Saturday, January 27, 2007

CD's Saturday cycling tip: a break in the action

Readers have probably figured out that I like to take at least one decent ride over the weekend. Though it's a highlight 40 miles or more on Saturday or Sunday is not a requirement. I started eating yesterday for riding today: fluids, fruit, carbs, some protein, more fluids and kept that going through this morning. But fatigue, headache, stuffy nose, protosore throat and achiness made me realize sleeping, not cycling, was probably in my best interest. So sleep I did. None of the symptoms have changed, a clue that two or three hours on a bike would have made me feel crappier instead of better. There's always next weekend.

Friday, January 26, 2007

C'dork's Friday ride guide: going around in circles

Despite last week's injunction to get myself lost, likely time constraints will probably lead to the same old thing. It's lame to whine about it, especially when generally it's a pretty ride with light traffic. That doesn't change the fact that I need to find a route to get me to the unexplored northern and eastern portions of Wake County.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Bikegasm

My palms have sweated the last couple of days over the tabloid-sized Road: The Journal of Cycling and Culture Buyer's Guide. There is a woman on the front wearing a skintight red latex body suit with matching spiked-heel platform lace-up boots holding a playful but undeniably diabolical pitchfork. She is standing in front of what appears to be a group of racers hurtling through the mountains. Additional titles on the front list the gear detailed inside with the summary, "All the candy you could ever want!" Indeed. I had to hurry yesterday to look through the 288 road and race bikes and the pertinent cyclepornic details in a scant 45 minutes: Shimano or Campy or SRAM? Carbon, titanium or alloy? I'm hoping to take a good, long look at wheels and then maybe I'll turn to shoes or pedals or helmets. Then, after I've rolled over and had a cigarette, I'll take a good long look at the bikes again. And again. And again.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

The end of cycling as we know it

Curt DeForest Jr. may be a man decades ahead of his time. Or he may be a complete freak. Anyway, he claims that his human-powered, flywheel-driven cage both eliminates the seat and can cruise at 50 mph. Check it all out at BODY RITE. All he needs to save the world for cycling and from the bicycle seat is a few million — just like me.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

On to new heights

The new issue of Bicycling arrived yesterday and there it was, right on the cover: "100 Best Climbs in America." Key stats for the article include miles, average grade and feet of vertical gain. Nearby, relatively speaking, are two in North Carolina, three in Virginia and two in South Carolina. There are some buttkickers included, friends, the kind that make cycledork want to take a nap instead of hit the road. These rides are the sort of thing that makes me feel craven and flaccid for even suggesting The Electra challenge.

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Branded

That's right. I bear the mark of Pearl Izumi. More the shape of an ibex horn than a scarlet letter, I arrived home so marked at the right junction of butt and hamstring after my ride today. The culprit: Pearl Izumi tights. More specifically, the seam of the chamois in the tights. Cycledork is similarly afflicted by PI shorts (both cheeks; branding had receded). So here goes a brief tights review. To begin with, the PIs fit me like a pair of low riders my daughter would have worn in eighth grade. Though warm, they fit the way they want to fit. The Louis Garneaus, though not fleece lined, fit more normally. I also have a pair of Cannondale chamoisless tights that fit normally and some fleecy generic leg warmers. Pearl Izumi shorts and tights that scar me, PI jersey with sleeves that ride around, water-resistant shoe covers that actively attract water. Perhaps I detect a pattern. Or maybe I'm the exception and PIs reputation is warranted.

CD's Saturday cycling tip: sand trap

Around here, municipalities prefer a sand-and-salt mix as their approach to snow and ice on the roads. A key tactic is to spread the mix at intersections of interest. For cars this works fine and on a mountain bike in the snow and ice a rider won't even notice. Things gets trickier after the precipitation is gone and the road is dry because the sand is still there. The trick is compounded as the passage of cars tends to sweep the sand on to shoulders or into corners — just the sorts of places road cyclists tend to ride or turn through. The situation is now as slippery in such spots for the cyclist as it was for the driver before the sand and salt. My morning commute has two notable dunes: one at Trinity and Chapel Hill roads, the other just down the street at Trinity Road and East Chatham Street. Cycledork claims no technical expertise but I try to avoid the sand if possible. If that's not possible — and in some situations crunching forward on sand and gravel is the best solution — slow down, especially through corners. If traffic allows, ride around it. Obviously, that's not always an option. So be vigilant. Watching and looking are always good habits, particularly when approaching a potential hazard. The payoff here is that sometimes that sand bar has enough tire tracks through it to actually provide a clear(er) path. Especially on a road bike, avoid braking while in the sand unless, of course, you want to slide.

Friday, January 19, 2007

C'dork's Friday ride guide: get lost

The fact is I need to find some new routes. I'm fond of the favorites I've been posting every Friday. They are mildly scenic and fit my mileage-and-time needs. But when the highlight of my ride is will a particular — and friendly — dog be sleeping in a particular yard it's time for something new. Most of my rides are also to the west through northeast Chatham County. Nothing wrong with that. Light traffic through the woods with a good shoulder is more than you get in a lot of places. But I need to figure out how to blaze trails around Raleigh to get to northern (and rural) Wake County. If I can concoct a way to the south to Ten-Ten Road without offering myself as a sacrifice on Kildaire Farm or Holly Springs roads that could also be fertile fields for new riding. Otherwise it'll just be the same old thing. I guess it's really time to woodshed with my North Carolina Atlas & Gazeteer and GoogleMaps.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Cudgel of shame

As this entry addresses cycling and certain winter weather conditions, certain readers will want to wait until the next post. You know who you are. Anyway. It snowed early this morning followed by other forms of precipitation throughout the day. Here in the Triangle that phenomenon unhinges people. It would be hilarious if it weren't so moronic. I was in the office by 8:45 a.m. I was one of the first ones in, preceded, by among others, our big boss. She's Canadian so the dusting and sleet and rain had no effect. Nevertheless she noted that I had come in on the mountain bike. At that point I offered myself as the previously mentioned cudgel of shame with which she could beat our coworkers. Though charmed by my selflessness, my observation indicated she declined to take advantage. After making my offer I walked to my standing appointment at the Cary Police Department. My contact there wasted no time in kindheartedly using me as an instrument of discipline for some of his tardier charges. But, you know, if a guy on a mountain bike can beat you into work during a seasonal hiccup you should be embarrassed, no matter how terribly the natives have gummed up traffic on the freeways.
Here at cycledork central the big news is that there were no flaming socks today. The new rain pants held up their end. My hikers and tops performed as dependably as a rider could want. Even though this was the day The Secret Weapon was designed for, they only work with the pedals on the 2100. I know though from some rainy rides that they live up to their billing. As you might expect from a group that can delay highways for hours over an inch of semisolid precipitation, drivers were stupid. Fortunately, where I was riding, they were few. Bottom line: the only moisture on my skin at either end of the trip was perspiration.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Found

I went through one of my daily rituals a little while ago and was pleased when the result came out differently. I've googled cycledork every day since Nov. 16 when the first post went up. Not only is cycledork there today, it sits at the top of the list. While I concede that it's a short list, I've worked relentlessly to claw my way on to it, much less to the top of it. For the first month or so all I got were pages that had nothing to do with me. My entries at the Cycling Plus magazine forums started showing up at about the same time that I could find cycledork by doing a blog search. Recently, similar postings to Bicycling magazine's online community began appearing. But not until today did cycledork show up, free and proud, through a straight Google search. For today at least, being alive in the ether is almost as good as being on the road.

Monday, January 15, 2007

Hot shops

I bought my first adult bike in October 1997. It is a GT Palomar and bears a remarkable resemblance to the one in the picture in the link. I bought it at Big Shark Bicycle Co. at its original location in University City, Mo. Now a few blocks to the east, the shop has been recognized as one of the "Top 100 Retailers 2006" by Bicycle Retailer & Industry News (look for the clickable link on the right side of the page). I told the guy who sold it to me how much I wanted to spend and gave him a realistic overview of how I intended to ride. He didn't waver in his recommendation about the bike — or that I needed a helmet. The whole transaction took maybe 20 minutes. Though it's now the bike I depend on when I use my trainer, the Palomar was a huge step for me when I got it and a huge help when I needed it. Closer in time and closer to my present home, The Clean Machine (now known as The Bicycle Chain) in Carrboro also made it. It looks like I have another shop to visit.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Wind, semantics and control

As I was riding from east to west today along my favorite 40-mile route the wind was mostly blowing from west to east. At several moments I did a terrific impression of a bikebound Marcel Marceau, providing the illusion of pedalling while not actually going anywhere. On this planet, wind is a fact of life. When riding in a group there are tactics for minimizing its effect based on how bikes position themselves in a draft. Alone you just accept. There are many phrases: ride into the wind or against the wind or with the wind. Into connotes embrace; against, confrontation; with, partnership. The relationship between rider and wind isn't a dialectic. We don't affect the wind. Only the other way around. Here at cycledork, our meaningless preposition of choice to go with ride and wind is through. Through keeps us separate from it while acknowledging that it surrounds us. Eventually the wind's effect diminishes even if it's after we're off the bike. But by then we've usually made it home and maintained necessary illusions, at least for ourselves.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

CD's Saturday cycling tip: working yourself into a corner

Cycledork manages most curves and turns with all the panache of a barge on a pond. Nevertheless it's understood that there are ways to smooth the transition from going in one direction to going in another. Approaching the turn or curve, bring the knee to the inside of the movement up. Sometimes it helps to go a little to the outside of the original travel lane before the turn to get to the inside of the new travel lane. Even though there's a front wheel that turns, try not to turn it through the direction change. Lean the bike instead keeping the front wheel straight. Brake ahead of the curve or turn. Avoid using brakes in a curve or turn for the same reason that action should be avoided in a car — it's a recipe for skidding and losing control. All easy to say, harder for c'dork to accomplish. But the results when it comes together are enough to keep me working at it. Maybe techniquewise cycledork can eventually trade up from a barge to a sunfish.

Friday, January 12, 2007

C'dork's Friday ride guide

Some rides are the ones you make the most of, others are just inspirations. It's unlikely cycledork will get out tomorrow to enjoy the route presented here. Cycledork and the scientist are going to a wedding in Lincolnton that will mean leaving cycledork central during early afternoon — peak riding time for January — at the latest. The good news is the 'dork may be able to get out Sunday. If you get a chance I hope you enjoy the route. It's on my list for the near future even if I only do my favorite 40 miler Sunday.

Sunday, January 7, 2007

One down, 11 to go

As I believe is mentioned previously, cycledork accepted the "2007 Metric Century a month Challenge" posted in the Cycling Plus forums. Predictably the plan is to use many weekend rides over the next year to meet this challenge. So expect to see maps for 100k rides, such as those posted the last couple of weeks, in the Friday Ride Guide. That said, it may become habitual that the trip described in the Friday Ride Guide is not the one that occurs in the two days following. Readers may recall that on Friday, CD mapped out an ambitious, 78+ mile route that would go through parts of five counties. What actually happened is that on Saturday cycledork took the trip described the week before.
Regardless of the route, I got in 65.6 miles in about 3.5 hours of riding time. It was a gorgeous day here even if a tad breezy. Dozens of cyclists were out. Lots of them seemed to have flats but when questioned said their situations were under control. I also got to meet Pete and Mark at the Wilsonville General Store, the popular cyclists' oasis, gas station and bait shop at the intersection of U.S. 64 and Farrington Road. Anyway it may be another month or two, until the days are noticeably longer, before any long ride I outline is the one I actually go on that weekend. My sympathies to cycling brethren and sistren in the UK who get even less than we do here.
Note: while preparing the second map, I was unable to compel GoogleMaps to find the actual location of Pea Ridge Road so the route description shorts me about 3.8 miles. However, in the first map it found the correct road. If anyone can offer any insight into this situation I would appreciate it.

Saturday, January 6, 2007

CD's Saturday cycling tip: meet Sheldon Brown's website

As some of you know, I've been spending time lately in the forums of U.K.-based cycling magazine Cycling Plus. While there I keep seeing references to Sheldon Brown and his website. So, cycledork asked, who is this Brown dude? It turns out Brown is a Massachusetts resident (I love going overseas to learn about domestic resources) with many interests, including bicycles. Looking it over gives me comfort that cycledork won't have to reinvent these wheels. The site's many offerings range from a glossary to a gear calculator that tells everything from gear inches to speed in a selected at a selected cadence. Very dorkish and thus very cool.

Friday, January 5, 2007

C'dork's Friday ride guide

We'll confirm that the weather's supposed to be sunny in the morning since the 'dork is thinking about going long, or at least longer, this weekend. This route, an extension of last week's unfinished fantasy, would take in bits and pieces of Wake, Harnett, Lee, Chatham and Durham counties over about 78 miles. Part of the incentive is that it would discharge a twelfth of my pledge on the Cycling Plus forum to ride a metric century per month this year.

Tuesday, January 2, 2007

Where's on your list?

The Guardian's online travel section proclaims the Top 10 bike rides of the world. There are a few here I want to bag for my life list: going into Grand Teton National Park along U.S. 287, Lolo Pass and Alpe d'Huez. A bunch of the others sound pretty cool too. For much longer than the three years I've been cycling seriously I've thought biking Norway would be a blast. That could just the call of my Viking ancestors. And there are several others I'd never heard of but now want to learn more about. Inexplicably, my favorite ride, Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park, was not included.

Monday, January 1, 2007

One man's resolution can be another's challenge

But cycledork is just worried about have three free day-light hours every 30 days or so to complete the 12 missions. I attested earlier this evening that I will complete at least one 100-kilometer, or 62.5-mile, ride per month. This pledge resides nestled deeply in the online forums of Cycling Plus magazine. I don't yet subscribe to the hard copy of this U.K.-based publication but I have a feeling that day is coming soon. The C+ forum is more vigorous and seemingly more populist than the forums of its U.S. counterpart Bicycling, the web version of the American general-interest cycling mag (that I subscribe to already). Anyway, my pledge to pedal shouldn't be a problem. I expect December, because there is so little light, to be the most challenging month to squeeze in those miles in an afternoon. That's not for another 11 months. But as I said at C+, check here to see if hold up my end.