Rochester Flyers

Update your bookmark

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 10:51:54 +0000

This is the final post to this page. Comments here will not be checked for moderation, therefore none will be published. Please go to http://www.rochesterflyers.com from now on. All pages here are kept as archives.

I warned you

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 10:14:57 +0000

The wordpress site is up. Visit it here: http://wp.rochesterflyers.com/ Be ready for changes though. The theme or template may change until I find one I like or make one on my own. Most of the articles from here have been transferred, except for images and links. I don't have categories set up how I like it yet. You can still visit this page, but I don't think I'll post to it. Mahalo.

Cha-cha-cha-changes...

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:41:53 +0000

This is a post feed from RochesterFlyers.com So Rochester Flyers has had the same look, and the same CMS for a couple years now. And I prolly wouldn't consider changing it, except the CMS is giving me fits lately. Posting is a pain. So I'm thinking I'll switch to wordpress. This could take some time as I want to design it for my needs, and I'll have to move all the archived articles over too. In other words don't expect anything ready next week. I'm only now thinking about it. but till then posts will not be as frequent.

Watch this. And then share it.

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 10:55:16 +0000

This is a post feed from RochesterFlyers.com I've been wanting to buy one of these cameras for a couple of years now. And this is a good use for it.

Berry McGee Livestrong Trek Madone

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 08:52:27 +0000

This is a post feed from RochesterFlyers.com You have to check this out. Artist Berry McGee takes a Trek Madone and dresses it like an urban flat bar bike. Like a well used steel flat bar urban bike. Complete with rust and everything. You have to check it out. Follow this link - http://www.supertouchart.com/2009/03/08/lacycle-killerslance-armstrongs-new-barry-mcgee-trek-madone/ To me there's something romantic about a bicycle that is well used, showing signs of age and battle scarred, but still plenty willing and able to go forth and race when called upon. I think this bike captures that look. Great job!

Another magical fairy visit

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 17:30:41 +0000

Another magical fairy visited yesterday. And her gifts this time were a new pair of Sidi cycling shoes. And in that box were these fancy shoes. Wow! Fancy, huh? Yeah, supercool! Here they are next to my old dominators. At the time I got them (about 14 yrs ago) the Dominators were the top MTB model from Sidi. Here's what's really cool, these Bullet2's have a better (read stiffer) sole, even though they are a couple rungs down for the top. And the closure system, that while not a cool buckle and reverse strap, is much more simple to use, especially on the fixed gear bike. As a bonus, these new shoes aren't falling apart. Another bonus, they fit well right out of the box. Seriously, my old ones took about 9 years to break in enough to where they were comfortable. And then they began to fall apart. Yeah, I've started shaving my legs for the season already. Why? Well that's a story for another post. In celebration, I took them out on a ride. 2 1/2 hours of happy feet. All I can say is awesome! Thanks to the Soroos family racing fund for sponsoring this investment.

Tires, like totally tubular!

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 21:23:52 +0000

Guess what? The magical tire fairy stopped by yesterday and dropped off some new tires for the upcoming season. Check it out y'all! That's right. New pair of Vittoria - Open Corsa Evo CX's and Cross Evo XN's. The Open Corsa's are for the road bike. Fast, smooth rolling tires to hopefully be able to hang on the group rides. The Cross XN's are for the fixed gear. Mainly for the Almanzo 100. I have some older (mismatched) roadie tires for non gravel fixie rides. There's only one problem. See the Cross XN's? They are tubulars. And I don't run tubies. Not that I wouldn't want to, but that means building up a set of tubie wheels. That's not gonna happen this season. So... know anyone who needs a set of cross tubies? Brand new! No glue on the tape. Contact me. I'm willing to sell 'em or trade 'em for similar non-tubular tires.

So it's been a while...

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 21:27:49 +0000

Honestly... don't you have anything better to do then read this blog? Appearantly not. So anyway, I haven't posted in a while. There are a number of reasons for this.1. I haven't been doing much. Riding - not really. Fun stuff - no. Well unless playing Rockband counts. But nothing bike related.2. Work. Work takes up a bunch of my time lately. It's good. I like it. But that means less time for playing around.3. Facebook. Yeah, I've been sucked into the blackhole that is Facebook. Finding old friends, connecting with coworkers and current friends. Oh and playing Mob Wars, Pet Society and poking people. Now I just need to find the Blog/Facebook balance.

It's not all tricks and dodging traffic.

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 09:01:08 +0000

It's Your Ride from Cinecycle on Vimeo. A friend and coworker of mine found this for me. Finally a well done video that's not all bar spins and traffic dodging. I mean there's peices of that, but it's balanced with casual riding.

I'm in!!!

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:29:51 +0000

Yup, I'm committed to do the 2009 Almanzo 100. On the fixed gear bike again. Can I repeat the result from last year? It's too early to tell. I haven't ridden (even indoors) for a while now. So yeah, I'm already making excuses for a poor performance. But that's what all bike racers do. Well maybe not all. But most. As a cyclist you always know there are gonna be things out of your control, including just having an off day on the bike. And so rather than brag about being in great shap and fully prepared for the race, we hide behind our excuses. Oh well, whatever. Wanna see my postcard entry? Too bad, I'm gonna show you anyway. It's handmade. And it represents the elevation profile and map outline. So, if you're thinking about doing this, send in your entry soon. You have about 11 days to get it in.

I think I'll leave my TrImp Intensity Factors alone

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 22:31:00 +0000

Well reading the post again, I understand that the poster is trying to mimic another program, that uses power and TSS and IF from that. My beleif is that power based TSS and heart rate based TrImp values don't need to be the same for you to get results. So that means that I don't need to totally geek out and adjust the factors. Training with heart rate is different than training with power. A power interval is different than a heart rate interval. And in the end, during a race, the heart rate monitor or power meter is used maininly to gather data. (I'm not talking about time trials or triathlons, with those you can use power meters and/or heart rate monitors to maintain an effort near lactate threashold - or more or less depending on the length of the event.) The factors that I used last year seemed to work for my situation. And I didn't even do a portion of what I had scheduled. I was hoping to do a full summer of BAR events. I ended up doing one (Ken Woods), and Almanzo. I placed mid pack at Ken Woods, and won the fixed catagory at Almanzo. I also did some group rides and was able to hang with the pack on each one. That was a huge boost to my confidance. So... it worked well last year, and this year, I'm only going for group rides, and defending Almanzo.

Winter/off-season is good for one thing,

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 11:27:39 +0000

and that's to review and read up on training techniques. I read with interest this post reguarding calculating Intensity factors (IF) and training stress scores (TSS). According to Coggan's book "Training and Racing with a Power Meter", the TSS value of 100 was derived as a baseline measure by using a typical cycling activity -- racing a 40km time trial -- done at threshold HR or watts. Generally speaking a good cyclist can do 40km in an hour, hence one hour at threshold = 100 TSS. Coggan also lists some Intensity Factor (IF) values in his book to multiply against the base TSS for other workouts (either above or below threshold). Level 1, Active Recovery = 0.75 Level 2, Endurance = 0.75-0-85 Level 3, Tempo = 0.85-0.95 Level 4, Lactate Threshold = 0.95-1.05 Level 5 and higher = 1.05-1.15 etc. TSS = (s x W x IF)/(FTP x 3600) where s is seconds, W is watts produced, IF is intensity factor, and FTP is your tested functional threshold power (you can assume that your threshold HR is a roughly equivalent measure to FTP). Multiply the fraction by 100 to get the actual TSS value. Since mechgt's plugin for Training Load appears to be based on minutes (a factor of 60) rather than Coggan's baseline (a factor of 100) -- i.e., an hour at threshold would count for 60 TSS points in the plugin instead of 100 -- what I did was multiply each of the IF numbers by 1.67 to get my values for my HR chart. What this means is that my numbers may be off. I'm sure not by much, and it prolly doesn't effect my training and stuff. But I'm such a geek about this stuff that you know I'll be looking at it and tweaking my TrImp factors to sorta follow this model.

I haven't been training

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 17:34:00 +0000

And when I say I haven't been training, I really mean I havent' been training. Not like other cyclists, that do secret training, saying they haven't been training but really meaning that they are here to work everyone in the pack like dogs. But I did go to the gym yesterday. Not training. Just needed to do something physical. But I did take the Garmin. To track heart-rate. And to log it in SportTracks and see how it effects the Training Load plugin. I jumped on the treadmill and ran for 20+ minutes. As you can see from the above chart, most of my time was spent well above 70% of my max heart rate. You can also see how I backed off after the interval at the 14 minute mark. This is because I started to feel my knee complaining. So I slowed enough that it wouldn't. The above chart is really interesting. Why? I don't know. But here's what you are seeing. That I hadn't done any real activity since Thanksgiving. And even prior to that I wasn't active very much. This is proved by the blue area and the red line going down to about zero. But... even with yesterdays activity, it doesn't rise much. (or at all) This shows just how low my fitness level is. Now I don't totally aggree with the terms they have for ATL and TSB here. ATL isn't really the level of fatigue. But I guess that it's an easy way to label it. But whatever. Back to the numbers. CTL = 5? ATL = 4? Compare that with the summer where I had CTL levels as high as 85 and ATL up to 118. I guess it's to be expected at this time of year, right? Did you see, we're going into a cold spell. Temps hovering at or below zero. Um... no riding planned yet. Maybe we'll get a warm up after that. I can hope can't I?

And speaking of commuting...

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:53:57 +0000

This is a post feed from RochesterFlyers.com I did get a new crank arm for the commuter bike. $15 at Rochester Cycling and Fitness got me a generic 170 crank arm. It actually took a little bit of searching in the parts area, but sure enough they had one. And I'm back on the road. Yippy!

Garmin Edge 305 (warranty/replacement) huit

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:24:10 +0000

This is a post feed from RochesterFlyers.com Last time I wrote about the warranty situation with my Garmin Edge 305 unit, it was still summer, I still had some riding to do, and I didn't want to dish out the hundred bucks for Garmin to send me a unit prior to me sending the defective unit back. They didn't go for my thought that they should just send me a unit on my honor, and I'd send them the defective one after I recieved it. The response was that there no way for the system to do it any other way. So I waited till the end of the season... actually I waited a bit after the end of the season, and then I remembered that the one year warranty would be up pretty soon. A couple days before Christmas I emailed Garmin and requested an RMA (return merchandise authorization) number. Once I got it, I mailed the unit back to them, and they pretty promptly sent a new unit (complete with new heart rate monitor strap, and mounting brackets. I took it on a test ride the other day on my commute to work. It worked just fine. Then I tried to mimic the condition that caused the unit to shut off while riding. That is, while the unit was on, I dropped it from about 4 inches to my desk. Didn't shut off. I did it a couple more times just to make sure, and it seemed to do fine. Now I just hope I can get some decent road rides in before the warranty on the replacement unit is up (which is 90 days). You know if it starts acting up again, I'll keep pestering 'em. Anyway, besides the unit going bad for a second time, I'm pretty happy with Garmin. They stand behind thier product, and replace the units in a timely manner. The complete Garmin Edge 305 warranty saga: Garmin Edge 305 warranty part one Garmin Edge 305 warranty part two Garmin Edge 305 warranty part three Garmin Edge 305 warranty part four Garmin Edge 305 warranty part five Garmin Edge 305 warranty part six Garmin Edge 305 warranty part seven

Something cool

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:11:00 +0000

This is a post feed from RochesterFlyers.com Besides commuting, I haven't been riding much. In fact the last time I went for a decent ride was... Thanksgiving eve. That's just about 2 months. And guess what? You can loose a ton of fitness in 2 months. I feel it in various ways. My legs feel heavier when I do ride to work. My pants are feeling tighter. And I just seem to have less energy all around. Sure part of it is the 3 hours of sunlight we get per day during winter here in Minnesota. And of course there's the cold. I don't like to talk about the cold that much... so I'm not gonna. Now, not only can I feel 'slowness' creeping into my body, but I can see it, quantified on paper (or actually pixels, but I could print it out on paper too.). Well I guess I could do that before, but now I can do it super easy, without taking data from one program and inputing it into a spreadsheet and making up my own charts and blah-blah-blah. With this new Training Load Plugin for SportTracks, everything is at my fingertips without having to jump around. So I used SportTracks all year to track my training this year. At first it was just a good log. It works well with the Garmin Edge I got and I was able to log each ride. Then with the TrImp plug in I was able to track training a bit better using a model similar to using a powermeter. The trouble was that I had to use excel to make my own spreadsheets to track CTL, ATL and TSB. Not only that, but I had to figure out the formulas myself and how to chart them out. Now, with this new plug in all of that is done for you. Click the above image to see it big. Of course this shows how out of shape I am in real numbers and chart, right from SportTracks. I'm actually loving this plug in. Now I can think about burning my excel spreadsheets. My only hesitation to doing so, is that it's missing a couple of metrics that I'd like to see. CTL Ramp and Rolling CTL Totals with Breakeven points. CTL Ramp is just the amount of rise or drop in CTL from a week ago. For a better idea of what these metrics are and how I use them, read this post from July. I realize that some of these metrics are somewhat similar to other metrics, and may seem a little redundent, but I say - it really measures something else. Anyway, we'll see if I really ditch the seperate spreadsheet for SportTracks and the Training Load plugin only.

I'm ticked

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:53:45 +0000

Because I had a whole big post about this. Seriously, I was working on a whole thing about this guy being agressive and threatening because of his fear. Yup, I said it. He's afraid. And instead of dealing with it like a man and maybe allowing some room for the cyclist that he's afraid he's gonna run over. He act like a jerk and baisicly agree with someone who thinks is ok to run over a cyclist because he can't change lanes. I had links to the MN statutes and explainations about it and stuff. But somehow, while doing a bunch of other stuff, the page refreshed itself and lost everything. Eh... serves me right for working out of the browser for a long time (couple hours), while working on other items. Oh well, I'm sure there are other local cycling bloggers (here's one, and another) will be posting about this, I don't have the patience to think and write it all again. Sorry.

Registration is open for Almanzo 100 / 2009

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 11:28:18 +0000

Actually it opened on Jan. 1st, but the post office was closed that day, and I forgot to post yesterday. I didn't send my postcard in yet. I'm actually still deciding if I'll be able to do it. Really - it's the only race I really want to do this year. What with the cost of USAcycling membership and fuel costs. This year will be mainly group rides and maybe a couple races like Almanzo/alleycats. If you are planning to attend, be sure to get your postcard in before Feb. 1st, that's when registration closes. As for me, I need to make up my mind, and create a postcard to send in. Maybe this year I do a cool one. Last year I used an old Dirt Rag post card. That was cool, but I think it lacked the personal touch.

My legs must be huge!

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 12:03:11 +0000

Cause I broke my crankarm on my commute to work this morning. I was about halfway in to work, waiting in the left turn lane of an intersection. I was on the fixed gear commuter, right foot on the ground, left foot on the pedal leading to push off. The left arrow turned green, I stepped down on the pedal and BANG! It felt like the chain snapped, but then I was able to make it through the intersection ok, and pull into a parking lot to look at what happened. I saw the chain was ok, but that the left crank arm was 90 degrees off. Then I saw the crack. I ended up riding the rest of the way using only my right foot. Luckily it's Minnesota and there wasn't any 'real' hills to climb on the way in. Here's a close up of the above picture. And the backside. Pretty impressive, huh? But I really don't think it was me that broke it. It's an old Campy Strada crank. If you jump to the download page you can see a couple shots with the stampings on the back. The cranks are mounted on an old Shimano Dura-Ace bottom bracket (adjustable cups and retainer bearings), so there may have been a little incompatiblity thing going on. Add in cold temps and salty road slush and very little maintenance (and by maintenance I mean simply wiping down the bike with a rag), and maybe I was just asking for it... Look at how the crack goes down the length of the crank. At least I didn't crash. Now I gotta see if I can get my hands on a crank to mount on this. Download the hi-res set by clicking here.

RASC New Years Day group ride.

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 11:06:30 +0000

The last couple years RASC has done a new years day ride. The plan is to do a mile for every degree above zero. So let's hope for a 30+ degree day. We can dream right? I used to do a solo new years day ride in Hawaii. However it's a bit more of a challenge with the weather here in Rochester. I am tentitivly planning to attend this year (like last year). I also posted it as an event on Facebook. Not that it's a Rochester Flyers event, it's not, it's completely a RASC thing, but nothing says you and I can't attend. I didn't become a member of RASC last year, but I think I'll join again this year. Kinda in place of a USCF renewal. Anyway, I'm going off on a tangent. I'll prolly be riding my fixed gear commuter bike, like last year, so if you have a fixie, bring it. If not, no worries, eh mate. Just bring yourself and some sort of bicycle, and celebrate the start of another year on the bike. Hope you can make it.

Rochester Flyers Facebook Group

Sat, 20 Dec 2008 13:25:13 +0000

Yeah, yeah, yeah... So-ooo predictable, right? Whatever, it is what it is. This website is not completely a free exchange of local ride information. It's more of a one way topic started by me, and the possibility of readers to comment (moderated). With Facebook, if you join the group, you can post group rides and news, thoughts and ideas. Here's the link. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=55960260405. Check it out y'all.

Utopia: Envisioning a Dream - Postmodern Poster Design Project for school / final draft

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 09:19:17 +0000

So there it is. The final draft of the post modern poster design. It is what it is. Click to see it on Flickr. I feel a little better about this one, but still, I wasn't totally into it. I mean, I wasn't feelin' it. Call it lack of motivation, call it a lack of creativity, or even call it poo. Like I said above, it is what it is.

XC Mountain bike racing is making a comeback

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 20:05:51 +0000

So 2009 is looking like a real return to XC racing at the pro level. Bike magazine just reported that the USA cycling has 7 races scheduled for 2009 that will be listed on the UCI calender. I think it's great for pro cross-country racers to have a real series of races to compete in again.

Just gotta say one thing

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:48:42 +0000

Winter pretty much sucks. Thats right, sucks.

Packaging Design (a reading response)

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 21:34:53 +0000

To say that I am unaffected by the design of packages would be a lie. I have come to realize that fancy packaging may be just that, dollars spent on packaging or advertising, and not any extra on the product inside. I attempt to make my purchases based on need and knowledge or information about the product. But often my first impression of a product is through it’s packaging design. In order to be effective the package needs to be interesting and different enough to stand out from the other similar products that may be near it. The design needs to be clean and clear enough that I can get any necessary information to make an educated purchase. In the case of food items, I would need to be able to clearly view the ingredients and nutritional information. I am, however, a sucker for interesting packaging. I am drawn to the use of non-traditional containers for an item, or unique materials. But the packaging that impresses me the most is not only effective in getting my attention, but also is very efficient in it’s material usage. The trendy term is “green” packaging. But I think it goes beyond using environmentally friendly, recyclable or reused materials. But also a minimal amount of packaging. Or the ability of the packaging to be integral to the use of a product. The packaging also needs to be space efficient, or compact, both in the retail space, but also in any waste the does need to be disposed of. Generally, what is attractive to various demographics of consumers will differ. A young child will be attracted to bright primary colors, with cartoon like characters. Case in point is with most foods that are packaged and marketed to children. You have the Trix bunny, Lucky Charms leprechaun, and the character that according to Fast Food Nation, children recognize more than Jesus Christ, Ronald McDonald. Compare that with what generally attract middle aged consumers, conservative colors, white space and a greater focus on an emotional connection to the product and not a character. Packaging is an essential extension to a brand, but also needs to be considered as both a first and possibly last impression on a consumer for purchase. It is critical for the packaging to connect to the consumer, but also communicate any necessary information required for the consumer to feel they made an educated purchase. The packaging should also continue to be useful or at the very least, produce as little waste as possible.

Almanzo 100 on Facebook

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 11:14:22 +0000

If you're on Facebook, then you can click here to show your interest in doing the best gravel road bicycle race in Minnesota. It's not the registration, so make sure you get your postcards ready to mail in January, as per the instrustions.

Utopia: Envisioning a Dream - Postmodern Poster Design Project for school

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:16:43 +0000

This is the rough draft. Some projects are easy to see the finished product and I just go through the steps to do it, other times (like this and it seems for most of my school projects) I have these ideas, but my mind goes blank on how to best bring that idea to life to throw down on the screen. Anyway, I know it can be done better, maybe I just have to have more confidance in my capabilities. That could really be what's holding me back on this.

Are Ghost Bikes a reminder of a crash...

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:32:59 +0000

or of the persons life. Today's Yehuda Moon has Yehuda wondering if the Freds Ghost Bike isn't allowing Fred's ghost to move on. I think it's a fair question. The Ghost Bike movement was to bring attention to cyclists deaths at the point where they happen. The last couple years there have been a couple accidents where there was a death of a person on a bicycle in Rochester. I've contemplated putting up Ghost Bikes or helping someone put one up. But I never got beyond the thinking about it stage. I think I just had a funny feeling about it. Maybe this is why. With a Ghost Bike, we are remembering a very sad event in someones life. Yes, it's a sober reminder (hopefully) to drivers and the general public that a bicyclist was struck and killed at that spot. But it doesn't celebrate the life that the person had. It doesn't lift up the wonderful things the person did or was involved in. I don't know, I'm not saying not to put up Ghost Bikes, or maybe I am... Is there some way that it can be done that it also celebrates the persons life, and not just memorial their death?

People are Strange

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:12:00 +0000

This is awesome. Cool song and some cool artwork to go along with it. People are strange from Denis Fongue on Vimeo.

Almanzo 100 2009

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:34:14 +0000

Official word is that registration will begin on January 1, 2009 and end on February 1, 2009. So far there's no cap on the amount of riders to be accepted, so it could be huge. Close to 70 riders showed up last year. One thing, if you are not sure if you are gonna do it, I'd hold off on registering, no shows for a free event are not that easy to deal with. The Mayor foots the bill for this himself, so having an accurate amount of supplies for the amount of riders keeps the cost low for him. A quick note about commitment and where I stand on the issue: If your not going to commit to riding on the 16th of May, please don't register. If you do commit and your car starts on fire the morning of the race and you cannot make it, that is something different. I don't want to sound like a prick, but this event takes a lot of my time and money and I want to keep it free because that is something I truly believe in. I am not asking for money, just help in keeping things moving along smoothly. If your not going to come because you don't feel like it, don't waste your time, mine or that of anyone else. Sorry about that, but hey, I am just one man. But if you want to ride, follow this link and send in a postcard. And if you need convincing of it's awesomeness, read my report of the 2008 Almanzo 100.

Dirt

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:02:10 +0000

Almost everyone knows I'm a roadie. Yes, a shaved legged roadie zipping along the road always trying to catch the rider in front of me. And I embrace that. But lately I've been itching to get in the dirt. I haven't mountainbiked in about 10 years. I gave up on it cause I didn't think there was much to ride locally. And I didn't want to travel to ride. So there wasn't any point to keeping the mountain bike. Now, don't get me wrong, I do occasionally take the orange fixed on the trails in Eastwood. And that's fun. But I'm itching to get out with the proper tool for the situation. A mountain bike. One of the reasons is not that there really is more to ride out here, (there sorta may be) but that I see possibility for at least some terrain to be made and incorparated into our great city bike trail and park system. I'm talking about pumptracks, and freeride obsticles around. IMBA has a whole section on their website with resources on techniques and even some pointers on approaching land managers. So reading about all of this gets me all juiced up to put some fat tires under my butt and hit the dirt.

Logomarks

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:14:38 +0000

There are four general types of logos. Wordmarks use the name of the company as the logo, lettermarks use the initials, symbol marks use a graphical mark or pictorial icon and combination marks use put a symbol with a wordmark or lettermark. Combination marks are the most powerful in identifying a brand at least until the public develops a relationship with the symbol, in which case the symbol may be used on it's own. Most people need some sort of text as a sort of reminder of the company name to associate with the graphical element. However once that relationship is developed, the symbol mark can be extremely powerful. It then is not dependent on language at all to continue communicating the brand to people. Lettermarks and wordmarks also develop relationships, but at times may not be as deep or as flexable in use as a combination or symbol mark. In places where a wordmark may not fit, a symbol may be all that's needed to communicate the message. Symbols are also effective in that generally, they are recognizable in an instant. No reading or deciphering is needed. It's not needed to know the meaning of the mark to have the relationship. Many people know and connect with the Nike "swoosh." Most people don't know what the swoosh is or it's meaning. It just isn't needed for the relationship.

Win Susan Nelson!

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:29:15 +0000

Click here to donate directly to a good cause.

Stole this from fyxomatosis

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 09:02:42 +0000

From this post. Now here's the kind of stuff that pushes the envelope of what can be done on a bike. Rad stuff to say the least. How this guy is pushing bmx skills, the fixed kids can be doing the same. Why not me? Cause I'm still working on backward circles.

New LOST teaser

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:25:50 +0000

I had a post with this, but the stupid interwebs sucked it into the abyss

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:03:24 +0000

Official POLADROID demo video - v0.9.5Uploaded by paul_ladroid

Mountain bike stage racing to get a new race in the US?

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:12:13 +0000

There's a rumor (on BikeRumor.com no less) that there's gonna be a southeast US mountain bike stage race in the future. If it's true, I may have to pony up for a new bike, and some time off to do this. I think I'd need a team mate too. Sounds awesome. Anyone want to join me?

Here's something way-cool, flowering biodegradable music...

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:44:55 +0000

Follow this link. We've all seen those music download cards by now right? If not, when you purchase from a physical store a download card, you go home, type the code in your 'puter and place the files in your library. Well L. Records, in Hawaii (where else?), not only has a solar and wind powered green recording studio, but has made their download cards biodegradable. In addition, after degrading, an assortment of flowers will grow where the card was left. How awesome is that?

Like to cook?

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:14:14 +0000

Cyclists like to eat. If you ride any extended amount of time regularly, you end up being pretty hungry most of the time throughout the day. I don't know many other type of athletes that eat as much as cyclists do. Maybe tri-athletes, but they are just wierd. (this is another topic for another day, but why in the world would you want to spend that time training to run ro swim, when cycling is so much more fun) So eating so much means that once in a while I like to give my wife a break from cooking so much food for me. Well I guess she cooks for the kids and herself to. But I eat them all under the table. Saturdays, are usually my designated nights to cook. Not that I don't cook other nights or days of the week, but Saturday's are my nights. But forr me to cook a meal on Saturday night means I need to start around lunch time that day. Sunday night our afternoon was a little out of sorts. Wife was out taking care of something, and I was home with the kids. As dinner approached I wasn't sure what to make. We didn't pull anything out to defrost. Hmm... I ssearched the cupboards, the pantry, the fridge, and I didn't really see anything that could be cooked fast, and the kids would like to eat, as well as I would like to eat. Now, I'm not actually training or anything right now, but as it's fall and my appitite is pretty much the same as the summer when I was riding 10 to 20+ hours a week. Well, truethfully, while I take an offseason break from riding, my appitite doesn't. That could be the reason why I seem to take longer to get in shape in the spring. I imagine this is what Jan Ulrich went through every year. So I didn't know what to make. I made a couple trips to the cupboard and finally thought some spaghetti might be good. but I didn't want to make a tomato sauce. A carbonara would be good. But I didn't have any bacon. But that got me to thinking. My wife and I used to go the the Old Spaghetti Factory and I would get the Brown Butter Mizithra Cheese pasta. Man that was good stuff. I looked up on the interwebs the recipe, and figured that I could do that. Except I don't have mizithra cheese. So I subbed parmsian. Here's the recipe. Start a big pot of salted water boiling. Then grab a stick of butter and put it in a smalll pan or pot on medium heat. Stir the butter as it melts. When the water boils, throw in the pasta and cook it till al-dente. While it's cooking, pay attention to the butter. What's gonna happen is that the solids in the butter will sink under the oil and brown, getting a nutty flavor. Try to skim off some of the oil from the top. But don't skim it all. Once the pasta is cooked, drain it, then toss it with the browned butter. Then toss in some parmasian cheese. If it seems to be getting a little too dry or sticky, add back in some of the pasta water. Once the cheese coats the pasta evenly, it's ready to eat. Now it's a super quick and easy recipe, but it's super yummy, and pretty filling too. Next time you need to make a quick meal, think about making browned butter parmasian pasta.

...

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:42:29 +0000

Whoa! Holy cow! I'm no trekkie, though I grew up watching the original series, and enjoyed most of the original cast movies too. But this looks pretty good. And a Bad Robot production, makes it even more appealing. Oh, and the official trailer can be seen here.

Did you notice

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:21:43 +0000

I did catch some of them. Well... maybe only one of them. But still, that's better than you. I hope... I found this from the Snapshots from my mind blog.

Stole this one from Prolly

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:36:46 +0000

City Of Crank 3.5 from Blackgoldcycling on Vimeo. The thing is, as impressive as this is, and I'm not saying I can ride any better, but there's not really a progression to the tricks attempted. Yeah, I like riding fast in traffic. So watching that gets me pumped. But watching guys do drops, jumps, and fakies gets pretty boring fast. I guess to me, a bicycle is a tool. Right? So using a tool for a purpose it's not intended for is cool the first couple of times. Small jumps, curb endos, bunny hops and drops on a fixed gear is impressive the first couple times. Then the novalty wears off. And you want to see the progression. Larger drops, bigger jumps, better tricks. Just doing it on a fixed gear isn't enough anymore. Let's see a table top off the ramp. Let's see a 5 foot drop. I don't know, maybe better sequence of tricks. The tail spin was cool.

What is in the way of you doing something?

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 12:13:12 +0000

Amazing. Yeah, amazing.

SRAM - XX mtb groupset

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 11:02:20 +0000

Cyclingnews reports today that SRAM is ready to launch a full mountain bike grouppo. With a name like XX it seems like it will be a 2x10 speed system. With SRAM leading the weight wars in road groups, I'm sure this set (which is aimed at elite cross-country racers) will be feather weight. Rumors already have it at the same weight as the road Shimano Dura-Ace set. All I can say is "WOW!" I haven't ridden (let alone raced) a mountain bike in 10 years, but with this type of technology I would love to be able to get back into it.

Book Cover Design - a reading response assignment.

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 09:54:03 +0000

The assignment:What are the different ways of approaching image and type on a book cover design and what are the positive and negative aspects of each? How do the front, spine, and back of a book cover relate and how do the approaches to image and type influence the concepts and treatment of each of part of the front, spine, and back? My response Book cover design is extremely important in that it not only is in direct competition to get a readers attention in a field of many other books in very close proximity, but it builds a continuing and lasting relationship with the reader each time he picks up the book and views the cover prior to reading it. Type and imagery should compliment each other and work together to create unity in the piece across the whole cover including the spine, back, and possible even across multiple books in a series. The choice to design using only type may be considered in cases where there is not a budget for graphical elements, or for unique cases, such as the example on page 210 showing a solution to having a large amount of authors in an anthology book. However using only type can fail to connect to potential readers that may be attracted to visual elements in other design approaches. This is not to say the the type can't be made interesting and graphical in itself, but as with any choice, the choice must be made to create a solution. More often the choice to design will include both image (graphical element) and type in some combination. Of this choice, there is still multiple approaches to creating a solution. Image-driven design may have the largest pull due to most people being attracted to interesting visuals. Visual elements can be used to convey the literal clues to the plot and or characters, or more abstract, the feelings and emotions of the story. When using this approach, there may be a temptation to give away "too much" of the story in the visual, sometimes this can be acceptable. But as the book says, you wouldn't want to give up the solution to a mystery in the visuals. Other times the best solution is to use a design that employs a seamless integration of type and image in the design. An example that comes to mind is Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club, in which the title is carved in a bar of soap. If the effect is done effectively, it creates a synergy that communicates cleanly. Text-driven design can be used when the author is well known or the title is very strong or self descriptive. Visual elements are used to embellish or back up the use of text as the main graphical element. However the use of this approach wouldn't work in a situation where the title is ambiguous or the author is unknown releasing her first book.

What is this site?

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:58:24 +0000

Seriously, I don't know what it is. I've been kinda struggling. Not that it needs a classification. But I'm thinking more like focus. Yeah, the original focus was to have an informational site with some opinion and insight on riding around delivering items for people. That changed when I wasn't making enough money to survive. Since then it's been more or less a blog. Generally about cycling. Lately there have been a little more posting about design and school. But I don't think I hit the stride that I did in my previous blog. Not sure if there was the relative safety of using an anonymous screen name, or if I am really as boring as I have come across lately. Not sure what I'm trying to say here, except that maybe the writing may get more random, as I attempt to find the voice of Rochester Flyers. Heck, maybe just a change from Rochester Flyers bicycling, to just plain Rochester Flyers. Maybe?

WIN SUSAN!

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 22:05:44 +0000

Magazine spread assignment final comp

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 21:55:37 +0000

Click through to the Flickr page to see it bigger.

Almanzo Fall Ride

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:19:28 +0000

The Mayor of Almanzo is putting on a quick 50 mile ride from Rochester to St. Charles and back. Possible option to turn it into a century. It's going down on November 16 (Sunday), leaving Rochester Dunn Bros. North at 8:00 am. Go to the Almanzo 100 site for more info and to let him know you're gonna show up. Me? I'd like too, but I've got something more important I'll be doing.

Trans Iowa 2009

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:34:11 +0000

On November 11, veterans of past Trans Iowa races will be able to register. Then on the 17th it opens up to everyone else. On November 24 it closes. I'm still not gonna register this year. I'm a wuss, but I will do it one year. I promise.

Reading Response / Direct message, secondary meaning and graphic impact of type

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 08:24:55 +0000

The assignment (after reading the textbook):How can designing to emphasize the "Direct Message" of type affect the "Secondary Meaning" of the type? Are there times that the "Direct Message" is more important than the "Secondary Meaning"? Are there times when the "Secondary Meaning" is more important that the "Direct Message"? Why? In what ways does the "Graphic Impact" of the text affect both the "Direct Message" and the "Secondary Meaning"? Some definitions (from the text): Direct message = Primary meaning Seconday meaning = connotation of type Graphic impact = how does it look. Texture and color fo the type layout The response Designing with a focus on the direct message is designing purely for the piece to be read. Readibility and legibility are the most important factors. When focusing on the direct message, sometimes the secondary meaning, or the connotation of the type can be affected. When choosing a type face for legibility, you may have to use a font that may not be as expressive in it's personality. An example of the direct message affecting the secondary message can be seen in the white pages of a telephone book. In the white pages the type for each person or families name and information is straight forward, uniform and legible, but there is no character to the type. This is important so that users can find the information quickly, but also clearly. You wouldn't want one person's name and phone number to be lost against the next one. However, all you have to do is turn to the yellow pages to see examples of type being used to focus on the secondary meaning. Company names can often be set in a type face that suggests a meaning or produces an emotion. Although still needing to be legible, the designer can choose a font specifically to suggest a meaning. The graphic impact of type can also suggest meaning and produce emotion. The overall "color," "texture" and brightness of a layout can affect both the direct message, and the secondary meaning. A layout with a "loose" and "casual" feel may seem out of place for a bank.

Empire video

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:29:28 +0000

Empire from Empire on Vimeo. This comes after seeing it on Cyclelicio.us. Would riding like this piss a bunch of people off? Yes. Big time. Do I ride like this all the time? No. Do I occasionally take a risk or run a light/sign if I think it's safe. Yes. I could get into a whole big post about drivers vs. cyclists and the impact that each has when taking risks and breaking laws in traffic. But instead I'm gonna put a link to Gwadzilla. Because he kinda rocks. Like a magikist.

Interesting

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:00:01 +0000

Hey Gunnar, click here.

WIN SUSAN

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 16:09:14 +0000

Here's the deal. I don't have much. But I have this web site. Fat Cyclist has a web site. For whatever reason I can't view it at work. But I've found out that Susan (Fatty's wife) is getting worse. Through the night, I kept thinking: cancer isn’t just bad-as-in-unfortunate. Cancer is evil. It took my wife’s breast, then her health, then her hip, then her energy, then her dexterity — all things she cared about. But Susan stayed tough and positive through all of that. And so now it’s taken her mind and her ability to enjoy being with her family. Right now, to me, cancer seems both insulting and malicious. I hate it.Fat Cyclist - Oct 30, 2008Something that I can do (and it's not enough) is promote the fact that Twin Six is giving half of the sale price of each cycling jersy to Mr. Fat Cyclist to help with the cost of whatever he needs at this moment. Not half the profit. Half the price. During this week, if you purchase a Twin Six men's jersey in size XL, XXL, or XXXL or a Twin Six women's jersey in size L, XL, or XXL, we will donate half of the purchase price to Elden and his family. Not half of the profits, half of the purchase price, or $35 per jersey. What other excuse do you need? Very coincidentally, this launch coincides with a time when Fatty and his family could use all the support and good mojo they can get. Show it. WIN.Twin SixSo if you're thinking of getting a jersey, visit the Twin Six site. I'm sure you'll find something you like, and it'll help a family in need.

I got my sticker. I voted.

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 08:20:08 +0000

You should too. You can even register at the polls if you need to.

It's so cold in this house...

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 10:09:43 +0000

The last couple months, I've been listening to Bloc Party (Silent Alarm album) a lot. It reminds me of New Order even though they don't really have keyboard. Funny. Anyhow, check out this video. Bloc Party |MTV Music

A little white lines to start off a slow Monday morning

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 08:58:01 +0000

Duran Duran |MTV Music

Does this Wordpress make me look fat?

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:50:32 +0000

Wordpress seems to be the most popular CMS/non-Blogger-blogging engine. With that popularity comes the fact that, while there is tons you can do to customize it, most Wordpress sites look like Wordpress sites. Not only that now, but even non-CMS sites are beginning to look like Wordpress sites because clients are asking designers to make something that looks like so-and-so's site. Or that there are "designers" that all they really know how to do is take Wordpress templates and mod them for a client. I'm not without guilt here either. Even though I've never worked with Wordpress or a Wordpress theme, I did mod an existing template for this site. The biggest drawback is that you have a bazillion web sites out there that look like everything else. I go from site to site and don't see much difference. Sure, content is king. Right? But take a look at all the tutorial sites out there. Most of them look the same. Sure they may have different tuts for different effects. But I can't tell half the time when I leave one and go to another. And when I actually want to use a tut, I can't remember what site it was from and have to search for it. So what am I saying? Well I guess the big take away is that you better watch for a big downfall or backlash to the Wordpress system. I think critical mass has pretty much been reached, and I think a bunch of people are going to be getting away from it. As for me, I never used it. And I think I prolly will never have to.

Another day and another set of free photoshop brushes

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 07:43:43 +0000

These brushes may be a little more useable. A bunch of textures and cracks, a fingerprint, skulls, and bike stuff. Click here or the preview to be taken to the download page.

Relations to major type catagories

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 20:41:33 +0000

There are many things to consider when selecting a typeface for a design project. The message, what is being communicated, and the audience, who you are communicating to, are just two of the things to consider. Sans serif type can be used to deliver a message that needs to be interpreted very quickly and directly. I think of things like directional and information signs. It relates to designs where legibility is most important. The audience would be in the process of moving and not have time to decipher long lines of text. Type in the classification of modern relate more to larger bodies of text, such as in pamphlets where readability is enhanced by the serifs, to an audience such as financial institutions that appreciate a slightly stronger feel that the straight stems and flat serifs may provide. Egyptian type seems to relate to a more fun or casual message and audience, while Old style type is extremely readable for large blocks of type, but feels very much conservative and could be used in a corporate environment.

Free Photoshop Brushes - cassette tapes

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 10:06:27 +0000

I use photoshop alot at work. I also use it alot for play. I download and use free brushes from the web all the time. A while ago I made a bunch of brushes out of cassette tape images from TapeDeck.org. Now I'm shareing them with you. Right click here to download If you don't know how to download or install these brushes, then I suggest that you don't bother with this post. Either that of look up some help files from Adobe or something. Just download it to your desktop. Then double click it. It should autoload it into photoshop (and start photoshop if it's not already running) for you.

Final draft of the Swiss Design Poster

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 07:12:31 +0000

Made some changes following the critiques. Feel free to critique the heck out of it.

magazine spread rough draft

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:07:47 +0000

Here's what I turned in for this assignment. I'll post the critiques next week. But here's what I'll say myself. The text body is fine, but the upper right corner image(s) seem a little off since it raises above the text box height.

Did someone say gravel?

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:35:08 +0000

Yes, yes I did. Almanzo is waking up, and preparing for 2009 too. Chris is looking for input currently. As it stands 2009 will repeat the course from 2008. Then 2010 will change the course and repeat for 2011. And continue the pattern. Drop by the Almanzo site to give your thoughts. May 16 is the official race date. And remember who won the fixedgear class last year?

RAGNARÖK 105 - 2009

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:23:30 +0000

Last week the call for entries officially opened for this early season gravel road race. The race will be approx 105 miles of rolling countryside, starting and finishing at Colville Park in Red Wing, MN. It's pretty much unsupported, meaning you are responsible for yourself. It's unsanctioned and unofficial. The field is divided by gender and class (open or singlespeed). The organizer is capping entries to 50 people. So enter early as it's over halfway filled already. Me? I kinda want to, but I think I'll put it off for another year.

Hours per project

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:45:11 +0000

I thought that I'd finally gotten away from employment where I had to log hours on projects. I realize that most jobs, even creative ones, require some sort of estimation of the time needed, and a final tally of the actual time spent on a task or project. When I was hired, and started working here, there was only a deadline. Usually a week to 3 weeks per task or project. This to me is ideal, because if the task only took a couple minutes, I could put it off a day or so while I do other tasks, or watch videos on you-tube and still look like awesome because I took care of it before the deadline. Plus if something came up that I needed to take care of it immediately, I could. What it also gave me was the opportunity to really research and think about each task as needed. This has just changed. Now I have to give an estimation of the time needed to complete a task or project. Plus I have to account for the actual time it took to do the task. So if I keep estimating long and coming short my estimates need to be shortned, but then I'll be under the gun if a task then takes longer than expected. I don't know. Maybe I'm just being a baby who doesn't like to have to account for playtime.

My critiques of others swiss design posters

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 08:31:51 +0000

So yesterday I posted up my poster and the critiques of it. Today I'm posting my critiques of others posters. Sorry, you don't get to see the posters that I critiqued, I don't want to get their permission to post it. Critique of L. Thank you for your poster submission. It looks like you are making some great attempts in thinking about your design. The format is correct, letter size paper, black and one other color used. Unfortunately your design looks unfinished. Part of this is due to the use of incorrect fonts, mixed with what seem to the correct one. I understand what you mean by wanting to reverse the type out on a black background. This can be accomplished by making a black shape box (whichever size you decide up to and even larger than the page size) and sending to the back. Then selecting the type boxes and selecting white as the type color. It looks like you are following a grid based asymmetrical design. The choice of yellow for the image makes it difficult to see on the white paper, I hope to see how it turns out on a black background. The use of vertical type adds to the visual interest, you may wish to explore the same treatment to some other type elements. This may also help to create a little more unity to the layout, as the use of it on only one line makes it seem out of place. Critique of D. The design you submitted meets some of the requirements of the assignment. It is sized correctly and uses black and one other color. However the assignment was to design in the style of Swiss Design, in which it is standard to use san-serif typefaces. To fill this requirement you will want to change the title to use Helvetica or Arial. I do like the use of an abstract background texture as the graphical element. In some way I think it fits the title. You may wish to size it a little differently to give the venue type more breathing room from it's edge. While it may not be necessary, you may wish to explore what would happen if some of the type in the title or other elements were vertical as well as horizontal. Possibly even only rotating a single word in the title. Critique of R. Good job on your poster submission. It looks like you fulfilled most of the requirements for the format. It's set up as an 8.5" x 11" vertical orientation, with black and one other color ink. The name of the play, as well as the playwright's name, venue, show times and dates were included. Your design benefits from a straightforward hierarchy, the image grabs your attention, the title stands out as the important information item, and you are drawn in to read the rest of the info. You design can be made stronger with some more thought given to some elements. First off, you may wish to make sure the title is spelled correctly. The author of this play may not appreciate your work if you misspell it. In an attempt to follow the international typographic style, you may wish to stay away from centering the title, creating a more asymmetrical design. You may also wish to create some vertical elements either with the placement of some of the type or through the photograph. Using a grid system can also help you to achieve this. One last thing is that the use of red for the venue seems added for no other reason than to use red. You may wish to rethink this choice.

Swiss Design Rough Draft and Critiques

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 14:27:22 +0000

Project Description & RequirementsSwiss Design Project You will be creating a poster for a theatrical stage play. This design solution will be executed in the International Typographic Style (Swiss Design); you must know the principles of Swiss Design to succeed. Please review the PDF lecture called "Swiss Design." Because of your skilled work so far, you are allowed to pick the stage play featured on the poster. However, You must observe some Design Requirements as listed below. You should do some research and find a play that might fit the ideals and methods of Swiss Design. You want to take more photographs for this project! Design Requirements This design will be in the International Typographic Style (Swiss Design) The poster will be designed for a 8.5 inches by 11 inches letter-sized sheet of paper in the vertical portrait orientation You may only use one color in addition to black ink when making the poster, this includes photography. You must include the name of the play that you have chosen. You must include the playwrighter's name of the play that you have chosen. You must include the venue for the play: RCTC Hill Theatre You must include the show times of the play: Matinees and Evenings You must include the show dates of the play: Fridays and Saturdays during September Swiss Design Unity of design using an asymmetrical organization of elements on a mathematically constructed grid Primarily typographic using sans-serif type, specifically Helvetica (It would be a good choice to just use Helvetica) Objective use of images or photography, no illustrations Limited color palette using only the primary colors: red, blue, or yellow Design Hints Don't improvise on the venue name, show times, and show dates; you've been given your copy for the poster Don't bother using another typeface other than Helvetica or Arial; this type of design is what they are made for Black is a color: you can use only black & white for this design and be successful You already can use black ink and one other color; this allows you a large range of designs Watch the video demos, you might learn something You are supposed to be spending six hours reading, working, and practicing for this class; make it show A few minutes looking at Swiss Designed Posters might be time well spent Here's my "design brief" I have chosen "The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus" by Christopher Marlowe. This play is from Elizabethan times and was extremely controversial in it's time. In this story Faustus, has become disillusioned with all his human wisdom and abilities, thinking they are all petty and worthless. He then learns about magic, and decides that this may be worth studying. He calls a devil (Mephostophilis) who he commands to take the form of a Franciscan friar. Faustus eventually makes a deal to give up his soul to Lucifer, for the chance to learn what he can from the devil Mephostophilis. During his teaching, Faustus is given another chance to repent and take back his deal, but seems to be blind to the thought that he can be saved (or even needs to be saved). Nearing the completion of his teaching period, at which time he was to be sent to his damnation, he appears to be repentant. The play ends with the viewer not really sure if Faustus is sent to hell or not. There are many possibilities for imagery that can be used for this poster. There are demons, angels and Franciscan friars. The point where Faustus is to sign his name in blood, the blood congeals on his arm in a Latin inscription warning him to run away. Faustus meets the personification of the seven deadly sins. All of these can be pretty dramatic imagery. Here's my poster design. (posted on Flickr) And here are the critiques for it: Hi Gunnar, I like your poster. The title stands out and I really like your use of vertical and horizontal text. I can definitely see the use of a grid in your work. I looks good. The way you made the blood spot have a corner really helped with the alignment of this poster. I really appreciate the way you positioned the playwright's name and the days of the show along the edges of the blood spot. I also noticed the way you capitalized the important elements like title, days, times, and theatre, but left the words, "the tragical history of" uncapitalized. It looks good and helps establish importance, as well. Your poster does a good job of making me wonder what happened to Dr. Faustus! One thing I would look at changing is the text size of the days, times, and place. I feel like it should be a little larger since you have plenty of space and it is important. After all, you don't want the senior citizens showing up on the wrong day because they couldn't read when it was. Overall, great job!- C.A. Gunnar, you've implemented all the required elements of the project. I really like the use of horizontal and vertical text. I would offer one piece of advice... I don't think the title is creating enough unity. Its a bit confusing because you have most of the title done in lower case, because "the tragical life of" is placed on the vertical it does kind of work, but then this competes with the vertical text at the bottom of the page. I think I would leave the "the tragical life of" text of the title on a horizontal plane in the smaller text and decide if it should all be capitalized or in lowercase. It could work in the lower case and capitalized format as well, but to play it safe I'd choose one or the other. - J.A. This poster is very well done for a rough draft. It meets the requirements of Swiss Design and utilizes the grid nicely. I like the movement created by the vertical text and the blood splatters. The rule of thirds is well done with the blood splatter placement. Visual heirarchy is evident, especially with the first half of the play title being vertical. If I had to suggest an improvement, it would be to slightly increase the size of the play information (location, time etc). Very well done, in my opinion! - J.D. Gunnar, Once again you have a very strong project. You seem to have a nack for this stuff!! You make it look so easy when I know it's not, but thats a good thing. The qualities of your poster have the design elements of Swiss Design, well use of white space, limited color, font and visual hierachy. The one thing that has jumped out on me twice when I viewed this is the "blood" drops in red. I have no idea how you did this, I am sure it wasn't easy, just wondering if you could make them more believable, in the dripping part. Other than that a great job, hats off to ya! - B.K. You've gotten a good start on using white space, hierarchy, and unity. In order to strengthen them you might think to use the same font for the entire typeface (that is all of the title should be Helvetica Neue condensed Bold) and more firmly align the type running vertical with other pieces. That is, the base line of tragical or history should share the base line of the dates below. The author should be aligned with the left edge of the name of the play. In terms of white space, you might make more columns to allow you to align elements more closely (you need more resolution). The date, time, location block is too spread out. Finally, the image looks strange cut off in the fashion that it is. You might allow the entire image to show, or place it so that is bleeds (no pun intended really) off the edge of the page as you did in the magazine spread edges! - Teacher I'm sure the next step is to do revisions to the piece using suggestions from the critiques. We'll see what and how I do with that.

Class reading response to date

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 11:12:49 +0000

So in this class on graphic design, occasionally we get reading assignments from a text book and we have to post a response to it. Since it's already halfway through the semester, I'll spare you the instructions and just post the responses below. In the future I'll post them individually. Week 1 Dave Masons 12 steps from start to finish In 12 steps Dave Mason outlines the general process of a design project from start to end. Mason states that he can only speak from his own creation process - that the individual and personal nature of design will often generate different solutions to the same problem, but the steps seem to be a fairly universal method of achieving a satisfactory solution for the client. The first of these steps is very possibly, also the most critical. Knowing the problem is crucial to creating a solution that is successful. Some of the steps that follow the first is the attempt to bridge the client to the designer to, hopefully, further define the problem. This knowledge and definition of the problem will help give the designer direction as to the correct area or combination of areas needed to achieve the proper solution. The problem can be straightforward with a client needing, requesting and a budget for a logo. Or the problem can be complex to define, only through many follow-up sessions with a client, who can afford to develop all encompassing solutions such as an identity system or brand experience. Many times, clients may not even know that there is a problem that needs a solution. They only know that they need something created for a specific purpose. In the case of Sunrise Preschool (fig 1-16), they need signs to display at construction sites of future schools. Richardson or Richardson went beyond the fact that Sunrise needed signs, but defined a problem and developed a solution that uses an existing identity to deliver the requested message. Week-2 Building As an architect, building stability is most influenced by unity. The building needs to be complete and more than a sum of it's parts. All aspects need to work together. The elevator needs to span the correct height and the doors and windows need to fit into their correct openings. The buildings beauty is most influenced by its flow, or the movement that is created by how each element relates to each other. The exterior into the entryway, up each floor and into each office, apartment and room. The element most used, or refrenced, in construction is format. Format dictates what materials are used and where. It's size and location is critical in determining how much steel, concrete and glass is used to create the building. We then had to reply someone elses response Re: Your skyscraper Memo to: MB, Master Architect. Hello MB. I was pleased to receive your notice regarding the plans for my new building. In review, I would love to discuss some items that I have concerns about. You describe the building as symmetrical. I agree that balance is extremely important to the stability of the building, but I was really hoping to go with a more asymmetric structure, similar to what Rem Koolhas has done. This is for aesthetic purposes, as I feel that symmetric balance is not as interesting visually. I realize that there will be limits to what can be done to keep the structural integrity, but I know that you have the skill to make the changes. I have always thought highly of your designs and hope that we can continue to move forward in the project. Week-6 Design Process and the use of ideation and grids. The point in the design process that most uses ideation is in Think! Sketch Thumbnails. It is at this point that you take various ideas and concepts and begin to experiment to further see if these things will work as a solution. The grid is most used in refining ideas into Roughs. Though you may have to be aware of (but maybe not necessarily formally laid out) grids as early in the process as understanding the problem when presented with a text heavy design problem. Week-7 Posters and billboards. Posters and billboards, like most other formats of graphic design, are created to deliver a message. Both formats are large and are meant to be seen from a distance, generally in public areas. Posters are generally printed by offset press or silkscreened on a single sheet of paper. Billboards can also be printed on paper, but may have to be pieced together to produce a full board, however modern techniques may involve large format printing on weather proof materials or large digital displays. Posters are designed to create interest and draw the viewer into it to gather more information. Billboards need to deliver its information in a matter of seconds as its viewer may be driving by in a car at 60 mph. Though you may see multiple billboards with the same or similar design, it costs more for production and space, where posters are much less expensive to produce and may be pasted on any available space to encourage interest or reinforcement of the message. The challenge of the graphic designer working on a poster or billboard project is to design something unique and visually compelling enough to stand out, not only from its environment, but many times from other posters and billboards in the surrounding area. If not successful, and many times even if successful, this just adds to the growing amount of visual clutter we are bombarded with and attempt to ignore on a daily basis.

Making Rounded Rectangles in InDesign

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:00:22 +0000

I used Quark and Illustrator for years and years. You'd think that since InDesign is an Adobe product that the same tool to make rounded rectangles in Illustrator is in InDesign. Not so.I almost thought there was no way to do it. A little research and I figured it out. (It's not in the help tools) There's no audio in the above video. So don't bother turning up your speakers. Anyway. make a box like normal. Then, with the box still selected, choose 'Object' from the menu, 'Corner effects...', and in the box, choose 'Rounded' and change the settings to what you want. You can preview it, and even use the eyedropper to do the same thing to other boxes. Hope this helps if you need it.

Fight Club and bicycle racing

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:15:31 +0000

Let's bring it back to the bike for a minute, then I gotta get some work done. I've been listening to the Fight Club audiobook (once all the way through, then various clips mixed in to music when my iTunes is set to shuffle). I'd seen the movie and like a lot of you (I'm guessing) it struck a chord in me. Besides the twist of finding out who Tyler is. There's the ideas of what society, contentment, purpose, and meaning are. All deep things that we can discuss for hours and hours. Let's not. Let's talk about how Fight Club can apply to a strategy of bike racing. Maybe not Fight Club, but it's next logical step, Project Mayhem. Like Fight Club, there's a set of rules for Project Mayhen. Let's see where we go with this Ikea boy. You do not ask questions. You do not ask questions. No excuses. No lies. You have to trust Tyler. – Fight Club, pages 119, 122, 125 How in the heck does that relate to a bicycle race strategy? Here's how. Let's break it down. You are at a bike race to do what? Race. Put out your best performance. Right? So rule number one. Don't ask questions. The thing is, we all do it. As we are driving or riding out to the course, we're thinking why am I doing this. Who's gonna show up? Is any of my teammates gonna show? I wonder if big-ring larry is gonna be there? Did I bring the Cytomax bottle. How about my pump? Etc. All these questions, even the important ones, are distractions. How can you focus and prepare when you are distracted. The biggest benefit to being a pro with a mech and a bus is that they're not distracted by these questions. Second rule is that you do not ask questions. While riding in the pack, don't bother asking questions. These are the ones like, why is the pace so hard right now? I wonder where that hill is. I wonder if this guy is faking his struggle. How can I get out of taking a pull at the front. Once again, the questions are distractions. You should be acting and re-acting. Don't ask yourself if you think you can bridge up to the next group. Do it. Don't second guess your choice to wheelsuck for the five mile stretch before the climb. Do it, or don't do it. Don't ask yourself if you can outsprint that big guy on the opposing team. No questions. Act and re-act. Part of every question is doubt. Eliminate that doubt by not even entertaining the question. Third rule. No excuses. Cyclists have every excuse in the book. Not enough training. Overtrained. Not enough hill work. Too much hills and not enough sprints. No endurance. Wrong cassette. Wrong shoes. Old bar-tape. Only one bottle of Cytomax. No leadout man. Big larry from the other team never took a pull at the front. Derailer skips. Headset too loose. Wrong shorts. Blah, blah, blah. The fact of the matter... if you didn't win, you lost. Those excuses, they are mistakes. Learn from them, and never repeat them. Fourth rule. No lies. If you weren't strong enough, then you weren't strong enough. Don't blame it on big larry or your leadout man. It is what it is. Last rule is trust Tyler. In the story, you find out that Tyler and the Narrator are the same person. One is active when the other is asleep. Tyler acts in such a way that the narrator never thought he himself would. The way he thought he'd like to. The point? Trust yourself. Unless you think that you have another personality that wants to destroy the world so it can begin again. But you need to trust that the preparations (training, bike maintenance, etc.), you did are enough. Trust that if you act and jump the pack on the climb, that you are making a good move. It doesn't matter if you get caught again. It's a good move. Trust that if you react to the surge, that it's gonna help you place your best. Even if the rest of the pack latches back on. I'm not saying that if you follow these rules that you will win. But, they are not designed to do that. The rules ensure that you focus, perform your best and continue to work to better yourself. It may lead to a win, but it may not. So go back to rule number three. No excuses either way. OK?

School Assignment - Magazine Spread (rough comp-1)

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 09:29:02 +0000

So, I'm taking this class. On graphic design. You'd think that working in the field for 7 years, this class would be a snap. It is, and it isn't. Besides finding the time (both to log in and do class time, as well as do the assignments), the critiques bother me. I know, I know... Critiques are always good, you use them to learn more about the design, it allows you to explore other directions and blah, blah, blah. Spare me the designy crap talk. What makes it tough is that, you give a bunch of idiot liberal art students the vocabulary and a little insight of what to look for in design (that, for the life of them, cannot apply to their own pieces) and they start talking about the flow or hierarchy of my piece. I feel like saying "Hey jerkface, you didn't even check the spelling of the title, and one of the main hallmarks of the style of design we're supposed to be creating is san-serif typefaces. Times is a flippin serif font, idiot!" Of course I don't. It's an online class, so I'm able to edit my words before hitting the send button. Anyway, when I get a chance I'll post some of the future (and past) projects, as well as maybe some of the critiques I receive or post. For now, here is what I'm currently working on. It's supposed to be a magazine spread. All photos are provided (though the can be played with in photoshop), no other photos or illustrations are allowed. All text is provided, though layout, typeface and colors are left up to the designer. There is a grid set up, and it's highly recommended that we use it. This is what I have so far. It's no where near complete. Click it to go to the Flickr page and see it bigger. Leave comments if you want. I swear I won't call you a stupid liberal arts idiot.

Site trubs

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 08:49:05 +0000

If you tried to visit this site in the last couple of days you may have seen it has been in various states of non-working-ability. I'd love to say that it's cause I'd adding some super cool feature or awesome content. But reality is that the site host (FreeHostia)was upgrading their servers, and in doing so, there was some down time. They apologize for any duress they may have caused you, or your family.

After Effects Comp-1

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:02:00 +0000

After a couple of days playing in After Effects and watching a couple tutorials, I made this. It's not design, it's following tut's. It's a learning process. Hopefully as I learn more, I can actually use it as a design tool, like Photoshop, Illustrator or InDesign.

Comment Moderation

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 10:30:38 +0000

I didn't want to do it. But now that I've gotten (p-word) spam, I've decided to enable comment moderation. That means I have to approve comments before they show up. Now don't worry, the thousands of you that are legitimate posters will get approved. The comment spam will be deleted. Maybe in the future, I figure something else out to keep the spammers away. but for now, this is it.

Basic Training

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:25:42 +0000

Video CoPilot.net has a Basic Training series of After Effects tutorials. Because if you're like me, you haven't used After Effects as much as you would have liked to in the past. And now that you want to use it, you're scratching your head wondering, what the hay am I doing. Seriously, I know Photoshop, Illustrator and a number of other Adobe/Macromedia products pretty well. But I haven't had the opportunity until recently to use Premiere or After Effects. Not that I had never used them, just not nearly enough time in them to do what I want to do with them. So... as boring as it seems, I'm gonna go through the basics to get up to speed. At least with After Effects. And Video CoPilot.net is gonna teach me. These are video tutorials, which is nice, cause sometimes it just helps to see what is going on. And they are free, which means even I can afford it. Check it out by clicking the image above (or the links in the text. And if you know of any good After Effects tutorials, comment me a link.

Church Projects

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:51:13 +0000

Over the last couple of years, I've taken on more and more projects doing design work for crosswinds church. I know, you may be thinking, "church? how boring" Well to be honest, it's given me a little more creative freedom in what I can do. At work there's only so much I do, most of it production. Crop this image, color this illustration, label this, resize that, etc. Anyway, I've thought for a while that we needed a countdown timer displayed before service. So now we have the ability to do this. I took the graphics used in the program cover and message slides, imported them into a video editor to move and stuff. After rendering it to an .avi file, I imported it into a program called Countdown Creator, adjusted the setting to fit my vision, and exported it as a .wmv file. It's a fun process, and I have some ideas for the upcoming series on fears.

Sometimes I wonder...

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:37:43 +0000

I wonder why I like to ride so much, and yet there are days, weeks even that I choose not to ride. I should take a lunch break and go on a ride today. And yet I sit at my desk, doing a little work, reading a little blog, and posting here. It doesn't make sense to me. Some would say I'm pretty passionate about cycling. And I still can't find the motivation to get out for a spin. Sometimes I wonder why I even like cycling. Sometimes as a whole, but also why do I like training, racing, technology and everything else that goes along with it. Yeah, I'm old school when it comes to my equipment. Steel frame, 9 speed, 32 spoke wheels with rims that don't require a long valve stem. (Try finding one of those these days.) But it's not because I hate on new stuff. It's more of a fiscal reason. I can't afford to buy that Cervelo R3 SL, with Zipp 202's and SRAM Red group. It's just not in the budget. It also won't make me that much faster. But the point is, that I prolly would if I could. And I would if I could, have many other bikes for different situations and moods. Yes I said moods. This wondering is getting me tired. And it's alot of work to post when you haven't posted in a while. Maybe I'll go find an empty cube and take a nap.

Flippin' the tape

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 12:54:19 +0000

That's right, ever listen to an album where you flip the tape and it's like you're listening to another band? Well that's what this is like. The last couple of months, my focus has shifted. I started classes again. Work load has increased. Cycling time has decreased. So to reflect that on this site (after all, it is my site to do whatever the heck I want with), I've added a new catagory labeled "B Sides". This is a place for more designy type stuff. Photoshop things, tips, techniques, inspiration etc. Or just stuff that doesn't fit in with the mostly cycling stuff that the rest of the site is about. I'm still not sure how this will all work out, but whatev's.

Stolen Motobecane

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 08:27:54 +0000

Got this message last night, just wanted to pass the word along. Hey there everyone. Just wanted to give a heads up for anyone out riding that my red motobecane fixed gear was stolen today from RCTC campus. Its an 08 Messenger. Red w/ white lettering. Black drop bars. Aftermarket Team XRP wheels which are black with red and white lettering and are deeper than most wheels. The front is radial spoke which should help. Anyways, that's all for now, I'm thinking about setting up a reward but not sure. Here's a picture. If you see this bike report to the cops and/or ryanaeckles@yahoo.com

Eating cold chinese food leftovers for lunch

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:02:03 +0000

Here's a series of questions to answer through the comments (if you wish). 1) Do you purchase from a local bike shop? 2) Do you purchase from online retailers for bicycle products? 3) What factors determine where you make a purchase for bicycle products? 4) Would you like green eggs and ham? 5) Would you consider racing for Rochester Flyers now that you are coming out of retirement? Feel free to add whatever else is on you mind.

Garmin Edge 305 (warranty/replacement) sept

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:01:28 +0000

So it shut down a bunch of times while starting my ride home from work. More to come, including the response from Garmin to my email/support posts, and a couple different ways I may respond to their offer. The complete Garmin Edge 305 warranty saga: Garmin Edge 305 warranty part one Garmin Edge 305 warranty part two Garmin Edge 305 warranty part three Garmin Edge 305 warranty part four Garmin Edge 305 warranty part five Garmin Edge 305 warranty part six ... Garmin Edge 305 warranty part eight

Greek Fest 2008

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 08:25:07 +0000

Love the Greek Festival. Takin the fam some time this weekend to enjoy the food and demos. You should too. GreekFest 2008

Garmin Edge 305 (warranty/replacement) six

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:17:23 +0000

I never received a response from Garmin from thier support web form, so I decided to email them directly at productsupport@garmin.com. This has been an email they used to contact me in the past when I used the form to get a non-broken mount for my Edge. The complete Garmin Edge 305 warranty saga: Garmin Edge 305 warranty part one Garmin Edge 305 warranty part two Garmin Edge 305 warranty part three Garmin Edge 305 warranty part four Garmin Edge 305 warranty part five ... Garmin Edge 305 warranty part seven Garmin Edge 305 warranty part eight

Will I get a nooner (lunch ride)?

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:03:48 +0000

Looks like it could rain in the next hour or so. So I don't think I'll be able to ride today. Or maybe I'm just being lazy.

Garmin Edge 305 (warranty/replacement) cinq

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:27:53 +0000

Finally got my money back. But now I got a new issue. And it seems to be a pretty common one with Garmin Edge 305 users. Riding along and hitting a bump causes the unit to shut down. Sometimes if you catch it soon enough, you can turn it back on and restart the timer so you don't loose much ride data. It's pretty irritating when it happens occasionally. But yesterday I went for a lunch ride, and in 1-hour it shut off 5 times. That's unacceptable. So I'm contacting Garmin support again. This time through e-mail (contact form on thier site). Here's a copy of what I'm sending them. I purchased a Garmin Edge 305 HR+cad in December of 2007. I love the amount of training data using the unit gives me.This has immensely help me to reach the best level of fitness I have in years. Thank you for making a product that finally gives athletes the ability to track complete individual ride performance. I have shared much of my training information with the world on my web site - ww2.rochesterflyers.com. However, although I love the product for it's features and capabilities, I am less than satisfied with it's performance. Specifically with it's durability. In May an issue arose on my original, brand new - out of a sealed package unit, where the down arrow button ceased functionality. I knew I had a warranty on the unit, but hesitated returning it because I didn't want to loose any training data during the cycling season and other than the use of the down arrow, the unit worked fine. I eventually contacted support and was able to get a replacement unit shipped to me (with a charge on my credit card till the defective unit was returned to you) while keeping use of the defective unit till it arrived. Shipping was fast and I received the replacement within 3 days, and I mailed the defective unit back a couple days later. The replacement unit was a reconditioned one that seemed to work just fine. It took some time, and another call to support to finally receive the credit back for the charge on my credit card. I have also documented this experience on my web site, and receive quite a bit of traffic to those pages. In fact a Google search for "Garmin Edge Warranty" will return one of my posts as the first listing. I have been using the replacement unit for about a month and a half now, and lately the unit has been shutting down on it's own. I first noticed it about 2 weeks ago when I rode over a rough expansion joint in the road. The road was one I have traveled on many times prior without any problem. Since then the unit has progressively gotten worse. Just yesterday, the unit shut down 5 times during a 1-hour road ride. I am very disappointed about having to contact support again. I have researched the problem of shutting down and notice that it is a common problem for this unit to develop. This leads me to believe that it may be a poor design that I hope is being taken care of in new units, and new models. Since my unit is still under warranty, I would like to get a replacement. However I do not want a reconditioned unit as I do not believe reconditioned units have this particular problem fixed. I also do not want my credit card charged while you are waiting for the defective unit shipped back. I am willing for you to charge me if you do not receive the unit within 30 days. I think this is fair, since the last time you charged me, there was a mix-up, where if I hadn't have called, no credit was to be issued. Again, I do love the unit (when it stays on) and all functions and features of it. I use it almost everyday keeping track of all my training this year. Thank you for any help with this situation. Now maybe - just maybe - they'll want to upgrade my unit to a 705 with an SRM/Dura-Ace wireless crank, so I can get real power information on my training rides. That would be awesome. One can hope right? Seriously though, I just want a unit that work like it should. I don't want to be constantly looking at the unit to see that it hasn't shut itself off. Is that too much to ask? The complete Garmin Edge 305 warranty saga: Garmin Edge 305 warranty part one Garmin Edge 305 warranty part two Garmin Edge 305 warranty part three Garmin Edge 305 warranty part four ... Garmin Edge 305 warranty part six Garmin Edge 305 warranty part seven Garmin Edge 305 warranty part eight

Rochester, MN Junior Cycling League

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:10:12 +0000

Here's an idea I have to encourage the sport of cycling to the kids of Rochester. And that's to go in together with USCF and Rochester Community ED to hold a training and race series for junior cyclists(and possible for U23/Espoirs too). Something similar to other sport leagues. You take an 8-10 week time frame, maybe start it with 6 weeks of school left, finishing 4 weeks after school lets out. The first 2 or 3 weeks hold a practice (like soccer practice after school) once or twice a week with mostly skills clinics. Real basic stuff, getting on and off the bike. Proper fitting (frame size, seat height, reach). Gettin in and out of pedals. Stopping correctly. Road rules. Basic handling skills. After a couple weeks of skills clinics, shift focus to more training type of clinics. Group rides and stuff. And adding a race day. Each Saturday will host a race. Maybe start with a short time trial, then a longer time trial, a circuit race, and a crit. Then repeat the time trials and crit. The reason to repeat the races is to show the progression over the season. If there are enough participants there can be awards at the end of the season for an overall league winner (gender seperated), as well as most improved, and possibly team (if there's enough and a way to evenly make teams). The goal is to introduce kids to the sport, and identify kids who may like to continue in the sport. The timing would be such that they are introduced in the spring and early summer, so that when the season is over, we can continue training as a group and attending regional races together. What I'd really like to see is that anyone who want's to try to race bicycles to be able to do sao. What this may mean, is finding corporate sponsors to help with equipment for participants that cannot afford to purchase thier own equipment. Either a loan or rental program depending on financial need so that they have access to a bike to train on. I know that Northern California has a mountain bike league and it would be awesome to get insights and ideas from them, and also to grow as large as them and hold races pitting high-school vs. high-school (and city vs. city for middle-schools). Hopefully, something else this will do is create more considerate drivers. If you know your kid, your co-workers kid, your neice or nephew could be the one riding that bike up ahead, you will be less aggressive and more forgiving in passing. Or, as a developing driver, you know what it's like to share the road, you gain a whole new perspective. This is all just in the very initial idea stage. But if you are interested is discussing (and taking this out of idea and into reality) drop me a line and we'll talk.

I had a dream last night that a hamburger was eating me!

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:57:15 +0000

Yeah-yeah-yeah. No updates, blah-blah-blah. I'm not gonna appologize to you for it cause when you think about it, it's pretty stupid to do so. Right? I mean, I have a life, you have a life, we don't live for each other. You can (and hopefully do) do things without me, I can do things without you. So why should I appologize for getting busy with other things? I see no reason. But if you want to appologize to me for not coming by that's cool with me. I'll accept your appology. Then I'll crush you into the ground on our next ride together. Well... maybe. I guess that would depend if I've been riding or not. I haven't. So I guess that means that even though you ride like a little girly-girl, you'd prolly drag my sorry legs all over town while I whimpered like a scared puppy. Seriously, for the last 2 or 3 weeks I've been totally slacking. Maybe a couple rides during lunch and a single 40 or 50 mile spin on Saturdays has been it. Yeah I feel guilty, lazy and somewhat grouchy about it. Mainly I like feeling fit and strong. But it only takes about 5 days of reduced activity to lose fitness and become weaker. While I'm not winter week, I'm surely not in any condition to race states. So scratch that off the list. RASC TT's? Well I missed the first 2, so maybe I'll show up for the rest. But don't hold your breath. I'm thinking maybe a couple more group rides and this years training will be done. It's not like I have cyclocross to deal with, so I think I'll be ramping down, and planning out my winter stratagy. If I can keep a pretty good activity level through winter, and go into spring strong, I'm hoping that I can really do more racing and group rides next summer. Anyway, that's my update. No pretty graphs or TrImp score charts to see today. Maybe later. Now maybe I'll head out for a lunch ride. Wanna join me?

July '08 Search Strings

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 10:22:14 +0000

A week late, and a couple dollars short. Whatever that means. Anyhow, these are the top twenty searched for strings that brought you to this site. Enjoy. 1 cycling sweepstakes 2 sporttracks review 3 bicycling magazine caption contest 4 spoke cards 5 ww2.rochesterflyers.com 6 profile track hubs 7 bicycle contest sweepstakes 8 bicycle sweepstakes 9 how to get rid of red winged blackbirds 10 alley cat race 11 oxbow 12 red black bird rochester mn 13 spokecards 14 sporttracks 15 sporttracks pmc 16 trimp pmc 17 colnago sweepstakes 18 cyclistats review 19 dropped garmin 305 20 fixed gear wheel Maybe this week, I'll get to post a bit more about riding.

Garmin Edge 305 (warranty/replacement) quatre

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 09:04:00 +0000

So I kept putting off making the call to Garmin in reguards to the Edge 305 Warranty/Replacement credit. To refresh your memory; the Edges down-arrow button stopped working, I didn't want to send the unit in without a replacement unit in hand, as I would miss out on tracking ride info for the training log, I called Garmin, they agreed to charge me $99 and send me a replacement unit that when I send in the defective unit will be credited back to me, I received the unit and mailed out the unit receiving delivery confirmation on July 7, 8:06 am. I was super happy to have gotten a replacement unit in such quick time. That rocked harder than a majikist. It really whooped a llamas butt. But not receiveing my credit after 20 days was making me worry. I was not being a happy camping guy. So finally yesterday I called them. And man ... it's a good thing I called them too, seems someone made a mistake and didn't mark something so that when they received the unit to issue a credit. But it got taken care of and accounting is processing it right now. Though it could still be 30 days before I see the credit. The complete Garmin Edge 305 warranty saga: Garmin Edge 305 warranty part one Garmin Edge 305 warranty part two Garmin Edge 305 warranty part three ... Garmin Edge 305 warranty part five Garmin Edge 305 warranty part six Garmin Edge 305 warranty part seven Garmin Edge 305 warranty part eight

Ride Report - Wednesday 7/23 Erik's Group Ride

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 11:26:50 +0000

As I mentioned in previous posts, I was planning on showing up for this ride and see what the diggity was up with it. This was the route we finally rode. It was about 20 miles longer than what I was expecting. Besides that, I didn't really like that we took the trail, as trails are not a good place to ride at speed in a group with pedistrains, children, pets and roller bladers all trying to share the space. I imagine that a walking mom with a stroller, getting buzzed by 16 cyclists going 17 mph would be similar to a cyclist riding on a rural road and having 3 or 4 milk trucks blast by at 60 mph without moving into the left lane at all. But being the new guy on the group, I'm not really gonna voice my concern unless I really feel we are doing something that will endanger someone. Once we got off the trail we round-about went to Oronoco. I'm guessing there was a town sign prime to be had, but I didn't go for it. I really wasn't sure when, where and even if the sign was coming up so when I saw a rider go up the road, I thought I'd let it go. Plus it plays into my tactic of laying low and being invisible untill I want to be seen. Once through Oronoco, we went east on 247 to 63 then headed south, then east again till we hooked up with 11 going north and east on 247. The small streatch on 247 included the Potsdam sign prime. Guess who took it? You got it. Your's truely. But in doing so missed the turn north on 11. So once I saw that the pack made the turn, I had to chase to get back on. One rider (His name was Steve if I remember correctly, thanks man.) dropped back and helped me. Once on there was nice rotation till the downhill to Millvile. There, 4 or 5 of us were flying at mach 150 miles per hour. We were flying like an airplane. But there's a stopsign at the bottom of the hill where we intersected with 2. Once through the stop, someone takes off for the Milleville sign, so I jump on and come around. So the prime count is now at 2. Sweet. We roll through Milleville through to Hammond. The town sign for Hammond is at the top of a hill and some riders started to get into position on the approach. A rider with aerobars (I think his name is Todd) attacks to get an early start on the hill. I expected a rider or 2 to react to this, but it didn't seem to happen. So I waited a second or 2 more, then couldn't take it any longer and took off catching him right on the line. After leaving Hammond and going towards 63 was a longer climb that, while I wanted to be with the lead riders, I couldn't take. Though maybe I could've dug a little deeper. From there is was a fast rotation on 247 to Lake Zumbro. After climbing out of the lake bridge, there was another climb before going up to Oronoco. Here, an incident with another rider and myself took place. I wont elaborate on it here, as it's over and done with. But I consider the climb neutralized. After that point I didn't bother contesting any sprints or climbs, but did continue taking turns at the front. I ended the day with almost 80 miles (that includes the ride to and from Erik's), over 1,100 ft of climbing and a TrImp score of almost 350. A great workout, and I felt suprisingly strong after. Anyway, I'm thinking that if I end up not doing States, maybe doing the group rides along with the time trial series will help to satisify the racing urge. For much less money.

Telegram force and ready

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 10:07:42 +0000

I knew this was a big mistake. There's a new route posted for tonights group ride from Eric's. NEFind more Bike Rides in Rochester, Minnesota There's a fine line drawing my senses together, And I think it's about to break. I doubt there's a 21 hairpin switchback climb on this route. I still don't get why they are heading northeast, when the wind is supposed to come from the southeast. Oh well. It's not my call.

2008 RASC Time Trials

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:33:53 +0000

Looks like it's getting close to that time of year again. I like to call it lactic burn time. It's time for the RASC fall time trial series. Looks like this year is gonna be a little different. RASC TT's to begin August 5th, Tuesday. The 20 mile loop will be the same route as Treadman Duathlon course. The first three Tuesdays of August (Aug 5, Aug 12, Aug 19) will be on this course. The final TT will be a short 3.39 mile Hill TT which starts at the Douglas trail where it crosses in Douglas to the top of Genoa Hill at CR 105. This TT will be on Aug 26. The results will be scored as follows: everyone can race all three days for the 20 mile loop and one attempt at the Hill TT. Your two best from the 20 miler added to your Hill TT will give your resulting time. Start times will be 6pm and go off in 30 second intervals. Vehicle parking in Douglas at the Douglas Trail lot on 75th. Not sure if there will be awards, prizes, drawings, etc, but you will have bragging rights. Tentatively, the divisions will Aero Men, Stock Men, Women Open. We might add an Aero Women division if the attendance can support it. For Men, any addition to you/your stock bike puts you in the Aero division (helmet, disc wheel, aero bars). Volunteers are needed for timing the races--especially for August 12th and 26th. If you are racing, it's also a good idea to have a working cycle computer as a back up.RASC Message Board I think I'll do the Stock division again (I don't have any aero equipment anyway). If you want, you can use the search field to the right and search for RASC and read about last years time trials.

Garmin Edge 305 (warranty/replacement) trois

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:56:43 +0000

Looks like I have to call Garmin again in reguards to my Edge 305. Not because it's busted again, but because I havn't received credit for the $99 they charged me to get a new unit shipped out to me before I sent back the old one. Well I know because of USPS delivery confirmation that they received the unit. So whats the hold up? I totally appreciate the service they gave me, and the new unit seems to be working like a charm, but I also need my money back. Guess I better be prepared to be on hold a while this afternoon. The complete Garmin Edge 305 warranty saga: Garmin Edge 305 warranty part one Garmin Edge 305 warranty part two ... Garmin Edge 305 warranty part four Garmin Edge 305 warranty part five Garmin Edge 305 warranty part six Garmin Edge 305 warranty part seven Garmin Edge 305 warranty part eight

Nightshades on a warning

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:24:59 +0000

Give me strength at least give me a light I saw that there's a route posted on the Rochester Eric's Ride Blog for tomorrows group ride. In fact here it is: NEFind more Bike Rides in Rochester, Minnesota Looks like a nice, almost 50 miler. Cool. My only thought is that since we know that winds are prolly gonna be out of the southeast, wouldn't it make sense that we ride so that we end with the wind at our backs? Just my thought. But I'm not gonna really say anything being I havn't ridden with this group or met any of them yet. So who am I to dictate where and how the ride goes. I just hope I can hang in the pack. My rear tire on the geared road bike is so worn that the casing is showing almost all the way around. But I found a not as worn old tire hanging in the garage. A Conti GP3000 that has only a one spot patch of casing showing. I'll throw that puppy on for a while, till I can order new tires. Looks like my budget still won't allow for a new set yet. I'm hoping I can get another 500 miles before I can order some. Update: Looks like they are changing the route. Maybe someone thought the same as I?

The Union of the Snake is on the climb

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:17:44 +0000

Last week wasn't the best as far as training goes. It's not that bad though, cause it was a recovery week. I'm hopeing that I can get my groove back and be ready for (in case I do it) State Road Race. I'm gonna attempt to ride this week, with the Wednesday group ride out of Erics. I'm a little tired of showing up at RC&F for the group ride, only to go solo. Maybe if I can, I'll do a group ride a week up till States. That should give me the distance and intensity to bring my fitness level up. Riding solo can only do so much. Maybe I'll even go for town sign sprints.

Dopers Suck

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:57:40 +0000

Yeah take back the tour and all that crap. I just read that WADA is sitting on a mountain of positives that aren't due to "flawed criteria." Go to the Dopers Suck site and buy some items to show how you feel about the dopers in the professional peloton. Or heck, just make your own dopers suck shirt. I don't think they'll slap you with a copyright infringement suit.

Belgium Knee Warmers: Sine qua non

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:41:43 +0000

So the other day I wrote this post on cycling in life. The thing is, I only wish I could have summed it up as well as Belgium Knee Warmers did in this post. The truth is, cycling can be the glue that holds the fragile bits of our lives together. It’s the release that makes paying the bills, taking out the trash and the unfinished action item possible. ...Cycling gives us the ability to achieve more than we could without it. Anyway, that's all for now. I've been busy with family, work, riding and watching the tour. Maybe I'll post a little more later.

Live EuroSport TDF Audio Feed

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:22:12 +0000

Click this link to listen to le Tour live. http://eurosport.yahoo.com/audioplayer.html

Kenda Fantsy Cycling League

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 13:41:16 +0000

See if you can manage a better cycling team than me. Sign up at the Versus site, then join the "Rochester, MN" league to play directly against me. I guess that if you win the overall Versus league, you get a chance to go to next years tour. In France. Then there's also the Fly to the Finish sweepstakes. Watch the TV coverage daily for a code word. Then also look at the online widget page for another code word. Another codeword can be found VersusWap.com and on Bicycling.com under "Sponsored Features". Finally, if you head over to the TDF FanZone, you can enter more drawings buy making your guess' in the "Unscramble Words" and "Who am I?" contests. Good luck, and don't forget to join the league. (Even if you don't live in Rochester.)

TDF started today

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 18:44:40 +0000

No prologue time trial this year. So the action started pretty fast on a rolling stage 1 that ended with a steep climb coming out of a fast narrow bridge. Valverde took the win that let the world know that he is attempting to win the overall, as the new "boss" of the peloton.

Garmin Edge 305 (warranty/replacement) duex

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:01:21 +0000

UPS man came by and dropped off a new head unit. I used Garmin Training Center to upload my rider settings (heart rate zones and stuff), but any other settings have to be reset manually. So I spent some time configuring the display screens to what I'm used to. Now I just need to pack up my old head with the RMA number and send it back to them, and I'll get a refund for the $99 repair cost. The complete Garmin Edge 305 warranty saga: Garmin Edge 305 warranty part one Garmin Edge 305 warranty part three Garmin Edge 305 warranty part four Garmin Edge 305 warranty part five Garmin Edge 305 warranty part six Garmin Edge 305 warranty part seven Garmin Edge 305 warranty part eight

Cycling - Is it just a sport? A way of life? A lifestyle?

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:44:57 +0000

I don't know. ... I was reading the feed from another racers blog. This guys seemed serious about training, had all the best stuff, some cool tools like powermeters and was talented. Apparently, though, he seemed to get cought up in the politics of things and is now searching for a new sport. Even saying he's putting the bike away. Which is fine by me. I could care less about some guy racing a couple states over from me. But my point is, ... is this just a sport? I know that not everyone shares the same passion for riding as I do. And yet I know there are many others who are much more passionate about cycling than myself. But ... It seems to me, that if you are committed to riding hundreds of miles a week, for numerous years, even if it's for sport and competition, you must love it. So to say you're giving up to the point of putting the bike away, just seems ... drastic and excessive. As far away from the sport as I got, and as lazy and out of shap as I had gotten ... not a summer had gone by that I didn't get out and ride some. I havn't missed at least a little coverage of the tour (you do know it starts on Saturday, right?). It was never far from me. I guess I'm trying to say that even when I wasn't activly cycling, I was still a cyclist. I don't think I can give that up. To me it's more than a sport. It's not a way of life, it surely isn't a lifestyle. It just is a part of me. I was, am, and think I will always be a cyclist.

June '08 Search Strings

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:20:30 +0000

Not that you care, but I think it's interesting. 1 sheldon brown 2 sporttracks 3 yehuda moon 4 spoke card 5 spoke cards 6 rochester flyers 7 ww2.rochesterflyers.com 8 sporttracks vs motionbased 9 colnago sweepstakes 10 sporttracks review 11 profile track hubs 12 attaching a spoke card 13 cycling online contests and sweepstakes 14 fixed gear wheel 15 homemade gel form 16 average ctl 17 bike racing attacking 18 bike spoke cards 19 bingo alley cat 20 blood pressure flyers

Tuesday Fast Group Ride

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:32:01 +0000

So I showed up for the Tuesday night fast group ride, fully expecting to do a 45-50 miler, hiding in the group and taking a few strong pulls as interval work. But this is kinda hard to do if no one shows. I don't know what the deal is, but everytime I show up this year for a Tuesday night ride, no one else does. I left the shop thinking I'd put in a tempo zone3 ride for about 50 miles. I headed out on 19th street, accross West Circle to 60th ave where I headed south to Country Club road. There I went west again to 3, and south to Salem and Rock Dell. Climbing out of Rock Dell towards 30, I see a rider up ahead. Of couse I'm a sucker for the challange of attempting to catch a rider that's ahead. It took a bit, but I was able to catch the rider about a quarter mmile after we crossed 30. We exchanged hello's, I think his name is Jim. I'll call him Bianchi Jim as he had a nice carbon Bianchi with a SRAM force group and Mavic wheels. We decided to ride together, side by side. It was a little tough as we were riding into a SW headwind. But when we turned east on 6 was when the suffering began. Talk about half-wheel hell. It's the typical guy thing going on. Which is good, I wanted to ride hard, but also bad, I wanted to be able to take breaks in a pack. Incase you don't know what half-wheeling is, it's when you're riding with someone and one of you keeps ever so slightly keeps upping the pace bit by bit, and is characterized by being a half a wheels length ahead of the other. It can happen on a ride with two riders, or in a group with two lead riders. It's called half wheeling, but it doesn't have to be a half a wheels length for it to be happening. Now It's not that Bianchi Jim was intentionally doing it to me, nor I to him, but the pace was pretty high and I welcomed to soft pedal through Stewartville. I think it was just the typical testosterion induced competition that tends to happen when riders get together. A kinda challenge and testing of each other. Once out of Stewartville, we picked up the pace again, and then really ramped it up heading north on 20 up the hill by the cemetary. I was struggling at this point to keep the pace. I could have attacked fine (not that I would have) but keeping a steady hard pace like that was brutal. I enjoyed the company of Bianchi Jim, and the workout was just what I needed. Yet I was pretty stoked when he turned left at St. Bridgits instead of going east to Simpson. The rest of the ride was spent limping and licking my wounds. Well maybe not that bad. But I did ride at a much slower pace, and lower heart rate. Training Info That leads me to some cool things about training. It's going along pretty well. I'd like to be getting more miles and racing in, but I guess we all would, right? You gotta keep a balance. But anyway, below is an updated chart showing my TrImp goals vs. Actual TrImp scores. As usual click to see it bib. And here is my CTL, ATL and TSB scores from the begining of the year through this week. Here's the same thing focusing on only this week with the previous 2. With the TrImp scores. O.K. That's all normal stuff. Well there's some new metrics to keep track of in training when using a PMC (Performance Manager Chart). The ATL, CTL and TSB have been explained before in this blog. use the search to find those postings. But there's a couple things going on with those that I should point out. In the CTL column, I set up a conditional formatting rule that outlines the cell with the highest CTL value. It just so happens that after yesterdays ride, yesterdays CTL value is the highest so far this year. In the next column you'll see that the TSB cells are darker for values higher than zero. That's just so I can see at a glance if I'm in the positives or the negatives. The next 4 columns are new. The first is the CTL ramp. I have mine set up as a rolling score that takes the difference of the todays CTL score minus the one from a week ago (7 days). So it's the amount of rise (or drop) in CTL (your long term 'Chronic Training Load) for the past 7 days. A large rise means that you really upped your training load (volume and/or intensity) from a week prior, as zero rise only means that the load has remained the same, and a negitive rise is that the load was lower (than the week prior). So a recovery week may see a large negitive number, a build week may see a big rise, and a maintence week may be zero. Next are the Rolling TrImp totals. These are broken into 3, 7 and 28 day totals. Here's the way I understand it. Your body can only handle certain level of training before it breaks down so much that recovery can't keep up. Imagine that you put in a killer hard day, like a 150 mile ride a the hardest pace you can imagine, with the most brutal climbs mixed into it. You da that ride, and you are in so much pain that your legs wont go the next day and you loose any motivation to ride. That would be your single day max that you'd ever want to ride. Let's just say that max trImp score is 100 (nice round number to make it simple). Now of couse you can ride below that max, at say 80, and do it again the next 2 days before feeling that dead feeling. Then your 3 day break even point is 240. From that you can figure that maybe you do a really hard ride of 90 one day, if one of the next days you ride 60 and the other day you ride 70 you're still only at 220 and shouldn't feel overtrained yet for those three days. However, say you try to keep training like that for 7 days. You'd prolly start to get burnt out. So maybe your 7 day break even point is 500. As long as you keep your load below that you should be ok. And the same goes for the 28 day (or 4 week) break even point. So for me I have set as my brak even points 500, 750, and 2400 for 3 day, 7 day and 28 days. Now I have no idea if these are right for me or not and I'll be playing with the numbers throughout the year. Now again I have conditional formatting, to highlight cells showing that I am approaching that break even point. Of course then you can chart out the rolling totals. Like what's showing below. That's all for now. Maybe one day I'll offer up the spreadsheet for download so that you can try it out and see what you think.

I could use a new set of tires

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:39:12 +0000

I need tires on the road bike. I'm guessing that I have almost 2.5k miles on them. Which seems pretty good. My problem (and this goes with all things bike related) is that my preference is for top of the line. Top of the line doesn't mean that they last long or are durable. At least for tires. But usually top of the line tires feel better and offer more consistent and/or predictable traction. So top of the line tires are also expensive. Really expensive. Regular retail will set you back about $100+ for a pair of Conti GP4000's, Michelin ProRace3's or Vittoria Open Corsa CX's. Online, ProbikeKit.com has the best prices at about $70 or so for a set. That's a $30 difference. I believe in supporting the local shops, I've worked in bicycle retail and know most of the people in the shop, so I know the trials and struggles. But I also know that for some items there's no way the local shops can afford to sell as low as the online suppliers do. This isn't to say that I don't buy things at the local shop. In fact, I'd say that 70% of my purchases are at the local level. And the current set of tires I'm running were purchased at the local shop. But I believe this set is gonna be online. Thirty bucks is thirty bucks. Anyway, I'm not sure which set I should get. I've used Vittoria Open Corsa's before and love the way they ride. But I didn't keep track of what kind of mileage I got out of them. I know I can get about 2.5k out of a set of Conti's. I guess that's a year to a year and a half if I continue to ride the road bike as much as I have this year. (according to SportTracks I have about 900 miles so far this year) Of course last year (and especially the year before) I don't think I rode the road bike half as much as this. This year it seems to be a pretty even split between the road bike and the fixed wheel. Last couple years I pent much more time fixed. I guess it was the new relationship syndrome. But that's passed, and now she's used when the roadie isn't the right choice. Back to my thoughts on tires, the other choice for tires are the Michelin ProRace3 (or ProRace2 if I can find them. PBK had them on closeout for cheap recently but must have sold out.) I've heard good things about them. But I don't know how they stand next to the other tires. And I've never ridden Michelin's. Not at all. So even though I hear good things, I think "what if I don't like 'em?" So I guess the point of this post is to see if anyone is willing to comment what tires they use and what type of mileage they get out of them. As well as any other thoughts they have about them. What are peoples experience with Conti's Black Chili compound. I like color matching tires to bike, but I wonder if black lasts any longer. Etc.

Garmin Edge 305 (warranty/replacement)

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:16:47 +0000

I just got off the phone with Garmin (after being on hold for about 45 minutes). See about two weeks before my great Almanzo 100 ride, the down arrow button stopped working. I debated weather or not to send it in for warranty, and decided that I'd continue using it till fall, as it still functioned correctly. The only real drawback was only having the up arrow button to use for menu selections. But what would occasionally happen is after turning the unit on, I would hit the up arrow and the contrast and brightness menu would come up and go a tich darker. It did it yesterday, then again this morning. Then in attempting to see if there was any way at all to get it lighter, I darkened it all the way. So while the unit itself works just fine, I can not see anything while riding. It will record my rides just fine so i can still download and anylyze using SportTracks. I just can't access any info during my ride. The unit is still under warranty, but I really didn't want to be without a unit while it was being sent in for repair/replacement. So that's why I called. After being on hold for about a trillion years, Shaun came on the phone and told me my options. Basicaly if I don't want to be without a unit, I pay up front the $99 out of warranty repair charge, they send me a unit, I send my broken unit to them with a special RMA number, and they credit me the $99. This seems pretty fair to me, so I started the process. So while on the bike for the next couple days, I have to use the old fashioned, perceived exertion to guage worklevel, and keep to routes I know so that I don't stray out to far that I don't make it back at the times I'm supposed to be back. Once I get home I can still access all my workout data just fine. The complete Garmin Edge 305 warranty saga: Garmin Edge 305 warranty part two Garmin Edge 305 warranty part three Garmin Edge 305 warranty part four Garmin Edge 305 warranty part five Garmin Edge 305 warranty part six Garmin Edge 305 warranty part seven Garmin Edge 305 warranty part eight

Clean your drive train

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:34:36 +0000

A friend of mine sent me this e-mail:Hey Gunnar - Quick question - how do you clean off the gears and chain of your bike? Is it as simple as buying some goo and using a toothbrush/scraper? Or is there more to it than that? Thanks, ~Jan Ullrich After I e-mailed him back, I decided that I could just post my response, because I'm sure there are other people who would like to know how I clean my chain and gritty bits. So here it is. There's a couple of ways to do it. I usually just take a rag, toothbrush, some lube and maybe some degreaser/solvent, and spray the chain down, and start wiping . Don't use too much 'cause you don't what it to get in the wheel or bottom bracket bearings. Keep wiping until it's clean, then take the wheel off the bike and wipe all the degreaser off the gear(s). Then take the chain off the front crank gears and attempt to wipe them down. After everything is really clean and all the degreaser is gone (you could even let it sit for a couple hours if you to let it evaporate), put everything back together and take your chain lube to the chain. The best way to do this is to use a drip bottle of lube, and drip a drop on each link. When you have all the links done, you can let it soak in, but don't forget to wipe off the chain (to get rid of excess lube) before your next ride.

Man those red-winged black birds that live in the ditches are agressive this year!

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:04:17 +0000

Case in point, see the image below: Ever see the movie "The Birds"? Bird says "SQUAK! SQUAK! HISS! HISS!" as it swoops at my head on back of my neck. As I attempt to pedal, swerving like a drunken clown into traffic, yelling "Oh Ship! Help! Help!" like a little girl. Oh and ship isn't ship. Anyway, here's some articles from Chicago about these guys attacking people there. Chicago Tribune Time.com Article This is about the time the birds are nesting after returning to the Upper Midwest from their southern winter retreats. The red-winged variety is particularly attracted to marshy terrain and large bodies of water, like Lake Michigan (the shores of which are lined with jogging and cycling paths). Male red wings are usually 10 inches long, and weigh just 2 ounces. They quickly establish their territory — sometime among the trees surrounding urban ponds, or in suburban neighborhoods. They're followed by a throng of a comparatively secretive female lovers (yes, male red wings are polygamous). Females tend to carry a brown, streaky coat. Males are usually black, with a red patch on their wings. By mid-June, nests have been settled. "That's when we get the attack males," explains Willard of the Field Museum. Once the roughly 10-day incubation period begins, male red wings begin hovering around the nests. Only after their young leave the nests does the aggressiveness calm down.-from Time Article Nesting season is in full swing for the red-winged blackbird, making the males extremely aggressive. Walk or bike too close to one's nest and expect to hear its high, menacing squawk overhead. Then comes the peck-peck-peck on your head, victims say, or claws rustling your hair.-From Tribune Article

One Less Car has a new design

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:09:31 +0000

Just got this e-mail from Cole:ever been doored? its a bummer so we made a shirt about it because...well its part of city riding,i was really close to getting a good dooring today. Check it here: http://www.1lesscar.com/shirts/doored.html.

Not gonna be racing as much as I originally thought

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:33:58 +0000

It's simply a matter of budget. Dollar/fuel budget and time with family budget. Dollar/fuel budget seems simple to grasp, right? The cost of fuel to travel to races (even if only 50-100 miles away) is getting higher and higher everyweek. A quick calculation gives me an average fuel cost of $45. per out of town race. Suddenly I'm spending $75 to go race my bike and that doesn't include food and snacks along the way. Then there's the time away from family budget. The cost rises considerably if I bring the fam along, as they need to eat and stuff. Then what do they do as I race? They can watch, but if it's a roadrace, then they may see me pass the start finish area 2 times. Big whoop. What do they do for the other hour and 50 minutes I'm riding? Ok, if it's a crit, they can watch me go around and round for 45 minutes. It's a little more exiciting, but not really by much. But then, if I don't take them, then pretty much a full day of my weekend is spent away from them. 3 hours travel time, plus 2 hours racing, plus 1/2 hour waiting for results, plus 1/2 hour for gassing up and B.S. and that's pretty much a day. So, there's a slight chance that I'll do Northfield and State Crit, though if I don't do Northfield - then I'm not doing State's. I wanna have at least one crit under my belt before I attempt State Crit. I would hate to be so squirrely that I take out a group of riders in a crash at States. More than likely, the only other USCF race this year will be State Road Race. It's really too bad Rochester Velo isn't putting on a race this year, as I'm sure I'd be doing that. But I guess I'll be attempting the Fall TT series they put on, as well as trying to do some more group rides.

Some days it seems like I can't get any work done

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:11:28 +0000

And I really try, just stuff's not working/can't find anything I can use. Oh-well.

Green is the new way to show that you are a jerk

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:02:07 +0000

The other day I was buzzed by a car. Most times I get buzzed I try to look at the liscence plate and make/model of the vehicle, though I usually forget by the time I get to where I'm going. Some times this is made easier by distinguishing stickers. Well this one had a bunch, various political ones including a "Green is the new Red White & Blue" So you claim it's patriotic to be "green," yet you pass a cyclist on the road with less space than is safe, much less legal. So just what does it mean to you, driver of said vehicle, to be green? It certainly doesn't mean reducing our dependence on foreign oil by driving as little as possible.

Doin' intervals on the fixedgear

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 12:32:59 +0000

Interval workouts are prolly the most talked about workouts in cycling besides climbing and just getting out and riding. The thing is, I don't really do enough of them. I'm sure I'm not the only one that doesn't really do intervals. So yesterday I went out and did them. But here's the thing... I did them on my fixedgear. My thought was that insted of focusing on intensity (via heart rate), I just wanted each interval to be as fast as I could pedal. If I'm going downhill, it will train my spin, if I'm climbing, it will train strength and power, etc. Usually my fixedgear riding has been endurance training. Then again, most of my riding is endurance training, just varying intensity with duration. So I really need to work on getting the intervals in. Here's how the workout looked: What you see is a warmup of about 20 minutes through town, then 5, 2 minute FGFAYCG (Fixed Gear Fast As You Can Go) intervals, each at about 7 1/2 minutes apart (begining to begining). The first 2 were slightly uphill. The third one was mainly flat, and I wasn't really into that one. Then the last 2 were downhill. What suprised me was that the difference in heart rate between uphill and downhill wasn't that big. Or at least as big as I thought it would be. For, as different as the cadence (and therefore speed) and the powerscore was, the difference in heartrate was only 5%.

Don't panic! Just reset your Garmin Edge 305.

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:22:22 +0000

Today I changed to go out for a lunch time ride. The plan was to do a muscle tension workout. What this is is that you ride in an impossibly big gear for the ride. This, according to Joe Friels Training Bible, is supposed to simulate climbing. So I get outside, and attempt to power my Garmin Edge unit on and ... nothing. I press the powerbutton a couple more times. Nothing ... hmmm ... Then I press and hold the powerbutton in for a bunch of seconds. Nada. Enter button? Nope. Reset/Lap button? Still nada. The unit was just working in my office a few minutes ago. I turned it on, set the bike profile to what I was riding today and shut it off. It was fine. I didn't drop it or throw it or step on it or anything? Errr!?! At this point I'm thinking I'll have to send it back for warranty. The problem with that is that any rides I do during the time it's gone will not get recorded for my performance manager. See, since getting the unit, I think I've become addicted to tracking my training and performance and stuff, using it in combo with SportTracks and a custom Performance Manager (Using TrImp scores). The very idea of not being able to make pretty charts and stuff was making me upset. My eyes started watering, and I think my lower lip began quivering. I called my wife to give her the bad news (and also to let her know where I was headed for my ride). I think I sensed her sadness at the situation, though she kept a pretty strong facade for me. She agreed that it was a crappy situation to have to send it back for warranty, it's only six months old. I went on my ride, not knowing what my heartrate was, what my cadence was or how fast I was going. At times I was pedaling while crying looking at the blank screen fcing back at me hoping that maybe if I press the button now it'll magically turn on. It never did. My mind kept going to envisioning the black hole that will be the middle of June on my Performance Manager. I couldn't help but think how it'll look for my CTL to drop, knowing that I was still riding. How am I gonna go for a ride not knowing what my TSB was prior to, or will be after my ride? I got back to my office, showered and got back to work. After a bit I went to the Garmin site to attempt to contact support to start the ball rolling about the warranty situation. I looked through the owners manual and saw the instructions on resetting the unit. Press the Reset/Lap and Start/Stop button at the same time.So I Pressed and held the Reset/Lap and Start/Stop button at the same time for a second. I didn't think it did anything. I continued surfing their site for contacting support. I hit Power, Reset/Lap and Start/Stop. Still nothing. Put it down. Then I picked up the unit a little later and hit the power button... and ... "blip" it comes on. Oh happy day! I checked all the settings, still all the same... Resetting it must have worked. Yea! So next time before getting all upset, I'll just press both bottons at the same time, and then try to turn it on again. That should do it. The complete Garmin Edge 305 warranty saga: Garmin Edge 305 warranty part one Garmin Edge 305 warranty part two Garmin Edge 305 warranty part three Garmin Edge 305 warranty part four Garmin Edge 305 warranty part five Garmin Edge 305 warranty part six Garmin Edge 305 warranty part seven Garmin Edge 305 warranty part eight

Yo mama

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:01:43 +0000

likes bikes.

Dogs who chase cyclists, and the cyclists that love them

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:52:58 +0000

View Larger Map What you see above is a map made by a member of RASC showing the locations of dogs in the area that are known to chase cyclists. If you know of any that should be added, visit this topic on thier board and let them know.

Product Review - Cars-R-Coffins socks by Sock-Guy

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:45:35 +0000

Let me get this straight. I did not buys these socks. Nor am I sponsored by CRC and obligated to spew the eternal love for them. I got these socks for my participation and well placing in the most awesome gravel road race in Minnesota. There were a couple other goodies available but I choose this pair of socks because, well, because I guess I have a thing for footwear. I more socks than I really need. I have various work, casual, athletic, cycling, skate and leisure shoes. At least two pairs of each. In fact I have been called Imelda by some of those close to me. Of course it was in jest. But let's just say I like shoes and socks. So at the prize table were a bunch of goodies, that I could have taken, but I saw these socks. I picked them up and examined them. They are a little taller than most of my other socks, black (90% of my socks are black, this goes back to my mountain biking days, but that's another story), and were made from a wool/poly combo. They also had the Cars-R-Coffins icon which is really cool. That was all enough to hook me and I shooved them into my pocket for safe transport home where I could attempt to flaunt to the fam (as if they really care about my socks - HAH!) my latest addition to the collective. < this is where I may put a photo of the wonderfull socks by Cars-R-Coffins > Well that was about 3 1/2 weeks ago. Since them I have worn them to work, church and on a ride or 2. I even wore them an entire weekend in various footwear and activities without washing to test the anti-stink factor. I am fully impressed by these socks. I had another pair of Sock-Guy wool socks from a year or 2 ago that got a hole in the toe pretty quickly. So I was a little nervous about these doing the same. But in comparison, it looks like this is a new (thicker) blend weave that hopefully translates to extra durability. < maybe an image of the socks in the laundry here > Get this, I love wool stuff. Jerseys, sweaters, shirts, warmers and - of course - socks. But my problem has been in the care of said wool items. I've shrunk many (many-many-many) things by not paying attention and throwing them in the dryer after washing. Luckily, these socks are easy to care for. They've gone for a tumble in the dryer a couple times already and come out fine. They're comfy too. Like I said above, they're a little thicker than typical cycling socks, so they feel a little warmer as I sit in the office with clunky work shoes on. But on the road, I didn't notice any extra warmth while riding. Maybe in the fall and winter, this magical property of wool will begin to shine through. < image of socks on my feet while riding > Anyhow, to say that I think thses socks are the bees-knees (or the sheeps-knees) is an understatement. They're comfy, stylish and free. Well at least free for me. You can get 'em by paying $12 at the Cars-R-Coffins site.

Short lunch training rides

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 10:40:02 +0000

This is a call out to see if there's anyone out there who may want to join me on 1 or 2 lunch hour training rides a week. Nothing specific planned yet, but most of the rides I do currently at lunch are between 16 and 20 miles. There's prolly like 5 or 6 routes from my office (double that if you count the route in reverse as a seperate course) that fit the bill. Pace will be high enough to ensure it can be done within an hour. Departure time should be about 1:00 pm If your interested in something like this contact me using the contact form, comment to this post or just email me.

Using TrImp to calculate CTL, ATL and TSB
- Part 3

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 10:17:29 +0000

This is actually more of an update, as I finally figured out the formula and how to use it in Excel. If you go back to Part 2, in the section where I explain what formula to plug into columns "H" and "I" for ATL and CTL, you need to change the formula. The correct formula for ATL, or column "H" (starting with the 7th row down, in this case it's "H9") is "=H8+((G9-H8)/7)". Then drag that down the rest of the column. You can also drag it up the column, but be sure to subtract 1 from the 7 for each row up you go till you reach the first row, which you can just reference the TrImp score for that day. Now do the same thing for the CTL column ("I") using this formula: "=I44+((G45-I44)/42)" at the 42th row down (in my case it's I45). Drag up and down the same way (including subtracting 1 going up). The basis for these excel formula changes is to use the real(?) formula for figuring out ATL and CTL scores. I found the formula on Middle Ring All the Way. Baisicly the formula for these are: ATL = ATLy + ((TSS - ATLy)/TC)Where ATLy is yesterdays ATL score, TSS is todays TSS (or in my case todays TrImp score), and TC is the time constant (in my case 7 days CTL = CTLy + ((TSS - CTLy)/TC)Where CLYy is yesterdays CTL score. Everything else is the same, but the time constant is for the 42 day length. What this does is place more weight to the more recent workout sessions. Eventually the workout you did 8 weeks ago, will really only be a memory. And the workout you did this morning will have the most impact on your fitness. Now it's not going to make a huge difference, but there is a difference that can be seen. Here's a chart using the old method (click to see it bigger): And here it is using the new method (again, click to see it bigger): The data is the same, but the formula is different. The difference is CTL and ATL isn't huge, but the difference in TSB (training stress balance) is bigger. There's less places where that number is in the positive. Update: I downloaded some spreadsheets from the Google Wattage Group to check my formula against thiers. It seems to be pretty accurate. Remember that Using TrImp will give you different values. So you can't compare someone's power based CTL & TSB values to your TrImp scores. One of the next things I'm gonna do though is see if there is some relationship between them. At least with the power score values I get from SportTracks (not an accurate power measuring device, but at least an estimate). Click here for Part 1. Click here for Part 2.

May '08 search strings

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:01:54 +0000

This is what you typed into search engines to get here. 1 yehuda moon 2 almanzo 100 3 bicycle sweepstakes 4 ww2.rochesterflyers.com 5 sporttracks 6 win bicycle sweepstakes 7 ken woods memorial road race 8 awareness test bear 9 profile track hubs 10 sporttracks review 11 tour de pepin bike ride 12 homemade energy gel 13 rochester commuter choice 14 tour de pepin bike ride mn 15 anodized track hub 16 energy gel recipe 17 gunnar bicycles complete for sale 18 ken woods road race 19 masi guy 20 profile racing See ya next month!

bad riding a benefit to rider safety?

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 10:47:35 +0000

So on bikebuzz.net ventstation was a post about how the poster was embarassed as a cyclist seeing another rider riding with no reguard for pedistrians, cars, traffic or signals. I understand the frustration. And I think it's not smart to ride like that. You can get hurt and you can hurt others. But ... the other side of the coin here. Most people barely know the rules of the road when it comes to driving, how are they to know the rules when it comes to riding? but that's not my point. The point I want to make today is that maybe, it will take a BUNCH of people riding badly, for people to notice bicyclists and bicycling. When I drive in neighborhoods I tend to go pretty slow. Kids may be around and they can (and do) shoot out into the street at any moment. So, if enough riders were to be unpredictable, others may take a less agressive and more defensive attitude. I've done some pretty un-scientific research on the effect of rider predictability on the amount of space given by drivers when passing. Baisicly sometimes I notice that when I ride erraticly (swerving, unstable or just looking like I don't know what I'm doing), drivers tend to give me a little more space. This is in contrast to when I'm dressed up like a super-hero and holding my line just to the right (or on) the white line. Of course this isn't all drivers as some still buzzed me (or gave me extra space) no matter how I rode. I don't know. It's just a thought I had.

SportTracks release 2.0.3074

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:15:39 +0000

Sporttracks (the best software for gps enabled cycling computers) has a new release. Here's the list of updates and fixes. New features added in this release * Cadence & Power Zones * Cadence & Power activity detail page split from Cycling * Heart rate, cadence & power data track values added to route detail window. * HR import for garmin .gpx files (from "Colorado" GPS) * Import power data from Forerunner 705 .tcx file * Name field selection from list in Import window * Navigate to activity details from reports with double-click on list or map * New columns: max HR, max cadence, max power, max grade use max of max activity value for groups of activity instead of max of avg * Slovak translation Bug fixes * Bug with displaying very short time segments * Equipment mileage not reduced when removing activity * Weather location searching (hopefully) * Timex importer time offset and clear memory option * Bug with lap times when importing .hrm files * Import bug (spinning on 100% forever) * Add athlete info off by one day in some timezones * Sort workouts with speed 0.0 in the correct place * Save import options: "Split activity" and "Split activity num hours" * Fastest & average speed chart on reports by activity showing meters-per-second instead of mph or km/h * Funky scrollbar page up/down in tables. * Home/End/Page Up/Page Down not working in tables. * When prefilling equipment on a category change, only add items in use * Allow deleting custom distance splits when there are more than recorded lapsRelease Announcement You know I'll be downloading it (from here) and trying it out.

Cycling & relationships - a tough question

Fri, 30 May 2008 11:48:10 +0000

Cozy Beehive presents a complicated, but all too well known question reguarding cyclists and thier significant others lack of the same enthusiasm for cycling. Suppose : Your new life partner, apple of your eye, but obviously not as crazy as you about cycling, tests your commitment in relationship. One day, in a very serious tone, he or she asks you to drop your passion altogether. Its either him/her or bicycles, not both. Its a one way street. - Cozy Beehive The obvious answer is that if this person will not accept you for what you are, then they are not worth keeping around. But then what if when you met, your passion for cycling was on the down-low? Maybe you were burned out for a bit and took a year or so off. Maybe you just went through a phase where it wasn't important. But then after the relationship is estabolished, something re-fuels the desire to experience the freedom of rolling on wheels under your own power. Does that change the answer at all. Isn't it then you who are changing into something your partner was not expecting? Suddenly you are spending large amounts of time away from the relationship, and large amounts of money on equipment. Plus your are tired all the time, falling asleap at 7:30 in the evening (when you're not out on a group ride) and eating 3x as much as you used to. What then? Does the same "Accept me for who I am" statement hold true? To me the biggest thing you can do if you value the relationship is compromise. And this isn't just cycling specific. This is in everything. And I'm not talking about being fair either. Fair has nothing to do with anything. Life isn't fair. Relationships are not fair. At some point you're gonna get the raw deal. You have to accept that fact otherwise you will constantly be in conflict striving for fairness. But the compromise come in being realistic in what your partner is comfortable with giving up, and attempting to utilize that time (or money) to it's fullest. Need to keep Saturdays open for relationship time? Use another day for long rides. Partner thinks morning snuggles are more important than evening TV time? Then move training rides to the evening. Hopefully, if they understand how important cycling is to you, and they appreciate the compromises you make to keep the relationship a priority, they will be willing to make compromises for your passion.

Bigger, Stronger, Faster - a new film about performance enhancing drugs

Thu, 29 May 2008 10:45:15 +0000

I noticed the banner ad for this film when I was using the live feed from CyclingNews.com. It looks to be more about weight-lifting, body building and football. You know, ... the classic American steroid athletes. The artwork on the page does show some other athletes, ice skater, baseball player, pro-wrestler and track runner, but no cyclists. However, in the photo section there is an image of Landis. It looks like it may be an interesting movie to see. Here's the link to the site. Clicky.

Using TrImp to calculate CTL, ATL and TSB
- Part 2

Wed, 28 May 2008 13:38:31 +0000

Back in this post I was wondering how to use TrImp for more than just setting a target goal score for the week. Well today I'm gonna tell you how I did that. If this is the first time you've heard of TrImp (Training Impulse), then I suggest you read some past postings: First post on TrImp Second post Using TrImp to calculate CTL, ATL and TSB - Part 1 There's more that I've posted about TrImp and to get to it I suggest using the search box on the right. Go ahead, type in "trimp", hit the search button and you should get a list of results that will occupy hours of time wasting. Now that you're all cought up, here's a chart of the year so far as daily TrImp values, ATL, CTL and TSB goes. (click it to see it bigger) Sometimes viewing the whole year to date chart makes it hard to see what's really going on, so here is a chart showing some of the most recent weeks. (again clicky to see biggie) With these you can see that this past weekend (Memorial day weekend), I really didn't get out and ride at all. It's the flat TrImp line before the slight spike up for yesterday. Really what you can see is how missing a day or so here and there doesn't affect the CTL (chronic training load) as much as it affects ATL (acute training load) and TSB (training stress balance). You want CTL to continue to rise as the season progresses. ATL will jump up and down more, but should show an upward trend. TSB will also jump up and down, but you want it to rise prior to target events, and expect it to go down after them or during times of intense training. Now here's how to use TrImp scores and Excel (or whatever spreadsheet program you choose) to get ATL, CTL and TSB. Well at least this is how I did it. I use SportTracks with the TrImp plugin to give me the TrImp scores for the day. I take that score and enter it into a spreadsheet. (again- click for big. you may want to open it in a new window so you can refer back to it.) You can set up your spreadsheet with whatever other info you want, but you need a column for TrImp scores. Then next to it make a column for ATL, CTL and TSB. Now it helps to understand what that ATL is a 7 day rolling average, CTL is a 42 day rolling average, and TSB is the difference between the two. In my spreadsheet the Trimp score column is "G", ATL is "H", CTL is "I" and TSB is "J." It's easier to start with the most recent entry. In mine it's row "150." So in cell "H150" you want to enter the formula "=AVERAGE(G144:G150)" without the quotes. This makes an average of the current entry through the past 7 days. Then select the cell and extend the formula all the way up the column. Now you can just stop at the seventh day of your training log. Or you can just adjust the formula for those begining days so that there is some sort of average to chart. This is how I handled it. My Trimp score date begins in cell "G3", so in cell "H9" I enter the formula "=AVERAGE($G$3:G9)" and drag it up the rest of the way up the ATL column. Now you have to do the same thing for the CTL column, except you need to go back 42 days for the rolling average. In cell "I150" I used the forumla "=AVERAGE(G108:G150)". I extended it all the way up to "I46". Then in cell "I45" I used formula "=AVERAGE($G$3:G45)" and extended it up the rest of the way. Finally, since TSB is just the difference between the two, in "J150" I used the formula "=I150-H150" and extended it up to the top. That's it. Now you can use the chart wizard to create pretty charts, and pretend you know what they mean like I do. And I just wasted my lunch break writing this post instead of going out for a ride. Now I'm grouchy and mad at you. Oh well... Click here for Part 1. Click here for Part 3.

Almanzo was awesome

Mon, 19 May 2008 15:19:00 +0000

Wow! I really mean-WOW! What a beautiful day. What a great race. Some really nice sceanery at times, a little freaky (what the heck do those masons do at that little park with the big wall and stone building, in that little valley in the middle of nowhere?), and challenging too. As we started riding out of town, somehow, I thought a goal time of less than 6:30 would be a good time to shoot for. How I came up with it, I don't know, all I know is that I knew that 20mph (5:00 time) would be way to fast. I don't think I could do a pavement century with multiple gears at that speed. So somehow I thought adding an hour and a half would make sense to account for gravel, wind and riding fixed. As we approached the gravel going out of Quarry Hill park I manuvered near the front 20 or so riders. I knew that the first climb was steep and even though it was really early in a 100 mile race, I wanted to be with the lead group. This first section of the course to St. Charles was fast. According to SportTracks we averaged a little under 21.5 mph. At some point before St. Charles a couple of us fell OTB of the lead group. I'm not sure if they surged or not, but I just couldn't keep the pace. However I didn't want to slow down to find the next group behind yet. This was good as I met up with Mario, and while we didn't really need to work together (the wind was at our backs) it was nice to kinda keep pace off of someone. It ended up working out as we cought the group in St. Charles, navigating the town together. Once out of town and back on gravel the pace was still moving along pretty fast. I was super happy to find shelter in the group, and owe these guys a huge thanks for letting me ride with them. Maybe it was just in my mind (I doubt it), but it really seemed like I was not taking any pulls. Really, to be honest I was barely hanging on most of the time and was dropped again at around the 35 mile mark. Still, I attempted to keep a good pace by myself hoping to keep the group in my sights as long as I could. Once again it ended up working out as I was able to regroup in Chatfield. There was a little bit of confusion as we navigated through Chatfield, but we were able to make it through ok. 15-20 minutes later the whole group decided to stop for a pee. After that we stayed as a group with a nice, but not too easy pace. At this point I started to really not keep pace on the climbs. Once again I was OTB. But again I wanted to keep them in my sights as long as I could. I realized that if I can keep them in sight, then navigating the towns was a little easier. The last real town that I was unfamilier with, Spring Valley was approaching. However, the last I saw of the lead group was after we rode by the Masonic park and approached the pavement. I decided to not worry too much about riding solo at this point. I knew there wasn't any fixed riders in the lead group, so if I could keep from being passed for this last half of the race I would be good to go. I took some pictures of the water treetment plant entering Spring Valley. I think this is where I lost my cue sheet that would have directed me through Spring Valley. Eerrrr. Hmm. ... I knew that it was something like left then right and Kwik Trip. I had been through Spring Valley once or twice, and knew the highway cuts through it at an angle. Well coming into town I make a left, cross the highway and begin looking for Kwik Trip. There was a BP on the corner but no Kwik Trip. Err. I continued on thinking maybe it's further down the road. I went maybe 3 or 4 blocks and thought it didn't look right. I turned around, crossed the highway and came upon Tracy Rd. Ah-Hah! Tracy Rd was on the cue sheet. The logical choice was to make a left towards the highway and sure enough. There was Kwik Trip. And I see bikes outside. Sweet! I ride up to the store, decide I didn't need anything (In hindsight I could've bought a coke to go with my sandwich that I was about to eat) and look for the checkpoint. I didn't see it so I ask one of the riders at the store if the checkpoint was here. He knew and four of us got there together. I got my new cue sheets, said hello to Chris. I the chance to streatch my back a bit before rolling off. Mario, Josh and another rider ended up wondering if they were headed the right way and slowed for me to catch up and make a group decision. I thought we were good to go. The three of them were going just a little too hard for me, so I let them go and expected to either ride solo or with a couple of chasers for this last 1/3 or so of the ride. That point to the pavement by High Forest was kind-of a blur to me. At the corner to High Forest I stopped to streatch a little more. I knew it was the last leg. A little less than 20 miles to go. I had gotten a rock in my shoe and it was bouncing around by my toes for a while now. This was another reason for the stop. But somehow I forgot to pull my shoe off to get it out. Riding down the road it started to bounce around again, so before the next turn I stopped again to take my shoe off and shake the rock out. While doing this I was expecting (almost hopeing) that another rider would come along so we could work together for a while. No such luck. Onward I trudged. I could occasionaly catch a glimpse of the riders ahead as they crested a climb, but there was no way I was going to catch them. I began just counting down the miles, giving myself little goals like: at 85 mile take another slug of energy gel and stand up and pedal for a minute. Once I hit Salem Rd I knew I was going to finish, and more than likely win the fixed catagory. However even though it was pavement from here on, these last 3 climbs were killer. The first of them was the worst, my speed slowed to 8 mph. I lost my cadence magnet a couple weeks ago so I don't know what that was, but it sure felt like it was really low. After descending Country Club Manor, crossing onto 2nd street, looking back and not seeing anyone, I knew all I had to do now was finish and I'd take home the win. It was just a matter of spinning in. No more climbs, no more gravel and no riders behind me that I could see. I made it accross the line at 6:11 (official and bike computer time). Milage for me was 101.29 because of my little wrong turn in Spring Valley. I swear, the cold beer at the finish was the best! It really hit the spot. All in all, I'm super happy with my performance and fitness at this point. Although I haven't ridden since, it's not because I hadn't recovered. I'd like to shoot a huge thank you to Chris and the Sponsors for this event. It was THE MOST fun race I've done in a LONG time. Other Almanzo race reports: Charlie Farrow Snakebite Squirrel Buckshot77 Bradley Wilson Mpls Bike Love recap posts start here. bike devil Wheel Guru Official Results (and some pics): 1 - Terry Brannick - 5hrs. 44min. (First Open Mens) 2 - Joseph Meiser - 5hrs. 44min. (Second Open Mens - Tie) 2 - David Pramann - 5hrs. 44min. (Second Open Mens -Tie) 4 - Charlie Farrow - 5hrs. 44min. 5 - Jesse Rients - 6hrs. 2min. 6 - Death Rider - 6hrs. 2min. 7 - Mario - 6hrs. 2min. 8 - Gunnar - 6hrs. 11min. (First Fixedgear) 9 - Hurl - 6hrs. 28min. 10 - Nick Oswald - 6hrs. 33min. (First Single Speed) 11 - Sascha Boecker - 6hrs. 33min. 12 - Andy Tetmeyer - 6hrs. 33min. 13 - Tim Norrie - 6hrs. 33min. 14 - Kevin Jargo - 6hrs. 40min. (Second Fixed Gear) 15 - Andy Lambert - 6hrs. 46min. 16 - Ruby-2-Shoes - 7hrs. 4min. 17 - Eric Leugers - 7hrs. 8min. 18 - Dog - 7hrs. 13min. 19 - Coholic - 7hrs. 13min. 20 - Dan Hansen - 7hrs. 17min. 21 - Roy Vosberg - 7hrs. 21min. 22 - Tim Bekke - 7hrs. 25min. 23 - Jim Reed - 7hrs. 26min. 24 - Snakebite - 7hrs. 31min. 25 - Brent Wood - 7hrs. 31min. 26 - Brian Dukek - 7hrs. 43min. 27 - John Krolak - 7hrs. 43min. (Second Single Speed) 28 - Chris Prescher - 7hrs. 43min. 29 - JJ Robb - 7hrs. 50min. 30 - Joshua Lavelle - 7hrs. 53min. 31 - Rick Blackford 7hrs. 54min. 32 - Squirrel - 7hrs. 58min. 33 - Ian Nancekivell - 8hrs. 34 - Isaac Giesen - 8hrs. 4min. 35 - Jacob Huot - 8hrs. 4min. 36 - Bjorn Christianson - 8hrs. 6min. 37 - Landon - 8hrs. 11min. 38 - Kid Riemer - 8hrs. 12min. 39 - James McGuire - 8hrs. 17min. 40 - Brad Wilson - 8hrs. 21min. 41 - Dale Dahl - 8hrs. 21min. 42 - Susannah King - 8hrs. 23min. (First Open Womens) 43 - T-Baggins - 8hrs. 27min. 44 - Bryan Cochran - 8hrs. 53min. 45 - Molly Cochran - 8hrs. 53min. (Second Open Womens) 46 - Dennis Mairet - 8hrs. 58min. 47 - Edward Younk - 8hrs. 58min. 48 - Jason Hicks - 9hrs. 3min. 49 - Randy Anderson - 9hrs. 3min. 50 - Kevin Clay - 9hrs. 10min. 51 - David Hanks - 9hrs. 11min. 52 - Brent Bruessel - 9hrs. 13min. 53 - Jose Pascual - 9hrs. 25min. 54 - Garrick Yoong - 10hrs. 28min. 55 - Erik Sudheimer - 10hrs. 28min. 56 - Rooster - DNF 57 - Robert Green - DNF 58 - Michael Fox - DNF 59 - Alex Anderson - DNF That's all for now, maybe more later.

My most consistant riding companion

Thu, 15 May 2008 14:20:18 +0000

Albert and I started our relationship about 13 years ago. Over that time I'm sure we've covered thousands of miles together on the bike. Add to that times we've taken plane rides together, road trips, and times we just hung around. ... Yup, Albert and I have a history together. When I lived in Hawaii, Albert took a trip with me to Big Bear, California to see if I could find work at a (now extinct) mountain bike accessory company. Albert then came along when I moved my small family to Rochester. Albert has gone with us on trips back to Hawaii. Albert even went with us to Florida. Meet Albert: Yeah ... Albert is my old Timbuk2 bag. I Custom ordered Albert when I was working at Island Triathlon. Albert (a Bolo) replaced a Dee-Dog bag I purchased a little earlier, because I needed more space for junk. To be completely honest, this post about Albert was inspired by recent Dirt Rag blog postings about bags. Albert wasn't always named Albert. At first he was just "my bag." When we moved to Rochester, but, before I started working at the bike shop, I worked for a temp agency doing light industrial work. (Hah! Industrial true, but not what I'd call light. It was hard work, plus I would have to put in some 12-14 hr days starting at 5am!) While working there, the uniform I had to wear was from an ex-employee the place had, and the name tag that was on it was? ... Albert. When I quit there to work at the bike shop, I took the name badge off the uniform and sewed it on the bag. From that day on, it has been Albert. Albert has always been my commuter friend. Carrying shoes, clothes, books, computers, papers and really anything I need. Albert only complains when I really load him up. I've carried 12 paks of drink, and then some. I've even put my kids in him. No I havn't put 40lbs of gravel in him. But only because I've never had the need to. But here's a typical day's load for Albert. It includes my heart rate monitor case, iPod, pants, arm & knee warmers, cool weather gloves, a skull cap, waterproof helmet cover, blinky light, cell phone, u-lock, safety pins, footbag, food, coffee and a Gideons New Testament-Psalms-Proverbs (Gideons Bible). Some days there's more cycling and/or work clothes, shoes, rain gear and other stuff. But Albert's fine with all that. Here's to Albert, my friend and companion.

Training - year to date

Wed, 14 May 2008 11:05:48 +0000

Posts have become less frequent over the last month or so. There's a couple of reasons. I've been pretty busy at work lately. That's the big one. More work means less time to post. Simple right. Well the other reason is that I'm riding more. Finding time to ride is tough. In order to spend as much time as I can with the fam, work, and still be able to enjoy other aspects of life (yes, there is more to life than cycling. Not much, but there is). In order to achieve this I schedule my riding in ways to take up the least amount of 'other' time. This means dawn patrol rides where I wake up at 5-5:30 to get out for a ride before work, and lunch time rides. Some days I attempt to do both. Morning and lunch rides are great, 'cept they are fairly short. Relatively short. Most road races are about 40-60 miles in length. At 20 mph that's 2-3 hours. If all I did was lunch and morning rides, my longest rides in training would be an hour and 15 minutes. So my endurance would not be that great for even these events. But then throw in an Almanzo, or a century ride and I'd be toast. So the plan is to do the group ride thing a couple times a month. There's a couple to choose from in Rochester. Monday and Wednesday evenings there are RASC rides. These rides have an easy and a moderate pace groups that vary in length. These are great especially if you are new to group riding or just want an easy spin and be social. VeloRochester has ongoing scheduled group rides on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. I think Tuesdays are supposed to be fast paced on a route that changes each month. Wednesdays are supposed to be slightly slower and the route is decided at ride time. Both rides regroup, though Tuesdays only for the first half of the ride. VeloRochester and RASC both have weekend rides, though thier message boards are used to coordinate those. I've heard that there's also a ride that goes out of Erik's bike shop. But I haven't gotten info on (or ridden with them) yet. But really, I get my distance riding in on the weekends. If I can get out early enough (rarely) I can get up to 75 miles in on Saturday (though I haven't done it yet) and depending on Sundays schedule I may even get in another 50. So what's this all lead up to? Well, I guess a check in of my training load. To refresh, I'm using TrImp (training impulse) to quantify my training workload by heart rate zones. I set a schedule with a goal TrImp score for each week and attempt to do that goal. TrImp scores are a combination of intensity (how hard I worked my heart rate) and duration (how long I was out training). On the above chart (click it for a big version) we are currently in the last week (#7 with no score). What's interesting is that we can see weeks that I overshot the goal because we had some nice days in winter and I was able to get out for a decent ride, as well as see weeks where real life or illness got in the way of training. But as a whole I've been on track. But this doesn't show how fit or strong I am. but I think thats a topic for another post later. Some extra notes: if you use the search box you can find more posts I've written about TrImp. I need to send my Garmin Edge cyclocomputer in to see if it's covered under warranty which probabbly means I wont be able to keep track of my training data for a couple of weeks when that happens. So I guess I'll wait till after Almanzo to send it in. And finally I feel fitter on the bike than I have in a couple of years. Weather it's true or if any racing results will come of it is yet to be seen. But it's a good feeling.

Countdown to Almanzo

Thu, 08 May 2008 12:45:11 +0000

In 10 days I'll be on a journey. Maybe I'll discover myself on this journey. More than likely, I'll discover pain. I really don't know the last time I rode 100 (one hundred) miles in a day. I beleive it may have been the Honolulu Century Ride in 1995. Now I'm doing one on gravel, using a fixed wheel bike. A fixedgear bike! No coasting. No making it easier on climbs. Single speed. Sound dumb to you? Trueth be told, when I think about it, it really does seem pretty stupid. But I'm still doing it. The goal is to finish. Well I guess that's the main goal. Secondary is the fact that it's a race and I want to win. See, you don't enter a race without racing to win. At least that's the way I look at it. Of course I'm not going to go out and attack on the first hill and ride solo for the rest of the ride. That's just being stupid. Well, actually maybe it's not. There will be no way for anyone behind to know how far ahead a leader is except by sight. So if you can break away and be strong enough to get out of sight fast enough, anyone else may not bother to chase and really only race for second place. This would entail putting in a huge effort at the beginning for maybe 45 minutes to an hour, then keeping a steady pace without loseing time the rest of the race. It could work. More realistic is the stay in a decent group without letting any leader or group get out of sight at least till the halfway point. Then slowly ramping up the pace a little bit at a time to shed some riders. And keeping the hardest effort for the final 20 miles or so. How it really works out is anyones guess. The pack could just split completely apart before the halfway mark, and it would then be like how I remember some of the old mountain bike races. Just picking off riders as you pass, and attempt to keep others from passing you. The drawback is that you'll be battling the wind alone, and that would suck. Even if you ride with a slower rider for a while, as long as they take some pulls, you get a break from the wind that will keep you fresher for longer. I don't quite know my water stratagy yet. Do I carry all I need from the start? Or do I stop at convience stores and fill up along the way. Water is pretty heavy, yet I don't want to run out. Seems like everyone ran out at some point in 2007. I'm pretty conservative when it comes to tools and spares (comes from mountain bike racing where you need to do it all your self), so I'll have the recomended 2 spare tubes, pump, co2 cartridges, allen wrenches, patch kit, tire boot made from a section of old tire, chain tool, extra bits of chain and a 15 mm wrench for the track nuts. That should cover it. I still havn't figured out the food situation yet either. Probably PBJ sammaches, dried fruit, home made energy gel, bananas, oatmeal bars and maybe some brownies. Bike setup will be orange fixed. I got a 28c Turbo/S tire on the rear. I think that'll be cushy enough. I may add something under the bar tape up front, and even though I don't like to ride with gloves, I think I will for this. Just for the extra padding. I'm still really hoping for dry conditions. I may not even ride if it's raining at the start. Or I may start and pull off at 20 miles or so if the tires start to sink or pack up. Looks like I'm just about ready. Are You? Update: Race finished.

Another cyclist/blogger in my thoughts and prayers

Wed, 07 May 2008 12:07:35 +0000

Fat Cyclist has been blogging for a while. Usually humorous his posts reflect what most riders experience in riding. But lately things have changed. His wife Susan has been battleing cancer, but now it seems the cancer has moved into the brain. The only real option is to go through radiation therapy and even with that, the cancer will return. The only treatment option we have open to us now, the oncologist said, is radiation therapy. And after that’s done, Susan will be better for a few months, but then the tumors will come back, and the brain can’t take another dose of radiation like that. So, absent a miracle, Susan only has months to live.I can only begin to understand the emotions that they are going through. The fact that they have kids only make the story that much more sad. So Eldon (the Fat Cyclist) and his family are also in my thoughts and prayers lately. And these things really put into perspective life, work, play and cycling. Hug the kids more, snuggle with the wife more, because we really don't know what tomorrow will bring.

Masi Guy says...

Wed, 07 May 2008 09:02:03 +0000

"Wear your damn helmet!" In case you didn't know Tim Jackson (aka: Masi Guy) crashed pretty hard racing in the velodrome. Looks like he's pretty happy he was wearing a helmet. Confession time, I didn't wear mine this morning to work. This is cause I left it at work last night. See at quitting time, I decided to call the limo to take me home due to lightnining ripping accross the sky, and the deluge of rain pouring from the heavens. Of course I packed everything in my bag and forgot to pick up my helmet off my desk. ... sigh ... This morning I got up at silly o'thirty in the morning to get in some dawn patrol before work. I even started rolling down the street, then thought "Something's not right. Hey I don't have my helmet on." I immediatly turned around and went home to search. I didn't find it cause it's at work. But it's not a bad thing. In fact the best thing was; that this gave me the excuse to crawl back into bed and get some extra snuggles before having to get ready for the day. But anyway I'm hoping and praying for a speedy recovery for Tim.

KSTP report on cyclists breaking the law

Thu, 01 May 2008 14:46:19 +0000

OK, I didn't see the report. I don't even know if we get KSTP down here in the boonedocks that is Rochester. But I heard about it through the blog chatter. Well isn't it interesting that someone should do some research on the claims that the reporter makes in the report. Listen to this: Police told McNaney that "about half the time a bike is involved in a crash, it's the cyclists fault." Garwood says that number is bunk and sent a list of 2006 bike incidents to KSTP. "If you look through it, you will see that 120 of the 200 crashes (or 60%) for which fault can be determined were caused by drivers, while only 80 (or 40%) were caused by cyclists," Garwood wrote. "It is a clear indication that driver error and violation of law is a significantly greater threat to bicyclist safety than bicyclist error and violation of law. I expect KSTP to correct this misstatement of fact on the air." Also caught on tape by KSTP? Two cars failed to make a complete stop at the same stop sign that KSTP filmed bikers ignoring. McNaney failed to acknowledge those violations. Follow this link to read the whole thing.

April '08 Search Strings

Thu, 01 May 2008 08:28:26 +0000

Once again here's what's bringing you guys to this site. 1 ken woods memorial road race 2 ww2.rochesterflyers.com 3 ken woods bike race 4 ken woods memorial 5 sporttracks review 6 awareness test bear 7 specialized 2d helmet 8 ken woods road race 9 sporttracks 10 mountain bike sweepstakes 11 profile track hubs 12 lemond badmouth lance 13 alley cat names bike 14 tour de pepin 15 track bike hubs 16 trek madone 5.2 17 2008 ken woods road race 18 mens health giant bike sweepstake 19 oxbow classic 20 profile hubs Once again, nothing strange and nothing too interesting.

Ken Woods Road Race whooped my ass!

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 22:03:15 +0000

Seriously. After the race I went home and took a serious nap. The race was epic. It's like what I imagine a europen spring classic would be. Let's see:Snow - check Wind - double check hills - sorta check (there was a couple small rollers, and then about a mile long climb near the finish cobbles - well, no check here. Though the roads are pretty bad in Minnesota. I don't know where I placed, I didn't stick around much afterwards. Maybe I can link to the results later. Here's how it all came down. I signed up for the 35+ race. It was a toss up between the 35+ or the senior cat4 race. Both were to be 2 laps. But I figured it'd be safer to ride with the more experienced riders, even if it is generally faster. It was about 30-35 degrees at the start, and the wind was blasting about 20 mph from the west. Snow and small ice pellets were falling from the sky off and on. They told all the 35+ riders to the line and the whistle blew. We rolled easily down the road with the wind at our back for the fist section. Then we turned south, and the hell of Cannon Falls began. Not only did we have an extreme cross wind, but the pack surged a bit, and I made the mistake of attempting to keep contact with them. I couldn't get a place in the pack where I was sheltered from the wind and was being dropped like a lead sack of potatoes by llama who is allergic to lead potatoes. I dropped back to the second group, where we ended up forming a decent paceline. We rounded the corner where we were now going head on, into the wind. We kept the paceline up but were only able to average 12.25 mph. Being in a paceline helped me recover somewhat and I hoped that we could keep the pack together and battle the wind together insted of battleing each other. We ended up catching up with the lead group. Or at least part of a group of other 35+ men that was ahead of us. Then we turned the corner heading north. Crosswind again, but there were sections of the course where it was a little at our backs. It didn't seem like the pack was working well together anymore, and some riders took the oppourtunity to surge away. I still hadn't recovered enough to be able to keep up so I ended up with a small group of 3 riders attempting to kinda work together and not loose too much ground. This didn't work to well, and the pack was getting further and further away. We approched the final hill of the first lap and I decided that if I wanted any chance to bridge back up, I better go now. So I spun up the hill, dropping the other riders. I used the tailwind to recover and make up ground. I ended up catching the pack just before we turned south to fight the crosswind again. This time though, the pack was willing to work well together, everyone taking quick turns and trying to keep a steady tempo. Once again we headed into the wind, where we were able to go a quarter mph faster than before. This time even when we made the turn north, we were still able to work together for a while. There were a couple surges. Then a rider from LSC attacks and gets a pretty good gap. The problem was that there were 3 (maybe 4) of his team mates in the mix. So they wern't gonna take any turns at the front to reel thier teammate in. We did end up getting pretty close to catching him, but then the hill before the last hill slowed us up a little, I think the group thought he was just far enough away that we could be cought, but I didn't really think so. But I wasn't gonna try to bridge up just yet. I wanted to try to use the same tactic as the first lap. We rounded the last corner and I surgedthe hill, then attacked. I felt like my lungs were gonna explode. (funny thing, my heart rate file doesn't reflect this) I got to the top and looked back and realized I took someone with me. I then ended up pulling too long to be able to recover when this other rider took a pull. I was pretty much blown now. I took maybe 2 more pulls, then the the guy goes "come on, let's go." To which I reply "I just pulled you up that freaking hill, and you expect me to still take pulls?" Well actually I just said "I think I'm done." At this point I was at least hoping that I wouldn't be cought by the pack. But another rider must have left the pack and was able to come around me, and I just couldn't even think of catching on, so I let him go. And then I rolled over the line. So it looks like 4th out of the group I was riding with, but I don't know yet how I placed in the race. It was, for sure, the hardest I've worked on a bike in a long time. Maybe next time I can be a little smarter and hide in the pack a bit more. Results and Photos MCF posted the results of Saturdays race here. Looking at them, I can see that I was in the chase group (though we didn't chase much, I think we were just attempting to finish), and finished 8th in my race. It wasn't bad ... but it wasn't really good either. Now I gotta see what my next race is gonna be. I know I'm skipping the road race next weekend. Maybe I'll do the Synergy Time Trial the following weekend. Not sure though. It is a ROY event, but it's kinda far drive. plus I don't have any aero equipment, except for a set of Syntace clip-on's. If I don't do Synergy, Almanzo will be the next one. I hope the weather finally warms up for that one. Dry conditions would be good too. Last Thoughts Congrats to other Rochester Racers who braved the elements. David Herbert - 1st place - 50+ Eric Applen - 10th place - Senior Men cat4 Peter Maves - 1st place - Senior Men cat5 I'm pretty sure I'll be back next year to race it again. As miserible as it was... it was fun. This post has been combined and updated to show results and final thoughts.

A quote for race day

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:01:00 +0000

Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them - a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill. -Muhammad Ali

Energy Gel (a home made recipe)

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:21:36 +0000

Ok. John gave me the link a couple months ago in comment on this post for oatmeal bars, about home made energy gels. Here's what the writer reccomends: ... I recommend using 75% brown rice syrup 25 % agave syrup (nector) or honey and 1 teaspoon of sea salt (or other natural, non refined salt or oral rehydration salts available from drug stores) per 300 grams. If you are using honey, I would recommend a ratio of 60% brown rice syrup and 40% honey due to the lower fructose conentration of honey (38% fructose)... Maltodextrin can also be used to replace brown rice syrup and is typically easier on the stomach and not as sweet. It is available only as a powder and needs to be mixed with water to form a thin paste that can replace brown rice syrup. ... This mixture of carbohydrates provides the glucose for immediate enegy, fructose for more gradually released energy and the complex carbohyrates for more sustained energy. ... SummitPost - Home Made Energy Gels Here's what I did: I had a gel flask already. I'm pretty sure it's this one. But there's no label on it. I dropped about 2 tsp of vanilla flavoring in it. Then I dumped brown rice syrup in it till it was a bit over 3/4 filled. Then I put less than 1/8 tsp of table salt and potassium salt in it. Then I topped it off with honey. I mixed it well by turning the tube over and over. It was like I was trippin, watching a lava lamp. When I came down, I put the cap on, and put it in the cabinet for my next ride. Well it turned out ok. I have yet to try buying maltodextrin to mix in. I'd really like to try that, as the brown rice syrup is pretty sweet. Sometimes is seems too sweet to be able to swallow correctly while riding. But it seems to work well as far as gel fuels for your body goes. I'm more a fan of actually eating things (dried fruit, bananas, pbj sammiches, etc.) on long rides, so I may end up packing lunches for Almanzo. But for shorter (ie-USCF) racing and for training rides under 2 hrs this brown rice syrup energy gel replacement will work well.

can't sleep, clown'll eat me...

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:21:25 +0000

And so another work week begins. Weekend go by to fast, and there's never enough time to do all I want. Today's post will be brief as I gotta get some work done, I have a meeting later and I don't really have a whole lot to say. Training for last week was just about spot-on. I met my TrImp goal, though I almost didn't get a ride in on Saturday. But it stoppd raining and I found some motivation in the afternoon to get in a little more than an hour. As I've mentioned before, I use TrImp scores to quantify my training. Below is a chart showing weekly TrImp goals (the bars) vs. the actual scores (the line).So I'm pretty much on track. This week is a sort of recovery week (#4 in yellow), then it's build, build and another recover. At that point, I'll be done with the 3rd, 7 week long period and I'll try to re-evaluate the workloads for the the next 7 week period. I'm hopeing to do more peak power and LTHR testing, though I only did one - about a month ago. My weight has gone down a little since I've been in the saddle more. This is sort of good (less weight per watts of power output = faster), but I want to be sure that the weight I'm loseing is fat and not muscle mass. Maybe I should make an appointment to sit in the bod-pod to figure out my body fat%. As I mentioned above, this week is a sort of revovery week. But that doesn't mean no riding. Especially since I'll be racing Ken Woods on Saturday. It means I'll be trying to get out and ride still, but at lower intensities. Like insted of going out tonight and hammering, doing intervals or hill repeats, I'll try to meet up with the RASC group for the short easy recreational ride. Riding with this group will be good as I can attempt to be social (I'm pretty anti-social by nature), and I won't have to (hopefully) focus on riding easy. One last thing... I totally have to re-do the Rochester Flyers race schedule. Looks like some of the races I have listed as ROY events are not, and others not listed are. Who even knows if I'll be competitive in the ROY series?

Racing (at least thinking about racing)

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:35:56 +0000

This weekend is the Durand Road Race over in Wisconsin. Late last year, when I was planning this year, I was hopeing this would be a race to do this year. Then it got dropped in favor of doing Oxbow and Ken Woods. Oxbow got cancelled, but I still didn't want to do Durand. I guess it's just a mental block or something. So my first race this season (marking my comeback to the any sort of peloton) is Ken Woods. I guess I'm ready. But like any normal bike racer, my mind is full of doubts and insecuritys. "I should be training harder." "I should have replaced my shift cables." "I should have more endurance." "Everyone else has really nice bikes and I have a pile of poo." "I was sick for 3 days a couple weeks ago, so my form is way off." "My bike is making funny sounds." These are some of the things that I have to block out. Or take care of. Hinault mentioned in his book that even he had insecure moments. But I think once you toe the line, you need to beleive you are going to win. And/or do your best performance possible. Anyway, this post if really about the possibility of backing out of a planned race. Now don't get me wrong, I want to race it. But like everything in life there are other considerations that are playing a factor here. The race I'm talking about is the Marty Road Race. I beleive it's also called the Gluek Road Race. Again it's not my fitness or that I don't want to race it. And it's not any sort of family obligations. It comes down to money. It looks like it's gonna cost $60 just for the gas to drive to this race. Since it's gonna be a 2-3 hour drive (or 4-6 round trip), I'm sure tha fam will want to come (and I'd really like them to come so I can at least spend some time with them that day.), so I can't really carpool with someone. Then there's the extras of a day long road trip. Stops for snacks and stuff. I just don't think it's gonna work out. I know, ... alot of people travel much further to race, every weekend. And your thinking my dedication is lacking. Well I guess so, huh? But here's the thing. I'm no pro. While I may have a sponsor or two, they do not write checks for me to race. Everything comes out of pocket. And while I'd love to get out there and race as much as possible, it is an expensive sport and my budget may not be able to handle all the races I want to do. So... what about you? How far do you travel to race? Has gas prices affected you decision to attend any races? Please comment your thoughts and ideas. Keep in mind, I havn't made up my mind yet. This is just my thoughts for now.

Best wife ever

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 09:39:56 +0000

I just have to say, I have got to have the best wife in the world. Seriously. My life partner is not a cyclist. She'll get on a bike. She likes family rides. We've entertained the thought of getting a tandem and doing some tandem rides and/or touring. She agrees that more people should be using bikes for transportation. But she doesn't have the same passion for rolling around on 2 wheels as I do. So ... for her to be so supportive of my thoughts of racing and understanding of the time and effort needed to train (even at the lower amature level) is amazing to me. I just got off the phone with her, discussing normal family and personal items. As we end our call she asks me when I plan on riding this week. Ok maybe this doesn't seem like a big deal to you. But what this shows me is that she is on board with my goals for the season and is planning the week (dinners and activities) with the possibilities that I may be training some evenings and wants to know when that may be. And because of that understanding and support that she shows me, because of that and so much more, I beleive. No, ... scratch that. I know that I have the best wife ever. She really whoops a llamas ass.

Using TrImp to calculate CTL, ATL and TSB

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 22:49:21 +0000

I read with interest this article on Training4Cyclists.com. In it Dirk Friel talks about how to take the data from a powermeter and analyze it for training. Dirk explains about CTL, ATL and TSB.Chronic Training Load (CTL) and Acute Training Load (ATL) are the technical terms for fitness and fatigue. The last remaining piece to track is form which is also known as Training Stress Balance (TSB). To calculate the three metrics (CTL, ATL, TSB) the rider needs to first track daily Training Stress Score values. We then take the 42-day rolling average of daily TSS to calculate CTL, 7-day rolling average of daily TSS for ATL and the difference between CTL and ATL is the Training Stress Balance. Training Stress Balance is what the athlete wants to see rise as their highest priority event approaches. Ideally CTL, or fitness, is near the highest of the season and ATL, fatigue, is low in order to have the form rise. So my thought is that, even though I don't have a powermeter, maybe I can use TrImp scores to calculate the training loads and balance. I'm sure they won't give the same values, but maybe they correspond similarly to give the same type of feedback. But being that I don't use a powermeter or the Training Peaks WKO+ software to figure all the numbers for me, so I have to figure the formulas out, and attempt to plop them into a spreadsheet to be able to try to graph it out. If anyone knows the formulas and can explain to me what they are and how I can apply them to use TrImp values insted of power, I would really appreciate it. I guess I could use the powerscore from the GPS2Powertrack plugin in SportTracks and plop it into the formula. Again I have to stress that I don't know how accurate the powerscore is compared to an actual powermeter, so if I average a 220 for 2 hr powerscore ... I really don't know where it compares with those who really use an SRM or PowerTap to get data. But at least I would have a baseline for myself to guage progress through the season. Another article I read was the VeloNews article titled 'Power at lactate threshold wins races'. This article explains that about producing more power at LT. You can find out your LT through testing, or you can guess. If you want to test it, do a 30 minute timetrial and find your average heart rate for the final 20 minutes. That's a good measure of LT heart rate. If you just want to guess, just use 85% of your max heart rate reserve. The trick is to train your body to produce more power at LT without going above and taxing your system. I guess I can't explain it as well as Rick does in the article.Think of it this way. In an event an hour or more long, how long can an athlete accumulate lactate before he/she blows? In the aerobic state, an athlete can pretty much go until the fuel is gone. Doesn’t it make sense to develop power in the aerobic zone where the majority of the race will be spent? Think of making the opposition go into a state of excruciating lactate induced burn while you cruise along semi-comfortably at threshold. That is the essential element of training the physiology of an endurance athlete.Really this keeps with my thought of training either at high intensity or at recovery. I use heart rate zones to guage intensity. Zone 1 (90%) is anaerobic threshold. So in trainingyou are either training at zone 4 or higher, or you are recovering at zone 2 or less. Baisicly skip zone 3 for training. This isn't to say you will not go into zone 3. You pass zone 3 going from 2 to 4. And there will be times where you will dip into zone 3 while attempting to stay in zone 4. You will inadverntly get enough zone 3 training, without trying. So read the articles. I think I've made this post much longer that I wanted. Blah-blah-blah. It's late. It's flippin snowing outside. I don't think I'll make my week goal again this week. And I don't think I'll be able to ride much tomorrow. Click here for Part 2. Click here for Part 3.

A note from Cole (One Less Car)

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 09:21:51 +0000

Cole is stoked to have gotten support from everyone. Here's an email I got from him:i just wanted to send out a thank you email to everyone who ordered during the sale. it was really amazing, i got orders from friends all over, people were posting it on there blogs and emailing friends. i don't really know what else to say but thank you, i really really appreciate every order that came in. ok now i need to get back to work because its going to take days to print all these orders...but i will be doing with smile on my face. thank you all cole I hope he made enough to get what he needs. That guy is always one of the ones to count on to get a couple prizes for a race.

Training Update - 4.10.2008

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:58:58 +0000

Looks like my training is on track. Just to see what is what I went on a group ride last night and am pleased with the result. Let me start by saying that my past group ride experiences in Rochester were pretty sucky. I'll take a majority of the blame for this. I'd wait till partway through the season and show up for a group ride with no miles in the legs. I'd then get shelled and blown off the back. That would discourage me from riding with a group for about a year, where I'd repeat the pattern. My approach has changed, it takes me a while to learn some things, and I finally got it. Maintain some fitness through winter, then you stand a chance of hanging on the group rides. That, and don't do the practice-race group ride. ... Unless you're prepared to race. So the Wednesday night, shop group ride is a medium/high intensity ride. The Tuesday rides are the practice-race rides. So last night 5 of us left the shop for a 35 mile ride. Overall it was a nice ride. I didn't get dropped, took good pulls. We even got a nice paceline going for a while. One thing I can tell, is I'll need to get some more climbing in. But I have to keep doing endurance stuff too.

Almanzo 100 Registration closed

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:23:28 +0000

Looks like the final count for riders registered in the Almanzo 100 gravel road race is 69. If you're not in, you're not in. Breakdown is 13 singlespeed, 14 fixed, 3 open women and 39 open men. Wow! I'm really hoping that the weather is really nice, so I can ride the orange fixed. Update: Race finished.

LeMond getting the axe from Trek

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:19:57 +0000

Wow! Hold on a sec... I'm kinda at a loss for words here. VeloNews article. Holy cow! Ok, I always thought the Trek purchase of LeMond bikes wasn't very good for Greg. The bikes were never really designed as well as Treks (for a while the OCLV LeMonds were the same bike as OCLV Treks, just like the OCLV Fishers were). Yeah, there were some standouts. The 853 frames were nice. The best bikes to bear the LeMond name are the latest carbon bikes. Defenetly not Treks. But anyway, even with a second tier status, I never thought Trek would give up the LeMond name & brand. But looks like I was (once again) wrong. I guess if you bad mouth golden boy fancy pants Lance enough, your family ties get cut. Burke said Trek dealers had complained about LeMond's comments regarding Armstrong and said they were hurting sales of both brands.-VeloNews I never agreed with the way Greg aired his opinion about Americas sweetheart (not that I think his views are all false either), he just came accross as bitter that someone had dethroned him as the top representation of the best cyclist america could throw at Europe. Now what? I know Greg doesn't need the money. But I think his brand deserve to live on. I really hope that a good American company picks it up. Even more so, I hope it becomes great. Not great like the all around great bike companys that sell every style of bike there is. But pure racing machines hitting everystyle of racing bikes. Multiple road bikes (carbon & Ti), a couple of timetrial machines, cyclocross and maybe a high end XC mountain bike (he's won Chequamegon 2x). Here's the text of the article in case it goes down later.Trek announces an end to deal with Greg LeMond By Steve Frothingham Posted Apr. 8, 2008 Trek Bicycle president John Burke told employees this morning that the company was ending its business relationship with Tour de France champion Greg LeMond. Burke cited LeMond's public comments regarding doping allegations against Lance Armstrong, LeMond's decision to offer a mass merchant accessory line in 2000, and his "inconsistent" commitment to the brand. "Greg's public comments hurt the LeMond brand and the Trek brand," Burke said. "Despite our repeated efforts to persuade Greg to focus on selling his bikes, he continued his personal attacks," he said. Burke said he had encouraged LeMond to seek a new partner. He said LeMond had failed to find one. Burke said Trek dealers had complained about LeMond's comments regarding Armstrong and said they were hurting sales of both brands. Burke said Trek had rescued LeMond's company from failure in the mid-1990s and had taken "extraordinary steps" to support the brand. He said the contract with LeMond was scheduled to end in 2010 but that he told LeMond last fall that the contract would not be extended beyond that time. He said LeMond filed a suit against Trek on March 20 and that suit precipitated the decision to ask a federal court to end the relationship immediately. "Greg was like a member of the family," Burke said. VeloNews

Blood Pressure (update #2)

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:40:47 +0000

Hi. It's been a while. Alot has gone down since I last reported on my blood pressure situation. First, I bought a home blood pressure monitor. It's pretty cool. You just lift up your shirt (if you have long sleeves), wrap the cuff around your arm, press the button, and it does it's thing. About 15 seconds later you have a reading. If you press another button, it calculates the average of the last three readings. Keep pressing the botton and you can view each of the last 60 individual readings. Here's how I use it. Usually the first reading is pretty high. I think it's because I usually just plop down and do it. You should really be at rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Then I'll try to not move or be distracted for about 5 minutes. This is a little harder to do when you have kids that seem to like to interact with you and stuff. This is when I scream at them and throw pillows at them till they go away (usually in tears). Actually this isn't true. They get the old "Daddy's trying to relax for a couple of minutes so he can get a blood pressure reading, can you sit quietly till he's done?" Then I take another reading. If it's lower, I'll take 3 more readings in a row. Then I get the average of those three and record them in my log. In fact, SportTracks allows you to record the information under the athlete view. Then you can chart it out like this: you can see that it is on a downward trend. The Doc (as well as the fam and meself) is happy about that. Next thing is medication. I was first prescribed Hydrochlorothiazide. I didn't like the idea of taking it at first because it's a duritic and could lower the level of potassium in my system. Not really the best things for an endurance athlete. Then I found out it's on the list of banned items by USADA. I finally found out that the reason is that it is considered a masking agent. I could get a use waiver so i could take it. But it's easier to talk to the doc about it and get on something else. We decided together to try Doxazosin. It's an Alpha Blocker that has virtually no effect on heart function. The doc was concerned the med wouldn't do anything to help, but was willing to try a low dose to see. Well that was at the end of February. If you look at the cart again, you'll see that when I started taking the med, my blood pressure has been more consistant and under (or at) 130/80. It'd be cool if it could get a little lower, but I have a feeling that as we get into warmer weather (and I keep from getting more colds) we'll see it go down. Info to discuss with your doc: Managing Hypertension in Athletes and Physically Active Patients. Related posts: Monday 01/28/2008, Wednesday 02/20/2008

Another Cycling Mapping Site - CyclistNexus.com

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:37:44 +0000

Well another site has popped up to compete in the competitive route mapping site war. CyclistNexus.com has opened up. You MUST join and login to use the site, but it is free to join. To be honest I haven't joined yet, so this preview is based only on the information given on the site without joining. It's another system that uses Google maps at its core. This is good because Google maps work. My only complaint is that I wish Google would update it's maps more often. If you live in an area that is experienceing growth, there seems to be new roads added monthly. Some that have been in use for a couple of years don't show up on Google's map or satellite views. CyclistNexus imports and export gpx files so is compatible (or at least should be) with gps devices. It even includes waypoints and cuesheets into it's routes. (I need to play with the routes function on my Edge more.) Like MapMyRide, CyclistNexus is including some sort of riding log to track performance. How detailed it is, is yet to be seen. If it's like MapMyRide, it will be a simple tool aimed at beginners. The thing I couldn't find out was if CyclistNexus will allow posting of maps to other sites. This feature on MapMyRide is great for bloggers and club sites that wish to share an overview of a route without having users leave the site. It's extreemly usefull. The other thing I can't tell is how big the library of maps is. The true test of a site such as this is attracting enough users that you build a large library of routes. This then will attract more users as they search for routes they don't know of. It's also usefull for those who travel or wish to travel and don't know routes in the area they are visiting. Say I wanted to visit a friend in Montana. If I go to look up routes in Billings and don't find any, I'll go to another site to use it's services if it has routes available. Anyway, I think the route mapping concept is getting too big for itself again, expect some sites to fail, and some other buyouts.

Training with Watts - (Writhing twit Satan.)

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:24:37 +0000

A question and answer with Sternest Meanings. Wholesome, streak-like, tasty able. Thumpingly concoctive expertise. Am the trek? Looks like there may be a less expensive watt cyclocomputer hitting the market. Win adiabatic chastens weightily. Motherly penitent defecates now. Amateur's worm-eaten felt? Watt Cycling, based in Hawaii is the newest company to enter the field of real watt measurement. Witty, choicest, gentlest downbeat. Anyway vanquishes worn-out heroes. Smooth but caustic? The Watt Cycling website doesn't have any answers to your question about how much it costs. Disbowel wealthy intentions. Air hateable evil? No it doesn't say when it will be available, either. Hot jerk weak-kneed, bumpiest boast. Irefully snootier thuggery? Rawness? Just bookmark the website and keep refreshing till you get your answers.

This week...

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:43:23 +0000

Just a heads up. Registration closed yesterday for the big Almanzo. I'm in, are you? One Less Car's big sale is this week. Shirts are $15. Money goes to the purchase of some much needed equipment. It'd be really cool if you bought the one designed by yours truely.

Life and Debt

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:24:11 +0000

While I was sick, my wife and I watched a DVD we borrowed from the library. The library is a great source of finding interesting movies that you may not find at the video store. And it's free to borrow. And you can usually keep them for at least a week. Anyway we borrowed the movie Life and Debt. It's more of a documentry about the contrast of what you see when you visit Jamaica as a tourist at the "mega-resorts" vs. the reality of life in a developing nation and how our globalization policies threaten the ability for them to even provide for themselves. This movie shows you the unfair impact that the IMF, World Bank and huge U.S. corperations have in taking advantage of a struggling county. The thing that troubles me most is that I don't know what actions can be taken to help. I know that if I buy fair trade Ethiopian coffee, that the farmers are being paid a fair wage for thier efforts. That is something that is direct and pretty easy to do. Jamaica (and other countries like them) doesn't even get a chance to develop a sustainable industry for itself. Because of the way that global policies are made, local farmers can't compete with imported foods. Corperations set up manufacturing factories where it is the least expensive for them, and that usually means Asia. Other than tourisim, there is nothing that I can do as a consumer (in our consumer driven society) that will support Jamaica. And that leaves me feeling bad. So I don't know. Maybe the first step is knowledge. Check out this movie at the library, or buy it off the Life and Debt website, and see it for yourself. Maybe if enough people watch it, a solution can be found.

How to handle missed training days

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 10:40:58 +0000

So I was sick all flippin' weekend. Other than going to work and then home (early) on Friday, I didn't even think of riding a bike since last week. Well... ok, I thought about it. But not seriously enough to pull any down off the hooks. What this means is that I missed 3 "big" training days. The initial plan was to finish last week with a TrImp score of at least 425. It was gonna be accomplished by doing a workout both at lunch and after work on Friday, then a longer ride on Saturday. Then I was going to start this week off with a nice steady, longer ride on Sunday, to insure that I hit at least 500 for a TrImp score this week. So I mised about 3 days of training. What should I do? There's a couple of ways I can handle this. One way is to put in extra time and/or effort to make up the TrImp scores lost, to be back on track. I figure I lost about 400-500 points, and it's still early in the season, so I could easily make it up. In fact if it was just a single day that I missed, this would be the route I would take, and just adjust the weeks schedule so that I wouldn't lose any recovery time. Another way I could handle this is to just re-do last week during this week and extend my training schedule out by one week. The problem with that solution is that if I planned so that I "peak" for a specific race (like le' Tour de France or the Giro), it places my peak out one week later than initially planned. Maybe for a grand tour that would be ok as you only really have to survive the first week. But imagine you scheduled to peak for the World Championship. Or Nationals, or States. I doubt whatever event the peak is planned around, they're not gonna change the date so that you can be on form for it. I think the way that most coaches will say to solve the missed workout problem, is to just count them as lost, and go into the next day or week as scheduled. So for me, I was hoping to continue my noon indoor workouts, try to get a couple of evening solo and maybe an easy group ride in before the weekend and do another weekend of longer rides. Coming out of a cold, I need to take it a little easier, and expect that when I increase the work load it will feel worse that if I had done those days of training. I also have to remember that 3 days is only 1-5% of my planned training schedule (depends if you consider transition or preperation phases as part of the plan or not). So what should you do? I guess that depends on your plan and goals. Are you planning to peak on or near a specific date? How flexable or inflexable are you with your schedule and workout time? I think most of the time it's best to follow what most coaches say, and that's to just carry on with the plan. It's not that they just don't want to have to re-shuffle you plan around. It just makes the most sense. Now get out and ride.

Training while sick

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 08:17:35 +0000

I've been trying to not admit that I have a cold for a couple of days now. It started with a sore throat. Yesterday it progressed to starting a runny/stuffed up nose. This morning I'm feeling a little achey. I've been pretty much continuing to train. Well ok. Maybe not really. Wednesday I took as a rest day, because I had a doctors appt anyway, and yesterday was a 1/2 hr moderate/hard effort on the indoor bike thingy. Today I was sort of planning to do a 1/2 hr hard effort on the gym bike, then do a quick 1 hr moderate spin on the fixedwheel after work. Then I was going to finish the week with a 50 or so dawn patrol ride at moderate intensity. As of now I'm thinking that besides my ride to and from work (toodling speed), today will be a rest day. And depending how I feel at bedtime tonite, I may turn tomorrow into a 1 - 1 1/2 hr easy moderate spin. I used to beleive that training through a cold was better, as the thought was the increased blood flow from riding would help your immune system get rid of whatever you have. Plus you usually feel a little better, at least for a bit after a ride. Now, I'm not so sure this is the case anymore. I'm no doctor, so take all of this with a grain of salt, but I think training while sick will actually keep you sick longer. See, your body is trying to fight the sickness, so is already a little weaker, and then training makes it weaker still. Your body needs to recover from training and fight off the sickness, effectivily lengthining the time for both. There's no sense in attempting to train, only to prolong being sick and not being able to put out the effort needed, and extend the time needed for recovery from each training session. So how do you know if you're really sick enough to stop training. I'm sure we've all had very minor colds where it doesn't stop us from doing anything and is little more than a nusence. I think those are fine to train through. But I think the second you start to feel achey and/or develop a fever, you should take the day off. Again, this only my opinion. Anyway, I better get to work and finish my tasks, so that maybe I can take off early and rest at home.

Hill Repeats

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:07:49 +0000

I used to like to climb. And of course I thought I was ok at it. Not great, but better than some others. That was a long time ago. It was back when there was a 1500' over 3.5 mile climb was in pretty much out my front door step. I used to do that hill at least once a week if not more. But then I moved to Minnesota. Where it's cold in the winter. And it's pretty flat. Well not totally. There are hills. Just different types of hills than what I like. The hills here are mainly ones you want to power over. In a race or group ride, if you can't keep the momentum going over, you're toast. And I have been toast a huge amount of time. See I was climbing where, you get into your own rythem and see others blow-up cause they went to hard. Here, you have to go hard cause there's no way they are boing to blow-up on such a short climb. You have to be able to power up a climb here and recover at speed in time to prepare for the next one. So ... while I still would like to work on (relativly) slow steady climbs (I'll cover how to do this when there's no real long climbs to climb.), I'll be working on short power climbs by doing hill repeats. To do hill repeats (at least one of the ways I do them, I'm sure there are others), find a route with a hill that you can climb in less than 5 minutes, and allows you to turnaround or loop around to do it again. Get a decent warm up in and then attack the hill. Try not to stop at the top, but continue to go hard over the crest. Then recover going back down. Try to repeat this a couple times. Maybe start with 3, then 4, then 5. But make sure you attack the climb. Keep your cadence up, but don't get in too easy of a gear that you lose momentum. What you see above is my heart rate and elevation over 4 repeats. Each time my heart rate went into the 90% range, though I should have tried to go a little harder to get into 95%. What you will also see is 3x rolling sprints near the end of my ride, where I got into about or over 85%. What you don't see on the sprints is that I was riding the orange fixedwheel and was hitting over 140 rpm cadence, topping out at 161 on the first one.

One Less Car - we need new equipment sale

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 09:30:57 +0000

Starting Monday of next week, One Less Car will sell all thier shirts (including Crankarm designed by me) for $15. All orders will also get a bunch of stickers thrown in for free. What a deal. link. Funds from this sale will (hopefully) allow the purchase of some equipment that will help Cole and co. make more shirts in less time. Freeing them up to do what we all want more of ... saddle time. Stop by and pick up a shirt or five.

March '08 Search Strings

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:38:48 +0000

Once again nothing too wierd, but a little interesting. 1) yehuda moon 2) oxbow classic 3) oxbow bike race 4) profile track hubs 5) cycling awareness test 6) cycling races- rochester mn 7) bicycle awareness test 8) cyclistats reviews 9) gps2powertrack 10) rochester flyers 11) rochester minnesota cycling race 12) rochestermn bike to mankatomn 13) rock racing 14) sport tracks reviews 15) sporttracks review 16) training impulses cycling 17) ww2.rochesterflyers.com 18) 12 week training plans cycling racing 19) 2008 mn bicycle race schedule 20) almanzo 100 So this post ends with a couple of things: Here's the link to Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery.The Oxbow Spring dirt road Classic has been cancelled for 2008.Profile has not sent me thier track hubs to officially review yet. You can click here to see the awareness test. Cyclistats first impression is here. Sporttracks review (and some info on GPS2Powertrack) can be read here. I did write a little about training impulses (or TrImp) and how i use it as a cyclist. Yes I'm registered for Almanzo 100. Are you? And finally... If you know the url for the site, (especially the ww2), why search for it? Aww, nevermind... it was probabbly me searching for my own darn site. Did ya know they have the interwebs on computers now?

Cycling related sweepstakes

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:49:15 +0000

So by now you may have guessed that I like attempting to get things for free. The reason is because I figure that it doesn't cost me much to try and they have to give the stuff away to someone, might as well be me. To be honest, I've gotten a number of things doing this. In the 90's I got a high end Kona mountain bike from VeloNews. Dirt Rag gave me a Carver 96'er a couple years ago. There's other stuff too, but the point is, you can't get it if you don't try. So to help you get stuff for free, I'm gonna post some contests and sweepstakes that I know about. (If you know of others, feel free to leave it in a comment.) Bicycling Magazine Bicycling Magazine has two things going on right now to try to enter. 1) Win any bike caption contest. Make a caption for the photo and you could win any bike reviewed in thier '08 Buyer's Guide issue that is under $4999. I think that could get you a pretty nice bike. 2) Texas adventure contest. In this contest you describe what your dream Texas adventure is, in under 50 words, and you could win it. Pearl Izumi - get a happy ass Turn down the volume on you computer, unless you want to hear what a happy ass sounds like. Enter here once for a chance at a life time of free Pearl Izumi shorts or bibs. One entry per person on this one. Men's Health - Crank up your cardio Mens health is giving away a Giant Trance2 (mid level dual suspension mountain bike). Enter here. One entry per person per day, so go back every day till April 15 and fill out the form. Ride-Strong.com - Colnago CLX giveaway Go here for a chance at the Colnago CLX. The raffle closes at 1000 entrys so act quick. Accel Sport - Trek Madone 5.2 Enter here for your chance at the Ultegra equiped Madone 5.2. Only enter once (one entry per person). Rock Racing Sweepstakes So Mr. Ball couldn't keep Cipo. So his team has a bunch of dopers. So what? At least you can get a nice DeRosa out of it. Plus a bunch of other cool things to boot. Enter here only once per household. RoadBikeRides.com A cool mapping site giving away $10-grand and more for using thier site. See here for details. So I know there's gotta be more out there. let us know when you hear about them. And let us know about what you've won in the past.

Let me tell you

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:50:53 +0000

It's kinda hard to do graphics work (or even read the interwebs on computers) when your eyes are dialated (from an eye exam). Holy cow. It's wearing off, but man, now I got a splitting headache.

You think Contador is angry?

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:12:24 +0000

He won todays stage in some unheard of stage race, beating the Colobian climber, Mauricio Soler of the Barloworld team, by 11 seconds. The defending Tour de France champion pointed to his Astana jersey and fired an imaginary pistol as he crossed the line 11 seconds ahead of Soler in the 160.8km stage from Carrión de los Condes to Collado de Salcedillo.-VeloNewsSee! ... Bike racing can be exiciting. I always like the various antics of some of the pros as they cross the line. It's kind of like the endzone dance in american football. Or the running - screaming - group hug thing real football (aka: soccer) has going on.

I have a feeling that it's Monday all week this week

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 09:38:21 +0000

I swear I'm trying to get work done, but it doesn't seem to happen. And I've had this nagging blue feeling hanging over my head all week. Quick expresso workouts at the gym seem to help for a bit, but then the grouchy donkey returns. Hmm. It's supposed to snow today, I don't think that helps. My office is moving next month, I don't think that helps either. This week is supposed to be an active recovery week, as far as training goes, so I'm not too stressed out when I miss riding time. I'll try to get in a longer ride on Saturday morning. I think I'll go solo. Not cuz I don't like you, but just so I can do my own thing without worry about making the pace too slow (or high).

Portable Apps?

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:28:18 +0000

This may seem out in left field, but does anyone out there know how to make an application into a PortableApp compatible application. I'm not interested in distribution or anything. I just want to be able to take a certain application on a usb flash drive and be able to plug it into my laptop, my desktop or my work computer and be able to use it. If you know how to do this and are willing to either help me out, or do it for me (I may even send you something I have for your troubles), comment or use the contact form to get ahold of me.

New mapping site (RoadBikeRides.com)

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 20:06:22 +0000

First there was Google maps. Then gmapspedometer. Both could be used to view and create maps that can be used for cycling. But neither was really good or made for it. Routeslip came along and changed that. A mapping mashup by a cyclist for cyclists. It was great. MapMyride then came about and trumped Routeslip in speed and the ability to follow roads. It then added the functionalitly of being able to up and download to Garmins gps cyclocomputers. Now there's a new player and I think he's serious about kicking mapmyride in the ... well they want to really take a chunk out of mapmyride. This new site/service is RoadBikeRides.com. It's by the guy who started Ride-Strong.com (a bike and cycling blog). Using Road Bike Rides is simple enough. You can search for rides without having to create an account or log-in. But the database of rides can only grow if others join and submit routes they ride to share with others. Creating routes can be done manually, or by exporting and saving the Garmin gps file. Both methods are easy to do and straightforward. The only thing missing that would keep me from using it more, is the ability to embed routes here on my site. To be fair, they are working on implimenting this feature soon. Just to make it a little better, using Road Bike Rides can win you some free stuff. (And you know how much I like to try to - and sometimes succeed at - getting free stuff). They are giving out points for submitting rides and doing other things through and for thier site. The grand prize? 10g's! That's right $10,000. Good thing they have other prizes, like a new Obrea or Zipp 404's, cuz I'm taking the 10g's for myself- Dog. Check out the site, you could win something. Or you may find it pretty usefull.

How to get a free Trek Madone 5.2

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 07:55:17 +0000

Pez Cycling News and Pacific Health Labs (the company that makes Accelerade and Endurox) are giving you a chance to win a fancy-dancy Trek Madone 5.2. Just click the image or this link_

Almanzo 100 update

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 08:42:48 +0000

Looks like the course for this years Almanzo is going to be a loop begining and ending in Rochester. Start/Finish line is Bicycle Sports bike shop. There is also a registration deadline. It's coming up quick on April 6th. Make sure if you want to ride, you get your postcard in before then. I still havn't chosen a steed for this. I really guess it'll come down to the week or so before, and how the roads look then. I've ridden many of the gravel roads around here on my orange fixed, and it's been fine. But ... if the gravel is loose, or it's rained and the ground is soft, it may not work. Then I'll have to use the commuter. But I worry about it's strength. The frame material is one step above pig iron, so it's no lightweight. Maybe I can get Gunnar Bikes to send me a Cross Hairs with Paragon slider dropout's spaced at 126mm. That would be the ticket. Clearance for cross tires. Similar positioning as my road bike. It would rock. Update: Race finished.

So there's still a chance ...

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 07:57:43 +0000

to get Cipo on board with Rochester Flyers. I guess Rock Racing isn't as cool as it thinks it is.

Oxbow Spring Classic 2008 Cancelled

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:44:18 +0000

Yup. I called it. I knew that this would happen. Officially, on the MCF's calender, the Oxbow spring classic road race is cancelled. I'll follow-up if I find out more. UPDATE (03/20/2008 8:15pm): It's been confirmed from my inside source that it's official. No Oxbow Classic gravel road race this year. Hopefully someone will take over and put it on next year. It was/is a really good race. Fun to do, and a good challenge. Related: '06 Oxbow Spring Classic C-race report

Awesome weekend! Finally.

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 09:16:24 +0000

Man ... Spring is almost here. Saturdays ride was most excellent. Stayed pretty close to the planned route. I'd never ridden out there before, and man it was nice. I'm gonna have to ride out there more often. Started out on the normal country roads in Olmsted county.There's still snow in the fields, and no corn planted yet.I couldn't shake this guy no matter what I tried to do. We hit the gravel road that then descends into Hammond. It was beautiful. But no pics, I was busy descending gravel on a fixedgear. Then we hit the road from Hammond to Milleville. Man, it was so pretty. It snakes along the river and make for such an interesting ride. Especially compared to the grid like farm country roads I'm used to riding on. Out of Milleville we headed back south to Elgin and into Rochester. At this point we had a tailwind, so it was just about perfect. The pace was nice, I clocked about 3 hours or so. Kept in about my target heartrate. Just about a perfect early base endurance ride. Good company, nice weather. Had another two rides on Sunday. A sort-of impromptu hill workout. Went up Viola, and Northern Heights Drive a couple times. About an hours worth. Not really as intense as I wanted, but it was really all I could muster this early in real training. Second ride was awesome though. After dinner (which was super awesome homemade zuchinni pizza), I went out with the littlest daughter for a stomp through the neighborhood. Her riding skills have improved so much since last fall. Now she wants to do it every weekend. I just hope I can keep up with her. Somehow, this week is going to need some more duration and/or intensity as it's another build week. I gotta see what the work/home/life schedule will allow. Probabbly gonna hit the gym for a workout today, as it's snowing again this morning.

Changes to the Almanzo

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 08:04:55 +0000

Looks like due to some logistical concerns, the Almanzo 100 is going to be a looped course. So Rochester to Rochester. Still 100 miles, still gravel, and still some hills to deal with. Pending a consensus and some logistical decisions, the route for this years Almanzo may change significantly. Having lost last years finish line to some unexpected happenings, I am considering changing the race course to a 100 mile loop starting and ending in Rochester. I realize suggesting a change like this may affect some of the riders, but for the most part I believe it should make the riders to-and-from planning for this event a bit easier. I know last year there was a lot of carpool arrangements that had to made so people could get to Rochester and then to Mankato and then back to Rochester and finally home. Changing this course to a loop would eliminate a giant portion of last years logistical headaches. By eliminating the different finish line, each rider has only to be responsible for getting to and from one location, the start/finish line. If there is a change to a looped course some things will stay the same, but there will be some new challenges. There will still be 100 miles to ride with the same significant potential for a fresh covering of crushed rock. There will still be only one point where riders can meet their support crew. On this proposed course there would be towns with conveniences at 25, 40, and 70 mile marks. There would be a significant reduction in the potential for headwinds as the course would change directions a bit more frequently. There will be a increase in the number of hills one has to climb and while these hills may not be mountains, there will be more of them. - From both an email I received and the official Almanzo 100 site. Personally this is better for me, as I live in this town, and I can just ride home if I drop out like a wuss. Update: Race finished.

Buy this wool jersey, it's cheap

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 10:50:23 +0000

ProBikeKit.com has got a pretty good deal on Descente "retro" styled wool jerseys. It's currently the product of the day for $51.26 $48.41. And there's no shipping charge to the US. Not a bad deal I think. But remember, it's the product of the day today, not tomorrow or the weekend. And just for comparison, you can get a Swobo direct online for $105 plus shipping (at least a fiver). Now I love Swobo and the boys from the bay, but when you can get stuff for cheap, well... I think you get the idea.

LTHR Test

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 09:13:58 +0000

I tried to do a lactate threshold heartrate(LTHR) test yesterday. There's a couple of ways to do this. Chris Carmichael suggests a pair of 3 mile time trials, with a ten minute easy spinning recovery between each. You then take the higher of the average heartrates and use that to base your training percentages while training. Actually I don't think he even calls them LT tests. He uses the term field test. That's not what I did. I used the Joe Friel 30 minute test. According to this, you do a 30 minute time trial. Your average heart rate over the last 20 minutes is an approximation of your LTHR. From there you set up training zones. The nice thing about the Joe Friel 30 minute test is that you can then use the power score to add into your critical power score. I didn't do as well as I wanted. I chose Collegeview rd. to do the test. I figured it's a simple out and back road that, once you get a couple miles out, is pretty flat. A couple of things went wrong. I must have missed the start-stop button on the cyclocomputer and didn't realize it for about 5 minutes. So my 30 minute time trial was actuallt more like 35 minutes. There was also the wind. Awesome tailwind going out. Terrible headwind coming back. Going out my average speed was almost 25, hitting 33 at one point. That dropped to 19 after I turned around at hwy 42. Which just happened to be the 10 minute mark (from when I started the timer). My heartrate for the final 20 minutes averaged 162. I really felt I could've pushed a little harder, but was thrown off by my not starting the time and the wind. My powerscore was 361 for the entire 30 minutes. I call it a powerscore because I'm taking the calculations from SportTracks GPS2PowerTrack plugin and not an actual powermeter like an SRM, ErGoMo or PowerTap. (Maybe I'll borrow one someday) I have no idea how accurate this is, but it at least gives me a decent estimate and baseline. I doubt it corrasponds with the scores given by the Expresso machines at the gym too, so I'm not even gonna compare the two. To complete a critical power graph I take readings from max efforts at 12 seconds, 1 minute, 6 minutes, 12 minutes and the 30 minute tt I just did. Then I just estimate from the curve what the critical power score would be at 60, 90 and 120 minutes will be by extending the graph out. Some of the tests, like the shorter duration tests, I can do on the same day, and even do multiples and figure an average for each time frame. Both Joe Friel and Chris Charmichael reccommend repeating the tests throughout the season to see if you are improving and to standardise the scores. So I think I repeat this test in a couple of weeks. Maybe I'll hit the button at the right time then. Right now my TrImp score for the week is at 258. I'm thinking that with a long ride on Saturday and maybe a spin at the gym I'll be at about (or over) 450, mabe even 500. I think i gotta re-adjust my Trimp goals. Related: Sporttracks Review Basic Heartrate Zone Worksheet Some TrImp info Other Boring Training Trimp Stuff

So they just take the whole bike rack ...

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:02:13 +0000

along with the bikes attached. And why not? The racks (like many here in our town) are not imbedded in the concrete or even bolted down. I've often thought that that would be an easy way to get a truck full of bikes, and take your time working on the locks. In fact this is a reason that I have a specific commuter bike. If it get's stolen, it's not a big monatary loss. Read the news article: Bikes vanish when entire bike rack is snatched

New Local Fun Ride / Tour de Pepin

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:03:11 +0000

This looks like fun. A non-competitive ride from Lake City around lake Pepin. You get to choose 15, 32 or 72 mile routes. Registration begins April 1st for the June 7th, 2008 event. They are limiting the number of riders, so you may want to register early. Links: Tour de Pepin event webpage

Take this awareness test

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:56:09 +0000

First, play the video below to take the test. Then, comment below and tell me how you did and what you think. (Spoiler after clicking continue reading). Did you see the bear? I sure as heck didn't. Pretty scary. But then I didn't count the passes correctly either. My wife on the otherhand noticed (pretty quickly) that there was more going on. Links: Do the test doc co dot uk The ad is a rip-off.

Rudy Project

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 12:08:05 +0000

Just wanted to welcome Rudy Project as a sponsor to Rochester Flyers. Rudy Project makes some pretty nice sunglasses and cycling helmets. The Great thing is that if you wear prescription lenses, they offer a bunch of options for you. Many of the glasses allow you to swap out the lenses depending on the conditions. I can't wait till I get mine. Rochester Cycling & Fitness is the local authorized dealer. If you're looking for riding glasses, check 'em out.

Saturday Ride 3/15/2008

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 11:11:53 +0000

Open call for a steady 50 mile ride on Saturday morning. I'm planning to leave my house at 7 and passing by the RCTC Heintz Center a couple minutes later. I'll stick around for about 10 minutes or so and then head out. Weather Underground told me it'll be a little chilly to start at about 17 degrees. Wind will be light, but coming from the north so maybe a ride out to Milleville would be good with a very brief gravel road portion to start. 50 Mile Heinz Center to MillvilleFind more Bike Rides in Rochester, Minnesota I'm pretty sure I'll be taking the orange fixedgear, but reserve the right to bring the yellow Gunnar.

Oxbow Classic 2008

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:43:47 +0000

I just got word that the person who may have attempted to organize the Oxbow Classic road race, just doesn't have the time to devote to it and is attempting to find someone able to take over. But until that time it's in limbo. I wouldn't be suprised if it doesn't happen this year, though I hope it does. UPDATE: It has been cancelled. Related: Fixedgear and/or singlespeed division at the Oxbow Spring Classic Oxbow Course Preview '08 Oxbow Spring Classic Road Race 2006 Race Report

Errrr ...

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 12:01:27 +0000

So I went to grab my stuff for a noon indoor workout, as there are some things going on this evening that will prevent me from getting out on the bike before sunset. I put my HR monitor in my bag, open the drawer to get the workout clothes and ... ... Nothing there ... I flipping forgot to bring them to work this week. Errrr! How stupid can I be. That means if I'm not able to get out tonite, even for a short indoor ride, that the week has started with 2 days off in a row, on a week that I was supposed to build some more duration in. Oh well. Gotta be flexible with the training plan, right?

Bicycle Race Tactics

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 10:26:04 +0000

There's alot that goes into doing well in a bicycle race. Fitness, mental strength, equipment, course and tactics. I'm not a master tactition, but I've picked up a couple of things. I really don't think tactics are discussed enough, but it should be. How in the world do you teach new riders tactics. All they know is from pro racing, that the lead rider is protected by his team. Weather you want to or not you are using tactics in every race you enter (and even some your don't). The tactic of not using a tactic (seeing how things play out, not taking an active role in the race) is the most often used tactic. But usually only yeilds moderate results or mid pack finishes. It's too easy to not make the right break or be cought out with this. However, the well planned hidden rider tactic can be more effective. This tactic is one in which you blend into the pack. No one notices you and therefore doesn't perceive you as a threat. It's alot harder than it seems, as you can not wheelsuck otherwise you will be labled a wheelsucker and called out on it. But you can not pull too hard or climb too well, as that shows strength. Moderate pulls, steady climbs keeping in contact with the strong riders, but never really shineing is the key. Then at the right moment you make the defining move. Usually if you can do this with a team mate it'll work better. One of you launch an attack and try to break away. If the pack responds and reels it in, the other of you attacks. Kinda similar to the hidden rider tactic is the drunken kung-fu tactic. This take elements if hidden rider and maybe exagerates a preceived weakness. This tactic can work for a strong rider, who is generally a marked man in the pack. The rider could very slightly fall off the back, only by a foot or two. It works especially well if the rider has a couple of team mates up front in the pack, and the rider is mid pack allowing a small gap to appear, only to have the riders come around to close the gap. Then once again, at the right moment the rider makes his move. There's always the strong team tactic. Think USPS on the front of the peloton, stringing out the pack with a high pace controlling. Of couse this only works if you really do have a strong full team. Most amature races you may have only a couple of team mates racing with you. I could (and will in the future) write a little more about cycling tactics. But the bigest thing about racing tactics, is that you have to be in control of your own race. Use your own racing style to your advantage and always race to win. What tactics do you know of, and are there other ways in which you can control your race?

Interesting ...

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:42:56 +0000

What's this? link. (Don't worry it's safe for anywhere.) $120 seems steep. But is anyone interested in something like this?

I got nothing for ya today

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:43:47 +0000

Didn't get to ride outside over the weekend. This week looks pretty full till maybe Wed or Thurs evening (since we just set our clocks) for a possible ride. Maybe. But I really gotta see how the week progresses. Maybe this weekend I can get a good ride in, at least on Saturday ... Went over my road bike, it'd be nice (if I had a backup bike) to be able to strip it down and repaint it. I can see rust in a couple places. If it makes it through this season, I'll try to do that in the fall/winter.

Feb. '08 Search Strings

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:45:20 +0000

How did you search and end up at this site? Well I don't know. I saw a couple of other sites post what people searched for that got them to their site. Interesting, and strange stuff. I thought I'd look at mine. 1) oxbow classic 2) profile track hubs 3) minnesota road bike racing schedule 4) sporttracks review garmin 5) www. almanzo club 6) sporttracks 2.0 7) almanzo 100 8) profile fixed hubs 9) race car hoodie 10) rice syrup oatmeal recipe 11) rochester mn bicycle club 12) oxbow dirt road race 2008 13) tour da chicago 2008 14) 2008 ken woods memorial road race 15) alley cat race ideas 16) alleycat race death chicago sunday morning 17) amature cycle racing schedule 2008 18) blood pressure kiosk 19) chicago alleycats bike race 20) cranksgiving 2008 So that's what's brining people to this site. Of course probally half of the searches are me searching for this site. Hmm. Nothing strange or interesting. Oh well.

Old news, Landis doped

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 11:50:31 +0000

The way I see it, there are five scenarios: If you're smart and you're weak, you can't win. If you're stupid and you're strong, you'll probably figure out a way to lose. If you're stupid and weak, then you should probably quit. If you're strong and smart enough to figure out how the race works, then you have a good chance of winning. - Floyd Landis Or just drink a couple of shots of Jack and slap a testosterone patch to your nuts.

Almanzo 100

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:31:50 +0000

Looks like there's still time to register for the big Almanzo. As of right now there's 26 riders signed up to suffer. 8 fixedgear, 7 singlespeed and the rest riding cycles with fancy multi gear changers. The race itself is May 17, 2008. So there should be plenty of time to train and prepare. I know I still have bike and component choices to make. Update: Race finished.

Cranked interviews Yehuda Moon

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 09:19:03 +0000

Clicky here to read it.

Boring training stuff

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 10:55:14 +0000

If you've been rading the blog you already know that I'm using TrImp scores to track my training. Now I've kept logs before and had some sort of idea of where I wanted to be at certain points in seasons past, but mostly used how I felt, as the guage of progress. This is an ok way of doing things, but ... (I love using the but and three dots for the dramatic pause it creates) but, it can be done better. Better, is having a plan. Even better is having some goals, but that will come when I can get outside and do some real testing. (Real testing as in personal records for sprints, climbs, and time trials) But today we'll talk about the plan. My plan is still fluid and being tweaked. Alot of books on periodazation use 4 week cycles. Loosly translated at 3 weeks of build and a week of recovery. These cycles are inside of 4 to 12 weeks periods. Each week in a cycle will have different rides and recovery days within it. My plan is different. I have the benefit of recalling past seasons, my level of fitness, milage and average heart rates at various times during those seasons using memory and my old training logs. It's funny, memory does differ from what the logs say, and even though I've never been one who piles on the milage, it's pretty appearant that I may have been overtrained alot. So insted of 4 week cycles, I'm working off of a 7 week cycle. Think of it more like two 4 week cycles crammed together, but pull out one build week from the second cycle. So a cycle looks like this: week 1,2 and 3 build, week 4 recovery, week 5 and 6 build, week 7 recovery. I'm no coach or doctor, but for whatever reason this rhythem seemed to naturally happen and when I kind of flowed with it, I performed better. So what you see above ^^^ is my current plan. Right now I'm in week 4 of the second cycle. As I said it's still fluid and can really change as the temps rise and I start to see what I can realisticly pull off as far as training time, and intensity levels, blah, blah, blah. See I still don't really know what a TrImp score for various weeks looks like, so I don't really know if the progression curve is too steep, or not steep enough. I don't really even know what a baseline moderate intensity 7-8 training week looks like as a trimp score. And I still have to set up goals for the season (besides beating everyone in every race I do) and touching base with concepts of lactate threshold and critical power in training. Oh, and remember to keep riding fun. I can too easily get sucked into numbers and stupid data, and forget that I just like to get outside and ride my bike. Related Posts: Short Training Ride (and a joke about how I got the team news bikes for the season) A little more about TrImp

Oxbow preview

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:50:14 +0000

So I was able to get up early enough to head out the door at 7:30 am. I decided to take the commuter, partially for the fat 38c tires, but mainly for the platform pedals. With platforms I can wear my vans insted of cycling shoes. Even with the shoe covers, anything below 20 degrees and my toes freeze. Street shoes allow my toes some more room and keep them warmer. As I traveled through town, I passed the railroad tracks along 7th street. Stopped to take a shot of the graffiti on a box car. It's not the best piece I've seen, but not bad either. Still trying to decifer what it says. Kelmer? Riding on the pavement out was interesting. There was ice covering some turns on the road. Traffic was light otherwise I would have been worried that a car would slide on the ice in the turn and smoke me. Getting onto the Oxbow Classic course, the gravel wasn't loose and most of the roaads were clear of ice. The sun didn't break the clouds all morning. I ended up working alot more than I wanted to, spending more time in zone3 than I should have. But that's how it goes sometimes. My TrImp score for the week was about 500 when I wanted to be at about 400. But that's ok. It's not gonna kill me, or throw my training plan off. Mainly cause my plan is more of a loose guide. Here's the heart rate graph if you're interested. I did change my heart rate zones to reflect my most recent max and resting heartrates. Related: 2006 Oxbow Classic Race Report

Oxbow preview ride

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 17:51:13 +0000

I was planning to check out the Oxbow Classic Route tomorrow morning. I'll leave my house at about 7:30 and pass by Central Park a couple minutes after and then go out on Valleyhigh Dr. Pace will be a little slow (14-16 mph on pavement). I'll be on a fixed gear. Anyone who want to join in meet me at Central Park at about 7:30-35 ish. Here's a possible route map: Oxbow Preview?Find more Bike Rides in Rochester, Minnesota

Happy leap day, now get out and ride

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 10:19:22 +0000

Leap day. I did a mountain bike (hare and hound) race in Hawaii in 1992 on a leap day. The organizer (a friend of mine) said he'll always put on a race on a leap Saturday. I guess I'll have to plan to be in Hawaii on February 29, 2020. For some cool leap year and leap day facts check out: Leap year on TimeandDate.com Leap Day on wikipedia Leap year on Wikipedia And for some reason when I think leap year, I think of halflinks. I really don't know what the connection of an extra day in a year and a chain link that is both, an inner and an outer in one link is. Maybe cause a halflink adds an extra single roller (link) to a chain. Here's an article on halflinks. Whatever. I hope you take this extra day and get a ride in. At least to work. Otherwise your extra day is wasted.

A question for you

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 17:00:41 +0000

If I were to put out a podcast/blog-radio show, say twice a month, would you listen? What kind of topics relating to bikes would you care to tune in to? Interviews? Maintenance tips? Training tips? Produst reviews? I ask because if the interest is there, I may put one on.

Expresso machine, I hate you

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:37:04 +0000

and I love you Expresso machine. I'm waiting for the week that I don't hop on the torture device. It will be soon that the week will arrive. It will be soon. But this week wasn't it. Here's the heartrate workout graph of today's ride. As you can see I spent a good deal of time in zone4 and zone5. In fact I didn't drop into zone3 since getting out of it at the begining of the ride. Almost did, but didn't. I hope this will help when I actually get out on the road.

Your chance at a free Colnago

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:39:26 +0000

Yup, you could be riding around on a brand spanking new Colnago CLX like what you see below. Pretty nice huh? Here's the deal: there's a couple of steps, but it's not like rocket science. Just follow this link to Ride-Strong.com, sign up for both the RSS feed and the newsletter, comment to the post, and then take a mini survey. Easy as pie. You can even increase your chance of winning by purchasing a raffle ticket! Hows that for increasing your odds. And this ain't no el-cheapo Colnago (is there such a thing?), it's retail value is $5500. That's a spicy meatball! Mama-mia!

Lucas Brunelle / Stockholm 2007

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 10:46:06 +0000

courtesy of: Cyclelicious

Yehuda Moon

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:57:46 +0000

MCF's got a new site. And it looks like the date for the Oxbow Classic has changed.

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:33:19 +0000

MCF (Minnesota Cycling Federation) got itself a new web site. I havn't browsed it very much yet, but I hope it's an improvement. And according to both MCF and an inside source, the Oxbow Classic Dirt Road Race has changed from April 12 to April 13, 2008. Update: It's cancelled.

Sunday Ride

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:57:27 +0000

Alleycats

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 09:07:53 +0000

Judging from the amount of traffic arriving to this site in the last 24 hours, from searching for alleycats, alleycat racing and the Tour da Chicago accident, I have a feeling that there's gonna be a crackdown on this type of event by many city governments. It's a sad situation. For everyone. Again I state that everyone is responsible for themselves and thier conduct on the road. And again, I do not claim to really know what happened at this accident. Here is a snip of part of a first hand report:... our pack was approaching a huge 5-way intersection (lincoln/irvingpark/damen), matt was in front. i was maybe 20-30 feet behind him, with a couple riders between us. matt proceeded into the intersection, probably assuming he could dodge traffic or (as had happened up until then that day), stop traffic dead, as they usually see a pack of unruly bikers and stop for us, not knowing what else to do. this time, in this intersection, that didn't happen. a GMC suburban SUV was coming from the right too fast -...MBL General Discussion ~ Tour De Chicago Tragedy - RIPJudging from this statement, the assumption that traffic will stop for you, is a potentially deadly mistake. The other thing that sticks out in my head - is the comment that the SUV was traveling too fast. I'm not defending speeding, I've stated many, many, many times before that speeding... even just a couple miles over the speed limit is just as illegal as running a red light. What's wrong is wrong. But what proof do we have that the vehicle was speeding. A lot of streets have higher speed limits than what seems safe. I think it's to keep the flow of cars flowing, and rather than not be able to enforce a 30 mph limit, they raise it to 40 and not worry about it. But again, if the driver didn't break any laws, then the rider, in failing to obey the rules of traffic, placed his life on the line. And for what? A little weekend glory? The ultimate price was paid. The backlash that this will generate against urban racing, I fear, will be big. Authorties will find ways to keep alleycats from happening. Please, please, please, take it easy out there. Remember that there is a possibility of death when riding. Cars will not stop. Caculate your risk, and err on the side of caution. It's great to have fun on bikes. It's not fun to go to a funeral. Related: Ride to race another day. A red light, a bicycle, a coffin.

Let Levi...

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:31:52 +0000

Ride. Yeah Levi and all the Astana team should be able to ride. Wherever they want. But as unfair as it seems, ASO can keep Levi (or whoever they want including Rochester Flyers) from racing in the tour day France. Sounds harsh right? Well too bad! Suck it up. It's not a democracy. It's a private bike race. Actually I could care less about Levi racing. He's not gona win. I would like to see Contador race. I don't see a campaign for him. And he's the reigning champ. My boy Cadel is gonna finally show how it's done. Yup, I'm saying he's gonna wear yellow in Paris. Added: http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2008/02/apparently-levi-wants-to-ride.html http://www.interbiketimes.com/let-alberto-ride/ It's funny, Trek owns both LetLeviRide.com and LetAstanaRide.com. But they didn't bother to buy LetAlbertoRide.com which was just purchased by some person today 2/28/2008. Guess they don't really care if the current yellow jersey rides.

SportTracks releaase 2.0.2976

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 11:41:09 +0000

Download the latest SportTracks Release. This release adds two remaining features which were in 1.3 and missing in 2.0: * HR zone columns (Time/%) in activity lists * Edit Activity > Split & auto-split on import For the release notes click here. (release 2.0.2976) Edit: if you use plugins (AfterImport, GPS2PowerTrack, Overlay, Training Plan and possible others) you may want to wait for new releases from the plug-ins before updating SportTracks as they may ot load after the update. Some info by clicking here. Related: Sporttracks Review Cyclistats First Impression

Ride to race another day

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 11:02:58 +0000

I just read about a cyclist that was fatally hit by a car while leading the Tour da Chicago, an alleycat race. My prayers go to his wife, family and anyone close to him. It looks like from the newspaper reports, that the automobile was not at fault. So prayers go to the driver too, as they must be going through some pretty hard emotions right now. Chicago Bike Racing Article CBS 2 Chicago news article Blog Post MPLS Bike Love Post (with ChiFixed post quoted) I have raced and put on a couple of alleycats and know the dangers of racing with motor vehicles. Riding, racing, and just being on the road on a bike is dangerous. I'm not gonna tell anyone how they should ride, as I beleive in people taking personal responsibility for thier actions. But I also think that, I have too much to live for than to risk my life on a bike ride. There's a fine line that seperates the line of safety, and deadly mistake. I don't know the circumstances of this particular accident, so I don't want anyone to think that I'm using it as an example. I'm not. But it has stirred up the topic in me. I pray for safety for all my brothers and sisters traveling, racing, and enjoying life on two wheels. And I hope that we can all ride in a manner that allows us to ride and race another day.

iowagravel.blogspot.com

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 08:54:04 +0000

One day after Guitar Ted mentions an idea about a common site to post info on gravel rides, and this site pops up. http://iowagravel.blogspot.com/ Mind you it's Iowa, not regional or national, but I guess it's a start. Not one site to rulle them all. Maybe each state can start one. And then someone could set up a site that includes info from all of them. It could be done by taking the RSS feeds from each states site (assuming that they all use a blogging/feed platform).

May end up riding outside this weekend

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 09:55:03 +0000

Looks like Sat. may start off chilly, but will warm up nicely. I may (depending on my household and family duties) go for a nice easy 1.5-2 hr ride mid day or afternoon. Mid day and afternoon rides don't work well usually as I like to get my ride in the morning so I can devote the rest of the day to the family. So I may end up riding in the morning anyway. And depending on what the plan is on Sunday, I may even get a ride in before the 11 o-clock service at church. So there's a real possibility that I can get some real milage in, at least for the weekend. It's still too hard to get up early (on weekdays) to ride, when it's both cold AND dark out.

A common place for gravel bike racing (one site to rule them all)

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 09:24:41 +0000

Seems Guitar Ted may be on to something in this post. His idea is that may there needs to be a place where like minded organizers of low key gravel road races (anything over 50 miles) can post info on events, routes, FAQ and cue sheets. A place dedicated to gravel road rides only and a place where rides could be added that others could go to and check out.This makes sense to me. I've often thought that alleycat races needed something like this too. But I think there's more of a chance that the gravel grinders idea will take off. Let's face it, the perception is that it's safer (less traffic to worry about), and it's a bit more of a personal challenge than a head to head competition. Speaking of gravel grinders... how's your training for Almanzo?

Uniform, Jersey, Outfit, Shirt

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:00:36 +0000

I refuse to call it a kit.

Blood Pressure (update)

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 09:34:16 +0000

Well it's been a couple of weeks since my doctor prescribed me hydrochlorothiazide to lower my blood pressure. I just filled it on Sunday, and I still haven't taken it. What I have done, is upped my potassium intake through both natural foods and suppliments, pretty much cut sodium from my food (this is so much harder than it sounds) and drank a cup of lemongrass tea twice a day. Did it help? Not really. It's still up at about 135-140 / 80-90. I even bought a home blood pressure monitor so that I didn't have to use the Sam's club or Target blood pressue kiosks. In fact Target pulled thier kiosks. I think my life partner said that Target claims it was because of liability concerns. I think it's cause they have the in store clinic now that can give health advice for a fee, insted of a free kiosk. But whatever, I got my own - suckahs! So it still hasn't gone down. Like I said, I filled the prescription, but I'm super concerned that it will affect my training. Then I find out that this drug is on the prohibited list of USADA and USOC. I don't know why, I don't see a performance gain from taking it. If anything it may decrease endurance. And it's not like I'm contesting a national championship (or even a states at this point), and I doubt I'd ever get tested (I never had in the past), but there's still the knowledge that I'm taking a substance that is not allowed. I called USADA to see what the deal is, but got a machine. They called back, but I was out. I called back, got the machine again. I think I'll email them. I tried calling the doc's office and the nurse said she'd check with him and get back to me. The Mrs. and I still want to wait before taking the med, we're going to give the DASH diet some more time, and I don't know, maybe I'm even stressing out about it too much and that's raising my pressure. I guess I've got to place it in the creators hands, give it up to him, and not worry about it. But man that's hard to do. Related: Monday 01/28/2008, Tuesday 04/08/2008

I'm just sayin'

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 08:50:10 +0000

I don't normally critique professional cycling teams. Well maybe I do, but I usually don't give a rip about what they are wearing as far as riding uniforms go. But... ... In watching that little race in Cali-forn-ia (that the 'Flyers were not invited to race in), I kept seeing, what I thought were, local amatures mixing it up with the pros, even attacking the field. Then I would hear from Philliggot (you have to say his name as one word) or one of the other guys that it was so and so from BMC. Oh, that's right. It's a pros only field. Team BMC. What an amature looking uniform. Seriously. It looks like something I could order out of nashbar and take to a silkscreener to get the logo put on. And there's nothing wrong with that... if you're an amature like me. It's not even that it looks retro, classic or minimalistic. It just looks like it's cheap. It really looks like something I would wear on a training ride. And I don't really care what I wear when I ride. Image from cyclingnews and ironstring It looks especially bad from the television camera perspectives. I don't know, maybe they should hire a designer that know what they are doing to design a jersey for them.

A tiny bit more about TrImp

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:54:45 +0000

TrImp (Training Impulse), is a way to measure a workload by heartrate and duration. So with two workouts at the same intensity (measured by heartrate) but different durations will give different TrImp scores. So that's one way to increase workload. Another way is to increase the intensity. In theory, a short high-intensity workout (ride) can be just as effective as a longer, but lower intensity ride. That sort of makes sense right? But because the score is tied to both actions, you are going to have to increase duration in order to be able to get higher TrImps. For me it helps to kinda think of it as lifting weights. (Now I'm not a big weight lifter so this is just to illustrate a point) Say I could chest press 60 pounds for 25 reps and reach my fatigue point. (where I can't press anymore) I could also press 105 pounds for 10 reps and reach fatigue point. So it's kinda like that. Except that you can't just do higher intensity all the time. In order to build endurance you need to increase duration. You can use TrImp to quantify your individual workout, a particular day, or any group of workouts (like weeks or months).

Maybe time to strip and paint the Gunnar

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 09:12:25 +0000

The guy responsible for the Fixedgear gallery, now offers powder coating of bicycle frames for a decent price. For $100 plus shipping you can get your frame sandblasted and coated. Powdercoating is like paint, but it's a baked on finish and extreemly dourable. So the Gunnar could use a new paint job and the sandblasting will remove the surface rust that's happening. Heck, I may even want to send the orange fixed for a coating too. Anyway... seems like a good deal.

New bikes for the squad (and a short training ride)

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 08:35:56 +0000

Even with Rochester Flyers bike budget triple what it was last year, we couldnt afford to outfit the team with bikes. So I made a special trip to Italy and picked some up. Those black Ridleys should match our uniform ok. (I refuse to call it a kit. No matter how euro it sounds.) Weather was actually ok for a nice outside ride Saturday morning. I'm attempting to use TrImp values to monitor my training. I'm actually still trying to figure it out. There's a TrImp Plugin for SportTracks that helps to figure out what the TrImp values are for an activity, week or group of activities. What is TrImp? TrImp stands for Training Impulse. I know that don't mean much. But what it is, is a value of intensity (defined by heart rate) multiplied by duration. I don't really know the formula used. But I think it's a modified formula that weights higher intesity so that a half hour at 100% intensity would give a higher score than a full hour at 50%. For example my ride on Saturday had a TrImp score of 140 while the Expresso indoor rides average a score of about 50. Individually these numbers don't mean much. But what I'm gonna do is get a weekly TrImp score (the values of each individual activity added together) and increase that on all my build weeks. At least that's the plan. So last week my TrImp score for the week was 230. (I know... a pretty weak, week score.) So if I can get over 300 for this week would be an improvement. Since I don't really know what a TrImp score for a summer build week looks like, I don't really know what I'm building up to. But I'll get to figureing that out later.

It'll be o.k. Astana, Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) wont let Rochester Flyers race either.

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 12:29:23 +0000

I agree with Bruyneel and Contador that ASO thinks our teams are too powerfull. Actually I think it's funny that High Road (was t-Mobile last year) and Rabobank, who have also been in trouble for doping are not being banned. Is it because Astana has last years champion? What if Contador went to High Road? Would High Road be banned from ASO races? I don't think it's over yet. Astana may not be able to race, but I think there is still a chance that the riders, including Contador and Leipheimer will start. Or Johan will somehow get Astana in. Even if not, le' Tour will go on. Unless he gets cought for doping or ends up injured, I think Evans will finally be the one to be in yellow at the end. But in the big picture, nothing will change. There will be cheaters, and we will find out about some of the cheats. I don't really agree with the ASO, cause if this was more than some sort of token gesture of getting tough on cheaters, none of the teams that were around last year should be allowed to race. Along with any team that has management, coaching, directors and doctors that have been involved in or known to have doped in the past. Who does that leave? New teams with new mostly new riders. No returning champions. All new peloton. I doubt that would ever happen.

Yeah-yeah-yeah, I should post more often.

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 10:22:46 +0000

But I've had stuff to take care of. And the one time I went to post yesterday, the interwebs logged me out of my admin section after pressing the submit button, losing a beautifully written peice. So today I'll post a small mash up of topics. Ear infections suck. Even if you're only the parent of the person with the ear infection. The poor banana. But she's feeling better. Maybe return to school tomorrow. Somehow found Shoestring Racing. A blog of a guy, attempting to keep racing on a shoestring budget till he gets full time work. I've only read the first page, so I'm not really sure how interesting it is. But the title appeals to me as it's similar to what I'm trying to do. (Race on an extreemly low budget) Thanks to Johns link to an article on making your own energy gel. I went to the store and found brown rice syrup for under $5 for a 21 oz jar. I think, even if I mix in some other stuff (agave necter, honey, vanillia, and some potassium and/or sea salt) it will end up being under 30 cents an ounce. Or at least 1/2 to 1/3 the cost of commercial gels. I wish the weather would warm up a little more. Once it get above 25 degrees I can put more time in the saddle outside. Trueth be told, I havn't touched the trainer since before new years. part of it is that i think it needs a new belt, or rim roller. Problly the roller as it's melting onto the rim it's supposed to roll on and I have to get something to clean it off before I take the road bike out on the road. So the weather sucks for riding, or for anything really. I'm not big into winter sports. To me it's just more stuff to sink money into, that could be used to eat, make house payments and possibly put into the racing budget. (which has been sitting pretty consistantly at zer0 dollars for a couple of months) But the weather has us (the wife and I) thinking, praying about, and looking at warmer climates. CNN/Money ranks Suwanee, Ga in the top 10 places to live. Clairmont doesn't look too bad either, except it's too close to L.A. The wife hates L.A. and the air quality can be pretty bad. I am looking for sponsors who want to support my race season. Equipment would be nice. Or funds to get to races would be great too. I can't guarentee podium finishes, but I can promise to show up. That counts for something right? I think I over anaylize things at times. I'm still not sure how I'll pull off the Almanzo. I'm talking about ride choice and fuel consumtpion. My options are limited unless Surly wants to loan me a crosscheck or karate monkey for the race. (hint-hint) One last thing. Tomorrow is valentines day. Take it from experience, if your valentine just isn't as into bikes as you are, don't get them a bike related gift. They won't appreciate a new set of bar tape, or matching cable end caps as much as you do.

SportTracks Release 2.0.2957

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 22:12:10 +0000

New release today. Download it here. List of improvements: Added option to edit elevation track in GPS data. Added option to hide equipment items in activity summary view. Added logbook save command. Numerous small bug fixes detailed in the forum.

I wanted to write a full review of SportTracks 2.0

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:55:00 +0000

but it's prooving more difficult than I thought it would be. It's not that the program is hard to use. Just download it, run the installer, and run the program. Where it shines, is in interfacing with a compatible gps unit. Just plug your unit into the computer, click on import, and it brings the gps tracks in. (Hence the name sportsTRACKS.) Of course I'm using the unit with a Garmin Edge, with heart rate and cadence. So besides the gps track, it keeps track of my heart rate and cadence, throughout the ride. And SportTracks gathers this data and allows you to do some cool things. In the main "daily activity" view, you get a summary of the ride and the "track" overlaid on a Google map, satalite image or USGS elevation map. From there, you can change the "Summary" view to many different views. One of these is the "Splits" view. This view will show laps and or splits recorded on the unit, or use custom splits of specified distances. The image shows 5 mile splits. For running I might use 1/4 mile splits. In most of these views you can see the data recorded, but you can also view a graph of the data. The graphs can be customised to show what you want and where. In the example above (click the thumbnail to see it big) you can see for each split, that average power (I'll get into this power deal later) is shown as bars. Laid on top of that is a line for average heartrate (% of max) and speed. The "speed" view is of more use to runners than cyclists, as your speed can vary greatly depending on intensity and terrain. But here's a shot anyway. It's interesting, but I don't spend much time in this view. I do however look at the "workout" view alot. In fact since I use my Edge as a heart rate monitor for indoor rides (turn the gps function off in the settings), I am still able to analize my workouts. As with other views you can choose what you want displayed on the graph. SportTracks has an added customisation benefit of plug-ins. A plug in is piece of additional software code you can download and install in the plug ins folder that can give you some interesting things to look at. One is the GPS2power plug in. It only works on pavement rides as it is really, just estimating the power output by reviewing your weight (along with your bike), elevation gain, wind speed, temprature and position/bike-rider profile. Off pavement, there's no way know how much power is lost in traction loss, so it makes no sense to get the powertrack on gravel rides. Now there are other plug-ins available too. Accumilated summarys, similar routes, and high score are interesting ones I've been using. I may get into thier functions later. SportTracks also allows you to keep track of your equipment. So you can know what you rode on which ride (if you have multiple bikes), or what shoes used for what run (if you have multiple shoes). Because it keeps track of the mileage, you can replace things before they break (hopefully). There's an athlete's page that allows you to keep track of your info to see trends in health. included are fields for weight, BMI, resting heart rate, max heart rate, blood pressure, body fat, sleep, mood, and some others. You can also view much of this in graphs too, making it easier to see trends and know if you need to change your plan. Now that I've told you about the features of the program, let me tell you my opinion of it. It's pretty cool. However it needs the gps unit to really work well. It's not so great on data that's just entered in. I'd recommend Cyclistats for that. In fact Cyclistats has some graphs and accumlition that I like better. Plus the ability to set up goals in Cyclistats is a feature missing from SportTracks. Though there is talk that a plug-in will be available soon that adds something like this. SportTracks is free to download and try. They ask that if you like it, you donate some money to them. How cool is that? This gives you the option to pay what you think the software is worth, not what the developer thinks he's worth. It's a cool concept. So I really think that if you have a compatible gps unit, you download and useSportTracks. It's really turning out to be a great program to anaylize your workouts and training. It's so much better than Garmin's Training Center (though you still need it to create and upload workouts for the unit) and/or the Motionbased web service they offer. Related: SportTracks Release 2.0.2976 CycliStats Impression Garmin GPS Cycling Computers SportTracks Training Load Plugin

Barium tastes like... burning

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 14:04:59 +0000

No not really. Just chaulky, thick, and really thick. I just got back from my Barium swallow/esophagial xray. You stand infront of the xray machine and swallow the junk and they video it going down. I guess we'll see what the doc says after viewing the tape. Now I can go eat and hydrate again.

Oatmeal Bars - a recipe for an energy bar replacement

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 11:14:59 +0000

Powerbars are expesive. And while their edible, they aren't wonderful tasting. As I'm trying to get in more milage this year in training for and rracing, I am going to need fuel. I made the mistake this past weekend of going out for a ride and not eating breakfast before going out. Now understand that it wasn't a long ride by anymeans. 30 or so miles, a little over 2 hours. But by the end I could feel a slight bonk coming on. I took a banana with me, but that wasn't enough to cover the 1,700 calories I was expending. (calculated from Sporttracks) Maybe if I took a couple of bananas and some energy bars. But I didn't. Energy bars are handy because they can fit in a jersey pocket and be eaten easily. But like I said above, the commercialy available ones are expensive. So I've been playing around with a recipe to bake something that tastes good and (hopefully) is packed with nutrients and calories to get through some rides. Here's a list of things you'll need to make some oatmeal bars. 2 sticks of butter (actually I used 1 cup of smartbalance margrine) 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar (or any combo that suits you, 3/4 & 3/4, all white, or whatever) 2 eggs a big splash of vanillia (or 2, or 3) 1 1/2 cup flour 1 tsp baking soda (yeah, yeah. it's sodium. But it's needed in the baking process) 1/2 tsp cinimon (more or less for your tastes, I like less, like 1/4 tsp) 1/2 tsp salt (I tried it with 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp salt replacement - potassium chloride. It seemed to work fine.) 3 cups oats 1/4 cup ground flax seeds A bunch (cup or 2) of dried fruit and nuts. This is optional, but I think for the added protiens and carbs, it's good. Plus it adds flavor. I used a mix of chopped apricots, prunes, dates and almonds. Now that you have everything, take a 9x13 baking pan, dish, cooking thing and spray it with cooking spray. Take everything you keep in the oven out and turn it on to 350 degrees. Take the butter or margrine out and let it soften. While you're waiting you could play with your kids, fiddle with your bikes a little, or share a cup of coffee with your wife. When you remember that the oven's on and butter's out, go wash your hands and get a big and smaller mixing bowl. Place the butter and sugar in the big bowl and cream it all together. When it's smooth add the eggs and vanillia. In the small bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, cinimon and salt. Then slowly mix the flour mix into the big bowl. Mix-add-mix-add-mix-mix-mix. When it's completely mixed. Add the rest of the stuff. Mix this until your arm gets ready to fall off, then spread it out into the lubed up pan, dish thing. Plop the dish into the oven for about 50 minutes to an hour. you can check it for doneness like you do for brownies. Stick it with a toothpick, knife or fork and see if anything sticks. If so let it cook a little longer, if not pull it out. Let it cool completely, then cut it up. If it doesn't cool, it'll fall apart when you try to remove the peices. Eat a couple right away. Make sure to offer some to your wife and kids. Then take the rest (if there is any) and stash it in the freezer (or fridge). I pack em in a big ziplock or a sealable container (tupperwarestyle) to store. To take some on a ride, just place as many as you want to take with you in a baggie and place into your jersey pocket. While rideing, pull the baggie out and remove a bar. Try not to drop it as you put the baggie back into your pocket. Then just coast along enjoying the nutty, fruity, oaty goodness knowing that you saved a little cash and got to make these the way you like them. Oh... and they are also good enough to just snack on when not riding. You may have to hide them from the kids who seem to think they're cookies. Update: You can totally customise this to your liking. I just made it with a tiny dash of cinnimon, no nuts and fruit, 1/4 bag of shredded coconut and a package of semi-sweet chocolate chips. Needless to say, they were good. I didn't get to freeze any. So the moral of this update is: play around with the recipe to get it where you like it.

Sheldon Brown: 1944 - 2008

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 16:07:46 +0000

Sorry to report, that Sheldon Brown has passed away. There's a short note on the Harris/Sheldon website. Dear Harris Cyclery friends and customers, It is with heavy hearts that we convey to you the news that Sheldon Brown has passed away. Our thoughts go out to his family at this time. The cycling community has lost one of it's most passionate members.To say he was passionate about cycling was an understatement. He wrote article upon article about all sorts of topics from converting and riding fixedgear bikes to how to take apart and service a freewheel. He had the answer to almost any question a bike mechanic could think of on his website. According to BikeRadar he suffered a massive heart attack on Sunday. Sheldon was also diagnosed with progressive multiple sclerosis this past August, after suffering and being misdiagnosed multiple times. He lost the ability to ride a bicycle in September, 2006, but was able to continue riding a Greenspeed trike since them. I never met Sheldon, but still feel as though I lost a friend. Our only real connection is the love of cycling, but isn't that enough? My prayers go out to those closest to you for thier loss.

Deals...

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:37:26 +0000

Not team deals. Deals on parts and cycling (at least cycling related) stuff. I started last week with tires from ProBikeKit.com. Well they still have tires (Vittoria Open Corsa CX), but the price is now $36.55 ea. They still have free shipping, so it's still a good deal. Today, I want to let you in on a couple of sites I stumbled upon. First is Steep and Cheap. It's like woot but for outdoor sporting goods. For those who have never heard of woot, the concept is that they advertise one deal, on one product untill that product is gone. Then they move on to the next. I don't know the relationship, but there's also Whiskey Militia. Same concept, but with more emphsis on snowboarding junk. Another site that's somehow related is GearEngine. This one is a little different, you can choose the catagory of items to display (road and mountain bike is an option), and it cycles through the deals it has for those catagories. Each item shows for about 3 minutes then refreshes to the next item. Other people and shops can sell items on GearEngine so it's not just one store offering it's items. But it is hit or miss as far as product goes. Sometimes I see some really cool stuff at a screaming good deal, or you see something that is average price. But it's fun to watch. Last but not least, I will always encourage riders to support thier local bicycle retailer. Like Rochester Cycling and Fitness here in town. They may not always be the least expensive, but it's made up for in other ways. Experience and expertise. Hanging out. Start and/or finish point for group rides. These are things you can't get online. Plus bike shops always have old stock and take-offs that they need to get rid of. Sometimes you can score some gems for super-cheap. Take-offs are items that may have come stock on a new bike, but the customer swapped out after purchase, either paying full retail for the new item without wanting the old item, in which case it's free stock for the shop to sell. Or the shop "bought it back" after a couple of rides, and can't sell it as new. Either way they may give it to you at a super discount, or for nothing at all. But before you just stop in and say "I want some tires but don't want to pay for them", you should at least attempt to befriend the workers. Honestly they rarely bite. Also bike shop workers have access to used, "junked" parts that may still have some miles left in them. Say a customer comes in to upgrade thier Ultegra rear derailer to a Dura-ace after a year of riding it. Not crashed, nothing wrong with it, just a little worn and not top of the line. Customer pays for the upgrade, tells the mech(anic) to just dump the old derailer. Mech holds onto it thinking he may have a use for it. As a friend of the mech, you're hanging at the shop one night and mention that your ten year old 600 derailer is so worn that you have to overshift and back down to get into a lower gear, but you just don't have the funds to replace it yet. Your mech friend say "Hey I got a derailer with some miles still left on it." and either gives it to you (yea! free part) or sells it to you for super cheap. Sure he got it for free, but he held onto it, and he didn't even have to mention it to you, so don't think he's ripping you off $15 for a perfectly good Ultegra derailer.

I think I'm done with my whining about the cold

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 10:43:31 +0000

(for today)... I read this post, from Belgium knee warmers, yesterday. But it didn't hit me until I re-read it today, that I need to just buck up and get out and ride. The weather is what it is, I can choose to ride or not. But there's no sense in being a baby about it. Two key verses: To be sure, cycling in the cold, if done well, is a submission. It is a submission to the temperature, to the wind, to all the crueler elements. It is a submission to the larger demands of the season, an admission that we cannot hope to be at peak form year-round. Even so, it does take a force of will to leave home when temps reach freezing. Base miles are pennies in a piggy bank: They aren’t sexy, but they do add up. Each new sunny day of the spring is payback for every effort you didn’t make. So with that I snap back to reality.

This week the trend

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 10:20:06 +0000

was to not ride and post until Friday, because I've been feeling blue about the weather being so cold, having to look at and change some of my eating habits, having to spend money on fixing our car that decided to die on the coldest day of the year and having to schedule a barium swallow for a minor swallowing problem. Barium swallow (esophagram). A diagnostic test often given to people who have difficulty swallowing, a barium swallow uses a series of X-rays to examine your esophagus. During the test, you'll drink a thick liquid (barium) that temporarily coats the lining of your esophagus so that the lining shows up clearly on the X-rays. You may also have air blown into your esophagus, to help push the barium against the esophageal walls. Although a barium swallow can help diagnose cancer, it may not show whether a tumor has spread beyond your esophagus. After the test you can eat normally and resume your daily activities, although you'll need to drink extra water to help flush the barium from your system and prevent constipation. A barium swallow briefly exposes you to ionizing radiation. Although the danger from this exposure is small, care is taken to produce the best images with the lowest amount of radiation and the fewest possible X-rays. -MayoClinic.com I'm not happy about it. But it is what it is. The inconviences of life. Hope your week has been better.

Blood Pressure

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:23:40 +0000

Since late fall of last year I've been trying to monitor my health better. Mostly it's tied into my training and wanting to return to local amature bike racing. So I weigh myself and check my resting heart rate regularly. A little more difficult to check is blood pressure, as I don't have the equipment. Whenever I'm at Target, Sam's or someplace that has one of those blood pressure kiosk, and I remember to so, I'll take a blood pressure reading. Well the trend has been that it's a little high. If I average all of them together I seem to be pre- to stage 1 hypertension. There is a family history of high blood pressure in my family (I think). Cause I like to think of myself as healthy, I wasn't sure if I should be concerned. I made an appointment to see the doc last week and he prescribed me a low dose of hydrochlorothiazide. It's a diuretic, so I may end up peeing alot at first. There's also the chance that it could throw off my potassium balance. So i havn't filled it yet. I don't know how this will effect my training (uh hello, as an endurance athlete I need to be able to stay hydrated, and potassium is usefull to keep muscles from cramping if I remember correctly). Reading around on the interwebs I hear different things that may work to lower blood pressure without meds. Like adjusting diet and stuff. It's not like I add salt to everything and eat crap. But maybe I have to be even more cautious of my sodium intake. Supposedly eating foods rich in potassium can help lower pressure too. I'm gonna give it a week or two, before I try to go on the meds. They just really make me nervous. MayoClinic.com info on Hypertension American Heart Association on meds for high blood pressure Updates: Wednesday 02/20/2008, Tuesday 04/08/2008

Training Update

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:50:03 +0000

So this weekend it finally warmed up above 20. in fact today it's supposed to get into the 40's. So guess how many miles I got in. Go on guess. If you guess 150, you would be wrong. 100? Wrong again. 50? 30? 25? 10? Wrong, wrong, wrong. What? You in the back. You say zip?! How dare you think I wouldn't get out on the bike over the weekend. But you are correct. Zip, zilch, nada. Zero miles on the bike. Such is the life of a real world person, with family responsibilities. The lesson here is that you need to be flexable when it comes to your training plans. Some riders (or athletes as not everyone who trains is a cyclist) are able to plan out a year and stick to it 90%. HA! Good for them. For those of us who value our spouses, kids, homes and jobs, we need to juggle all that and training. Some weeks we can plan out 12+ hours of training and hit it on the mark. Other weeks, no matter how much we try and want to fit in an hour of real riding (training) in, we can't. Just roll with it. To be honest, I could've hit the road yesterday, insted of going to the gym. In fact, in hindsight, I should have gone for a 1.5 hour ride insted of a 1/2 hour run on the treadmill, and a five minute Expresso session. But again, just gotta roll with it.

SportTracks 2.0.2948 released

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:08:55 +0000

If you use SportTracks you should update to the newest release updated 1/27/2008. Fixed Weather forecast download error when an internet connection is unavailable Prefill distance and time from any data track when switching from calculated to entered data Split distance calculation bug when activity has entered distance of zero or doesn't have distance track Handle logbook save errors more gracefully Allow storing of routes with zero latitude or longitude Don't mark the categories as modified when opening a logbook Updated terraserver webservice URL Allow enter key to be used in notes box during import Handle folder permission problems when importing data Local time conversion for Google Earth export Bug when stripping out file extension in export to .kml and Save Image Equipment weekly usage and replacement date calculations Report chart for avg speed and max speed Display issues on large fonts (DPI not 96) Athlete charts off by one day in some timezones Distance track bug in HRM-only (indoor) imports Time calculating as negative under certain rare data circumstances Support device download on Windows XP x64 Many lap calculation issues with workouts that don't have GPS info & mixed workouts that include watch pauses, intervals, etc Allow entering total manual distance to HRM-only workouts Always allow entering of lap distances to recorded laps regardless of GPS distance info Allow entering of HR & Elevation data on laps if "use manually entered" is checked Problem with locations grouping based on case Adjust track times when activity time/date is changed Calculation in ascend/descend totals (especially inaccurate when using no smoothing or 1-second recording) List column sort bug ignoring first click Upgrade problem in installer. Added Timex device import, import .mdb Calculate button on lap screen to overwrite manual distances with distances calculated from GPS track. Edit Activity Data Tracks Portuguese translation Finnish translation Swedish translation That's a lot of fixes. Download it by going here. For those who don't know. SportTracks is an excellent tool, for those who use a gps unit (like the Garmin Edge), to keep track of your workouts. As soon as I get some more actual outdoor rides, I'll post a review of it along with a review of the Garmin Edge 305HR+Cad bundle.

Open Corsa CX tires for cheap

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 16:28:28 +0000

ProBikeKit.com is having 15% off all orders for about another week. So I was looking today and saw that the Vittoria Open Corsa CX tires, after the discount, come out to under $35 each. I've used these tires before and have to say that they are nice. They are called open tubulars, meaning the construction of them is similar to tubular construction, but with a bead to mount on clincher rims. I don't know the specifics, but what it means is that they are pretty comfy to ride, but as easy to use as any other clincher. Clicky the link to ProBikeKit.com and buy a pair. Trust me. They're worth it. Plus, there's no shipping charge!

Spread the word about your cycling event

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:07:14 +0000

UrbanVelo wants to help. Check it out here. Discounted ad rate means for $20 you can get a 1/8 pg ad in UrbanVelo that reaches 21,500+ readers. Our event sponsorship package gets you a box of magazines and some stickers to give out or use as prizes, along with discounted ad rates if you’re so inclined. That's awesome.

A couple of small things

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 10:11:21 +0000

VeloNews has a new site ready in beta mode. Get a peek of it here. While browsing VeloNews I saw the news of the Olympic class BMX track in Chula Vista, CA. Man that thing is huge. Check out the photo of the start hill. They say riders were hitting speeds of 40 mph going into 40 foot high jumps. I think I'd be a little scared and nervous on the start line. Looks like BMX is progressing in the elite levels. Speaking of BMX, is there anyone interested in building a pumptrack somewhere in town? Here's another link for more info. It's like a BMX track but smaller and designed for working on "pump" skills. Pumping is the ability to keep (or gain) momentium while not pedaling. Basicly you use your body to pump up and down the jumps. Good riders can just keep going round and round, never pedaling.

Overmax Training

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 22:29:10 +0000

I try to add some real high intensity to my training rides sometimes, just to keep stressing my system so that it doesn't get used to just working at Zone2 or whatever Zone I'm trying to target. So yesterday I wanted to target Zone4 and then at the end do a Zone5+ interval. As you can see I actually went over what I beleived to be my max heart rate. Not a big deal, and I'm not gonna adjust my zones to reflect it unless it happens at least one if not a couple more times. But the point is that you need to do this once in a while for a couple of reasons. The main one being that you youself need to know how your body reacts to a really high stress level. Especially since there is no "backing off" in racing. If someone is on the attack and you need to respond, you cant get up to your max and say "ugh, it's to hard." and sit up. You need to dig deep and suffer. You need to know that you body can handle a 2 to 5 minute all out effort.

Planning a date with Almanzo

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 13:16:55 +0000

It's official, I have signed up for, and am committed, to riding the Almanzo 100. I'm even registered as fixed. Besides training, the big thing for me is bicycle choice and set up. The winner last year rode a fixedgear Merckx and fat road tires (28 or 30c). I wonder if the route is going to be the same? I think The Mayor was talking about a different course (or maybe that was gonna be for the proposed forth & back race). I'd really like to see what the fattest tire I can fit on the orange fixie is. It'd be really nice to get some 30c cyclocross tires on. But I doubt I can get anything more than a 28c. There is a chance that I ride it on the commutter, as that has the mustache bars and 35c hybrid tires. If there's anyone that will to loan me a 58cm cyclocross bike that can easily be converted to fixed gear for this event, I'd love to hear from you. Almanzo, I look forward to spending the day with you on May 17, 2008. Update: Race finished.

Why Race?

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 16:37:31 +0000

Not all cyclists race. In fact a majority of people who ride will never race anything ever. And to that effect, I don't consider all racers cyclists. Sure they ride, and maybe even rack up huge amount of miles, but to be a cyclist is so much more. But that's a topic for another post. I enjoy riding a bike. I like getting out and the feeling of floating down the road and the challenge of singletrack. If the bike is right it dissappears under me. If my fitness is good, spinning the pedals is effortless. I could get by on riding just to ride. And I have. Daily rides to work ease my mind and prepare me for the day. The return trip allows most stress' from the day melt away. Weekend rides allow me to explore the countryside, urban rides let me explore our fair city. Family rides let me spend time with those who matter most to me. Skatepark and jumping sessions allow me to either feel really old, or really young depending on my abilities that day. All of this is great, but doesn't answer the question of why I want to race. I don't consider my self a very competitive person. Except when on the bike. Yes, I like being the jerk that has to catch and pass the rider ahead of me. During those fun fundraiser rides (MS60/30, Honolulu Century, etc), I don't really like it when people pass me. I do keep it in check so that I don't end up being a total !@$$ on the bike. I've learned to not do such things very much, to say hello and all that stuff. But there's something that wants to be faster and better than someone else. And such is the drive to race. To be better than someone else. Actually that not really it either. It is to be the best that I can be at something. And the only way to find out what that best is, is to be pushed in competition. It's such a simple question, and yet so hard to answer. There's a part of me that wants to crush the competition. And there's a part of me that just wants to do my best no matter what that is. Maybe I'll get back to this later, as we get into the season. But hey, why do or don't you race?

One Less Car - Hoodies available for a limited time

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 09:33:20 +0000

Got an email last night from Cole at One Less Car. hello all from a very frigged chicago the other day i was freezing and and thought i needed a new warm pull over hoodie and thought maybe you guys would want one too. i went over to myspace and asked, a bunch of people said they wanted one so im going to print a few. the plane is to take order till the end of the week. you have color choices(yes we are offering color choices) you can get one in black,navy or brown. the hoodie im going to use is a gilden 9.6oz which is the heaviest i could find. you can order them off the website. The really cool part is that you can get most of thier designs on your new hoodie, including the one I did. In fact it's the first on on the list (Crank Arm). Show Cole some love by ordering a new hoodie today. Remember he's taking orders till Friday, so act fast. Here's the url: http://www.1lesscar.com/hoodies.html

For the love of alleycats

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 11:46:09 +0000

No, not the wretched flea bitten animals that show up on your doorstep after the neighbors move away and left them behind. I'm talking about alleycat bike races. Alleycat races (sometimes known as messenger races and checkpoint races) are events where (usually) there is no set course. I say usually because there is no rule that says an alleycat has to be a certain way. The usual race consists of a list of checkpoints, written on a sheet a paper (the manifest), which riders travel to and complete a task, pick up an item, or somehow verify that they have been to the location. The reason I like these events is that there is much more invloved in doing well at these events, than a typical bicycle race. Most standard bike races have very little traffic interaction (most crits are on closed roads even), where most alleycats are on open roads with traffic. In a typical road race the course is laid out in front of you and you cannot leave the course. Most alleycats have no course. You have to figure out the best way to get from here to your next checkpoint. Alleycat races force you to think a little more. The Create your own checkpoint race is a perfect example of not thinking correctly and loosing time because of it. Taking Elton Hills drive cost me at least a minute, and forgetting about the Hy-Vee checkpoint and panicking when I remembered probabbly cost me another 1/4 to 1/2 minute. My real dissapointment is in the typical bike communitys reluctance in participating in alleycats. There's some strange double standard thing going on. My experience is that the "normal" clubs view alleycat races as reckless, and filled with law breaking idiots. They complaign that alleycat racers run lights, blow through stop signs and create more animosity from drivers in doing so. But many of normal club rides do the same thing. I've seen packs of group riders go through stops and red lights. I've seen groups of club riders ride recklessly. And as long as we (all cyclists) ride on the road, there will be animosity from drivers. I'm not saying that this makes running red lights right. But that the laws are the laws. We all choose to obey or break them. Some alleycat racers may run a light. Others may not. Just like on a club ride. Just like on a solo ride. And if you can get past that, maybe the club riders will be able to experience another type of cycling fun. That's really what I like. Is having fun on bikes. Going to work by bike... is fun. Going on a group ride... is fun. So is racing. So is riding at the skatepark. So is hitting the jumps and trails. And so are alleycats. So what am I saying? Show up for an alleycat sometime. You don't need a special bike. You may like it too.

Cipollini turns down offer of spot on Rochester Flyers for Rock Racing

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 08:28:52 +0000

I just couldn't come up with the funds to get "Super Mario" to join Rochester Flyers, and He decided to take a spot on Rock Racing to pay off back taxes. Link (You'll have to scroll down for the story) Well Mario, if you change your mind we'll always have a spot for you.

Rochester Flyers not chosen to race in the Tour of California

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 13:36:27 +0000

That's right, Rochester Flyers will not be racing with CSC, Rock Racing and Astana next month in the Tour of California. I guess I'm O.K. with that as I havn't secured enough riders to actually make a team. Oh well, maybe next year. If only I can convience Jan and Mario to come out of retirement and race with me. Then I think we'd stand a chance.

Training Camp

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 13:13:17 +0000

Anyone interested in doing a spring training camp? Well not a real training camp in some nice exotic place. But mainly just take a day off of work some Friday, and do some riding most of the day Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I'm serious. Maybe March 7, 8 and 9. (Edit-I'll have to figure another date, there are things that may be going on that I didn't take into consideration) Probabbly something like 50 miles in the morning on Friday. Go home for lunch. Head back out after noon and try to get in another 60 before dinner. Go home eat and sleep. Get up early on Saturday and do another 60. Go home again for lunch. Head out again for yet another 60. Sleep. Meet Sunday afternoon for a 30-40 mile ride with some intervals thrown in for intensity. Close to 300 miles of riding in 3 days. I'm sure we can find some decent routes around Rochester, so we don't have to travel. Let me know if you want to.

Anyone else tired of winter yet?

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 11:17:08 +0000

So the thrill of playing with the new Christmas toys is winding down. Going to the gym to workout, and indoor sessions on the trainer or rollers is getting boring again. And everytime I try to go for a run my knee hurts. When is winter gonna end? I know it's really not good, but sometimes I want global warming. It's snowing today. Got to ride in to work in it. I don't know. It's not bad, but I don't get as big a kick out of it as some riders do. I started off going down a busier street in the right wheel track for the most traction, but couldn't go very fast as snow was pelting my eyeballs. So I took the back streets. Not any better as they wern't plowed, and auto tires compress the snow into little ruts that want to steer your bike for you. The return trip home will probabbly be worse. Whatever. At least I'm not letting it stop me right? Don't think I'll get to ride outside this weekend. Forcast says high of -3 on Saturday and +1 on Sunday. If it was above 10 or so, I'd consider it. But an hour in single digit temps is not so fun. I have been able to use the heart rate monitor while riding the Expresso bike fairly easily. Takes a little more effort to be able to see the screen. Usually now I just let it sit in one of the bottle holder trays, and reach down and pick it up every once in a while. Yesterday's goal was to ride for about half an hour in Zone 4 (80-90% of heart rate reserve). Goal accomplished. See the graph: I know, I know. You are probabble thinking "Half an hour? That's nothing. I do three hour rides on my trainer all the time. Wuss!" Yeah well, bite it. I got my plan. And the leprechaun aint sayin' to ride no three hours. He did tell me to pretend the elevator button gave me a shock every time I press it though.

Spinning the platform pedals

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:16:09 +0000

It looks like choice of pedals may be the hot topic right now. I think I read on some message board about riders using platforms (BMX style platform pedals) and the reasoning. Somehow that led me to this article that prooved to be a good read, and makes me feel better about using my commuter with platforms to train on once in a while. Now Blue Collar Mountainbiking posts about how there seem to be more and more platforms showing up on trails and blogs. I don't think I'll be like the Rivendell guys and completely switch, as I can tell when I do use platforms that I do "pull-up" fairly often when riding. It's mainly pulling away from stops and climbing, but there are times when I find I also "pull back" at the bottom of the pedal stroke. For winter riding, as I don't have the luxery to afford winter specific cycling shoes and my regular cycling shoes fit snug making them colder when it's freezing, I use street shoes (or snowmobile/pak boots for extremes) to ride in and keep my feet warm. I tried using clips and straps, but even that cuts the circulation enough to make toecicles of my tender piggies. Now maybe I'll get another pair for my orange fixed to actually train on. ps. There's a whole Flickr group for flat pedal fixedgear bikes.

Rochester Bicycling & Garmin Edge Workouts

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 10:36:29 +0000

Bicycling in Rochester should be awesome. But I think it's not. Really, it could use improvement. This weekend, it was still warmer than usual, and I wanted to get out and ride. I'm attempting to follow some sort of magic periodization plan that a leprechaun wrote down on a magic soiled chamois. So this week (and the next couple of weeks) I'll be working on mainly base building. Not the traditional base building of 4 hour, low intensity rides everyday for 8 weeks. What I'm doing is a little more modified, placing a set amount of time in each training zone. So Saturday morning I wanted to get in about an hour at Zone 2 (60-70% of heart rate reserve). Using the new toy, mounted on the commuter bike, I figured I could toodle around on the city bike paths. I choose to do a route that was about 12 miles. Not far but, I figured if I needed more distance, I could just ride some other trails or roads to make up the time. Here's a map of the route taken from the toy. Now, I'm toodling along. I approach the 16th Street SE underpass, and what do i see? Well I guess they don't clear the path past that point. Well I continue on riding over the hard, snow, ice, bumpy mix of crappy bike path. Of course attempting to ride this terrain on the 700x35c hybrid tires, with a fixed gear at 42x16 ratio brings my heart rate mostly into Zone 3, just to keep moving foward. Oh well, when I reach the end of the path, I decide to jump on the road to get back to the point on the trail where it's plowed. My point is that they should consider plowing all the paths in town. I specifically choose to ride the paths, insted of the road, because I wanted to go at an easy pace away from traffic. Had I been interested in doing more intensity and speed, I would have ridden on the road. But now I'll have to consider using the roads for even these type of rides. Now that you know that I think the city should plow all the bike paths just so I can ride them intermittently, I'll proceed on to complain about the Garmin Edge's workout feature. The workout function is accessed after turnung on the unit, allowing it to sync up to the satalittes, then hitting mode to get to the main menu, selecting training, then selecting workouts, then advanced, and then the workout you want to do. These are workouts that came stock, or were uploaded/created using the Garmin Training Center software that comes with the unit. I choose a workout I created consisting of 10 minutes at Zone 1, then 50 minutes at Zone 2, and finishing at 10 minutes at Zone 1 again. Simple. Warm-up, workout, and cool-down. So you choose the workout and press "Enter." The screen pops up with the choice to do, edit or delete the workout. Choose do and press enter. The workout screen shows up, but doesn't actually start the workout till you pressthe start/stop button. That's cool. Once going it alerts you if you're going to hard and the countdown timer shows how long (or how far) to the next workout change. Neat. The alert tones could be louder, as portions of the trail are close to busy roads and I could barely hear the unit bleeping at me when I was overworking. The main complaint I have is at the end of the workout. Unless I'm wrong, the recording timer just stops when the workout is done. I still had a couple of miles to go before I got home, when the workout had finished. I scrolled to the bike computer screen and noticed that the timer wasn't going so I hit start/stop to get it going again. Not hard, but aggrivating. And I may not have noticed till I had gotten home, and would be missing the last couple of miles of my ride in my training log. I'll have to play with the workout feature somemore, maybe doing intervals and sprints to really decide if the feature is of any value or not. And to double check that the timer stops when the workout stops, and if so that's pretty irritating. Oh, here's a graph of the workout: you can see where my heart rate spikes up from below Zone 1, to Zone 2. Then again when I reached the unplowed portion of the bike trail.

Sorry

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:27:16 +0000

I have to appologise for yesterdays post. After reading it again this morning, I relaized, there was no information, no point, and just had some useless data. Basicly, about 10 paragraphs of garbage. Not that my normal posts are wonderful esseys on life and all that is bicycle, but yesterday's was especially crappy. And I didn't even touch upon the fact that after a half an hour on the treadmill, my knee bothered me so much that I didn't do any real activity through the next day.

Crosstraining

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 10:25:23 +0000

I'm a cyclist. I admit it. I'd rather ride a bike more than almost any other activity. In fact I get a little blue when I'm not able to ride. Especially if it lasts more than a couple of days. (and of course I don't really count the mile and a half commute as riding time, though I enjoy that too.) I told you about the Expresso bikes I've been riding during some of my gym sessions. Well yesterday I planned to go and ride one for 30 to 45 minutes. An average workout, as even with the interactivity, I can't do more than that. I thought I'd take the new toy with me just to monitor my heart rate and get how much time I spend in each workout zone, etc. I wasn't sure how I'd carry/mount/use the unit as it's not a wristwatch type unit like my old Polar Accurex. This is a bike specific unit, ment to be mounted on the stem (or handlebars) of my bicycle, not a club bike. One workaround is to just place the unit in the bottle holder tray below the handlebar section. That would work. But after thinkiing about it, I thought I need a way to carry the unit with me for other activities to. Activities like running, hiking and skatejoring (basicly, just having my dog pull me around on my skateboard). A couple years ago, I got a couple of neoprene iPod sport carrying cases. One is a waist belt style, the other is for the upper arm band type. But I almost never used either one as I just can't run with music. I love music, but I get distracted if I try to use the iPod while doing any type of workout. So the Garmin Edge fits nicely into the cases, though I loose the ability to access the buttons or view the screen while it's in there. Not too big a deal, maybe I'll find something else that I can use later. So anyway, I placed the unit in the arm band case and went to get on one of the bikes. I guess I'm not the only one who like those bikes and they were all taken. What to do, what to do? I dont' want to do strength training as I did that yesterday and wanted to give the guns a rest. Hmm... I decided to hit the treadmill. Bet ya didn't think I was a runner huh. Well actually I'm not. But I run. Not all the time, but in any given month, I'll go out 2 to 6 times for a run. It's a decent workout. If I do it outdoors, I can take the dog and keep her fit too. And to be honest, I can stand running in one place on a tread mill more than I can stand rding in one place on the trainer. Here's the heart rate graph of my treadmill workout. You can see I spent most of my time at above 80% of my max heart rate. you can also see the fluctuations in intensity, as I did a programmed workout which varied the incline. These next graphs are to compare yesterdays run vs. Sundays ride as far as time spent in each heart rate zone. Here's the treadmill run: Here's Sundays ride: From this I can tell that it's easier for me to skip over Zone3 while running than riding. Maybe I'm missing it but I could use instead of time per zone, a percent in zone graph. SportTracks gives you the data, but not in graph form. Zone Time Distance Percent Avg. HR Zone 1 /

2008 Race Schedule

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 11:41:27 +0000

Rochester Flyers 2008 Race Schedule (archive) This page is actually all messed up. Some races have changed. Some priorities have changed. I'll update it soon. Just be patient. Date Race Location Description Result 4/12 Oxbow Classic Byron A gravel spring classic road race Cancelled 4/26 Ken Woods Memorial Road Race Sogn Valley (ROY) - race flyer 8th Men 35+ 3/4 5/17 Almanzo 100 Rochester non-USCF gravel road race 1st Fixed / 8th Overall 7/4 Northfield Criterium Northfield (ROY) - race flyer 7/27 State Criterium Championship St. Paul 8/?-? RASC Fall Time Trial Series Rochester Local TT Series 8/23 State Road Race Championships Albany ROY = Rider of the Year event Great Deals On Cycle Clothing & Gear At Probikekit.Com

Almanzo 100 Registration open

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 10:41:57 +0000

For anyone interested in riding gravel roads from Rochester to Mankato, on May 17, you should break out the postcard and pen, and mail your info in. Complete instruction can be read here: Almanzo 100 Registration. I'm still undecided about doing it. It's not the entry fee, it's free. It's not the date, so far the MCF calender is open on that date. It's not the orginzation, or set up. I know the guy that's putting it on and he's a good guy. My hesitation comes from not knowing if I want to subject myself to 7 to 11 hours of brutal butt numbing gravel race action early in the race season. My only hope is that if i decide to do it, it won't be filled up already. I don't want to be a jerk and register, then drop and not do it. Update: Race finished.

Bicycle haiku

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 11:12:57 +0000

Mind wanders, not on work dream of spinning pedals fast is it quitting time?

Short Ride

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 10:46:29 +0000

The weather has been great the last couple of days. Temps in the low to mid thirties. That may sound cold to you who are not in Minnesota. But for those of us here, we know that it's not gonna last, so it's best to just get on the bike and enjoy it. But living in the real world, with a real family, a real house, and a real job (no, they don't pay me to post on this site), things come up that become much more important than riding. Let's just say that some outside creatures needed to be removed from the inside, preferably, by means of death. Once these creatures were removed, (there better not be anymore) everything that may have been touched by, brethed upon, or looked at by the vile beasts, needed to be disposed of or sanitized. So the majority of my weekend was spent with my hand in a bucket of bleach. I did happen to get out yesterday afternoon for a quick spin. It was only an hour, but it fit in my training schedule nicely. According to the new toy I spent >55% of the ride between 80-90% of my max heart rate, which ends up being 36 minutes. The ride was a straight out and back ride. So riding out was with the wind, riding back was into the wind. What's really interesting is that you can graph the difference between average speed for each split (out & back) vs. the complete ride. My out avg was exactly .12 mph faster than my total average, and my back was exactly .12 mph slower. My average heart rate coming back was only 2 bpm faster (negligible), but the power average was about 20 watts less. Strange. But I'm not clear on how the GPS2PowerTrack plugin for SportTracks works, or how accurate it is. Oh well. Overall, it was a nice ride. It cleared my head for a little.

RouteSlip.com has been bought by MapMyFitness.

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 15:08:47 +0000

I hadn't used RouteSlip for quite a while, in favor of MapMyRide (part of the MapMyFitness group of sites). I felt bad that I wasn't supporting the little guy, but there were features that seemed to work better on MapMyRide. Today I wanted to see if there was a route I knew I plotted at one time on RouteSlip, then checked the RouteSlip Blog, and saw the notice about the buyout. Ryan Huff, the founder of RouteSlip, had been working hard getting RouteSlip to where it is. I only hope that he was paid well for this, and that he is able to continue to give input on it's future. The founders of MapMyFitness share my excitement for riding and my commitment to the cycling community. MapMyFitness has a staff of full-time developers and sales reps, and the management team is doing a great job building the infrastructure for a sustainable business. Moreover, I will become a member of the MapMyFitness technical steering committee, helping generate ideas and implement new features. I’ve received a lot of flattering emails from people about RouteSlip.com, and I’m looking forward to working with the MapMyFitness team to develop unique features for users. That said, MapMyRide is a great tool for mapping out rides, and interfacing (uploading and downloading routes) with GPS units.

Stuperbowl XI registration open

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 12:02:55 +0000

I've put off doing this last year in attempting to get the messenger thing started. This year the only excuse is fear. So I'm still not sure if I'll be there. I'm not much of a party person, and I'm extremly anti-social, so all the aside stuff doesn't really interest me. If you want to pre-reg for it, visit stuporbowlmpls.com.Once again, the Minneapolis Bicycle Messengers are at it again, organizing the 11th Annual Stupor Bowl alleycat to be held in our fair city on the 1st and 2nd of February, 2008. Last year, depite the starting temprature -2 F, over 300 people braved the cold to race in what has turned into one of North America’s biggest and longest running alleycat races.

Cranked Mag is dead! Long live CrankedMag.com!

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 13:22:22 +0000

Looks like Cranked Mag will not have an issue #6. Another case of the cycling community not really able to support a great idea. Sounds familier. It really sucks that we won't be seeing more of this 'zine. But the good news is that the man behind Cranked Mag has found himself wrenching bikes and enjoying doing it. While Cranked Mag is dead, CrankedMag.com will continue. ...keep tuned into crankedmag.com and enjoy my random posts and my own brand of cycling editorial. Long Live CrankedMag.com!

Happy new year & welcome back

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 10:11:18 +0000

Yeah, I took a little break from posting so I could spend time with the fam, play with new toys, and do a little real world work. I know, I know... no fun for you. Well I guess it sucks to be you. But before you get all offended by that statement and send me angry notes in the contact form, know that I do love you and still want you as a friend. Wanna go for a ride on Saturday? It's supposed to get up to 30° or more. UrbanVelo issue 5 is available. Looks like I got some new reading material to browse. Download it by following this link. Looks like some good stuff. I'm interested in the article about riding in Japan. Contents include: The Dirty Dozen, Pedicabs After Dark, American Bike Punks in Tokyo, Techno Crashing, Faber’s Cyclery is Closed, Melburn-Roobaix, Residue & No Exit comics, how to adjust your rear derailleur and install that all-important front brake, plus reader-submitted photography from China, England, New York City and more.-UrbanVelo.org Garmin Edge 305CAD+HR I got a new toy for Christmas and I'll be posting a review of it later this month, as well as a followup to the Cyclistats impression, and reviews of other cycling/training log software. But my initial impression of this little GPS enabled cyclocomputer is that it's a pretty cool unit. I haven't used it with the cadence/speed sensor yet. But the ability to see (graphicly) how fast, and what your heart rate is during a ride (or even for a specific point in a ride) is very cool. Now if only I can transfer that info to quality training time. Riding to train vs. riding for fun Of course that brings me to this. I love to ride. Ride in the city, ride in the country, ride on the bike paths, ride in traffic, ride at the skatepark. Some I like to do more than others, but I just love to ride. I do like to train, too. Training to me is preparing to ride longer and harder (snicker-snicker). But I can get too serious about it and it becomes a chore. There's a fine line from dedication of sport to taking it too serious and forgetting to have fun. Tools like training logs, heart-rate monitors and cyclecomputers make it easy to see what's going on with your training. But they also allow you (well ok, me as I can only really speak for myself here), to become a slave to your training schedule. What I'm trying to say (mostly to myself) is that it's all good to get more focused on training and racing, but keep in mind that you should still attempt to keep cycling fun. Don't allow it to be a chore. And if it seems to become so, take a day off and do something else. Peace-out! and hope 2008 starts off awesome for you.

A special message from Rochester Flyers

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 08:00:00 +0000

I think this guy is onto something here

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 16:00:45 +0000

Follow this link. But of course what do I know. I don't race cross. (yet) Let alone have a cross bike.

Care Package

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 13:09:58 +0000

I forgot to thank Susie D. Nimmety for the care package. Rad stuff I got back in November.

Happy winter solstice

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 09:34:00 +0000

Yee-haw! Bicycle commuters all over the northern hemisphere (as well as those who suffer from S.A.D.) are rejoycing because the days will start getting longer.

Tailwind Sports (ex Team Discovery Channel) eBay auction update

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 09:15:00 +0000

This is an update to: this post. Surprise, surprise, surprise! Z-E-R-O, zero, zip, nada, goose-egg, not one bid for the overpriced team discovery channel bikes. Heh-heh. If you're gonna have a garage sale, price the items to go. Start the bids at a buck and let them go. Forget about thinking they are collectors items. Cause collectors items are only worth what people are willing to pay for them. Remember beanie babies? For a year or two, people were paying $50 (pronounced fitty buks) for a freakin' plush toy. Now people can't barely give 'em away at garage sales. Same with these bikes. Used bikes, race abused, look pretty, but the steerer tube could break off, are only worth a fraction what you can get an off the shelf bike. And that's the truth. Face it, everyone knows that the bikes were free. Can you say sponsorship. So to sell them for more than retail is a rip off. A long time ago, (in a galaxy far, far, away), I had a frame sponsor for mountain bike racing. No contract, just a verbal aggreement that I would race on the frame given to me. I think I did a season or two on it before moving to this lovely town. After moving here, I realized I wasn't gonna race bikes for a while and the mountain bike was just taking up space in our apartment. And I had some bills to pay. So I sold it. Complete bike, with a bunch of extras, for $900. I didn't think I was ripping anyone off. My friend buying it didn't think he was getting ripped off. But man I got heat at the shop for that sale. Now I don't know if they were serious or not (I'd like to think not), but it was still heat I'd rather not have gotten. And I wasn't charging 10-grand for a bike that's maybe worth 4. And I still think it's pretty gross to bid on a smelly helmet.

'08 Race Calender - Ken Woods Memorial Road Race April 26 / R.O.Y.

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 12:33:09 +0000

The third race on the 2008 Rochester Flyers potential calender is the first Rider of the Year(R.O.Y.) race of the year. I'll really have to figure out what cat & age group I want to race by then if I want to compete in the R.O.Y. series. The course is a 21 mile loop over rolling hills, the biggest a mile before the start/finish line. Ken Woods Memorial Road Race CourseFind more Bike Rides in Cannon Falls, Minnesota Maybe a couple weeks prior I'll do a recon ride of the course, just so I know what to expect. Being a R.O.Y. race, this one has a higher priority that Durand. So if I can only do 2 race in April (which is more than likely), I'll do this one and the Oxbow Classic. Update: Race Report. Links: Flyer Website

Race Report: Oxbow Classic 2006

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 12:31:18 +0000

Gotta love the internet wayback machine for finding things you thought were gone forever. The following is a reposting of the race report for the 2006 Oxbow Classic. Monday, April 17, 2006 Oxbow Spring Classic Gunnar Soroos got the better of all other C race favourites at the spring classic (dirt/gravel road) race: After an unplanned gap opened at the right moment, Gunnar beat the other favourites in one impressive time trial effort. -Tounge in cheek. In my first race in 9 years (not counting alley cats) , I was pretty nervous about racing. Part of it was my ablilities (since moving to the area I've gone on maybe 3 or 4 of the local group rides, always getting shelled off the back and never feeling confident of being able to hang in a race), plus questions about the age and condition of my racing equipment, added to just normal racing jitters. It was so bad that I was ten years off in filling in my age on the one-day liscence/entry form. Yes... I wrote in 26 instead of 36 as his racing age for 2006. Hah. And it took me about 10 minutes to pin on the race number. But everything got done. I did a quick spin to loosen up my legs, riding out and up the "killer" hill about 3 miles in from the start. Some riders were flying up the hill, I guess wanting to really get the blood flowing. Not me. I tend to not want to tax myself prior to an event (unless it's an actual time trial), I'll loosen up, but actually find my legs and warm up in the race. Speaking about warming up, I really don't understand using a trainer to warm up for a road race. Again, I understand for a time trial, and even for a crit, to maybe target a certain percent of max for a certain amount of time as a warm up. But for a regular road race, just ride down the road. Uh... whatever. Maybe I'll show up at the next alleycat with a wind trainer to warm up on. Heh-heh. Anyway, I loosened up. Then I found out that the finish line would actually be at the top of the "killer" climb. Meaning that riders will ride the climb one time more than the amount of laps thier race was doing. In my case it was twice. It also ment that if the family wanted to see the finish, they would have to be at the top of the climb. So I tried my best to explain where it was, while manouvering the van out of the parking lot. I then waited (ten minutes) for the start. The official for my race said that there would be a KOM (King of the Mountain) prime of $25 on the first climb (obviously the KOM on the final climb is the winner). My original plan was to stay in a group, near the front, try to control the pace, and make a move late in the race. Remember, I really have no idea of what kind of shape other riders are in, plus not sure where my fitness falls in compareison to them. I mean I felt stronger than in the same time of year last year, but what that ment, I wasn't to sure. Well just before the start I decided that if I was with the leaders at the climb, I'd at least go for the prime. Then no matter where I placed, I almost paid for my entry fee. So the race starts, we're rolling along easily enough. I find myself pulling a group of eight or so riders along. Ugh... Heck if I'm gonna pull you guys only to get dropped at the halfway mark. I do the elbow notification to get the next guy to pull through. It took a couple of tries to get him to go, but it worked. Mind you it's not like we're flying along or anything, but I'm still not gonna pull the train by myself. And this is just the first two or so miles. We approach the hill and I'm near the front of the group with about four riders around me. You hear all kinds of gears being shifted and we start going up. Now this "killer" hill is not very long, maybe a little over 200 yards. But it's steep. And it's rough and loose, though it's "paved". The best way to do it, is to get into an easy but comfortable gear while standing and just grind it up. Two riders drop, while I am just marking a rider with a Bianchi/Grand Performance jersey on. I figure that if I stay with him, I can jump ahead and take the KOM, pull for a bit and get him to pull through. We're pulling when I see/hear my girls, they're yelling "Go - papa -go! Go - papa -go!" So I take that as my cue to jump. I get the KOM, and keep the pace up, but not hard. I look to the left for the guys shadow........ and I don't see it. Hmm.... Then I just figure, I'd keep the pace up so he/they have to work to catch me. I'm pushing along, the wind is at my back, so I'm mindfull not to expend it all now, as I'll have to go into it soon enough. I'm thinking it's still to early to get away.. Like I said... I don't know how strong these others are, or myself. So I'm just putting a good (by good I mean fairly hard, but not too hard) tempo. There are riders from the B race that I'm catching up to. I figure that's a good sign. They can be used to block for me. I pass a couple, then there seemed to be a guy that's trying to bridge a gap solo. I get on his wheel for a moment. I just want to catch my breath. Then I pull through. But not too hard that I'm trying to drop him. Here's the thing. You're not supposed to work with riders racing in a seperate class (or lapped riders). You can get a DQ for doing so. But not all officials make the call the same. And what's to say that I just happen to let off the pace to catch my breath at the same time that the other rider want's to kinda pull ahead. But anyway, the official told me not to work with this other rider. So I pull ahead. I make the transisition to the first real pavement streatch, and see other packs of riders to try to bridge up to. Just before we turn onto a section that runs on a bike path, I contact a group of two riders trying to catch a rider that has a slight gap on them. The trail is somewhat narrow, and the officials truck can't go on the path, so I use it as another oppourtunity to catch my breath for a second. I announce that I'm pulling through, and try to be encourging by saying come-on you can catch that guy as I pass. I make it up to the next rider, and pass him too. The rest of the race is more of this catching B racers, passing them and stuff. I do get reminded to not work with other class racers as a rider and I are climbing up this one section of road. Again, all I'm really doing is trying to catch my breath a second, and would've probably done so even if I didn't catch the rider. But it make's it just a little more convient to catch a little draft for a hundred feet or so. As we get inside the last six or so miles, just before the last paved section, I'm catching larger packs of riders. One pack I could tell the guy pulling on the front was loooking to jump on my wheel as I came around. (again I pulled up behind the pack, drafted for 10 seconds or so and pulled through). As I passed I said I couldn't work with him, that I was in the C race. He then gave up trying to get my wheel. I got on the pavement, and tried to use the corner to see if I could see any of my chasers. No dice, so i just used the pavement to build some speed. Then it's back to the gravel roads for a slight rise for a bit, a downhill section, a bit of flat and then the "killer" climb for the finish. Once off the last pavment section, I'm feeling like I can win, but nothing can go wrong and I have to keep the power on up the clinb. The downhill section starts off as a gradual downhill with a right hand turn. I must have bumped my frame pump with my knee, as it popped out at the seat tube. Luckily it's strapped near the head tube, so it doesn't fall off. But I'm like what the hay is that about. Pop it back on, only to have it pop out again on the more downhill section. I reach the climb feeling good. I get into a good gear and start honking up. Sometimes when I'm going near all out, I'll breath kinda like I'm in labor. Focusing on the exhales, and really pushing out the whole breath on every third of fourth one. See you can't just cross the line like you're dead, as a winner you have to cross with conviction. At least that what I see when watching the euro-pros on TV. So recap- it was baisicly a 3 mile race with a 14 mile time trial afterwards. It was fun, but more like a mountain bike race, in that I didn't have anyone to work with or pace off of. Sandbagging Sandbaggers I couldn't help but somewhat feel like a sandbagger. Wife, organizer, and shop guys told me (reassuringly) that I had no way of knowing what to expect. Here's the thing. If I race more this year, I'll have to try to do B races. Or do time trials. The race of trueth gives a good indication of how strong you are compared to everyone. One distance, everyone against the clock. See with a race like this (the spring classic) there's always the question of "well, where would I have been in the B race? Especially since it would have been twice as long, with three times up the hill." Ah well......... at least for now, I'll bask in the glow of victory. Not. Results From CyclingNews.comMens C 1 Gunnar Soroos 2 Rick Fuentes 3 Eric Lanners 4 Elliot Wrenn 5 David Hallaway 6 Todd Trembley 7 Greg Bond 8 Michael Halasy 9 Ron Kapaua 10 Paul Cox 11 Philip Nelson 12 Alan Styndl 13 Craig Swanson

Specialized 2D helmet recalled for failing CPSC testing

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 09:21:22 +0000

Just passing along the news. Click this link. That's the news part of this. Now for my opinion. I think that Specialized should have better product testing in place so that they do not sell 3,000 units of $200 helmets that don't meet the CPSC requirement. I'm not sure what the CPSC testing is, but I'm pretty sure that it would be easier to pass than ANSI or Snell. The thing about recalls is that not everyone returns thier product. So say they take 1/2 back. They still sold $300,000 worth of helmets. Hmmm. 300 grand. I don't know. It just seems like the care should be on the front end, for a product like a helmet.

Heart Rate worksheet

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:28:52 +0000

The attached .xls file (Excel worksheet) can be used to figure out training zones for heart rate monitor workouts. You can download the file by right clicking the link and choosing to download to your computer, or if you have the Excel plug in, you can open it by just clicking on the link. Heart Rate Worksheet - .xls, 17k After opening the file, enter your age, resting heart rate and max heart rate (if known, otherwise use the default values). The worksheet will figure out the rest for you. Any problems? Too bad! Nah, just post a comment here and I'll see if I can address it. Eventually I'll make a Flash tool posted here. Till then enjoy this worksheet.

'08 Race Calender - Durand Road Race - April 19

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:14:32 +0000

So the next potential race for me in '08 is the Durand Road race, on April 19. Not much to say. 13 mile loops. Last year cat3/4 did 4 laps, as did the men35+. Cat4/5 did 2. I'm guessing that even if I cat-down, I should do a 4 lap race. Here's a map of the course: Durand Road Race CourseFind more Bike Rides in Durand, Wisconsin I've never done it before, so I have no idea what to expect if I do it. Also it's not a USCF race (it's sanctioned by American Bicycle Racing). They use the same breakdown to class riders (if you're USCF cat3 then you still race cat3 with them), but I don't think you get upgrade points. If that matters to you.

Setting the '08 race calender - First Race

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 12:00:41 +0000

Here's something that racers do in the off season. Mark their calenders up with races they want to do the next year. Here's the start of mine. This isn't taking into account family obligations or budget yet. It's just races, and approxomate dates of, that I'd like to attend. I'm no pro, with no sponsorship obligations, so this is problbly not gonna be set, at least not yet. The first race of the year looks to be the Oxbow Classic. April 12, 2008. Right here in our neighborhood. A little under 40 miles of gravel road goodness. If the weather is nice, as it was the last (and only) time I did it, you can do it with a road bike and 23c tires. Just like the pros in Paris-Roubaix. But if it's wet, raining or thawing, I may have to see if I can borrow a cross or mountain bike. Gonna do the "B" race this time. 2 laps of 17 miles each. It'll be a good test of where I'm at, training wise. Here's a map of the course:Oxbow Classic Race CourseFind more Bike Rides in Byron, Minnesota If you follow the link to MapMyRide and view the elevation, you'll notice if that there's a pretty steep climb just after the 2 mile mark, and again just before the finish. That's the famous 'Oxenberg' (or is it Oxenburg?) climb. It's a short lung burster of a climb, on a small stretch of pavement, that is full of little pot holes and loose peices of broken pavement. It is wrth checking out the climb before the race and make a plan for getting up.

Stupid candy machine in the lunch lounge wouldn't take my money

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 16:26:04 +0000

I didn't need those M&M's anyway. ..Errr...

Tailwind Sports (ex Team Discovery Channel) is auctioning off team bikes

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:15:27 +0000

Check it out here. I got this from Cyclelicious. The bikes are over priced, as they are selling them as collectors items. Up to 12 grand for a "2007 TEAM-ISSUED, RACE-RIDDEN TREK MADONE 6.9 BIKE". Used to be you could get a bargin for team bikes at the end of a season cause you had no idea how much it was ridden, raced, crashed or abused. Now make it a "rare opportunity to own an official piece of cycling history" and you can actually make money from junk that needs to be cleared out of the garage anyway. Seriously, I hope no one bids on these. But I doubt that'll happen. People are already bidding on the stinky used TT helmets. Eeewww, gross. This post has been updated: here.

Salsa is once again asking for our opinion

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 12:19:00 +0000

This time on integrated seat masts and press in bottom brackets. Click the link and post your thoughts. I will too.

Not much happening this week

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 11:24:30 +0000

Put these pedals on my commuter last week. On track with training. Going to the gym for strength training and expresso bike sessions. Gonna try to up the average watts and time ridden each week. And I'd like to keep an outdoor ride (besides commuting) at least once a week. My heart rate monitor is on the kapluey. What do I expect for a piece of small electronics from the mid 90's. I try to use it at the gym and it dies on me everytime. It's only use now is to record resting heart rate at bedtime, which last night was 45. I hadn't check it in a while, in the summer, around the time of the RASC time trials, I would see it as low as 43. Speaking of heart rate monitors. I think I'll make either an Ajax or Flash app that will calculate your heart rate workload percentages just by entering a few numbers. I already have it in an Excel worksheet, so all the logic is pretty much done. Just gotta build the app. Racing is gonna be expensive. USA cycling license is $60. Add another $30 if I'm gonna race mountain bikes too. Race entry fees vary, but if they average about $20 and I do 2 races a month in April, June, July and August, it's $160. Plus I think May has a bunch of races (if I want to attempt to compete for R.O.Y. Not that I'm up to snuff, but who knows), so probably another $80 that month. I think we're at $300. Just for entry fees and license. Travel expenses I'm guessing to be another $300-400 at least. If I drag the family and saty overnight at a motel or something it'll be even more. Then there's equipment. In racing, things break, wear out, and sometimes just dissappear. Tires? $100. Chain? $20-30. Lube? Cleats? Shoes? Bar Wrap? Inner tubes? I'm not sure what to budget for this. Of course this stuff happens in regular riding and training. But racing really acceelerates the process. And you need to watch that you replace things before they need to. Otherwise it'll break or fall off in a race. Now I'm just wondering how I'm gonna pay for this.

You should be careful of what you say, and what you mean

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 09:20:24 +0000

So Ex-mayor Paul Soglin says he was being lighthearted, topical and these people need to get a sense of humor."Some people have no sense of humor, " he said Thursday, as the number of hits on the blog, and on him, continued to climb. - WI State Journal The problem is'nt really that he thinks that those riders were stupid, shouldn't have been on the road and that he shouldn't be inconvienced by mopeds and cyclists on the streets. That's actually OK to have those views. I don't agree and would hope he could change to understand. The problem is that he's advocating violent death (in jest?) against people for doing something he considers stupid. If he would have said that about any race, sexual oreintation, gender or religous group, he would be labeled a bigot. Think about it. What if he said "Any homosexual engaging in unprotected sex should be taken out and shot." Or "Women who engage in sex for money to support a drug habit should be disposed of." Or "Jewish people who can't be used for labor should be exterminated." It's just a step away from words to actions. He goes back to the fact that he considers himself a cyclist.As a bicyclist myself, I hold us to higher standards than that. We are supposed to be more rational, more sane, smarter and better looking, - WI State Journal I am always one to say that anyone who rides a bike is a cyclist. But he must view cycling as only an activity, or only a sport. For many people it is basic transportation. It's how to get from A to B, independently. For others it's a way of life. Of course I still think Cyclelicious is right that it's really just link bait to increase readership to his blog.Some savvy bloggers suggested the comment was "link-bait, " and the traffic was up, Orton confirmed. There were 1,600 hits by noon Thursday. - WI State Journal I wonder what the League of American Bicyclists will think?

Buy my shirt!

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 11:46:54 +0000

This is my attempt at capitalisim. Though I'm not making any money on the deal. But hey, it's still promotion of... ... me. This shirt would make a great Christmas gift. Buy it. Enjoy it. Give it away. And if you didn't know, It's based on a graphic I designed.

Another bit of anti-cyclist rhetoric

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 09:44:21 +0000

From an ex-mayor of a city that is very pro bike no less. It's comes to me curtesy of Cyclelicious. Ex-mayor Paul Soglin begins the meat of his post with the statement that he rides a bike and will defend cyclists, blah-blah-blah. So someone close to me pointed out that when they have a pre-qualifier, it is just ment to ease the shock of what they really mean, which is what comes after the qualifer. And here's what comes next.The bicyclists who braved the week's second storm should be taken out and shot. Spare them and the poor driver, when they skid on treacherous streets and slide under the wheels of a truck delivering fresh vegetables. The reason? He saw two incidents of a bicyclist riding in the storm on two different streets. Especially since he saw crews plowing a bike path off a different street. Now I don't know. Even if the riders were doing something stupid, is it against the law to be stupid? Unless the action itself is against the law, no. Another thing. There are people (more and more lately) whose means of transportation (all year long) is a bike. As a family of four, my family has one automobile. It's by choice, as I can't justify the added expense of extra insurance, fuel and maintenance for a second vehicle. And that's assuming I paid a lump sum of cash to purchase the vehicle. Anyway, we have only one. It's main purpose is to transport kids and wife to schools, groceries and errands. That leave me my bike to get to work daily. For me to get to where I need to go these days, I have the option of taking some side streets and a small section of bike path. This is fine during a storm, as I did that Monday morning and Tuesday night. However, the increased traffic on the main streets means that the days after, the main streets offer a better choice because there's less ice and packed snow/slush/snot/gunk. I take the lane and force cars to go around me. I'm sure some of them are angry because of the inconvience. When I worked at Ads & Art, there was very little bike path to be taken during the storms. So I rode on the roads. How else was I gonna get to work or home? So that's my point. Weather by choice or necessity a person should not be thought of as less-than because they are on a bike. Yes everyone needs to be extra cautious in the winter months. But to say that cyclists that ride when you wouldn't should be shot is insane. Maybe everyone who attempts to pilot 2 ton hunks of steel in a storm should be shot instead, as those land missles can to far more damage to a poeple and property than someone falling on a bike in the snow. Oh... I'm sure you can find Pauls blog with out my linking to it and increasing his page rank. (His post was probably link bait anyway)

Work to live, live to ride, ride to work

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 10:25:08 +0000

Work get in the way of riding. I started Rochester Flyers as a way to work and ride at the same time. A dream come true. But now the dream has died. Well actually it died a while ago. I'm over it though. Time to mourn has passed. But I still feel that work gets in the way of riding. But we need to work. Work pays the bills, pays for food, and sometimes there's a tiny bit left over to get bike stuff. Occasionally you get a day off with no obligations and you can go for a nice ride. The problem is that you don't have the endurance to ride all day cause you only get an hour (or two at the most) to ride and prepare for long distance riding. It's like a catch 22 deal. No time to ride means when you have time to ride, you phisically can't. Remember when Miguel Indurain was winning that race in France year after year? People thought it was boring cause his style was to kill the time trials and defend in the mountains. He only won two non-time trial stages in his 5 TDF wins. That really had nothing to do with anything. And really this post should be deleted cause I didn't really have anything to say. Maybe tonite I'll replace my clip and strap pedals with BMX platforms on my commuter bike. I don't really want to use clipless for a mile and a half ride to work. And cages just seem a little dicy for me on snow and ice. What do you recommend?

Send me your race (or ride) info

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 09:39:37 +0000

Send me info on your next alleycat, race, ride, event and I'll post it on these very pages where it will be read by me and the whole wide world. Send me link to your jpg or gif of the flyer and I'll post that too. As well as a link to your site, if you have one. What do I get out of it? The joy and satisifaction of spreading cycle racing love around the world. So just use the contact form to get me the info. DO IT NOW!

Classic commentary on why you should only read bike reviews for entertainment

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:41:27 +0000

BikeSnob. For what it's worth, I think I read both articles, but only got a couple answers right.

Links Page

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:29:25 +0000

Just wanted to draw your attention to the new Links page. Accessable through the top menu button, it will be added to constantly. And let me know if you want your blog,company,website,whatever listed. And I'll try to keep it catagorized. But forget about any type or order.

Time to get serious about winter training

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 10:29:08 +0000

Seriously, serious. Well maybe not that serious. Gotta keep it fun too. Isn't that why we ride? But in an effort to get back into the roadie-cool-kids-club I'm getting my butt in gear. I still havn't decided what cat I'm gonna be, but no matter what, I wanna do my best. That means doing stuff in the winter, other than eating pork rinds, watching Lost and Heros, and thinking about why no one makes a hardtail, 29er, tight wheelbase mountain tandem with a suspension fork and the ability to use road tires for pavement pounding. So... ... I'm going to the gym. For strength training. But they also have these cool stationary bikes. Similar to spinners, but you can coast, and it's hooked up to a computer that allows you to race others next to you, against a computer pacer (at a set wattage) or a ghost (your best ride on a course). The computer screen shows you riding on the course, and resistance changes to simulate climbs. I'm suprised at how easy it is to get into. Not at all like trying to ride the trainer in the garage. The bikes are called Expresso, and they even have a site (Expresso.net) that allows you to monitor your use. Keeps track of time mileage, heart rate, and even power. Though i don't know how accurate the powermeter is. The plan is to strength train, ride the expresso bike and just keep on top of fitness. But I needed some base line info to see if I'm on track. Last night I went to the gym and they did a consultation to measure my VO2 max and body fat. Again, I don't know how accurate it was, but it gives me something to use as a base when I do it again in January or February. I'm not gonna bore you with the numbers (they're nothing great). But I'd encourage anyone who wants to be a little more serious about training to find out what your numbers are, and then use it to better plan your training.

Gunnar designed One Less Car shirt

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 09:28:55 +0000

Yup. Cole at One Less Car decided that my Crankarm image was good enough to make into a shirt. Check it out. One Less Car has supported alleycat races all over, including the past ('06) Labor Day Food Drive race. They activily support cycling, so if you need a shirt (or have a cyclist on your gift list to buy a shirt for) visit them and buy something.

Want to set up a cycle bingo race of your own?

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 11:07:00 +0000

For any one who wants to attempt to put on their own cycle bingo alleycat race, here are some tips and tools. You can make your own bingo cards and manifests, or you can download this one, fill in the grid, write in the checkpoint locations, and make a bunch of copies at the copy shop. I set mine up using random numbers. Column one is five random numbers between 1 and 10. To get a true random sequence is used the random sequence generator at random.org. You enter in your sequence boundries (1-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40 and 41-50) for each column, and hit 'Get Sequence.' I then placed the first five numbers in the sequence in the grid. Repeat for each column and as many cards you want. If you have volunteers to man checkpoints, they can stamp each riders card. If you don't have volunteers, you need a way to make sure riders actually travel to each location. I used sharpies of different colors for to write each number on a peice of paper. (ie: Green, red, blue and black) Riders then only have to record the color for each number on thier card. So if a rider has the number 25 on their card and they reach the checkpoint with 'green 25,' they record 'green' at the 25 spot on their card. That marks that spot. Five in a row is bingo. Doesn't matter what the colors are. The colors are only for verification. Again, if you have volunteers, they can just mark the riders card. I took the peices of paper to each location (checkpoint) and taped them up.

Rochester and Alleycats

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 09:33:07 +0000

Theres' no sense is spending too much time on this. I appreciate John and Ken attending the Cycle Bingo alleycat, and special thanks to the Mayor for being there and helping out in a bind. Here's the official map of the checkpoints: View Larger Map Other than that, there's really no sense in putting on events if the local community isn't interested. On a side note, if anyone wants a spokecard, just send me a self-addressed envelope (a little bigger than 4x6") with 2 stamps on it I'll get one out to you. I have extras to get rid of.

I wasn't gonna mention Buy Nothing Day, but...

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 09:41:28 +0000

Then I saw this on Swobos' How to Avoid the Bummer Life blog: My faith in Swobo not being just another hipster company has been renewed. I've been supporting Buy Nothing Day for the last couple of years, and think that you should too.

LLA 284

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 08:49:07 +0000

White American cargo or full size van. There was some sort of a sticker in the upper drivers side rear window. Going west 4th street SE just past the government center. I'm pretty much keeping up with traffic, less than two car lengths to the car in front of me (though it is growing a little). Van honks as we pass through the Broadway intersection. Then passes, but doesn't go into the left lane (I'm taking the center of the right lane), mearly gives barely the required 3 foot passing space. The honkinig doesn't really bother me. If your trying to let me know you're there, I already know. Did you know that motor vehicles are really pretty noisy on the outside. See, cars (and trucks, vans, etc) are built with sound deadening insulation so that you don't hear the engine and road noise. However, when you are outside of the vehicle, you can hear it pretty well. You hear tires rolling, engine revving, and sometimes you can hear the radio playing inside. Anyway, the honking doesn't bother me. But when you have the oppourtunity to pass as you would any other vehicle by changing lanes, but choose not to because I'm on a bicycle... that ticks me off. I appologize for waving at you like I did, and cursing. I think I may have over reacted. That was wrong of me. I was acting in anger at the stupidity of your action. There was a whole empty left lane that you could have used. And I wasn't going so slow that I was blocking traffic in any way. Again, I appologize for acting the way I did.

Bingo alleycat race preview

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 10:45:00 +0000

What you see is a snapshot of where the checks for the bicycle bingo alleycat will be. Looks like twenty stops all over town. Except for the northeast side. What's your stratagy gonna be? But don't get too locked into what you see, I could change it before Saturday. Side note. So far, the weather is looking good for Saturday. Maybe a little cold, but hopefully dry. And what you see above is the preview of the bingocard/manifest. You will receive these folded in half and are not to open them until the start of the race (when I say go). The matrix on the left will contain the numbers. The first column will be 1-10 in random order. Next column 11-20, next 21-30, etc. Again, there will be multiple cards available so you can purchase more than one. I'll try to give them out so that you will not get a duplicate if you purchase multiple.

Rochester, MN Cranksgiving 11/22/2008

Sun, 18 Nov 2007 06:23:00 +0000

That's right. 2008! I'm setting the date now and commiting to putting this on. This will take the place of the Labor Day Food Drive Alleycat that I put on in 2005 and 2006. Use the contact page if you are interested in sponsoring and/or volunteering to help with the event. I'm also looking to have it at noon, with an after party somewhere with live music and awards. Cranksgiving Rochester MN, November 22, 2008

And so it begins

Sat, 17 Nov 2007 08:58:48 +0000

I got up this morning and there was this white junk on the ground. Yup... Snow.

My view on the famous Norway bicycle lift

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 09:34:00 +0000

I really think it's cool. If we truely want more people on bikes out on the roads, then more things like this will be needed to be added to infrastructure. I think all to often cyclists here in the states think that other cyclists need to be like them. I've read on other blogs that this lift is for lazy people, it's dangerous. Huh? Come on. A person is out on a bike already. Then you're going to put them down and call them lazy for needing a lift up a steep hill. Sure you and I can ride up this hill. But if I'm gonna encourage my coworker to ride to work, but she's not a strong rider at all, and there's this hill in the route, what is she to do? Granted, I wouldn't use this. I like the challange of attempting to climb a hill. I also don't use the bus racks mounted on the front of the busses. I'd rather just ride the whole way. But for some people the option to be able to use these devices gets them out of thier cars and onto bikes. At least they're not using Segways.

Hey Dirt Rag, way to keep attempting to polarize cyclists against themselves

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:55:00 +0000

I noticed in my RSS reader that Dirt Rag had a new post on it's blog. Well what do I get? "I hate riding on the road." See for yourself by clicking this link. Ok, I realize he prefaces it with the obligatory "And to be clear, “hate” is too strong a word… “dislike” is probably more fitting." I'm not one to say what anyone rides and where is better or worse than another. It's just about getting out on two wheels and having fun. So why does Dirt Rag add to the fire that never dies by posting something like this. Remember when I said that sometimes Dirt Rag is like any other magazine. Consider this one of the times. Almost all the glossy mags have fueled this roadie vs. mountain biker rift for twenty years. I even bought into it when I first mountain biked. Then I realized that it's not what, where or how you ride. It's that you do ride.

Bicycle Bingo Alleycat 11/24/2007

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 12:30:44 +0000

Click the image to get a bigger version to print out. Or click here to get a pdf version. Print them out. Give them to your friends. Post them where it's legal. And click here for more info on the race.

Idea

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 11:54:08 +0000

Click to view it at full size to really see it. Or click here to see the sign only.

Salsa bikes asking for input on carbon fiber bikes

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 14:18:59 +0000

This seems like something Masiguy has done in the past, but Salsa is asking for readers of it's blog to comment on weather or not they should offer a complete carbon fiber frame in thier lineup. Visit the post here and comment away.

New bicycle blog directory

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 13:07:54 +0000

I really hope this one will stick around for awhile. Submit your blog to the Bike Blog Collection. Or at least visit and browse the other bike blogs out there.

Winter torture training has begun

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 10:27:42 +0000

We are fully in autumn , the nights are getting long. I leave to come home from work in the dark. And I just took a billion bags of my neighborhoods leaves (which just happen to gather on my yard) to the city compost yard. For cyclists everywhere this is the time of year where we try to figure out how to get a jump on next season by not allowing our bodys to lose any fitness we attempted to gain and/or build strength. Whatever book you've read, or training systen you subscribe to, most will tell you that you need to continue riding somehow (at least lightly) and hit some weights. And this is going to be my approach too. I'm not gonna go into details right now about how you can set up a training calender, with micro and macro-cycles, four to eight week periodazation, and the necessary trip to the low speed wind tunnel for timetrial positioning. Maybe I'll touch upon those later. But I will tell you about the torture device trainer. Trainers can be split into two distinct catagories. Rollers, where you really do ride your bike, balancing, spinning and concentrating on not crashing. And trainers, or stationary trainers. These you bolt your bike onto and just pedal. Don't get me wrong, you can still crash, but it takes a lot more effort. I don't ride my rollers because I think mine are for bikes with a shorter wheelbase than what I ride. At least that's my excuse for continually riding off them. (And I don't really care to hear your comments about how you can ride no-handed, removing your warm up jacket, and sipping a cup of coffee while riding yours) I ride a trainer. Or at least I attempt to ride a trainer. Well... I mounted my bike in the trainer, looked at it, and thought "I'm gonna put eight to ten hours a week on that thing till March, when I can think about going outside again." That was a couple of weeks ago. Then we had family visit from out of town. And then I got a cold and didn't want to be hacking up phlem in the garage. These are my excuses. And I'm sticking to 'em. So last night I mounted my trusty steed and rode. (heh-heh, I said mounted) My goal? One hour. I decided to not use the heart rate monitor for now. It's been kinda going ka-plooy lately, (maybe I can score one of these during the holidays.) and I figure I just need to keep time on the bike right now. So again, my goal was one hour. I was spinning away, attempting to focus on keeping a good rhythm, spinning smoothly and stuff. My mind is wandering, I'm trying to envision riding along in a pack keeping comfortable and riding tempo. I'm starting to sweat, and reach for my towel to wipe down. (this is actually pretty important as sweat is pretty corrosive and you don't really want it eating away at your bike) Some people set up a TV and watch videos as they ride. Some use an iPod or similer device to listen to music. There's even a cool (at least in concept) program, that allows you to upload music and workout instructions to the iPod or similer device that I'll review later called Swirlfit. Some people read magazines or books. I've tried all of these, even playing videogames while on the trainer. But I find it to distracting to have all this other stuff to concentrate on, while I'm riding. My cadence slows, I don't keep a good spin. It's just not worth it to me. So I sit there, stareing at the shelf of junk in my garage, as I spin away. I'm riding and riding along, and figure I must be nearing the end of my workout. I reach over to towel off, yet again, take another drink from my bottle, grab the stopwatch to see my progress... ............. Crap! Barely eighteen minutes had passed. Well I hung in for another ten minutes and called it close enough to half an hour and stopped. Maybe in a couple of week when I recover, I can hit forty-five minutes. Yeah, right.

Los Angeles Cranksgiving 11/21/2007

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 08:59:40 +0000

Welded Track Frames from Jonny Cycles

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 08:25:06 +0000

Interesting news from Jonny Cycles. He is using the shared resources of the other two builders that share work space with him to produce faster turnaround TIG welded track frame. They are all around track frames for the velodrome and limited road use. No fender mounts, 25c tires max, though he will drill the fork for a brake and add a bottle mount as options. Colors by Spectrum Powderworks. These frames have less of a lead (wait) time, but they are not stock off the shelf frames. Expect to wait two months from order time.

Social networking and cycling: Needed?

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 18:55:00 +0000

I don't know. I think everyone, their grandma, and that funny looking kid down the street has been on myspace, only to figure out it's pretty sad to spend all your time attempting to gather a billion "friends" and still have no one to hang with at the mall. I myself have attempted to use it (and/or sites like it) as a means to communicate to like minded riders about events and rides, but I have no idea if it's worked. So I quit. Fixedgear gallery started something similer. I think it's doing pretty well for itself, but after getting my bike posted, I don't really visit very often 'cept to post info on an alleycat. Velospace popped up. I thought the layout stunk and never went back. Now there's MeAndMyBicycle. And I still ask... why? At least the home page layout looks ok, but what is this site offering, and how is it any different than anything else out there? Is it of any use to me? I couldn't tell you. It wanted me to join and log in before going further than the home page. So I closed the browser window. Oh well. Maybe it has some super cool feature that I could use. But there's no way for me to tell. I don't want to create yet another account and password to test something I might use. At least most of the mapping sites let you see maps before making you log in.

Cranksgiving Ann Arbor, MI - 11/18/2007

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 11:31:36 +0000

Adding to the ever growing list of Cranksgiving events in 2007 is Cranksgiving Ann Arbor. Other Cranksgiving Events: New York City (not sure if this is the original NYC Cranksgiving) Des Moines Omaha over. my bad Kansas City Albany York, PA I'm sure there's more out there, just havn't found them yet.

Cycle Bingo Alleycat Race 11/24/2007 Rochester, MN

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 09:55:56 +0000

November 24, 12:00 noon at Central Park, Rochester, MN. A bicycle bingo alleycat race. $5 buys a card. You may purchase multiple cards. Benefits Ronald McDonald House Rochester. Flier to be posted soon. Update: FAQ: What bike to bring? - Any. Road, mountain, singlespeed, beach cruiser, fixedgear. No one will be turned away. Is it dangerous? - Cycling on open roads with traffic is dangerous. Wearing a helmet helps. Making sure your bike is in working order and you can stop is good too. But you will be responsible for yourself and your equipment. I saw those videos of riders in traffic running lights and riding reckless, is this like that? - No. This is Rochester. We don't have traffic like large cities do. The law is the law, I'm not gonna bail anyone out or pay for any tickets. Again, you are responsible for youself, this includes riding safely. I'm not your mom (or a cop). How exactly will this work? - I will give you a bingo card/checkpoint manifest. The checkpoints will have some sort of marker with at least one bingo number in a specific color. You record on your card what the color is of the numbers (if they are on your card). When you get five numbers in a row (horozontal, verticle or diagonal) return to the start. Color doesn't matter, it's just a means to verify that you rode to the location with that number. Where are the checkpoints? - You'll find out with everyone else. But I'll tell you that it will cover pretty much the whole city. What are the prizes? - Money. Cash. All the money collected will be pooled together. Then divided in half. One half goes to the winner. Where does the rest of the money go? - Part of it will go to the cost to put on the race (shouldn't be much other than printing cost for bingo cards/checkpoint manifests). Everything else will go to the Ronald McDonald House in Rochester.

COG magazine | A new fixedgear urban 'zine available

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 08:55:43 +0000

There's a new magazine available for fixedgear urban riders: COG magazine. The first issue highlights Tokyo's exploding fixedgear scene and an interview with Jonny Cycles main man, Jon Kendziera. If you're lucky you might find a print version for free at some shops listed on this page (clicky-clicky the link. Or you can purchase copies and subscribe off of thier web site. I'm not sure if there's more to the print rag than the articles they have online (I havn't gotten hold of a print copy yet), but so far everythings interesting.

Blogs vs. Mags | BikeCommuters.com

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 11:09:31 +0000

BikeCommuters.com has a great post about the feud between the general cycling print media and the cycling bloggers. You can read my initial response in the comment I posted there yesterday. But today I want to follow up with why I sometimes read some of the mags. The biggest reason is that it's hard to drag your laptop into the toilet and catch up on some reading while expelling some excess weight for the day. For the longest time I would take with me 10 year old issues of Winning and CycleSport. About a year and a half ago, I was at the recycling center disposing of a bunch of plastic bottles when I spied a bunch of cycling mags in the glossy papers bin. I grabbed 'em and added them to my library. Then a couple of months ago I went into one of those big chain book stores and actually purchased the second issue of Road Bike Action for about $5 bucks. I wanted to read about the Ti bikes they were reviewing. After purchasing and flipping through it, I found out that I could buy a subscription for the price of buying two copies off the rack. What a sucker. I complained to my wife about what a fool I was to buy a single copy when I should've bought a years worth. She agreed, and then got me a gift subscription. What a wonderful person she is. How cool is that? I'm still waiting on my first issue to come though. Now I forgot what the whole point of this post was going to be. Hmmm... Oh, so the only time I read general print rags is on the can. Or sometimes at bedtime when I can't get to sleep. I want to clarify, too, that general print magazines don't include the indie 'zine type like Cranked, UrbanVelo and some of the others out there. But it does include (actually sometimes but not always) Dirt Rag.

Cool Site

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 08:54:50 +0000

Visit www.freerice.com It's a word meaning game. They show a word, and you choose one of four one word meanings for it. When you answer correctly, they donate 10 grains of rice to the United Nations to help end world hunger. As you progress you quickly make it hundreds of grains and it keeps score of your vocabulary level. I'm not gonna embarrass myself by telling you what my level was when I stopped, but I will tell you that in a short time I helped donate more than five hundred grains.

Just ride

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 17:03:46 +0000

I didn't know what to title this post, so excuse me if it doesn't match what I'm talking about. And what I'm talking about is that you shouldn't not ride a certain local or style because you don't have the proper bike for it. I was reminded of this last Sunday when I went for a quick ride in the morning. While I have a quiver of bikes (well,... only a small quiver) I still don't have a replacement mountain bike for the one I sold in 1998. I can't remember the last time I had been out on some singletrack with a bike, but I kinda missed it. So what do I do? Well I just rode what I had. The orange fixedgear is the most accessable bike I have, so I jumped on it and took off for Eastwood. I got there and proceded to ride the trails for about an hour. Is it the best tool for the job? No. But it's what I have available. Trail conditions were perfect for 25c tires and while I had to shoulder the bike like a cyclocrosser on some of the steeper uphils (there's no real climbe in Eastwood) I never lost traction. So I encourage you to go for a challenge and ride your bike where ever and not worry so much about what it's made for. Just ride.

Bike accidents in Rochester

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 12:12:00 +0000

Well there was another bicycle-motorvehicle accident in Rochester last night. Bus strikes bicyclist near U.S. 52 11/8/2007 2:17:18 AM Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN A Rochester City Lines bus struck a man riding a bicycle at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday at an intersection along Elton Hills Drive, near U.S. 52. The bus was turning at the intersection when the collision happened. The bicyclist was taken by ambulance to Saint Marys Hospital. He suffered a head injury, according to a police spokesman. The windshield of the bus was broken by the impact. The victim's name wasn't released Wednesday night. Police said that a number of passersby stopped to help the man. An officer at the scene said he didn't know if a ticket will be issued. This report will be updated Thursday morning as information is released. So we really are not sure what happened at the moment. I'm not gonna blame the bus driver or the cyclist yet as there's not enough details yet. It's tragic that a cyclist has gone down. I'm happy that it's not a fatality. Click continue reading and look at the photo. That's a pretty bad impact. But here's what makes me mad. The comments. It becomes a sounding board for people to make assumptions about cyclists (and bus drivers) in general. But wait! we don't know enough details to lay the blame on anyone. ...we saw two different bicyclists in left turning lanes that it didn't seem safe as it was dark out. They had little flashing lights on the back but it was hard to see them. ... Why would you be in a turning lane when it is dark? Also why didn't the PB put in if he had a helmet? If it was a motorcycle they would. Is it not safe cause it's dark out? Then what are you doing driving? What does it being dark have to do with being in left turn lanes? How are they supposed to make a left turn? The point is they had lights on and were (I'm assuming) following the law by using the correct lane for what they are doing. ... As for the bike rider, I hope he is alright. However, if bike riders would stop thinking they are cars, there would be less hostility towards them. What the FUCK! Yeah, I said it, the "F" word. Sorry kids. But this comment infuriates me. I can't speak for other cyclists, but I don't for a second think that I'm a car. I beleive I know the difference between a ton of steel and glass encaseing me and propelling me with hundreds of horsepower and less than two bills of human skin and bones with twenty to thirty pounds of metal and plastic producing 3/4 - 2/3 horsepower. I know I'm not a car. But... there's always a but with me. But... To get where I need to go, I have to use the roads. The law states that I have a right to use the road. I am a road vehicle. When I take a lane, I'm not doing it to piss car drivers off. I do it because it is the safest way for me to navigate that particular road. Or how about this... How about "if car drivers stop thinking they are the only ones that can use a road, there would be less hostility towards them." There's also the fact that the comment is bigoted. That's right. Replace the words "bike riders" with any ethnic, religous or sexual orentation, and the word "car" with an opposing or majority group and you have what some lawers would say is threatning. First off...bike riders ride their bikes with too little regard for other traffic on the road. I see them going through red lights and stop signs. I see them riding on the wrong side of the street. I see them going on and off and on the sidewalk again. I see them riding low-profile bikes that are very hard to see. ... How about this jerk face: everyday I see car drivers driving with NO regard for others on the street. I see them speeding, sometimes in small neighborhood streets where childeren play. I see them go through red lights and stop signs. I see them on the wrong side of streets passing slower vehicles. I see them pull out of driveways and side streets without looking to see if there is anything approaching. I see them drive with out lights or with vehicles that are unsafe. I see them drive drunk. I see much more lawlessness from drivers that endangers more than just themselves. Then there's the comments discussing how bad the bus drivers are. I usually agree, but again, we don't know enough about the accident to draw any conclusions here. As an avocate for cycling I am usually biased when it comes to accidents. But without the details there shouldn't be any conclusions yet. I pray that the rider is gonna be alright. And I pray that investigators really investigate the accident and if citations and charges need to be made, that they are.

Cycle Bingo Alleycat Race

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 16:15:18 +0000

I'm thinking that I'm gonna go ahead and put on a Cycle Bingo Alleycat Race. But I could use some feedback as to what day/date to hold it. My initial thought was to do it the Friday after Thanksgiving (Black Friday) as a sort of protest to the celebrating of spending money that traditionally occurs on that day. But I don't expect that everyone shares the same views as I, and may get a better turnout if it's done the Saturday instead. It'll be $5 to buy a bingo card, you can purchase multiples (just like at the bingo parlor) and half of the total amount collected will go to the winner. The rest will be put towards the cost to put this thing on, and if there's anything extra, it'll benefit the Ronald McDonald House of Rochester. I actually hope it'll be a pretty good turnout. But first I need to know what day you'd rather have it on. Post your thought in a comment. You can even do it annonymously. Update: Click the image to get a bigger version to print out. Or click here to get a pdf version. go here for info.

Could the upper midwest be the new Pacific northwest for cycling.

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 13:52:11 +0000

I don't know. But there's a new website putting three of Madison, WIs frame builders on one page. It's title? Madison Framebuilders, of course. The site is baisicly a jumping point to get to Jonny Cycles, ZR Cycles and Banjo Cycles (or maybe it's Folk Bicycles? I'm a little confused). Three framebuilders in one building and one town handcrafting bikes. Take that Portland and your stupid NYTimes article!

Bingo! An alleycat race idea

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 09:26:16 +0000

Thanks to this blog post I found, I understand a little better how the "Bingo!" style of alleycats work. You have a fairly standard bingo card (I assume) and a manifest. It could just be front and back like the Cycat race. At each stop there is a set of three numbers written in three different colors of chaulk. If you have any of the numbers on your card write the color in the space. When you get a "Bingo!" return to the designated finish area and claim your prize. I'm sure you can modify the rules to include "four corners," multiple lines and "blackout." This could be a good race to encourage new riders to participate in the alleycat experience. Update: I didn't understand what the point of the different colored chaulk was, until I was running a race in my mind with out the colors and thought what's to stop me from just riding around to a couple of stops, then mark off the rest of a card to get a bingo and return to the start? Ah... The colored numbers... The riders won't know what color the numbers are printed so they need to get it right. That's why I steal borrow alleycat ideas from others.

NYTimes does an article and video on the bicycle economy in Portland

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:47:00 +0000

Video Page Article “I think the biggest thing that’s come from the effort the city has put into this is the vote of confidence,” Mr. White (Sacha White of Vanilla Bicycles-gun) said, speaking of bike riders and bike makers. “They want us here.” That's huge, a city that actually wants bike riders in it's city. And more than just face value. Thanks Corey for the tip. Let me know who you are and what site your from and I'll link to you.

A couple of races similar to Trans Iowa: Almanzo 100 (05/17/2008) and Ragnarök 105 (04/12/2008)

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 09:49:45 +0000

Endurance gravel road races are gonna be big in 2008. This will be the second running of the Almanzo 100 which is a hundred mile race from Rochester to Mankato, MN. The Ragnarök 105 is in it's first running and takes you from Red Wing to... uh... well, I guess you have to show up to find out.

To go solo? or join a team?

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 13:04:46 +0000

What to do, what to do. I haven't been on a team (club) for over 10 years. Past experience has been that riding as part of a team has some advantages, mainly in support during a race, for the team. That means that the team should work together to get someone on the team over the line first. That's great in theory. But on the road (for those of us racing in the amature ranks) it doesn't happen very easily. There seems to always be in team conflicts, and riders holding back on team efforts for personal glory. And I'm not above such tactics. I come to a race to win for myself, not the team. I'm the leader (in my mind) not a domestique. Riding solo means that I don't have to worry about who I'm working for or who is gonna work for(or with) me. It's given that I race for myself no matter what and that I never count on the help of others in a break. These tactital considerations are only part of the question. For me, there is also the monitary consideration. I can race solo and just pay for my USCF license and entry fee. If there's sixty riders in the field, I have a on in sixty chance of winning. With a team, I have to pay team dues and buy a jersey in addition to licence and entry. Increasing my race budget by almost a hundred ducks. That's a pair of tires or four chains or a couple of race entry fees. But it increases the team contingint for a win. If out of the sixty riders in the field, six of us are on the team I'm on, we have a one in ten chance of winning. (Though it may not be me.) So I don't know, this is still something I have to decide for the 2008 race season.

What's the etiquette for posting ride info and ride/race reports?

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 09:03:18 +0000

Maybe it just bugs me. But say you belong to a community/forum/board cycling club/team/group thingy, should you post a ride/report on the board when you didn't post an invite on the said board? I'm not talking about a personal blog, I'm saying a public forum? My thought is no. The purpose of the report is to let others know what they missed and share your experience. When no one else was given the oppurtunity to join the event, the feeling is exclusion by the other members. It's like rubbing someones noses in something you wern't willing to have them be a part of anyway. And what makes it worse is when it's done by riders who complaign that there's no community in the local cycling scene. How can there be community when you, yourself-Mr all the roadies in thier spandex are uptight elitist arsh*!es, are excluding people? I don't expect invitations to all rides, I ride alone often and enjoy it, as well as riding with only certain others at times. I don't know, it just seems in bad form to say "too bad we didn't let you know about this ride yesterday when you may have been available, but it was pretty sweet and we had a great time. It doesn't matter that I know you may like to join in, I don't wanna bother letting you know about it. By the way, why can't I get anyone other than this one other person to ride with me?" Then again maybe I don't want to be part of your communtiy that is only willing to be inclusive on the surface level. I gotta pull on my spandex-superhero outfit and meet the roadies for a ride, at least I know what to deal with, with them.

This looks like serious fun. Bilenky Cycle Works Urban Cyclo-cross 12/09/2007

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 11:07:22 +0000

I found this while reading the latest issue of UrbanVelo. Sorry for stealing the image guys, let me know if you want me to take it down. Anyway the second running of the Bilenky Cycle Works Urban Cyclo-cross Race is on December 9, at 3o'clock. I guess it's in Philadelphia, so there's no way I'm going. Click the image to go thier site. If you browse around you can find pics of last years event. Looks like fun on bikes to me. I wonder if anyone would show up if we did one in Rochester. Gotta find a location and get/make obsticles.

Trans Iowa v.IV registration open

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 09:49:11 +0000

Trans Iowa is the premiere, gravel road, ultra endurance, self supported, early spring, pain fest on bikes. The route is still being set, but look forward to about 300 or more miles of B level maintenance roads. Last years ride was won in 25 hours. Visit the Trans Iowa website for instructions on how to register. Be sure to check the photos and results from previous years.

Urban Velo Issue 4 Available

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 21:34:51 +0000

That's right, #4 available now. Download it for free, or purchase a print copy and have it mailed to your house. November 2007 Contents include: Goldsprints, Winter Survival Guide, I Love Riding in the City, The Rise & Fall of a Bike Shop That Never Was, Ghana, Residue, Bike Fit, Ignorance is Bliss, Starting a Local Advocacy Organization Part III and No Exit.Check it out today, it is always a very good read.

Cool bike related stencil art / not in Rochester

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 12:52:03 +0000

Click the above image to see a slideshow of the process. Do you know of any cool bike related streetart/graffiti? Post links in a comment.

I really don't think cycling is the next big thing

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 08:59:52 +0000

For whatever, reason my work interwebs doesn't allow me to see the captcha code to allow me to comment on alot of blogs. As a result I'm posting my thoughts on this post by Fritz of cyclelicio.us. So NBC news did a peice on the Velib bike rental/share/borrow program in France. It's a really cool program and the french have embraced it. It's great to see that some big cities here in the United States are looking at using the system themselves. I think the more people on bikes the better. So even if there is only a small portion of people using the program, I think it's worth it. That said, I really don't think it will catch on that big here. I don't agree with it, but we have a culture that places status on the auto. The general public want to be percieved as wealthy, and the wealthy have big cars sucking gas and oil like it's fancy bottled water. Sure there are some people who purchase hybrids and ride bikes and blah-blah, but I do not believe that the population will catch on. The bike rent/share programs will work in big cities where it will be convience for city dwellers. But the people who commute in from the suburbs will continue to drive in as they always do. Why? It's no more convient for them. At least that's the perception. The biggest employer in Rochester allows for a very limited amount of employee parking in it's structures. They offer free or reduced bus fare for both in town and out of town commuters. They encourage (to some extent) bicycle commuting by providing parking (even covered in some area). Yet with all this, the majority of people drive to work. I've known people who would would drive five blocks to the downtown area, then circle the block thier work building is located on till they find a metered parking stall, and then feed the meter till lunch, move the car, continue feeding the meter, only to drive five blocks home. So maybe it's pessimistic, but I think even gas prices as high as $5/gal will not deter people from leaving thier "convience" and status of driving.

Albany, NY Cranksgiving Alleycat 11/17/2007

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 14:45:18 +0000

Info: here.

Dumb Driver

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:57:58 +0000

This is taken from: Bike Commuters dot comSo this evening I was helping my daughter with a school project where she’s talking about how she can make a difference by riding her bike. We had pulled off to the side to get some video of the local traffic to use for her project. Check out what this driver does to us. And I don't mean to be sterotypical, but doesn't it seem like it's the guys in big (gotta compensate for somethin) pick-em up trucks that offend the most?

Rochester Street Art Series (money extinguishes love)

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 17:01:52 +0000

More Cranksgivings

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 12:20:29 +0000

There's other Cranksgiving events around the country popping up. You should go to the one that's closest to you. Info: here. Info: here. And finally, for history about the original Cranksgiving and tips on how to put on a food drive alleycat in your community visit this page.

Des Moines Cranksgiving Alleycat - 11/17/2007

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 11:46:36 +0000

Here's one for the calender, the Des Moines Cranksgiving Alleycat. It's a typical food drive alleycat event with 12 grocery items to pickup at 12 different stores. Click the above image to get a BIG version and print it out. When you have enough, tape it to every lightpost in your neighborhood. If for some reason you need more info, go here or here.

Homie Fall Fest - Tomorrow 10/20/2007

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 11:03:47 +0000

If you like dirt, bikes with one gear, and having fun, then the Homey Fall Fest may be for you. It's not a race. And I'm not going. I'm too civilized for this sort of thing. Have fun if you go. but don't call me if you get in trouble.

Dave Moulton's Excellent Post:
Cyclists: The Redheaded Stepchild

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 09:06:11 +0000

Dave Moulton is telling it like it is. And I have to agree with the logic he states here:The attitude of the wealthy was no doubt one of, what were the deaths of a few of the peasant class, as long as they could enjoy their sport? Much the same state of affairs existed in the United States; it was the privileged who initially drove cars. They set the rules of accepted behavior and attitudes, which still exist today.

Instead of keeping your roads safe, you just keep bikes from coming in?

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 13:06:00 +0000

County Bans RAGBRI / Post-Bulletin Associated Press DENISON, Iowa -- Crawford County has banned an annual bike ride across Iowa from using its roads. County supervisors passed a resolution that says the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa, or RAGBRAI, would no longer be allowed to use roads in the county. The decision follows a settlement of a lawsuit filed by the family of a man who died after he lost control of his bike on a county road during RAGBRAI 2004. The lawsuit, which was settled for $350,000, claims Kirk Ullrich of Davenport was riding his bike on a county road when his tire fell into a gap causing him to crash. Now I have yet to do a RAGBRI, but from what I hear, it's a huge amount of people having fun on bikes traveling accross Iowa. I'm sure it brings in a pretty large amount of money to the communities and counties along the route. So rather than properly maintain your roads for general safety of all who use it, this county is banning an event from using it's roads. This may solve the problem of someone doing RAGBRI from having an accident and dieing in your county. But what about the cyclists who live in the county? It's not going to keep them safe.

Love the news sources (NOT)

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 13:57:33 +0000

What do you think when you see a headline like "Bicyclist shoots Ventura man?" I don't know what I should have thought, but I didn't think that it's just someone fleeing on bike. So if the suspect walked away, would they say "Pedistrain shoots man..."? Or if they drove away would they say "Automobile pilot shoots man..."? I guess it just irks me the wrong way.

SingleSpeed CycloCross World Championship (SSCXWC 2007)

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 13:24:45 +0000

For those who like to race for only an hour on skinny knobbys, and only one gear, this looks like the event for you. It's billed as the "Official UnOfficial World Championship event for single speed cyclocross racers." I don't really know what all of that means, but it reminds me about maybe going ahead with a Road Fixedgear World Championship event. What do you think? Spring/Summer of '08? Do a time trial on Friday afternoon, gravel road race Saturday morning and a paved road race in the evening. Seperate titles and jerseys for each event. And have an alleycat on Friday night for fun. I think I'm gonna start contacting some sponsors. We could have any proceeds go to a local charity. Seriously, let me know what you think.

10-9 day, Bike Messenger Appreciation Day

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 11:41:05 +0000

So tomorrow is 10/9 or Bike messenger appreciation day. Being that there's no messengers in Rochester there's no celebration happening in town. However, if you live in a town that does have messengers, when you see 'em, thank 'em for the wonderful job they do and give them a drink or snack. At the very least: refrain from hurling objects out of your vehicle while cursing at them for a day. Oh, and I'm not bitter or anything, but Rochester - you suck!

Alleycat race ideas

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 13:16:25 +0000

I havn't put on an alleycat (or other non-USCF type race) since summer. I guess I'm frustrated that, besides myself, there's only one other person in town willing to put on on, and he's already pretty much given up on doing more than one a year. Now I like to put on races, don't get me wrong. I enjoy it very much. Giving a challenge to other riders is a blast. But I also want to race them. The last one put on was a create your own checkpoint (CYOC) race. That worked out well as I could race AND organize the event. I could easily organize another. But I have ideas for other events, and it would be nice if other people came up with some too. Now I'm gonna let the cat out of the bag here, with telling you guys some of the details of alleycats I've been planning in my head (and sometimes on paper too). Clue Like the board game. I have most of it figured out. Riders get a clue sheet/matrix-grid and a first destination at the start. Riders race to that first destination where a list of checkpoints are. Each checkpoint location has some sort of clue that may look like this:Mr. Smith was in the bedroom. Or like this: The murder was not in the kitchen.Eventually there should be enough clues to make a guess. First person to figure it out wins. Now, to prevent someone from just making random guesses, each rider must submit guesses in writing on the clue sheet, and will be limited to 2 guesses. I am hoping that riders can figure it out without traveling to all the checkpoints, but if they do travel to them all, it will be easy. Trivial Pursuit This one should be super easy to set up. Riders get a manifest of checkpoints with numbered groups of lines on the back (or side or wherever). At each checkpoint is a copy of a Trivial Pursuit card showing the questions, and a number. Say there's five checkpoints, each card would be numbered 1 through 5. Riders then have to answer the questions on thier manifest, in the correct order, within the correct lined area. (each card has 5 questions, so if there's five checkpoints, there's a total of 25 possible answers) Each correct answer is worth a point and bonus points will be awarded for being 1st, 2nd or 3rd back as well as visiting all checkpoints. The rider with the most points wins. Don't know what to call this one Most of the races I put on are non-linier, meaning you can go to checkpoint B before going to A, then go to D, then F, E then finally C. It's up to the rider. This one would be set up so that you travel to checkpoint A, where it tells you where checkpoint B is at, on till the end of the race. This one could even be made to incorperate tasks at some (or all) of the checks. Of course with all the races, I'll try to make riders ride around the whole town, climb hills, maybe even go off-road, up steps, climb fences and other challenges. And this is just a sampling of what I have stewing in my brain. What about you, do you have any ideas for a race, or have you put on an interesting race? Tell me about it in a comment.

Cycle Messenger World Championship 2008 to be held in Toronto

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:04:20 +0000

This is kinda old news, but I just found out about it. Toronto is hosting the 2008 Cycle Messenger World Championships (CMWC). And judging from the website and events listed, it's becoming more of a family friendly, sporting event. I beleive Toronto is close enough to Rochester to consider attending with the family. Do some racing, some camping and some culture assimilation. Sounds like fun. About the CMWC The Cycle Messenger World Championships (CMWC) is the ultimate urban cycling competition. The strongest, smartest and fastest bike messengers from across the planet converge once a year to determine who is the best in a variety of events that test riders’ physical and mental limits. It is a fully insured competition on a closed course that is sanctioned by the International Federation of Bike Messengers Associations (IFBMA). While most competitors are bike messengers, events are open to everyone, and many non-messengers enjoy the challenge of the competition. CMWC is a world championship sporting event, but it is also a world festival celebrating messenger culture and its broad influence on modern urban culture. CMWC hosts a variety of related galas, shows, parties and vendor markets where spectators mingle with messengers to get a jump on the latest bike trends and urban utilitarian fashion. The side events showcase the artistic, photographic, musical and literary talents of the world’s hardest working professional athletes. June 13 is gonna come up fast. Now I gotta clear it with the wife.

Blogs to visit - Pinch Flat News

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 10:05:30 +0000

Pinchie discribes his blog as:An Amusement & Diversion for The Genteel Cyclist. Daily. I just say Pinch Flat News is a good daily read. He (they or it, I have no idea) somehow finds interesting tidbits from the web about cycling, racing, culture, product and advocacy, spins it in a nonthreatening, humorus way that brings me back many times a day. And he puts out "Todays Big Stories" in case you miss a day and just want to see the important stuff. How can you not like a blog that disses Tony Hawk for coming out with a line of target bikes. He calls it like he sees it, and sometimes he sees it not so pretty, but pretty darn-diddly funny. And if you can ever afford the $10, he puts out a print edition for those of you who don't gets the interwebs on computers.

Awesome fixed rider video

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 12:03:30 +0000

I know, three posts in one day! Nuts! But I had to stop work and post this when I came upon it. Keo's got some mad skillz. Click "continue reading" to see it.

I didn't know steel had died

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 10:31:18 +0000

So aside from that belt drive idea that never dies, the other "big news" from Interbike is that steel is making a comeback. WHAT? A comeback? I didn't know it died? It was such big news that Wired wrote a post about it. Here's a quote:"Steel is almost the perfect material for bikes," said Yeager. "Workability, longevity, ride quality: Steel is it." Well here's a news flash: steel never died, and it never will. There will always be steel bikes. Good steel bikes. Steel makes sense. No it's not the cheapest, or the lightest. But it is less expensive than wonder materials, and it will last just about forever (with a little care). I guess it just irks me when the big buzz is the comeback of something that never went out. Let's look at the manufacturers tha have been making steel for a while. My favorite Gunnar. Waterford, Surly, Bianchi always has some steel models, Ramblumtick are just a small few. For a good article on frame materials read this. Here's the best line:No bike rides as well as a steel bike built by a skilled builder. People who disagree with this conclusion usually have either a commercial interest in other materials, or have not ridden modern steel bikes. In your face space coyote!

Clif Bar 2 Mile Challenge

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 09:44:53 +0000

Everyone knows I am a big proponent of bicycle commuting. I've been riding to work (or school) for most of my life. It benefits everyone to do it. It's one less car on the road, spewing less carbon dioxide, idling away precious fossil fuel. It's a chance to sprint against cars, draft busses, or toodle the side streets practicing wheelies. It's clears your mind before and/or after work. And if it's long enough you can use it as training (for you athletes). So Clif Bar has announced thier 2 mile challenge. See, 40% of US travel is less than 2 miles. A very resonable distance to travel by bike. It's close enough that you don't need to break a sweat (unless you want to). One cool tool on the site is the mapping feature. You enter in your address and it makes a shaded area of your 2 mile radius. You can then add features to the map such as coffee, bike and booze shops, public bike racks, and police speed traps. They also challenge you to commit to riding, being a bike ambasador, or just challenging someone else to ride. So get to it. Take the challenge.

Sometimes you have to unclip, dismount and lean the bike up against the wall. Punch Pizza Review

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 10:23:24 +0000

I know for me it's too easy to take my wife for granted. So this oppourtunity came up where I had some time I could take from work, she had a day with no classes and the kids are in school for the day. So we decided to make a day trip/lunch date out of the day. In thinking about what to do, we thought going to the cities was a logical choice. It's far enough away to feel like we went somewhere, but close enough that if the kids became sick or something we could get back fairly quickly. So where to eat? We knew we were going to stop at Trader Joe's for some groceries and wine/beer (the prices are good and they carry alot of organic items, plus it's hard to beat $2.99 for a bottle of decent wine). Punch Pizza is right up the road from Trader Joe's, and we like pizza. We arrived a little after opening and looked at the menu. There was a couple of tables taken already, but we were still ahead of the lunchtime crowd, so we were able to take our time and ask questions. The pizzas are about ten inches accross and are baked in a real wood heated oven at 800°. While not huge, they are bigger than a personal pizza. We decided to split a pizza and each get a salad. This ended up being perfect. Yes I could have easily eaten a whole pie myself, but then I'd just be pigging out, for the sake of pigging out. We ordered the Siciliana pizza to split, with a Chopped Italian Salad for my wife and a Greco Salad for myself. With drinks (sodas) our bill was well under $25. After sitting down, we waited almost three whole minutes before our order was up. That was quick. The salads were of healthy portions and yummy. The pizza was excellent. Everything was flavorful, the olives (I'm not a fan of olives) were not overpowering, or too many of them. Overall I say that we enjoyed our meal, and especially our time together. We will be back for more Punch Pizza.

How to be at Interbike without being at interbike

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 08:26:13 +0000

Let's face it, not all of us officially work in the bike industry, or have sugar mama's friends that work in the industry willing to get us in to the bike lust fest that is Interbike. Well with modern technology we can be there, without having to walk miles of convention floor. First thing to do is use Technorati. I'll make it easy, just click here. This is a search of posts tagged "interbike" that Technorati knows of. Next, use Flickr. Again here's a link: Flickr Interbike. This one searches Flickr for photos tagged with "Interbike." I'm sure you can figure out other services to search for tags or posts from Interbike too, but these will get you started. The real beauty is that you can set these as RSS feeds in IE7 (or whatever you use to get feeds) and be updated everyhour if you want. Judging from the feeds so far, Spot and thier belt drive is the big talk in bloggershperes. I guess old ideas never die.

Who really pays for these roads?

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 11:04:58 +0000

Follow the link for a good article about how who really pays for the roads we ride (and drive) on. Article Link

Interbike

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 09:45:48 +0000

Hey, are you going to Interbike? Irritate genuine hooky bogey. Uh... No I'm not going to Interbike. It seems that I never get to go. I don't really work in the bike industry and when I did, I wasn't privileged enough to have the shops pay my way, nor rich enough to pay my own way. But I'm thinking 2008 will be the year I get in. So no dirt demo. Odder motions. No industry cup. Scorn up nudity. No cross Vegas. Gave so scorns. And no Interbike alleycat. Brokenly alienated antic. For all of you who are going,... Piss off!

Profile Racing to make track hubs

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 14:03:45 +0000

Profile Racing is about to do something that may make the fixie crowd squeel with delight. They are giving us another hub choice to consider. And from what I can tell they are going to be the same, durable, high quality product that anyone who knows the brand will expect. If you don't know the brand think on the level of Chris King or Phill Wood. These hubs will be tough! Profile Racing’s legendary BMX bicycle component quality has arrived for track and fixed-gear bicycle riding enthusiasts. For those unfamiliar with fixed hubs, the rear hub doesn’t coast or freewheel, the gear or cog is fixed to the hub. Profile’s design features a fixed cog on one side and a freewheel on the other. The rider can switch from fixed gear riding to a freewheel just by turning the wheel over. Like all of our hubs, the Profile Fixed Hubs are proudly made in Saint Petersburg, Florida, USA. To say I'm excited is an understatement. The hubs will be offered in various anodized colors with a cro-mo allen bolt, QR or, for and upgrade, titanium allen bolt attachment. The only drawback is that they are missing the boat by not offering 126 mm spacing. They are only giving us 120 (track frame) or 130 (modern road bike) spacing. They may even offer 110 for the NJS freaks out there. But I think there are more riders with 126 spacing than 110. Now to only get my hands on a set. Profile Track Hub News.

Blogs to visit - gwadzilla

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 13:36:54 +0000

I don't know if this will become a regular posting or not, but the idea is every week or so highlight a blog worth checking out. There was no thought as to what the first one should be. Hands down it was Gwadzilla. Joel Gwadz has been blogging forever. His archives go back to 2003. Since that time he's chronicled everything from daily kid and family reports, race reports, injuries, and the passing of friends (including Roscoe, one of his beloved dogs). What's amazing is that he builds such a connection with readers through his blog, posting honestly about his life. It covers so much, but is so simple. if you want to know about me all you need to do is check out my BLOG it is not the same everyday or everyweek the focus changes and alters with my moods and with the events of the day and the events of my life ~taken from gwadzilla blogger profile I may never meet Gwadzilla, but in reading his blog I feel as though he is a good friend and riding buddy. As creepy and stalkerish as that sounds, I think you will feel that way too after reading and keeping up with him.

Cyclistats first impressions

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 11:53:04 +0000

I'm in the process of reviewing for you a product called Cyclistats. It's a cycling log to keep track of your training. I'll write a full review when the 30 day trial period is up, so this will focus on only the initial impression I have on the product. Almost any "serious" cyclist keeps some sort of log. I use the term serious here as someone who is serious about the performance aspect of cycling. Don't confuse it with someone who takes cycling seriously. Which many-many-many people do but will never keep a log. Reasons to keep a log are many, but I feel that it gives you insight to how you may be progressing with training. Cyclistats is a Windows aplication that you download directly from thier website. They allow you to use the product for thirty days after which, if you don't purchase the product, you can not add anymore data to it. But according to a post on bikeforums.net you can still open and export your data out of it. This is smart as it's your data, you should be able to get it with out too much fuss. Prior to trying Cyclistats, I downloaded Bikers Log Gold, to try. It seemed like it would be a less expensive option. But after using it for a month for the trial period it locked up. You couldn't even get into the program. No prblem right? If you like the program, upgrade to the full version (in other words buy it). Except the company no longer exhists. The download page is still up on downloads.com, but the online purchase page isn't there. The readme file has a mailing address, but there's no way I gonna send a check to someone in Europe that may or may not be there and may or may not send me the unlocking key, for a product that isn't gonna be supprted anymore. Ok, end of my rant on Bikers Log Gold. Back to some first impressions of Cyclistats. The download and install was simple enough. The only complaint I have here is that it would be nice to install the program on a flash drive so I can carry the log with me and be able to access it on any computer I'm at. The workaround is to install the program on the computers you normally use (for me it's one at work and one at home), then do a backup of your data on a flash drive. Just be sure restore the backup from the flash drive before adding anything to the log otherwise you will loose any data not included on the backup. It's a little tedious and you run the risk of overwriting your backup if you accedentally backup the database insted of restoring it when you get to your destination computer. Oops. Setup was also simple enough. You can enter your personal and bike info, as well as heart rate info. Adding rides to the log is straight forward, choose what bike (if you have multiple) and enter the info. The program will figure out your average speed and can even automaticly enter milage if you save routes in it's database. Actually the route function is very handy when used in conjuction with a mapping website. My fixedgear bike doesn't have a computer on it. So I map my rides on MapMyRide dot com (review on this tool to come), create the route name in Cyclistats, save the mileage, and even a link to the map with it, then I choose it from the dropdown list and the milage appears magicly. Something else of interest to fixedgear riders who don't use a cyclocomputer is in the tools area of the program. With the Gearing Calculator you can figure out your average cadence for a ride. Say you already entered a ride and know your average speed. Open the Gearing Calculator and choose "Cadence based on speed" on the seconde dropdown. Then enter your chainring, cog, wheelsize and average speed. Wow, now you know what your average cadence was. So far my only real complaint is with the heart rate info. To me it seems a little off and doesn't fit the same parameters as my Polar Accurex Plus that I use. Mabe it meshes better with the newest crop of monitors on the market. I don't have the interface to download the info, so i just manually enter the data. So I enter average and max HR for the ride. But I want to be able to keep track of time spen above, below and within the limits I set for the ride. Which may change depending on the training session. You can enter up to five zones in Cyclistats, but if I use below target, within target and above target limits as zones in the program, I can't change it for each ride. Or maybe the finctionality is there and I havn't found it yet. More on this when I do the full review. My impression so far is that Cyclistats is a good product. It is much easier than setting up Excel spreadsheets. Is it worth the $50 they are asking? Time will tell. I have 25 days left of the trial period and I'll let you know then. Rubber side down. Related: SportTracks Review

Here's the link for the spokecard exchange

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 10:29:13 +0000

I'm not gonna re-type up another whole post on this. I had one set up with links and explanations on what's going on and I lost it when I went to copy and paste something from another window and accidentally closed this one. So you'll just have to figure this out for yourself. Follow this link.

Urban Velo Issue#3 Available

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:03:08 +0000

Just FYI, this magazine is available online for free. Check it out here. Urban Velo - Issue #3 September 2007 Contents include: Track Bike Geometry, 24 Hours of Bike!Bike!, Click, Click, Clique, Into the Arena, The Organic Urban Cyclist, Don’t Kiss an Elephant on the Lips Today, Starting a Local Advocacy Organization Part II, Love Affairs, How to Tension a Singlespeed Chain, Why Bells are Cool and Tool-free Tire Removal.

Oxbow Dawn Patrol 9/8/2007

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 10:31:35 +0000

A different ride planned for this weekend. Lets take our bikes on gravel for a view of the Oxbow course. If we leave Central Park at 7:00 am we should end at Dunn Brothers (for after ride coffee) before 10. Following is the proposed route. Oxbow PreviewFind more Bike Rides in Rochester, Minnesota I'll be riding the fixedgear, but you should ride whatever you feel comfortable on. (mountain bike, cyclocross, singlespeed, whatever) I just want to see if the "oxenburg" is doable fixed.

Labor Day Fixedgear Ride Route

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 20:26:19 +0000

Follow the link to see the tentitive route for tomorrows fixedgear ride. 33 Southeast milesFind more Bike Rides in Rochester, Minnesota Please note that my routes are not really set in stone and may change depending on my mood and weather and other factors.

Labor Day Ride

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 08:28:28 +0000

After much thought and not enough planning, I have decided not to hold the Labor Day Alleycat race. It's becoming harder to stay motivated to put on races. This is not to say that I won't put anymore on. I just don't think I'll put in a huge effort into it. On the flipside, that opens the door for more low-key rides. So you are invited on a Labor Day fixedgear ride. I don't have a route picked out yet, but I'm thinking 30-40 miles in length. Details: Meet at central park at 7:00 in the morning, Monday, September 3 (Labor Day). I'll be riding my fixedgear, bring yours if you have one. If not just bring what you're comfortable riding. I'd recommend two water bottles as with no set route yet, I don't know if there will be any place to refill. Maybe bring something to eat on the bike (powerbar or banana).

RASC Time Trial-Short course | 8/14/2007

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 09:09:41 +0000

The third course in the RASC time trial series is a flat to rolling 14 mile route. RASC Time Trial Short CourseFind more Bike Rides in Rochester, Minnesota Come on out, it should be a good time.

Anyone up to doing a 50 mile dawn patrol tomorrow 8/11/2007

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 12:16:09 +0000

UPDATE: This ride is cancelled due to the weather. I may go out tomorrow morning instead, but it's not quite certain yet. If so it may be for a shorter distance. I'll make a new post with a map etc. later. I'm planning to do a 50 mile road ride, leaving my house at about 6am. If there's enough interest I'll do it fixed with other fixedgear riders. Nothing too fast, 17 to 20 mph. Gunnar's 50 mile rideFind more Bike Rides in Rochester, Minnesota The above route is just the plan. Depending on how we feel during, we could make it shorter. But plan for a short rest stop in Stewartville for a Snickers bar or something. Comment (or email me) if you plan on showing up at my house or somewhere along the way to Salem.

Race Report - RASC Intermediate Time Trial 8/7/2007

Wed, 08 Aug 2007 12:34:37 +0000

"Fifteen seconds... ... Five! Four! Three! Two! One! You're off!..." And with that I was sent almost immediatly into my anerobic limit. My heart was pounding, my breatining was short gasps, my fingers were tingling, and my legs were pumping a gear that may have been a little too hard. Luckily the start sets you downhill before you get to a couple of little rollers. The RASC Time Trial series has been held every year for about as long as I've lived here in Rochester. All that time (10 years) and this is the first time I'm doing them. This year there's three courses, a long (approx. 25 miles), intermediate (20 mile), and short (14 mile). The terrain is typical of Rochester, so it's gently rolling to rolling hills. Some years RASC organizers include a hill climb up Genoa, but decided to leave it out this year. Each course is run twice and they will award the three fastest riders in each catagory (Stock or Aero) for riders riding at least once on each course. This gives you two chances to get your best time to use in the competition, or as in my case, allows you to miss a single course and still compete in the series. Going into this, I'm just trying to figure out where I'm at physically and know how I measure up to the fast riders in town. Being an ex-racerboy, I want to be able to dice it out with the fast guys. But, with the exception of Oxbow last year, and the local alleycat, I havn't raced in ten years. I have ridden semi-seriously off and on over the years, but only recently made any real attempt at training again. The hardest part in doing a time trial is overcoming the urge to give up and the urge to go too hard. Going down the next roller which is a sweeping right before going flat, sweeping left and straight into Salem Corners, I'm still at my anerobic threashold and have to pull back some. I concentrate on my breathing, delibrately forcing deep breaths in and out. Occasionally when that prooved to difficult I would then either take multiple short breaths in and forcefully exhale everything out, or forcefully inhale as much as I could and exhale in short multiple bursts. If you've ever taken a lamaze class, you'll recognize these as the types of breathing exercises they recomend for birthing mothers. (Clensing breath. Hee-hee hoooooo. Hee-hee hooooo.) I set a pretty high (just about unrealistic for me) goal of completeing the course in 46 minutes averaging 25 miles per hour. Why would I set an unrealistic goal for myself, setting myself up for failure? If i didn't I don't think I could have pushed myself as hard as I did. It would have been too easy to ease up and say "why the heck am I gonna kill myself for a club race? I'll just go a little easier." I should have labeled my bottles better, as I ended up taking my recovery (after race) bottle of Cytomax which has a higher concentration of Cytomax to water. During a race it ends up seeming to be too thick and sweet, making it difficult to keep sipping to keep hydrated. Coming up "the" hill on the backside of the course was the hardest part. Knowing that I was about halfway through I tried to just set a good pace climbing seated. I wanted to keep some energy and strength for the top section, but needed to still keep the pace high. I ended up realizing as I'm pushing along the last flat before the rise up to the finish that I could've pushed a little harder on the backside and top, at this point I'm going just about, but not quite, as fast as I can. I start that last rise and my 30 second man passes me, I let him go knowing that I've already given him 30 seconds and preventing him from coming round wouldn't prevent that. Crossing the line, I attempt to hit the button on my cyclocomputer to stop the clock and continue pedaling down the hill to recover a little. As I toodle back to the start finish area, I notice my computer is still going. Crap! I must not have hit the button correctly. It's ok though, since my 30 second man and I crossed about a wheels length apart I'll just add 30 seconds to his time. I ended up clocking in at 52:41 giving me an average speed of 22.1 MPH. Nowhere near my goal of 46/25. But at least now I have an idea of where I'm at. UPDATE: Look's like I got fourth fastest in stock catagory. The list of results are located here.The fastest guy was as fast as some of the aero freaks. I'd really encourage anyone to come out next Tuesday to do the short course time trial. Then the it goes back to the long, intermediate and short. Go here for more info. I'll post a map of next weeks course later.

Gettin' ready for sum hurtin'. | RASC Time Trials

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 12:01:52 +0000

OK, I've decided to do the RASC time trial. le race of trueth. One on one against the clock. Tonites course is almost 20 miles. The great thing about time trials is that you can get a good idea of where you stand against other riders, without worry of being dropped, as on a group ride. I'm doing it on my geared bike, though there's nothing in the rules about fixed not being able to ride. There's only 2 catagories, stock and aero. So aerobars, disc wheels etc. compete seperatly. Which sucks for riders who may just want to see how well thier aerobars fit. I'm doing it stock, and plan on puking at the finish. That's the only way to know you gave it your all.

Spokecards

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 14:05:15 +0000

You won't see 'em on Tour 'de France bikes, but I'm sure if you've looked at other urban riders bikes, you noticed small cards in the spokes (spokecards) and wondered "What's that about?" Spokecards are generally associated with bike messenger and/or fixed gear culture. They started as a means to identify riders at the checkpoints and finish of an alleycat race. Insted of using standard "pin-on" race numbers that you would find at sanctioned road and mountain bike events, urban alleycats started using playing cards stuck in the riders wheel at the point where the spokes cross each other on a standard laced wheel. Using this method requires no extra pins or ties to attach so there's less to bring to an event, as well as being inexpensive. The cards progressed from standard playing cards to

Rochester Street Art Series (Flower)

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 20:31:25 +0000

AKA: I Love Sue M

Labor Day

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 12:40:00 +0000

Last 2 years I put on a food drive Alleycat race. This year I think I'll change the format a little. It'll still be an alleycat type race, but I think I'll just have a theme, charge for entry, and give the money to a charity. Don't hold me to this, cause it's not yet set in stone, but I think this will be the "Clue-Mystery Alleycat Race." The general overview is that the riders will go point to point and gather clues that eventually will reveal the solution to a mystery. Think Clue board game, played out on the streets. I've had it pretty much set for a while, just didn't know when to run it. I may hold a smaller, more simplified version to test the format this month (or next). But I'll have to get that set up quickly. But I'll post more info as I have it available.

Ride Report - Celebrate Independance (from freewheels) 07.04.2007

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 13:14:27 +0000

Well looks like everyone missed a good time. Moffit was the only brave soul to show up for this years ?annual? event. No worries if you missed it, I just hope to give you enough shame so you'll join in next time. Who knows maybe we'll end it at a cafe/coffee shop/restaurant and have breakfast before disbanding. As I said, Moffit was the only one to show and we put in a good 30 or so mile ride at a brisk (but not hardcore) pace. We were able to discus a whole slew of topics from advocacy to hot-rods. Along the way we rode the newly paved cnty hwy 30 which was smooth like butter. We stopped in High Forest to look at the bike/lawnmower sculpture. And coming back into town we saw a mama deer and her twin babys. Drivers we nice to us, and because of the fog, the temps were perfect. Check back often so you know when the next ride will happen. And know that even if it's billed as a fixedwheel or single-speed ride, derailer equiped bikes are more than welcome to come with. So you can't have the excuse of not have the right kind of bike.

New Mail-list

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 06:14:00 +0000

Just FYI, RochesterFlyers.com is now using PHPList, instead of Campaign Monitor. Not because I don't like Campaign Monitor. I do like it. It was super easy to set up, template, and use. It's even free. Sort of. It's free to try, if you have less than 5 friends. After that, it's still a good deal and inexpensive at $5.00 per mailing plus 1 cent per address. But, I really needed a free solution. See I paid for hosting, domain-name, plus a bunch of other business expenses. So I can't afford to pay for a service that I can just put a little more time to setting up and doing myself. So I set up and am learning how to use PHPList. Looks like I was able to migrate all your addys ok. I set up subscribe, and unsubscribe pages. I have to figure out how to set up the user (that's you guys who get the emails) access to thier prefrence page. Why? Well so you can change your settings and subscribe to specific lists. "Huh?" you say. Well I set up a generic RochesterFlyers list that will allow those who are subscribed to receive general Rochester Flyers mailings. Next is an alleycat specific list, for those of you who want info about alleycat racing (and other rides). Last is a list for potential and/or past Labor Day Food Drive alleycat sponsors. What difference will you see? Well being that I havn't sent a Rochester Flyers mailing yet, you won't see any difference. I'll send a mailing soon. So you'll be getting a notice pretty soon. And if you havn't already signed up, use the form on the left to subscribe.

Video - London Messengers

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 12:47:00 +0000

This is a Lucas Brunelle video that I haven't seen before. These things look more dangerous than they are. I don't recommend anyone to ride like this. But these guys have skills.

Downtown Bike Rack

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 20:55:02 +0000

This is the rack accross from the Plummer building, downtown.

Video - This week the trend.

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 14:51:58 +0000

This video was made by someone I know a year or two ago. Enjoy.

Celebrate Independence (from freewheels) ride

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 13:22:44 +0000

Celebrate independence from freewheels by riding fixed for 20-30 miles. Or bring your freewheeling and geared bike if you want. It's all inclusive. This is a no-drop ride, so we will regroup frequently. I'm thinking the route will either be to the airport, or to Stewartville. Nothing major. It's kinda early in the morning, but that means that you can get back home to be with the family and/or get ready for the pub-crawl. Meet at 7:00 AM at Willow creek middle school. July 4th. UPDATE: If we take this route (link to RouteSlip map), it's just a smidge over 31 miles to Bamber Valley.

Morning Skatepark Session Tomorrow

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 20:32:00 +0000

Just want to put it out there that I'm gonna take the 24" to Silver Lake skatepark ftomorrow or an early morning session (6/29/07) 6:15/6:30 to about 7:20 or so. I'm no Matt Hoffman, it's just fun to play on the banks while the foul mouthed middle schoolers are not around. It's a great way to work on bike handleing and stuff. You don't need a BMX bike to ride there, I've cruised around on my fixed, and mountain bikes are great. Hope to see anyone there.

Race Report - Create Your Own Checkpoint Race 6.23.2007

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 13:49:43 +0000

Man!... This "create your own checkpoint race" was probably the most fun alleycat race I've done. Both in putting one on AND in racing it. Though I do get more satisfaction from the Labor Day Food Drive. As far as organising it, it was a snap. I'm sure another weeks time for promotion would have helped to bring in more riders. But... maybe another time. I set up six checks as displayed on this map. My wife suggested that I omit the Think ATM Wal-Mart north check, and I agreed. So I ended up actually bringing five. The Mayor brought one (the underpass for Civic Center Drive) and Big John didn't bring one. He said he wasn't feeling well and wasn't sure if he'd race. There were four new riders who raced as two teams of two. I think I remember that they are fairly new to Rochester, but two of 'em have been in town a little bit longer and had a fairly good idea of how to get around. So they paired up as one of each on a team. That was cool with me. So each team submitted a checkpoint each. One at Cook park and the other on a lamp post in front of the Barlow Hy-Vee liquer store. If you want, you can see a map of all the rider submitted checks here. Anyhow, I left my house at about quarter after 10 to tape up my checks, then strolled into Central Park to meet everyone to start the alleycat race. It was pretty humid out, but the temp, was just right for riding. I was suprised that traffic was pretty light. Ok, Rochester isn't known as a night life type of town. So any other Saturday night I wouldn't have thought it strange. But Rochesterfest was still going on, so I figured there would have been a bit more traffic. Once everyone exchanged info on where thier checkpoints where, and agreed were ready to start, we rolled out. I decided to stay close to The Mayor at least to the first check at Elton Hills Think ATM. We went up the alley that runs north-south just west of Broadway. He pulled off, cutting through a gas station to get onto Broadway, while I stayed on the alley for a few more blocks. At one point there must have been some construction on the alley, leaving a six inch deep, one foot wide gap accross the road. Luckily my headlight was just recharged and I saw it in time to bunnyhop it. I took the alley all the way to 13th street NW, then cut accross on to Broadway. Making sure traffic was clear, I made a left into the Northbrook shopping center parking lot, up behind Bruegger, to the ATM catching back up to The Mayor. Appearently his light was giving him a litle trouble, and he took the oppourtunity at the checkpoint to take a second and briefly check it out. I pulled my tab and took off. This is where I made my first mistake of the evening. I went along Elton Hills drive, heading west, not really realizing that it is probably not the most direct route to the 16th street-Hwy 52 overpass. John and the Mayor ended up being first to the overpass, with myself catching up as they pulled thier tabs. From here it was a race to the 11th Ave. NW (abandoned drycleaners window) checkpoint. John and I were 1st off the bridge. We went south on 16 1/2 Ave to 14th street NW. I was drafting a little, but didn't want to be labled a wheelsucker, and pulled up beside him. As we approach 13th ave, The Mayor shoots accross at, like, mach 153 miles per hour. (He has some huge monster 53x18 or so gear) John took that cue to cut out and follow him. I stayed straight and went south at the next street, then east on the next to 11th ave. On 11th I approached the 7th street intersection and had the green, flew down then accross the street and picked the check at the same time as John and The Mayor. I then went back up to 7th street to get to Cook Park. I grabbed that check and headed to the underpass and got that check. Leaving there along the bike path going towards Kutzky, I realized I was forgetting a check. Crud! I opened my manifest and saw I needed to get to Barlow Hy-Vee. I shoot accross Civic Center drive and... Guess what? I'm panicking and can't find the check. Maybe it's in the back. I loop around. Nope not there. I see the guys who were part of the new group and figure I can ask them where it's at. Apparently I didn't listen well enough at the start, it was right there on the lamp post to the left of the liquer shop. Geez-what a dumb mistake. Anyway, now I'm back on track. I jam down 11th to West Center street, then up 6th ave SW, accross 2nd street and into the hidden park. It's here that I catch back up to Big John and pass him on the way to the 3rd street ramp. I ride up as hard as I can and catch up to The Mayor at the checkpoint. We take off for the finish at the same time, but he pulls off to run down the stairs while I choose to ride the ramp down. He exits the structure a second or so before me! I get out onto the street and end up behind one of Rochester's finest. The cops! He proceeds to fly through the 2nd street intersection just as the light turns red. I was hopeing the cop would chase him so I could go through and still have a chance. But NO! he stops. Not only that, but he waits till the light changes to green before turning right down 2nd, leaving me no other choice but to try to make up a 20 second lead in 3 blocks. I knew it wouldn't happen, but I still sprinted in to second place with John breathing down my neck in third. The rest of the riders (I wish I could remember your names) came in about 5 to 10 minutes later. All in all it was a great ride. My lesson once again is that in alleycat racing, there's more than just going fast. It's in choosing the route and riding smart. After the race we all rode to Glynners where I broke away to clean up my checks and then head home to bed. I defentaly think there will be more of these (create your own checkpoint race) as well as other nite time alleycat races.

Rochester Street Art Series (Forgive)

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 23:15:33 +0000

Fixedgear Video

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 22:17:05 +0000

This is a nice peice of video showing some nice fixed wheel riding. The backwards circles with bar spins is very impressive.

Create your own checkpoint race.

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 22:02:18 +0000

OK. Here's the deal, I don't know if I have time to make a flyer to distribute, so get the word out to everyone you know who rides. Saturday nite at 11:00 PM, meet at central park for a create your own check point race. $5.00 buy in (winner takes all). Plus bring your own checkpoint. Here's how: Make a "lost cat" flyer with the tear off where you would put a phone number, but use some sort of code word or number combo. Make 2 copies of it. Post one copy of the flyer at the checkpoint location before we meet. Bring the other copy with you to show what it looks like. You need to be able to give clear details of where this checkpoint is at. Depending how many people show up, I will have the discretion to not use some checks. Remember, this is a nite time event, you will be on the road, in the dark. So be safe, and be prepared.

Possible Changes to the Rochester Flyers Site

Fri, 15 Jun 2007 23:06:52 +0000

It's been a full week since I stopped doing deliveries as Rochester Flyers. A week full of hard changes and transitions. I didn't do very many runs (as a messenger), and hadn't done it for very long, but I had quickly gotten used to the freedom of being outside, riding my bike, all day, ready to take calls. Now I'm trying to learn how to fit in as part of a team, inside a building, sitting at a desk all day. But it's not a bad thing. Really, it's not. I have A/C, and this week has been extreemly hot and humid. I don't have to worry about trying to find clients or sell my service, which in this town was super-tough. Like I said, everyone was positive and supportive, but not willing to actually use the service. Enough about me, and on with the ideas for this site. I have the domain and hosting for a year, so... My thought is to use this as an online cycling 'zine. Kinda like a blog, but a little more broad. With actual articles, reviews and ride/race reports. I may add a calender feature/function for event listing. I could have a route page listing local (Rochester and S.E. Minnesota) routes. I plan to keep, and actually use, the email-list to send out periodic announcements. Very little will change about the site structure right now. Though some text changes (ie: header text, About, etc.) are needed A.S.A.P. Keep in mind that these are just ideas right now. I'd love for some feedbak, so please, leave some comments.

Rochester Street Art Series (Farewell)

Sat, 09 Jun 2007 13:49:14 +0000