Solving the Right Problem

Sometimes the most important part of problem solving is making sure that you are solving the right problem. Recently I was involved in this exchange over on the iBOB list.

Here is the original post that kicked things off:

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Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2006 13:04:03 -0500
From: "Gates, Keith W [NTK]"
Subject: [BOB] From saddlebags to panniers

After a long stint using a single Carradice Super C saddlebag for commutes, I've reached a point in my job where I have to start ferrying the laptop home in the evenings. I looked at this as a chance to upgrade my commuting rig! No problems!

So, I recently bought and installed a Tubus Fly, and bought a cheapy pannier, waterproof - but cheap and basic - so basic I won't bore you with the name of the company. Nothing notable. A recent heavy rain proved it's waterproofness, but it has no pockets, a cheap suspension system, and look like it might only last a single season, maybe slightly longer.

I love the rack --- VERY well made, with tubing almost as thick as the seat stays on the bike!! Install was clean, and it's SOLID. Makes me wonder how conservative their 40 lbs. rating is -- but I'll never exceed it on a commute anyways. I digress.

To my chagrin, the Super C saddlebag was not big enough to hold all my clothing and such AND a laptop -- the laptop *DID* fit in there, surprisingly, but it left me no room for winter layer overflow, groceries. Thus the pannier solution -- Carradice Super C holds all the normal commuter stuff with room to spare, and the laptop in a neoprene sleeve rests inside the cheap pannier between some 1.5" thick foam pads I cut out. However, this is a little clumsy, so I'm already thinking of ways to fully convert from saddlebag-dom to pannier life.

My saddlebags will survive for tours and weekend stuff, but for the daily grind I'm looking for opinions on office-style panniers -- I have it narrowed down to three makes, for functionality, weatherproofness, build, and apparent functionality off the bike:

Carradice, Arkel, and Ortlieb all make "briefcase" style panniers, all with differing mounting systems, and all with their own unique attributes. I have to admit, I'm biased towards Carradice for the fabric, build, and the luck I've had with three of their other products I've owned (which is why I was hesitant to give up on the saddlebag in the first place!) --- I had heard of Arkel, but had never seen one, and after an internet search I found that Arkel seems to be VERY well thought-thru, very well-made - but sadly not waterproof as it sits, unless I added a rain cover to my order. Back to Carradice: Cotton duck has it ALL over anything else I've used, but I wonder if Carradice has as much thought in their laptop protection, pockets and suspension as Arkel seems to have? Then, there's Ortlieb; famous fr waterproofness and toughness, but it seems always at a the expense of pockets, features and off-bike convenience -- their bags will take you around the world with maximum protection, but it seems like they are smaller, have fewer features, and it's harder to access things. At least that's my impression. There are some other options from Jandd and a few others, but for the price and the quality it seems that the three I mentioned are truly the best choices, unless I missed one out there.

So, before I rush out and buy the Carradice briefcase pannier, any thoughts from people that have used either of the other two in the real world?

Sorry my posts are always so long, folks -- I'm a details guy, and I think it gets me a quicker answer if I try to cover everything right off the bat. Thanks again!

After I get this answered, I wonder what I'll do with the OTHER side of the rack??? :)

keith Gates

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Keith did get a few replies about various panniers and then a fellow who goes by the online name of "Nom DePost" sagely replied:

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Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2006 16:45:32 -0700 (PDT)
From: Nom DePost
Subject: Re: [BOB] From saddlebags to panniers

> After a long stint using a single Carradice Super C saddlebag for
> commutes, I've reached a point in my job where I have to start
> ferrying the laptop home in the evenings. I looked at this as a
> chance to upgrade my commuting rig! No problems!

Plan B:

i stopped dragging the laptop around - flashdrives.
first i used a chunk of my iPod to store data and then got
into flashdrives, 4-GB so far.
also, check out this site:
<http://portableapps.com/>
(i'm typing this in portable Thunderbird.)

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At this point I jumped in with my advice:

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From: "Kent Peterson"
Subject: Re: [BOB] From saddlebags to panniers
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2006 17:03:15 -0700

Nom DePost wrote:

> Plan B: i stopped dragging the laptop around - flashdrives. first
> i used a chunk of my iPod to store data and then got into
> flashdrives, 4-GB so far. also, check out this site:
> <http://portableapps.com/>
> (i'm typing this in portable Thunderbird.)

Amen to everything Nom typed and I'd add this. A lot of us have high speed connections both at home and work. You can file transfer a lot of stuff back and forth and use remote desktops like:

https://secure.logmein.com/

My job is helping people commute by bike and probably half of those who think they need to take a laptop back and forth are amazed to find out that they don't.

Kent Peterson
Commuting Program Director
Bicycle Alliance of Washington

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The next day Keith posted this note to the list:

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Date: Sat, 14 Oct 2006 18:29:27 -0500
From: "Gates, Keith W [NTK]"
Subject: [BOB] RE: Saddlebags to panniers

> https://secure.logmein.com/

> My job is helping people commute by bike and probably
> half of those who think they need to take a
> laptop back and forth are amazed to find out
> that they don't.

> Kent Peterson
> Commuting Program Director
> Bicycle Alliance of Washington

At the risk of venturing off-topic, I'll keep this short:

Once again, Kent Peterson saves the day -- honestly, this solution never even crossed my mind.

I just saved at least 8 lbs off the bike, the extra hassle of docking/undocking, etc. every day to and from work, not to mention the removal of risk while commuting this winter, etc.

The system recommended above works flawlessly - my problems are solved!

I'm keeping the Tubus rack -- it's so light, it doesn't matter that it's there, and I still have the cheapy pannier for grocery runs, etc. I'm back to my successful "one bag" formula with the Carradice Super C saddlebag and SQR system. Life is good again, as I reply to this on my work computer, which is docked at work, while I sit here at home with a cup of coffee and the TV going. Bliss.

Thanks, Kent! Superior recommendation, and a great example of something non-cycling directly benefiting the cyclist.

keith Gates

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I'm glad Keith has happily solved his problem. I myself go into the office four days a week and on Wednesdays I use logmein to telecommute.

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent

You can't make up for slow climbing

I live at the base of the Cascade Mountains in Washington state and I like riding my bicycle in the mountains. I'm a fairly light guy so I don't suffer as much on the climbs as some of my heavier companions. Some of those folks are much faster descenders than I am and you might think that at the end of the day it all evens out. It doesn't. Climbing slows us all down but if you want to be faster in the hills, you have to get faster on the climbs. You burn up your time by going slow, so the key is to spend less time going slow.

Here's a simplified example. Let's say you can ride 24 kph on flat ground. In an hour, you cover 24 kilometers. Now let's put a big mountain in your path. The mountain is symmetrical with 12 kilometers of climbing to the summit followed by 12 kilometers of descent. Let's say that it's steep enough that it knocks your speed in half on the climb and your speed is doubled on the descent. So you climb 12 kilometers at 12 kilometers per hour and descend 12 kilometers at 48 kilometers per hour. That works out to a total of 1 hour 15 minutes to go 24 kilometers so your average speed is 19.2 kph.

But let's say you can put some more effort in somewhere, you can descend even faster or put some more effort into climbing. You get much more payoff by climbing faster. Let's say you can get your climbing speed up to 16 kph and keep your descending speed at the same 48 kph. In this case you'll spend 45 minutes climbing and 15 minutes descending and your overall average is 24 kilometers per hour.

But let's say you tried putting your effort into descending faster. You get a nifty recumbent bike that doesn't climb any faster but it can descend like a rocket at 90 kph. So now you climb 12 kilometers at 12 kilometers per hour and then zip through the 12 kilometer descent in 8 minutes. Your average speed is 21.18 kph. Your super fast descent might be really fun (or really scary!) but it doesn't buy you nearly as much overall speed as what you gain by climbing faster.

The way to get faster at climbing is to work on climbing. Weight does matter somewhat but Eddy Merckx said it best when he advised: "don't buy upgrades; ride up grades."

By the way, I think this relates to something I've noticed about myself. If I'm riding a fixed gear, or a single speed, or a three speed or a bike with a whole bunch of Disraeli gears, it doesn't seem to matter much in terms of my overall speed. With more gears I can maybe go faster on the descents, but the lower gears seem to make me a little lazy and I gear down and go slow on the climbs. With fewer gears, I'm more likely to grind it out. The simpler bikes might not be real fast but they spend less time going slow.

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent

The Big Lebowski Brevet

This past weekend was the first Oregon Randonneurs 600K Big Lebowski Brevet. Four of us van pooled down from Seattle for the ride. Peter Beeson made me swear that the SIR newsletter will get first publication rights to my story of the event so this isn't the ride story, this is just a tiny comment on the ride.

Half the Seattle crew (Eric Vigoren and myself) were on bikes with those Disraeli gears and the other half (Bob Brudvik and Peter Beeson) were on single speed Bianchi San Joses. The San Jose riders continue to say wonderful things about their steeds although Peter has adopted a new monosyllabic mantra that rhymes with "truck." He chants this while weaving up some of the steeper climbs.

The Big Lebowski is the prettiest, most fun and hardest 600K I've ever ridden. Huge kudos to the Kramer and Ms. France for an epic course and wonderful support. Scheduling a meteor shower for Saturday night was really going above and beyond the call of duty.

A map of the route is here:

http://www.orrandonneurs.org/brevets/2006_BigLebowski_Map.jpg

Ride info is here:

http://www.orrandonneurs.org/brevets/2006_BigLebowski_Info.html

The Big Lebowski Results, September 30 -October 1

Peter Beeson	39:04		Jon Beilby	37:25
Ken Bonner	33:32		Robert Brudvik	39:04
Albert Kong	37:09		Greg Olson	35:00
Scott Peterson	DNF		Kent Peterson	37:52
Eric Vigoren	39:04		Paul Whitney	DNF

Things a non-cyclist might not understand

Crazy Biker Chick (who doesn't sound that crazy to me!) has a wonderful open letter to motorists here:

http://crazybikerchick.blogspot.com/2006/09/things-non-cyclist-might-not.html


BTW, I'll be off riding The Big Lebowski 600K in Oregon this weekend. With luck I'll have some tales to tell when I return.

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent

Disraeli Gears

I've logged a lot of fixed and single speed miles over the years but the bike I'm riding the most these days is this beat-up old orphan Bianchi mountain bike. The Bianchi has three chainrings up front, seven decadent gears in the back and deraillers, so of course my fixed and single speed pals tell me that I've gone soft. Maybe I have, but for now I'm having fun scooting around on the Bianchi.

But there has been a problem, most of my bikes wind up having some kind of a name, not a personification exactly but more a shorthand that sums up the bike. My Monocog pretty much always will be the Monocog and the Kogswell seems sufficiently Kogswellian but this Bianchi mountain bike doesn't seem like a Bianchi to me. It's not celeste, it's not an Italian road machine and it doesn't have a bit of Campy gear anywhere on it. It may have a Bianchi sticker on it somewhere under all the stickers I've added to it but it doesn't feel like a Bianchi. It's something else, something I haven't quite identified yet.

The bike came very close to being dubbed the "Strawberry Pancake" thanks to my evil friend Tarik. If you want to understand the story, you will follow this link here:

http://tsaleh.blogspot.com/2006/08/pancakes.html

If you value your sanity, you won't click on the above link.

Alas, I did not follow the advice in the above sentence and I have had the wretched Strawberry Pancake song stuck in my head for weeks and I have this bike that is sort of strawberry colored (and the crossbar's real low). Something needed to be done.

In an effort to clear my mind, I regressed to my wasted youth (as Meatloaf noted "a wasted youth is better by far than a wise and productive old age") and have been running classic rock through my head and digging through what we used to quaintly call "albums."

Which brings me to Cream's classic album Disraeli Gears. I got to wondering about the name and found this fascinating tidbit in the Wikipedia entry at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disraeli_Gears

The title of the album was an inside joke. Clapton had been thinking of getting a racing bike and was discussing it with Baker, when Mick Turner, one of the roadies, commented on the performance of "those Disraeli gears", meaning to say "derailleur gears". The band thought this was hilarious and decided that it should be the title of their next album. Had it not been for the roadie's malapropism, the album would simply have been entitled Cream.

So what bike am I taking down to Oregon this weekend? Not the Bianchi. Not the Strawberry Pancake. Nope, I'm taking the bike with those Disraeli Gears.

The Salmon Return to Issaquah

Every autumn the salmon return from the sea and swim up the Issaquah Creek. We have a salmon hatchery downtown and the first weekend in October there is a big street festival called Salmon Days. But the salmon have their own schedule and they are already returning. I hopped on my bike this afternoon and snapped a few pictures with my cheapo digital camera.

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The late afternoon light under the Dogwood bridge made the water glow. It took a few tries to get a shot of a salmon swimming in the light.

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The salmon really have to struggle in the shallow waters of the creek.

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The salmon range in size from about 15 to 30 inches long.

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Near the hatchery the salmon pack the creek much like cars pack in on Front Street at rush hour.

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The salmon motif is all over Issaquah. My panniers are made from recycled coroplast campaign signs and here you can see the salmon that was part of last year's campaign.

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This year's slogan is "Born to be Wild" and one of the "Ofishal" Salmon Days T-shirts features a fish on a chopper. Salmon Days is one of those corny small-town things that fills the town with tourists and a lot of us local folks try to lay low until it's over. Soon the tourists leave and the fish all die and the town stinks like hell for a few days. Then the gulls and the rains come in earnest, strip away the last of the carcases and we spend the winter sipping coffee, riding in the rain and watching the mists cloak the mountains.

Neither Rain Nor Gloom of Night

This evening we held an afterwork seminar on the subject of bicycle commuting in the rain and darkness. The text of my remarks is posted here:

http://www.carsstink.org/peterson/NeitherRain.html

Passing Clearance, Helmets and Lane Position

A study in the U.K. made the news recently, primarily (I think) because it fits so well into our "fearful soundbyte" model of news presentation. So televisions have been blaring with well-groomed talking heads saying things like "Is your bicycle helmet putting you at risk? Find out at 11:00!" The Walker study of 2,500 passing cars showed that test cyclists were given 8.5 cm (3.3 inches) more clearance by cars if they were not wearing helmets and the alarming headlines quickly followed.

The most unfortunate thing about the fearful soundbyte is that many people don't look beyond the soundbyte. But there is more to the story and this link is a good place to start:

http://www.helmets.org/walkerstudy.htm

The above page looks critically at the study and brings up a very relevant variable in the cyclist/motorist interactions, the lane position of the cyclist. John Forester has long advocated "taking the lane" in his Effective Cycling book and courses. But the Effective Cycling folks are not without their critics as well. As with many things, I find it most useful to listen to what the loud voices have to say and try to find the part that seems true and workable. A recent discussion on the Bicycle Touring List on this subject made a lot of sense to me and I'm directly quoting the two people involved with their permission:

A fellow named Bob very nicely summarized the Effective Cycling "take the lane" strategy and Alberto responded:

I think you make a good point that I seem unable to follow: being more aggressive in taking the lane as opposed to the extreme right position on the road. It makes a lot of sense to make cars "see you" in the lane so they supposedly have to venture into the opposing lane to pass you with sufficient space. Riding with my friend Paco, who is a seasoned racer and does many training miles on the road, I find it very uncomfortable to follow his technique of taking the lane so aggressively as I ride close on my right. I find that cars tend to get more ticked off at him than me, though, as they cannot pass until they have clear room from the opposing lane. It is true, however, that cars seem to squeeze closer to me than to him, though I've never felt in danger in my position.

Very interesting idea to think about and work through.

Seasoned touring cyclist Mark Boyd replied with this advice with the list:

I think keeping far right does encourage people to pass close, but sometimes that is what you want. When I am riding in light to moderate traffic, where passing is not difficult, I will take the lane because that is safer. However, if traffic is heavy, I will do every thing I can, including getting off the road periodically, to help cars and, especially, trucks, get by me. Under those circumstances, I think taking the lane is rude and, while possibly safer for me at the time, will anger drivers and increase the chances that they do something unsafe for bicyclist in the future.

Riding a bicycle safely in traffic on the road requires cooperation between the cyclist(s) and the drivers. Both groups need to recognize the rights of the other group and act in ways that help the other group share the road with them. Taking the lane can be a good thing or a bad thing. The experienced rider should be able to decide which it is in any given circumstance.

I follow the rule that, in traffic, I should ride as near the edge of the road as practical. It is up to me to judge where that is. It can, and does, change as road and traffic conditions change. It can, and does, depend on the drivers behavior. If I 'give' drivers the lane because they need it to get past me and the result feels dangerous to me, I'll take it back again or, in extreme cases, get off that road.

Like Mark, I try to ride safely and courteously. All of us on the road are trying to make our way in the world.

I've mentioned this before, but it's worth repeating. A good page on cycling safety is Michael Bluejay's How Not To Get Hit By Cars at:

http://bicyclesafe.com/

Ride safely,

Kent

Seattle's Stolen Bike Listing

M.J. Kelly over at Cascade Bicycle Club has set up the very handy Seattle Stolen Bike Listing. You can read about and subscribe here:

http://www.cascade.org/Community/stolenbikes/

It would be great to live in a world where we don't need such things but even though most people are good, there are enough rat bastards out there to make things like locks and stolen bike listings something we all have to deal with. And if you see a really sweet orange 56cm Rivendell Rambouillet with shellacked brown cloth tape on handlebars and a tubus luna rack, good-guy philosopher Dave Shapiro would love to hear from you.

Be careful out there,

Kent

Commute Seminars: Ride Into Fall & Winter

I'll be presenting a couple of bicycle commuting seminars on the next two Mondays. If you are in the Seattle area, feel free to stop on by. I'll also be posting written notes on these subjects shortly after the seminars.

Date: Monday 9/18/06
Time: 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM
Location: Bike Station Seattle, 311 3rd Avenue South 206-224-9252
Subject: Neither Rain Nor Gloom of Night
Description: Practical advice on how to equip you bike and your body for commuting through the dark and the damp.

Date: Monday 9/25/06
Time: 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM
Location: Bike Station Seattle, 311 3rd Avenue South 206-224-9252
Subject: Roadside Repair
Description: A discussion of what tools to carry and how to use them to deal with flat tires and other mechanical challenges.

Both of these after work seminars are free and open to the public. No prior repair or commute experience is required.

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent

Bob Shaver's Patent History Blog

Bob Shaver is an attorney with a really interesting blog that contains images that Bob has scanned and cleaned up from a bunch of old bicycle patent drawings. It's fascinating to see just how long ago people were making things like suspension systems. You can see the blog here:

http://patentpending.blogs.com/patent_pending_blog/bicycle_technology/index.html

327 Words "Patchkit" Alleycat

Dave has decided to become the master of the 327 word essay and he's damn good at it. And today he wandered into the Bikestation to tell me about an alleycat race he's created. It sounds like a wonderful way to spend a Saturday afternoon/evening. Some details are here:

http://327words.blogspot.com/2006/08/327-words-patchkit-alleycat.html

A Lacing Pattern For Cycling Shoes

While browsing a surprisingly compelling website on shoelaces, I found this:

http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/bushwalklacing.htm

It was the key to keeping laces out of the drivetrain in the pre-Velcro days of yore.

Tape Case Bike Light

Now I've certainly done my share of DIY projects but while I find this one interesting, I won't be building it any time soon. The guy who did this put a lot of work into making the light and making a nice webpage detailing the construction. You can see it here:

http://www.spacetoast.net/STP/177.html

But really if you value your time at all, there are lots of LED headlamps, flashlights and bikelights that fall into the sub-$20 pricepoint of this project. So why am I posting this here? Well, it is kind of nifty. And I'm thinking maybe you clever folks in the blogosphere will add a bunch of neat comments with links to your own home-brew lights and/or great bargain bike lights you've discovered.

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent

Janet's Cool Bike Stencils

Somebody who goes by the name of Janet Bike Girl has created a very nice archive of bicycle stencils. You can see and grab high res images of the stencils here:

http://tinyurl.com/jzlht

Janet is obviously a very cool person and has made these stencils freely available under the Creative Commons NonCommercial-ShareAlike License, so people can freely use and modify the images for their own noncommercial purposes. I'm thinking I'll print out some of the stencils and use them to make a few T-shirts or maybe some "Bike Parking" signs.

One More Bike

I'm pretty good at not buying things, but I have this tendency to adopt things. I'd adopted an aluminum bike that I named Al but I managed to pass Al on to a poor college student. I'm still trying to pass my old PX-10 onto someone and that bike has migrated down to the Bikestation and I know it'll end up with some messenger or urban hipster soon. So I should be making progress in terms of simplification.

And then an old steel mountain bike comes along. A little too small perhaps but maybe something fun to mess around with. Strip off the broken Gripshifts. OK, I'm only going to do this if it's a no money kind of thing. But I do have a big pile of parts. And tools. And time. And I do get this urge to putter.

Beth in Portland likes old stem shifters, maybe I will too. For now the gears will stay. A long seatpost and a Butt Buddy get the saddle high enough. Knobby tires get swapped for something slicker. Rough enough to wander, fast enough to be fast enough. I don't care much about the optimal but I'm fascinated by what is sufficient.

All my bikes wind up looking like my bikes. Brand names tend to get buried. Stickers tend to get cut-up and repurposed. Old campaign signs are made into fenders. All that really matters is where the bike hits my butt, my feet and my hands. The rest will be whatever it is. The Cowboy Junkies said it best, "the beautiful is not chosen, the chosen becomes beautiful."

This bike works for commuting or for exploring gravel roads or tiny trails. I could probably ride it to Inuvik or Patagonia or to the Safeway or the Starbucks. I don't know what I'll do with this. This morning I rode it along the Cedar River and I took some pictures. You can see them here:

http://www.carsstink.org/peterson/OneLessPed/OneLessPed.html

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent

Joe and the Joetator

Back in 1998 I wrote a series of articles for Recumbent Cyclist News. The story of Joe and the Joetator is the most memorable of those articles and Bob Bryant has generously given me the greenlight to put the tale up on the web. You can read it here:

http://www.carsstink.org/peterson/Joetator.html

The Road Not Taken

My plan for the weekend had been moderately ambitious. I would take Friday afternoon off, ride down toward Packwood, camp out Friday night, ride the SIR 3 Volcanoes 300K Saturday and then ride back home on Sunday. I told people I was doing this and I was looking forward to the trip. But my lovely wife has been going through a lot of turmoil at work and as things turned out, Friday was the day she was interviewing for the position of managing her tumultuous department. She'd didn't expect me to cancel my trip to be with her and in fact there was little I could do.

There was little I could do, but I could do one thing. I didn't ride to Packwood. I bought her a card and some dark chocolate and we went out to dinner Friday night. I heard about how the interview went. By the way, it's very hard to find a card to cover the possibilities of a) you got the job because you are skilled, talented and deserve it b) you didn't get the job because you work for morons or c) we don't know yet and the powers that be will decide at some future date. I settled on a card that said "In all the world, my favorite place is just being with you."

So, one less ride report for the blog. There will be other days and other roads.

But for the record, my wife doesn't work for morons. She is skilled and talented and is the new manager of the Dot Com department of the Issaquah Safeway.

Redline 925 Review in Dirt Rag

My review of the Redline 925 is in issue #122 of Dirt Rag and it's also available online here:

http://www.dirtragmag.com/print/article.php?ID=778&category=stuff_reviews

For those of you who wonder what happens to review bikes after the review is done, in this case my pal Dave wound up buying the bike from Redline.

Cycling Expenses

While hunting around for something else, I found something I posted to the iBOB list a few years ago about expenses and cycling. Here it is in slightly edited and updated form:

Jeff Potter (the editor and publisher of a neat magazine called Out Your Backdoor) wrote:

I find that adopting anything as a lifestyle results in that thing causing you to be broke. Even if you're on a big team and get most of your stuff for free or half price.

It's not just the travel that makes racing "expensive." I think that hobbies are all designed to tap you out, no matter what you make. They take what you have to give. They inspire you to give all you have. If you're buying it all cheap, used, then you're nickel'n'dimed to death. Well, you're tapped out.

Now I count Jeff as one of the good guys in this world but I'm going to argue the other side of this issue here. But first, I'm going to agree with him that "hobbies" tap you out. Yes, for most people a hobby is something they choose to do. It's fun, they don't need to do it. They enjoy it. Once you've used some of your time for earning what you need for food, shelter and clothing you spend the rest of your time and money on what you enjoy. Call it entertainment. Call it a hobby.

But that hobby, even if it's just a hobby is something you enjoy. Maybe it becomes your passion, a key focus of your life. Guess what, where you spend your time, that is where your heart is. That is where your wealth is. Your life is your wealth, how are you spending it? Are you tapped out? Well, if you feel you are, then you are. But if you find joy in what you've chosen, if you don't begrudge the choices you've made, I'd argue that you aren't broke.

People could look at me and say I'm broke. I currently own two bikes, I haven't owned a car in about 20 years, I probably make less per hour than most people reading this note.

But I'm the richest man I know. I share my life with a wonderful woman who knows that wealth has very little to do with money and everything to do with being at home in the universe.

Sure the magazines and the business of cycling or fly fishing or whatever exist and thrive by selling dreams. If I had Reynolds wheels I'd have won that sprint, if I had that carbon flyrod I have landed that trout, etc. Yeah, whatever. If Reynolds wheels make you happy, go for it. But don't whine that they cost $2K a set. That's what they go for. You decide if they're worth whatever chunk of your life it takes to earn that $2K.

But I need them to be competitive in the Cat 2 races and it's so hard to be a Cat 2...

Yeah...life is hard.

The Buddha tells us that life is suffering and when I saw the Buddha in Greenwich Village a few years ago he told me that "life is suffering, pal!" I read somewhere that when I meet the Buddha on the road I'm supposed to kill him but I was running late and had other things to do.

But I digress. Where was I? Oh, yeah. You can be hardcore into your thing without getting caught up in money. Yvon Chouinard lived out of his VW bug, forged climbing gear in the field and was basically a great climbing bum. The man was so broke he ate catfood but he did OK for himself.

Moitessier had great adventures and was one of the greatest sailors ever. Most of his adventures were done on budgets that wouldn't cover the insurance payments on a Hummer H2.

Enough rambling for now.

Have fun out there.

"Society is a system of lures, I'M THROUGH WITH IT."
-- Jack Keroauc, Some of the Dharma

A Lightweight Commuter Bike?

Let's just speak hypothetically here. Suppose a guy who tends to have pretty beefy, simple bikes (say something along the lines of a Redline Monocog or a Kogswell Model G) happens to possibly be in line to get an old (1990ish) Klein Rascal. Now I know the lugged steel crowd will cringe here but the Klein is aluminum. And it's a really ugly shade of purple. On the plus side it's got a steel fork and it is old school; no boingy bits and a seven speed XT drivetrain w rapid fire shifters. Still, not really my, uhm make that "this guy's", kind of bike.

But did I mention the bike is steekin' light? Wicked light. And it's got these odd, short little rear facing track ends. It could really be a dang light single-speed down the road but for starters it might be fun to keep it light and shifty.

Rattlecan paint it black. Trade the knobbies for street tires. But make a goal of this project to keep it light and fast.

Could it be a light, fast commuter bike?

If you had suck a project what would you do?

How would you deck out such a bike?

Could you keep the budget for this project at zero?

All hypothetically speaking, of course.

Nice Ride - Pictures and a very brief report

On Sunday we had mixed weather for the "Nice Ride for Dave Nice." You can read a bit about the ride and see pictures here:

http://www.carsstink.org/peterson/NiceRide/NicePics.html

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent

Nice Ride Info

The picture above is from last year's ride on this route. Doesn't it look pretty? Doesn't it look like the riders are having a good time? I think everybody did have a good time on a good route, so we're doing this ride again. Here are the details.

What? The Nice Ride for Dave Nice. Dave is a pal of mine who was racing the Great Divide Mountain Bike Race this year when he got his bike and stuff ripped off while he was taking a nap. Yeah, major bummer. Dave learned a valuable lesson -- check out this post on his blog:

http://cellarrat.blogspot.com/2006/07/new-mt-napping-routine.html

So what is this ride? It's a ride mostly on gravel rail-trails and gravel roads from North Bend to Snoqualmie Pass and back. It's a bit over 60 miles (just under 100 kilometers) and it's just a fun ride, not a race or anything. The route is rideable on a roadbike with fat tires, a cyclocross bike, a hybrid or a mountain bike. You probably don't want to do this on 23mm skinny roadie tires, however.

There is a couple of mile long dark and spooky tunnel up at the pass. You'll need lights for the trip through the tunnel. It's cold in the tunnel as well, so you might want to bring along an extra layer.

Why? Even though various of Dave's pals scraped together cash for a replacement bike, he still has to replace his gear and finance his race for next year. Dave's a good guy who had some bad luck and I came up with this scheme to help him out. We're doing this ride and we're collecting donations. This ride is FREE but anything you want to donate will be sent to Dave.

When? Sunday July 30th, 9:00 AM.

Where? We're meeting at parking area at the corner of North Bend Way & East McClellan Street in North Bend. I'll be riding up from my place in Issaquah. If you want to get up early and have a longer ride, drop me a note and we'll work something out.

What about food? I don't know how many people are showing up for this and I have no idea what kind of food people want or how much to bring. So let's do this. Bring what you'd like to eat and some food to share. It'll be kind of a potluck. We'll picnic up at Hyak.

Do you have a route sheet? Yep. I'll have copies of the cue sheet that I'll hand out at the start, but you can preview it and/or print your own copies of the route sheet here:

http://www.carsstink.org/peterson/NiceRide.html

I also used Bikely to map out the route and you can check that out here:

http://www.bikely.com

OK, I think I've got the basics covered. If anybody has any questions or comments, email me or use the comment feature of the blog.

Keep 'em rolling.

Kent

A Coffee Mug For Your Bike

I'm really not much of a coffee snob. I drink expensive foofoo coffee and cheap coffee and coffee that's too hot and too cold and bitter coffee and coffee with loads of cream and sugar. Most mornings at home I drink cheap instant coffee and I've really grown fond of it. I'm also fond of good coffee served by cute baristas at places like Zeitgeist in Seattle.

I don't really like throwing away paper coffee cups and for quite some time I've been looking for a coffee mug that would work well and that would fit in one of the waterbottle cages on my bike. My pal Tarik reviewed Trek's Soho Coffee Mug here:

http://www.tariksaleh.com/bike/mug.html

and the definitive Bike & Coffee site is here:

http://www.bicyclecoffeesystems.com/

A few weeks ago, while roaming through various stores in a quest for just the right garbage cans to use to make a set of panniers, I found an OXO Good Grips LiquiSeal Travel Mug at Linens-N-Things. Ten bucks and it looked like it had a good seal up top. I vaguely remembered the OXO name being mentioned favorably on the bicycle coffee systems site, so I bought the mug. It turns out Linens-N-Things also has the pricier ($20) stainless mug but the $10 mug I bought has the same seal and works great.

The cover really is spill-proof. It has a clever little push-button up top that opens and closes the seal. When the lid is closed you can flip the mug upside-down and nothing leaks out. The mug slides in and out of the my plastic down-tube mounted bottle cage OK but I worried about the tapering shape of the bottle. The mug never popped out of the cage, but I could envision the bottle working loose. I also got to thinking that the mug could be insulated just a bit better, so I modified the mug slightly.

I wrapped the bottom half of the mug with a layer of old cork handlebar tape. This adds a layer of insulation and makes the mug a bit more of a straight cylinder instead of a slightly tapered cone. I then covered the cork tape and the rest of the body of the mug with a very stylish layer of black duct tape. The modified mug fits perfectly in the bottle cage now, snug enough to stay put but still easy enough to slide in and out when I want to take a drink.

That's it. No solution to global warming or profound insight into the human condition. Just a coffee mug that does a pretty good job and isn't too pricey. And it's made better with duct tape.

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent

Bikely: A Bike Route Mapping Tool and Library

Thanks to Todd over at Cleverchimp for the heads up on Bikely. Bikely is a route mapping utility geared towards bicyclists. Anyone can map out a route but the great thing is the routes are stored, shared and searchable. So it's not only a handy tool for mapping your own routes, but as more people use it, the library will become more and more useful. So head on over to Bikely at:

http://www.bikely.com/

Also, if you are at all interested in cargo bikes and or electric-assist motors for bikes or just plain general bikey stuff, check out Todd's Cleverchimp blog at:

http://todd.cleverchimp.com/blog/

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent

VanIsle Ride Report

My story and pictures from the VanIsle 1200K can be seen at:

http://www.carsstink.org/peterson/VanPics/VanIsleVagabond.html

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent

Duct Tape Panniers

I made myself a new set of panniers. You can read all about it and see pictures here:

http://www.carsstink.org/peterson/Pannier/DuctTapePanniers.html

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent

VanIsle Pictures

It'll still be a while until I get the story written, but I've posted some pictures from the VanIsle 1200K here:

http://www.carsstink.org/peterson/VanPics/VanIslePictures.html

Back from VanIsle

I had a great ride up on Vancouver Island. 1200 kilometers in 83 hours 2 minutes (including some pretty decadent sleep breaks). Lots more pics and details once I get all the photos cropped and sorted and I take some time to get the whole story typed up.

-- Kent

VanIsle 1200K

I'm on the road again. I'm riding up to Port Angeles where I'll catch a ferry over to Victoria BC. I'll then ride the Vancouver Island 1200K before returning home so I'll be gone for a bit over a week. Christine has made me promise to "not get eaten by bears or other different bad animals." (This was the way my friend Hermine expressed her concerns about cycling in Alaska!). I should have some good stories and pictures when I return.

Keep 'em rolling everybody,

Kent

Ride Announcement: A Nice Ride for Dave Nice

OK Seattle area folks, save the date of Sunday July 30th, 2006. We're going to have a fun ride and raise some money for a good guy.

As many of you know, Dave Nice had to drop out of the 2006 Great Divide Mountain Bike Race when his bike and gear were stolen in Montana. Dave has vowed to come back next year and various of his pals have already raised some bucks to get him a replacement bike and some gear. I was thinking about how I could help and came up with this idea.

Last year a lot of my pals put together a 100 kilometer mostly off-road ride from North Bend up to Snoqualmie Pass and back. It was called the "Not a Nutrional Role Model" Ride and donations went fund my 2005 Great Divide Race. Everybody had a great time and now Dave's misfortune gives us a great excuse to run the ride again. The ride will be basically the same route. There is no fee for the ride but we'll take donations and the money will be sent to Dave.

I'll post more details when I get back from The Van Isle 1200K, but to get a feel for the ride see my report and pictures from last year's ride here:

http://www.carsstink.org/peterson/NotNut/NotNut.html

BTW, if you can't make the ride or want to help Dave right now, Paypal any amount to scott@salvagetti.com

Keep 'em rolling,

-- Kent

Great Divide Race Photo Gallery

The good folks at the Adventure Cycling Association have a nice gallery of pictures from the first day of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Race here:

http://www.adventurecycling.org/gdrgallery/

They've got terrific shots of each racer's bike and some nice trail shots. You can follow the day to day action on the GDR here:

http://www.greatdividerace.com/

Brad's Ride -- Monroe to Farmer and Back

My pal Brad Hawkins has this great habit of going on cool rides and then sending wonderfully descriptive stories from his journeys. Yesterday he sent me one of these reports and gave me permission to share it with all you folks out in the blogosphere.A bunch of pictures from his trip are here:

http://www.clairifier.com/gallery/2006junpict?page=14

---

Ride Report: Monroe to Farmer and Back 6/25-6/27

Dear Friends,

The legs are still a little sore but I feel good enough to write you all about. The Seattle Randonneurs held their Cascade 1200K ride around Washington and I was drafted into providing some support at Farmer Washington. For those of you who don't know about Farmer, well, it's a very nice wide spot in the road about 15 miles east of Waterville up on the plateau east of Orondo. I'll just let that sink in for a while. It has a grange hall and some grain elevators, no running water, no toilets, no trees, no nothing unless you happen to have a key to the grange hall and can get out of the blinding sun and heat.

I had a wedding to play on Sunday afternoon so I was a little pressed for time as I got ready Sunday night with my bike and such. When I got to Kirkland, I realized that I had forgotten my helmet and a change of clothes so I drove back to Seattle. Claire was very understanding and didn't even mention what a hairbrained idea this was but she kissed me again and I was off driving out to Monroe, Washington.

I parked at the Holiday Inn where many fine, abandoned cycling cars were lining the sidewalks and parking lot of said hotel. Good enough. I pulled the bike off the van and took off. It was 8 PM.

The tailwind was delightful and the temperature perfect as I raced through Sultan, Startup, Gold Bar, Baring, finally alighting in Skykomish where I picked up some trail mix, milk, and filling my water bottles. The Chevron at Skykomish is used to seeing cyclists and the guy behind the counter was only concerned as to why I was leaving so late. No biggy though, he'd seen it before. It was 10:15PM.

The hills up to the pass were a bit of a surprise to me as I've never done this ride all the way from the flats up to the top of the pass from this direction before. Lessons to the newbie but I was still having a good time.

I stopped at the pass and took a picture but as you will see in Claire's site, photo flashes are somewhat uncontrolable so it's impossible to show how high I got up until the way back. It was midnight.

I put on all of my clothes available and gloves as well for the descent and cruised down the mountain. This is one of the best descents I've ever done as it seems to go down hill all the way to Wenatchee. All the way in your big ring. Now that's cool.

After a while though I felt the need to fill the bottles and stopped at the highway rest area west of Leavenworth. Among the sleeping truckers and RV'ers was a motorcyclist sitting at a park bench. I waved and he came over. It turns out that "Eric" was on his way to the Tri Cities and didn't want any heat so he was riding at night. The twist in this plan was that he seemed amped up on some kind of meth. Cool guy, very friendly, he was probably awake for the next two days.

I arrived in Leavenworth around 1:30 AM. This city sleeps very soundly and I didn't even hit the brakes. Cashmere was reached an hour later and I treated myself to two corn dogs and a quart of chocolate milk. This is my recovery food of choice and incorporates all that is good in american dining. You can eat it off a stick and drink directly from the carton. The best part is that it works quite well if you are burning the calories. $3 works out to something like 2200 calories. Mmmmmmmm! Don't forget the mustard.

Wenatchee has done the most ridiculous job on their bridge across the Columbia river you could ever imagine. They scraped off the asphalt which looked to be relatively new judging from what they left on the shoulder and deposited it somewhere else in town. No equipment is in sight. It's just a big, scary mess of sliced asphalt and road rocks everywhere else.

The sun started coming up around Orondo and I started taking pictures again. The grade out of Orondo is a singular experience and I stopped 4 times. Once at the top, the craggly rocks and water cut canyon turns into endless wheat fields and broomstick roadways reminiscent of North Dakota or west Kansas. It was a nice change of pace.

Waterville is a cute little town that I came upon at 7AM. The only water to be found was at the only open business in town, the espresso stand. This stand is famous among the long distance cyclists as apparently is the Orondo grade so I had to stop. After Waterville, it was a short hop out to Farmer where Fred Mulder some nice guy I can't remember, and Mark Thomas greeted me with smiles and understanding questions. These two are veterans of overnight and long distance rides and instead of puffing up the experience to them, we could just sit in deep understanding of this crazy cool sport. I arrived at 8AM; just in time to support the fast riders coming up from Quincy on the 1200K.

I made sandwiches and helped out until 1 PM with about an hour of sleep in the middle just to catch up. There were all kinds of DNF's the day before because of the heat and the volunteer list was swelling as the growing cadre of DNF's formed a sort of Dead Head caravan. Some guys would find a ride, others would drop out and then ride along just for fun. All had suffered, some were having a whale of a time.

After cleaning up and helping Dan Turner and Fred pack up the last truck, I bid them farewell at 2:30 PM and rode back to Waterville. This time I took some pictures and then really enjoyed riding back down the hill that had caused me so much heartache and pain that morning.

At the bottom, I found the best cherries I've ever had, rolled into the traffic menagerie that is Wenatchee, didn't stop and then cut up past Cashmere and then, just east of Leavenworth at about 7 PM, I found a nice spot in the Wenatchee river to strip off and bathe. It was just a perfect ending to a hot, hot day where the temperature reached 109. As I rubbed off the road grime, I noticed two young ladies across the way just enjoying the show. I waved, they waved, and that was the end of it. I'm just glad that I can be the subject of someone else's story and that I don't have to just come up with my own.

Dinner was pretty good, German fare for a change. After leaving the "Durndel" zone, I trotted up the canyon and found a nice camping spot that is marked "no camping". As a cyclist, I hate to flout the laws but I never know where to put the forest pass on my bike so I just don't. I hope some of you will understand.

Nine luxurious hours later, I awoke to a rushing river and perfect blue skies. The ride up the pass westbound was cool and nice. I happened upon a road crew broken down along the grade who had been broken down for two days and perhaps were waiting two more as a starter motor was being built in Yakima. The wind was a kicker once I got to the top but didn't get in the way too much.

At this point I was ahead of schedule, having passed Stevens at 12PM this time and gotten much better pictures, I rode down to the Old Cascade Highway and followed Kent Peterson's route. Kent, if you are reading this, the Iron Goat Trail is even better but requires about 60 ft of portage over a new bridge and some gravel. Highly recommended.

Being early, I started looking for any reason to stop. Dead snakes, other bikers, historical markers, interesting side roads, etc. I had 5 hours to coast into Monroe so I took it. I saw the fish hatchery, the reptile zoo, a gravel pit with a precariously place boulder replete with smiley face, and a long time friend, Weldon Grant, who showed me around the Monroe Hospital business office. It was a joy.

At 5PM or so I rambled back to the Holiday Inn where I helped the riders coming in after 1221 challenging kilometers. It was a party atmosphere with all you can eat pizza and pop. The riders had to get in by midnight and everyone expecting to make it made it, the last four by seconds! It was cool!

General statistics for the ride are as follows:

Ride Start: 6/25 8PM
Ride End: 6/27 5PM
Miles logged: about 340
Hours slept: 10.5
Average speed: perhaps around 13mph with stops
Dead Snakes by the side of the road: >15
Amused ogling ladies: 2
Important numbers for the trip: 8 and 12 (I seemed to start at 8, end at 8, and Stevens pass was reached at 12AM and 12PM respectively)

Have a great day and thanks for letting me waste some of your workday,

Brad Hawkins

Drive Now, Talk Later

From the Science Blog:

Three years after the preliminary results first were presented at a scientific meeting and drew wide attention, University of Utah psychologists have published a study showing that motorists who talk on handheld or hands-free cellular phones are as impaired as drunken drivers.

More here:

http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/cell-phone-drivers-as-bad-as-drunks-10911.html

The bumper sticker shown above comes from the Car Talk Guys and you can get one of your own for the price of postage and an envelope. Details here:

http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/Drive-Now/bumper-sticker.html

Pat Rodden's Cautionary Tale of Woe

Michael Rasmussen is one of the many SIR members providing support on the Cascade 1200K. He's also writing wonderfully descriptive field reports and also collecting some great feedback from the riders. Michael forwarded the following note to me from Pat Rodden and I'm reprinting it here with Pat's permission.

To: Michael Rasmussen
From: Pat Rodden
Subject: Cascade 1200 - Pat Rodden
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2006 10:28:47 -0700

Hi Michael,

Just wanted to close the loop on my 1200 experience which all in all was wonderful albeit shorter than I had planned. Once I reached Ellensburg yesterday the gravitational pull of the West grabbed me and I headed West on I90 back to Monroe rather than continuing on to Sellah. Up to the point of reaching Ellensburg I had a total of 8 flat tires over the previous 2 days (5 of them were between Cowich and Ellensburg)! I was completely demoralized trying to keep the bike on the road. Many people were quite helpful as I continued to repair tubes throughout the ride and I owe them much thanks as well as a tube or two (and quite possibly an ice cold beer as well).

After heading west on I90 I made it to Rosylin where I had my ninth flat. In the middle of repairing the latest flat on the shoulder of I90 I received a lecture from the state patrol of what I fool I was for being out here in the traffic and heat. He went on to say that there should be a law against riding on the interstate and he would gladly write me a ticket if he could. When I suggested that he give me a ride up to the next exit where I could repair my tire in a safer place he quickly departed. So much for help.

After repairing my ninth flat and getting the wheel back on the bike I set the tire on the ground and listened to my 10th deflate. While I won't admit to shedding any tears I was certainly dumbfounded. I walked the mile to the next exit to regain some composure before repairing the flat. Soon afterward arriving at the 10th exit a good Samaritan saw my predicament and gave me a ride from Rosylin to Preston where I was safely positioned to repair the 10th flat in the Preston Park and Ride. Once I fixed this latest flat I realized I was down to single patch for any further flats. I made it almost to Carnation before using my last patch to repair flat number 11. From this point I limped into Monroe making it in about 6 pm on a poorly inflated tire (I couldn't seem to keep the pressure in the tire). This morning when I retrieved my bike from the back of my truck the back tire was flat. I can't recall having a single flat tire in the last year running on Michelin Pro Race IIs or Schwalbe Marathons.

I failed randonneur 101 and paid the price. After using some wonderful 36mm heavy Schwalbe Marathon tires on the previous Brevets and feeling as if they were too slow and heavy on the eve of the Cascade I switched to 28mm Panaracer T-Serv tires. The mistake is for all others to learn by! Never run Panaracers! They are absolute garbage. 15 years ago I had a similar experience using Panaracers that had terrible side wall support while going up the North Cascades highway. I swore off Panaracers for the past 15 years and thought I was safe using their latest products.

Side Note: While on the bike I was asked by a lot of randonneurs about my hydration system. I mounted a Camelbak StoAway 100 oz. on the bike frame just behind the head tube and below the top tube and then routed the tube for easy access while on the bike. This gets the water supply (and weight) off of your back and on to the bike. In addition I had a camelback on my back (without a bladder) that I would use to stuff ice into and let it melt down my back. It works well for about an hour and a half and I never once had problems with the heat (although I missed out on the worst of the heat up the Rattlesnake Hills). It seems to work well in two ways. Direct application of the cold to your back and also the evaporative cooling
that takes place when the water evaporates off of your bike. Others might want to consider a similar setup when the weather is predicted to be as hot as it turned out to be.

Thanks again to all the wonderful volunteers (yourself included) for making the Cascade 1200 a great ride!

All the best,

Pat Rodden

On Jun 26, 2006, at 11:17 AM, Kent Peterson wrote:

Wow. Pat would you mind our sharing this cautionary
tale with the great blogosphere? We can edit out
your email address.

Now I'm nervous, I just switched from my tried
and true (and despised by many) Specialized Armadillos
for (slightly) lighter, wider and cushier Contis (Top
Touring in the back, Contact up front) But I will have
a week or so of testing before I take them up to VanIsle.
And I do carry a spare folding tire.

Were all the flats explainable or did you get mystery
flats?

Great tip on the Camelbak.

Kent

Hi Kent,

You are all welcome to publish my account. 10 of the flats were on the back wheel with just one on the front coming from a thorn. I found 4 flats with small wires that pierced directly through the centerline of the tire. Two flats total were from thorns. The balance I have no idea with no obvious source of a flat. Actually I take that back because two of the flats were my having to repair my previous patches with glueless patches. I am not sure if I did not clean the area sufficiently or if it was the heat that would not allow the patch to adhere properly. I assume some of the flats were pinch flats from me installing the tire improperly althought the tires did go onto the rim with ease (the only good thing I can say about the Panaracers). Prior to the Cascade 1200 I only had about 35 miles on the tires and those miles came from the relatively clean roads of Whibey Island.

Another note on the Camelbak - I had to add about 8" on to the off the shelf tube that comes with the StoAway Camelbak to get it in the ideal position for drinking. Throughout the ride I drank ice water using the system. The bag is somewhat insulated and the water stayed cold until the last drop. You just need to make sure you cinch the bag to the frame in at least two places to secure it so that it does not get in the way of the knees. I also cut out the center of the water bottle holder and mounted it to the down tube to 'center' the bag.

Every time I go to fill up the bag it reminds me of filling the car at the gas station!

All the best,

Pat

Dave Nice's Bike Got Ripped Off!!!

See how happy Dave looks in the picture above? Well Dave is not nearly as happy right now. Dave was racing the Great Divide Mountain Bike Race when he pulled over to nap. He must've napped a bit too deeply. When he woke up his bike was gone.

This info is hot from the trail. Details should be hitting the Great Divide pages here:

http://www.greatdividerace.com/

If you are in western Montana and have any lead on the bike, I know Dave would love to have it back. And if there is anything anybody reading this can do to help Dave out, I'll be posting contact info as soon as I get it. I'd give him my bike so he could keep racing, but the Monocog is too small for him and it's a couple of states too far away.

Hot Climbing on the Cascade 1200

From one of Michael Rasmussen's roving field reports from the Cascade 1200:

After Packwood came the climb to White Pass. Riders from Florida don’t have hills at all. Riders with New York riding exposure have hills of steep grades but short duration. White Pass is neither of those. It is a Mountain Pass, twelve miles of climbing. It doesn’t get really steep, maybe 7% says Terry Zmrhal, but it doesn’t quit either. Today’s adventure held a mix of challenges for riders. Start with having covered 160 miles already, add in the warmth of the day, then top off with a mild tailwind. The tailwind wasn’t enough to push you up the hill, it was just enough to not be a cooling breeze as you pedaled.

More than one rider ran low on water climbing up to White Pass. Michelle Dulieu ran completely out and was eying a road side stream. She’d never encountered a hill this long before. Dave Johnson and Charlie White took time off to wade in the pool at the base of a roadside waterfall - and soak their heads in the cool waters.

At the top most riders had white swirls embellishing their clothing - the salts of their sweat built up on sleeves and legs, jerseys and shorts.

More great stories and pictures can be found at the Cascade 1200 blog at:

http://c1200blog.randonista.com/

The Usenet Bicycle Archives

A bunch of of interesting bikelore is collected here:

http://yarchive.net/bike/index.html

Among other things you'll find many postings the legendary and somewhat gruff Jobst Brandt, the author of The Bicycle Wheel. You may not agree with everything the man has to say, but he is a fellow who has ridden many thousands of miles and has spent a lot of time thinking and studying various aspects of cycling. In the archive you'll find out why he doesn't like Polarized glasses or Sturmey-Archer hubs but there is a host of other stuff in there as well.

For the record, I agree with Jobst on the glasses issue but I think Sturmey-Archer hubs are super nifty. I guess that I'm one of those guys Jobst was describing when he said "Most folks only use top gear with a tailwind or when idling along."

Jennifer Wise and the Cascade 1200 Pledge

Jennifer Wise leads the riders in the ride at the start of the Cascade 1200.

"I pledge allegiance
To the ride
Of the Seattle International Randonneurs
And to Randonneurs USA, of which it’s part,
One pedal stroke, after another,
Unrelenting
With exhaustion and achievement for all."

Great reports from the ride are being logged at:

http://c1200blog.randonista.com/

Princeton Tec Apex

While working the bike check-in at the SIR Cascade 1200 I got to see a lot of different light set-ups. A couple of riders were using the Princeton Tec Apex headlamp as their primary bike light. In both cases I saw, the riders had removed the headstrap and attached the light to their handlebars. As a bike light, they mostly run the three Watt Apex at it's lower power-settings to conserve runtime.

A very glowing review of the Apex can be found here:

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/pt_apex.htm

On Amazon and other places I've found a lot of favorable reviews along with some negative reviews by people who were dissapointed and misled by some overly optimistic marketing. There is no free lunch and you can't get super-bright light for 72 hours off four AA cells but given the current limits of technology, the Apex looks pretty good. I've been very pleased with my Princeton Tec EOS as a helmet light but it uses 3 AAA cells. The Apex has a more rational 4 AA cell battery pack and from what I've read it runs very nicely with rechargeable NiMH cells. The riders I talked to seem very happy with the battery life and light output of the Apex on the lower power settings.

I don't have an Apex yet, but it makes a very looking, compact light and I think I'm going to be getting one soon. If and when I do, look for pictures and a more detailed report here.

SIR Cascade 1200K Brevet

The Seattle International Randonneurs Cascade 1200K Brevet started at 6:00 AM Saturday June 24, 2006. You can follow along via the blog at:

http://c1200blog.randonista.com/

I'm not riding this one but I got to work the bike check-in last night and this morning up in Monroe. A lot of work goes into making an event like this happen and it's really neat to see it all come together.

Best of luck to all the riders.

-- Kent

Ali's PediCab

Ali is a Seattle messenger and entrepreneur. One of his latest projects is this neat pedicab from Thailand. Ali and Joe are working to get a decent crank installed on the pedicab and also give it some brakes that will be at least one step above Fred Flintstone era technology. So far the cab is a work in progress, but it sure looks cool. You can see a few pictures here:

http://www.carsstink.org/peterson/AliCab/AliCab.html

The Great Divide Mountain Bike Race

The 2006 running of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Race starts Friday June 23rd at high noon from the border at Port Roosville, MT. Links to audio and text updates can be found here:

http://www.greatdividerace.com/

Last year's winner Matthew Lee is racing this once again and again he's riding the Canadian section as a prolog. Tough guys Matt Chester, Rudi Nadler and Dave Nice are all taking a shot at the course on fixed gears this year which makes my last year's run of the route on a singlespeed seem pretty tame. To everyone racing this amazing route, I wish you the very best kind of adventure. Keep those pedals turning,

Kent

Jim Foreman's Shortest Tour

Jim Foreman is one of my online pals. He's a man who knows how to tell a good story and he's been around for quite a while and seen a lot of things. He recently wrote a nice little tale about his shortest bike tour and you can read it here:

http://www.jimforeman.com/Stories/shorttour.htm

You can also read a whole bunch more of his stories and books for free online at:

http://www.jimforeman.com/

And I'll repeat what Jim once said about my stuff, but turn it toward Jim. If you enjoy his writing, feel free to send him a few bucks. Jim was one of the many people who contributed toward financing my Mountain Turtle Adventure but I know he also talked more than a few people into helping me out. Jim's the kind of guy you want watching your back and the fellow who has a story for every occasion.

How To Always Smell Fresh

Toronto Cyclist Darren J. has some good tips for cycle commuters who don't have access to a shower at work. Check out:

http://bikerefugee.blogspot.com/2006/05/how-to-always-smell-fresh.html

A Day on the Bike

Saturday I rode my bike on one of my favorite routes. The story and pictures are here:

http://www.carsstink.org/peterson/6-17-06/DayOnBike.html

Keep 'em rolling,

- Kent

Good Gear for Bad Times

Living and cycling in the Pacific Northwest I perhaps get too many chances to test foul weather gear. The Ultra Marathon Cycling Association (UMCA) decided to tap my expertise and had me write about some of my favorite bits of nasty weather gear. I chose to write about the Rainshield O2 jacket, Rainlegs and the Marmot DriClime Windshirt. You can read the full reviews:

http://www.ultracycling.com/equipment/foul_weather_gear.html

As always, I advise supporting your local merchants.In the case of Rainlegs, however, everyone I know in the US who has these wound up ordering them from Rainlegs UK site at:

http://www.rainlegs.co.uk/

If you'd like either a Rainshield O2 jacket or a Marmot DriClime Windshirt and can't find those locally, you can order them via Amazon.com. As always anything you order via one of my Amazon links does kick some money back to me, but I only recommend products that I have found to be worthwhile. By the way, when I say anything, I mean anything. If you enter Amazon via one of my links and then buy something completely unrelated to cycling like a CD or a book or whatever, I still get a small referal fee.




Keep 'em rolling,

- Kent

Tinker Juarez and RAAM

Tinker Juarez is one of the many amazing people who is competing in the Race Across America (RAAM) right now. Tinker's a total rider, most well known for his many mountain bike victories, but he's currently hammering his way across the country. There are some interesting reports here:

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=200788

This is a small excerpt:

During his massage his crew swarmed about; mother Rose feeding him, Trevor calculating estimated times for the miles to come, Ed and Jim attending to his bike. When Ed commented that when he cleaned the drivetrain, he found absolutely no sign of grime on the small chainring, Tinker’s nonchalant answer was, “Well, I haven’t been out of the big chain ring yet. Not at all. But that little ring, it’s coming. It’ll have its day.” Incredible! Tinker has amassed 816 miles since Sunday, has climbed thousands of feet, and from the 8000’+ town of Durango he declares that he’s done it all in his 53!


Which isn’t to say that these first days of the Race Across America have been easy. Far from it. “This is by far the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” he admits. “It’s so much harder than I ever could have imagines. But I could go home and cry about how hard this is, or I can keep on going and cry on my bike. Crying on my bike sounds better.”


Full coverage of RAAM is here:

http://www.raceacrossamerica.org/

Max's Cycling Pages

Massimiliano "Max" Poletto is such a no-ego guy it took me quite a bit of poking around on his pages to even find his name. But it really wasn't any hardship to read his various ride reports, they've got all kinds of wonderful details. You can see for yourself by exploring here:

http://www.maxp.net/bike/

To get a feel for Max's writing, here are a couple of exerpts from his 2005 LEL ride report at:

http://www.maxp.net/bike/randonneuring/2005-lel-1400k.txt

I leaned my bike against a wall at the control and stared in disbelief: right in front of me, next to my Rambouillet, was Sean's bright red Trek! I checked in at the control and discovered that Glen had left less than half an hour earlier. Maybe I wasn't doing so terribly after all. Sean and Finn sat at a table in the dining hall, and Sean told me an incredible story. After a lot of creaking, one of Finn's pedals had finally snapped. At first, Finn had tried to reattach the pedal to the broken remains of the spindle. But when that approach failed, he simply took off his shoe, stuffed it into his jersey pocket, and wrapped his toes around the jagged spindle remains that still emerged from the crank. In this way, I believe, he pedaled some tens of hilly kilometers, Sean at his side, before a motorcycle marshal caught up to them with a pair of spare pedals. Blood stained his sock, but he didn't stop.

and later in the same report:

I have many memories of those last 65Km: the expansive scenery, the magnificent light, the feeling of achievement at having completed LEL despite the last day's troubles. Yet my best and most unbelievable memory is of Finn, in his granny gear for the first time in 1350Km, pushing Sean up the hills. Sean, his tendons swollen and ibuprofen no longer effective, was forced to soft-pedal even on gentle climbs. He told us to ride on without him, but that wasn't an option for us. I'd have been perfectly willing to ride with him at whatever pace he could muster, but Finn had a different idea. He would ride down the hills just behind Sean, then downshift, put his right hand firmly on Sean's lower back or his saddle, and push him all the way up the hill. At the top he'd accelerate his pedal stroke and finally push forward with his arm---a powerful, sweeping motion that launched Sean over the top of the hill and down the other side. And then he would repeat the procedure again. He did this time after time, on scores of hills, many of them steep and quite long. Together they climbed surprisingly fast: I could probably have outsprinted them had I needed to, but even keeping up with them was no easy task. I was in complete awe of Finn and his technique---I had never seen anything like it.

Max is one of those guys whose passion for the ride shines through in his words. He tells the stories that really capture the feeling of the ride.

Vitamin B and C and Stress

I just read a post from one of my rando pals on an email forum where he said (among other things) :

"I always seem to have some period of adjustment in the early season when my body (including GI tract) seems to need to get used to the physical stress of events. (I've got a ton of cold sores right now.)"

At the end of the Great Divide Race last year my friend Trish complained of mouth sores as well. I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on the internet but back in 1999, before I rode Paris-Brest-Paris, I read almost everything I could find about distance riding and the strains it puts on the body. And one article I read (it was on paper and no, I don't have a reference handy) was written by doctor who'd ridden PBP and developed the serious cold sores that kept him from eating. He theorized that the sustained effort and sweat would lead to a leaching of the B and C vitamins from the body. B and C vitamins are water-soluble and you really can't store a bunch of them in your system. But you can take daily B and C supplements.

I'm not a big fan of drugs (coffee excepted, I'm a huge fan of coffee!) and I pretty much don't even take things like ibuprophen. But I do take a daily "Stress-B" vitamin, which is a B & C vitamin mix. One brand-name is "StressTabs" but you can read labels and find generic equivalents. Since I've been taking these, I haven't had any problems with mouth sores on the longer events. One side-effect you should be aware of is that excess B-vitamins will be flushed out in your urine, making it a bright yellow. Don't worry about this, the bright yellow doesn't mean you are dehydrated, just that you've got more than enough B in your system.

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent

SIR 600K, June 3-4, 2006

Last weekend I rode the SIR 600K brevet on the Olympic Peninsula. The story and pictures are here:

http://www.carsstink.org/peterson/600K2006/SIR600K.html

Kogswell Model G 3 Speed

Last week I converted my Kogswell Model G to a three speed. The story and pictures are at:

http://www.carsstink.org/peterson/3Speed/KogswellG3.html

Air Pollution and Cycling

I've talked to various folks who are worried about the quality of the air and worry about breathing polluted air while cycling. The report here:

http://www.bv.com.au/inform.php?a=6&b=31&c=1015

has some interesting information on the subject.