I won! I won! I don't have to go to school anymore.
Eddy Merckx
after winning his first bike race
I've always taken the phrase "Know your limits" to mean that you should hold back when you might otherwise go too far. I no longer believe that. In fact, the saying has quite the opposite effect on me. My limits, it turns out, are quite often much higher than I first believe...
I just logged my first century last weekend with some pals from Team PBDH (our loosely organized weekend ride group from work) and I have to say it was pretty fantastic. For those not aware, the STP is a double century ride from Seattle to Portland and people typically do it over the course of a weekend by spending the night somewhere near the 100 mile mark. We decided to press on a bit farther and planned our stay in Castle Rock, so my first century actually topped out at healthy 136 miles. I'm not gonna lie, it was challenging…
Fantastic 2007 Tour de France photos from the portfolio of Brent Humphreys. Click on the Projects link on the far right.
Link via Freeman Transport.
Riccardo Ricco gives back his polka dots and heads home with the rest of the Saunier Duval team. What are these knuckleheads thinking? Ricco kept a picture of Marco Patani in his pocket so I guess it was only a matter of time. Read the NYT article.
Every time I ride at Seattle's Colonnade Bike Park, there is someone there for the first time who "just heard of it" - amazing. This place rocks. With thousands of volunteer hours, and a huge helping of their own hard work and creativity, the Backcountry Bicycle Trails Club (BBTC), has designed and built this park right off the northwest side of Seattle's Capitol Hill. If you are a mountain biker, you need to check it out, but be careful - you will probably get addicted to a new level, and probably buy a new bike (or two) before you know it. On 2 acres of hill-slope land ingeniously located under the I-5 freeway decks (no rain here - ever!), the park features 1.5 miles of twisty single track trail, ladder bridges, skinnies, jumps, berms, chutes, pump track, wall rides, rock gardens - everything to please your aching mountain bike tooth. If you know what these things are, you know how cool this is. If you don't, then you are about to enjoy a huge upgrade in life-happiness. The park is a perfect place to learn new bike skills or just have fun. I hit it about twice a week and it's never enough.
Stopped by the Seattle Bike-In on Sunday. Some teens from Issaquah were tearing it up on the stage while an overly mellow crowd offered a few yelps of encouragement. (I haven't heard 3-chord angst like that in a long time.) Sadly, I didn't have time to stay for the films as it was getting late and work was piling up. (Spent the whole day riding in sun.) Before leaving I did manage to witness the operation of a fine invention that paired a bicycle with a blender. Bike smoothies!
Despite the unconscionable removal of Team Astana (and two members of last year's podium), the 2008 Tour de France is pretty exciting stuff. Christian Vande Velde looks strong enough to be on the podium, but he's got a lot of work to do in the next 2 days. Big mountains start tomorrow and L’Alpe d’Huez is set for Wednesday. Read the NYT article.
I saw this guy riding a unique (and very cool) looking single-speed mountain bike the other day, so as per usual, I obnoxiously stuck my nose right in his business and asked him what kind of bike it was. He had to remove his headphones and ask me to repeat myself, which I did. He told me that he had made it himself, frame and all. Cool. I sort of thought that maybe he had. Not in a that-sucks-so-much-it-must-be-home-made sort of way. More of a that-is-so-cool-and-unique sort of way. Mostly I just had a feeling about it. Might have been the lack of logos, who knows. I chatted with him for a mile or two and he told me that he and some other folks had gotten together and made some bikes, and if I'm not mistaken they teach a university-level engineering/shop class on exactly that topic, at Stanford, I think (or some other place outside of Seattle, which might as well be off the end of the Earth to me).
In a nutshell, we are trying to prove that a Kenyan who comes from the land of marathon champions, and who probably might be a good runner, can also be an exceptional cyclist. theafricancyclist.com
At least they're being honest. On the plus side, all reports (Like this one) seem to say that bikes sales are through the roof, which by itself doesn't matter much to me, except that there also follows government attention and spending on bike lanes, facilities, etc. I'm one of those jerks who has for years been saying "good" when gas prices go up - with the hope that once there was a squeeze, people would start looking for other options. So I guess that's where we are. Keep voting with your dollars, peeps. That's one vote that even GWB can't steal.
If you haven't found a creative way to kill yourself tomorrow (Thursday), here's an idea. Looks like some folks will be mounting their bikes and racing Seattle's new streetcar on it's 2.6 mile route. I might suggest paying your fare and watching from the train if you're not interested in getting run over yourself.
A little more sketchy info about this sketchy ride here.
Thursday, July 24th
7:15pm START at westlake hub (5th & olive)
After Party at HOOTERS on South Lake Union
Caught the Cycle U Street Sprints at Cyclefest during my evening ride tonight. Cat 1 racer Adrian Hegyvary (pictured above in blue) took the win with some fancy tire sliding in the turns. (Dave and I took a paceline class from Adrian earlier this year and he seems like a pretty cool guy.) Looks like he also has a blog documenting some European race exploits form last year.
Since becoming a bike commuter I've felt it was my duty to convince anyone who will listen to be a bike commuter as well. The way I figure it, if I can do it, anyone can do it. Being a stylish lady, I always thought it a hassle to have sweaty helmet hair all day due to commuting. Then gas reached $4/gallon. I think I can handle helmet hair in order to give oil companies the finger. So, from time to time I check craigslist for cool bikes around $100 that I can send to potential bike commuters to bring them over to the two-wheeled side.
Some interesting designs for new bike racks can be found over at nycityracks.com. Also check out the Flickr Bike Rack pool.
Yesterday's Critical Mass demonstration ride, seems to have turned ugly with a confrontation between a driver and some cyclists. People seem to be pre-disposed to sympathize with one side of the story or another. I'll try to give you both sides here...
At the very same time that angry cyclists were battling cranky automobile operators me and the wife were relaxing in the grass at the Marymoor Park Velodrome watching the Friday night track races sipping cold beer and eating hot dogs. And here's the deal: track racing is awesome! I can't imagine a cooler place to be on a sunny Friday evening.
Hello sea-level friends. This weekend, on a whim, my husband and I escaped the 100º heat in Boulder and fled to mid 80º heat in the Rocky Mountains. We decided that, hey while we're here, might as well climb a mountain on our road bikes. So, off we go to ride up Vail Pass. Sitting at 10,500 feet in elevation, this is no small hill to climb, but we were both hungry for the challenge.
I’ve always found the concept of "The Greater Good" to be flawed in that the greater good ultimately requires the superiority of goodness in a society over that of it’s members. Ayn Rand would define this same flaw by saying that the good of some takes precedence of the good of others, with those others forced to become scape goats for the greater good itself. That said, I think it’s time Critical Mass sacrifice itself for the greater good of cycling.
I like the idea of clever civil disobedience: Finding ways to inspire others while vilifying injustice. It’s the American way after all, and I think Critical Mass had this in mind at its inception—inspiration through an uproarious challenge of the status quo. And despite the hard truth that anarchy will always fail, Critical Mass has held on for some time as a leaderless, mostly positive agent for bicycle awareness at any cost.
Before every Tour de France I usually watch this Nike commercial featuring Lance Armstrong training. This year I got behind and just now remembered to watch it. Man, it's such an inspiring video. It always makes me want to go ride, race trains, flock with birds (flock?). Anyway, I know I'm probably in the minority, but I'm still a Lance believer. I don't think he doped. Watch and be inspired.
I ordered a little wallet for myself from these guys over at Totally Tubular Design because I heard they were made of recycled bike tubes. Cool. Then I got a little purse for my wife because they looked so cute and girly. It was so cool, I got one for myself (a little less girly). The products are great. They are made from recycled bike tubes and tires, and the liners are made from other random scraps of recycled cloth, leather, etc. They are sturdy and solidly-built with big fat threads and heavy materials - I love that. I can't say that they are particularly precise - they don't lay exactly flat, they are not perfectly rectangular - but that's part of the charm. Besides a cool product though (and great friendly service), I had a great idea that makes my commuting happier: Put your little loose nonsense (keys, wallet, phone, quarters, whatever) in this little bag and then put that in your big bag (I'm thinking messenger bag or panniers). Then it will all be there in one handy place instead of loose amongst the sweaty clothing, spare tubes, bottle caps, U-lock and all that other crap in there. It's working great for me, and it makes me happy every time I grab it and unzip that super-chunky zipper.
