Cycles J Bryant

SIR's Great, Just Great.

2011-01-28T16:53:00.000-08:00

The Seattle Randonneurs are blessed with, in my opinion, two great attributes that contribute to make it one of the best and biggest Randonneuring club in the country: amazing volunteers and a solid program that inspires the diverse citizens of the greater Seattle area to come out and try our crazy sport.

This past weekend I had a chance to spend time with good friends Robert and Jane. In addition to eating great food and drinking good Washington beer, we had a chance to get "ribbed" by a lot of Seattle-ites about Portlandia. Oh and I got in a nice little ride and went to a very informational and unlikely captivating meeting about PBP.

The testimony from the various ancienes was quite inspiring, not just to us nuts who like to ride our bikes, but to our spouses as well.

Two Thousand and Eleven is going to be a great year. I am looking forward to making a strong comeback in this years series, to do a Flèche with good friends and to do some exploring and longer rides this summer leading up to the 17th edition of Paris-Brest-Paris.

I hope 2011 is a great year for all of you.

Another Snowy Ride

2011-01-10T19:02:00.001-08:00

The forecast was for snow, but we went riding anyways.
Originally uploaded by franco650b

Another Sunday, another day spent chasing the local snow.

I met up with friends Ed, Theo, David, and Rob early Sunday morning at Barista in downtown Portland where several other groups of cyclist were convening. Downing our coffee our group then headed Northwest from downtown Portland up to Skyline and out to Helvetia. We looped around and came back via Skyline and Leif Erikson tr.

I was a bit overdressed at the beginning, climbing Cornell to Thompson roads I needed to peel off some layers. By the time we reached Skyline there was quite a bit of snow stuck on the roads shoulders and a bit in the lane of traffic. We wandered NW via Skyline enjoying the alternate world the snow and low cloud cover created. I felt like I was in a foreign land yet the nuances of the road felt quite familiar. We made our way to Old Cornelius Pass rd and descended toward Helvetia. By the time we got to the bottom of the descent, the snow started falling. First little snowflakes, then a bit later down-feather sized snowflakes began creating a nice layer on our handlebar bags and woolen jerseys.

We wandered over the rolling terrain North from the little hamlet of Helvetia towards Jackson Quarry, Mason Hill, and Jarrell rds. making our way back up to Skyline. The above photo shows how much of the white stuff collected upon the surrounding landscape. It also covered the roadway quite a bit in places, making climbing a bit slippy in spots. Twas much better than trying to descend in this stuff though.

Skyline found us regrouping and then separating again along its course multiple times. Clearly the snow and the route had taken its toll on us. Luckily the final bit of course was along gently rolling trending towards downhill terrain. Getting nearer to town we finally split up and went our separate ways. All told, the day ended up being a nice, challenging 60 miler from my house. Nicely spent with new friends, the ride was just the sort of thing to boost my confidence a bit showing me that I'm going to make a triumphant comeback from knee surgery. This is going to be a great year!

More photos can be found here.

Ringing in the New Year Right

2011-01-03T08:59:00.000-08:00

Snow On Otto Miller Rd

I got together with good friends Michael and John on Sunday to finally go for a ride that wasn't a commute or an errand the first time since my accident last summer. It was great to get out and stretch the legs, enjoy the company of riding buddies and do some climbing. I felt stronger than I expected and was able to easily hold my own. It was encouraging to not feel like I was slowing my friends down.

The weather was cold, by Portland standards at least, but clear and calm. It was hovering just under 30 degrees where we were riding, towards Dixie Mountain just south of Scappoose. Fine conditions to explore some unpaved roads.

I first learned of Dixie Mountain through fellow Randonneur Joel Metz's blog. That was about 4 years ago, shortly after moving to Portland, and this was the first time I had ridden out there and up Otto Miller Rd. There was some snow on the ground on the unpaved Otto Miller road towards the top, but traction was fine. No traffic and wonderful views make this a super ride that I aim to do more this coming year.

My Bike in the Front

This was only the second time being on the new bike and those Hetre's really shine in this type of riding. I knew that going from a 36mm tire to a 40mm tire would be a nice feeling, but I underestimated just how much the difference would be. Sublime! The bike performed admirably and the only issue I had was partly due to user error. I dropped the chain shifting from big to little ring while pedaling too hard. The handbuilt front derailleur is going to need more finesse than what I was giving it. Otherwise, the bike just did what I wanted it to and I got to focus on other things.

This year is going to be good for me. Happy New Year everybody!

Happy Solstice

2010-12-21T00:21:00.001-08:00

Image from ancient-tides.blogspot.com

A full moon, Winter Solstice and Lunar eclipse are happening tonight. (Something that has not occurred in 342 years.) The Solstice marks the end of a solar cycle and the days begin lingering a bit longer now. This is one year that I truly welcome the new year. The Winter Solstice is the sign of new beginnings and of a new birth of our world around us. Things begin coming out of their winters dormancy soon and Randonneurs will be hitting the roads to complete their Brevets. Now is the time for setting goals and planning what is hoped to come in the new year. Some of my goals this coming year:

Complete a Super Randonneur series again.
Complete each brevet strongly (meaning that I finish the last quarter with more energy than the middle half with enough to keep going) and perhaps a bit quicker than last year's Brevets, weather dependent.
Attempt a Cyclos Montagnards challenge in part, to prepare for:
Completing PBP. I'd like to try and go for about a 75 hour time-frame, but with my recovery from this year's accident and surgery I'll have to play it by ear. I should know more once the brevet season rolls around.
Place within the top 5 at the Oregon Manifest Design Challenge AND be the first rider/builder to complete the course challenge.

That already is going to be a busy year...

Anyone else care to share what they are striving to achieve in the new year?

A Quick Nod to Our French Forebears...

2010-12-16T13:43:00.000-08:00

I was looking over at the Audax Club Parisien's (ACP) website recently and am inspired by the many different offerings the club has. Along with governing all the qualifying brevets for PBP as well as the Flèche Vélocio, the ACP also offers these challenges:

FLÈCHES de FRANCE: A number of routes starting in Paris and heading out like spokes from a hub to the different regions of France.

SUPER RANDONNEE: Permanents of 600k that involve at least 10.000 meters of elevation gain (32.800 ft.)

GENTLEMAN PARISIEN: Pairs a younger and older person to tackle a course competitively and offers various awards.

TOUR de CORSE: A cyclotouriste tour of Corsica. No time limits. Seems it exists only to encourage bicycle travel...

And there are others.

It's exciting that a cycling governing body encompasses so many aspects of our sport. RUSA would be fortunate to grow into such a role. The biggest hurdle, of course, is the sheer size of our nation. Breaking it down into different regions could help. Not that I encourage anything other than solidarity, it just might help the organizing body keep its senses and have better design/support for events if it had regional volunteers overseeing these types of events.

One thing that impresses me about the ACP is the fact that the club encourages touring. Several of the organization's offerings have a sub-classification for tourists. I see a bridge between touring and randonneuring, with one leading to the other rather organically, if promoted correctly.

In addition to the more laissez faire type of attitude touring brings, there is a place for friendly competition. Competition has existed in randonneuring since the beginning and recently, in America, it seems that some don't appreciate this specific aspect of our historical origins. I feel both have their merits and I enjoy both methods of challenge.

I'm looking at a pretty big year coming up: I'm continuing to get back in shape from my accident, and from surgery. I've got a bit of training to do for Brevet Season this spring, with a 200, 300, 400, 600 km plus Flèche. Then during summer, I'm hoping to fit in a Cyclos Montagnards Challenge. (Stay tuned for details) Then its off to Paris for PBP 2011. I've also got several bikes in the works, that I'm hoping to devote more time to soon after the chaos of the holidays subside.

What do you think about the ACP and its events?

The Road to Recovery.

2010-12-05T10:26:00.000-08:00

Well, Knee surgery (repaired meniscus) went off without a hitch. I started cycling again this week and it feels great to get the blood moving after sitting on the couch for most of the last 6 weeks. I lost about 2 inches girth on the affected leg compared to the other one and that looks kinda weird, but it will come back.

Jan Heine posted something over at his blog about preparing for the 2011 season here. I pretty much outlined what I'm doing on my last post, so I'm not going into that here. I would like to add that Physical therapy has me doing many things that improve core strength and hip flexibility, something I think is important for any cyclist. I feel its important to note that core-strength doesn't mean sit-ups as that only addresses a different set of singular muscles. Core-Strength is about the equal balance of your body's trunk muscles.

For hip flexibility, I also like to include the "grok squat," especially during pauses on long rides. I think I'm also going to take up running soon.

What about your plans and training for next year?

How to Train for a Time on a Brevet?

2010-08-06T13:45:00.000-07:00

I've recently been in touch with a few people asking about how to train for a brevet. Some of this questioning is based around speed, but since speed only comes with experience, I wanted to start this off from the ground up, so to speak.

First, you need some way to build base miles. Once you build some base miles it is of this riders opinion to do a number of 200k's and couple 300k's in the first years of randonneuring. This allows you to find solutions for difficult things such as feeding, hydrating, managing time at stops, etc... I've been randonneuring for about 4 years now and at this point for me, training means riding my bike to and from work year round. Currently that trip is about 7 miles each way. That results in about 70 miles biked per week. This is before I run errands, go meet friends after work for a cocktail or snacks, or any weekend riding. For me, this is a pretty good base from which to build longer mileage on. If we are using the Spring brevet season as our goal, I like to start adding longish weekend rides about mid-December. Somewhere in the neighborhood 100k gets me out long enough and yet, not too long that I feel like the short days of winter are encroaching on my social life during the holiday season. I also try to go out when the weather's not too bad during these winter months as it helps my mood to enjoy at least some intermittent sunshine.

By the end of February, after biking on average per month about 450 plus miles, I start concentrating on longer rides. The Spring Brevets are perfect for this if I stick with the plan of commuting and adding a longer ride every few weeks or so. About the time the 200k rolls around, I'll start working on things like hill-climbing. Basically, at this point in the season, for me I just push hard on the hills en route to work. I try not to shift out of the gear that I'm in and just drive hard up the short hill. This little effort pays dividends after a few weeks. I notice that my ability to climb is greatly increased and my stamina for longer hills is much higher. I also seek out hilly routes during the longer weekend rides.

Next, I start to get more disciplined. There is a hill (actually, an active volcano within the city limits of Portland) that I try and work into my commute once or twice a week. This adds negligible distance, but the added hill-climb, while putting out a hard effort, continues to increase my climbing capabilities. I might do this once at high effort, or I might do it 2-3 times, depending on how I feel. Even just once at a time, I notice the difference in the coming brevets. I usually work this into my commute, but its close enough that if I just want to do a little weekend riding, this will suffice.

I could get more disciplined than that and do something like Tabata Sprints. Next year is PBP and I hope to ride strong, so I'm going to need to be a bit more disciplined. In the above link, the excercises are geared towards running, but the concept could easily be translated into cycling training. From my limited understanding of the subject, these high efforts, followed by brief rest, then repeating, essentially triggers a reaction in your body's neurology that shows there are higher demands being placed on the body than before. The body, in sort of a "hey, I've got to improve if I want to survive" reaction then uses the available energy stores to develop a stronger, more efficient response to the demands being placed on it. This works out to more stamina, higher output, and stronger riding. Resting and recovering afterwards is equally as important as doing the strenuous excercise.

Of course, doing anything like this, it's important to make sure you are healthy enough to do so. Talk to your doctor before going hard near your heart rate's capacity.

If you have a goal of completing a Super Randonneur, then you can use the above and get through it pretty well. If, however, you have a late summer 1000k or 1200, then you can't stop at the 600k. The endurance from doing distances is already built in, so its even more important at this point to work on speedwork. Couple this with a few longish rides at maximum effort and your body realizes its efficiency stores. It's important not to over do it and you should get adequate rest between maximum efforts to let your body recover and grow.

So, to wrap-up, work on distance endurance (base mileage) then work on hill-climbs and speedwork. Don't worry too much if the first brevets aren't as fast as you'd like them to be. Speed will come with experience. In stead, just enjoy the riding and the new friendships and take mental notes of what needs to change the next time around.

Anyone else wish to chime in with training tips for brevets?

Announcing: Cycles J Bryant LLC

2010-07-12T17:26:00.000-07:00

Carved lugs for my current project.

That's right, its official. I've started my framebuilding business. I'm still working out some of the details, but the time is right to announce what I offer and give an idea about pricing. I build fully integrated Randonneuring and Cyclotouring bicycles as well as the occasional Porteur or Commuter in the French tradition. I hope to have a full web presence as well as many photographic examples of my work up and running sometime this fall/winter.
Until then, here's what I have:

Philosophy:

It is my greatest desire to build bicycles that disappear underneath their riders, allowing them to focus on the sights or their goals. I also think that bicycles should be built to handle anything, be it paved or gravel roads, fair or inclement weather, daytime or night. I view bikes as a viable and enjoyable form of transportation, and operating requirements such as lighting, weather protection and luggage capacity are necessary. I think that everyone who rides a bike for the sheer love of it (the French word cyclotouriste best describes such a person) should own a suitably equipped bike. It is with that philosophy in mind that I focus on fully integrated bicycles. I feel that these are the best conceived, most fun bikes to ride no matter the season or occasion.

I fully believe that bicycles should be conceived as a unit, and all parts are taken into account when we begin designing the bicycle. Parts should be in hand when work is started to ensure that the bike and its components perform as a complete, complementary unit. I feel it's in everyone's interest that only complete bicycles leave my shop. Customers are most welcome to provide their vintage parts for the build if they have a specific, vintage-style bike in mind.

Points to Consider:
First off, you should decide what you hope to gain from your new, custom built machine, and what improvements you hope to gain over your current bike. What type of riding do you aspire to? Are you someone who looks to go fast, or to enjoy the countryside at a more leisurely pace? What type of luggage will you carry most of the time? What type of luggage might you carry on occasion? Think about your "ideal ride" and what it entails. What road conditions do you commonly encounter or expect to encounter? Thinking about these things, we'll first decide what tire size you need for your adventures. I begin the bike design process with your body measurements, your chosen tire size, and the riding you wish to enjoy in mind.

Pricing:
Pricing for a lugged, powder coated Randonneuse, with a chrome plated front rack start at $2300. A nice parts kit and assembly labor would give you a complete bike starting around $4800, give or take, depending on actual components chosen.
A touring bike with chrome plated low-rider front racks and a rear rack to handle overflow, based on a 650bx38-42 wheelsize would start about $2900. And with a nice touring components, would total out about $5300. Custom options and components chosen adjust the price accordingly. The best way to get an accurate estimate on your project is to get in touch.

Process:
You can get in touch with me by clicking on my profile and emailing me. Since I am currently working another full time job and building Cycles J Bryant from the ground up, the best way to start a dialogue is via email. Send me a note about what you are looking for, what you wish to gain from your custom bike and the riding you wish to do and we'll start there.

I would greatly prefer to meet you in person at some point before starting work on your project, but we can work around it, if this is not possible. It does, however, allow me to get a better understanding of what you're looking for and to possibly see you ride, which speaks volumes more than talking via email or phone can.

If you would like to place an order, I'll send you an order form and a fitting questionnaire so that we can get a good idea of what exactly is required for your build. (If we meet in person, I'll take your measurements for you.) At that time, I'll require a $750 non-refundable deposit to put you in my build queue* and I will give you a total estimate for your bicycle. The estimate is just that, and the final price will be influenced by current prices of all variables involved, from components to tubing and color/chrome, etc... We'll talk about six weeks before it is time to start the actual building process to finalize details about your build and your component choices. At that time I'll require an additional half of the total remaining total to order your components. With components in hand as I build your bike, I will be able to ensure that everything fits together perfectly. When the building is close to complete, we'll finalize color. Then, I'll assemble your bike and you can either pick it up locally, which would mean we can go for a ride, or I will happily ship it to you upon receipt of final payment.

*Currently my wait is about 6-8 months out. I have a few bikes in the queue right now and I'll post updates on those projects as they are being completed.

*Priority will be given to RUSA members headed to PBP in 2011. After that, it is first come, first served.

About Me:
I've been riding bikes since my early childhood. At that time I learned the joys of exploring my then tiny world by two wheels. It afforded me a lot of freedom and helped teach me about self-reliance. Since then, I've been an ongoing commuter, a bike courier, a cycletourist, and most recently, a randonneur. My favorite type of riding is just to get out and explore, to find out what's over the next hill, over the horizon, or to check out a road that I've passed on a previous ride or that looks intriguing on a map. I enjoy going fast on a bike just as much as I love taking my time to explore a geographic or political region of the world. Packing up what I need to be self reliant, depending on what my goals are at the time, is important as I don't wish to receive any unnecessary help, except that offered from a gracious host while on tour. My aim is to help you discover the same enjoyment that I get out of riding a bike, to help you explore your world, however big or small it may feel.

I built my first bike in 2007 and it's carried me 10,000 plus kilometers. I was hooked since building that first bike and have been building ever since. I also have built numerous racks for touring cyclists, commuters and randonneurs. I worked in a bike shop for nearly 4 years as a mechanic and am quite well versed at assembling and maintaining bikes. My past experiences are such that I feel confident in knowing how to design a bike that will go the distance and that will provide unlimited enjoyment.

Long Overdue

2010-07-05T20:10:00.000-07:00

I've been out of commission for the past few weeks. I was out riding with my good friend Michael J and had a bit of a mishap. I was descending a hill and at the bottom of the hill there is a sharp, off-camber, rather difficult left bend. I had only taken the turn once before and thought I could go quite a bit faster than last time. I felt good about everything until about 90% of the way through the turn where I found that I was rapidly drifting to the right hand side of the road, getting ever nearer to a guardrail. That's about where my memory of what happened goes blank. My next memory is of a paramedic standing over me in a helicopter helmet saying something to me and talking to the other paramedics that were now coming into view. They were taking me down the road in an ambulance to where the medi-copter was waiting to take me the 40 miles or so to the hospital.

Talking to Michael afterwards, he helped pieced together what happened. I drifted into the guardrail and my bike stopped, sending me flying over the handlebars and guardrail, down into a creek drainage about eight feet down from the roads surface. Flipping overhead, I landed on a big rock, the rear of my helmet and then my back taking the brunt of the impact. I suffered several broken ribs, a fractured skull and clavicle, a couple of fractured vertebrae and a smashed scapula. I also punctured and subsequently collapsed a lung and "bruised" my spleen as well as suffered from some minor bleeding in my brain.

I'm doing OK, but time will be the only thing that can heal my broken body. I'm out of work right now and not able to do too much, but the Tour de France started this past weekend, so at least I have something entertaining to watch on TV. I'm starting to get around the house a bit better and am able to take short walks around the neighborhood, so that I get a bit of exercise and don't go stir crazy sitting around. I've had a number of visitors, friends stopping by to wish me well, and it greatly improves my mood when they come by. My wife has been a wonderful nurse during all of this and makes me really appreciate and value our strong relationship.

My friend Robert H and his lovely wife Jane were recently in town from Seattle. I missed the Cascade 1200 the previous weekend, and it was nice to chat with him about that. He filled me in on all the details of a spectacular ride, one that I'll need to do the next time they offer it in a couple years.

While I could dwell on the fact that I missed a great ride and that I'm laid out for a while, generally, I'm really thankful for the fact that my injuries aren't a helluva lot worse than they are and that (with meds) I'm not experiencing too much pain. I've also gained some more headway into starting my custom bicycle business, since I can at least sit at the computer, but more on that soon.

Be safe out there everyone.

OR Randonneurs 600k Pre-Ride Report

2010-05-11T01:53:00.000-07:00

WOW! My first successful 600k. I have no basis of comparison for this, so my view may be a bit skewed, but I'll try and be pragmatic about this. This course is spectacular. There is a lot to take in, from rolling pastureland, coastal mountain ranges, beaches, stunning ocean views, dense coastal forests, and even vineyards. Cramming all this into less than 40 hours and under your own power is a little overwhelming to process everything that you experience along the way. To summarize, if you don't feel like reading this whole post, I highly recommend this route to people. You will be justly rewarded for your efforts.

On to the details:

Starting at the very familiar (to us ORR members) Grand Lodge, we make our way North by way of side roads into the tiny town of Banks where we connect with the busy HWY 47. But don't despair, this section quickly passes and you're looking for the turnoff onto the quiet, car-free, Banks-Vernonia trail. The trail leads you up railroad grade most of the way to Vernonia and is a welcome way to warmup on a brevet. Note, please be careful riding in a group through here, there are posts in the trail and the transitions from trail to bridgeway sometimes are a bit harsh. You will find yourself in a rather vague parking lot/access road wondering if this is your turn to get back onto 47. If its inside Stub Stewart State Park and there is a rust covered guardrail going up to the right and down to your left alongside a freshly paved wide road, then YES! It's a quick descent down to 47 then a bit of a climb and some rolling terrain on your way into Vernonia, the first control. This being an open control, there are several places to choose from, so have fun.

This next section will be quite familiar to those of you who have done the Birkie 200k. You'll travel HWY 47 to HWY 202 into Birkenfeld proceeding at river grade. Not an official stop, but the Birkie store is a great place, worthy of your business if you need to supply for the stretch into Olney. Past Birkenfeld you get a sense that this beauty of a valley you've been riding in is narrowing in onto itself and before long you'll experience the first real climb of this Brevet. It passes quickly enough, starting in a beautiful fir forest alongside a river then making its way up to a partial clear-cut summit. Here the route starts to descend over a bit of broken pavement but before long, you will find the newer asphalt and the rest of the descent into Olney will happen much more quickly.

Olney consists of nothing more than a gas station/convenient store and is a good place to top off supplies. The next convenient location won't come until Seaside. From the Olney store, you'll need to backtrack about 100 feet to the Youngs River Rd (YRR) intersection. YRR is a fantastic road, that has a good rhythm of very slightly undulating terrain. Its along here that you'll meet your first info control of the ride. Past this, you'll see bucolic farmland, and the upper part of Youngs Bay. Pretty soon you'll be looking for your turns directing you onward to Fort Stevens State Park. Looking at Google Maps may have you a bit confused when comparing it to the Cue sheet, but having ridden them, I can vouch for the route sheets accuracy with what the signs actually say. Heading out to the jetty could have you facing a terrible headwind. If this is the case, just keep reminding yourself that you have to turn around and you'll benefit from this wind much longer than you have to endure it.

Turning around at the end of the road you can now feel good about the fact that you're headed south; the direction of the prevailing winds and that the navigation is quite easy. The terrain, however, could surprise you. It is smooth sailing till you reach Seaside, except there is a bit of traffic. South of there and when you get past the HWY 26 interchange, the traffic will subside slightly, but this is where the real climbing begins. For those of you familiar with the 3-Capes 300, this next section is similar to climbing the capes, but you get more than a fleeting view of the ocean along this stretch and somehow its just a bit more pleasant. The only caveat is be careful in the tunnel that marks the entry into Oswald West SP. This is also where you'll find the bulk of the climbing until past Pacific City. There is a screaming descent into Manzanita, and on the map it looks like a hard left, but there is an appropriately placed speed interrupting hill just before the turn, so, let 'er rip.

Now its time to take it easy for a bit on the quiet, pastoral Miami Foley Rd. This is an unmarked turn, but it's just after the bridge. The first third will find you progressing a bit slower than you would anticipate, given the terrain, but delight in the fact that its a false flat and what goes up, must come down. The next bit is much quicker down to 101. Here the traffic picks back up into Tillamook, but I find that it helps motivate me to hunker down and get moving and Tillamook will come soon enough. If you find yourself towards the end of the time-limits, this is the place to stock up until you get to Lincoln City some 50 kms away.

Beyond Tillamook there is some road construction, but as of this writing, its quite passable and drivers seem to be quite alert with all the reflective cones everywhere. You'll soon discover and readily agree with the road construction in progress (though not actively on the weekends) as the condition in places is laughable, if only you weren't pedaling on it. Sandlake road will and does come in time and it's a welcome bit of smoothness after all that chip-seal (to put it kindly). Now we're soon headed south again into Pacific City, which closes kinda early, but you'll find Pelican Brewery and a Shell Station open till 11 and 10 respectively. There is a hose bib on the left side of the Market across from Pelican if things are closed when you get there and there is an ATM after you make the turn onto Brooten to satisfy the control check-in.

Now it's back onto HWY 101 for about 8 kms before you reach the turnoff onto Slab Creek rd, a quiet and meandering road through dense coastal forest. Along here you'll find your next info control just before the climbing begins in earnest. It's not a long climb, but if you're starting to get sleepy like I was, it will definitely wake you up. At the top, grab a layer for the likely cool, twisty descent and if its dark (which it will be for most) use caution descending and don't miss the 3 Rocks Rd turnoff. Its pretty much the homestretch from here until the overnight control, where "We'll leave the light on for you" at the Motel 6. Upon entering Lincoln City there is a 24 hr gas station and a Safeway that's open until 1 AM.

Day 2 starts out moving along the rest of your way through Lincoln City and pretty soon you'll be on the idyllic HWY 229. This road stays at river grade through most of its way into Siletz, with just enough of an occasional rise to get you out of your saddle to use a few different muscles; a welcome relief to start the day. You're near a river most of the way and if you're lucky, you could see some wildlife like porcupines, elk and fox. But you will definitely see farms and pasture and perhaps a waterfall or 2. When you get into Siletz, it is almost with sadness that you leave this picturesque road, but even more beauty awaits, so don't despair. The road starts to pitch up a bit after you find yourself at the next control in Logsden. About 11 miles past this control, just past Mile Post 18, the road pitches up noticeably and turns to gravel. The climb isn't too bad and only lasts about a mile, but the descent demands caution as it twists and turns and there is definite washboard and rutting along its length, but it too only lasts about a mile and then it's on to smoother asphalt through even more gorgeous countryside. The terrain goes up and down, up and down and you'll pass through sleepy hamlets like Summit and Nashville. You'll get to Summit and wrongly think that its downhill from here, but it's not. However, Blodgett will come soon enough and has a good selection of calories for the road-weary randonneur. Its a good idea to stock up here 'cause there ain't much till Dallas and this next section probably isn't as flat as you may be expecting.

In the Kings Valley, I was somehow picturing a gently rolling road with quiet farms and small residential hamlets. I was mostly right but the rises in the road caught me by surprise. Initially, they're just too long to muscle over and not quite long enough to get into a good groove like a sustained climb, but eventually they mellow out and offer a kinder face of this beautiful valley. Hopefully when you ride, there will be tailwinds, as I had to battle headwinds from here till the finish and, while not terrible, it became a bit of bother at times. Eating a little something here and there quickly improves ones mood. After some time through this postcard perfect valley you'll find yourself in Dallas. Dallas has just about anything you'd need, so eat up, there's more rolling hills ahead.

Just after turning onto Orchard Dr, I was quickly thinking "Cole School Rd." OK, its not that bad, but this roller will most assuredly grab your attention. Then, its more up and down terrain until your turn onto Bethel Rd, where you'll get a break for a little while but then soon enough, you ascend into the Eola Hills. Here you'll see wineries that you may recognize, like Bethel Heights, St Innocent and Cristom, all very respectable wineries. It's only about 75 kms from here if you should fancy yourself a bottle or 2 to take home. You'll quickly descend the ridgeline toward your turn onto Spring Valley Rd, the last info control. Here, you'll meet with more rolling terrain until your crossing with HWY 153 onto Webfoot. This is finally where you'll get a chance to rest, making your way into the penultimate control of Dayton.

Many of you will be familiar with the next portions of the route: into Lafayette, onto Bridge, Abbey, Keuhne rds, HWY 240, Ribbon Ridge, Spring Hill and Fern Hill roads. Gentle, familiar roads that offer a comfy welcome into the finish in Forest Grove. Get there in time for some food, beer, and a soak in the Soaking Pool, you may very well welcome the soak after all that rolling terrain.

"We Try Harder"

2010-04-20T10:39:00.000-07:00

A Flèche has a history steeped in tradition. It started in France to honor the patron saint of cyclotouring "Velocio" (Paul Vivie) and encouraged riders to ride continually for 24 hours towards Provence in Southern France. To me, the tradition of riding a Flèche is all about seeing how far you can go within that 24 hours. To push your limits perhaps a little more than you are comfortable with. Others feel that the minimum is fine and use the extra time on their hands to nap or have luxurious meals or perhaps even row around a lake for a bit. Neither approach is better than the other, what really matters is the fraternity of the team and what the team members wish to gain of their experience.

Twelve teams convened on Olympia this weekend with most teams doing as close to the minimum as practicable. One team, the Cyclos Montagnards, decided to try for 600 kms. Our team, the Flèche Eating Zombies, chose something a bit more safe: 421 kms. Tradition has it that different awards are given away for things like over-achievers (most kms), herding cats (most team members), most elevation gain, highest/lowest RUSA member number average and so on. We seemed to have come in second on a number of these. Second longest, second in elevation gain, I think second lowest RUSA member number average. Avis used in a fairly recent ad campaign the slogan "We Try Harder" to show that their current second place in the market means that they offer better services. We were honored with the "We Try Harder" award for having so many second places. We were trying to get the lockdown on second place with that one as well, but we somehow managed to win it.

Next year, I hope we can try for 500+ Kms.

For an excellent report on our ride go on over to Robert's Blog.
More photos Here.
And Here.

Watch Out Olympia, Here We Come!

2010-04-15T18:23:00.001-07:00

Robert Higdon, Christopher Gay and myself are headed to Olympia tomorrow. But, we're not taking the quick way. Oh no, we're headed straight out to the coast to Tillamook, up the coast to Raymond, WA and headed over to Olympia on our Flèche team's route. Our team, the "Flèche Eating Zombies" will surely have great tales to tell at the end. A total of 420 kms will be traveled over a 24 hour time period without spending too much time in any one place (we're only allowed to spend a maximum of 120 minutes in one place, so no sleeping really.) Pacing is key, and knowing how to write an accurate time schedule helps plan out how to tackle the route.

I seem to be saying this a lot about these type rides, but "We'll see how it goes."

Wish us luck!

The Importance of Jazz Hands

2010-04-13T12:39:00.000-07:00

Or: Paceline Safety and Tactics.

Riding in a tightly spaced group of riders can be great fun, enabling the group to cover distances much faster than while riding alone. The teamwork and camaraderie built in to it allows for great fun and for passing the time quickly. But, with all this fun it's important to note that there are inherent dangers while riding so closely together.

Make sure while riding together, if you are at the front of that line that you envision yourself not as a single rider with others behind, but more like you are towing a car behind you on a chain. There's a lag that amplifies by the time it reaches the last riders in a group and these riders need ALL the heads-up they can get. That is where the jazz hands come in, flailing your hands towards the direction of the road danger. Verbal cues also help, like POTHOLE, or CAR UP etc...

Many books and websites have exhausted this topic, so I'll just link a few nice youtube videos here.

Paceline or Drafting .

Rotating Paceline.

again.

And some words on the subject here, and here.

Be safe, and enjoy the ride.

7 Hours 52 Minutes

2010-03-21T12:13:00.000-07:00

As I was looking over my brevet times from last year, I set what I considered very reasonable improvements in time elapses during this years Brevets. I had been struggling to break the 9 hour barrier on a 200k, mostly on much more difficult routes than this weekends Birkie 200k. With mostly flat to rolling terrain, with exactly 2 memorable climbs (and 1 I had forgotten about) the Birkie would certainly be a ride to "do a time" on. So, when Michael Johnson challenged me to push it even farther, I was skeptical, but thought it could be accomplished. This weekends unusually mild and sunny weather would be an even greater contributor to a sub 8 hour brevet.

I took the MAX light rail out to Hillsboro, about 6 miles from the start of the ride and on the train ran into several other riders doing the same. We all rode to the start together, through the waning suburbia of the Far-Western metro Portland area and coming twilight of this post daylight savings time of the year. Right before arriving, I could feel my rear tire getting squishy. Damn, the first flat of the day. Luckily, I had plenty of time before the start to fix the flat with a patch, saving my spare tube for a later, more pressing flat. Luckily that flat never came.

At about five til 7, the organizer, Bill Alsup, made brief announcements about the course and promptly at 7, about 40+ riders took of for the day. The first few miles showed MJ and me out front. Not really sure how that happened, really. But, at about the agricultural line just outside of Forest Grove, MJ and I pulled off and let some of the faster, stronger guys pull for a bit. We made quick time rotating in a paceline over the next miles on Gales Creek Rd. till we reached the turn onto HWY 6. At that point we let the Greyhounds go and made our own pace with Tom Durkin to the climb up to Timber. At that point, not really meaning to, we dropped Tom and climbed quickly up to and descended down into Timber then over rolling terrain and an exciting descent to the HWY 26 crossing. From there, its a slight upward journey to a bit of rolling terrain into Vernonia. This is where my knee started giving me a bit of a fight. I had to slow down, stretch and massage my patela, in order to satiate the pain to a bit. Vernonia's comfy control, with its baked goods and French press coffee, came and went too quickly.

Michael and I pushed onward on the up and down terrain to the info control outside Vernonia (There were 3 mailboxes, by the way). Then, turned around to cover the same, yet slightly advantageous, from this direction, rolling earth to our turnoff towards HWy 47 where we had an unremarkable, yet hindering climb to our next turn. Soon, we quickly reached HWY 47 which proved a road to make up some time. Smooth pavement (for the first 2/3rds) proved adventageous to moving along at a good clip. I was still nursing my knee a bit, so was feeling like moving slower, and MJ was feeling fresh, so, pushed onward at a much quicker pace towards Birkie. At about Mist, a group of 5 overtook me and invited me to join the pace. Theirs was much quicker than I was moving, but it wasn't unmanageable. It allowed me to cover the remaining distance to Birkie in short order.

That's where MJ and I re-joined and pulled out back towards Vernonia. Quickly, the same group, consisting of Jimmy, Tom, Allen and a couple others, whose names now escape me, caught up and again invited us to join the pace. We covered the nearly 24 miles in just over an hour. A great advantage towards our goal of sub 8 hours. We stopped briefly for our requisite corn dogs, PayDays, and apple juice, then we headed off towards the finish, with only one more control in our way. We caught up to Allen, and then quickly with Tom and somewhere in there a couple others. We made quick time to our HWY 26 crossing, where we quickly experience a bit of climbing back into Timber. From there, its a quick, yet slightly technical descent and then a bit of rolling terrain towards our penultimate control, Glenwood. I stocked up on Coca Cola and an Ice Cream Bar and sat, stretching, waiting on MJ to catch up. I seemed to have lost him on the climb out of Timber. He arrived in short order and we re-grouped and joined efforts to arrive back in Forest Grove at our pre-determined sub 8 hour finish.

We found ourselves alternately fighting a headwind and hiding behind each other for the final 12 miles into FG. The going was challenging, but we both had enough energy to fight the headwind and make our goal. The final mileage passed without incident and we finished in an honorable 7 hours 52 minutes. Job well done, and quite an accomplishment to feel proud about. Finally, a sub 9 hour finish.

The First Brevets

2010-03-15T12:16:00.000-07:00

Its Brevet season already. The premier event was the SIR chili feed 200k and fun was had by all. If you look closely in the picture, you can see Dan Boxer chasing me up the hill on the way to Black Diamond, WA. Dan and I had the privilege of each others' company for the duration of the ride. It's nice having a companion that moves your own speed. It's even nicer to have someone who, through a stroke of good luck, shared bursts of energy and slumps at about the same time. Riding and chatting with someone makes the miles go by much quicker and you forget that you aren't keeping pace the way you'd like. There's time for that later.

Dan is working on a fellow SIR member's bike and most of the conversations that I overheard with him and others was, "what about Vincent's bike?" I've seen it, fresh from the coaters and it looks great.

Back to the ride, we covered a smidge over 125 miles in about 9.5 hours. Not bad, considering my lack of training and the nearly constant headwind on the first 2/3rds of the route. I was climbing strong, and that felt good on a route that saw many hills. It bodes well for this season. I discovered my weaknesses (I need to stretch and do some upper shoulder/ core strength training) and my strengths (my legs can carry me uphill quickly, a great base to work on for the Cascade 1200). All told, I'm feeling confident a couple days later...

My next bike is coming along, albeit much slower than I anticipated. I just got done brazing the main triangle and am super happy with the brazing. I'll have pictures to post this week sometime.

Coming up next is the Oregon Randonneurs Bikie 200k this Saturday. Having not nearly as much climbing, I'm hoping to post my first sub 9 hours time this weekend. We'll see how it goes.

Building, Training, Planning

2010-02-01T08:05:00.000-08:00

I started writing this post intending for it to be about my bike project, training for the up and coming Cascade 1200 and my plans for it and PBP in 2011. I'll get to that in a minute, but I'm a little upset 'cause I had a rather crappy day at work. If I remove myself from the situation, I work for a pretty decent company. We consistently get "Top 100 Best Companies to Work For," we get a discount and a health plan and I really shouldn't complain with Oregon's unemployment being nearly 12%. But complain I will.

"Too many cooks in the kitchen" is the basic sum of how I feel about our company's direction. We have too many people that make too many decisions that make it really hard for people to do their most important objective: Customer Service! We seem to capitalize on any and almost every holiday possible. I bring this up because it just doesn't jibe with my ideals. I'm a fairly simple person. I consider myself intelligent, but only in recent years. I cherish things like family and food and conviviality. I love being outside enjoying life. A long bike ride, or a nice weekend hike are ways that I prefer to spend my time. I enjoy taking pride in my work and working hard at what I do, but I seriously have at least 8 people that I would consider "my boss." And that makes for a rather difficult work environment sometimes. I'm purposefully being a bit vague as I have no intention to divulge the company I work for, or anything about them really, but they frequently infuriate me and make it difficult to get the really important aspects of my job done.

I have a few goals that I'd like to share, in no particular order of importance:

1. Cascade 1200

2. Super Randonneur

3. R5000

4. PBP

5. Start a successful business

6. Continue developing a deep relationship with my wife

7. Travel (which ties into the first 4, and loosely with number 6)

8. Eat well

These are my priorities. Only I know the exact order of importance they hold and only I can make them happen. Looking at them, what I did today for income doesn't help any of these come into fruition. It helps me live day to day, sure, but it doesn't directly correlate to any of the goals I have in the near future.

To borrow a phrase from some promotional jargon at work: This is my year to endeavor to align my life with my ideals. To make sure that I am not wasting any valuable time in making sure what I hold dear, comes to happen.

Slowly, I am working on my next project. I've done a bit of brazing, some schematic drawing, lots of thinking, some filing, grinding, marking, building, jig making, machining. I've got a limited amount of time between making a living and achieving other goals that I have laid out for the year, which is why things are taking so long. I aim to have my bike ready for paint within 3 weeks, to hopefully be on the road the end of the 1st week in March, just in time for brevet season and the qualifiers for the Cascade 1200.

Concerning the Cascade: I first learned of this route around the time I moved to Portland about 3 years ago. It sounded like a great route and I'm excited to participate this year. I've paid my $300 entry fee, and, as per the rules, I've partially qualified with the 200, 300, and 400k that I did last year. Now what's left is training and finishing the 600k. The good news is I'm designing the 600k for our local Rando club, the Oregon Randonneurs. So, I pretty much have to ride the ride or else suffer the scorn of my fellow randonneurs. This bodes well for me, saving face and all. To prepare for the 600, I need to do the shorter brevets as well. This will also help me achieve goal #2, Super Randonneur. (They should award you a cape instead of a medal.) There is really only 1 thing that is of legitimate concern for me during the Cascade 1200: the heat. It's likely that during the ride we'll experience temps approaching 110* F or better. To be clear, I don't do well in temps over about 90* and that's part of the reason I moved to the Pacific Northwest. But, the high desert is beautiful in its own right and I should accept it on its own terms. My mantra shall become "I am one with the heat."

That should work ;)

The R5000 will have to come over the next year or 2. It requires a PBP finish, a full series of 200, 300, 400, and 600, a flèche, a 1000k and additional brevets to get the total kilometers up to 5000. Very doable, considering that qualifying for the Cascade this year and PBP next year and riding them, the flèche and 1000k will get me up to 5860 kms. And that's just the official numbers, without any of the training.

It's looking to be a good year, even if my day at work was rather crappy.

What are your goals?

Wilderness Road.

2009-12-02T18:57:00.000-08:00

Winter is about to arrive here in the Pacific Northwest and we take the nice days when we get them. Through my Randonneuring exploits, I've had the pleasure to meet the affable Michael Johnson. Since then, he has become a sort of coconspirator. He's never balked at anything I've suggested and he's a nice guy to boot.

We thought we'd use a recent bright, chilly day to research some dirt roads to link bucolic areas we've previously ridden in. Michael and I logged about 70 miles together that fine day from his house in North Portland's Overlook neighborhood. What started as a pleasant notion turned to a muddy, slightly misguided adventure.

We headed to North Plains by way of the St Johns Bridge, up Germantown road, descended Old Cornelius Pass Rd, and zig-zagged and meandered into the tiny community of North Plains where we stopped for the requisite corn dogs and PayDay bars. From there, we sought out an alternate route to Dixie Mountain. I don't think the next portion of the ride will fade from our memories anytime soon.

We headed up Old Pumpkin Ridge Rd, then on to Pumpkin Ridge Rd proper. After a bit, the road turns to gravel (just after the friendly dog who sits wagging his tail waiting for cyclists to crest the hill and just begs to say "hello." We couldn't resist). From here, the road passed many clearcuts, so views were in no short supply. On this gorgeous, clear December day, it all conspired to make the climbing pass much more pleasantly, considering the terrain.

I have chosen my gearing to cover what I expect in randonneuring and it has suited me well. I have a crankset with 48-32 chainrings and a 14-28 six speed freewheel. I never, in my recollection, use my top gear, and I seldom use my lowest gear, but there are two exceptions to this: whenever I'm loaded with a touring load, or, if there's gravel. This day's path explored the latter, making me wish for a lower gear, mainly because it's very difficult to climb out of the saddle on loose-pack gravel.

We managed to make do over the mostly upward terrain, followed by a rapid descent to a dead end. There we found a rather grown over road that forked off just before the end. Could this be the connecting route we were looking for? It was littered with fallen branches and leaves and hadn't been traveled in quite some time. We walked and biked its short length, but it too was a dead end, this time with a forbidding gate and too many "no trespassing" signs to miss. Of course, we decided to check it out anyway. It proved to be a lost cause, combining the hilliest terrain we'd yet experienced with a gravel logging roadbed that was much more than we could handle on our 36mm tires. We reluctantly decided to backtrack.

Climbing our previous descent proved a difficult task. It was steep enough to warrant walking in one section (no wonder we descended so fast). On the plus side, at this much slower pace, we saw what turned out to be the "road" we were looking for; Wilderness Rd. I use quotes because the picture above is one of the nicer sections of Wilderness Rd. Mostly a muddy jeep track, the road is just shy of 2 miles and this time of year it's just passable, but not without significant walking due to excessive amounts of mud. So much mud, in fact, we required frequent "fender cleanings" with various foraged sticks, just to get the wheels to turn. When they wouldn't, we were dragging our bikes across the slick mud. After close to an hour of this, we finally made it to a more passable road and made up a little time getting to the largely underwhelming Dixie Mountain. By now we were feeling our efforts.

From Dixie Mountain, we descended beautiful Rocky Point road to Hwy 30 and fought a merciless headwind back into St Johns, where we were handily passed by PSU students on their 3 speeds, confirming our justified fatigue.

Would I recommend it? The ride was beautiful, idiotic, scenic, very difficult and, in a word, Epic! There are few better ways to spend a beautiful December day than to meet the challenge of a difficult adventure with a good friend.

Here's the Route.

More pictures Here.

Wine Country Populaire Pre-ride Report

2009-10-24T19:28:00.000-07:00

I first rode this route with my wife Britt shortly after moving to Portland in 2006. It was my first organized ride of any sort and we DNQ'd because we missed the turn onto Ribbon Ridge and ended up coming in about 4 minutes after cut-off. I've learned a lot since then, about time management, pacing, dressing for inclement weather, eating and many other things, but my love of riding brevets was sparked by this route.

The course has no memorable climbs, but it doesn't have any pancake-flat portions either. In short it's a great introduction to Randonneuring. The weather will likely be cold and rainy, but hey, this is the Pacific Northwest and we don't hibernate for 9 months, do we? After all, being a randonneur is about learning to deal with the road on its terms.

Starting off in Forest Grove the route quickly heads into agricultural land, passing several nurseries and a honey maker. From there it heads south-west out to Cherry Grove over beautiful rolling pasture land. The leaves are still hanging on the trees in most places and the colors are spectacular. The terrain is rolling hills and narrow valleys, open vistas of vineyards and farmland, all so beautiful to take in as you make your way into Yamhill.

Next, there is a quick jaunt down 47 into Carlton, where there are several wineries, a few restaurants, and a coffee shop. The route passes by several wineries that you probably would recognize if you were the least bit interested in wine . If you're quick enough, stopping to taste is possible; my recommendation would be Carlton Winemakers Studio, where you're able to taste several different fine makers.

From Carlton, you'll steer your bike over more rolling hills into Lafayette (great tacos await at Martha's near the far edge of town). There are signs leading into town warning that your turn onto Bridge Road is closed but it appears as though ODOT has finished their work, and the turn is indeed clear. Bridge Rd changes to Abbey Rd and will then take you over more gently rolling hills and past a beautiful Trappist Abbey. Within a few turns there's the hidden sign for Ribbon Ridge. Hint: its the first left at the top of the hill across from the unpaved Kinney Rd after you turn on SR 240. Then the route traverses more beautiful agricultural land, wooded hillsides, lowlands and creeks as you're getting back into Forest Grove. Bring money for a no-host dinner at the ride's conclusion, where there's sure to be tall randonneuring tales. Don't forget to bring a towel and swimsuit to relieve your sore muscles in the japanese style hot soaking pool post dinner. After a long day of meeting the road on it's own terms, you'll deserve it.

There's a few more pics at my flickr page.

Oregon Randonneurs description page here.

A MapMyRide route as well.

We hope to see you on the 21st!

S24O

2009-10-24T17:23:00.000-07:00

I love the format of a Sub-24-hour-overnighter. You wake up, get stuff done around the house, run an errand or 2 and then set out. Grant Peterson coined the phrase and if you check flickr, it even has a group named after it. There is also talk of similar exploits from BPL.

Perhaps the best things about an S24O are 1: your trip is usually just long enough to get you excited about more trips like it and even longer trips, and 2: it lets you test out gear that works and gear that doesn't and allows you to learn quickly and without much tragedy. But most of all, it renews you just enough that you feel like tackling your day-to-day life again.

My S24O took me 80 miles round-trip, to the other side of Estacada, OR. Stealth camping in, what I later discovered, was something akin to a paintball war-zone on a road that had waaay more traffic than one would anticipate from a gravel road with no houses on it. Overall, a good experience. Would I do it exactly the same? Nope. But that is why one does this sort of thing, for the learning experience, a chance to get out there, explore ones world and come back a little wiser in some way.

Manifest Disappointment. Scratch that, room for improvement.

2009-10-04T12:39:00.000-07:00

The premier Oregon Manifest Constructeur's Race course: 77 miles of mixed pavement, gravel, dirt, urban and rural, four tough climbs and four good descents, beginning in Vernonia, OR. By far, my favored entry was Dan Boxer's lovely machine, pictured right. It's a well balanced bike, well conceived for both tackling the course and regular commuting. Having ridden a short distance at the conclusion of the race with him, it was thrilling when he was the first racer to come in to the finish line. Due to a staggered start based on the stated abilities of the riders, he placed third in the race overall, but the assembled crowd at NW 10th and Hoyt was ready for a party, and Dan provided the first exciting finish. Job well done Dan.

The disappointment? Dan didn't even place in the top 12 of the 30 entries. Why? Well if you were there, you would have seen 32 damn pretty bikes, some well designed, some flashy, all well crafted. But the complexity of the disappointment is that of the bikes that did place, one of them in the top 3 had a broken fender bolt, another in the top 12 had lost its front rack somewhere along the way, and one placer didn't even come out for the race. WTF? Apparently, the judges were a little upset that the structure of the judging took so little points away from things like this. Think 5 points of 500 for a failure. That's 1%! What would a broken frame have been worth? One percent? If I had just spent good money on a custom bike, like the $7k-10k some of these guys charge, you bet I'd be pretty miffed if, on the first real ride, I had ANY mechanicals, except maybe a flat, much less broken and falling off pieces.

I hope they do this again next year, but the organizers should take a careful look at the gravity of such failures. A failing front rack? How are you getting your handlebar bag home? A missing fender bolt? Annoying at best, but under the right conditions, it could mean a crash and if you're out there alone, you could be in serious trouble. Not showing up for the ride should mean disqualification from placing, period. These bikes were meant to be the next great transportation machines, and if it doesn't even get ridden, well it may as well be wall art.

I think part of the issue was in the definition of the requirements. In the original Technical Trials, there were clearly defined parameters because then current bicycles weren't meeting the expectations for the type of riding people aspired to do. Points were structured to reflect things like gears appropriate enough to get you up mountain passes, fenders to keep you cleaner and drier, an appropriate weight based on frame size, because the bicycles of the day were way too heavy, minimum tire width, because the roads weren't that great, etc. etc. The Trials addressed the issues they were facing with the available bikes by defining what they wanted out of a machine and what they were expected to do.

If the Oregon Manifest decides to put on the Constructeur's race next year, they should get a group of potential buyers, avid riders, people who just commute and little more, and people only contemplating commuting by bike, and get them all to have a discussion with the judges, organizers and perhaps a couple builders to define clearly what is needed in a transportation bike. There likely won't be one definition among the groups (but that is what "custom" is all about). At least we can see what people might be looking for in a bike and how they use it. Points should be accounted for on a sliding scale where something like a broken toe clip might mean 5 points out of 500, but if a rack goes missing, it would cost something closer to 100 points. Riders and builders should determine what is safe and important to all concerned regarding designs and failures. Handling should be judged somehow, as well as the proper clearances for fenders (a must in the PacNoWest) and tires, adequate brakes, multiple gears as well as usable gear range and differences between the gears, and define a minimum standard for weight in relation to bicycle size. Women's bikes categorized separately from Cargo bikes, separately from Rando bikes? Sure, we can define what we want to see in the next Manifest. Maybe we should have stage races, like the original events where the bikes weren't allowed to be touched between stages to more appropriately assess the utility of the designs by penalizing faster, yet more fragile bikes by making the riders fix problems in the time they are being counted for in the stage.

I see the potential in the Oregon Manifest and the Constructeurs to be a huge boon to what needs to happen in the bicycle industry. Most of us don't race, but racing is where false "innovations" come from to the largest degree. I guess its much easier to televise and sell advertising built on racing rather than commuting or randonneuring or touring, but if riders demand more appropriate bikes and components through things such as the Manifest, then eventually component manufacturers and bicycle designers will start to pay attention and develop components that actually are improvements over what's available.

Overall, I am excited about where we are in the development of ridership and custom bicycles in the United States. I see the great potential for forward progress as gas prices rise and people become more aware of the environmental impacts of car use. Let's keep our fingers crossed that this Manifest can grow into something very mature and that is where we start to see development in components blossom from, and that larger bicycle manufacturers take a note and start developing bikes like what we've seen at the Manifest using economies of scale to produce an acceptable bike for a price that most could afford.

A few pictures can be found here.

Windy Ridge 600 or was it RAMROD

2009-09-16T21:49:00.000-07:00

Sept 11 2009, Friday. I awoke at 08:30, my typical time, got out of bed and did my usual routine of coffee, cruising the internet, and munching. What's different about that day is I needed to get ready for the SIR Fall 600k. Format and print route sheet, last minute packing and weather checking, ad infinitum.

My nerves were hitting me pretty good, I had been nursing a head-cold for about the last three weeks and I wasn't sure how my body would respond to pedaling 375 miles after biking about 28 miles to the start. Nine PM start. As in, I had all day to ruminate on how I was feeling, the amount of climbing and anything else that wandered into my mind. Mentally, it was a bit of a challenge. Usually for a morning start you have an opportunity to sleep to pass the time so you're not worrying about what you're about to do.

Packing was interesting. I would be riding to the start in daylight, a first, and it would also require that I have all my extra clothes, all my calories, all my spare gear etc... to fit into my handlebar bag and seat bag. It was a challenge to get all that into about 15 liters of space.

12:00. I was at the Amtrak Station in Portland a bit later than I had hoped but still made it in plenty of time to catch the train, check my bike, and settle into my seat. I tried napping a bit but only managed probably about 5 minutes or so. Arrived a few minutes late into Tacoma and lost a Stainless Steel water bottle after forgetting it on the train for a few minutes. Oh well, its a good thing the most common way to find water these days is in its own container.

Traffic was interesting leaving Tacoma. Most drivers were courteous but there were a couple of instances that reminded me that people often forget social graces when it comes to cyclists. I'm not a living being capable of being harmed, I'm just an object that is in one's way. Nothing major happened, just little things that make you wonder what people think about when they see their fellow human on a bicycle.

Enumclaw, WA was smaller than anticipated. On the way to, I was thinking about what to eat and invariably passed by several places that would have been very serviceable but I passed them all thinking that Enumclaw would have more to offer. I settled on a decent, but expensive, pizza place and got more than my fill. I still had a couple hours until the start, so I went into the Safeway to grab my last minute shopping needs and an Americano from the Starbucks.

21:00. Just after some pre-ride announcements and a bike inspection, fourteen riders were off into the night. The pace was great, I was at the front with Dan Boxer, chatting away as we rotated with the other riders taking alternating pulls for the first 50 miles or so. But about then is when I started feeling fatigued. About then is when the climbing starts. I backed off the pace and very slowly realized over the next 25 miles that I was in no real shape to do this ride. Sure mentally I was fine. I just couldn't make my body feel the same way. I did make it to Paradise, which was a lovely climb on a beauty of a grade, but my body protested the whole way up. My damn head-cold was showing signs of still fighting my immune system. The climb, in spite of my general fatigue, was perfect. Hearing the rushing river beside me at times and at others, seeing the half-moon lighting up Mt Rainier were well worth the effort. At Paradise I decided to call it in. But I kept going on the route. I arrived at Backbone Ridge just as the sun was coming up and to see Rainier in that light, with the splendid colors and just the sheer texture of the mountain were inspirational. Well worth it. Eventually I pretty much did the RAMROD route over Cayuse Pass and into Enumclaw. I counted about five 20 minute catnaps and about 17 hours total to complete the 250 kms back to the hotel in Enumclaw. 15 hours of sleep, several beers and a few finishing riders later, I was feeling better.

In the hotel, I got to chat with Jan Heine, Kole Kantner and Ryan Hamilton, a real highlight of the trip. After breakfast with Jan and Kole, Kole and I set out to make the 75 km trip back to Seattle. The time passed quickly with Kole's company and went great except for a minor navigational error that left us on a dead end into a quarry and a stiff headwind as we approached Lake Washington from the Southeast. I was meeting my wife and expecting a night on the town, Kole was headed home.

While I find it a bit difficult to manage to actually eat solid foods during long rides, afterwards I have a voracious appetite. We went to Feierabend, good German biers on tap and fried food. Then back to the hotel for a nap and an evening at Caffé Presse. I enjoy the meals that are met with good conversation and a very leisured pace and this meal was no exception. Given the time, all major meals of the day should take several hours to get through, but alas, we have our obligations outside of eating.

All in all, a wonderful weekend, even if it didn't go as planned.

Inspiration

2009-08-30T09:02:00.000-07:00

This is one of the most inspirational pictures I've come across. Its adorns the greeting page of Vintage Bicycle Press an excellent magazine about randonneuring. It says many things to me, but one thing stands out very clearly, you can reach some of the most spectacular places by bike. That's Paulette Porthault ascending a pass, I'd imagine, somewhere in the Alps in the 40's. The lightness of their load, the fatness of their tires, the road condition, all make me wish I were on that trip at that point in time.

This is what riding a bike is for me. This is why I'm inspired to build bikes that don't stop if the pavement ends, or it gets dark, or it rains. All of these things are very common when exploring. The grades of the roads are steeper than expected. You're running low on food and you're getting more and more tired. It's taking way longer than it should. The schizophrenic weather patterns pushed a little storm onto you for the last half-hour. But you're prepared, or at least your bike is. Lights to light up the coming of night, tires that absorb the less than ideal road condition you've found yourself on and are light and quick even on the freshest roads, fenders to at least keep you clean and mostly dry (you still have to worry about the stuff falling down on you) and a bit of luggage to tackle the range of weather that can happen in the mountains.

I'm working on my next bike and its coming along rather slowly. I still have to hold down a real job, train for brevets, and enjoy my family life. I'm also machining parts and fixtures to inevitably make the process a bit more quick all of which take time. In a couple of weeks I'm venturing out on the SIR Mountain 600k. I hope that the route is as inspiring as this picture (it likely will be). I'm stoked, and so far, not nervous about the ride in spite of this being my longest distance, and the sheer amount of climbing that the course consumes. But I've prepared the best that time allows and, if nothing more, then I'll have an epic 30 hours (or more) on the bike.