Carlsbad-ass

I'm finishing up a trip in Carlsbad, California. It goes without saying the area is breathtaking. The laid back lifestyle is great as well. But the part that sticks with me the most is how bike friendly it is. Every road has a nice wide bike lane and the fronts of buses all have large storage bins/racks for people to put their bikes.

This got me thinking about bicycle friendly towns in the U.S. NYC has a large cycling community but is relatively bicycle unfriendly in my opinion. They can definitely do more to promote cycling. I'd love to help with this effort and may look to contact Mayor Bloomberg directly as an ambassador.

I found a cool list put out by the League of American Bicyclists that gives communities cycling friendly certifications based on their Five Es rating system: Engineering, Education, Encouragement, Enforcement, and Evaluation & Planning. There are four levels of certification: Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze. Check it out:

http://www.bikeleague.org/programs/communities/bfc_master_list_jan_08.pdf

Greasy Symbolism

I have a cleaning woman who comes to my apartment every two weeks. Luckily she also does my laundry as I vow never to touch the stuff again in my life. I have about 6 non-iron shirts I have her include in my regular wash. This morning, I went to put one of the shirts on and noticed some small dark smudges scattered all over the shirt. Maybe mascara? Nah, on a cold streak right now. I looked at the next shirt. Same thing. Hmmmm. What could it be? Grease. Bicycle grease. As you may remember, I gave my bike the firSSt cleaning of the season a week ago and I must have unwittingly put a grease laden towel in the hamper. Man...talk about symbolism. My dress shirts are now unwearable bc of bike grease. Is this a message or what?

True Movie Classics

I watched two vintage movies over the weekend and both qualify as true movie classics: One Flew over The Cuckoo's Nest and The Graduate. The Graduate is truly a great movie and I never realized how funny it is. It's not slapstick/sidesplitting funny but there are severaly subtly funny/clever lines that keep you laughing for a bit.

I watched the movies on HDNet Movies, which is a genius. Commercial-free high definition movies 24/7. They have an awesome selection of moview running and I've recorded a bunch into inventory. Midnight Cowboy is the next on the list.

Giddyup.

Fortune Cookie Wisdom

Fortune cookies have some good wisdom but the quotes always seem have that "fortune cookie" cliche to them, which often makes them seem sound cheesey. I found a great one today though:

"The pleasure of what we enjoy is lost by wanting more"

It's a bit of a derivative on my favorite saying "less is more".

LnT

A steady diet of cycling and better eating is making me lighter and tighter (LnT). LnT is a great feeling. It breeds confidence and reinforces good behavior patterns throughout your life. I never want to lose the LnT edge again but I know I will. The winter doldrums are just too difficult to fight.

Sound of One Man Blogging

I've been creating a lot of blogging noise lately but just like a tree falling in the forest, if there's noone here to witness it, is it really happening?

The noise I've been making is probably best characterized as the sound of one hand clapping.

I may need to turn the internet on its head. Instead of monetizing my readership through ad sales, I may need to pay for an audience.

Genius is Simplicity

I just read a thinkpiece for work that highlighted all the "if's" that have plagued the capital markets over the past 50 years. Very interesting stuff. It ended with a genius anectdote that I love:

When Phillip II was about to invade Macedonia in the fourth century BC he sent word to the Spartans, “You are advised to submit immediately. If I enter Laconia, I shall raze Sparta to the ground.

The Spartans sent a one word reply:

“If.”

New Feature: Bike Odometer

I've added a new feature to the blog. A bike odometer that updates my YTD mileage. It'll be fun for me at least. (Is there anybody out there?)

Wrenching Away

Time to stepup my wrenching skills. I'm pretty good but I want to become great. There's a local shop called Bicycle Habitat that has really good maintenance classes. On the first Monday of every month they offer a wheel building class. It costs $50 (plus the cost of a rim, spokes and hubs). I'm going to start with this class so I can learn how to deconstruct/true a wheel.

My goal is to be able to build up my own bike from scratch one day. Then all I need is a place to put it.

The Rub

I finished cleaning my bike today, put on the back wheel and started to turn my cranks to lube the chain. I heard this intermittent humming sound. Like the wheel was wobbly or dragging/rubbing on something. I checked all over but couldn't find anything. I then remember back to when I was riding and would hear a glitch in my freewheel clicks -- almost the same type of rhythm. I decided to bring my bike down to the local shop. I was pumped to see my boy Noah working back at this location. He was the guy who sold me my first bike -- a hybrid. We hit it off immediately but he got transferred to a different shop for a year and a half. He was shocked to hear how into cycling I have gotten. As I was waiting for him to finish with another customer I realized what was happening. My wheel was out of alignment and rubbing against the chainstay where it connects back into the seattube. CRAZY. It was because the hubs were loose and the wheel needed to be dished back -- Noah had the mechanic fix it for me. Now it's like butter. I can't help but think this was part of the reason I was struggling in the beginning. I'm going to be like a rocket ship now. I'm trying to get Noah back out on the road (he's been getting into paintball lately). As I was leaving I heard one of his coworkers say "you're going to ride now?". He responded "yeah, for Jeff, I'll get out on the bike". Noah and I will always have a special bond because he sold me my first bike.

The Bully

I'm BAAA-aaack...

Did a 55 mile ride today with our training group and I feel like a billion bucks. Waking up early to do laps in the park twice a week has paid dividends. I no longer feel embarassed and my legs are truly back. Cycling is fun again. I love this sport.

In fact, I'm so reenergized, tonight I'm ordering Chinese food, renting a movie and cleaning my bike from head to toe. I just took off the back cassette and have it sitting in simple green solution (this is the macdaddy of degreasers). My bike will never be as clean as Hoppy's though.

The Best Jerry, THE BEST...

When I tell people in NYC I own land in Idaho they look puzzled..."Idaho? Why Idaho?" they ask. Why? because it's the best Jerry, THE BEST:

Shedding Weight...

I wish it was off my body, but it's not. I'm losing weight the old fashioned way. I'm paying for it, but frugally I might add. While I loved the experience, carrying all my gear touring made me appreciate the minimalist existence of road riding. To that end, I picked up an incredibly small Scott mini-tool in Italy, which I can't find anywhere around here or on the net.

And I just purchased this pump for my rides:










Topeak Micro Rocket AL
Head – Presta Valve
Barrel – CNC Aluminum
Handle – CNC Aluminum
Capacity – 160 psi / 11 bar
Single action
Side Mount Bracket
Size – 6.25 x 0.75 in.
Weight – 65g

It's really more about the size than the weight. I can only imagine how many flats I'm going to get this year now that I have bought this pump.

I have a serious motivational challenge for Thursday. I want to get up at 5:30AM and get 4 laps or 25 miles done in the park before work. Not sure what's going to be more difficult to overcome, the early wakeup or the cold? "KEEP SPINNING" will be spinning through my brain the whole time for sure.

Ride on.

-The Bully

Oh YEAH!

Man did I miss cycling. But now it's back. Did my first outdoor ride on Saturday in 40 degree weather with 40 miles in the books. This is why I love the training group I do -- there's no way I would have motivated to go out alone on Saturday.

Conditioning was definitely an issue. I need to get it back. I put on a near embarassing showing for a "leader" as I got dropped by my group and as another group approached heard the leader yell out to me "keep spinning" as I flailed away. I wanted to yell out "I'm a leader A*SHOLE" but was a bit of a catch-22. To be fair, some of my bad performance was nutrition related. Once I ate lunch I was much better/got stronger on 2nd half of the ride. Nevertheless, I will be doing some trainer rides this week in preparation for then next ride on Saturday (50 miles).