Have Bike, Will Travel

Article about the Book

2010-08-08T08:40:00.001-07:00

Been a little busy and neglecting this space. Sorry about that.

In the meantime, the Eagle-Tribune, in Lawrence, Massachusetts, ran an article today about the book.

http://www.eagletribune.com/lifestyle/x2064740601/Valley-native-authors-book-on-New-Englands-best-bike-trails

Hope you're all well...

Contatour

2010-07-26T10:32:00.000-07:00

Well, le Tour est finis. Contador beat Schleck by 39 seconds--the time he made up the day Schleck dropped his chain. C'est le Tour, non? This year saw some good bike racing and some drama as well.

The Petacchi/Hushovd/Cavendish battle was fun to watch. Big Thor (remember, anyone over 170 pounds is called "big" in cycling) fought bravely, putting himself close to the front on a mountain stage to hold onto the green as long as he could. Cavendish also fought bravely, sprinting incredibly fast for a man weighed down by such an enormous head, like a two-wheeled Bobblehead doll, and for at least two stages, managed to win without his personal lead-out man slash bodyguard, Mark Renshaw, who was 86'ed after acting like one-half of the Hanson Brothers from Slapshot.

Speaking of the Hanson Brothers, this Tour also saw the battle royale between Carlos Barredo and Rui Costa, the best cat fight between scrawny guys in cleats and lycra since this one.

What else? The inaugural race for Team Sky proved disappointing, and Bradley Wiggins admitted his highly ranked performance in last year's Tour was a fluke. Cadel Evans continued to bore viewers and fans alike. And Lance Armstrong managed to ride a few stages between his television commercials for Nissan, Michelob Ultra and Radio "The Shack" Shack.

Hell of a race, hey? But now it's over, and that can mean only one thing: Cyclocross season.

What Would Jens Do? Try the Veal...

2010-07-23T09:14:00.000-07:00

Jens Voigt. The Man, the Myth, the Comedian.

Q: Andy Schleck--can he win the Tour this year?

A: Of course there's always the possibility. All it takes is that like five Astanas get attacked by a bear in the mountains, in the Pyrenees, and they're out... and we're just smoking, we just (mimes taking a drag off a cigarette of some sort) go easy in Paris.

And, from an earlier time, the well-documented secret to Jens' ability to push through adversity, pain and fatigue on a bike:

To Ride

2010-07-23T08:33:00.001-07:00

A guy called Andy Wardman made this short film of himself riding local trails in Peebles, Scottish Borders, on his cross bike. This was all done with a camera, tripod, and some patience, and the result is beautiful. If this doesn't make you want to get out and ride, nothing will. Chapeau, Andy.

Local trails ala cx from Andy Wardman on Vimeo.

Second Fish, Third Fish, Red Fish, Nerd Fish

2010-07-22T16:31:00.001-07:00

At last I've found a way to combine my love of fishing with my love of bikes...

Is it wrong that I submitted this for my author's photo in an article in New Hamsphire's Portsmouth Herald?

Bikes on Board

2010-07-22T16:24:00.001-07:00

You've seen this, right? Bike rack on a motorcycle?

How about this one--a bike rack on a sailboat?

Back in Alaska, when I still had a boat (a 27-foot flybridge stinkpot), I used to occasionally load my old Bridgestone MB onboard and anchor up off Mt. Edgecumbe, the volcano, paddle ashore in the Zodiac and ride the trails around Iris Meadows. It never occurred to me to put a rack on the boat, though. That's dedication.

Tour de Borat

2010-07-22T16:20:00.000-07:00

The epic battle between Schleck and Contador was not the only battle to rage on the slopes of the Col du Tourmalet today.

Descent

2010-07-21T18:21:00.002-07:00

This puts those fast descents into perspective, doesn't it? (via Velogogo)

Contador

2010-07-21T18:21:00.001-07:00

Contador makes $6.4 million per season. Wow.

Schleck

2010-07-16T10:01:00.000-07:00

Publish Post
You write the caption. I just can't.

Ummm....

2010-07-15T19:04:00.000-07:00

Wondering how Garmin's Robbie Hunter is faring in this year's Tour after hitting the ground the other day? Apparently, so is CyclingNews:

Tête à Tête

2010-07-15T17:25:00.000-07:00

Sprinter Mark Cavendish set a record for lifetime stage wins today, and he's just in his third or fourth Tour. I still can't bring myself to like this kid. He's got such a complex, arrogant as a king one minute and crying and desperate for approval the next. Some amazing psychology there, but he channels it well--he's effin' fast, I'll give him that. Terrifying speed.

A large part of his stage wins, of course, is his lead-out man, Mark Renshaw. Renshaw's a beast when it comes to clearing a path and pulling Cav to the go line.

But in today's sprint finish, Renshaw may have taken it too far. Garmin's Julian Dean, who was towing sprinter Tyler Farrar, came in with his elbow out, as happens, and Renshaw headbutted him three times in a row. They both stayed upright, and Cav shot past. As soon as he did, Renshaw looked back, and then cut hard left, nearly sending Farrar, who was on his sprint, to the barriers.

Now, it's possible he didn't see Farrar. But in a 40-plus-MPH sprint, which is a cluster of bodies and bikes, holding a straight line is critical, and Renshaw's among the best in the business. It's a safe assumption that any move he makes in those seconds is willful and intentional. Farrar lifted a hand off his bars and put it on Renshaw to steady himself--it's a violation to take your hands off the bar during the sprint--but managed to stay upright, too.

Race officials did more than relegate Renshaw--they eighty-sixed him from the Tour. Pack up your shorts and go home. Whether it was the headbutts or cutting off Farrar is moot, I guess.

Needless to say, Renshaw's pissed, Cav's pissed, and Dean, Farrar and Garmin boss Jonathan Vaughters are thrilled.

I'm not sure where I stand on all this. I think those sprints can be chaotic as hell. The video shows Renshaw looking pretty damned aggressive, but who knows what he was thinking? He was doing his job, trying to get Cav the stage win to break the record, and he did it. But what a bittersweet stage finish for HTC-Columbia, hey?

With no Tour on the hotel TV, I had to watch a YouTube clip from Belgian television. My Flemish is a little rusty, but it sounded like the commentators were as shocked as everyone else. But then, that language always sounds a little shocked.

One Yellow Jersey, Size XXXS

2010-07-15T10:26:00.000-07:00

You don't get to lead the Tour de France by being overweight--right, Andy Schleck?

Me Vs. The Hotel

2010-07-14T15:41:00.000-07:00

This lousy hotel on the Oregon coast doesn't get VS. on TV, which means no Tour for the duration of my stay. Also: they wouldn't check me in for three and a half hours, during which I worked in the lobby. Good times.

I'm already suffering Tour withdrawal. All right, so the room does have some other amenities.

Bike Shove Cop Acquitted

2010-07-14T15:37:00.000-07:00

NY TIMES: EX-OFFICER AVOIDS JAIL TIME IN ARREST OF BICYCLIST

By John Eligon

A former New York City police officer convicted of lying about a confrontation with a bicyclist in Times Square was given a conditional discharge on Wednesday in State Supreme Court in Manhattan.

The former officer, Patrick Pogan, had faced up to four years in prison, but will avoid any time behind bars. He also will not be placed on probation.

In April, a jury found Mr. Pogan guilty of filing a criminal complaint that contained false statements concerning a 2008 collision with Christopher Long, who was participating in a Critical Mass bike ride. Mr. Pogan’s complaint alleged that Mr. Long knocked him to the ground by intentionally steering his bicycle into him. But video footage of the episode, which was aviral presence on the Internet, showed that Mr. Pogan remained on his feet, while Mr. Long flew to the pavement.

Mr. Pogan was acquitted of falsifying the initial arrest report filed against Mr. Long. The jury also acquitted Mr. Pogan of a less serious charge of assault.

Mr. Pogan, who was on the job for less than two weeks when the collision occurred, resigned from the police force. Because he was convicted of a felony, he would not be allowed to attempt to rejoin the Police Department.

Coast

2010-07-14T06:34:00.001-07:00

Been off the bike since Saturday with a summer flu, and a bad case of too-much-work. Today Book Widow and I head to the coast, where she's got a conference and I'll be taking advantage of the free hotel and free WiFi, working with a different view than from my desk at home. Not exactly a vacation, but I am bringing a bike and hope to feel up to a ride later in the week--and Friday night we're visiting friends at the coast who we've not seen in more than a year, so that's something to look forward to.

Anybody out there got any big summer rides planned?

Flip Side

2010-07-14T06:10:00.001-07:00

So, yesterday I posted about how badass Jens Voigt is for his exploits on the bike. Here's the flipside of it, from an article in the Eagle-Tribune back in Massachusetts:

NORTH ANDOVER — In August, cancer survivor Jeff Wdow will bike from Sturbridge to Provincetown as part of the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge. He will do so with a prosthetic leg, one lung and a transplanted kidney.

"It sounds pretty extreme," said Wdow, 45, of Forest Street. "I'm not the speediest guy on the road. I'm not the first guy up the hill when there's a hill. You just have to modify your style to fit your situation. The 192 miles is very doable."

Wdow had his right leg amputated below the knee two weeks after he was diagnosed with bone cancer at age 20. After undergoing chemotherapy, the disease eventually spread to his left lung, which was removed when he was 23. Though Wdow has remained cancer free since the operation, he was later diagnosed with kidney failure in late 2000. Wdow said he believes a cancer treatment damaged his kidneys.

Luckily, Wdow's best friend and Andover resident Robert Hanscom stepped up. The two underwent kidney transplant surgery in April 2001, and both have remained healthy since.

Now that's bad-ass--both what Wdow is doing, riding a double century short a leg, a lung, a kidney, and at least one vowel in his last name, and what his best friend, Hanscom, did. Jens Voigt may be amazing, but he's got nothing on these guys.

WWJD?

2010-07-13T09:05:00.000-07:00

Just so we're clear: Jens Voigt is a god. Getting caught by Contador and Schleck on the final climb today, and then pulling them up until his legs turned to stone? Incredible--the guy's not even a climber. Did you see the look on his face?

What he is, though, is a freak of nature, powered by courage and heart.

A few years ago someone prepared a Chuck Norris-style tribute to Jens. I gratefully reprint some of it here:

Jens Voigt doesn’t read books. He simply attacks until the books relent and tell him everything he wants to know.
If you are a UCI ProTour rider and you Google “Jens Voigt,” the only result you get is “it’s not to late to take up kickball, Fred.”
Jens was a math prodigy in elementary school, putting “Attack!” in every blank space on all his tests. It would be the wrong answer for everybody else, but Jens is able to solve any problem by attacking.
Jack was nimble, Jack was quick… and Jens still drove him to quit racing bikes and become an ice dancing commentator on Lifetime.
If Jens Voigt was a country, his principle exports would be Pain, Suffering, and Agony.
Jens Voigt doesn’t know where you live, but he knows exactly where you will die.
Jens Voigt doesn’t have a shadow because he dropped it repeatedly until it retired, climbing into the team car and claiming a stomach ailment.
When you open a can of whoop-ass, Jens Voigt jumps out and attacks.
The first time man split the atom was when the atom tried to hold Jens Voigt’s wheel, but cracked.
Jens Voigt doesn’t complain about what suffering does to him… but suffering constantly complains about getting picked on by Jens Voigt.
Jens Voigt can start a fire by rubbing two mud puddles together.
Guns kill a couple dozen people every day. Jens Voigt kills 150.
Jens Voigt rides so fast during attacks, that he could circle the globe, hold his own wheel, and ride in his own draft. At least as long as he didn’t try to drop himself.
Jens Voigt nullified the periodic table because he doesn’t believe in any element, other than the element of surprise.

Sure, It's an Ad

2010-07-12T18:41:00.001-07:00

Sure, it's an ad, and I know I'm playing right into their hands by reposting it. Whatever. It's fun to watch England's track goddess Victoria Pendleton chasing down trials rider Danny Macaskill.

Belated Announcement

2010-07-12T08:34:00.001-07:00

This is long overdue, but we've been waiting for a photo. Congratulations to long time HBWT friend Chris, who recently returned to cycling after a sabbatical during which he became a dedicated long-distance runner.

A former road biker who turned to mountain bikes for a long time, Chris bought a Bianchi cyclocross bike earlier this year and has been ramping up the mileage. A couple of weeks ago he rode his first century.

He also joined a local shop club team, and this fall will be tossing himself over the barriers and through the mud in the greater Boulder, Colorado, cyclocross race scene. Congratulations on the new bike, Chris--we love it when a bicycle finds a good home. (Especially a cross bike.)

Chapeau

2010-07-12T08:27:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to Mara Abbot, who this weekend became the first American to win the Giro Donne, beating Judith Arndt by more than two minutes--and world champion Tatiana Guderzo by more than three--for the podium and the pink jersey. Chapeau, Mara!

Photo courtesy VeloNews.

1,000 Words

2010-07-11T17:48:00.000-07:00

Tour de France, Stage 2...

Bonjour, le Tour; Au Revoir Lance

2010-07-11T16:11:00.001-07:00

Well, they were right--today's mountain stage was the first deciding stage, and selections were made. Unlucky Lance fell three times today, and lost more than 10 minutes on the other "favorites." He looked broken getting back on his bike after Egoi Martinez fell in front of him--not a look you often see him wearing.

Andy Schleck won the stage by sprinting past the leaders group at the finish of the final climb. Contador couldn't follow. The next few climbs are going to be interesting.

Who took the yellow? Cadel Evans. Technically a race favorite, he's been well positioned all week--and has finished second in the tour twice. And he's world champion. So how come they barely ever talk about him during the race commentary? He's a workingman, and he's not big on personality or backstory. He's continuing to prove that he can ride, though. But he can't get a break. Even VeloNews gives him no love--check out their online front page a good seven hours after the stage finish:

A picture of him? No--a picture of Lance, who finished 12 minutes behind him. A mention of him? Hell, no. Just a dummy "Headline Here." Brilliant, VeloNews, really well done.

Rest day tomorrow, then more mountains.

Manquer - A Bicycle Love Story

2010-07-09T10:37:00.000-07:00

I found this film about four years ago. It's beautifully done. Which is my way of saying I'm too busy to post properly today. Enjoy.

Manquer - A bicycle love story. from Grandchildren on Vimeo.

It's Not the Heat, it's the Stupidity

2010-07-08T12:11:00.000-07:00

Portland is in the grip of what passes for a heat wave, which this year means two straight days over 60 degrees. Yesterday it hit 97, breaking records; today it's supposed to hit 100. HBWT headquarters are hot as hell, and that's got me grumpy.

I got out for a ride this morning, around 6:30 am, before the electric blanket settled on the town. Rode with a new friend on a leisurely coffee ride out to a popular cafe near SE Hawthorne Boulevard, Portland's bike commuter superhighway. We sat on a shady bench outside the shop, sipping coffee, watching hundreds of people roll by on every sort of bike imaginable. It warmed my heart to see so many people choosing bikes over cars--or maybe it was just the temperature rising.

After we split up, I got in some fast miles on the ride home, and rolled in the door in a thick sheen of sweat. Yes, it was as gross as it sounds. It was even hotter inside than out.

Book Widow's home sick today, asleep on the couch in front of the TV. Between the heat and the flu, she's miserable. But it's going to be a lot worse when she gets up later today and realizes she's stuck to the leather. Ugh.

In other news, Cavendish won a stage of le Tour. It had to happen sooner or later. I can't stand the guy, but holy crap, he's fast.

Just a reminder: Long Distance Dan, the FOMBA Bomber, and his smarter, better-looking brother are riding for charity this weekend. It's going to be hot and hilly, and they're both middle-aged and soft. Please consider donating something--either out of support for their battle against cancer, or out of pity for them. Thank you.

Carry on.

Thor de France

2010-07-06T16:31:00.000-07:00

Big Thor Hushovd, as Phil Liggett calls him ("big" being a cycling term applied to any rider taller than 5'8" and heavier than 140 pounds), dominated today's sprint finish in the Tour. Thor's stage win came just a day after being denied a go by to a gentleman's agreement for a neutral finish to protest a dangerous descent, made more dangerous by a motorbike crash that spilled oil on the tarmac.

This has been a crash-laden first few days, that's for sure. Today's cobblestones--more familiar to Classics races than the Tour--may also prove to be among the deciding factors. As they say, you couldn't win the race today, but you could lose it, and Old Lance ("old" being a cycling term applied to any rider older than 30) may have. Despite riding well, he got caught behind a crash that fractured Frank Schleck's (Schleck the Elder) collarbone just as a decisive move was happening--and then he blew a tire and watched his main competition disappear.

He rode hard and closed the gap a bit, dropping his teammates in his quest to minimize the damage, but he finished nearly two minutes down on Boring Cadel Evans ("boring" being a cycling term applied to Cadel Evans), and a minute or so behind Andy Schleck (Schleck the Younger) and Alberto Contador. Unlike during the Classics, when teams position spare bikes throughout the cobbled sections in anticipation of problems like Lance experienced today, Tour organizers instituted new rules prohibiting bike changes except from official team vehicles as a way of preventing riders from using bikes with hidden motors, as some have accused Fabian Cancellara of doing.

Let me say that again: Organizers implemented new rules to prevent teams from using bikes with hidden motors, which they apparently feel is a legitimate threat.

Ever feel like the world's going mad around you? I bet Lance does. If he'd been able to snag a replacement bike when his tired popped, he might not be so far behind on the very stage that was supposed to put him ahead. Crazy, crazy race so far. And it's only four days old.

It's a long road yet to Paris.

Le Grand Tour

2010-07-04T08:05:00.001-07:00

The Tour de France began in Rotterdam yesterday with a 5-mile time trial prologue won by Fabian Cancellara, as if there was any doubt. (He's the world champ and the Olympic champ in this discipline, and as close to unbeatable as you can get. They call him 'Spartacus.')

Cancellara, you may remember, took a few Classics wins this year as well, with what looked like surprising ease, prompting accusations that he was using a frame-tube based motor. Seriously. The motor, called a Gruber Assist, got a lot of publicity out of that one, and very few people took the claims seriously--except for Italian journalists, and, apparently, the UCI, which is now scanning select bikes with X-Ray machines after stages. Guess whose bike got scanned yesterday?

"After the race, they scanned my bike, and I said to them, ‘You better scan me, because I am the motor.'" --Fabian Cancellara

Cancellara rides for Saxo Bank, formerly CSC, sponsored by Specialized, who proved to have a good sense of humor when unveiling this year's new product line in the days before le Tour.

Team Saxo Bank is led and owned by Bjarne Riis, who back in his own time was a force with which to be reckoned on a bike. He won the 1996 Tour, but in 2007, admitted he doped. His team is a powerhouse, but its future is in trouble. The Schleck brothers, the Luxembourger climbers (Andy, the younger, finished second last year and is favored to repeat this year) announced they're leaving after this season to start a Luxembourg national team, and they're taking at least one key staff member with them. Also, Saxo Bank announced the end of its sponsorship, and Bjarne is struggling to find someone to replace them.

In other Tour news, some guy named Lance finished fourth in the prologue--not bad for a guy nearly my age. Today the tour leaves Rotterdam and races to Brusssels, both cities which, apparently, have been annexed by France.

Stage Two remains in Belgium, and on Stage Three--which ends across the French border--the riders hit cobblestones, which is going to be a blast to watch.

Aside from the Contador/Lance competition, which Versus--the network broadcasting le Tour in the states--is playing up like Fox does the Red Sox/Yankees matchup, this is going to be an exciting race.

Begin rant. For further reading, check out yesterday's Wall Street Journal article in which Floyd Landis accuses Lance, George Hincapie, and a slew of others of all sorts of interesting things, like blood transfusions in the back of a van in the forest. Whether its true or not, a front page story on the day the Tour begins smacks of a desperation for attention. Watching Floyd dominate Stage 17 a few years ago and win his tour was one of the most amazing feats of athleticism I've ever seen. When he was accused of doping, I stood by him. I wanted to believe in someone. When he admitted he'd doped, that he'd written a whole book lying about it, and he'd accepted millions of dollars from the public for what turned out to a baseless legal fight, I was crushed. Floyd's an arse, and he's got zero credibility. Even if what he says is true, he's not doing it--or himself--any favors by being the messenger. You're a jackass, Floyd, and it's your own damn fault. End rant.

Climbing with Bradley

2010-07-02T10:16:00.001-07:00

I got out for a ride with my friend Bradley last night. Not particularly long--just over 20 miles--and not particularly strenuous, but a good, solid ride. A couple of thousand feet of climbing, and a mad, rain-soaked descent. Some fast pacelining on an empty bike path. Good conversations during a water break at the summit.

Bradley climbs like an elevator. Much of that is his innate athleticism, but some of it is, I suspect, his natural cunning. Whenever I seem to be finding my rhythm on a climb, he'll ask me about my novel, about politics, some question to get me talking. Within minutes, I'm sucking air and dropping off his pace.

He's also enviably devoid of self-consciousness. He wears an air horn on his road bike that, when he sounds it, splits clouds in the atmosphere. It compels people to flee leap from the path in front of us into the bushes, lest they be run down by what they must assume is an approaching tractor trailer.

Bradley's a fantastic riding companion. He's always up for anything, and a good wheel to hold. But he's s built like a stick figure--at my height, 6'3", he's more than 40 pounds lighter than I am. That's like carrying two concrete blocks. Think of that next time you're struggling up a hill--imagine what it would be like if you had two concrete blocks, eight bags of potatoes, or a six-year-old on your back. That's me. Drafting behind Bradley is like trying to dodge bullets behind a flagpole.

Rain

2010-07-02T09:59:00.000-07:00

If you live in Portland, OR, you accept that you're going to have to ride in the rain from time to time. Even if you try to avoid it, you'll get caught now and again. That's just the way it is. But here's my secret: I like riding in the rain.

There are downsides, sure. Paint lines on the road become slick death traps, metal sewer grates and manhole covers like patches of black ice. Hypothermia sets in on descents. Brake pads wear down with exponential quickness.

But there's something about it, something freeing. Symbolically, of course, rain is cathartic, but who's thinking symbolism on their bike? It's something else, something elusive and mutable.

It's a declaration--however indirect--that the weather, the world, the weight of water is not going to stop you from doing what you love. It's like being a kid again, and playing outside on your weekend or holiday from school, weather be damned.

And as you ride, seeing cars with their windshield wipers waving sadly, the people huddled under the narrow roofs of bus shelters, pedestrians pacing sidewalks beneath black umbrellas, there's a subtle feeling that you're somehow removed from those worlds. That you're unaffected by the very thing driving their actions. That you're the one calling the shots in your own life.

That you're more connected to the natural world. That you've embraced it, surrendered to it, while everyone else around you fights it. Rain.

Bike Friendly

2010-07-02T06:22:00.001-07:00

How do you know you live in a bike-friendly town? Why, even the bank robbers ride them...

Sandy Police, the FBI and a Gresham Police canine unit are looking for a gunman who robbed a US Bank on Proctor Boulevard and fled on a bicycle around 3 p.m. Thursday. The man claimed to have a bomb and left behind an unidentified bag. Police said the robber was wearing a green mask, dark glasses, red shirt and a red helmet. During the robbery he displayed a gun and threatened to blow up the bank. While leaving the bank, he left a bag.

The Portland Police Bureau's bomb squad used a robot to remove the bag. The bag was X-rayed and disposed of by bomb technicians. The bank is located just a few buildings from the Sandy Police Department. Late Thursday, the Oregon Financial Institutions Security Task Force announced a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to an arrest in the robbery. (From the Oregonian)

He was even wearing a helmet. Safety first.

Mind Over Matter

2010-06-30T08:32:00.000-07:00

Brian Matter posted this photo of himself on his blog. Looks like pain is about to happen, no? Check this out, though--someone caught it on video.

WORS XCT Rock Garden...Matter Crash from Jeremey Rodriguez on Vimeo.

Translator Needed

2010-06-29T12:03:00.000-07:00

Can someone refer me to a translator who can tell me what exactly Snoop Dogg is saying to Lance Armstrong in this clip, please? (Maybe Barbara Billingsley's character in 'Airplane'?)

Could be Worse

2010-06-28T20:34:00.001-07:00

My bad biking karma continued today with a hub problem, and a flat--and a replacement tube with a bad stem on it. Still, I could be Gustav Larson, of Team Saxo Bank, seen here at this year's Paris Roubaix, who on the face of it has it worse than I do.

Karma, Redux

2010-06-28T09:44:00.001-07:00

Bad bike karma continues, sort of--last winter I stripped a bolt in the stem on my road bike, one of the bolts that clamps the steerer tube. Being a writer, and therefore poor, I used Loctite to fix it. (In retrospect, I should have drilled it out, used a longer bolt and a nut.)

Yesterday it rattled loose while riding. I was 15 miles from home on a ride with 2,800 feet of elevation gain--and loss. My stem and bars were creaking to high hell once it went, and I had a vision of my bars spinning one way and my wheel spinning another while descending at 45 mph.

Needless to say, it was a long ride home.

Unable to shake that vision, I ordered a new stem.

Otherwise a good ride though. It hurt. Here's the first half of the ride--the dark green line is the elevation, the olive green the grade. This chart also represents my mood on the ride.

Socks

2010-06-27T08:37:00.001-07:00

Yes, that's the lion of Flanders. I have cooler socks than you.

Flat

2010-06-24T12:37:00.000-07:00

Our thoughts go out to friend-of-HBWT Ben, who just send an iPhone picture of a flat tire he's currently dealing with on his way home from work.

Jour de Fete

2010-06-24T06:58:00.001-07:00

One Saturday I watched this entire movie on TV. Hysterical. It never occurred to me to look for it on YouTube (I'm a slow learner), but BikeRumor posted this scene today, and I'm reposting it. You can find more by searching for Jacques Tati or Jour de Fete.

Twitter

2010-06-23T09:05:00.000-07:00

Canyons

2010-06-22T15:28:00.000-07:00

The kids across the street built this. They spend hours with it--adjusting the distance between the takeoff and landing ramps, lining it up with the sidewalk, clearing the path of "debris," and circling the block in their approach. Because to get enough speed to complete the stunt, you need a block's worth of pedaling.

Never mind that they're at maximum speed long before they reach the ramp. Or that they brake shortly before they hit it. Or that their speed isn't that great to begin with. None of that matters.

Casual onlookers might see three young boys on department-store bikes, smaller than BMX, expending an unnecessary amount of energy to jump a measly inch or two. Not me. I see three daredevils leaping the canyons of their imagination. I see three cyclists--not future cyclists, but cyclists. I see myself in each of them (though mostly in the tall one with the SpongeBob Squarepants helmet).

There was a point in my life when that ramp would have seemed impossibly huge. I swear I jumped over entire summer vacations that way, leaving the ramp on the last day of school and not touching down until September. I outgrew it, and progressed to jumps that would have given my mother a heart attack, had she known. We had a homemade BMX track in the woods. The jumps were dirt piles. You hit them fast. You had to--otherwise you wouldn't clear the hole we'd dug making them. We'd jump snapping turtles. Each other. Our brothers and sisters. Firecrackers. Fires. Anything.

As I got older, I'd jump staircases. Shopping carts. Cars. I once fell through the ice on a small, deep pond in the woods, and nearly drowned because I wouldn't let go of my bike. I have a ladder of a scar on the bridge of my nose from ramming my bike into a cast-iron railing and a brick staircase. I got into a lot of trouble on my bike. (My mother tells a story about turning onto our street once, a steep hill, and seeing me tearing down it, full-speed, standing with one foot on the handlebars and one on the seat, surfing. My life flashed before her eyes, she says.)

Just so we're clear, we didn't wear helmets then. Ever.

Ask me if there's one jump that stands out in my mind above all others, and I'll tell you no. Because the best jumps weren't real. The best jumps were the ones over the canyons of my imagination that, to any onlooker, would seem like no more than an inch or two off a curb--or a sidewalk ramp. Now that I'm getting older, maybe I'm starting to go back to those jumps a little. Maybe much of what I love about my time on a bike these days takes place in my head. I don't know.

I do know that every time I see the kids jumping the ramp across the street I have to resist the urge to saddle up, roll down my driveway, and ask if I can take my turn before heading around the block to gather my speed...

On Replacement Parts

2010-06-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

One of my cyclocross bikes is a Louis Garneau Steeple X, built in 2006. I bought it last spring as NOS (New Old Stock) from Schwab Cycles, as a frame, and built it up. I love it. The first year LG offered the frame, Tim Johnson and his wife Lyne Bessette raced it. (Tim is the first American rider to podium in a UCI Cross World Championships, and has six career national championships. Lyne is also accomplished, and the two of them live in Massachusetts.)

Tim Johnson, winning.

Last week the rear derailleur ripped out on a ride. The derailleur hanger--a replaceable aluminum hanger mounted to the frame--was stripped. The whole point of a replaceable derailleur hanger is that if something happens, the hanger breaks rather than the frame. Hangers cost about $15, and there are literally hundreds of aftermarket models. (Check out, for example, Louisville, CO, company Wheels Mfg's list.)

Should be no problem. Except, LG seems to not have used any of the hundreds of available hangers, instead choosing to go with a proprietary one. And they seem to have not stocked any.

The fine folks at Schwab are looking into it for me, as is the chief mechanic at LG. They've all been very accommodating. A quick online search shows that I'm not the first person to have this problem, but I seem to be having the best results. Today I heard back from LG that they think they've found one on an old frame that they'll sell me for about twice the going rate, but since this thing is priceless, it's worth it. We'll see when it arrives if it's the right one.

In the meantime, since my hanger was stripped and not broken, I set about fixing it. The above-mentioned Wheels MFG sells a dropout saver (see photo below), which replaces the threads.

Basically, you drill out the hole where the derailleur attaches with a 15/32" bit, pop this saver into the back of the hanger, and then screw the derailleur into it. Should be easy enough, right?

In any repair project where you decide to do things yourself, there's a point of no return. A point where you have to commit, knowing that afterward you'll either have fixed it or destroyed it beyond repair. This is where most people who say they aren't good with tools fail--they're unwilling to commit. It's the price you pay for fixing things yourself rather than paying a professional, and it doesn't matter if it's auto, bike, boat, appliance, electronics, plumbing, or cutting your own hair or performing minor surgery on yourself.

For me, this point came when I was drilling out the hanger. It's a good-sized drill bit, and it creates a ton of metal shavings. With no vice, I stood on the hanger (I'm a good 200 pounds) and it held still, but it got hot as hell, and so did my foot. But it was the faith required to drill a hole in the only semi-functional derailleur hanger for my frame with which I struggled. At that point, I had yet to hear that LG thought they had a replacement, and if I bungled what I was doing, my cross bike would be rendered a singlespeed.

I drilled.

These are just some of the metal shavings strewn around my patio as I drilled. But I kept going. And what do you know? It worked. Jury-rigged to be sure, but I'm back in business, and with any luck, LG's needlessly expensive replacement part will prove to be the correct one, and I'll have a spare for cross season this year.

Which seems like a good idea, since the Kruger's Crossing race here in PDX is notorious for tearing derailleurs from frames as it crosses through a muddy cornfield.

Ride your Bike

2010-06-21T15:36:00.000-07:00

Jonathan Townley put this together based on some WWII-era posters expressing the same conservation sentiment, though for different reasons. He built it under a Creative Commons License and is encouraging people to pass it around--please do.

Weekend Followup

2010-06-21T12:51:00.000-07:00

Spent some time this weekend working on my derailleur hanger problem, and made some headway. More on that later. In the meantime, I had occasion to visit a couple of bike shops and saw some things worth sharing.

If you're like me, your spouse/significant other/accountant/boss occasionally gives you grief about the amount of money you spend on bike parts. When that happens, show them this:

You're reading that correctly--this bike sells for $13, 999.99, or as those of in the know like to call it, $14,000. Sadly, I wish I could tell you this is a fluke, that this is a specialty bike made of unicorn horns and lubricated with leprechaun tears, but it's not. It's just another Giant race bike.

If that doesn't work, show them this:

This one, at $15,500 (or $15,499.99 if the shop cuts you a deal), is at least custom. Try telling your overseer that "Hey, at least I don't ride custom bikes." Act like you're taking one for the team, doing them a favor.

If that doesn't work--and just to be clear, it won't--show them this photo of the films playing at The Clinton theater here in Portland and say, "At least I spend my time riding bikes and working on them, not... ." Well, you know.

Speaking of Bike Porn, Book Widow and I went into the city to witness the World Naked Bike Ride Saturday night. Estimates put the turnout at 13,000 participants, which is a phenomenal amount of flesh and dangly bits. I can't verify the count because we never actually found the ride.

That's right--we couldn't find 13,000 naked people on bikes.

Apparently the published route differed from the actual route. We stood with 500 spectators on a bridge, awaiting the masses that never arrived. There were a few naked spectators--sympathy nudes, I guess. One guy in the crowd called a friend of his participating in the ride and got confirmation that they were coming our way, but they never did. (I don't know where he kept his cell phone, and I don't want to know.)

We did see a few stragglers. Six, I think. Maybe eight. Seeing 13,000 naked cyclists is one thing. Seeing one naked cyclist, alone, riding through the city at midnight, with anti-oil messages bodypainted on their torso, is another entirely, I assure you.

Oh, that's right. It was a protest. They were protesting cars, I think. Maybe clothes, too. I told my friend Ben that I felt compelled to check it out, that 13,000 people who care enough about both a cause and about bikes to ride naked through the city carries enough gravity to draw me in--at least as a spectator. He told me that gravity was precisely the reason he didn't want to watch.

If you do want to read more about the protest and the ride, or if you want to see photos (NSFW, obviously, unless you're Hugh Hefner), check out Bike Portland's report and follow his links.

All joking aside, I support what these riders are doing, and I like to think I'm doing my part in my own fully clothed way. And for that, you're welcome.

Crash

2010-06-21T07:20:00.001-07:00

Commute to work? You probably think it's bad, and I'm sure it is. If you go by car, you spend time in traffic, polluting the world while you seethe at stupid drivers. If you go by bike, you spend time worrying about your safety, seething at stupid drivers. It could be worse--you could live in China.

I've watched this video twice now and I'm not sure what to think. I do know that it makes me want to start a charity and send things to China, but it's unclear to me which they need more: stop signs, eyeglasses, or bike helmets.

Karma, Redux

2010-06-18T10:26:00.000-07:00

Bad bike karma continues unabated. On my ride the other night, my first good ride in a while? Apparently I tore the rear derailleur off on something. I noticed it when I went to ride this morning. It's still attached, but hanging by a thread. The hanger is shot. This happens with some frequency in races, but on easy rides? Come on. That's just unfair.

Worse, the manufacturer claims to have been the only one to use those hangers, and says they have no more in stock. That can't be right. I've got the shop who sold me the frame (the excellent Schwab Cycles in Lakewood, CO) looking into it, and a bike tech at the manufacturers doing the same. Until then, my cross bike is grounded--and just a reminder, my backup cross bike? The frame cracked last week. In two places.

(Also? I lost a cyclocomputer that popped loose on a ride, shredded the cadence sensor cable on the replacement I bought, tore a water bottle cage from my road bike frame, and had a series of flats--including three on one ride that led to me and the very patient Ben walking nearly eight miles home.)

Hey, Universe? Whatever I did to bring this on, I'm sorry.

Cyclocross

2010-06-17T17:09:00.000-07:00

Less than four months until cross season.

Signs

2010-06-17T10:38:00.001-07:00

Street lamp in Evanston, WY, an odd little mining town with an amazing dinner club (seriously--if you're going to be there, ask me for info). Oh, the town also happens to host two major bike races every year, somewhat unexpectedly.

Rack

2010-06-17T10:33:00.000-07:00

How do you know you live in a bike-friendly state? For one thing, check out the bike racks--like this one, in downtown Baker City, OR.

Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs

2010-06-17T10:31:00.001-07:00

This sign is on my street.

I'm assuming the illustration refers to me, because these days I'm slow enough that a girl in a skirt dribbling a basketball could keep up with me while I'm riding.

It's Tricky

2010-06-17T10:20:00.000-07:00

Stunt trials riding is cool enough, and occasionally a video makes the rounds that's worth watching. That said, it's very different from the riding I do--or that most people do. But check this out, via Bike Radar:

Trials riding on a carbon road bike. Crazy.

Ride

2010-06-17T10:16:00.001-07:00

Finally had a decent ride. Went out to Gresham on the cyclocross bike via the Springwater Corridor, which is torn up for repaving and fenced off in areas. I'm not going to tell you how I got around the fences, but I will say that in sections, the path right now is like a cross course.

Saw 17 rabbits, a bunch of sheep, a handful of people riding horses--and leaving some serious parade apples on the path--and a cop with his gun drawn, looking for a transient camp.

I got rained on and muddy as hell. Good ride.

By the way, parade apples? They're how I learned to bunnyhop. I recommend it as a training method--what better motivation than the ramifications of failing to clear a pile?

Can't Please Everyone

2010-06-16T15:57:00.001-07:00

Tree Hugger brings us this story about an architect slash cyclist who built a fairly minimalist dream home. The basement is a bike workshop, and near the door is his stable.

He's also got a bike-cleaning area.

The house has a few other nice touches, like the repurposed ping pong tabletop he uses for a coffee table. Neat place. There's also a great comment to Tree Hugger:

"Why would anyone need more than one bike? Shouldn't this go in your Wretched Excess series? It looks like he has about nine bikes and I bet he even parks them in his living room occasionally. Horrible. "

Temper

2010-06-16T06:19:00.000-07:00

Here's some video of me getting my third flat the other day. I still can't figure out how my frame cracked...

(Obviously, I'm joking. This is race footage provided by CX Mag.)

Karma

2010-06-15T20:16:00.001-07:00

Since moving to PDX a month ago, I've managed to get in a whopping four bike rides. In those four rides, I've:

Lost a bike computer
Cracked a frame in two places
Tore a cadence sensor cable
Tore a bottle cage from a frame
Had three flat tires (including one that resulted in an eight-mile walk)

That's some bad bike karma.

Taco

2010-06-15T16:32:00.000-07:00

Big sprinter scrum at the Tour de Suisse. Cavendish, in white/yellow, got the blame for shifting lanes, and was relegated and fined. Haussler--in the spotted jersey, riding over Cav's tacoed wheel--withdrew with injuries.

Check out the video. The slow-mo at 1:05, as Haussler's head beats against the tarmac a few times, is painful to see. Watch for Tom Boonen, on the left, to somersault as he rides over Cav.

culture

2010-06-14T15:52:00.000-07:00

If I had a dollar for every time I got razzed by another cyclist for not shaving my legs, I could afford a better bike. Funny. That never happened in basketball, or on my softball team, or down at the dojo.

I'm not going to launch into an essay on leg-shaving in cycling. To each his--or her--own. I see no need to shave my legs. I've heard the argument, from other cyclists, that the hairy legs look ridiculous sticking out of bike shorts. Well, guess what? Bike shorts are already ridiculous. I wear them because they're efficient, effective, and comfortable, not because they make my legs look good, or because my ass looks good in lycra. (It doesn't.)

The fact is, I'm just not fast enough to merit shaving them. I'm not a roadie, I'm a cyclocrosser, and a poor one at that. Local cyclocross God Erik Tonkin, who has a huge fan club from his days racing in Belgium, is known as The Caveman because he goes unshaven. CX Magazine says he can get away with it because he's got the skills.

I don't, which means I'm too slow to shave--and too slow not to?

You decide for yourself. I'm not going to judge, and I'm certainly not going to razz you. But take note of this cautionary tale brought to us by Bobke Strut about a cyclist who wanted it both ways, earning him his own nickname:

"... This wise young man wanted the best of both worlds…to race on the weekends with shaved legs so as not to arouse fredly snickers and to simultaneously hit the clubs with the ladies and subtly reinforce his manly prowess with nonchalantly exposed hints of leg hair. See, The Poodle shaved his legs except for a pristine, un-shorn thicket of full-on man hair extending approximately 3-4 inches above each ankle. This way he could render his Poodle trim invisible while wearing the usual socks one dons while cycling and only expose shaved leg flesh to the cycling crowd. And he could also wear his Miami-Vice-esque duds to clubs…slender loafers…no socks…and he could casually sit down with one ankle crossed on top of his other knee and expose his “hairy” legs to the ladies. Just don’t let those Don Johnson trousers hike up too high."

Equipment Failure

2010-06-13T09:20:00.000-07:00

When I was in Alaska, I worked with a guy named Ben. We became friends, and together managed to have a few adventures of sorts that always seemed to end in aggravation. When I left Alaska, we kept in touch. Eventually he left too, and with his wife and son, ended up in Portland, OR. We're both living in the same town again.

Yesterday we went out for a ride together. We rode our cyclocross bikes and headed east on the Springwater Corridor, Portland's phenomenal multi-use path, and left the trail at Powell Butte Nature Park, where we climbed muddy trails to the summit for a payoff of views of Mt Hood, Mt St Helens, Mt Adams, Mt Rainier. From there, we rode the trails around the Butte for a bit, then dropped back down to the Springwater on a whiteknuckled, muddy, narrow-track descent--the edge of the trail was a sharp, steep drop--for the return ride to town. A great ride on the first warm, sunny day Portland has had in weeks.

Sounds great, right? Of course. But because it was me and Ben, it had to degrade into aggravation.

Ben, left, and me atop Powell Butte, in happier times.

Two miles in, Ben blew a tube. Kaboom. Not a slow leak, but an explosion. No problem--except, his pump was missing a piece. He rifled through his bag and pulled out all sorts of interesting things, but couldn't produce the missing part. I let him use my pump, and my only C02 cartridge, using what we hoped was half of it, leaving us what we hoped would be enough to fill another tire if need be. But what are the chances that we'd need it again on the same ride?

Skip ahead. We've descended. We're raving about how fun the ride is, how beautiful the weather. Suddenly, my front tire is flat. We pull over, I change it, and I pump the C02 into it, and it turns out we didn't leave ourselves enough. No worries. We flag someone with a pump down, and I fill it. That should be the end of it.

But his pump sheared the valve core right off the stem. We watched it skitter away, lost, into the vegetation. Holy crap. But this is Portland! Someone stops and offers us a tube. I take it, change it out, and pump it up again. Back in business. Except, the pump shears the core off the valve again.

It was a long, long walk home. Looking at the map, it looks like close to eight miles. In bike shoes and cleats. In bike shorts. Walking our bikes. (Many jokes were made about this.)

The tan line I earned walking home. Could have been worse--
it could have been raining.

To recap: Friday, I find my frame cracked. Saturday, this happens. Clearly a bad bike karma week for me. Thank God it's Sunday, and a new week begins tomorrow.

This morning Ben emailed to say:

"The piece missing from my pump? It was a little gray rubber cylinder, a.k.a. a the little gray rubber cylinder that was being used as a smokestack for one of (my son's) trains. ... Should have known."

Timmermaniac

2010-06-12T15:42:00.001-07:00

Dan Timmerman, New England cyclocross racer extraordinaire, is retiring. CX Magazine has a great interview that does a good job putting a personality behind the image most of us have of him dominating on various NE cross courses. I loved watching him race, but this interview makes me think I'd very much enjoy sharing a beer with the guy, too.

"I have never been one for complacency. A bicycle isn’t perfect, but it could be a very useful tool toward better things. Hopping in a car to get to a plane to fly to a car to drive to ride a bike with cars following me is something that has always felt askew to me. It seems to take away from the simplicity of gliding along on two wheels. More often than not, these travels took me to a box in suburbia with a little window over an air conditioner that I could look out of and see the exact same thing that I saw the week before 3,000 miles away. When sent out into the live world during our competitions, all I could really look at and take in was the skinny tire in front of me."

retread

2010-06-11T21:38:00.000-07:00

This is old, and I'm not the first one to revive it--I found it over at PlanetCX--but it's still a good ad, even if you're not a big Lance fan.

Under the Helmet

2010-06-11T17:03:00.001-07:00

Zdenek Stybar before the World Cyclocross Championships, which he won, talking about his poor results at an earlier race.

"I wasn't fresh in that race. I had trained really hard the week before, a little too hard. I misunderstood my trainer and ran up and down 1,600 stairs instead of 160. That's why I felt miserable, but now I'm in top form."

Crack

2010-06-11T14:15:00.000-07:00

Just found two cracks in the frame of my Kona Major Jake--my pit bike slash commuter bike. Shit.

Strap

2010-06-11T06:55:00.000-07:00

Jonathan at BikePortland.org had this yesterday--a Florida company has invented a strap to help you walk your bike. Yes, you read that right.

Anyone think this will revolutionize the cycling world?

(Actually, I know one person who could use it.)

Give

2010-06-11T06:37:00.001-07:00

My buddy Dan (the FOMBA Bomber) is riding the Prouty Century this year, a 100-mile charity ride. When he told me this, I assumed he was the charity--if you've ever ridden with him, you'd think that, too--but apparently it's to raise money for cancer. Please considering making a donation. It's for a good cause.

And he's doing his part--believe me, he'll be suffering after the first 15 miles.

His brother, Josh, is also riding. Josh--along with yet another brother--owns Salt Hill Pub in Lebanon, Hanover, and Newport, NH, great cyclist-friendly Irish pubs. There's a ride named after them in the book, and it starts and ends at SHP in Lebanon.

If you'd rather give in person than online, consider dropping by SHP and having a pint and giving there. Cancer sucks. Unless you're a scientist personally trying to cure it, this is as good a way to fight it as any. The brothers are doing all the work. You just need to give a few bucks.

Thank you. Carry on.

The One that Got Away

2010-06-10T09:46:00.000-07:00

Either he's figured out a way to combine triathlon legs, or he's doing it wrong. (Courtesy CyclingNews.com)

Decor

2010-06-10T09:45:00.001-07:00

Book Widow won't let me get this shower curtain. Hardly seems fair. It's tasteful, no?

Just Face It

2010-06-09T06:57:00.001-07:00

A rider crashes into a security wall during the Red Bull Road Rage bike downhill race in Sigulda May 30, 2010. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins

Oh, Colorado

2010-06-09T06:52:00.001-07:00

Cycleicio.us is reporting that the town of Black Hawk, Colorado banned bicycles from most of its local streets.

"...And Black Hawk Mayor David Spellman — who won the mayoral election unanimously in 2008 — is a drunken wife beater who consistently ranks as the most corrupt public official in Colorado. Really. To “promote safety” the casino town of Black Hawk in the Colorado Front Range has banned bikes from local streets. Police have been ticketing cyclists riding through town since the ban became effective last January 2010.
As Austin On Two Wheels notes about the safety angle:

Safety. Yeah. Right. Do you know what the number one cause of accidental deaths in the US is? Cars, not bicycles. Do you know the leading cause of all deaths? Heart disease brought on a sedentary lifestyle that involves driving everywhere you go. If they really cared about the health and well being of their citizens, Black Hawk would ban cars, not bikes.

The city of Blackhawk website is down as of this writing, but the city’s (apparently official) Facebook page brags about the “many transportation options” in Black Hawk. City Hall phone number is (303) 582-2210 and (303) 582-2212, mailing address is PO Box 68, Black Hawk, CO, 80422 if you’d like let them know how you feel. The city manager’s name is Mike Copp – his email address seems to be citymgr@cityofblackhawk.org; the mayor is David D. Spellman. The Planning Department, which probably doubles as the dog catcher in this town of around 100 people, is planningdept@cityofblackhawk.org.

Mayor David Spellman, incidentally, seems like a real character. In 2006, he was convicted of felony assault after he pistol whipped his wife — beating her several times in the head with a .38 and then shooting three times in a drunken rage — during a domestic dispute. In 2008, the Colorado Bureau of Investigations determined that Spellman personally received more than $1 million in state historical funds that were meant to preserve and restore the historical character of Black Hawk (the town council approved the purchase of land from Spellman using the state funds); he and several other town officials remain under investigation, and the former town manager was forced to resign. In 2009, Spellman purchased the local newspaper that was critical of him and fired the editor. Mayor Spellman consistently has topped the “Most Corrupt Public Officials list in Colorado. He and the town her represent seem like real gold mines.

U-Lock

2010-06-08T17:19:00.000-07:00

Biked to the grocery store today for a sandwich, and to refill the larder. Took my "commuter" bike--it's my cyclocross pit bike, an old Kona Major Jake. Got to the store and went to lock up with Kryptonite U-Lock.

Turns out, I couldn't. Why? The key broke off in the lock cylinder. Dammit. Had to bike back home and grab a second lock.

Insult to injury? The sandwich was borderline inedible--I said, "Horseradish, please," not "Try to kill me from the inside out."

Post

2010-06-08T15:41:00.000-07:00

Not so good at this posting thing this year, hey? What's worse is that I think I'm posting more than I'm riding. It's been remarkably busy--Book Widow and I moved unexpectedly. I'm behind the eight-ball with work. Life intrudes, but that's normal, right?

Right?

I did get out for a good ride with an old friend the other day, and he ripped my legs off on a very hilly social ride. I got my bikes built back up after shipping them to my new home--all except one cross bike, which came with me on my truck, and my old Bridgestone MTB (circa 1991), which is in no rush.

More to post as soon as I have time. Hope you're all well...

Sighting

2010-05-06T12:55:00.001-07:00

The first sighting of the book in the wild, in the New England section of the Salem, NH, Barnes and Noble where I'm waiting for new tires to be put on my truck at the body shop next door.

It wasn't facing cover-out. I did that. Please do the same if you see it someplace. Good karma will come your way. It's rocketing up the charts at Amazon, too, where it jumped from 3,748,441 the other day to 242,486 today. (Must be a slow day for bookbuying.)

Tour of Flanders?

2010-05-05T13:34:00.001-07:00

From Velogogo, a photo from the recent Ronde van Vlaanderen, or the Tour of Flanders.

Playing The Numbers

2010-05-05T13:23:00.000-07:00

Last week, when it was still in pre-release form, my book, New England Biking, was ranked 3,748,441 on Amazon's sales list (well ahead of a novel a friend wrote some years ago, by the way). Yesterday, Amazon--along with Powell's, Barnes and Noble and most other booksellers--changed its status to "In stock."

Today, Amazon lists it as the 476,342nd most popular book. If the NY Times had a Top 500,000 Bestseller List, I'd be on it. Ha.

For what it's worth, Amazon also says there are only two copies left in stock, though more are on order. (That means my mother bought more than one copy.)

One thing of note. A friend pre-ordered a copy from Barnes and Noble, who asked her to review it. That's right, review it before she'd even received it.

And this, my friends, is why we writers prefer bricks-and-mortar booksellers.

New England Biking

2010-05-05T06:03:00.000-07:00

I taped a TV show called Books and Authors yesterday, in Lawrence, Massachusetts, the town where I was born, to promote the book. This week I'm also meeting with a newspaper photographer for the first article about the book.

If you know of a newspaper, book store, bike shop, library, or any other venue that might be interested in a talk about local trails and rides, a photo slideshow, or an article, please let me know? We're working hard to spread the word about the treasure of rides we have here in New England.

Thanks...

Shipping

2010-05-05T06:02:00.001-07:00

Just heard from a friend in Colorado that Powell's is now shipping pre-ordered books, which means it's in general availability.

Ryde

2010-05-05T05:41:00.000-07:00

Managed to get out for a ride this past weekend. Not long. Not fast. Still, I'll file away the memory with those of other solid rides, and I'll tell you why--it reminded me once again of all the good things bikes can bring into your life.

Granite Dan (also known as the Fomba Bomber) and I rode from his house on Rye Beach, NH, down the seacoast. Our route overlapped the Bailey's Interstate Bounder ride you'll find in the book, but didn't come close to matching the mileage. The weather was nearly ideal.

Dan and I have been friends for more than two decades. We met freshman year in college, roomed together after that, and for twenty-something years he's been like a brother to me. If I need something, he's there without my asking. He's a writer, too, a journalist, and much of what I know about journalism I learned from his example.

When Book Widow and I pondered and debated our recent move (so recent, in fact, that it's still in progress), one of the arguments against was that for the past three years I've lived in close proximity to Dan again. During that time I'd fallen back into all our old rhythms, and I was reluctant to give that up. But I know our friendship won't suffer for it.

Having the chance to roll lazily down the coast with him on a warm, sunny day, chatting as we pedaled, was a gift. I rode Vincent Black Lightning, my cross bike, and he rode his Giant road bike. Our average speed wasn't even worth mentioning, but we heated it up for stretches, and cooled it down for others. In Hampton we stopped and watched early season beachgoers, kicking around the idea of a fried dough from Blink's--which we decided against, as it was early morning, with half the ride still ahead of us. On the return trip we chased down a cyclist in full kit on a Cannondale, and rode with him for a few minutes, trading pulls.

Riding a cyclocross bike means you're not limited to the tar. You can peel off the side of the road, hitting grass, dirt, sand and gravel, riding rolling little hills and cruising through short wooded patches that hem the road. Like being a kid, when you didn't distinguish between road bikes and mountain bikes, you just had one bike that you rode everywhere. Like being a kid when you didn't think of a bike ride as training, or exercise, just fun.

When Dan and I lived together back in the early Nineties, we were both writers at the beginning of our careers. We were a lot of talk, a lot of hope, a lot of rejection. We'd sit at opposite ends of the kitchen table, tapping away on our typewriters, trying to learn our craft. Back then, in addition to writing, bikes were already an important part of my life, as was Dan.

I thought of those days this weekend as I rode with my old friend, and as I handed him a copy of the book. It was a good moment. Nothing earth shattering, no trumpets or portent, no fireworks, but a good moment. In this world, it's worth taking all such moments.

Used

2010-04-28T13:47:00.000-07:00

My photo editor pointed out to me that someone is selling a used copy of the book--which isn't, technically, even available new yet--for $39.59 through Amazon. The seller listed it as "used--like new." He's also selling a new copy for $32.99. So you can buy it new for less than used.

And a friend of HBWT, Jeff, saw two copies for sale on Indigo.ca listed as "used and rare." I'll say it's rare. It's not even published yet.

I have copies. But I haven't leaked any of them to sellers yet. So, who has?

It's a good question.

A Post about Nothing

2010-04-27T15:22:00.001-07:00

FROM THE L.A. TIMES

Actor Jason Alexander, who played George Costanza in the long-running "Seinfeld" TV series, hit a teenage bicyclist Tuesday in Mid-City, police officials said. The collision was reported shortly after 7:15 a.m. at Wilshire Boulevard and June Street.

The 14-year-old boy was on his way to middle school when he was struck. He was taken to a hospital in stable condition. Los Angeles police took an accident report and are investigating the incident, but Alexander was not cited.

Alexander played the neurotic George, friend to Jerry, Elaine and Kramer, on the hit TV show from 1989 to 1998.

-- Andrew Blankstein

Bikerack Obama

2010-04-26T04:19:00.000-07:00

Several sites reported this the other day, but due to my life being in flux, I'm a little late catching up to it. During President Obama's visit to NYC to peddle (get it?) his financial reform bill, the NYPD, already in the hot seat with cyclists, made more enemies of what's got to be a large lobbying group:

"Citing security concerns that bikes might be secret pipe bombs, NYPD officers clipped the locks of hundreds of bikes along Houston Street this morning in preparation for President Obama's speech at Cooper Union. The bikes were unceremoniously put in the back of the truck. Onlookers were not given information as to what would become of the bikes. Happy Earth Day!" (Gothamist)

There are photos, including these two. The image of the NYPD truck full of confiscated bikes brings a tear to my eye.

Bike

2010-04-25T19:19:00.001-07:00

So, check out my new bike. Sweet, huh?

Cyclocross Meets (Sort of) Mainstream Media

2010-04-22T16:07:00.000-07:00

http://www.mensjournal.com/style-mud-warriors

Seen this?

Very Nearly a Book

2010-04-22T10:52:00.001-07:00

Greetings, faithful and patient readers and friends of HBWT. I have news. My publisher just emailed me a tracking number. The first box of books is en route, and will reach me tomorrow--no small feat, as I'm currently adrift, between homes, couch surfing.

My wonderful photo editor, Elizabeth, has already seen and held a copy of New England Biking. It's real. It exists.

If you pre-ordered through Powell's, B&N, or any other outlet, you should be receiving your copy (or copies) soon. If you want a signed copy you can order directly through me, or send me your copy. Email me through www.italicsmedia.com for more info.

Also, if you're in New England and want to join us for the book release party, it's on May 8 in Portsmouth, NH. Email me for details.

Hope this overdue post finds you all well, and already wearing out the treads on a new set of bike tires.

The Writer's Epitaph

2010-03-03T12:42:00.000-08:00

I know I've been ignoring this space--maybe avoiding it. I'm too busy dealing with hamster wheels to think about bike wheels, and it bothers me. I miss it. But a guy's got to earn a living, even the meager, half-baked one of a writer. I'm trying. I am. Be patient.

In the meantime, read this line from a review of the movie The Ghost Writer in this week's New Yorker magazine, which I'm adopting as my epitaph:

The skies are ashen, the rain never stops, and the writer, when he goes out on a bicycle for some air, gets blinded by the wet.

Olympic Sports

2010-02-24T05:25:00.000-08:00

This Cyclocross Magazine article raises so much internal conflict in me...

by Andrew Yee

A few days ago we alerted you of a petition by ‘cross fanatic Michael Fee to gather support for cyclocross in the Olympics. As of now, thanks in part to our post, the petition has 712 signatures in just a few days. Impressive, for sure, but that pales (blushes?) in comparison to the major effort by pole dancers to grab Olympic-season press and make their case for a typically stripper-dominated activity to be included in the summer Olympics.

It’s debatable whether a petition will capture the attention of the IOC, but if so, ‘crossers have their work cut out for them and can learn something from a group of steel tube lovers of a different kind. The pole dancers have created quite a PR machine, with an AP story about their campaign featured on Yahoo! Sports, MSNBC, and hundreds of local news TV broadcasts, new websites and newspapers. Some dancers claim they even have 150,000 signatures supporting their case. This one official petition doesn’t quite have that number, but still boasts five times the signatures that the cyclocross petition does.

It may all sound like a joke, but if you’re still reading, it’s actually an interesting case study on how an organization and community can build awareness on a sport, even if they’re unsuccessful on the actual goal of getting the sport in the Olympics. The International Pole Dancing Fitness Association stands behind this campaign, promotes it on the IPDFA home page and endorses the petition. And now, with all the press, suddenly normal people and even abnormal bike racers are talking about this obscure sport. But is the sport much different from ours? How many “normal” people have heard of cyclocross? While we may think pole dancing is obscure, it too has its own world championships for both men and women, competitors from many countries and continents, and even its own magazine as well.

Sure, with the Louisville Worlds coming in 2013, cyclocross is moving in the right direction, both in expanding internationally and growing domestically, and Worlds will undoubtedly help raise the awareness of the sport, especially in the Louisville area. But a carefully crafted PR campaign that hits most mainstream media outlets has an order of magnitude more exposure – and could help the Louisville event be an even bigger success.

If you think a petition will capture the attention of the IOC, UCI (the organization that was reportedly in talks wi th the IOC about adding cyclocross) or USA Cycling, rally the troops for signatures and encourage USA Cycling to support and publicly endorse the effort. Perhaps the end goal doesn’t have to be getting the sport in the Olympics, but rather just gaining more exposure for cyclocross so that one day our best riders can earn a salary to focus on the discipline. If that happens, we just might have a chance at making sure the rainbow jerseys the UCI brings to Louisville stay right here in the States.

Andrew Yee, who wrote the piece, is an editor at the magazine, and happens to ride for HUP United, my team. And the photo, by the way, comes from an unrelated site about bike riding and pole dancing combined. I found it with a little research.

It's time for a call to action. I'll keep it simple. Do the right thing and sign the petition. Either one.

Labels

2010-02-19T10:48:00.001-08:00

My post on the wine labels inspired by bicycles prompted Sea Sun, friend of HBWT and faithful tandem captain, to send this label from some homebrew he made with a friend some years ago.

(Readers: Sending images of beer labels is great. Sending actual beer is better. Take note.)

Visions

2010-02-19T10:23:00.000-08:00

This one just kills me. I know it's old, but it was just brought to my attention. There's probably a "Harvey" joke in here somewhere--or maybe Donnie Darko?--but I'm just going to post without comment. Except to say, Man, I miss Portland.

Hit-and-run driver claimed he didn't see 6-foot-tall orange rabbit on the pedicab

By Aimee Green, The Oregonian

October 28, 2009, 8:58PM
Pedicab driver Kate Altermatt still can't believe the driver of a Mercedes didn't see her pedaling down Northwest Fourth Avenue last Easter. Altermatt, who is 6 feet tall, was wearing a bright orange bunny suit, and the Cascadia Pedicab was lit up with reflectors and a blinking red light.

"I was very visible," she said.

The crash sent her flying and totaled the pedicab. She lay stunned on the pavement for a minute, then walked over to the driver's side window. She said she smelled alcohol on his breath.

"He was like '$100! $100 and I leave,'" Altermatt recalled. "And I was like, no. I started screaming. I said 'You're drunk! You're going to go to jail! I don't want your money!'"

Wednesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court, Altermatt finally got to confront the driver, who testified that he didn't see the pedicab because he was fumbling for a dropped cell phone.

After a daylong trial, Judge Karin Immergut found Edward Cespedes-Rodriguez guilty of hit-and-run driving for leaving the scene of the crash.

But Immergut cleared the 34-year-old Southwest Portland man of recklessly endangering another person. That disappointed Altermatt, who testified that Cespedes-Rodriguez looked her in the eye and intentionally hit her a second time as he sped away sometime after 2 a.m. April 12.

Altermatt said a second pedicab operator tried to get Cespedes-Rodriguez to step out of his car. Instead, Altermatt said, the driver jerked the car into reverse and backed half a block onto Davis Street. She said she and the other pedicab driver, Damon Kelly, managed to step in front of the car, and that's when Cespedes-Rodriguez stepped on the gas.

Altermatt testified that she rolled over the hood of the car, later suffering soreness to her head, shoulder and thigh and a jammed finger. She also said that Kelly, who didn't appear in court to testify, rolled over the hood, too. In the process, he must have cracked the windshield with the brass knuckles he was carrying for protection.

Defense attorney David Lesh tried to discredit Altermatt's testimony by questioning why Kelly didn't appear in court to testify. Portland police Officer Susan Abrahamson said she wrote in her report that Kelly told her he wasn't struck by the car, but that he hit the car as it was leaving the scene.

Lesh accused Kelly of bashing Cespedes-Rodriguez's car, causing $5,000 worth of damage. Lesh argued that his client had to choose between two evils -- sticking around to exchange information or fleeing for his own safety.

In the end, the judge agreed, saying the dents and cracked windshield must have been caused by someone purposely striking the car.

But the judge said Cespedes-Rodriguez could still have stopped his car at a safe distance and notified the police. He faces a penalty ranging from probation to up to one year in jail when sentenced next month.

Cespedes-Rodriguez was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving in 2005, but he entered a diversion program that required treatment, and a judge dismissed the case in 2006.

Prosecutors didn't charge Cespedes-Rodriguez with drunken driving for the April 2009 crash. Deputy district attorney Michael Schmidt said Cespedes-Rodriguez twice dodged the attempts of police to contact him later on the day of the crash, so no alcohol test could be taken. Authorities issued a warrant for his arrest in June.

"He hit somebody. He panicked because he was worried he was under the influence of alcohol," Schmidt said.

Altermatt said pursuing criminal charges against Cespedes-Rodriguez has been a struggle from the beginning. After the incident, when she ran to a nearby Portland police officer, she said, he dismissed her pleas for help. Perhaps, she thinks, because she was wearing a bunny suit.

About 45 minutes after the incident, she found another cop, who took a report.

Altermatt said the reason she pressed for prosecution was because she felt that Cespedes-Rodriguez treated her like a piece of garbage -- something that could be run over without another thought.

"This is probably the worst thing that has happened to me - being intentionally run over by a car. I felt like a Burger King bag."

-- Aimee Green

PSA

2010-02-18T03:50:00.000-08:00

Busy here. Trying to undig myself, and for a change, from something other than snow. In the meantime, a Public Service Announcement.

I know cyclists often do things based solely on their association with bicycles. Watching bad movies, like "Rad," or "Quicksilver." Buying a brand of granola bar because the TV commercial has a beautiful, blond female mountain biker in it. Choosing wine based on label.

It's that last thing that we need to talk about. Choosing wine by label, like choosing books by their cover, is a sketchy practice at best, but now it's proven to be just plain harmful. Thanks to the French. It seems that a collective of French wine producers has been selling ordinary red table wine to the Gallo wine folks as the more expensive, more desirable pinot noir grape, bottled under the Red Bicycle label.

Shame on them. And shame on you for buying Gallo wine when there's so much better out there. And if you insist on buying bike-themed wine, there's still a lot of better options--like Cycles Gladiator. Or the Hill of Content.

In fact, go out and find bike wine and report back to me. And avoid the Red Bicyclette. Which, by the way, should have been obvious by the name--why not Bicyclette Rouge?

Floyd on the Lam

2010-02-15T11:30:00.000-08:00

I have a little photo I cut out from a magazine of Floyd Landis, from early in the year he won the Tour de France, that says "Why is Floyd So Good This Year?" And he was good. His come-from-behind victory on the late stage of le Tour that year was some of the most exciting cycling, and one of the best athletic feats, I've ever seen. Book Widow and I watched it in a hotel room in Seattle. Awesome.

Did he dope? Nearly everyone seems to think so. Floyd has been steadfast in his denial, though he's, at times, handled his case--and his message--less than articulately. He's done himself more damage than good. From jumpstreet I've wanted to believe this was a sign that he didn't realize how much trouble he was in, because he was innocent and therefore naive.

I wanted a hero to believe in, I guess. Behind every superhero is a creation myth, and Floyd had his--they were awesome, and my buddy Dan Coyle caught most of them in his article for Outside magazine, which I heartily recommend.

But now, Floyd, I don't know what to believe, man...

PARIS (Reuters) - A French judge has issued an international arrest warrant against American rider Floyd Landis for suspected hacking into an anti-doping laboratory computer, French anti-doping agency head Pierre Bordry told Reuters on Monday.
In an interview, Bordy said the judge Thomas Cassuto believed Landis, whose 2006 Tour de France title was stripped after he failed a dope test, wanted to prove the laboratory where his samples were tested was wrong.
"French judge Cassuto from the Tribunal de Grande Instance of Nanterre informed us that he had issued an international arrest warrant on January 28 against Floyd Landis, who tested positive for banned testosterone during the 2006 Tour de France, after our laboratory computer system was hacked," Bordry said.
"He was summoned by the judge, he didn't come so he's now under an international arrest warrant."
The French anti-doping agency launched legal action against unnamed persons after they found their laboratory computer system had been hacked into in September 2006.
Landis, the first rider to be stripped of a Tour victory, has continually denied any wrongdoing but the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rejected his assertion that his positive test was due to procedural mistakes by the laboratory.
Landis, 34, said last year after his two-year ban ended that he was trying to decide whether to follow fellow-American Lance Armstrong's example and ride again in the Tour de France.
"It seems that (Landis) made all he could to enter into our computer system to try to prove the laboratory was wrong. He showed many documents he got by hacking to numerous sporting instances," Bordry said. "The judge traced a network of hackers back to the ringleader."

Book

2010-02-08T15:27:00.000-08:00

I spent some of the weekend proofing galleys of the book. Not as exciting as it should be, but then, copyediting your own mistakes is anything but glamorous or confidence-inspiring.

Also, my publisher posted this. Check it out...

Empire: The Trailer

2010-02-05T06:20:00.000-08:00

This isn't really a fixed-gear blog, and that's a different crowd entirely, but hey--bikes are bikes. Well, that's not entirely true (right, recumbents? I kid! Mostly.) but close enough. So then, the trailer for the upcoming film, "Empire," about fixed gear hooligans (not really what they call themselves):

What they do on bikes is impressive. What's even more impressive is how seriously they take themselves. But they way they run those red lights? At the risk of sounding like my grandfather, that's just irresponsible, and it pisses me off. I have to ride those streets too--well, not those streets, but streets nonetheless--and when you piss drivers off, they don't distinguish between fixed gear hooligans (not really what they call themselves) and the rest of us.

One plus, though? Right off the bat you see a messenger bag made by none other than HBWT friend Jon Bailey at BaileyWorks. Those fixed gear hooligans* at least have good taste.

* Not really what they call themselves

Content

2010-02-05T03:46:00.000-08:00

New content coming soon, I promise. I'm under siege here. The good news is, the proofs of the book have been mailed by my publisher, and starting tomorrow I'm making final edits--it's all laid out, and from the PDFs I've seen, looks pretty cool.

The bad news? I'm too busy to post much here this week.

In the meantime, if you're planning to pre-order copies, please do not do so from Amazon. The book is available from a number of other places, including my favorite, Powell's World of Books in Portland, OR. Amazon has taken a hardline against author's rights recently and I'm doing my part to steer business away from them.

Thanks for your interest. Back soon.

WWJD

2010-02-02T05:44:00.000-08:00

When the going is tough--and on a bike, the going can be tough--it's helpful to ask yourself What Would Jens Do, Jens of course referring to the German cyclist who could make Steve "The Bionic Man" Austin look like Emo Phillips.

And what does Jens do?

Downhill

2010-02-01T15:30:00.001-08:00

One of the mechanics at a local bike shop here in Portland, ME, posted this video of himself last summer at Sunday River downhilling. Hang on to your helmet.

Summer 2009 from Sebastian Boyington on Vimeo.

Stop, Thief!

2010-02-01T12:45:00.001-08:00

Meanwhile, in Issaquah, Washington...

Worlds!

2010-01-29T06:51:00.000-08:00

Cyclocross World Championships are this weekend. You can watch them live online here, and streamed after-the-fact here.

In bigger news, they're coming to the U.S.--the states won a bid to host Cyclocross World Championships for the first time ever in 2013. The winning venue is Louisville, Kentucky, home to my buddy Gavan, who just moved there. Gav, I call dibs on your guest room that week. Put it on your calendar, buddy.

Around Like a Wheel

2010-01-27T14:45:00.001-08:00

A year ago I was a senior copywriter for the internal ad agency of UnitedHealth Care, and then, unceremoniously and without notice, they laid me off--just another victim of the economy tanking. The good news was, it got me out of a short stint in Corporate America and gave me the opportunity to write "Biking New England."

At the time, UHC said the reason for the layoffs was financial. Of course it was--it always is. A few months ago, the company announced it would be the new title sponsor of a domestic cycling team to the tune of many, many millions of dollars.

I've won three bike races in my life--two BMX races as a kid, and a criterium a couple of years ago. (Not as impressive as it sounds; it was the citizen racing category, and I basically beat two clowns on unicycles, a homeless guy on a Huffy mountain bike, and Pee Wee Herman.) I was bouncing back from a long period of injury, and out of shape, and didn't wear my team kit--instead I wore UnitedHealth Care kit (actually, OptumHealth, a division of UHC). When I won, the company posted photos of me crossing the line on its Web site and in promotional materials for healthy lifestyles.

The irony of UHC laying off a cyclist who actually did work for the company and claiming it couldn't afford his paltry salary hiring a team of cyclists isn't lost on me. I assume it is, however, on the company. I remain disgruntled, sure, but toward UHC--not the cyclists. And any company who sponsors a cycling team is doing something good, and for that I applaud it.

So I'm running this press release.

The UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis wants you to be a Fan, and they’re willing to pay handsomely. Play along and you could win some of the same Team-issue gear used by their riders in actual races, such as an official Team Kuota Kult frame and fork valued at $3,500 when they reach 100,000 Team Facebook Fans.
To be eligible to win, go to http://www.facebook.com/UHCprocycling and become a fan of the Team. Even if you’re already a fan on their Facebook page, you’re still eligible to win prizes, and prizes are given away at certain Fan acquisition milestones.
See all prizes and more info after the break…

REMAINDER FROM THEIR PRESS RELEASE:

When we reach the following numbers of Team Fans, we’re going to be giving away these great prizes:

Number of Fans / Team Prize:
25,000 Fans = Full set of Team bibs and jersey, valued at $180
50,000 Fans = 2010 SRAM Red Road Gruppo, valued at $1,900
75,000 Fans = Edge Carbon Wheels, valued at $2,800
100,000 Fans = Kuota Kult Frame & Fork, valued at $3,500

And, when we reach our goal of 100K Team Facebook Fans, Momentum Sports Group, the owner and operator of the UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis, will make a $5,000 donation to the UnitedHealthcare Children’s Foundation (www.uhccf.org) on behalf of all of our Team fans.
The UnitedHealthcare Children’s Foundation (UHCCF) is a 501(c)(3) public charity that strives to enhance either the clinical condition or quality of life of children who have health care needs not fully covered by their commercial health benefit plan. UHCCF provides medical grants of up to $5,000 for costs associated with medical services and equipment.

On the Road

2010-01-27T10:01:00.000-08:00

Back from the road now, but still getting caught up. Have patience, dear readers.

Alligator Roll

2010-01-22T13:15:00.000-08:00

Book Widow and I hit the road yesterday for three days in southwest Florida, visiting my folks. This morning we headed into the Everglades, rented bikes and rode 15 miles through Shark Valley. Here's a picture Book Widow took of me judging the risk of a cyclocross carry over an obstacle on the trail.

Note the rad ladies bike the rental place gave me. Four-bolt 80's BMX-style stem--we called them "goosenecks" back then--loose bearings in the bottom bracket and both hubs, single speed, coaster brakes, and a chain guard rusted, dented and pressing against the chain. Sweet. All told it weighed just 42 pounds.

This trail is not like any in New England that I rode for the book this summer, that's for sure. As my dad pointed out on our ride today, "In Massachusetts, the lawyers would have shut this down by now." He's right--there would be fences, and helmets, and liability paperwork in triplicate. I'll tell you one thing, though--the bike they rented me? That ought to be illegal.

Longevity

2010-01-20T08:20:00.001-08:00

Apparently I'm riding too much, although I've got both the spinach and the beer thing down. From a story about a tree, named Herbie, older than the American Revolution that was recently felled due to Dutch Elm Disease here in Maine:
...Knight, who uses a walker, jokes that his secret to a long life is raw
spinach and beer, which he has each day for lunch. He rides a stationary
bike for a mile each day, as well. He admits that he doesn't understand
his own longevity any more than he understands Herbie's.

Tree

2010-01-20T06:35:00.001-08:00

River

2010-01-19T07:25:00.001-08:00

Photo from a cross race out west...

The Golden Tandem, or My Husband Dragged Me Along for the Ride, Award

2010-01-19T07:08:00.000-08:00

The Golden Tandem, or My Husband Dragged Me Along for the Ride Award...
...goes to Sea Sun and his lovely wife, Sara, who accompanied me on the Cape Cod Rail Trail one morning this summer. Sea Sun--always good company on a bike ride or a beer-drinking excursion--invited his wife along for the ride we'd scheduled, even though she's not a cyclist.

That's right--Sara's not a cyclist, but she gamely rides shotgun with Sea Sun on the family tandem. In fact, the whole family rides with him...

That Massachusetts morning, Sara faced adversity down. She'd forgotten her helmet, but stopped to rent one. She rode farther that morning than she ever had before. She did so without complaint, except to occasionally remark that her view of the scenic route was being effectively blocked by her husband's large head. At one point she even suffered a mechanical--her cleat bolt broke and she found herself trapped in one of the bike's four pedals.

UPDATE: Sea Sun wrote to remind me that she did, in fact, complain from time to time, but not just about his noggin--her issue was that he neglected to warn her, from time to time, about upcoming bumps in the road. Now that he brings it up, I remember that--and it looked, to me, like he did it on purpose.

For their efforts that day to overcome obstacles and ride with me, Sea Sun and Sara, here's to you.