Not Cool

Sometimes, even in the relative cycling mecca that is the Pacific Northwest, I still have run ins with folks who don't like to share the road.  Frequently, these people express their dissatisfaction with me being in their way by buzzing me, that is, passing me at a distance that is way too close for comfort.  Most of the time, I'm able to just let this sort of behavior roll off my back like water off the proverbial duck. Last night; however, on NW 65th St, some guy who still thought that it was cool to: 1.) buzz me not once, but twice, by passing by me within a foot and 2.) drive a Hummer, received the gift of my spittle/loogie on his passenger side window.

Seattle Meet the Teams Rides

Here's the link for the Meet the Teams of Seattle rides this year.  I always find out about this halfway through the schedule, and although I may or may not be interested in joining a team, it's a good opportunity to get in a free group ride.

Preparation

When the mind is free of worries, the legs can do their best work.

One of the best strategies for removing worry from my rides is preparation.  Over the years, going for ride after ride, one develops a rhythm and cadence not only while on the bike, but to the other activities that support riding frequently.  The Brita filter is refilled every couple days; laundry is washed on days bounded by a ratio between the number of bibs owned and the frequency of rides; the steed is cleaned and lubed.

In the words of legendary basketball coach, John Wooden, "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail."

Prior to each ride, the bike is gone over, ensuring tyres are at the desired pressure, brakes are operational and don't rub, and bidons are filled.  If I'm going on a longer ride, one bidon will often be supplemented with a protein/carb mix, and this will always be placed in the seat tube cage.  I won't have to concern myself during the ride with where my calories are - when I reach for them, they will be there.

Occasionally, despite the best preparations, a flat or other mechanical will be suffered, but if one brings the right stuff, one needn't worry about anything other than having to change a tyre for 5 minutes.  I've distilled what I carry down to:  a pair of tyre levers, spare tube, patch kit, pump, multitool, and a ziplock bag into which I put my cell phone, a spare, expired ID (that still shows who I am and the correct address to bring my lifeless body home to, should it come to that), and one single key to get me back into my garage.  I used to add my wallet and full set of keys, but that extra weight just slows me down.

Similarly, when weather conditions may be inclement, it's good to pack arm and leg warmers and a rain shell into the jersey pockets.  These are always to be rolled up starting at the bottom, so when I grab them out of a back pocket during a ride, I can hold onto the end, unroll them, and know that the part I'm grabbing is the top of the arm warmer or the collar of the jacket.  I don't have to worry about sorting out how to put it on mid ride.

Together, these details evolve into a ritual series of preparation that function to remove doubt and worry from the ride.  They are, over the years, distilled down to cover only what is needed, leaving everything superfluous behind.

Resurrection

LeMond cycles has announced it's relaunching the brand, with Time providing the manufacturing.  I found this picture of the frame at InterBike on LeMond's FaceBook page.

The paint on the '86 recalls the yellow and combined jerseys in a way that, like LeMond himself, is classy.

Each of the three frames is numbered according to the year Greg won the Tour de France.  This one is the '86, commemorating both his GC win as well as his triumph in the now defunct Combined Category.

LeMond's place in cycling history has been up and down over the years, with many in the cycling community thinking he was a bit of a whiner while Lance was winning his tours having been subsequently forced to eat crow as his revelations have come out.  The mid to late eighties happened to coincide with my mid to late teens, a time when I was discovering myself and bike racing.  The epic battles between LeMond, Hinault, and Fignon on the mythic cols and Parisian avenues of France inspired me, a skinny climber kid, to suffer in the humid Florida heat on roads without hills.  

That LeMond is now regarded in most circles as the only American winner of the Tour will hopefully be mirrored by the resurrection of this brand as a going concern.  It was unfortunate that his relationship with Trek was sullied by the Armstrong camp to the point that the LeMond brand was basically run into the ground.

And perhaps we'll even see an updated Poprad.  One of the ways LeMond's Americanness affected bike racing was that he didn't limit himself to traditional ways of doing things, equipment and training wise.

Really Inexpensive Compression Socks

Often, when I'm finished with a hard ride, the legs need to cleared.  It's helpful to cool down in the last 10-15 minutes of a ride, but one of the best things I've found to help clear the legs is to lean them up against something whilst laying down apres velo.  The point is to have the legs at an angle of about 30-45 degrees to horizontal such that they are above the heart.

Many of the gear heads and marginal gains wonks out there swear by the use of compression socks, but these can be expensive and don't really add value given that you can put your legs up.  In such cases, I'd much rather spend my coin on stuff that wears out than duplicating what can be achieved easily with what's already on hand.

Gettin' Jiggy

The frame building jig is still coming together.  Lori at RT Machining in Ballard is working on the pieces that need to be machined to center the bottom bracket, head tube, and seat tube.

The main triangle in the jig.  A rear axle spacer will be added to the rear of the main jig backbone, aligning the rear dropouts at the appropriate distance for brazing.

Centering the head tube in the jig with two conical pieces machined to be threaded onto a piece of M8 threaded rod.

The seat post center had to be machined to fit inside the seat tube cluster, rather than using a wedge, as the top of the seat lug isn't cut square to the seat tube.

The bottom bracket center block, ready to be machined down to the thickness required to hold it off the jig by the necessary amount to center it.  Threaded rod will be inserted into its center, then the last of the conical wedges will be threaded on the outside to center it.

Mt Baker Climb

One of my all time favorite climbs in the Puget Sound region for its challenge, length, and scenery is Mount Baker.  I keep coming back to the mountain for the lessons and strength it imparts.

I was on a good day riding up the climb of Washington SR-542 to Artist's Point.  I was able to stay on top of my gear the whole way up, only switching to standing up occasionally to change the rhythm of climbing and give slightly different muscle groups in the legs a chance to do the work.

I love the work of climbing, for me, it's all about feeling around for that boundary below which I can keep the current pace, and above which I completely and utterly explode.  The climbs around Seattle certainly allow for playing with these limits; however, they are completely different in that their short durations mean that I always know that if I keep going, the effort and hill will be over soon.  On a climb like Mt Baker, the limit must be set knowing there will be no respite along shortly.  As such, the boundary is slightly lower, but must be pushed against constantly for the duration.

I've heard the Cascades referred to as the American Alps, and the picture above shows why.  This is very much like an Alpine climb in its length as the meat of the climb is 11 miles at an average gradient of 5.2%.  This got me to thinking about how even though the differences in wattage, speed, and talent vary widely between myself and the pros, the sensations and emotions we feel on the way up are probably very similar.  Burning lungs, heart in the throat, leg searing efforts like this remind me of Greg LeMond's oft repeated quote that, "It doesn't get any easier, you just get faster."  This was true for me, as I set PR's up the various segments on the mountain.

Further reminders of this came the next day, as I went for a recovery spin with a novice buddy to clear out the legs.  We went out to Golden Gardens park, a flat route, where he decided he wanted to climb the hill up to Sunset Hill.  My legs were also warming up by this point, and so I agreed.  This climb seemed so easy to me compared with the efforts of the day before that I was able to climb from the seated position and spin up without a second thought.