Cycling Fashion or Passion?

After pouring over the catalogs, websites,magazines, reading the reviews you are ready to pull the trigger. You have gotten clearance from your significant other (or at least hope to by the time it arrives). Why are you getting it? Do you fall into the speed cost money(so, here is how fast I can afford to go) category, or my bike will finally be cool enough after this purchase? Lets just assume we all have been part of some variation of the above rationalizations. But I have been looking at things differently lately. Within the last year I have converted my over 20 year old Serotta to a fixed gear (fashion?). Due to a high percentage of "fixie" riders being wrapped up in "A passion for fashion" I have been aware of that possible perception of my bike. The truth is though, I have never looked forward to riding my bike more, riding it harder, pushing myself past previous boundaries than anything I have ever done to any bike. I have renewed my passion for riding and my bike! I did upgrade my rear wheel lately but was careful to consider cost versus ride results. I did not consider what others thought were cool, only what would roll better than what I had and be reliable and yes, fast (couldn't help it). I ended up with a hand made wheel (Dura-Ace fixed only, low flange and Mavic Pro rim) made by the best shop around www.thebikebiz.com , great price, amazing build, fast service. The net result was not a stroll to the local coffee house , but even more miles and smiles. I love to ride. I smile when I ride. I love my life while I am riding, because I can. That's passion my friends.

BIKE POSITION

Due to shorter, colder, and wet days (sick days too) we may find ourselves not on the road as much as we would like. Core training is vital year around. Here is an article about bike position and how your fitness relates to it by Steve Hogg. It is somewhat long winded geek speak, but he makes a good point.

THE BUSINESS OF CYCLING

Recently retired American cyclist Bobby Julich wrote an interesting article. Check it out Here.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU TRAIN

Our egos are wonderful and villainous elements of our psyche. On one hand our egos give us confidence, courage, and the ball bearings to try and accomplish things we wouldn’t attempt. On the other hand our egos can send us home with our tail between our legs to lick our wounds.

In an earlier post I mentioned riding with the Chico Velo years ago. I started this because I wanted to improve my riding for the cycling leg in racing triathlons. They have a flat fast ride through the orchards on Wednesday afternoons. Appropriately it was called “The Fast Fifty” which originally stood for fifty miles, but evolved into fifty kilometers. I had been training for years, but I was getting mediocre results in my racing. Riding hours by yourself is fine to get the mileage in, but it is difficult to really improve. So I had this bright idea, ride with the young fast guys (I was at least ten years older than most).

The first ride we started out going through town to get to the orchard roads and I thought ‘wow, I can hang with the fast dudes’ that was about the time that rollout ended and I never saw them again. I finished the 50 kilometers by myself. I put my ego aside and let my stubborn, competitive side take over. I kept going back and getting dropped. Well the ego came back the first time I finished with the second pack hanging on for dear life. I was pumped. I then worked my through the second pack and started hanging on the back of the first pack. The joy (ego) I felt the day I moved to the front of the main field to take a pull was priceless. Even amongst the dirty looks and raised eyebrows. I was not well accepted as I was OLD and a tri-geek. In fact, they barely tolerated me. I indeed improved my cycling and continued to ride with the Velo until I left Chico.

I share this story because I just got back from the “Coffee Republic” ride, a fast somewhat hilly ride on Saturdays. I had my butt torn off and handed back on a silver platter. Don’t get me wrong, I had very low expectations and lived up to them. I once again find myself wanting to improve so ego aside and stubbornness in front I hung on as long as I could and rode hard until the finish. I wasn’t last (ego), but not even close to the main field. Most had gone home by the time I finished. They are still young and I am a lot older. In the movie Breaking Away, the “Cutters” are looking down at the school and are complaining that ‘they will always be young’.

Train hard and surround yourself with riders better than you. This is how you improve. I hope to have some training specific posts here soon. We live in a great place to train. I already see complaints about training indoors. Here in Sacramento we can train year round on the road.

I know they will always be young, but I will be at the Coffee Republic coffee shop next week for another dose of ego shattering humility. As Fixedgear Dad says (posts from him coming soon) "Getting dropped is a temporary condition."

"A Dog in a Hat"

I just finished reading Joe Parkin’s book "A Dog in a Hat". I would not recommend this book for the casual or average American cycling fan. It would be too easy for them to get wrapped up in the drug aspect of the book. However, to the “riders” this book is an eye opening account of life in the European peloton. Someone who is used to being in the saddle can appreciate the hard work, sacrifice, and team work it takes to be successful in road racing. Joe’s stories and accounts are very detailed and are fascinating. I will have to plan a trip to visit Belgium to ride and maybe watch a kermis or two. The Belgium beer would be an added bonus of course!

Whenever there is big money involved people will do what ever takes to get an edge: “Imagine someone telling you that by taking a certain drug you could win a single event and be three times richer, famous for life in your country---and it won’t hurt anyone. What would you say? There’s a wide range of ethics among riders.”---Ned Overend

You have to realize that in Europe cyclists can achieve rock star status. In Joe’s book he describes getting his picture taken for his “Hero” card, Europe’s equivalent of a baseball card. European cyclists are plenty due to the popularity of the sport. Riders that are successful are neighborhood heroes, the same as our local high school athletes making the pros and performing well.

Don’t get me wrong, I do not condone cheating in any form. I would never put drugs in my body to gain an advantage. Now some new fangled supplement, sign me up. Back in my triathlon days I lived in Chico and trained with the Chico Velo. One year one of the riders hooked up with some company to test a new supplement for his master’s thesis on sports nutrition. I volunteered because they were testing VO2 max and such. In those days all the magazines and articles were telling us age groupers that this was the best way to judge fitness, hence performance. The study was supposed to be a double blind study, but we knew almost instantly which was the real thing and which was the placebo. Did it improve our performance? I can’t answer that as I was not privy to the numbers, but I can tell you when we were taking, get this, the grape seed extract, we recovered faster, trained more often, and we felt great most of the time. I don’t know what ever happened with the product. The whole thing just sort of disappeared because the testers and the subjects could tell which one was the placebo.

In his book Joe called himself “a consciences objector”. This shows that the entire peloton is not on something. No one complains because of what Joe calls “the lycra wall”. Endurance athletes (any cyclist that races the classics are some of the world’s best endurance athletes) do not need muscle mass as say baseball or American football athletes. To put it simply they need red blood cells to carry oxygen to their muscles. This is where blood doping comes in. With steroids it is obvious to the naked eye when someone is using due to the rapid massive gain in muscle mass. EPO and other forms of blood enhancement are not so obvious. Can there ever be a level playing field? Who knows? I will say that cheaters will always find a way to cheat, but in the morning they still have to look in the mirror.

In my opinion the truly gifted athletes are the ones that are winning and performing well on a consistent basis. The cheaters are fly by night because; well they suck and have to cheat. Our sport is a great sport with athletes that perform well because they spend hours in the saddle, not minutes in the doctor’s office. There is a bumper sticker out there for Ironman triathletes that reads “So you did a marathon, that’s cute”. The riders of the classics and grand tours could say the same thing about the Ironman!!!

DO STEROIDS WORK?

You be the judge.

"Iron Mistress"

Due to the change in the weather some of us are breaking out the rain bike. That forgotten or used up steed we once coveted or the bike that didn’t quite fit. Maybe it grew old and you found a newer, lighter, and sexier bike. The bike that if not for inclement weather would not leave that hook in the dark corner of the garage. Once upon a time we washed it with love, treated it with respect, and rode it with passion. Now it sits waiting, like your old faithful dog too old to do much, but willing and waiting, for you to once again to turn your attention to the corner and go out to share the road.

My commute took longer, took more effort, and was in general just so-so. The rain blowing sideways and the high volume of traffic wasn’t much help either. Also, with the time change it was dark when I left the house and dark when I got back home. It was a sluggish ride at best with my legs complaining of the different position and geometry knowing they were not powering the usual machine…………….

This morning back upon my sweet Italian “Iron Mistress” (a reference to an old cycling quote that we have been having fun with), with her art deco paint gleaming in the light I plunged into my morning adventure. Her form caressed me lovingly and she responded to my touch with the enthusiasm of a new lover. With speed, grace, and agility she screamed through the corners, launched into the climbs, rocketed down the descents, and hugged me through traffic with a protective embrace. When we were finished I was out of breath exhilarated with endorphins and adrenaline.

Ok, not every one knows or believes in steel the way I do, but the quote is old. And, let’s face it “Carbon Mistress” does not have the same ring (don’t even think about aluminum). However, most of us do have that one bike, the one that fits just right, the one that rides like none before, that has a special place in your heart and garage (or room).

Once the passion of the ride subsided and I came to my senses, I realized that I will now dread rain days even more knowing I will have to leave my “Iron Mistress” behind.

Genesis

This is the beginning. I am not sure where this will go, but we will see. The first order of business is Lance Armstrong's come back. How many world class athletes and champions have made this same mistake? It never works. Their arrogance over rules their common sense. To think that one could come back to world class level after a three year layoff.

I will say that fighting cancer is not the best training tactic and he did manage that one. However, age has a funny way of bringing you back to reality. To drum up all the laundry (especially from the French) for one last Hoorah is questionable at best. Especially under the pretense of promoting cancer awareness. Pulease. Lance was a great athlete and very well may be still, but dude what have you been doing the last three years? I did see a quote from him complaining about all the demands on his time, "when I was an athlete, all I had to do was eat, train, and sleep....", he was complaining about the demands on his time. He wants to hide in the peloton.

I want to remember the old Lance. The miraculous comeback from cancer. Sitting on the edge of my seat during the team time trials, jumping up after "the look" and watching him drop the field like a rock as my friend Mike would say. Watching the faces of the French get redder with each consecutive win. Why destroy that memory just to feed his ego and trust me that's what he is doing. Oh well, fodder for the next blog.