead of dry like it had been for the previous two years.

Somewhere around the next to last lap I decided to back off a bit and really soak up the ride. I didn't give up. Just gave in. Gave in to the experience of the moment-- the perfect weather, cyclocross, the noise. The feeling of movement through space. I was having fun. I wanted to enjoy it. I've been accused of being too much of a "sightseer" in races.

The noise on the run-up was good, but it was sorely lacking in other places, with folks just standing around like zombies. C'mon folks-- make some noise. I know I may be slogging along and slobbering down my front, but I need cowbell as much as the leaders.

Nervous making

2008-10-04T23:49:00.000-07:00

The first race of the Cross Crusade series is just 12 hours away. Alpenrose. The run-up that makes Barry Wicks confused about whether he's going to shit his pants or vomit after he runs up it.

My last two races have been just horrible.

I'm nervous.

Barry Wicks on cyclocross- true, true.

2008-10-02T14:48:00.000-07:00

I totally identify with Barry Wicks' description of his early season prep:

...I will open my cellar door, look at my ’cross bikes, contemplate their functionality, decide that too much work will be involved to get one up and running, and grab my road or mountain bike.
Exactly two days before the first ’cross race of the year I will panic and realize that I am about to leave town to do a ’cross race and should probably think about trying to clean the nine-month old muck from the previous winter off my bikes and try and make the brakes work properly again.

My prep this year was similar. I used the first couple of races -- Pain on the Peak and Battle at Barlow -- to sort of "ease into" this cyclocross thing. you have to understand that procrastination -- along with beer and waffles -- is just part of the whole thing. So my bike still isn't 100% ready. I've got my A and B wheels all discombobulated. I'm trying to decide which wheels go with which tires. I don't know why I'm even making a deal out of it. I'm also wondering if I should rotate the cassettes since the B wheels got a new one and saw very little use in the past 9 months. Alpenrose is just two days away.

Anyway-- Barry's article is a hoot to read.
www.velonews.com/article/83924/a-new-column-by-cyclocross-star-barry-wicks

Hey! I'm a famous cyclocrosser!

2008-09-30T16:25:00.000-07:00

Not really. But I can hear the clock ticking away my "15 minutes of fame".

Go check out OR Bikes's blog:

blog.orbike.com/archives/2008/09/racer-profile-brian-johnson.php

To have fun! That's why we race!

2008-09-29T15:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday at Battle at Barlow my son did the kiddie race. He was actually in the lead coming into the first turn. The kid next to him overshot the turn and zoomed right off the course and crashed. My son slowed down and turned his head all the way around. I'm not sure what he as thinking. Morbid curiosity? I dunno. Anyway-- he go passed and then crashed himself in a rough section.

Later that afternoon, we were chillin' at a nearby coffee joint.

I asked him about the race.

"You were going pretty fast there, kid."

"Yep."

"Were you scared?" I asked. I was kidding here-- I was fishing for something other than a monosyllabic response.

"No. I was having fun. That's what bike races are for! And seeing who finishes first."

Priceless. I'm making t-shirts. :)

That's right, son-- that's what bike races are for: having fun.

Stairway to heaven...

2008-09-29T12:30:00.000-07:00

I will say one quick thing about the course of the 'Battle at Barlow" CX race:

That run-up composed of rail-road ties? I think I'll forever recall it as the "stairway to heaven" because each time I get to the top a few things happen:

1. I think I'm going to pass out-- my heart's just hammering.
2. I'm glad I made it to the top. So glad that it's done.
3. I fear the next lap when I have to climb it again.

Shane Young of Oregon Velo took some amazing shots on the stairs. (photos.oregonvelo.com)

Here's a nice overview from the guys at pdxcross.com. You can see where some wimps took the singletrack option to the left. The True Believers are on the right, snapping their achilles tendons on the stairs. Booyah.

Cyclocross post-race analysis:

2008-09-29T10:57:00.000-07:00

Fail.

The day before I was standing on my toes on one of the back fence stringers talking to my neighbor. I'm standing there chewing the fat for so long that my calves get tired.

Later that evening my calves and achilles feel sore. What the hell? Did I go and strain the achilles tendon in BOTH legs?? Sunday morning both legs were feeling stiff and standing on my toes hurt.

Seriously, I can't believe this. And the course at Barlow features an amazing run-up made out of railroad ties.

So here it is, Monday AM and both of my achilles tendons are hurting and the kick-off of the Cross Crusade is this weekend. I'm stewed. The course at Alpenrose also has a cringe-worth run-up. One characterized by Barry Wickes thusly: "When I got to the top I didn't know if I was going to vomit or shit my pants."

My question right now is this: Am I doomed? I'm beside myself. This sucks, big-time. I'm pissed and upset at my own frailty (And wondering why I didn't get a flippin' step ladder 5 minutes into the over-the-fence conversation. Damn!!)

Well, I've got three cycling health books: one each by Pruitt, Burke, and Baker. Over lunch today I'll have to see what they have to offer. ("Doom! Doooooom!")

The Lance Armstrong Reality Distortion Field

2008-09-25T12:49:00.000-07:00

It seems like just about every bicycle-related blog and media outlet are a-buzz with the news of Lance Armstrong's return to competition. And how he's racing for "free" with the primary aim of raising awareness of cancer prevention and treatment.

I've never even sipped the Lance flavor-aid. Sure he won Le Tour a record 7 times in a row. But that's all he did. In that respect he was a bit of a one-trick-pony. I don't deny that his return from his fight with cancer was nothing short of miraculous. It was spectacular. Inspiring. A "booyah!" to nay-sayers everywhere.

Even so-- lauding his accomplishments as a competitive cyclist seems to ignore everything accomplished by others in his sport. Men AND women.

I've harped on this before. Maybe it's because my cycling personality was cast during the early years of the mountain bike "boom". I grew up reading about Jacquie Phelan, Ned Overend, Greg Herbold, John Tomac, Cindy Whitehead. And Jeannie Longo (now Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli).

Lance has his foundation, but its finances sound a little too sketchy to me to really get behind and become a cheerleader-- the LAF CEO gets over US$300,000 a year? Good grief! It's great that he's really ringing the cowbell for cancer awareness-- research, prevention, a cure. It's a scary horrible disease that frankly gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking about it, but his foundation could do a little better with the money it raises.

However, other pro cyclists have done significant things for the world of cycling. Things that are, I think, just as important as what Lance is "doing".

For instance, Jeannie is a more enduring hero. She's still racing and a fierce competitor. She's kicking ass and a living legend. When she came here to Portland, Oregon, to race in the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic, her presence was largely overlooked. A damned shame, in my book. Want a role-model for getting more women involved? Look no further. But she seems to be the legend that no one's ever heard of. Maybe it's because she's not a man? I don't really know. She could be a recluse, mean, terse. Maybe it's because she's French.

How about Jacquie Phelan? Awesome. She was kicking guys asses back in the early days of MTB races before there were separate men's and women's categories. (Probably because the guys were tired of having their asses kicked.) Know what else she did? have you ever heard of "Safe Routes to School" Well Jacquie developed and taught teachers the skills course for the first "Safe Routes" program. She was instrumental in bringing more women into the sport. She was a co-founder of NORBA. I'll leave it at that-- just Google her name. You can read a bit more at the Mountain bike Hall of Fame site.

Saul Raisin suffered a horrific crash in a race that left him in a coma and significant brain damage. He beat the odds and made a tremendous comeback. His foundation is similar to Lance's but it focuses on brain injury-- recovery, research, and support.

Christine Culver, once a pro mountain bike racer in the 1980's, is now the Exec Director of Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition, an organization advocating for cyclists on the road and improved infrastructure.

There's plenty of examples and my fingers are getting tired of typing-- not to mention that I've got work to do. My point is this-- it's good for bicycling business (getting folks on bikes, getting kids inspired, bike sales) that lance is coming back from retirement, but there are lots of other stories out there that are just as deserving of attention. It's just unfortunate that one has to dig so deep to find them.

What's in your... seatbag?

2008-09-23T14:02:00.000-07:00

What folks stash in their seatbags is something that I eventually wind up thinking about on group rides, especially large ones.

I guess it's one of things that tells something about the owner. Kinda like how they wear their socks.

Are they "devil may care" and carry only a patch kit and pump taped to the seatpost? Are they an "expeditionist" (my made-up wordification) and pack just about everything in an expanding seatbag/duffle? Somewhere inbetween? I suppose it's those choices that I find most interesting and revealing.

This is somewhat related to my story from a couple of months ago where I got caught up in a flat-tire perfect storm. In a nutshell, the flat victim was carrying more tubes than I could believe, lots of stupid CO2 cylinders, no patches and, save for intervention, would not have been able to ride out of the woods.

I loathe large seatbags. There's no need for them. A seatbag is your bike's survival/first-aid kit. Carry your own stuff in jersey pockets, Camelbak pack, wherever. Just not in the seatbag-- that's for your bike. Little, teeny seatbags are cute, but then why bother? Why not just use a toestrap and cinch a tube and pump to the underside of the saddle (or seatpost).

Over the years, I've refined my bike's trailside kit to what I consider some essential pieces, but not an absurd notion of "the bare minimum". And fortunately Crank Bros. has made some excellent stuff that fits the bill nicely. In fact, I think they make the best stuff you could want to carry with you.

I typically buy a seatbag no larger than what a manufacturer would call a "small". Something termed "micro" is too small and I've found "mediums" to be too big. Remember-- this bag is just for your bike. Do not stash your crap in it-- carry your own stuff.

Here we see Performance Bike's "Trans It" small seat bag. (This is NOT an endorsement of Performance Bike product.)
This is on my cyclocross bike-- part of its summer trail-riding kit. During CX racing season the bottle cage and seatbag come off. The seatbag goes into my race-day duffel.

It's stuffed, but not bursting at the seams. Note the carefully packed interior (some shifting occurs). I have had to carefully consider the shape of each piece and decide where it will best fit and utilize the space fully. Generally I have to partially load the tube and pump, then slide both in together. The other bits slide in the sides.

Depending on the bag's design, closing might be a bit of a squeeze, but never so tight that I worry about the zipper breaking and tossing everything.

Now here's the bag with it's entire contents. This is the least I will carry, on-road or off. Actually, I may leave the toestrap, but that's the only thing I really consider optional.

So, we've got:
Innertube (700x28-32 in this case)
Crank Bros. PowerPump (the smallest, plastic-barreled one)
Park Tool tire levers (apparently indestructible)
Park Tool "glueless" patch kit
Toestrap (amazingly useful for all sorts of unexpected things)
Crank Bros. multi-tool (19 tools)

You need only one spare tube with you. Not two or three. You use the spare tube to get going again right away. If you flat again, that's what the patches are for. I've used the Park Tool glueless patches for years now and I'm still using tubes that were patched years ago. I've read that others have had longevity/durability problems with the patches. I'm sure "your milage may vary" but I've had these patches hold up over years of use on an MTB and subjected to year-round rides, applied in rain, left wet and muddy for weeks (trapped moisture in an MTB wheel, yuck!) and they're still working. So I recommend the Park Tool patches without reservation. I can't vouch for off-brands or Slime Skabs.

The Crank Bros. pump is probably the perfect seatbag/emergency/trail-side pump. The CO2 inflators are just stupid, stupid, wasteful, and stupid. I'm sorry if I offend someone out there, but what do you do if your CO2 cart malfunctions? What if you fumble getting it on the valve and you wind up blowing most of the charge into the atmosphere? I know lots of people use them successfully. But listen: A pump like the Crank Bros. PowerPump will never run out of air. You pay for it once and use it and use it and use it. There's nothing to discard.

I carry the Park Tool tire levers primarily to help out other folks I might encounter or for other riders in my group that might have tight-fitting tires. Save for my road bike, I don't personally need tire levers to dismount and remount tires. But it's good to be able to help out others. I worked my way through several other brands of tire levers before settling on the Park Tool levers. The tires on my road bike are super tight. I must use a tire bead jack to remount the tire. I've broken countless tire levers and even a Quik Stik on that tire/rim combo!! But never a Park Tool tire lever.

The Crank Bros. multi-tool is a perfect distillation of multi-tool form and function. Its tools cover just about every bolt on your bike, plus spokes and chain. It can be disassembled to replace tools (Crank Bros. service is awesome) and is nice and flat. Easy to pack.

The toe strap is just so general-purpose handy-dandy useful for things you've never even thought of. I've used them to lash jackets to my bike on cool-days-turned-warm; to secure a seatbag that had its primary strap rip; hold a shoe closed. The possibilities are endless. (What have you used a toe strap for?)

This is the same kit that each of my bikes carries. Only the bags and tube sizes are different, but the stuff inside is all the same-- same pump, tool, levers, patch kit. Why not just move the one bag around, you ask? Because these are emergency kits and it's too easy to forget to switch out the proper size tube.

I load the seatbag thusly:
First the multi-tool goes in the bottom, the more rounded side facing down. Then I slide in the pump part-way. I begin to stuff the tube in on top of the pump, then push them both all the way into the bag. The tiny patch kit tuck in under the head of the pump. The tire levers slide in on one side and the toestrap is folded up and stuffed in the other.

Since this is your bike's emergency kit-- no, it really is. It's not for day-to-day mucking about. That's what your shop tools are for. Pack your seatbag and leave it alone until you need it to save your ride-- or someone else's.

Happy trails.

The junker re-born...

2008-09-19T12:10:00.000-07:00

Here we have one of the "junk bikes". A 1989 Specialized Rockhopper Comp. Back in 1989, the only difference between a Rockhopper Comp and the Stumpjumper was a paintjob, stickers and Deore XT components.

The original bike shipped with Shimano's Deore group. At the time, Deore was only one step down from the top of the line XT stuff. In 2008 Deore is what? Bottom of the barrel just about? Now, the only components of the original bike are the frame, cranks and seatpost.

Let me give you a quick tour of the Rockhopper Comp in it's reinbikenated state:

First it's sporting a Bonty CX drop bar. A midge is definitely in this bike's future. See the stem? Short and high-rise. That's the way to set up a drop bar for off-road use. Right now it's a bit low, but riding in the hoods is pretty comfy. You'll note that the hoods put my hands in about the same spot they would be if the bike had a conventional flat bar. A Midge will put everything within easy reach, but for the time being I rather like the John Tomac 1990 Worlds' drop-bar look. I never could figure why he'd run a handlebar like that when Jacquie Phelan had shown everybody the proper sort of drop bar for off-road use. Well, Johnny was wearing a skinsuit too, so...

Anyway. Tange Switchblade fork. Remember those? A little "me too" action from Tange imitating Bontrager's fork. Bonty still produces the Switchblade. Don't know what Tange is up to these days. I wish I had a dollar for every time someone tried pushing on the handlebars to compress the "suspension fork". This was about the time that the very first Rockshox became available.

"Is that one of them shock absorber forks?" They'd ask me.
"Nope. Just a rigid fork with replaceable legs."
Then they'd step over and grab the handlebar and give a good downward shove.
"It's not a suspension fork," I'd remind them.
"Hm." Would be the response as they walked off.

I remember being a little concerned that some folks might think me a cheap-ass poseur wanting to fool people into thinking that I had a real suspension fork.

I replaced the old, pitted Deore hubs with some used Deore XT hubs. The old freehub was making ominous clunking noises, too. So yay! Finally got me some Deore XT on the Rockhopper! (A nice score at the Community Cycling Center)

The bike originally shipped with Deore cantilevers. I replaced them with the very nice looking Dia-Compe 986's. Then... in order to secure passage to Moab one spring break I offered to trade with my roomie for his "shitty" Suntour XC SE brake set. He was stoked to get some "awesome" 986 cantis and I was stoked to finally get some of the Suntour brakes using the Scott-Pederson SE brake design. Suntour wimped out big-time and only produced rear self-energizing cantilevers. Conventional (and still nice) cantis on the front. That seemed to squander the SE's tremendous braking power by putting them on the rear only. Perhaps the lawyers were worried about over-the bar lawsuits? Anyway-- the Scott-Pederson SE brakes were legendary at the time for locking up like a pitbull. I recall that many folks (shop mechanics included) would actually de-tune the brakes to reduce their braking power. This was accomplished by toeing the brake shoes out at the front or radically toeing them in so there was no chance of the full braking surface coming into contact with the rim.

Well the rear Suntour SE brake was really worn-- the tiny ball bearings had pitted and worn their helical channels within the brake arm. I scored a set of Suntour XC cantilevers on Ebay and now the bike has XCs on the front and rear. The XCs were different from the XC pros in that they were painted black instead of nicely polished. With some brand new Kool-Stop Eagle IIs in there, they work just fine. Linear pull brakes? Eat your heart out.

Remember when Avid was a purveyor of fine machined alloy bits that were colorfully anodized? Well, I always fussed over my straddle cables and set them up using a measuring caliper. So the Avid Tri-Dangle was the apple of my eye. I could measure everything out, turn the set-screws down, and forget it. Plus it was red-- my favorite color. (Unfortunately the front Tri-Dangle is black.)

I've got a couple of narrow-ish 1.75" Maxxis OEM tires. They work pretty well for getting around town and hitting the little dirt trails here and there.

I've still got the old Sachs-Sedis chain. That thing must be... about 16-18 years old? It's not even worn that much according to my Park Tool chain checker.

The Performance Bike single-speed conversion kit saved me from attempting to replace a worn out Deore DX rear-derailleur and trying to find a 7-speed cassette. The SS conversion kit was an excellent -- and inexpensive! -- way to ignore the past and sidestep the future.

It's been about 10 years since I've used regular pedals and toe-clips. It's kind of nice! I just wear whatever kind of shoe I happen to have on and go riding! Again with the Performance Bike brand here. Pssst... they're made by Wellgo and are pretty decent with sealed construction and two cartridge bearings inside. I had a set of "Joe's Clips" that used two toe-straps per pedal. Unfortunately I could only find one of them. I'm sure that now that I've paid for new clips they'll turn up the very next time I root around in my parts box.

I love this thing. It's not a junk bike by any means. I intend to get it powdercoated next year-- maybe spring or summer? I just can't decide what color. Maybe red? Or basic bad black?

Bicycles as toys.

2008-09-19T11:01:00.000-07:00

Road rage seemed to be on many folks' minds over the summer. The notion certainly got more press coverage than I've ever seen before. One idea that seemed to be repeated is that at the core of the motorist-cyclist conflicts is the notion that bicycles are perceived as "toys" and that their users are out playing around on the roads and hindering the rightful movement of automobiles.

I've touched on the notion before that cars are a childish preoccupation. Anyone with a child will recognize the desire for toys and candy and easy things and making noise and a lack of consideration for others.. Part of growing up, of maturing is learning that worthwhile things take some work and the best way is not always the easy way. Being mindful of others and learning one's place in community.

From this perspective it is easy to see that cars are, in fact, the "toys". Very little about them is practical (although one could point out various types of bikes such as DH or TT bikes as being impractical). Cars are expensive to run, maintain, they are loud, polluting, shiny. In short, very much like a toy, a novelty. Once inside them, many people begin to act like three year-olds: lacking in basic social graces and behavior. Selfish and rude and with a tremendous sense of entitlement.

This seems like such a fundamental realization to me. As a species we desire or cling to cars as both symbols of status, power and wealth. They are our prized possessions, our mostest favoritest toys and the roads are our playgrounds.

As we as a species gow and mature, stop fighting so much, perhaps we can leave the fossil-fueled car behind.

Pain on the Peak... truth in advertising!

2008-09-15T13:29:00.000-07:00

A fabulously sunny Saturday in September. Kind of hot, even. This was the first edition of Portland Velo's "Pain on the Peak" cyclocross race on Bald Peak in Hillsboro (Oregon).

Fantastic views all around.

My wife and son came out too-- the boy was stoked for racing and his skills have improved greatly this summer! Riding off-road is now wayyyy more fun and far less frustrating for him. Which is good.

Overall it was a fun race, and a great venue. It would have been super-rad with a little moisture, but hey-- I'll take what I can get.

Let's do a little post-race analysis:
First I load up on Nutella slathered (gluten-free) waffles a mere hour before the event. Mmmm. Oh yeah. Good stuff.

I drank one cup of water and two or so cups of tea with breakfast and a final sip of water pre-race. (When I got home and took a whiz, it looked like orange juice. Whoops! I guess I was just a teensy bit dehydrated. I wonder why? I drank like a fish the rest of the day.)

Warm-up? That's what the first lap is for.

After the first lap I feel like vomiting up my waffles. However, given how precious Nutella is to me, there is NO WAY I'm letting those go. So they keep insisting to be let free for most of the rest of the race. I also have zero go-power. Doubtless a result of the massive carbo-bomb that my gut is dealing with. My legs just have nothing to give. Zip.

So sad and pathetic.

I'm also being treated by my chiropracter for a wacky neck. So every little bump on the course I can feel amplified in my shoulder and neck. I feel better if I keep my head down so that just adds to my overall whupped appearance to spectators (and contributes to my hang-dog feeling... I suck.)

Going into the race I didn't feel especially competitive. Indeed, that morning I felt really out-of-sorts. Like this was my first race ever and I had no idea what I was doing. Bleah.

The dust was epic. Ankle deep and powdery in places. Incredible stuff. There were points where I couldn't see the gound in front of me-- I had to look way up and follow the crowd of helmets-- everything else was obscured by the billowing brown clouds! Breathing was kinda like squeezing a bottle of baby powder into your gob. Hack!

My son had fun and did quite well-- he was obviously pushing hard and didn't whine even once! (He's five.) Well... he did complain that the race was too short and wondered why he didn't get another race. (The adults were still racing... why couldn't he?) So I took that as a good sign. He's really liking the bike-- definitely a good thing. The announcer pulled my son aside and tried asking him about his race-- did he like it? Did he have fun? Did he get dirty? That sort of thing. My son got stage fright or something and only answered "yes" and "sure" and "uh huh".

In the end it was a fun time. The organizers (Portland Velo) did a great job of putting on a class-A event. the OBRA folks also have my undying admiration for all their work providing the "glue" that makes all this stuff hold together. Oregon is an awesome place to ride and race bikes! I look forward to next year's race!

Unfortunately I eventually had to wash of my dirt tattoo. I called it my "Pain on the Peak tat".

The obligatory "cyclocross is coming" post

2008-09-10T15:30:00.001-07:00

Ah, sweet steel. A boon to cyclocross thou art.

The first CX race of the 2008 season is nigh. This Saturday! I'm already nervous. Will I suck spectacularly? Will my bike remember what to do? (It's been enjoying some off-time as the MTB has been doing most of the playing.)

I'm going to go to the CX clinic tonight-- hopefully I'll pick up some tips that will help me banish my "stutter-step" remount. Curses!

I still need to reposition my brake levers slightly downward and re-tape my handlebar with the super-yummy orange Cinelli tape. (I love the feel of the Cinelli tape, but its adhesive backing makes re-wrapping almost impossible.)

To quote Chowder: "Excitement!"

To train or not to train...

2008-09-09T10:19:00.001-07:00

I've thought about this subject quite a bit. Just about every time I go out riding. During races. The last few wretched miles of a century.

I should train more. I should train- period.

Work on my core by sitting on a big inflatable ball, do crunches. Maybe some yoga. Pilates.

Drop Sets. Intervals. Hill surges. VO2 max something-or-other. Get a power meter? HR monitor? (Thanks Bicycling mag! Honestly-- reading that magazine every month just gets more and more depressing. Plus they keep referencing stuff I don't understand, like "stock portfolios" and "golf" and "luxury, SAG supported bike trips". Seriously, WTF?)

Most times I just thumb my nose at the notion of "training". It seems an impediment to fun-on-a-bike. I have a job. I have a child. I have a wife. I have a house that always seems to have something breaking or needing repairing. When I DO get out on my bike I want to enjoy it. But I also want to be able to enjoy racing and longer rides without feeling like I'm going to barf or my knees are going to explode. *sigh*

I have recently discovered/realized that "training" also means more time spent riding. Now THAT I can agree with.

The Bike Snob just neatly skewered the whole training notion. It's a lovely piece of work, really.

bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2008/09/so-what-now-coaching-and-end-of-summer.html

My cigarette lighter, if I had one would be raised and lit.

I'll go ride my bike, instead.

Slurpee run!

2008-09-03T21:45:00.000-07:00

Today was the last day of "freedom" before my son hits Kindergarten. I can't believe that this idea didn't occur to me sooner, especially on the hotter days we had earlier in the summer.

A Slurpee run!

Remember back when? When you were maybe 10 or so. Head out on your bike to ride a few blocks to the 7-11. (Back in the 1980's 7-11 was the Starbuck's of the time... there seemed to be one every few blocks and more popping up every minute.) Dump your bike out on the curb, proceed directly to the Slurpee machine in the back of the store, get your Slurpee, check out the comic book rack and then sit out front on the curb chasing that last little bit of Slurpee slush with the "spoon straw" with a comic book balanced on your knees.

So anyway-- I take my son out this afternoon. It's maybe mid 70's out. Not ideal Slurpee run weather, but nice enough by any standard. We're both rolling on red and black singlespeeds! I love it! (I finally got clunker #1 converted to a drop bar. It's no longer a "clunker" thankyouverymuch.)

This is one of the great joys of parenting a young child. It's like you are a guide to a visitor from another planet. He has no idea how things work, what things are called and no concept of the "Slurpee run".

"Where are we going?"
"Are we there yet?"
"What are we going to do?"
"Now what?"

It's a distinct pleasure to introduce him to the various little things that make life fun. (Visits to the doctor for shots? No so much fun.)

The bike can get you where you want to go. He's gotten this idea pretty quickly and deeply. The other day he wanted to ride to the grocery store. Unfortunately I didn't have any way of ttransporting the quantity of groceries that we needed to move.

The bike can get you to good things like Slurpees. The bike makes getting the fun things... fun.

So we got to the 7-11 and got our Slurpees. He even grokked the idea that you mix several colors all together. Right on!

He wanted to know how we were going to get the Slurpees back to a park we had passed on the way. I told him that typically Slurpees are to be consumed on the premises of the 7-11. In a few years, as his skills improve, I'll let him know that the Slurpee can be consumed while riding home, one-handed.

No comic book rack in the 7-11, though. Bummer.

Junk bikes?

2008-09-01T22:27:00.000-07:00

No. For years and years and years I've dreamed of putting together my own bike. Bikes? You mean plural? Oh good heavens! Get out!

Well guess what? I'm livin' the dream. More or less. Mostly less.

No custom frames here. Not even midrange Shimano componentry. Wellll... not quite true. I did snag a set of old XT hubs from the Community Cycling Center. I wish they were in my community. Anyway-- the 18-or-so year-old hubs run much smoother and are a definite upgrade from the Deore hubs of the same vintage. Ooh-la-la. Deore XT.

Anyway-- So now I'm building up a pair of singlespeed clunkers. #1 is my old 1989 Rockhopper Comp (In 1989, the only difference between a Rockhhopper Comp and the Stumpjumper was paint, stickers, and Deore vs. Deore XT.) #2 is a poor, neglected "MTN TEK". It came to me as a 7-speed so it's probably late-80's early 90's vintage. It's a Taiwanese frame, so doubtless it rubbed shoulders with other frames destined for decidedly fancier headbadges and downtube stickers. I remember seeing these things crowding the bike section of sporting goods stores like "Pedersons" and ski shops in southern Idaho.

Whatever. #1 has already been reincarnated -- reinbikenated -- as a single-speed with a Mary handlebar. I hooked up the trailer-bike to it so it sports the hugeugly hitch. Now it's getting a drop bar. The MTN TEK will get the Mary bar and become the loco for the trailer bike. It'll also be the town bike/errand bike. It'll actually be sharing these duties with all the other bikes since I'm equal opportunity that way and don't believe in "rain bikes" or "commuter bikes". They all like to take turns at different kinds of rides. (The road bike doesn't like the trail stuff quite so much since it seems to flat every time I do that. Even with the sausagey 25c tires.)

#1 is getting the Bonty cyclocross drop bar that I pulled from the LeMond Poprad. I'm not sure if I'll like that or not. I have a feeling that I'll need to score a used Midge on Ebay eventually. To be happy. We'll see.

Still. I never imagined that I'd be building up a couple of bike from used/scrounged/Ebay parts.

And digging it.