Updates coming

Apologies for not updating this in a long time. I have been extremely busy and more fleshed out entries will be forth coming as there have been a number of very significant life events happening to me in the last month. These include:

1. Getting married.
2. Going to Greece for the Honeymoon.
3. Planning to move to Japan at the end of the month.

So yeah, big things that deserve some form of blogified recognition. Posts will come, but for now, I will leave you with MAN BABIES!!

And as a special bonus, how not to pickup girls…

Nau, I Hardly Neu You

While on the subject of sweating and still looking good, there’s a clothing company called Nau to which Bronwyn recently exposed me that is unfortunately calling it quits after a year in business. Their clothing and design philosophy encompasses an unprecedented combination of style, performance, and sustainability that’s pretty hard to find anywhere else. I know because I’ve been looking. While I love REI, if you’ve got a closet full of their stuff it’s hard to avoid the stigma and dorkitude of the “outdoor chic” look. In addition to Nau’s clothes looking not only “normal” but really attractive, they are (were?) committed to socially responsible business practices, including donating 5% of their sales to environmental and social causes. That’s pretty radical, especially considering that other companies like Patagonia like to tout their affiliation with 1% for the Planet. I don’t mean to downplay that at all, especially since the average charitable contributions from Fortune 500 companies is 0.07%. 1% is great, but 5% is astounding.

Their clothes, as expected, are pricey, but as they are currently winding down their business, they’re liquidating their inventory at a 50% discount across their entire site. In my mind, that makes their prices a steal and Bronwyn and I ordered several pieces on Monday - probably spending more than we should what with the wedding coming up, but this is one of those special circumstances. Apparently they’ve gotten a flood of orders and are expecting a delay of several weeks for shipping. Hopefully we’ll get ours before we leave for our Honeymoon in Greece.

It’s a shame that Nau wasn’t able to succeed as a business. Even with the growing trend in society of environmental consciousness that should have benefited their brand immensely, they explain that they were unable to secure enough investors to overcome their financial obstacles. Sadly, we’re all feeling the squeeze of an impending recesssion, and I can understand how $60 organic cotton t-shirts might not be the most appealing options on the market, I’ll even admit that their full retail price is more than I’d be willing to pay for a lot of their items. Still, I like their clothes and I like what they tried to do. I should hope that, given more favorable economic conditions, some other company can follow Nau’s example and make a similar business model feasible.

Bike to Work Day and My Underwear

As any good cycling advocate, I’m obliged to inform you that May is Bike Month. Not only that, but this week in Los Angeles is Bike to Work Week, and, to go even further, today is Bike to Work Day! The LACMTA says they are expecting record participation, and judging from my morning commute I can attest to seeing a number of new bicycle-mounted faces on the road. It’s certainly ideal weather conditions for people to give commuting a shot: temperatures in the mid-70’s and gloriously sunny. That beats the weather from Monday at the beginning of Bike to Work Week which was overcast with a very light drizzle. Still perfectly pleasant in my mind, but probably intimidating for the average fair-weather Southern Californian.

At any rate being a daily bicycle commuter already, riding my bike for one special month or week or day of the year isn’t really a big deal. Instead, I do have two fairly minor goals. The first is to actually ride my bike to work for the entire month. I don’t own a car, but I do have a Vespa that I ride into work maybe one or two days a month. So yeah, two days tops of changing my gas-sipping habits isn’t that big of a deal, but it’s something.

The bigger challenge, actually, is my second goal, which is to be more of a plain-clothes cyclist. I don’t wear lycra bike shorts and jerseys in to work. I don’t even own a pair of lycra shorts (though I do have one pair of wool bike shorts for any kind of special event). What I tend to wear is normal shorts or knickers from Swrve or REI with a wicking wool shirt. That actually look pretty non-bike geeky and would be fine in a bar. But at work, even though it’s jeans and t-shirt casual, the thought of wearing knickers or shorts doesn’t sit right with me. I normally pack a change of clothes in my messenger bag that I bring with me everyday. The irony is that the messenger bag ends up making my back and shirt extra sweaty. Even if it’s a nice looking, wicking, stink-free merino wool t-shirt, I’d rather not wear it around the office waiting for the sweat marks to evaporate. This week, I’ve been rediscovering riding around in normal old pants, be they khakis or even *gasp* jeans, which I had sworn off doing back when I started commuting because they were extremely uncomfortable. I’m finding now that jeans aren’t so bad - the difference being the underwear.

Sorry to speak so candidly of my undergarments, but wicking underwear is absolutely key! Cotton boxers simply will not do. Patagonia active briefs are pretty good, but even better are these Icebreaker merino wool boxer briefs. They are the ultimate shiznit. Kind of pricey, but so very, very worth it.

At any rate, now that I no longer need to pack an extra pair of pants, I’m able to use my saddle bag for my commute luggage, relieving my sweaty back and even allowing me to wear the same shirt I rode to work in around the office. Hurray for simplification!

I still wear dorky bike shoes, though. I can’t get over how much I like clipless pedals. However, I picked up a pair of Keen cycling sandals at REI recently with my member dividend, and they have been treating me very well - still dorky, but not as much as my Sidis.

(Mis)Adventures in Mountain Biking

A couple of weekends ago, I headed out to Idyllwyld for a 24-hour mountain bike race put on by 24 Hours of Adrenalin. A 24-hour race is done in teams (unless you’re a masochist and want to do it solo) where riders go out one at a time doing a lap around a course, then handing off a baton to the next rider for twenty-four hours. The winning team being the one that makes the most laps in 24 hours.

I joined the Hollywood Pro Bicycles “corporate team”. We were the “doing it for fun” team. They also had a competitive team. Seeing as I had only been mountain biking a couple of times before, that was not my scene. It made for a great weekend. Since our team was large and slow, there was a fair amount of downtime while we waited for our turn to come up, so it was essentially a weekend of very relaxed camping with the occasional bit of mountain biking and lots and lots of eating.

The race started at noon on Saturday, April 26, and went until noon the next day. I didn’t get to do my first lap until late into the evening just as the sun was starting to set. My lap coincided with the start of a lap from a rider from the competitve HPB team. I decided I’d try sticking to his wheel to pace myself and actually did fairly well with that up until the first check point, that leg being mostly a long climb. Going downhill on a mountain bike still scares the crap out of me, but I’m finding that I do the uphills really well. I also happen to enjoy the climbing, burning lungs, screaming legs, and all, since nailing technical bits is pretty satisfying and the fact that I’m not terrified means I can enjoy the ride more.

So anyways, everything was going pretty well up to the first checkpoint. Then the trail started into a long but not too steep downhill. Swallowing my fear, I kept sticking to the HPB competitive rider, trusting he knew what he was doing and following his line. Unfortunately, as I was zooming down the trail at around 20mph, I over-corrected my steering and my front wheel came up against a raised side of the trail, sending me face-first over the handlebars. As I watched the dirt striking my glasses, my first thought was “NOOO!!!!! THE WEDDING PHOTOS!!!!” Of all the places I could have gotten scraped up, it had to be on my face. Luckily, scrapes were all that I suffered as I checked myself and my bike over. A nearby spectator asked if I was alright and offered me her water bottle, which I used to quickly wash my face and rinse out my grit-filled mouth. Still running on adrenaline, I thanked her and hopped back on to my bike - shaken and more cautious, but still wanting to finish quickly so I could get properly cleaned up.

The second mishap on this lap occurred as the sun set and the trail darkened. I flipped on my NiteRider MiNewt.x2 to light my way, only to find that it was malfunctioning. It would stay on for about three seconds, then turn off. (Later, I asked the HPB mechanic about it and he suggested it might be a bad ballast.) I don’t know if this is a result of my crash, though it had happened once before a month ago on a Midnight Ridazz-type ride, but hadn’t happened again so I thought it was some weird fluke. Frustrated, I continued on to the second checkpoint with what little light was left in the day. At the checkpoint, I snagged some alcohol wipes for my scrapes, and continued on, but it was getting too dark. I rigged up my light’s battery pack next to my left brake lever such that the “on” button was next to my thumb and I could push the button every couple of seconds while still keeping my hands on the handlebar. This worked okay, but got very painful very fast and I still had some six miles to go. On the downhills, though, this technique was not an option as it interfered with my ability to operate the front brake. I had to run down those stretches with bike in hand.

The third blow that really broke my spirit came less than a mile from the end. I missed a turn-off. The route I took lead me to an impassible wall of rocks. Confused, I backtracked a bit and tried another path with no success. Now officially lost I shouted and cursed into the dark. There were some bike tracks in the dirt so I wasn’t the only that made this mistake. I decided I’d just walk my bike back the way I had come until I saw another rider. After maybe a quarter mile of backtracking, I found the sign that indicating where I had missed my turn. I probably didn’t see it the first time around because my light was off.

Once I was back on track I quickly finished off the lap. To top off my dismay, as I crossed the finish line a group of kids let out a collective gasp as one of them exclaimed “Woh!!! Look at his face!!!” My wedding photo woes, which had been forgotten in the midst of my lighting frustrations quickly returned and my first order of business was to find a mirror to survey the damage. I then headed over to the first aid tent where they cleaned me up. It really was nothing major, just some superficial scrapes. Apparently, the worst injuries from the evening was somebody dislocating their shoulder, and someone else piercing their bicep on a branch - in one side, out the other. As I write this, I’ve already shed my scabs so now it’s just a matter of the skin returning to its normal color.

My spirits improved as I returned to camp and there was a communal bottle of Jameson of which I was able to partake. I was soon able to laugh at the utter ridiculousness of my misfortune and started looking forward to my next lap.

I snagged a few hours of sleep, and woke up around 6AM, just as one of our riders was coming in. With most of my team asleep, I took the baton and headed out for my second attempt. This went much smoother, and I kept a casual pace. Whereas my first lap was done during the sunset, now I was riding in the sunrise, and I took the time to appreciate the gorgeous scenery. All the downhills this time were approached with a lot more, probably excessive, caution and I still walked quite a few of them, but I was enjoying the entire ride. My lap time for the second round was about an hour and thirty minutes. My first lap time was more like an hour and fifty minutes. I returned to camp and handed off the baton, and getting enough rest that when the rider returned, who himself had also had a miserable first lap but a slow and very enjoyable second (he says it was one of the top five rides of his life), I jumped at the chance to squeeze in one more lap before the noon cutoff. That lap time was an hour and fifteen minutes, which I felt pretty good about (the fastest lap time of the entire weekend being, I think, forty-six minutes). Now having been awake, I was able to throw in a little bit more hustle, and I had a bit more confidence in the downhills. And if you check these photos, you can see I was clearly having a good time.

Despite injury, I was pretty psyched on this mountain biking foray and would love to do something similar again - not necessarily in a 24-hour race environment, but just a weekend of car camping and riding - though I think any type of mountain biking will have to wait until after the wedding. Rosie served me well and I I’m pretty satisfied with everything about the bike, especially given my limited skills. Though I will probably want some lighter wheels down the road. A lot of people suggested I get a suspension fork, but I rather like the rigid one it has now. It’s light, makes climbing easier, plus it makes me feel like I’m getting cool points for riding more hard-core sans cushiness, though trying to look like I have mad skillz would probably be more effectively executed if I wasn’t crashing my face into things.

Festival of Wrights

Life could be so car-free

A great little bit of anarchy hear in Los Angeles.

Yes, it’s illegal to ride your bike on most freeways, including the stretches of the 405 and the 101 these folks are riding, but what a fine piece of subversion this is. And truth be told, when traffic is that thick, what they’re doing is safer than riding surface streets.. Intersections are where the vast majority of accidents occur with any vehicles. With bicycles, the most common collisions involve a car turning right or left into a rider’s path. Freeways remove that problem and, considering that traffic is at a virtual standstill, problems from differences in speed are also negated.

A bicycle “freeway” could be just the thing the city needs to make bike commuting a viable alternative for many - and I don’t mean bike paths and trails that meander through parks and beaches or hug the Los Angeles river with casual riders ambling along at 10 miles per hour, but something that actually moves commuters quickly and safely to useful destinations. Someone cycling from Santa Monica to downtown could probably shorten their ride by a good half hour if they rode on the 101 and didn’t have to contend with stop lights and intersections. In rush hour I can assure you they’d do it faster than a car making the same trip.

At the start of the 20th century, Los Angeles had the right idea with the beginnings of an elevated wooden bikeway from downtown to Pasadena. Unfortunately that was scrapped as the automobile rapidly gained in popularity, but imagine how things would have been different if cars had come along a bit later, and a bikeway infrastructure was already in place and proven to be a viable method of transportation. How many people would opt for the car then?

I’m not saying cars don’t have their place, but would we really still need to build 8-lane freeways? Just imagine how many thousands of acres of land could be used for things other than asphalt. This photo from Germany is a pretty good illustration of that. It shows the amount of space required to move the same number of people by car, bus, and bicycle.

Tomorrow is Earth Day, and in honor of that, a portion of Wilshire Boulevard between Western and Harvard is declaring itself car-free for the day. While that doesn’t affect my usual commute at all (I work on Wilshire but ride on Melrose), I’ll be swinging by during my lunch break to check it out and support the gesture as it’s a really great thing to see this kind of support coming from the city.

Gnarls Barkley on SNL

New Bike Day!

More like New Bike Week, rather. I won the frame off of eBay and finished building her up last Friday and have been riding her non-stop since. It’s a Rivendell Rambouillet, which has pretty much been one of my dream bikes since I found out about Rivendell’s existance, so I am very excited.

Meet Starbuck.

This is essentially an upgrade from my Bridgestone RB-2 for long distance, brevets, and light touring, and I moved nearly all my parts from the RB-2 onto this one. The only new things I needed were a seatpost and some standard-reach brakes. Meanwhile, I had enough parts in my garage to build back up my RB-2. I was thinking of selling it, but truth is I really love the frame so now I’m thinking I’m going to keep it as my “go fast” bike.

Anyways, here’s the details:
Frameset: 56cm* Rivendell Rambouillet
Wheels: 32h Mavic Open Pro rims laced to White Industries Tracker Ti hubs, Salsa skewers
Tires: 700×28mm Rivendell Ruffy Tuffy’s
Brake levers: Cane Creek SCR-5
Brakes: Tektro 521AG
Handlebars: 44cm Nitto Noodle
Bar tape: Brooks (this is the fourth set of handlebars they’ve been wrapped on, hence the dirtiness)
Stem: 100mm Nitto Pearl
Headset: Shimano Ultegra 1″ threaded
Cranks: Sugino XD 48/34 170mm compact crankset
Bottom Bracket: TH Industries, I think? 68×110.5
Front Derailleur: Shimano 600 FD-6207
Rear Derailleur: Shimano Dura Ace RD-7800 SS
Shifters: Shimano Dura Ace 9-speed bar ends
Cassette: Shimano Ultegra 12-27
Seatpost: Nitto Dynamic 626
Saddle: Brooks Pro
Fenders: 40mm Gilles Berthoud, with a Sheldon fender nut and some Honjo fender hardware used to get the right fit
Rack: Tubus Luna

*Rivendell’s recommended sizing would put me on a 58 or 60cm frame for me, but I don’t ride with my handlebars level with my saddle as they also recommend, so I went with the same sizing as my RB-2 and it fits wonderfully.

I’m pretty satisfied with the build. Since all the parts were previously hanging off of my RB-2, I had already had all the bits I wanted worked out. The only thing I still want is a dynamo hub and lighting setup that I can pop in for brevets. In the meantime, I’ll make do with battery-powered lights. I also want to swap out the bottle cages for some Velo Orange ones whenever those become available.

A “would be nice” upgrade is the brakes. The 521AG have the right reach, but the arch clearance isn’t quite right and the calipers still squeeze the fenders a bit when applied, if that makes sense. However, they don’t move the fenders around enough to actually push them into the tire, so still totally usable, though not ideal. Apparently, Tektro just put out a new standard-reach brake model, the R538, which has a better arch profile and might solve the fender squeeze problem, so that’s something I might consider later.

As for “maybe” upgrades, I’d be interested in finding wider gearing up front. The FD-6207 has an 18-tooth capacity, which means it can probably handle a 20-tooth difference just fine. So I’d consider getting a wide-range double, like a 46/26, which would be achievable with something like the Sugino PX or TA Pro 5 Vis crank. Problem is those are both out of production and retardedly expensive (but at least the rings are still being made). Alternately, I could go with a triple - 46/36/26, or even a kooky 46/44/26 half-step plus granny setup that way I could still get the tight shifting steps of a 12-23 cassette while still having a wide gearing range. Either way, I would need to get a new rear derailleur and possibly bottom bracket depending on the cranks, and it’s really not that big of a deal to me yet so no rush there.

Also, I’m debating between racks. I really like the minimalism of the Tubus Luna rack, but I also have a Nitto R-15 (this one) that almost seems more appropriate in terms of style and finish.

About the name. You’ll note I’ve been saying “her” a lot. The bike is named after Starbuck of Battlestar Galactica, not Moby Dick, and not of the coffee chain (though if you want to make the coffee connection, the bike is green, like the logo). Reasons being, like Starbuck, the bike is pretty but can take a beating. While I don’t have any plans on abusing the bike, I’m also not going pamper it to the point that I’m too afraid to take it out and put it through its paces. The best way to show a bike love is to ride the crap out of it, and that’s what I plan to do.

Also, like Starbuck, this bike will either lead me to my destiny, or to the destruction of mankind.

I <3 xkcd