Ride Hard My Friends . . .

You know you are hard on bikes when the guys at your local shop always greet you with a wry "what is it this time" type of smile when you appear at the mechanics' entrance.  When you ride every day, and at every opportunity, your bike is going to amass a bit more wear and tear than bikes that are pulled out of the garage more intermittently.  In my case, though, the issues always seem to be more dramatic than mere wear and tear.  Last year, alone, I went through more than a dozen spokes and cracked my frame -- all without even crashing.  After rebuilding my back wheel twice, Holland's finally just gave me a new set of Mavic wheels (which have held up nicely, thank you very much).

I have previously written about my bike's mysterious creaking issue -- originally diagnosed as a saddle problem, but, when a new saddle didn't make the creak go away, a hairline fracture in the frame was found right next to the seatpost (and, thanks to Specialized for replacing the frame for free!)  Despite all the frustration in diagnosing the creak and waiting for a new frame, I was actually pretty happy that the ordeal led me to the new saddle - a Selle Anatomica X:

These leather saddles are actually made by a San Diego company and are so, so comfortable.  I've been riding mine for six months now with ZERO soreness.  The large gap in the center creates a nice hammock-like effect that works like magic.   Plus, it looks SO cool!

Tension is maintained (preventing sag) by tightening the tension-bolt under the nose of the saddle.  Speaking of that bolt, it was the latest subject of amazement for the guys at Holland's, because, simply through road-riding, I managed to crack the steel bracket that surrounds the bolt:

Look at that!  You'd think I was Danny Macaskill dropping off the top of my house onto a boulder garden on my road bike, but this is simply what our lovely San Diego roads can do to sheer metal.  Brian at Holland's said he's never seen anything like it.  The good news was that the housing was replaceable, and Anatomica honored the one year manufacturer's warranty and sent the new part for free (which was easy to install myself).

Waiting for the part gave me and the All-Purpose Do-Anything Urban Assault Bike some quality time together, which is always fun, but it was nice to get back on my road bike again once it arrived and I got the saddle back together again.

Hopefully, this was just a freak occurrence, but I sincerely hope that this bracket makes it longer than six months -- you'll be the first to hear if it doesn't (well, perhaps the first after the folks at Selle Anatomica) --

EAT BACON, DON'T JOG!

So, I bought this book for family and friends this Christmas, and sent a select few a slab of premium bacon along with their present:

I bought the book for myself right before Christmas simply based upon enjoying Grant Petersen's first book, "Just Ride":

Have to admit that, while I didn't agree with every single thing Grant said in "Just Ride," it was definitely one of the primary sources of motivation for me to do this blog.  His overall premise that bikes and the world of biking should be fun and not, solely, the realm of pretentious wanna-be racers, really resonated with me.

His original book included a few fitness and dietary tips, but the real focus was bikes and biking.  In his more recent effort, he addresses how, after struggling with weight his entire adult life (who hasn't?) despite  hundreds of thousands of miles on bikes, he finally got permanently lean and strong by revamping his diet and approach to exercise.  I read a lot about fitness, diet, exercise, etc., so I wouldn't say that this book was completely revelatory to me.  However, he did an excellent job of succinctly capturing the fruits of science and research that has been emerging in the worlds of diet and exercise in the last few years.  Reviewing them in a fun, easily digestable format reminded me that I had all the information I needed to gain total control over my fitness, but just needed to implement that info -- as Grant had.

Non-revelation #1:  Avoiding ingestion of carbohydrates results in weight loss.  Duh -- Atkins figured this out back in the 70's.  I have dabbled with low-carb at times, losing weight easily whenever I did, but always worried about the health effects of ingesting so much fat.  Hard to totally embrace a high protein/fat diet without hearing the echoes of "experts" touting low-fat diets in your head.  Well, many opf those e"experts"have been issuing apologies of late since studies that have emerged in the last several years have revealed that the fat that clogs the arteries of typical Americans doesn't come from ingested fat - it comes from stored fat.  And what causes us to store fat at greater rates than any other food-stuffs?  Sugar and carbohydrates.  Minimize these in your diet and your body has no choice but to burn up ingested fat as a fuel source.  Pretty simple.  Again, this wasn't completely new to me, but taking a tour through the science with Grant, and reading about how he implemented it himself (including great recipes) sort of gave me permission to go low-carb for good.  And it was SO easy.  Once you do it for a short while, you realize that bread, tortilla, potatoes, rice, pasta, and corn-stuff are all incredibly bland and tasteless.  Any flavor they have, comes from the real food that they serve as a delivery device for.  So, why not just eat that real food and toss the empty, sugar-laden calories?  Best example:  my favorite breakfast burrito in San Diego is the Californian at Cafe 1134 on Coronado:  apple smoked bacon, eggs, avocado, and one of the best salsas on the planet.  Well, it also comes as an omelette!  Scrap the tortilla, and you still have an incredibly delicious breakfast.  Same goes for ditching the bun and going "protein style" at In-n-Out -- just as delicious!

Non-revelation #2:  Short, high-intensity workouts are superior to long low-intensity workouts (e.g. jogging).  Now, this was truly not news to me, because I have already been preaching the value of burpees and other quick, off-the-bike high intensity exercises on this very blog.

The value, for me, of exploring this concept via Grant's book was that he provides lots of ideas for various ways to get these quick, high-intensity work-outs done.  Burpees are great and all that, but so is variety.  The exercises that most intrigued me were kettle-bell swings and presses and a really fun workout he touts that involves taking a medcine ball out to a big field, throwing it as far as you can, running to it, picking it up and repeating for four minutes.  A true caveman-style workout -- just tossing your big rock around a field.  Right up my alley!

So, how does this play into biking?  Well, that's where Petersen connects with his first book.  Don't ride to get lean, fit, fast, etc.  Ride for fun.  Eat right and do 5 - 15 minutes of high intensity strength conditioning a day, and ride whatever way makes you happy.  If climbing mountains or doing centuries makes you happy (as they certainly do for me), then great -- but don't make biking a chore.  Biking should just be gravy on top of the minimum effort it takes to truly get lean and strong.

Down 25 pounds already, and lost weight straight through the holidays, while eating plenty of bacon, eggs, steak, shrimp, cheese, nuts, and other delicious foods I love.  Never hungry . . .

Don't believe me?  Well, read the book!

Once Upon a Time . . .

Once upon a time, there was a not-so-long-suffering wife who liked to ride bikes with her wonderful, Bikeist husband . . .

Fans of the Bikeist's neverending Bikeography are already well aware of the tortured relationship between my long-sufferering-wife and bikes.  In our early days, she used to ride with me all the time.  We took our bikes on our honeymoon to Nantucket, Cape Cod and Vermont, on vacations to Acadia and Block Island and used to do lots of weekend jaunts.  As my wanderlust got stronger and stronger, though, and the jaunts evolved into what she termed "death-marches" she suddenly, and decidedly, retired from biking.  Luckily, she never laid down an "it's me or the bikes" ultimatum, so I was able to continue to chase my obsession -- alone.

Nothing wrong with alone, though -- I'm surrounded by people all day, every day, and am the only male in a house full of women and budding women, so the bike is a great place for me to gather my thoughts and enjoy a little forced solitude.  However, I have missed the jaunts.

I've occasionally tried to lure my long-suffering-wife back onto bikes for short trips over the years, but she has always had an excuse at the ready, the main one being that her one-speed beach cruiser was too clunky and heavy.  Then, out of the blue this Fall, she suggested that she might be more willing to ride if she had a lighter bike with multiple speeds.  She only had to suggest once, because at that moment I determined to get her the perfect bike for Christmas.

But, what bike to get?  It had to be easy to ride, comfortable, have a reasonable range of speeds, and, maybe most importantly, be pretty.  Couldn't be a road bike or mountain bike -- she'd reject either immediately.  She also very quickly fell out of love with the dull, hybrid-style bikes she had ridden in the past.  What we needed was a town bike, something European looking, a bike that begs to be pedaled.  This led me immediately to the classic "mixte" style - a dropped cross-bar bike, that isn't quite a "ladies" bike.  my first thought was to go with one from Public, the company that provides bikes to Kimpton Hotels:

But, at well over $1,000, this beauty was a bit pricey given the risk of my long-suffering-wife not re-embracing the joys of riding.

Next was this version from Linus, that my friend Francine rides on our Thursday night "Circumnavigation" rides:

Great bike, which I was all set to get, until I visited Holland's and saw that Electra had entered the European-style bike game with their "Loft" seven speed.  The price was great, and with some accessorization, I was able to make it a thing of true beauty:

Took this shot right before hiding it in my friends', Gary and Terry's garage until Christmas -- always so exciting to know Christmas will involve a new bike for someone!

I retrieved it from said garage late on Christmas Eve after everyone, including long-suffering, was dead asleep, and then placed it prominently in front of our beautiful, real (of course) tree.  

You should have seen her eyes light up when she saw it -- love at first sight!  She couldn't wait to take it for a spin, which we did in the afternoon, just around the neighborhood.  It fit her like it was custom made for her -- perfection.

We were busy with visiting relatives most of the rest of December, but, once they were gone, she joined me on a cafe ride to Cafe 1134 for breakfast this weekend -- just a little over 2 miles each way, with great coffee and breakfast in the middle.  We were jaunting again!

I remember, way back, before her sudden retirement, that she joked that she would only agree to ride with me on islands, since I could only bike a finite distance.  I guess that makes Coronado (minus the Strand) just about perfect then!  As long as I keep things within the confines of the island, I think we may have an infinite number of rides together ahead of us --

And they biked happily ever after --

Happy New Bike Year!

The Bikeist will be back with full force next week, after a restful, and ride-filled Christmas and New Year's.  May you all have your best years in the saddle yet!

Merry Bikemas (2014)!

Merry Christmas to one and all!  Nothing beats getting up on Christmas morning to find a bike by the tree, does it?

Here is what my long-suffering wife found:

Just begs to be ridden doesn't it?  Big thanks to Holland's Bicycles for customizing this 7 speed Electra Loft for me.  The brown tires, daisy saddle, daisy bell, multi-colored grips and accented basket make it look like a completely different bike than the one that shipped.

So, if I avoid any forced "death-marches" my long-suffering wife may just be back in the bike game for good.  Let's hope so . . .

Say It Ain't So, Bono!

Did you hear the awful news?  Hard to believe it, but one of the biggest stars on the planet, who also happens to be the lead singer of the Bikeist's favorite rock band, managed to get into a bone-breaking bike crash while riding in Central Park.  No, it was not Chris Martin!  Who said that?!  That's the guy we wish had crashed!  It was Paul Hewson, aka, Bono, of U2 of course!

As reported in Rolling Stone, here is the statement from Bono's Doc detailing the full extent of his injuries:

Full Statement From Dean Lorich, MD on Bono's Condition:

On November 16th, Bono was involved in a high energy bicycle accident when he attempted to avoid another rider.  Presented as a Trauma Alert to New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell's Emergency Department, his Trauma Work-up at that time included multiple X-rays and CAT scans showed injuries that include:
1. Left facial fracture involving the orbit of his eye.
2. Left scapula (shoulder blade) fracture in three separate pieces.
3. Left compound distal humerus fracture where the bone of his humerus was driven though his skin and the bone was in six different pieces. He was taken emergently to the operating room for a five-hour surgery Sunday evening where the elbow was washed out and debrided, a nerve trapped in the break was moved and the bone was repaired with three metal plates and 18 screws.
4. One day later, he had surgery to his left hand to repair a fracture of his 5th metacarpal.
He will require intensive and progressive therapy, however a full recovery is expected.
Dean Lorich, MD
Orthopedic Trauma Surgeon
New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and Hospital For Special Surgery

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bono-intensive-therapy-bike-injury-20141119#ixzz3LZ3TfD8W

Ouch!  I'm left wondering what a low energy bicycle accident might be, though.  Is that the kind of accident you get into because you skipped breakfast, or, maybe, just have a case of the blahs?

Of course, our local daily, was all over this story, honing in on important "facts" with its typical journalistic prowess.  Yes, the U-T reported that Bono crashed because he was riding while disguised as a Hasidic Jew.  Really.  This was based upon a tongue-in-cheek response given by the Edge in a radio interview when he was asked why nobody was able to get a photo of Bono right after the crash:  "You know, when Bono goes cycling he likes to dress up as a Hasidic Jew."

The facetiousness of a response like that should speak for itself, but the U-T, and several other outlets, reported the joke as if it was serious.  At least the Jewish news website, haaretz.com, after first publishing the comment as if it was true, followed up with a clarifying article:  Bono's people confirm: U2 singer did not disguise himself as Hasidic Jew.  Thank God that his people came forward with the truth!  No amount of investigative journalism could have ever toppled such otherwise, credible, reportage.

Good grief, what a sorry state the world of journalism has sunk to.  At least you poor people still have me to give it to you straight.  Which leads me to the most disturbing aspect of Bono's unfortunate spill:  I caused it.  That's right, I'm to blame and I'm so, so, sorry.  Remember, a couple of months ago, when I celebrated the release of U2's new album in this post:  http://sdbikeist.blogspot.com/2014/09/like-fish-needs-bicycle.html and with this picture?

Clearly, just as athletes who appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated consistently have terrible performances immediately thereafter, and football players who are featured on the box of the Madden football video game almost always go on to have awful seasons (right Peyton Hillis?) Bono must have suffered from the Bikeist curse!  I'm guessing that Bono, probably as big a fan of the Bikeist as I am of him, read the now fateful post and became nostalgic for his care-free youth, deciding to take up biking again (sort of the point of the whole blog, right?)  I'm so sorry Bono!  How could I have not foreseen this?  Of course, it wasn't my idea for you to don a preposterous disguise -- oh yeah, almost forgot, that was just a joke -- almost forgot that your "people" clarified it.

How can I make it up to you?  Got it!  When your tour comes through So-Cal, free of charge, I'll take you out and provide some bike-safety pointers on a ride around my beloved San Diego.  You can even bring Larry, Adam and the Edge if you like -- the more the merrier!

Rule #1, though, always be yourself when riding!

Call me Bono!  I'm here for you!
 

What Lay Ahead

If I didn't owe my faithful fan base the exciting conclusion to my three-part series on biking from San Luis Obispo (SLO) to Santa Barbara I'd probably be ranting about how everybody in SoCal loses their minds when wet stuff starts falling from the sky -- even joggers on the Strand bike path!  So, at least you'll be spared that . . .

So, where was I?  Oh yeah!  That's right, stuck in a coffee shop in Buellton waiting for the sun to get high enough so as not to render me invisible to cars overtaking me from behind.  It took a good 45 minutes before I felt comfortable, which was fine because I was getting an early start and only had 40 miles to go to Santa Barbara (after 80 the previous day), leaving plenty of time for me to catch the late afternoon Surfliner back to San Diego.   Once I cleared Buellton's "rush" hour, it was back to the rolling hills past scenic vineyards, much of which was lined by a canopy of trees overhanging Rte 246 most of the way to Solvang.  Pretty.

Already filled to the gills with coffee and just starting to digest my free lobby waffle, I decided to just plow through Solvang (which looked just as kitschy as I remembered it) and leave more time for one of my favorite towns on the planet - Santa Barbara.  The 246 got a little steeper after Solvang, but the pavement was pristine and the nice, wide shoulder was still there.  My first sign of impending doom, though, was a temporary sign directing trucks to use 154 to get to Santa Barbara -- yes, the same 154 that I needed to take over the San Marcos Pass.  "Gulp!"

No way to backtrack this far into the trip, and the shoulder was good, so I pressed on.  Before too long I intersected the turn-off to the 154:

The interchange looked brand new and opened up to a four lane highway with a good shoulder, so I still wasn't too worried.  However, the cars and trucks passing me were really moving -- 70 or more.

About two miles in, though, the shoulder pretty much disappeared as the road narrowed to two lanes, but the trucks and cars, with their fast running start were maintaining 70 as the road funneled.  Not fun.

Not possible to "take the lane" with a steady succession of vehicles overtaking me so quickly, and with a steady stream coming in the opposite direction as well, so all I could do was cling to the white line and my less-than-one-foot shoulder (where there was one).  Adding to the challenge was a succession of long rises with curves at the top, so there was no way for me to build any significant momentum, especially since I was consciously trying to not sway or rock as I climbed.

I got through two of the rises, after which there were slight respites in the form of ride-able shoulders on the short flats, but then there was this third climb:

Please notice the "Caution Truck Traffic" sign -- no kidding!  This was about half way up, where, thankfully, there was a rocky pull-off that I turned into right after two opposing trucks passed each other, and me, simultaneously, each going at least 65 mph.  The truck on my side came within inches, with no room to cross into the opposing lane.  As you look up, past the turnout, you can see the type of "shoulder" I was trying to navigate for a good 7 miles.  Here's a closer look:

This was getting way too hairy.  I only had a few inches of asphalt to work with and no margin of error with the steady stream of trucks flying by in both directions.

I looked back for a gap in the traffic and then sprinted hard for the top of the hill.  "Phew!"  Made it!

My reward for surviving this third, narrow, crucible, was a gorgeous overlook of Lake Cuyamaca:

Frankly, this is one of my favorite pictures that I've ever taken of my bike. Worth risking my life for?  Umm, no -- but cool nonetheless . . .

About a half mile further was the turnoff into Lake Cuyamaca State Park.  I decided to pull in, hit the General Store and re-group.  I used Google Maps to look at the satellite images of the rest of the trek up to the pass, and it didn't look like the road got any better.  The nice lady at the store backed up my visual observation, saying she thought it was crazy for anybody to bike this side of the pass.  That did it.  I was only 14 miles from Santa Barbara, and had biked 20 miles north of it along the coast on other visits, so had already crossed  the line, so-to-speak, when it comes to covering the whole Cali coast.  I was looking forward to the challenge of the 7 mile climb up San Marcos Pass and thrilling descent to follow, but with all the re-directed trucks, it just wasn't worth taking the risk.  Plus, I could always climb Old San Marcos Pass Road on the ocean side and get a better experience without the crazy traffic.

So, deciding that discretion was the better part of valor, I swallowed my pride and called Uber.  Not easy using the app to locate a vehicle big enough to accommodate me and my bike, but after a couple of dozen attempts, I managed to get, Mike, and his Toyota Sequoia.  He showed up in about half an hour and, a cyclist himself (who does Tour de France Fantasy with his club!), he reinforced my decision.  He said he and his club never went over the pass -- they'd climb the old road and cruise back down to Santa Barbara, but said the 154 to Solvang was avoided by even expert cyclists.  Nice to learn now.

Mike had me in downtown Santa Barbara in about 20 minutes where he dropped me at one of my favorite restaurants on the planet - The Palace - which may have the best Cajun cuisine west of Louisiana.  Their blackened filet-mignon with crawfish-laden pontchartrain sauce is heaven on earth -- especially for a somewhat defeated Bikeist.

With a little more time to kill before my train, it was off to Figueroa Mountain Brewing's Santa Barbara Tasting Room - practically across the street from the station.  More solace . . . 

Then it was the long eight hour journey back to San Diego wherein I had plenty of time to stew about the bum steer the Pacific Coast Biking "bible" had given me --

The authors had actually strongly recommended leaving the coast to bike through wine country to Santa Barbara, so I was a little bit peeved about following their advice so blindly.  With time to kill, and a convenient wi-fi connection on the train, I decided to try to contact the authors to register my complaint.  Within a few minutes, I had found a website for Tom Kirkendall's photo studio in Washington, which had an e-mail address.  So, I, politely e-mailed my story of the day's fiasco to Tom.

To my great surprise, he e-mailed me back within minutes!  Cool.  He apologized, saying that, if he did a new edition of the book, he intended to take out that recommendation.  Apparently, back in the day, he used to bike over the pass from Santa Barbara to get pastries and bike back - no problem.  Today, though, the traffic has gotten too constant for cars and bikes to share the route.

I shared the blog with Tom, and he actually, seriously, suggested that I consider taking on the writing of the next edition.  No kidding!  He even said he'd put in a good word with the publishers!  Not sure if I could swing it with the whole day job thing of making the planet safe for freedom-loving bikeists (and even non-bikeists) everywhere, but I have had so many friends encourage me to take up travel writing, that I might just give it a shot.  I plan on spending parts of the next two summers completing the route through Washington and Oregon anyway, so it might just be possible.

See Mr. Google!  I told you this blog would make me rich -- even if you don't want to share any of the massive profits my blog is surely bringing you.  I practically prop up the entire Google enterprise, and what do I get for it?  Well, I guess I do get the adoration of my loyal fan base, which, is, of course -- priceless.  I could still use a few extra bucks, though -- the $50 a pop from The Reader is nice, but it isn't exactly going to put my little bikeists through college.

Anyway, it looks like the Bikeist may actually be poised for the big-time.  May need to jazz up the title a bit, though.  How about, instead of "Bicycling the Pacific Coast," we call it "The Bikeist Devours the Pacific Coast (Except for 7 Harrowing Miles of the 154)."  Catchy, right?  Can't wait to pitch it to my new publisher!  Thanks, Tom!