"Road Racers" via BikeBlogCollection in Google Reader

There is only ONE….

2012-05-24T19:54:34Z

I’ve been thinking of “there is only one” type things. We all know there is more than one way to skin a cat… but what is there only one of?

There is only one phone on the market that if they released a new version tomorrow, there would be people standing in line ALL NIGHT waiting to buy it … even if it was just a little faster than the one in their pocket.
There is only ONE website that people love or hate so much that when they leave it, they feel compelled to discuss leaving it…
There is only ONE Slim Shady

What else?

Leaving the Garden

2012-05-22T13:31:07Z

I’m flying to Santa Rosa today, but my body wants to be home. As a form of protest, it spent the last 5 days plaguing me with intermittent fever and fatigue. I stayed in bed for a few days and ate nothing, woke up hot from the inside and cold from the outside. Things are out of balance. I lost 6 pounds in a heartbeat. I could only stare at food I normally love.

When I got home from Tuscany, the house was perfect: clean and orderly and rearranged. In the garden, Sal had spent time edging and building little stone walls, arrangements of pots and lanterns and little things we’ve collected over time. Rocks from here or there. Shells. Wildflowers were blooming in the back beds – unexpected orange among the morose dark greens of the shade plants. The fern transplant looked exuberant, the hosta has polished up the lime green edges of its leaves for me.

The main beds were flush with baby greens and fledgling tomato pants – only five this year, he tells me. “You’re going to be gone all summer.”

I’m going to be gone all summer. And I’ve already been gone all spring. What will happen in the fall? Road World Championships in the Netherlands. Another trip to Europe. Just now as I’m writing this I’ve remembered that I have to head to Philly in two weeks for a gig.

The most interesting thing about building my life around so many monuments (Flanders! Tuscany! the tour! The tour!) is that I’ve realized how monumental orange wildflowers in geometric flowerbeds can be. Add to that a gut check from my body, the very real limitations of my entire system. Here I was worried about the strength of my legs and I’ve forgotten that fatigue is a cumulative force that weighs heavy on organs and the nervous system and all those little intricate parts of my body that need to be respected.

When I get to France my pedaling will be faith-based, underpinned with a solid run of training. Who knows what will happen to my body under so much stress, the pressure of riding and surviving and transferring and re-packing bags each day. Will it be fun? Probably sometimes.

Mostly though I see it now as a really pronounced line in the sand of my life. And what happens after our ride in France will be far more interesting than what happens during.

No related posts.

I feel like I have turned the corner.

2012-05-09T02:53:13Z

I really don’t do well when I am sick. I worry a lot and stress about all kinds of stupid stuff. I am happy to report I am doing better. A good laugh makes me sound like some type of emphazema patient, but I can deal with that.

Thanks to all who threw me so encouragement in my rough day. Maybe tomorrow I can post a little 5k report?

If you are in the ATL, you should come to the dick lane velodrome on Saturday night! It is going to be awesome!

Confessions of a Fatlete – maybe you have felt this way?

2012-05-07T12:52:30Z

So far this year has been “ok”. I’ve tried – things have gone well, not always, but generally pretty good. I set a goal. I met the goal (completing the half marathon). I’ve run faster than I have before. I’ve hopped on a bicycle and found that I still now how to ride. I’m very on-track to complete my mile-a-day goal… no problems there. But the “wall” has been hit.

For many athletes (and I speak from my experience being around elite athletes, Olympians, world champions etc…) when they get sick, it is really traumatic. Not so much the physical effects of the sickness, but the mental. It’s tough because they know their competition is training while they are resting and trying to get un-sick. Often times they come back too soon and get sicker – which sucks even more. I feel great compassion for them as I know they have dedicated so much time and effort to their success. It happens to all of them.

The funny thing is that when a ‘fatlete’ (fat athlete) get sicks, the fear and anxiety is pretty substantial. I’m sitting here in bed, with bronchitis, feeling like crap – but I’m more worried about how fast I will be able to run 5 miles on Sunday and/or if I will still be able to keep up with Nate on July 4th. Am I losing all of my endurance? Will I be able to ride with Tim in 2 weeks? UGH – this sucks.

Skinny people who haven’t struggled with weight issues may be saying “dude, get real”, but for some of us – this is a life long battle that isn’t easy … EVER! Even if I came out of April slower than I went into it – I developed a SOLID habit. Habit is everything in the workout arena. If you are in the habit of doing 1-2 hours of exercise a day, you have time. If you fall off the wagon, suddenly you fill that gap with work, internet surfing, eating, planning to eat or making excuse for why you didn’t work out. THIS is what I fear the most. I fear this so much so that I am pondering taking my dog for a 5 miles walk so I don’t ‘lose my fitness’. (Keep in mind, I cough walking up stairs right now). Ugh… it’s just not SANE!

I’m really just trying to get this out of my head so I can calm myself down. Realistically – this may be my body saying “dude, you must rest a bit” and resetting my clock. I just hope the BODY gets the rest and the mind doesn’t suffer or crack and I start eating bon-bons and biscuits. I do know that there is something that feels really good about a great workout a week or so after you are sick… when the pipes clear out and you start firing on all cylinders. I’m going to pin my hopes on that.

In the mean time, i’m trying to eat light…. avoid running to the refrigerator to medicate my frustration – THAT won’t help anything. I’m not really sure anything here made any sense – I am sure it’s probably a little to the left side of odd…. Thanks for listening!

Back in action

2012-05-01T13:12:04Z

So, for a while I retired from blogging, but I’m back. This isn’t some sort of triumphant return – far from it. There is no victory – just I missed it and it’s free and it helps me clear my mind.

In April, I decided to get my fat tail feather in action and try to get back to some healthy habits and get the workout routine jump started. I decided to do this by attempting to workout every day. I do not think any human being should set this goal. As you know, I have done it a few times and I think it is stupid – but at the same time it is effective in forming a habit of working out. It proves to you that in the end, you have the time and you can do it. Great…. i’m tired. Will I do it again, surely. Somebody should smack me – but that would just make me grumpy, so please don’t.

The year in review....

This little graphic shows exactly what I have done – without my ‘rest days’ which were, in no particular order:

5 hours of yard work
3 hours of yard work
Walks of up to 3.5 miles
Housework – not just feather dusting – insane-o cleaning/moving
Kickball

As you can see, I truly hit it hard in April. Even if you double any other month or combine any two, you can’t touch April. I’m proud of this but I think my body is in some sort of funk-a-dump. It’s not losing weight, its holding onto everything. I’ve been logging all of my activity and www.loseit.com which I really like. They didn’t used to have a droid app (bastards) but now they do (friends). They have a nice social interface and through the powers of modern technology everytime I step on my bedroom scale, my facebook gets updated with my weight. I’ve COMMITTED to stepping on it daily … so those of you who want to have ammunition to use against me, I’ve given you a canon!

Anyway – I ran 95 miles in April, rode a bunch too, had much fun. Now it’s time to get smart and focus more on eating and working out towards a goal. There is even a glimmer of p90x insanity in my eye. Still haven’t completely decided on that.

Until next time… Hasta la compastidor.

Oh, Did I Mention I’m Riding the Tour de France?

2012-04-21T05:43:38Z

[Photo: Michael Robertson]

I apologize for the long gap between posts. Allow me to explain myself.

Earlier this year, Michael Roberston and I decided to build a team to ride the entire 2012 Tour de France course. It started as a story idea and became something infinitely bigger than that. It has consumed most of my year. It has challenged me in ways I have never imagined (mostly from a time management perspective) It has driven almost every major decision I have made in the past four months.

It’s really big.

So big that if I’m able to complete all 3,497 or so kilometers with my teammates, it will be the biggest physical accomplishment of my life. It will probably change me in some fundamental way. I won’t wax on about that, but it’s there.

I’m writing weekly about the lead-in to our adventure and you can find those archives in my column on Peloton Magazine’s website. (Huge props to Peloton, who got behind the project within .2 seconds of me proposing it.)

We’re also (obsessively) documenting our training on Strava (one of our cash sponsors – thank you, Strava!). You can find the team page here. My personal page is here. You’ll need to create an account to get to the juicy details.

This venture is also funded and supported by generous sponsorship from Cannondale (including sweet new Supersix bikes), SRAM, Quarq, Giro, Capo, FSA. They have provided the funds to enable us to cover all costs for the entire team, including airfare, which has enabled us to put together a squad of super amazing “everyday” women.

We’re so excited, so grateful and so in awe of what this has become that we have committed to raising $60,000 for Bikes Belong as part of the project. All dollars donated go directly to Bikes Belong: this fundraising effort exists completely separately from our trip budget. If you’re so inclined, please consider making a donation in my name: I want to raise $6000.00 by the end of July!

Use the widget in the sidebar to make a donation, or follow this link to visit my donation page.

To read more about the Rêve Grand Tour, please visit the website. If you’re Twitterific, you can follow the #revetour hashtag or my personal account @heidiswift for a constant stream of updates.

Thanks so much for your support – and look forward to more frequent updates here again in the future: I finished my contract work at Nike and am training in Chianti at the moment. Feeling a little more in control of my time. :)

Tanti baci,
Swift

How to Track Every Second of the 2009 Tour de France I asked the Twitterverse yesterday how they would be following...
Tour de France *LIVE* in SE Portland – Big Screen Edition Watch the Tour de France Live at The Globe Bar...
Group Riding Basics: Part One Thinking about joining a group ride? Start here. It's springtime...

PSA: How to Remove Embrocation FAST

2012-02-06T14:59:07Z

We had an embrocation emergency here at Grit & Glimmer HQ over the weekend and I was forced to do some lightning quick internet research to determine the best way to remove the stuff quickly. It took about 10 or 15 minutes of reading through forum threads and long blog posts to find the best information, so I thought I’d do a recap as a kind of PSA.

Here’s what worked.

Wipe as much off as possible with a dry towel.
Use cool water (not hot!) to avoid opening pores.
Dawn dishsoap (or any dish soap for that matter, but Dawn worked great) cuts the grease and offers the kind of instant relief that we were after. Lather up generously and wash thoroughly.

Most importantly (but not at all helpful when you’re already mid-burn):

Always test embro on a small portion of skin before using.
Always apply embro last: AFTER putting in contact lenses or applying chamois cream.
Be careful with the super hot stuff, people.

This has been a Grit & Glimmer public service announcement, we will now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Cancer: Beware Fast Cyclists Who Sew! As I mentioned a few weeks ago, my home-girl Lindsay...
Little Girl Run Fast. Little Girl Break Eight. Smash! I am hitting what feels like a 5:50 mile pace...

Tested: Rapha Women’s Winter Tights

2012-02-02T18:19:24Z

A few weeks ago, Rapha sent over the Women’s Winter Tight for review. I took them out for a week’s worth of rides including a few (2-hour) commutes and two 4-hour training rides and then wrote a re-cap of first impressions for the next issue of Peloton Magazine. Since then, they’ve been on heavy rotation in my winter mix, carrying me through 3.5-hour 40-degree downpours, 28-degree morning journeys and one long, climbey 5-hour adventure last Saturday in fairly moderate 45-ish-degree weather.

Gotta be honest with you, I’ve owned other winter tights for years and have almost always preferred knee-warmers with standard team-issue bibs, but I am really loving these tights. Here’s the stuff that’s good:

What I Love

As a result of a recently acquired 9-5 contract position in the ‘burbs, I am doing a lot of training at ungodly hours of the morning. When it’s that dark and that cold and that early, a little cozy-motivation goes a long way. These are lined with brushed fleece and climbing into them feels a little like sliding into soft pajamas. Some mornings, it’s just the extra encouragement I need to roll out into the black blackness of the rain.
Compression. I went with a small (I’m 5’6″ with a medium build and hearty cycling-type legs, women’s size 6-8) and the fit is perfectly compressive. It requires putting them on like tights (scrunching up the bottom half to slip over ankle then pulling carefully up) but once I’m in them, the compression feels wonderful, especially on longer rides in the 3-5 hour range.
No chamois. It seems that opinions are split about whether people prefer a winter tight with or without chamois, but I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the convenience of a chamois-less winter overlayer. It’s nice to be able to wear chamois that I already know and love (I’ve worn Rapha shorts as well as Castelli custom team bibs underneath). I find that “fitting” shorts underneath is not a problem at all and I appreciate not having to wash these after every outing as I’m wearing them nearly every day right now.
Full, high-cut lycra chest panel. In addition to providing support (a LOT of support, if you’re larger than a B, you might feel constricted or want to order a size up), this adds a layer of windblock to your layering scheme – a nice bonus.
Large white reflective strip on the back of leg. I didn’t even think about this as a safety component until Diana pointed it out while riding behind me at the crack of pre-dawn last Wednesday: “That white stripe is SUPER reflective!” Awesome. Anything that can make 6am Dirty Highway 30 seem a little less dastardly is welcome.
Warm, but not too warm. So far, I’ve been comfortable in temps as low as 28 degrees and as high as 47. Forty-seven is pretty warm for tights (I misjudged that day a bit), but I never found myself uncomfortable – even with 5,000 feet of climbing thrown into the mix.
Not waterproof, but magically warm when wet. They’re water resistant and dry quickly, but they’re definitely not waterproof. With my former set-up of plain lycra bibs and wool knee-covers, rainy days would leave me with two very heavy, albeit warm, knee warmers and mostly freezing-cold thighs and ass. (Ever get home and peel off your layers to discover that your legs are BRIGHT red from the cold? That.) The Winter Tights stay warm even when they take on water, even when it’s only 39 or 40 degrees out. If you’ve ridden in Portland either of the last two Sundays, that’s the stuff I’m talking about! Miserable weather for bikes, for sure, but more tolerable with warm legs.
Versatility. Because they don’t have a chamois, these could easily transition into cold weather aerobic activities like cross-country or skate skiing.
Subtle “wheelsucker” black-on-black inscription on the bum. As the consummate wheelsucker, I appreciate this cheeky little gesture. The girls and I had a good laugh about it in Japan.

What I Wasn’t Sure About

Heel stirrup: Because the fit is so compressive, they seemed redundant or unnecessary.
Back zip pocket. I appreciate the thought, but I can’t think of a time I would use this, but possibly when riding without a pocketed jersey? (I don’t really ever do that.)

Things to Note

The compressive fit can make it tricky to tuck in a baselayer without creating lumps. I’ve gotten pretty good at this. (With very thin Ibex base layers)
It’s also necessary to smooth out and flatten the hem of shorts, which have a tendency to roll or bunch underneath the tight. A firm, flat hand achieves this with relative ease.
Stopping to use the restroom will require full disrobing. Not an issue for me on rides of 3-4 hours.
For what it’s worth, the white reflective stripe took a serious hit on Sunday after a monsoon-meander on Marine Drive. Washed up just fine. Good as new.
As with all Rapha, this premium tight comes with a premium price to match. ($240.00) One thing I’ll say about that: It’s a lot of money, but having used Rapha’s complimentary repair service (I had a crashed-jacket mended and the elastic on a jersey hem repaired last year), you can count on having these last you quite a while.

Tested: Rapha Women’s Line Rapha launched a very small line of women’s products earlier...
The Deep Freeze by Bike: Helmet-Cam Documentation of the Winter of our Discontent Hey, guess what! It’s still snowing. I know! I can’t...
Ruminations on Cold Nights and Winter Light (via Wend Magazine) From the Cycling Diaries… The sunlight is obscene. It comes...

Shut Up Legs as Life Principle

2012-02-01T17:04:46Z

There are a lot of things to love about Jens Voigt, his famous “Shut up, Legs!” quote notwithstanding. He is a classic hard man, hitting the gas when the tank is empty, boggling minds with his incredible strength and unmatched will power. He’s also quietly modest about the whole thing and endlessly kind, which makes it all the better.

“Shut up, Legs!” stuck with us because of its simplicity. It’s a universally understood sentiment: the verbalization of the mind-over-body tricks we all try to employ when we’re on the rivet. But the other day as I read back through my written journal, I noticed something I’d written in 2009: Shut Up Legs is about so much more than cycling.

I don’t remember writing that (or even thinking it) but reading it scrawled on that page resonated with me in that moment. I’m prone to beating sports-life metaphors virtually to death, but this one is pretty simple: do your work, get your shit done, stop making excuses.

I receive a lot of emails from people wanting to know “how I do it”. That question could mean a lot of things, but usually they are getting at my lifestyle and work: how did I turn writing into a viable source of income? How do I travel so much?

There are a lot of specific boring tactical answers to these questions (I’m obsessively meticulous with budgeting and tracking money, I’ve made a choice not to have children, I wake up at 5am every day to either write or ride, etc.) but the real answer has more to do with the principles presented in Steven Pressfield’s “War of Art”: Wake up, do your work. Do not tolerate excuses. I wrote for eight years before anyone ever paid me to do it. I did it because I loved it and because I was committed to the inherent value of it. Good things came from that, but good things also came as a result of discipline. I got up every morning and did the work – even when I didn’t think it was any good, even when people told me it was shitty, even when I wasn’t exactly sure why I was doing it or what the hell I was even creating. (Pressfield calls this overcoming Resistance)

Jens rides the way he does because he loves it – that’s clear. He rides with a sense of passion, but also a sense of duty. He hurts himself when he’d rather not be hurting. He guts himself in sacrifice for others and sometimes it doesn’t work out. He goes out and does the work. No excuses. No caving to discomfort. Shut Up, Legs!!

We can’t begin to compare ourselves to this incredible man, but we can learn from his approach. I see it around me all the time in people who are much more accessible. Eryn raises a toddler, works a full-time job, trains her face off, races bikes and spends the winters ski patrolling and the summer’s scurrying up rock faces like a badass (she swears by the 5am workout). My teammate Elise raises three kids under the age of 12, works full time, has a husband virtually kidnapped by medical school, and still managed to pedal her way to Cat 2 road status over the last two years (thanks mostly to a crazy commitment to 5am roller workouts while her kids are still asleep).

If you want it, make it happen. If you love it, make the sacrifice.

Hurt a little. Hurt a lot. Do the work.

Shut Up, Legs!!

Get the T-Shirt.

*
*
************

GNG HOME DELIVERY

Subscribe to the feed to get new posts delivered straight to your inbox:

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

I Left My Legs at Horning’s Hideout I don’t really know how to race a bike, but...
Sammy Get His Legs Back Inspiring? Watching your 36 year old boyfriend fly around a...
I Am the Legs. I play competitive womens softball tournaments with the most talented...

Flying Humans

2012-01-31T22:42:37Z

Give us this day our daily inspiration.

(Special thanks to buddy Dave S. for sending this my way.)

No related posts.

Guest Post for Light & Motion: Going Places

2012-01-27T18:23:01Z

Today’s post requires some traveling. Head over to the Light & Motion blog to read “Going Places“, a short rumination on the beauty of bike rides that actually take you somewhere.

End the circle cycle!

This is the third post in a four-post commuting series I am doing for Light & Motion as part of a product trade.

I Used to Ride Bikes. A Lot. (Guest Post by Matt O’Rourke) My dear friend Matt O’Rourke wrote this earlier this week...
A Guest Post for Bicycling Magazine: Chocolate Cake and Bourbon Last week, Bicycling Magazine invited me to write a guest...
Guest Post: Why Not Eat a Box and Other Crazy Ideas for Weight Loss By some stroke of unfortunate web surfing, I just landed...

Tested: Assos FI 13 Lady S5 Bib Shorts

2012-01-25T23:18:56Z

Background and disclosure

Indie Bike, a cycling apparel shop (they’ve got a real, live store in addition to their web presence) based in Indianapolis, IN. contacted me to see if I would be interested in reviewing some gear in exchange for telling people about their wonderful little shop (free shipping on orders over $65!). I’ve been super curious about the higher-end women-specific bib shorts that have a clasp system in the front and claim to be easier to negotiate under overlayers when nature calls (and more comfortable all around). I agreed to test and review the Assos FI 13 Lady S5 Bib Shorts.

The Scoop

Retail: $339.00

Everything about these bibs feel premium: from the fabrics to the construction, presentation and packaging. When you open the box, you know you’re holding something special. The mesh panel in back is comfortable and the straps are wide and soft enough to stay comfortable for long rides. The 6-panel construction is top-notch and the bibs have a second-skin feeling that is super cozy: chafing is a thing of the past. The fabric is lightweight and super breathable and they feel noticeably cooler than some of my other standard issue bibs (great for warm weather).

Fit

The Assos fit is euro-lean, so I went up a size and ordered a large. (For the record, Assos urges you to asses fit from the tucked riding position, rather than a standing position. They claim that the bib was designed specifically to fit best while on the bike.) For me, I believe the large was the right call for overall fit, but it resulted in a bib that was designed for someone perhaps 3 inches taller than me. The front closure ABC-M (Assos Buckle Closure Mechanism) is adjustable (the adjustable buckle slides into any one of three loops in front), but even on the “shortest” setting, I found the straps were longer than I would have liked. On a traditional bib, this isn’t as much of an issue, but with the single-strap-down-the-front setup, it meant that the top of the front strap showed underneath my jersey when it was unzipped. I unzip my jersey a lot.

Beyond the strap length, the fit was fantastic: the bibs are very compressive with a nice mix of textural panels and flatlock seaming. The leg grippers do trend a bit into sausage zone (they’re very secure) but it’s not at all uncomfortable.

The Chamois

This is a substantial chamois but not overly built. I most often wear custom kits, which tend to have lower profile chamois, so it always takes a little getting used to when I get something that actually has a little more cushioning (I had the same experience with Rapha’s short). That said, when I was heading out on a longer ride this fall, I consistently reached for these bibs. They’re super comfy.

That strap

I was fairly underwhelmed by the front center strap construction and ABC-M (Assos Buckle Closure Mechanism). As far as I could tell, it did not offer any significant comfort advantages and introduced a number of problems:

As I mentioned, it’s visible under my jersey when I unzip for ventilation. And I LOVE to unzip. It kinda messed with my mojo.
I didn’t find it very easy to unlatch and pull over my head while wearing a jersey. In fact, it felt a little like a contraption. I’d rather stick with a traditional bib and full zip jersey. I don’t mind undressing a little to take a pee – I guess bike racing has taken the modesty out of me.
The fabric opening that the plastic piece hooks into in the front ripped after just a few wearings (there are three of these, so I simply started using the other two, which meant the straps were essentially longer). I believe that Assos has addressed this issue for future products.

The strap, I believe, is intended for a more secure, comfortable fit for well-endowed ladies. I’d love to hear from them, because unlike the half-naked Assos girl on this page (by the way, she has a Facebook fan page), I do not fall into that category and can’t comment on whether it’s better or worse.

Bonus

Assos goes over the top with presentation and packaging for this premium bib: the box arrived with a small container of Assos cleaning solution and a small tub of Assos chamois cream (my favorite!!) as well as a wash bag. Classy for sure.

Main takeaway

I personally prefer a standard bib strap, but for those who like this center-strap design, these bibs are the mega-jam: they feel amazing, look great and are – most importantly – mind-bogglingly comfortable. That said, $339 is a lot of money. According to my personal value (purchase justification) calculator, I’d have to wear these 452 times in order to get my money’s worth.

Feedback

Have you worn this bib? Do you have an opinion on it? I’d love to hear from you.

************

GNG HOME DELIVERY

Subscribe to the feed to get new posts delivered straight to your inbox:

Enter your email address: Delivered by FeedBurner

Tested: Rapha Women’s Line Rapha launched a very small line of women’s products earlier...
This Bike is a Boat, Lady. Peithman and I were assaulting Creston Park (which is where...
Bike Fighting: Lady is the Boss I’ve wanted a BMX bike for three years. Every year,...

How to Ride in -20F Weather (The Portland Pity Party is Over)

2012-01-24T20:09:56Z

It’s pissing rain in Portland. This shouldn’t really surprise anyone – it IS January after all. But there’s something about riding 3 or 4 hours in a torrential downpour and 39 degree weather that has a distinctly soul-sapping effect.

It was particularly hard to motivate this morning as I laid in bed listening to Biblically large drops crash into the roof above my head. Then I got up, checked my email and found a note from my friend Jodene, who’s been reading my blog – in one iteration or another – since 2002.

The subject line was “cold weather biker” and there, right on cue, was a link to Winnipeg CycleChick, a fun, snarky, inspirational and funny blog (Her about statement: “Everyone needs to believe in something. I believe I’ll go ride my bike.”) written by a woman in Winnipeg who commutes in all kinds of crazy fucking weather, including their recent -29C (-20.2F) days.

The post, called “Dressed to Chill” documents her patented Honey Badger Winter 2012 Collection – a home grown layering approach that keeps her rolling in the Arctic-stupid conditions. Her humor, along with her bundling creativity, were enough to make me end my Portland pity party and head out for a roll-about.

Thanks, Winnipeg CycleChick, for keeping it real and keeping those of us down here in the temperate PNW honest.

************

GNG HOME DELIVERY

Subscribe to the feed to get new posts delivered straight to your inbox:

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

No related posts.

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

2012-01-23T23:23:36Z

I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

I’m frequently surprised by what stays with me over the years. In this case, it’s a simple nightly ritual – the idea of expressing gratitude each night before sleeping.

We weren’t a particularly religious family though my parents both believed in God. We never went to church together as a family (my sister and I often went with friends) and when I was asked to say grace before meals (it fell on the shoulders on the youngest) I routinely just said, “Grace” and waited for everyone to laugh. Then we ate.

Most nights before bed, I said my prayers with one of my parents. It was the standard-issue kiddie prayer that started, “Now I lay me down to sleep…” I recall being mildly uncomfortable about the “If I should die before I wake” part, but I didn’t spend too much time worrying about it because I was always excited to get to the end.

At the end, I endlessly cataloged everything I loved under the “God Bless” clause in this arrangement. To my mind, this was my opportunity to safeguard what I loved against possible harm:

God Bless Mommy and Daddy and Heather and Shady Lady [my dog] and Mama Kitty [her given name] and Herschel [another cat, named after a football player - my mom was a Cowboys fan] and chocolate and ice cream and Sharon [or insert name of current BFF] and legos and my science kit and our house and our yard and allllll the ducks and my tree house and the Kishmars and the Kishmars’ parakeets and Jenny and Julana and all of Jenny’s barbies…”

On and on and on.

These days my list is a little less exhaustive and, because I’m no longer religious, I don’t direct it toward anyone in particular. Most nights, I write the list in a big journal I keep in my nightstand. I use a Sharpee pen and keep things short and sweet. What I’m thankful for varies from day to day, but things like family, a place to live, food to eat, health, safety, clean water, warmth, security and a rad romantic life partner-in-crime are always in the mix. Sometimes I also add bourbon, pork belly, coffee or cyclocross. You get the gist. When I’m really tired, I skip the book and just write my list mentally as I fall asleep. There’s something about dozing off in a haze of gratitude that always sets me up for a decent morning.

The point is simple: pause, think, express gratitude, recognize what you have, acknowledge what is good. Even on the worst days, my lists are long.

Is this some hippy new-age feel-good shit? Maybe. Do I care? Not at all.

It helps me live a better life.
I’m rolling with it.

And, while we’re on the topic. Thanks for being here. Thanks for reading. Thanks for commenting. Thanks for participating. Thanks for sharing.

You being here makes this worthwhile.

**********

GNG HOME DELIVERY

Subscribe to the feed to get new posts delivered straight to your inbox:

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Sleep Station: Ten Tips for Getting Better WinkEye I’m big on sleep. Earlier this year when I was...

Saving Relationships, One Power Meter at a Time

2012-01-22T16:11:36Z

I’ve been sick for the better part of a week. I slept through the entire three-day weekend in a fever-induced haze (dreams about waking up with Thor Hushovd’s legs again), then spent the week sleeping in the guest room so I wouldn’t keep Sal up with a never-ending chorus of hacking. When I got on the bike yesterday, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.

The Sicilian and I went out together with an agreement to take things nice and easy. Two things happened: first, I stopped coughing and felt amazing. My head cleared up and I blew snot rockets like my life depended on it. Who needs that brain-eating Neti Pot anyway??!

The second thing that happened was that Sal rode too hard. I was super grateful to have his wheel in the first place, but I couldn’t hold it. When he dropped me the third time (always sitting up politely to wait when he noticed I was off the back), I rolled up beside him and asked him to hand me his Garmin 500. I could tell we were both a little frustrated. He wasn’t riding fast, I just didn’t have anything to give. He wanted to ride together and he wanted to put his face in the wind for me, but he didn’t know how slow he had to go. Luckily, with power, there’s an easy way to communicate such things.

I set the display to show average lap power, hit the lap button, handed it back to him, and gave him an target number: one that I knew would allow me to ride in my low-endurance zone on his wheel. When we started off again, I watched as he struggled with the low number, switching to easier and easier gears so he could spin.

It worked.

In fact, I went from feeling like I was going to have to turn around after 45 minutes, to being able to put in a 4-hour ride that I rather desperately needed. The rain rained, the sun shined and the rainbows, they did their rainbow thing. We laughed and waved at baby cows and battled headwinds and split a cheese-and-chicken sandwich at the end of Sauvie Island Road. My cough all but disappeared and I felt almost human again.

That cycling stuff? Magic, I tell you.

************

GNG HOME DELIVERY

Subscribe to the feed to get new posts delivered straight to your inbox:

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

The Power of Positive Thinking My little cold from last week turned into a big...
Pow Pow Power Training: Coming to a Bike Near You On Going to the Dark Side Power training? Really? Yep,...
It’s time to run. Yep, that’s right. It’s cross season and all the little...

How to Get Rad with Goldfish: Riusuke Fukahori 深堀隆介

2012-01-21T17:14:23Z

As one commenter notes: “only a badass motherfucker uses a broom for a brush…. pure awesome.”

No related posts.

Anddddd… We’re Back.

2012-01-21T00:01:56Z

Holy smokes! Where has the time gone?

I could tell you where, but that would be boring. What I can tell you is this: my blog had a really bad tummy ache and had to take some time off to get well. Now that it’s all fixed up, we’re super jazzed and ready to go again! (If you ever need a WordPress guy, let me know – I have an awesome one!)

There are all kinds of neat things in the works, including a couple working trips to Europe this year and some good adventures here in the USA. I’m also waiting (a little impatiently!) to announce a super-humongous-extra-radical project that is going down this year – one that will consume most of my time until August. I have to wait until the detail people get all worked out on the details, but there will be more on that later. Promise.

For now, I’ll leave you with a few photos and some links to some recent (and not-so-recent) stuff that I’ve been up to:

I wrote a story about Gary Bonacker for Switchback Issue 02. He rode a cruiser bike down Mt Bachelor in the 70′s. That’s crazy talk! He’s also an amazing soul and true adventurer and he’s battling brain cancer with the heart of a champion. Issue 02: get your hands on a copy and check it out.
I went to Japan in November with Dan Sharp, Molly Cameron and a few other awesome kids to race cyclocross. It was amazing! There are lots of fun photos here and here. I wrote a piece about our adventure in Issue 09 of Peloton Magazine. Lots of thumbs ups, peace signs and gratuitous food images!
In December I joined Specialized-lululemon at their training camp and helped craft the introduction for the team. There are photos from Michael Robertson and some awesome video, too: check ‘em!
I’ve been guest blogging for Light & Motion about bike commuting. Check out Part One (A “real” Job Ride) and Part Two “Like Coffee, But Better”. Parts 3 and 4 are coming in the next two weeks.
I’ve been tweeting my face off.
I’m also posting images to Tumblr every now and again.

Pretty Pictures Because I Love You

The amazing Gnat.

My Buddy Copy Matt (And the Pacific Ocean)

Cyclocross Lessons from Golden Gate BASP: Don’t Race From the Back Golden Gate Park. Sunny and cold. I have been thinking...

Factors Affecting Bicycle Transmission Efficiency

2012-01-16T02:32:00Z

Recently I had been thinking about what kind of gear ratios I would need to climb Mount Washington on my derailleur equipped bike. Being an engineer, efficiency is a staple word in my daily mingling with other engineers.

So I started to think about gear to gear effect on a multi speed road bike, such as one with 30 speeds (3 gears up front, 10 in the back). If one could save a bit of power by choosing the most mechanically efficient gearing, that'd be a relief on a long climb (lesser energy expenditure) and could translate into quicker times.

Most people you talk to about this subject would snap that the well oiled bicycle chain is 98% efficient and the discussion would end there. However, missing from that discussion is several factors that could skew it one way or the other.

One factor may be obvious - chain tension. If the chain is too long for the job, the slack side tension is now more, which will subtract from the tight side tension in the power equation. You wont be riding for a long time this way because there is higher tendency for the chain to 'jump' or skip gears. Efficiency for a given cadence will be lower.

The second factor is the selected gear. When you move away from a single speed setup and loop your chain through a derailleur and a cog containing several sprockets, efficiency is not really constant per se from gear to gear. Some gears happen to be more efficient than others, perhaps because of what you can call lesser system 'restrictions'.

If you picture yourself as a link on the chain and think about the challenge of having to maintain chain tension while bending around big and small gears alike, you'd carry power more easily the lesser you'd have to twist and bend. Atleast that's my theory. I'd like to think that a 11T small cog presents a bigger restriction to chain-link movement than a 17T cog.

Other things are less obvious. What could the effect on drivetrain wear be? I've written about an effect called chordal action when using high gears.

To measure gear to gear efficiency loss with any degree of high accuracy takes a dyno setup, load cells, a data acquisition system and lots of time. Fortunately, Chester Kyle, a mechanical engineering professor at Cal State Long Beach and founding father of IHPVA, did some very relevant work on this stuff back in the day. In Vol 52-2001 of the Human Power magazine, he describes using a single setup, with varying loads to measure efficiency in multiple drivetrain systems including hub gears.

Some of the findings were -

1) Efficiency generally increased with load : As you drive the crank to higher power inputs, the frictional factors eating away at that input becomes a lesser percentage as the input goes up. So frictional effects go up less rapidly. (Ofcourse, we're talking about mechanical efficiency here. If the human body is less efficient at oxygen intake and clearing away lactate at higher loads, there's really no point in trying to hammer away with higher gears. But that's a subject for another day)

2) There is generally a 1-3% difference in efficiency between adjacent gears. Prof. Kyle wrote that "an average of 2% difference in efficiency is thus easily possible if the wrong gears are chosen".

3) The efficiency (for all loads tested) tends to fall with higher gear ratios for all transmission systems tested.

Since I was thinking about my own road bike setup, I was particularly interested in the test he performed on the 27 speed Shimano system. The efficiency curve for this setup looked like this from the study :

A Shimano Ultegra 27-speed mountain- bike transmission with three front chainrings (44/32/22 teeth) and a 9-speed rear cluster (12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 23, 26, 30, and 34 teeth). Input cadence is constant at 75 rpm. Driven load power selected were 80 W, 150 W and 200 W. Dotted trend line shows average efficiency of setup tested at all loads decreasing with gear number.

Since Prof. Kyle ran out of time, only 15 of the 27 gears were tested.

I constructed the legend of the data points below. Gear ratio, calculated as driven teeth divided by driving teeth, decreases from top to bottom. Smaller gear ratio means "high gear" while the opposite is "low gear". Generally, the former is important if you wanted top speed and the latter would be if you cared for acceleration.

The graph show interesting things and I'd like to highlight a couple that caught my eye:

1) I'm seeing that higher gears and hence lower gear ratios mean you can lose efficiency but some perspective is important here. Between the lowest gear and the highest gears tested in this setup, there's a 1 point drop in average efficiency.

2) The 44/34T gear, which is a big front-big rear cross chained scenario, shows the worst efficiency. Generally, cross chaining is not a good thing so this might be the proof of that.

3) The 44/12T gear, which is a big front-small rear cross chained scenario interestingly shows about the same efficiency at 75 rpm as a 44/26T. Why is this so, given that I said driving a chain around a smaller cog is probably worse for transmission efficiency? No idea. Perhaps its more straight chained than the latter. Moreover, this type of cross chaining shows higher efficiency than a big-front-big rear cross chain.

4) 44/20T shows the highest efficiency of 95%, and if you included the 1-2% in friction loses in Prof. Kyle's study, that translates to 96-97% efficiency.. It must be straight chained as well. Could anyone verify this?

This study is truly interesting and has implications for performance improvement. I wonder if anyone else from another part of the world had a chance to investigate this more. It paves way for some interesting discussion.

CONNECTED READING :

52/12T vs 52/11T Gearing : A Look At Chordal Action

* * *

The Google+ Diet

2012-01-12T13:43:19Z

It’s not designed to lose weight, it’s designed to lose distractions in my life, in my world, in my social media…

I have the following:

Blog
Twitter (2)
Facebook
Foursquare
Email
Google+
Phone (txt, voice)
Other….

Effective today, I am going to use the following:

Google+ which… sort of ties into email, so it’s available too.
Phone (txt, voice)

I’m taking the challenge – 29 days… it’s on like donkey kong! You wont see me on FB, no comments, pictures, posts … I will still behave the same, just on Google+. Feel free to join me!

Scott on Google+

I believe this will end up on FB via a posting app. Keep in mind, I wont see the comments… I don’t know my FB password any more!

You can send me a message on my Google+ profile, or an email… but my email is PRETTY simple to figure out! Scott@…. Check out a poker game if you have time!

Hasta la Pasta!

The Google+ Diet

2012-01-07T09:52:28Z

It’s not designed to lose weight, it’s designed to lose distractions in my life, in my world, in my social media…

I have the following:

Blog
Twitter (2)
Facebook
Foursquare
Email
Google+
Phone (txt, voice)
Other….

Effective today, I am going to use the following:

Google+ which… sort of ties into email, so it’s available too.
Phone (txt, voice)

I’m taking the challenge – 29 days… it’s on like donkey kong! You wont see me on FB, no comments, pictures, posts … I will still behave the same, just on Google+. Feel free to join me!

Scott on Google+

I believe this will end up on FB via a posting app. Keep in mind, I wont see the comments… I don’t know my FB password any more!

You can send me a message on my Google+ profile, or an email… but my email is PRETTY simple to figure out! Scott@….

Hasta la Pasta!