this weekend, i was bound for a wedding on the north coast, and because of some tight timing with friday night plans, i was forced to leave my favorite bike at the office over the weekend. this is something i’ve done a zillion times — often for one night, but sometimes for the weekend, and once for nearly 6 days. our building’s garage is "secure," and i always lock up appropriately, in such a manner that the only way to steal my bike is to either break the lock (unlikely), or to cut THROUGH the back wheel with a grinding disc.

well, cutting through the back wheel with a grinding disc seems to work cause i’m down one ULTRA sick murdered-out leader build. it was my favorite bike that i’ve ever owned, and it was the fixed-gear that i rode from san francisco to los angeles on the AIDS/lifeCycle in 2009.

i took a quick trip through the garage to check on my beloved sled this morning and that moment when i saw it gone was a strange one. my first thought was, "wait, did i take it home?" i knew better, but because of my locking method and because the building’s garage is "secure," theft didn’t pop up as my first option. but when i saw the lock still there, with my helmet still attached, and my "spokeCard" hell’s angels support stickers on the ground, i knew what was up and my heart sank.

you know it’s not "if," it’s merely "when," but that doesn’t make it any easier to swallow.

i’ve got SFPD on the way over to take a report and then i can submit a claim to my renter’s insurance, and hopefully to the lock company.

on the upside, i have enough stuff around to build up another bike in the meantime, and when any insurance settlements come through, i can replace it even better than before!!!

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as noted all over the forum for the past 6 months, WR and i participated together in this year’s AIDS/lifeCycle, and we did so on track bikes. he was on a cinelli x MASH build, and i rolled the tumbler — my murdered-out leader 725TR build. the ride is listed at 545 miles, but i did the math and it’s actually closer to 570. out of +/- 2000 cyclists, there were only 7 of us who attempted the ride on fixed-gears. and out of those 7, there were only 4 of us who rode every single mile. no walking, no rides in sweep vehicles — EVERY. SINGLE. MILE.

in an attempt to limit the size of this ride report, i refer you back to my ALC7 ride report for logistical details, and to my FLICKR SET for lots of photos. the flickr set in particular will have LOTS of the little details, in the photo captions.

you can also get a first-time rider’s perspective from WR’s RIDE REPORT, and a whole other slew of photos from his FLICKR SET.

that stated, here are the days’ ride charts…

as our friends over at team hype say, this ride is NOT FOR BABIES. note that the shortest day was 61 miles and that there were TWO 100-mile days, just a day apart.

i will say that riding fixed for that distance and amount of time equates to one terrible reality — your ass takes a BEATING. because you can’t coast, you’re pedaling the entire way. and when you’re whipping down a 7% grade at 33mph, your legs are spinning at 155rpm and there’s serious friction. and bouncing. by day 3, i was wearing TWO padded cycling shorts, and on day 4, i had stuffed an arm warmer in there, too. it was brutal. my ass hadn’t been whupped like that since i was 10 years old and dad found out i stole that magazine from the corna stoe. i don’t know how much of that could have been remedied by riding a steel frame (my leader is aluminum, and thus doesn’t flex), but i have to imagine that it’d have eased the load a little bit.

in addition to the battering that my undercarriage took, i also seem to have done some nerve damage to my left hand. i can’t feel my left ring finger or pinkie finger. many people on the ride were complaining about numbness in their pinkies, but mine is two fingers and hasn’t yet gone away. there was another time in my life when i pinched a nerve in my left thumb and it was numb for almost 6 months. as such, i’m just gonna ride this out and see if the sensation comes back before i go searching out some kind of nerve operation.

but other than that, i’m pleased to say that my hips, legs, knees, and ankles are all perfectly fine. i had a moment of the fears on day one when i started getting groin cramps at mile 45, though. 45 miles into an almost 600-mile ride is not a good sign. but i was able to shift my riding style to use all the other muscles around it, and i just started stretching more. as such, i was able to ride through the cramps. the next morning, i got a slight cramp in my right hip flexor before leaving for the day, and i started to get scared enough to get pissed off, but i rode through it, and that was the last of my cramps for the week.

MOST CHALLENGING ASPECTS…
+ "quadbuster." this is a 2-mile climb on day 3 that increases in grade from 8% to 12%. i’m proud to say that i climbed it without stopping. it was slow going, it wreaked havoc on my IT bands, and when i hit the top i was literally pouring rivulets of sweat off my face — so much so that it was pouring onto my tyre, which was in turn leaving a wet track on the concrete. insane. oh, did i mention that this climb occurs after 10 miles of steady 2% uphill grade? yeah. so you’re basically going up a hill that increases in difficulty by a factor of almost six-fold, FOR AN HOUR.
+ the descent after the halfway point, day 4. this is several miles of consistent 7% grade. on a road bike, it’s awesome — you can get yourself up near 50mph if you lay on the big ring. but on a fixed-gear, it’s a different story. you’re fighting your drivetrain for 30 minutes to keep yourself at a manageable speed.
+ the descent on day 6. BRUTAL. steeper than the halfway point descent, and worse yet — it’s alongside freeway traffic and there’s RUMBLE STRIPS. you hit a rumble strip on a bike at anything over 3mph and you’re taking some serious chances with your level of control AND with your bike’s structural integrity.
+ riding on the side of the 101. you’re riding a bicycle on a freeway. i shouldn’t have to explain much more than that.
+ duration. this is something that affects you no matter what kind of bike you’re on. for 7 days, you’re workin it for 5-9 hours a day. luckily, everything’s so beat up after the first three days that you don’t know what hurts and what doesn’t. cause it ALL hurts. hahaha!!!

DANGERS AND TERRORS…
+ on day 4, i almost suffered heat exhaustion. it was 90-something degrees, there was no shade, i’d been in the saddle for 6 hours, and my bike and all my clothes are black. so i was really soaking up the heat. i managed to candy-ass myself to the next rest stop, where i put some ice into my bandana and wrapped it around my neck. then i sat in the shade and had about 4 bottles full of ice water. after 45 minutes or so, i was back at it.
+ also on day 4, i was almost crashed by another cyclist. first of all, he passed me as a semi passed both of us. the shoulder was nice and wide, but semis in particular fling off lots of detritus when they pass and they have a vortex of wind around them. so anything you do, even riding in a straight line on perfect pavement, is affected by them passing. but that wasn’t the half of it. his pass forced me wide right — right into a HUGE patch of loose, deep gravel. if i were not an experienced cyclist and if i were not riding a fixed-gear (giving me infinitely more control over my bike), i would have certainly gone down. but even THAT i could have gotten over. it was his "watch out for the gravel!" that sent me through the fucking stratosphere. run me off the road and then tell me to watch it? i. will. fucking. KILL. you. this is what turned it into a really bad situation. i fucking went OFF on him when i caught him back at camp. i was up in his fucking grille asking him who the fuck he thought he was, playing with my life just because he had a tailwind. told him that in addition to running me into the gravel and then having the audacity to tell me to watch out for it, he did all this while we were both being passed by the semi. told him that if he ever fucking did some sloppy shit like that again, he better be goddamn sure i don’t catch him. as it turned out, he knew exactly what he did and was very apologetic and up-front about it, which went a LONG way towards cooling me down. so much so that i actually found him again later and apologized for yelling at him.

TECHNICAL ISSUES…
+ i had to tighten my crank bolts once.
+ my bottom bracket is creaking something awful. now, that’s more to do with maintenance than anything. that bb hasn’t been serviced in over 800 miles now, and before that, it already had several hundred other miles on it. so it’s due to be replaced ANYWAY. and the creaking is just coming from the grease all wearing away, so when i finally get around to my post-ride tune-up, it should be fine.

WONDERFUL MOMENTS…
+ riding along next to strawberry fields that go for a mile and then terminate at the ocean is something really special. it’s not just that it looks gorgeous (though it does), but it’s the SMELL. ocean and strawberries. it’s really amazing.
+ there was a cloud which had a rainbow ON it. the rainbow was nowhere else in the sky, just on the cloud. if you go to my flickr set (link above), you’ll see it. it’s called "gay cloud."
+ lycra-clad chicks with cycling legs. nuff said.
+ the community. this event is predominantly made up of gay men. lots of lesbians, sure, and a good bunch of us ole breeders, too, but for the most part, this is a gay male crew. and not ONCE did i feel awkward or out of place or ostracized or harrassed or ANYTHING. it’s so inclusive and so wonderfully free of cliques and confines that it gives you hope for a world in which it’s ALWAYS that way. at least that’s my hope.
+ 2 miles to go. all sorts of neighborhoodies are out along the roadside with tables full of cookies, lemonade, cupcakes … and then there was the margarita man. WR and i were rolling by at maybe 18mph and dude goes "margaritas?" i locked my rear wheel into a 30-foot powerSkid. "SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!" dude was fucking cracking up, said it was the best reaction he’d gotten all day. he filled one of my water bottles with top-shelf HEAVY-pour margarita.

in closing, i want to share something that was new to me on this ride. i mean, i felt it when i last did the ride, but i didn’t consider it’s importance or maybe i didn’t know how to verbalize it. but i’m clear on it this time. see, there are only four things that mammals (and actually most forms of life) need to survive — oxygen, food, rest, and exercise. and for 7 days on the AIDS/lifeCycle, that’s all we did. in addition to meeting the challenge of doing the ride on a track bike, in addition to helping to build the amazing community that is formed during the week, in addition to being a part of raising $10.5M for this imperative cause, that simple fact is responsible for most of the incredible sensation that i got from doing it. 7 days of base physical necessity goes a long way towards rebooting your body and mind, and when i was done, i felt amazing…

we’ve got big time braggin rights on this one, people. 570 miles on track bikes is straight BALLER, and i’m not afraid to say it.

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. Team Lope Ride Report – ALC Day on the Ride, WR’s Account
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as NOTED before, WR and i set up a fundraiser party to help us along our way to our parallel $3000 requirements to participate in the AIDS/lifeCycle fundraiser in june. that happened this past sunday, and a finer day could not have been hoped for.

neither one of us had ever hosted a fundraiser before, so we went into this sort of blind. i had the benefit of having watched a friend host a couple last year, and i just hijacked a couple of her ideas outright, then asked her for some guidance on some other things, and then came up with even more original shit with WR. in the end, what we enticed people with was the following…

+ DRINK SPECIALS — note to self, any time you wanna raise money, attach it to booze. the bar donated two handles of vodka to the cause. with one bottle they made 2 trays of jell-o shots, and they used the other to pour vodka/crans. jell-o shots were $3, vodka/crans were $4, and since the vodka was a donation on the bar, all the profits went to us.
+ CUPCAKES — WR and his wifeBot(tm) scooped up about 33,000 cupcakes from safeway and then put little .75" x .75" team lope logo flags on the top of each one, and sold them for $3 a pop. WR and i ate the cost of the cupcakes as our own donation, so again, all profits to the cause.
+ RAFFLE — this was the biggest money-maker. we got lots of our friends (and ourselves) to donate products and/or services as prizes and then sold raffle tix at different stages of pricing. 1 ticket was $2, 5 tix were $4, and 15 tix were $10. the prizes were … one (1) matted photograph by a professional photographer friend of mine, two (2) different $50 gift certificates to a restaurant that another friend of mine manages, one (1) haircut from my ex-(SG)f, one (1) comic art commission from WR, one (1) bike fitment from WR’s good friend and fellow team lope commandant el jefe, one (1) nature walk from a friend of mine who works for parks and rec, and one (1) bike tune-up from me, alternately redeemable for a night of drinks if you don’t have a bike.

the day was absolutely GORGEOUS, and all in all, i’d say we had about 50 planned guests, PLUS the regulars that were already there. and bonus, the bar’s a hardcore lesbian bar, so the regulars were already the target market. plus, you know, jell-o shots.

everyone had a great time drinking and carousing and eating cupcakes and buying raffle tickets like they might win a fucking space shuttle or something, and the winners of the prizes almost couldn’t have been hand-picked better. the winner of the haircut was this super butch barback with like a sloppy military flat-top, so ex-(SG)f is gonna have an easy time of that. the recipient of the bike fit was a cyclist, the winner of the comic art commission already looks like a superheroine, the winner of the bike tune-up is a good buddy of mine who LOVES to go out drinkin, so he traded that in for the drinks (still to come), and really, it just went the way it should all the way around.

and in the end? the bottom line? almost FIFTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS. we have a few creative ways to split it up between us, and it’s a huge boon to the funds we need to participate in the ride.

WR and i are super happy with the results, obviously, but i think we were just pleased to see so many people turn up to support not just us, but the cause itself. and that’s what’s important.

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

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team lope / team hype — FIXED POWER.

a short while before the launch of the AIDS/lifeCycle, the organizers make a mini-version called "day on the ride." it’s pretty self-explanatory. fully supported with motorcycles, sweep vehicles, rest stops — everything that would be in a day on the actual lifeCycle, just no gear trucks or tent grid cause, well, obviously they’re not necessary.

for me personally, the ride was kickass for a number of reasons. one, riding with WR, especially with our schedules as they are now, is always a great joy. two, it was the longest fixed-gear ride i’ve ever taken. three, the overhaul i did to the tumbler’s drivetrain the night before had it rolling and performing like fucking butter. and four, i’ve been having a huge problem on the last two long rides i took and that problem is cramps. i haven’t been able to make it 60 miles without thigh, calf, or hip flexor cramps — usually all at the same time. but because of the great care i’ve been taking of myself this last week (lots of super healthy lunches and dinners, no nights out drinking, lots of protein shakes after rides, three days of no riding at all, and tons of sex), and because of the fact that i FINALLY took a half-gatorade/half-water mix in my bottles, i got ZERO cramps. in fact, even when i first drafted this post, 4.5 hours after the fact, my legs were in GREAT shape. my back is (STILL) another story, but my legs are SOLID. the hot bath probably helped, too. so for me, stoked.

the day starts the same as any regular day on the ride, with a rah-rah speech, a moment of silence, many expressions of admiration and love and thanks, then a safety speech and some stretching.

WR had an unfortunate occurrence, in that his camelbak had sprung a leak. but WR’s a quick thinker, so dude just put his sensitive shit in some plastic bags, fixed the leak, and boom, no more problem.

on the way out the door, we noticed a crew of three that we could tell straight away were other fixed-gear guys. i struck up a conversation with them while WR caught up with a rider he knew, who happened to be providing moto support today. these fixed guys, team hype out of both LA and SF, were the coolest fucking guys ever. they weren’t the cookieCutter hipster fixie kids AT ALL. they had no qualms about safe riding. they had no expectations of SAG bags and toe clips. they had no disrespect for the roadies and newbies. they were just really, REALLY good guys who i felt super stoked to meet and hang with through the day.

from there it was out the door and 17.9 miles to the first rest stop. along the way we had a 3.4 mile climb, some shitty stretch of beach (too much sand and wind, plus a massive split-plus-two-bumps about 50 feet before and 50 feet after every single traffic light — traffic lights which i don’t think belong there anyway, but they’re for pedestrian crossing in that neighborhood, so whatever.

despite the ride starting on the northeast side of town, we ended up traversing the north side, heading west through land’s end and by the legion of honor to the beach, then down the west side (aforementioned shitty beach stretch) to end up heading SOUTH into san mateo county. it was just surprising because i’d assumed … start from the north, head north. but whatever.

WR and i were able to hang out together a LOT on the ride, which was cool cause we could gauge each other’s status, talk about what we were finding out about equipment and our training’s results in a ride day situation, and of course, just bullshit. in fact the only times we weren’t riding together, it was because one or the other of us just needed to bomb it out real quick. the other would just catch up later.

anyway, the first rest stop was a quick one. we both treat rest stops the same way. get in, get some food and refill the bottles, stretch, and get the fuck back out on the road. at this first rest stop we did take the time to talk to team hype (as well as another fixed-gear rider i met along the way), but we were still back on the road in like 15 minutes, tops.

another 15.7 miles and we were at lunch. along the way here we had a 1.2 mile climb and then a serious descent, which on fixed-gear bikes is NOT easy. in fact, WR started to experience the first of what would end up being a day’s worth of occasional stings and cramps on this leg of the trip. once at lunch, though, we got a chance to sit down for a good 25/30 minutes, talk about some of the final details of our fundraiser, catch up with team hype (prior to their EFFING NAP), and actually eat some real food — turkey sammiches. we stretched again and after a quick fix of my back wheel (i’d somehow torqued it slightly crooked in the drops, loosening my chain), we cut out again, this time 18.5 miles to the next rest stop.

along that next stretch we were climbing a lot. a 2.4 mile climb was followed by a 1.3 mile climb, and there were a ton of rollers. and despite those short distances, by this point it was hot as fucking hell out. plus, you know, track bikes. hahaha!!! i was glad to get ahead of WR for a good bit of this section (my bike is easier to climb with than his), and the reason is that i was able to pull over in the shade twice to let him catch up, rehydrating and snacking an extra bit. so i loved it. and truly, the accomplishment of making those climbs gave me even more confidence in my ability to make the ride itself.

the third rest stop was the same as the first (we were headed back now, obviously), and same drill. say hi to team hype (we took the above picture this time), chat with some other REALLY nice people we’d met along the beginning of the day, snack, stretch, hydrate, bounce. oh, i forgot, at this rest stop they FINALLY had coffee. my first cup of the day. holy god it was like drinking pure gold.

17.7 miles to go to the end, and this part of the ride was actually shitty for me. it was mostly along that god-awful stretch of beach, and then from there, through the park and the presidio to get back to the starting point. while you’d think at least the park and presidio would be awesome, it was a gorgeous day so we were now dealing with every.fucking.body in the city, all on bikes. i ended up even getting into an argument with a mountain biker who forced himself in between me and a car, almost crashing us both. then when i told him he was being a jackass, he told ME off. WTF.

but on return, we were treated to a fat pasta lunch, complete with salad and desert, and we cut our separate ways to go home. i couldn’t believe that even after all this, i was still able to haul my bike up to the house without pain or exhaustion. i took a hot bath and had a well-fucking-deserved beer.

ok, two.

ok, three.

so that comes down to 69.8 total miles, in 17.9, 15.7, 18.5, and 17.7 mile increments, including climbs of 3.4 miles, 1.2 miles, 2.4 miles, and 1.3 miles. it was a great day, and in the end we learned a LOT. WR seems to be convinced that he needs to come down from his beefy 82 inch-gear, and i realized that i need to really, REALLY pay attention to taking care of myself, cause it fucking matters. so we both win.

i felt really bad for WR at a couple points, and the reason was that the ALC ride has MUCH stricter rules than other event rides that he’s used to. one is no headphones. another is that you have to stop (put a foot down) at EVERY STOP SIGN AND LIGHT. and another is that you have to generally ride in single-file. none of these things are fun for either of us, but i’ve dealt with it before, so i think he felt like he had to kind of tolerate a bunch of nonsensical shit. but this isn’t a ride of 100% cyclists. there’s a LOT of first-timers and regular joes here, and you have to tailor the ride to make sure they don’t get hurt or scared. so you do what you must. in our case that meant finding a quick foot-down-while-moving "stop" method, and riding kind-of-single-file-but-kind-of-not by overlapping the back and front wheels of the leading and following riders, respectively. it seemed to work just fine.

this was a 9/10 CLANK! ride, because the beach stretch really does suck, but other than that, we got a chance to hang out and geek out on bike shit, we met a bunch of really cool people, and we put MILES down, successfully, on effing track bikes.

next up? keep an eye out for the results of yesterday’s fundraiser, and then we have to put in at least a couple more training rides together and/or separately. then the big day in june. wish us luck, and we’ll keep you posted.

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. Team Lope Ride Report – ALC Day on the Ride, WR’s Account
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Blair and I want to take a moment to thank everyone who has donated to our team’s AIDS Lifecycle 2010 challenge. You will all receive a personal note separately, but as we are about 7 weeks away from the event, we wanted to tell you now that you are making the difference in our being able to do this thing. We appreciate it, and more importantly, the recipients of the work this fundraiser supports do as well.

And if you will be in the SF Bay Area at the end of the month, you can come out to our fundraiser at the Wild West Side bar and meet us if you haven’t already!

Thanks again, and if you haven’t yet donated, please do, via the link below…

Thom / Blair

:::

Information on AIDS Lifecycle 2010:

In June 2010, we’re riding 585 miles of gorgeous California coastline on a fixed-gear bike over 7 days, in order to raise money ($11M dollars a year for each of the last 3 years) for AIDS prevention and treatment, cure research and services for disenfranchised gay and lesbian youth in the SF Bay Area.

AIDS/LifeCycle is a fully supported, 7-day bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles, June 6-12, 2010. It’s a life-changing ride—not a race—through some of California’s most beautiful countryside. AIDS/LifeCycle is co-produced by the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and is designed to advance their shared interest to end the pandemic and human suffering caused by AIDS.

With that stated, we humbly ask you to look into your hearts and see if this is something that you want to give a few bucks to.  if so, you can donate by credit card or your standard paypal account through this link –

and don’t forget, many companies will match their employees’ charity donations.  If you work for one of these generous organizations, please make sure and give them your receipt so that you can see your gift increased!  (just remember to do so in enough time to get the matching gift into the revenue stream before 6 June.)

Each rider must raise $3,000 before the event, and we as a team must collectively raise $6,000 with a goal of higher than that… so everything helps!

:::

Fundraiser Event Notice: Team Lope is also having a fund-raising party in gorgeous SF!

DATE : Sunday, 25 April
TIME : 2PM-6PM
LOCATION : Wild Side West, 424 Cortland Avenue @ Wool Street, between Andover and Bennington Streets, Bernal Heights, San Francisco, CA, USA
MAP : Wild Side West

The Wild West Side offers a great, multi-level outdoor area.  There will be drink specials, trivia contests with killer prizes, and a special treat for anyone who’d like to make me, or even one of their friends, suffer: we will have a bike on rollers on which you can force us to ride and balance for dollars! Obviously, we’ll be accepting donations at the fundraiser, too.

Thanks for your consideration, and lets all endeavor to contribute to a future free of the stigma of AIDS!
Team Lope Tyre Clubbe

Related posts:

1. AIDS lifeCycle 9, now featuring the team lope tyre clubbe
2. AIDS LifeCycle 7, 2008
3. Team Lope Fundraiser: Wild West Side Bar April 25th

So my weekends have been challenging, with regards to getting miles in, with the baby and the honeydos and the like. We’ve got 60 days or so until Aids/Lifecycle and I have a lot of ground to cover, so to speak. Yesterday am, my wifebot(tm) surprised me, as we were finishing feeding wee Z, by saying ‘you know, if you want to ride up mount Tam for an hour while I put her down to nap, you can…’

And whatever else she said, I have no idea, because she was talking to a cartoon dust cloud, as I was already in bikeBasement getting ready. For ALC, I really just need more long distance fixed ride miles, to make sure my knees (and my back, which indirectly affects the knees due to bad form that arises from favoring back muscles in pain) can handle days of that effort. And the funny thing is, living right near Mt. Tam, I hadn’t yet climbed it recently. I kept trying to arrange that as a ride with Lung, but when he comes over the bridge we tend to do fixed rides so it hadn’t happened yet. I had only ridden Tam twice before, to be honest: once, some years back, and struggled, and once two years ago, as part of the beastly Mt/ Tam Climbing Century, in which this was merely one component of a much longer ride. Anyway, suffice to say, my memory of the climb was murky, and my ride fitness for the season is way behind other years as far as climbing goes. But off I went, on the road Look, with a bottle and a vest/arm warmers.

It was an effing COLD day, the break between storms hitting the bay area, so it was about 50 degrees at my doorstep, but once I started up the climb, I felt the chill setting in. I stopped to adjust the seat (I had stolen the Look’s seat to use on Ghostal, and replaced it with a white Sella saddle, so it wasn’t adjusted for riding yet) and in those few minutes of adjustment along the narrow windy road, I felt like my core temperature dropped like a stone. Anyway, back on the bike, and with the effort of climbing underway I warned up well enough, and by the time I reached 4 Corners I was able to pull the arm warmers off and unzip the winter vest. I do wish i had pulled on leg warmers though, as my knees were chattering like bored housewives in the bulk grains section of Whole Foods. That said, no injury so all’s well.

Now, I’m always the first to admit when a climb is hard, as I have no pride in such matters. I know that two years ago I did both peaks of Tam, AFTER Alpine, AFTER Terra Linda, and BEFORE Stinson, Pt Reyes, and onwards. But I haven’t done a climb of this magnitude this year, certainly not since wee Z was born over 10 months ago, so I was suffering more than I would have other times. I don’t think Tam is EASY at any particular fitness level, but people who ride it regularly do adapt to it, as I hope to soon enough. But I was definitely sucking wind. Actually, to be fair, what was doing me in was the weaker core strength that has come about from a year of no longer commute and gym work. So, it’s not surprising that my back would be the component to fail first. Very frustrating: I’m not one to have pride in my rides, bt I AM one to always be pursuing my personal best, and I don’t like to stop unless I have to. Anyway, I had to. FOUR times over all between 4 Corners and the top of the West peak. But I kept the stops to about 30s or less, and just stretched my back. It was pretty painful. But at least the legs remained strong and my asthma was managed. In fact, I was also pleasantly surprised that I had no issues with my freshly lasered eyes, either. I feared the pollen might do me in.

Anyhow, I stopped at the top for about three minutes, but had to turn back and get going as this is a 90 minute ride and I was obviously going to be late. The descent wasn’t as fun as it can be, because of my back still aching, but I put some muscle into it and was downhill pedaling in my 53 whenever I had a gradient allowing it. I dont tend to descend as fast as others in the Lope crowd, But I was coming down pretty fast. One rider BLEW past me, and was pretty amazing. But I passed several others. One pair had been doing sprints up at the top of the West Peak (it was a great steep section before the end) and I caught up with them and then passed on the left. One caught up to me awhile later (it’s a long descent, and I slow in curves) and said ‘you’re riding a big gear’ to which I said that I usually ride fixed these days, and on a big 82-inchgear. He said ‘so you’re used to that!’ and I laughed and said I struggle on the road bike between old habits and new (and he’s right… as a roadie I spun a smaller gear at higher cadence, and on fixies I like to push bigger gears)… he said ‘you’re fast!’ and then we parted ways. Pretty cool, as those guys were massive.

The nice thing about Tam for me right now is that you get to the bottom… and boom, my house. It’s GREAT! So all in all a GREAT ride. My legs were swollen for a few hours, which always makes wifebot(tm) laugh, but no injuries and I feel good today, albeit a little back sore…

Swollen! But Awesome

Every ride counts!
Next time, Lung will come, and actually bring the Bianchi back into rotation…

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Related posts:

1. Torquing Your Way Through China Camp
2. Crook: Notes From the Getaway
3. Bike Build Process Log- Carpetbagger: Ride Day

This weekend, Team Lope member Cyclomania (known by most by his nom de plume, Eric ‘frogleg’ Gratacap, though that’s just to throw people off his true passions as a cycling…maniac…) arranged a ride with his better half K and a few friends, heading into Marin to get some more early-season saddle time, or as the kids call it, ‘junk miles’. Usually I cannot attend such things, saddled, to use that term, with honeydos and zoesdos and so on, but this time I got the necessary hall pass and headed out, needing some distance miles on this bike in preparation for the AIDS/Lifecycle ride in June. So far the bike’s been holding up very well, and with a few adjustments in the bar padding and the rear wheel/chain alignment, Crook has been a solid bomber, easily the tightest ride I’ve ever ridden. And by rise, I mean whip. And by ridden, I mean sessioned. Because as we all know, if you ride a fixed gear, you have to have skills both mad and displayable. My unfortunate lack of skid stop and track stand competency is ignored for the purposes of this ride report.

The gang’s plan was to do the China Camp Loop heading out from SF. I had done this a few years back so it seemed a good fit for my needs: getting some distance in to compliment the Paradise Loops I’ve been doing on Crook so far. I didn’t really remember the ride in detail, but I know everything from my home in Mill Valley to the San Rafael approach to the Civic Center, so I figured it would be fine. Worst case scenario, I’d turn back when needed. As everyone was riding road bikes, I was prepared to be dropped, but I tend to set my expectations low (I suppose in order to exceed them, ha) but really, pushing an 82 inch-gear around, you just never know what combination of distance and/or climbing that will cook you. On ALC, I’m bringing spare cogs, because I’m neither proud nor excessively idiotic*, so when the big hills come, I’m gearing for them. But the overall plan is to ride a big gear for the flats and rollers, minimizing revs and maximizing speed. This assumes I can keep steady on rides between now and then, not find problems in the knees, and keep the recovery down.

We met on the bike path between Marin City and Blithedale, and after a meet and greet, headed out. The ride basically bi-forks the Paradise Loop, just as any ride into West/North Marin from the south will. We were, as always seems to happen on weekends, taking Camino Alto right as a gang of other riders were hitting it, which is a scenario I like to avoid even when on a road bike (these days, many riders try to ride double or triple wide and not move for cars, then swerve into you when the SUV doesn’t accept this practice, or they slow you down by crowding the road ahead of you and chaining down into grannys or what have you. I like to set my own pace on climbs, particularly fixed, as I have so little flexibility in terms of cadence and gearing. So, once we hit it, I hopped ahead and got out of that mess as soon as possible.

That’s the thing about big gear fixies: any fixie has an optimum cadence (usually 80rpm and whatever speed you get is the speed you get) and a minimum necessary cadence for climbs. I’ve found, on road bikes, that I can, and generally do, eventually chain down to a tiny gear on serious climbs (in fact, my road riding style is opposite to this big gear fixie: I’m a high-cadence low gear rider, especially on climbs) and even if I have to tick them over slowly, I can still do it, even down to barely turning them over at times depending on the road… without fear of falling or stopping. And if I do have to stop, I can get going again on that gearing with about 30s of recovery time. But on the fixie, when you crank too slow, you stop. You just can’t turn em over. Unlike road bikes, you aren’t restarting after a necessary stop easily because you don’t have a tiny gear to get into. You have the gear you have, and since the minimum gearing for a fixie to be bearable is maybe mid-60s (in my opinion, and mine are all in the 70s generally) you’re still stuck with a heavier gear than perhaps you need to start up again if you were forced to stop in the first place. But anyway, what I’m getting at is that I tackle hills on a fixed gear the same every time: hit at the cadence I need to maintain to get over it, and just get through it. But something strange happens with a big gear fixie. It’s arguably inappropriate to take these over much climbing, right? I mean, when I put the same approximate inchgear on the carbon Look fixie project, Villain, I was initially figuring I wouldn’t be climbing at ALL. I just one day decided to take it into Marin and back when I lived in the city, and found that (with stokers to hold onto, anyway) I WAS able to get it up the grade, but only barely. Little by little my caution, and fear for my knees, waned in the interest of maximizing the amount of riding I could do in the bigger gear (and it just maks riding my mid-70s geared bikes that much easier later) and once I decided to go this route for ALC, I knew I had to push the issue, literally. But with a big gear bike, getting over hills isn’t a matter of will as it is on road bikes. If you slow down from exhaustion or inattention or even road conditions, that might be the end of the climb for you.

This is all to say I bombed up all the hills. I felt like that guy, the one you see on Spinergies going up Headlands or in full USPS team kit on the bridge or time trialing through stop signs. You know the one: the asshole. I like to ride with a group, not just attack my own riding crew and slam it. I feared it was perceived that way. Frankly, my only goal was to get to the top of these hills, so I had to get my gear going as fast as I could as early as I could. And anyway, I expected to be in the back on these things, so it was just timing and circumstance that led to me pushing these hills so hard. In order to stay with the group on the way down or in the rollers beyond, I had to get a head start. That’s kind of a bummer. But anyway, the important thing was getting through what I’d guess was my hardest fixie workout without injury or bonk. I’ve down longer fixie rides technically, but between some climbs and this gear, this was the HARDEST. All told, it was a good sign that I was able to keep up with these other riders and that I didn’t have knee problems during or after. And the critical barometer for me on this bike, in terms of ALC prep, is recovery. It’s going to be a hard bike to ride down the coast, but I’m most concerned about recovery after feed breaks and especially overnight. So the more of these longer weekend rollers, the better.

Everyone on the ride was awesome: Bobby and Jared, both transplants from Chicago, were experienced fixie riders back home, probably far more competent in technical skills than me, now on new higher-end road bikes and getting used to them. Great guys. Kristin and Corrine were slammin the hills and it was great catching up. In fact, towards the end, passing through the Tiburon side of Paradise, K and I were alone in the front and laughed about the fact that between my clamorous BMX chain and her allergies, neither could sneak up on the other. Oh, and China Camp? I had forgotten how beautiful it is. It’s like an abridged Paradise itself, but with more water views and a 7-11.

A great ride! Very satisfied.

*Other than, you know, riding ALC fixed in the first place…

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Related posts:

1. Team Lope Ride Report: China Camp Fixed
2. Team Lope Ride Report – ALC Day on the Ride, WR’s Account
3. Bike Build Process Log: Crook

When I decided to do AIDS/Lifecycle, I couldn’t. Lung was stoked to do it (remaining, until now, the biggest feat Team Lope has ever seen, going from no multi-gear experience to riding Toro 600 miles in a week, with 5 months of prep) but I had a family situation that precluded my involvement. The following year, I wanted to do it, but between Lung taking a year off and my baby arriving, you know, THEN, it wasn’t in the cards. But this year, we’re in it. And I’ve had a LONG time to think about it. I had been content to do it on my carbon Look road bike, but after his first ride, Lung came back super fired up about the few folks he saw out there doing it fixed. You may recall his notes on the journey here. He announced we’d be doing it fixed, and so we are.

I have a lot of bikes. I like to build them, and I like to ride different ones on different days for different reasons. Each one rides differently. When we agreed we were doing ALC fixed this year, I knew I had a couple of candidate bikes to use, but none were a perfect fit. Ghostal, by now complete, is a smooth fixed gear bike with track drops, allowing for cog replacement as needed, but is heavy by road standards. Villain, on the other hand, is built out of a carbon road frame and fork. However, with vertical drops and some slightly dodgy mods, it didn’t provide me with great comfort, thinking about being out there day 3 and having the BB jack up or the drop threads strip. And it would only allow for one other magic gear, and it wasn’t ideal. As light as that bike is, it’s not perfect for being relied on long-term over long-distance. Well, far be it from me to shy away from a fairly unnecessary new bike build challenge! So, I spent some saved cash (stay tuned for the resulting fire sale to make up those monies, ha) and for the first time ever, finally went whole hog on the track frame I’ve wanted since the day I saw it.

What ride is this? What mystery frame have I teased Lung about for a week now?
I think you know!
We marveled at it here, wondered at the guys riding them here(there’s some foreshadowing for you) and lamented the price here. And if you note my comments across those threads, I loved the frame, but was stunned they rode the TdC course on it, and assumed they would be impossible to get anyway, being in a limited run of 1000.

Well, I got one, and am stoked as you can imagine.

Lung and I have very similar tastes regarding bike stuff, as a general rule. This frame was, along with the Leader, one of the two I always fancied. Lung picked up the Leader and is riding it in June. So, our Team Lope Tyre Clubbe stable will be well represented.

The name? Crook
As in ‘by hook or by crook’
as in how I’m going to drag may ass to the end of that ride!

More to come!

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Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log: Crook – Front End Work
2. Bike Build Process Log: Crook – Prime Assembly
3. Bike Build Process Log: Crook Type 3 Conversion

This is a tradition for several years now. 1,060km of OZ outback. In the SUMMER.
And these guys, Flat Out are a small group that do it fixed.

Given what we are attempting with AIDS/Lifecycle this year, brothers in arms!

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Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log: Crook
2. AIDS lifeCycle 9, now featuring the team lope tyre clubbe
3. AIDS LifeCycle 7, 2008

She’s pretty but tiring, because she comes late to the party after you’ve sort of petered out on food and drink and are ready to take a nap. I’m talking, of course, about Paradise Loop’s Camino Alto climb. Going in the normal direction (as opposed to Reverse Loop, which I do more often) Camino Alto comes last. Again, after a few months of riding, this loop is an easy breezy bombing run. In January, after holiday treats and rains and in my case no sleep thanks to wee Z, it’s a great workout. On the road bike, like earlier in the week, thanks to the efficiency of gearing choices, its a fast loop. And if you’re a little low on energy towards the end, no worries, that’s what that derailleur is for. But on fixed, no such luxury!

Since the plan, as it stands, is for Team Lope Tyre Clubbe to do AIDS/Lifecycle fixed this year, we’re doing as much riding fixed as possible. Mid-year in seasons past I would usually have one of my fixed gear bikes at the office, and be commuting in from SF on the road bike or another fixed gear whatever the case may have been on any given day. So I would tend to do Paradise fixed, and I always found that the descents were more tiring than the climbs, merely from the work involved in maintaining a limited speed downhill. This time I’d say it was about the same degree of difficulty up and down, given my fitness level being what it is so far. It’s still really early, and I’m pleased at having enough juice in general for rides without injuries or over-exhaustion. We were in good form yesterday.

After a quick breakfast of bagels and coffee, Lung and I set out from my house in Mill Valley and started Paradise later in the morning than usual, which meant more cars but warmer air (still high 40s). During summer, it’s practically impossible to do some of these rides mid day because of the onslaught of tourist cars and such, but it’s January and cold and not many people were out, bikes or cars alike. Since we had originally intended to do Tam, but decided to go fixed instead, we were fired up for a little more work, so we did the Strawberry extension to Paradise Loop, which adds extra miles and three or four hops to it, which is a great warm up. I don’t do Strawberry at lunch all that often because it pushes the ride duration out longer and I like to get back as close to an hour later as possible. After Strawberry, you’re nice and warmed up (despite the air) and ready to hit Tiburon and the climbs up into Paradise Cove. We made a very good pace, and pushed on through up through all those great windy hills and then finally down into Corte Madera, up to Camino Alto, and then stopped to take these pics at the top of that climb before descending into Mill Valley.

I was feeling the strain on Camino Alto, though Lung shot up that hill with impressive speed. My asthma was giving me grief, and I burned my bagel up, so I was lower on fuel than I’d like, but still pushed through at a solid pace and hopped out of the saddle at the end for a sprint which felt great. The funny thing about climbing on fixed gears is the reactions from others: some girls doing roadside cleanup cheered us on which was nice, especially since they knew what a fixed gear WAS, and a few roadies were complimentary of the bikes and our riding of them. Often, roadies’ reactions to a fixed gear on climbs range from incredulity to scorn to bewilderment. I’ve seen a lot of it, riding these hills and also commuting from SF and back on them. So many misconceptions about what CAN be done (inf not what SHOULD be done) on fixed gears among roadies and city hipster riders alike. The fact is, like Lung enjoys pointing out, fixies are great trainers regardless of what you normally ride. GREAT workout on climbs, no coasting or excuses, and you do what you can with the gear you brought. I love it.

Anyway, great ride, and nice to come home, warm up and Q the buffalo burgers for science!

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1. TLTC ALC Prep: It’s Cold in Paradise
2. Ride Day: Camino Alto
3. TLTC Ride Report: ALC9 – Wrongrobot

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