Cross over?

In racing Cyclocross I should have some advantages. It is mostly off-road with some (slightly) technical sections, tight turns and running sections. I can ride in packs, throw elbows and my bike is decent. My first cross race went poorly, but I can blame that on the limited clearance on my bike. So for last race of the series I was ready to race.
I hopped on a commuter train out of Union Station that dropped me within a few miles of the Bonelli Park in San Dimas.
Because it was a UCI race, the 2.7 kilometer course had to start and end on pavement that was LONG with a 180-degree turn and a small incline. After that was a long slight downhill on gravel, then double-track before the grass sections and tight turns. On the first lap I stayed with the front group: it was tough, but I wasn't completely blown-up. My plan was to break after the grass downhill that went off a curb into the pavement section. I wasn't the only one with this idea and when a few others broke I tried to hang on but totally blew up. Done. Then I couldn't shift into my big chain ring. I rode the next lap with a second pack, then couldn't hang on through the soft, pseudo-mud sections.

After the second lap it wasn't fun anymore. About this time Jack, Kyle, and Jim C. showed up and I could hear them yelling 'Swarm!' and other things to me. I have suffered through long races, but the kind of suffering that comes with super high output is so different. It wrecks you like nothing else. Concentrating enough to make the turns was tough. My whole body ached. And this is only a 35-minute race! At one point I got caught by a guy on a single-speed mountain bike. On the pavement. D'oh. 16th out of 23.

Sure, I have not trained at a high output level and it is a different sport, but man I thought I was going to do much better. Very humbling. Overall I am sold that Cyclocross is fun and I know what I have to do differently. Next year?

Jack, Jim C (both from Orange 20 Bikes) raced on fixed gear

Jim, Cole, Kyle and Jack (team beard?)

Jim C. tried to jump the barriers

Kyle on his way to 3rd in Single-speed B

Hook Your Thumbs!

Last night I was riding back from the YMCA over the 1st bridge, which is under construction because of the Gold Line Extension to East LA, and I took my first-ever road spill. I've fallen off a bike many (many!) times between bmx, mountain biking, track-bike tricks, etc, but never JRA (Just Riding Along).

I was distracted momentarily when a construction worker I did not see made some noise to my left as I rode up to the apex of the bridge. It was nothing though. I went back to thinking about what I was going to eat for dinner, when a bunch of flashing lights in front of me came into view on the end of the bridge as I was beginning to go downhill. That was enough for me to not see the big rocks in the lane. I flew over the bars so quick I barely had time to react! I've almost been thrown over the bars before riding my track bike, so I know how to get out of it, but the combination of leaning forward (looking ahead) and my downhill speed I was sliding along the ground before I knew it.
Reacted quickly enough to make sure I wasn't in any traffic and to grab my bike before someone drove over it. My bike was fine and I only had a scrap so I hopped back on and rode the last mile home. Jack (thanks!) had just put on a whole new drive train, including a rear wheel he built up for me, but everything was fine.

When I got home I made a giant bowl of popcorn
(Always looking for an excuse to post food pics)

Glendora Mountain Road

On Saturday I did this loop that was way more epic than I had planned for:

Glendora Mountain Road from Azusa

East toward Mt. Baldy after crossing the San Gabriel River

The backside of Glendora Mountain Rd

Looking toward LA, 50 miles away
There's a fire somewhere in E. LA
You can see highway 39 along the river

Next time I want to connect and go over to Mt. Baldy. I heard there are 20% grade sections!

Sunday I rode the OC Rebels 46-mile ride with Nicolas. With my to/from miles I ended up with 75 miles for the day. I only ate a clif bar and a banana all morning so those miles were a little tougher than they should of been.

Cyclocross- First Race

'Well, it's kind of like mountain biking, but you are on what looks like a

road bike and you have to hop these barrier things occasionally'

Sunday I raced my first cyclocross race. It was down in Palos Verdes, on the route of a great road ride called the PV loop. Had aspirations of riding there, but the threat of rain crushed them. Check this out though: I found an express bus leaving Union Station (8-min ride from home) that gets to the top of Hawthorne Drive in PV in 1hr and 10min. It's 45-min in a car. From there I coasted a few miles downhill past the million dollar homes to the start.
There are two cyclocross series here the So Cal Cross Prestige Series and the Urban Cross Series. This was race 5 of 6 of the latter. Real cyclocross conditions in the mud and rain? Maybe for the later groups, but in the Beginner 4 race, which was first, it was pure peanut butter-like mud and mostly impassable. Instead of carrying the bike over a few barriers, I had to carry it over 75% of the course. The narrow clearance I have between my frame/fork and wheels only made it worse. I'd come to a stop pedaling down hill! The guys on mountain bikes were killing it. 25 racers started, 20 finished. I got 19th. New forks and back in two weeks?

Mud Bog

Water support for Cole (riding fixed)
3rd place in single speed 'B'

Actual racing

Off-road city riding

Obviously I am stoked on my cross bike. Yesterday I rode to Elysian Park (the park that surrounds Dodgers Stadium) with the intent of doing a 1.5 hour trail run. Then I hit some trails on the bike. Then some other trails. I ended up riding for 1.5 hours. It is so much fun to ride a cross bike off-road. It's not as easy as a mountain bike. You constantly have to focus because it is faster and the lines the bike can handle are limited. When you hit pavement it is not as tedious and sluggish as a mountain bike. The perfect bike?

Steevo recently posted about woods in the city in the winter, so I thought I'd shoot some photos of urban trail riding (in not quite woods in not quite winter).

This is a few miles from downtown LA and my house.
Luckily those clouds didn't produce rain while I was out.

I still got in a 75-min run and home before the rain. Some interesting points regarding Elysian Park:
It's 600 acres big and touches Echo Park (the neighborhood), Chinatown and Chavez Ravine.
The Eastside of the park is known as a cruising spot for young gay men.
Lots of people walk dogs here. Most people are walking at least two at a time.
The female to male ratio is at least 4:1. The likelihood of a female walking a dog is probably 75%.

The Golden Arrow

One of the reasons I started a blog was to compile thoughts, projects, groups, adventures, etc that I find interesting, important, entertaining, ridiculous, etc in one place. These ideas, concerns, evaluations, etc may seem unrelated, but to me the beauty of them all is the space between their relation. Like the bicycle. For many it is a component in an athletic endeavor and nothing more. In a way I am slightly envious of some people's ability to narrow the use of something till it has one specific function. But, obviously, I think the bicycle is way more dynamic. Sure, you consume fewer resources when you bicycle instead of drive a motor vehicle. But people who bicycle, in my subjective, non-researched opinion, live lifestyles that consume less overall. Right?
Check out this Jared Diamond article in the NY Times:
What's Your Consumption Factor?

Here is my favorite part:
'Real sacrifice wouldn’t be required, however, because living standards are not tightly coupled to consumption rates. Much American consumption is wasteful and contributes little or nothing to quality of life. For example, per capita oil consumption in Western Europe is about half of ours, yet Western Europe’s standard of living is higher by any reasonable criterion, including life expectancy, health, infant mortality, access to medical care, financial security after retirement, vacation time, quality of public schools and support for the arts. Ask yourself whether Americans’ wasteful use of gasoline contributes positively to any of those measures.'

This chapter of the Story of Stuff fits right in. I love the noise the Golden Arrow makes (but only in the video. I hate the noise it makes in real life).

Project Rwanda 50-mile ride

Saturday I rode a 50-mile mountain bike ride to benefit Project Rwanda with Max and Jack. Years ago I read We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will be Killed with Our Families (here on google books) so I know a little bit about Rwanda. Project Rwanda was started by Tom Ritchey, the same guy that was around for the beginning of mountain biking and the guy who makes the break-away system I have on my track bike. On the website he says, 'To me, the bicycle is just a freedom tool to a bigger vision for Rwanda.' I couldn't agree more, but I don't think its use as a freedom tool is limited to Rwanda. He was on the ride and Jack and I chatted with him about our track bikes ('How exactly did you get them?' he asked), but I didn't mention this to him.

I rode my freshly painted Cross-bike that was recently rebuilt with a bunch of new parts:

Jack rode his Kona mountain bike, that is set up fixed gear:

The ride started at 7am at Cook's Corner, a place famous as a motorcyclists' hangout. The route(with photos!) was made available beforehand and I had planned from the beginning to take my cross bike. I was a little concerned when about 75% of the bikes were full suspension! The course was beautiful and after only a few miles the hundred plus riders spread out.

Can you believe this is Orange County?

I was riding strongly, passing people on the climbs (I have a compact road crank, 50/34 and a mtb cassette that is 12-32) and getting passed on the descents. Cross-levers made the technical downhills much easier; which I learned the day before when Jack and I rode El Prieto in the San Gabriels. You can lean way back and still have access to the brakes. About 15 miles in I guess I was leaning too far back and pinch-flatted on a technical downhill. Probably for the best as it made me take it a little slower. Jack caught up while I was attending the flat and we rode together long enough to run into the guy from Planet Ultra who then told all his buddies about us at the HooDoo 500 earlier this year. With me on Cross and Jack on fixed the 'look at us!' factor was high.

A woman's single-speed

The terrain was varied with fire roads, double-track, some fast, packed sections, technical single-track with stream crossings and steep, long climbs. I even passed some jumps that took all of my discipline to not go off of. Finished in about 5 hours, in time to hang out with Megan and Sufiya who had volunteered. They even had veggie burgers at the BBQ! I heard the fat, leather-wearing guy running the grill say, 'We should of known all these healthy cyclists would want veggie burgers.' Also, during the raffle the woman running it (also from Cook's Corner) kept making reference to cyclists shaving their legs. How many mountain bikers do you think worry about healthy food and shave their legs? I don't think very many.

Jack, Myself and Max giving the sign of devil to counter the earlier prayer

My only complaint (even the t-shirt is dope!) about the ride was the presence of god. At least two of the organizers are into god and insisted on talking about it and even had the audacity to have a prayer before the ride. They are not working directly for Project Rwanda, but I still think it reflects poorly on the project to have Christianity involved. The last thing Africa needs is more Christianity. Like the earlier statement about the bike as a freedom tool that is probably true for the whole world.

Stuff.

The Story of Stuff.
With cycling, and adventure in general, there is a return on the higher quality (more $$$) stuff you buy in that it lasts longer. It's very difficult for someone as cheap as me to shell out the money, but I have found it economically and environmentally worth it.
Less stuff = Less work = More fun.

Skateboarding is cooler than triathlons

I think that is obvious.

But I am going to go further and say that it is also much, much more difficult to master the skills needed and there is far more pain involved. And watching it can get you way more stoked (on anything) than watching, well, anything else. Jamie Thomas' part in Welcome to Hell (Toy Machine) has always been one of my favorite parts in a video, ever. Is this almost ten years ago? Also note that him doing the railslide barefooted was part of an ad campaign about making skate shoes that weren't leather. Get stoked.

Venn Vegans

At first I could not believe the number of vegan blogs that exist and the amount of traffic they get. But it makes sense: No one likes to tell others about something they are stoked on more than vegans do. And is that not the purpose of blogs? Vegans are about 1% of the US population, but what percentage of bloggers do vegans make up?

Just look at this vegan blog and the amount of links to other vegan blogs!
I use this blog mostly to post about adventures and races, but I do admit to taking photos of food sometimes, so I might as well post them. Plus it is winter and adventures are on the minimum tip, while working to make money for more adventures is (slightly) more of a priority these days.

homemade Indian food

Our yearly Fall vegan potluck: Circle of Dead Pilgrims
(what says vegan and anti-colonization better?)

Porches bring much happiness

Morgan's Metal breakfast
(note that he did not approve frothed Silk Nog for coffee as metal)

A vegan buffet in Oslo, Norway

Second plate.

Note the corn on the pizza. I had falafel the
day before and it had corn in it as well.

Fast food in Brighton, England

Cornucopia
meal in Dublin, Ireland

More dessert and coffee from Cornucopia

Hang out

Come check this out. Fun times.


LACBC's THURSDAY NIGHT SOCIAL
Featuring: eat!sleep?bikes!

Thursday, December 13, 2007, 7-10 pm
at the new Bike Oven location!


3706 N. Figueroa St, Highland Park 90065

Special LACBC screening! We will be joined by director Sasha Edge, as well as the four cyclists who braved the Furnace Creek 508 on fixed gear bikes.

Cover: $5 LACBC Members, $10 Non-members
Membership deal: Join tonight for just $30, and get in FREE!

Prize raffle!
Brought to you by Swarm!, Scoops, Orange 20 Bikes, Coffee Cellar, and Pure Luck Restaurant.
Beer generously donated by New Belgium Brewing!
Screening at 8pm, but come early for food, coffee and ice cream (vegan too!).

New photos up

After an hour swim workout last night I rushed home to avoid the rain and had some free time. Finally got some photos from the summer organized. I am not sure what the netiquette is for this, but I back-dated the posts so the photos appear near the original stories.

Click on this photo for Norseman and Eidfjord photos

Here for PBP photos

Ride to the Ride

Ride to the Ride!

The Great Eddy Merckx was asked what three things
someone could do to be a better cyclist and he said
“Ride your bike, ride your bike, ride your bike”

Riding to the ride not only increases your mileage, fitness and experience, but each time you replace a car trip with a bike trip you:

Increase the visibility of cyclists: making the roads safer for everyone
Decrease pollution and smog: improving our air quality

Join us in improving the air and roads for cyclists by leaving your motor vehicle at home.

For more information on traveling by bike, see bikenow.org or the LA Bike Coalition's Solution Revolution page.
This is a project brought to you by Swarm!

We need more bicycles in the streets. Who better to target than people already riding their bikes? The bicycle is far more than a recreational toy and I want to share that with others. Above is the text for a small flyer I am making to put on cars at the start of rides (or in Griffith Park, etc). I appreciate any feedback.

Read Read Read

I got a couple of rides in during the holiday week, so on the weekend I had some extra time to waste on the interweb. I was looking for some cycling blogs, particularly ultra-cycling and touring stuff. I also was perusing for some new Southern California routes and groups to ride with. Assuming some people who read this blog have similar interests I'll share them.

In the world of randonneuring only certain people are qualified to put on rides. This is why we had to travel to San Diego or SLO to qualify for Paris-Brest-Paris. For 2008 there is finally a local group. The Pacific Coast Randos. Their rides seems to cost a little more than the others, but they do have a SAG vehicle running sweep, which some other rides do not have. They have some routes listed, but I think you have to pay for them. The San Diego Randonneurs have some Permanent routes on their site with direct links to the routes. Awesome.

Down in Orange County, where I ride occasionally there is a group called the OC Rebel Riders who have multiple route slips online. There are actually some nice, quiet sections of Sprawl County. The Ultra Rob blog has a recent post about web pages to map your own rides to share with others. I am also considering submitting my blog to Great Cycling blogs, but I am unsure if mine qualifies as great.

This is just amazing: 1001 lists to read before you die. This list references Ghandi: Top Ten Things to Think About if You Want to Change the World. Lastly, if you are vegan or interested in political prisoners, the Green Scare, etc, you probably know about Eric McDavid who is in prison on suspected Earth Liberation Front activity. The article Conspiracy of Dunces explains the role of the FBI in his case.

LA Auto Show

The talk (or more accurately Green Wash) at the LA Auto show makes me cringe. I ignore the entire show the best I can, but others who are more ambitious infiltrate and spread their green message. Green LA Girl posted some of her thoughts on her LA Times blog. Are you skeptical of Chevy's 'From gas-friendly to gas-free' ad campaign? You should be. It is only an ad campaign.
Lastly, some good people at Rain Forest Action Network approached Toyota's General Manager about the hypocrisy of selling themselves as green while suing the state of California for setting fuel standards higher than Federal regulations. He responds by knocking the camera out of his hand.

Six Middle Six !

When I was 15, BMX was my life. More so than I could ever describe. Fortunately I grew up around Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, which was, arguably, the BMX capitol of the country. It was the early 90's (pre X-games) and dirt jumping was breaking away from racing and merging with 'freestyle'. Suddenly everyone was riding everything; trails, street, skateparks. The best riders could do it all. I was best at trails. Posh trails and the locals (what's up Mach-6, Markie, Sal, Lonergan, Keith, Joe, Griffin) being harsh, but good teachers for a young kid like myself. I was still traveling to BMX races, but soon it was more to ride the local trails then to race some boring NBL track. My style of riding was progressing as I was riding more and more.

In Pennsylvania there is a long, cold winter with no trail riding so we would ride street. This includes 180ing down staircases, grinding ledges and jumping gaps. The bike companies (we'd only support rider owned ones like S&M bikes) were just catching up with making components (called parts) and bikes that could hold up to the abuse we'd put them through. We were often left to improvise. My favorite being a yellow mag I found in Tucker's backyard. I threw that ugly thing on my bike and felt so 'street'. Riding street that winter would end up improving my trail riding. I was transitioning from a racing-style to a more all around rider with plenty of trail rider flow.

Our own local trails got plowed the next summer cause some whiny fun-hater called the police on us for loitering (can you call it loitering when you are either digging or riding?). It was a sad day and my mag wheel, after almost a year of use, was ready to be put down. I buried it where the trails used to be. It did not take long for surburban sprawl to take over and now there is a new neighborhood on top of my wheel.

Anyway, I put a mag on my track bike and I am stoked. Am hoping that this story will stop my friends from referring to it as a hipster wheel.

Our Inner Swarm(!)

From today's New York Times. Pretty amazing. Follow the link for the article in its entirety.

From Ants to People, an Instinct to Swarm

By studying army ants — as well as birds, fish, locusts and other swarming animals — Dr. Couzin and his colleagues are starting to discover simple rules that allow swarms to work so well. Those rules allow thousands of relatively simple animals to form a collective brain able to make decisions and move like a single organism...

...“One of the really fun things that we’re doing now is understanding how the type of feedbacks in these groups is like the ones in the brain that allows humans to make decisions,” Dr. Couzin said. Those decisions are not just about what to order for lunch, but about basic perception — making sense, for example, of the flood of signals coming from the eyes. “How does your brain take this information and come to a collective decision about what you’re seeing?” Dr. Couzin said. The answer, he suspects, may lie in our inner swarm.

Fixed Gear Paris-Brest-Paris

Fixed Gear bike parked at the finish of the 760-mile, 92-hour Paris-Brest-Paris

This weekend I went on two social rides, Friday night the Midnight Ridazz Dia de Los Muertos ride (500+ people) and Saturday night the Spoke(n) Art ride for Gallery Night in North-East LA. It has been awhile since I've been around for these and it got me stoked again on what we would call local bike culture. Saw a lot of fixed gears and it reminded me that I should post some of these photos from France.

Are fixed gears the coolest thing ever or an annoying trend? Good for the city only or for long-distance rides as well? In skateboarding or BMX usually you get really excited about something new and then slightly annoyed by the people who find it after you. Is it the same for fixed gears? Like many cities these days Los Angeles has its 'scene' (does that word make you cringe?) that no doubt includes the core groups (I've been riding fixed for 5 years!), the hipsters (Is this NJS certified?), the converts (I have 10 bikes and I just converted an old Colnago to fixed), and those who just enjoy riding a simple bike. Many blogs and articles have dissected this further than I care to (Bike Snob NYC). I ride a track bike for commuting and in the city for two main reasons: It is different than my other bikes and requires different riding skills and it is low maintenance. No brakes rubbing, shifters needing adjusting, cables fraying. Just the most basic bicycle possible.
But what about for long distance? When we rode the Furnace Creek 508 on a fixed gear team someone said to us, 'Sorry this race isn't hard enough for you to do on road bikes.' And maybe some of those who ride fixed are self-handicapping: Yeah, well I did it on fixed gear!! We rode it fixed cause we thought it would be fun to have a team and to use our everyday bikes. I have no interest in riding fixed over really long distances, but many people do. I give them the benefit of the doubt that they just love riding fixed for what the bike offers them, the same way others choose to ride certain bikes, components, races, etc.
At Paris-Brest-Paris I tried to speak with as many fixed gear riders as possible and also shoot photos when I could. Photos and story at my original post for this ride.

Emily from Boston

Seattle guy

Fixed Gear Gallery jersey

The Many Faces of Morgan

Close friend, long-time housemate, fellow explorer/troublemaker Morgan, excuse me, Dr. Beeby, took the extraordinary step of photographing himself every morning of the four months he hiked the Pacific Crest Trail this summer.

Bonus points if you can find the photo with devil horns or Mt. Whitney.

Coffee? Bikes? I am definitely not alone

Please file this post under: How to waste time and ignore all of your A, B, and C priorities.
After 3 months earlier this year of caffeine abstinence, I slowly worked my way back to full-time coffee drinker. Luckily not to the levels of Budge and I last year. We were polishing off a 32-oz French Press of strong coffee every morning.
In denial of my coffee drinking habits I am yet to unearth my mug (read: I am throwing out a paper one every time I drink it). A quick internet search (which reminds me: Did you hear that Google is coming out with a cell phone? wtf?) I came across Kent's bike blog. He then pointed me to, I am not kidding this is a real link, bicyclecoffeesystems.com. A serious site. Do I have the intellectual ability to sort through this and pick the best one? Maybe after a strong cup of coffee.