For the Love of Bikes

Life is better on a bike!

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Bike Shop Friday

March 3, 2013 /

The first day of March brought visits to two local bike shops, known in the bike loving world as a LBS. Mark had a bike fitting on his new Scott so I tagged along.  While he was getting the fit done I talked wheels with one of the other employees. He took me around the shop and showed me a number of options then we looked online and checked weights and specs on several wheelsets. It was heaven.

Talking shop with the guys, and they all were guys, is fun. I can’t speak for other women, but over the past 20+ years I have been riding, generally speaking LBS employees have seemed surprised at my level of bike-speak. Not that many women rode bikes back then, and much less were obsessed with them to the point that they could speak of cycling and bikes ad nauseam just like them.

Now that I am in the advanced area of middle age, it is even more true. I certainly get that. For them it’s like talking shop with their mother and at some point in the not so distant future that should really be fun.

What isn’t funny is when I’m not taken serious as a cyclist and I’ve had several of those experiences. It’s frustrating to say the least. Case in point, a number of years ago Mark and I were fit at different times by the same LBS employee (another shop). Mark had just purchased his first road bike since he was a teenager and was fit in a fairly aerodynamic position (which he changed a short time later because it wasn’t comfortable) especially considering his riding experience and the guy spent considerable time tweaking his fit. I was there and observed the sharp contrast to my fit which had happened a couple of months earlier.

My fit was not only quicker, but my position was not as aggressive – especially considering my riding experience. I was careful to communicate the number of years I had been riding (15) and mileage (2-3,000 a year on average) in hopes that he would see past my gender and age and just treat me like a cyclist. It didn’t happen, when I pushed back about my position he said I should start there and we could always change it later. Same person doing both fits, but completely different experiences. In reality he fit me like he should have fit Mark and vice versa.

Friday’s experience was the antithesis to that experience and it was so nice. Talking about bikes and riding is as natural and enjoyable to me as a young mother talking about her kids. Like that mother, I’ve been known to pull out pictures too, although on this day I just gave them my Love of Bikes business card.

I was impressed with the quality of fit Mark received, so I’m scheduling one soon and will post about it. New gruppo for Rocket and an improved fit should keep me highly motivated to ride this spring.

Bluebonnets and Bikes

February 27, 2013 /

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Above is a photo of Mark and me last March when we rode with Classic Adventures in the Texas Hill Country. The photo is in the Classic Adventures 2013 catalog. The picture was shot the day we rode through the beautiful Willow City Loop. You can’t believe all the wildflowers we saw – bluebonnets and beyond. Just incredible.

The riding was pretty incredible too.

If you care to read about the Texas Hill Country and our tour you can do so here.

A couple of studs we are.

eye roll

Campy Chorus

February 25, 2013 /

So, most women would only be as excited as I am right now over jewelry or something similar. What has me so excited? You guessed it – bike stuff!

I’m upgrading from a triple to compact double, and from Campagnolo Centaur to Chorus gruppo on my lovely Scott CR1 Pro. I’ve wanted a compact double since riding one in California, and who wouldn’t want Chorus over the good, but lower end (and 2005) Centaur.

Today I took my bike into my LBS, Al’s Bicycles, to get a tune-up and overall check-up to see if anything needed repair. I have upwards of 15,000 miles on my bike with only the chain having been replaced so I knew it was likely something would. I love my Scott, the frame is still solid so I don’t really need a new bike nor do I even want one – road bike that is. A “city “ type bike is another story.

Anyway, after checking it out it was determined my cassette, chain and middle chain ring all needed replacing. My husband suggested why not take the opportunity to switch to a compact double and the idea was born.  Al’s figured it out and ran the numbers for me, offered me a nice discount and now Rocket’s new parts are on order.

I feel good about doing it, upgrades are cheaper than new bikes, and I doubt I would find a comparable frame any more comfortable or responsive than my Scott. I’ve put enough miles on her to warrant it too. I’m expecting there to be a significant improvement in performance – I hope I’m not disappointed.

This is what I’m getting, Campagnolo Chorus 11 (love the finish, should look great with my frame):

 

campagnolo-chorus-11-speed-groupset-2011

And this is how excited I am:

 Smiley

We Are Traffic

February 22, 2013 /

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Here’s an excellent graphic that explains what a driver sees as they approach a person riding a bike.

Personally I don’t usually ride in the middle of the lane (although at times I do when I need to control the lane e.g., riding up a hill), I ride slightly more to the right, but the point here is NOT to ride along the white line. Ride far enough into the lane so that vehicles must change lanes to pass you. If you give them enough room to squeeze by you that’s what they’ll try to do, putting you at great risk.

Someone on our Facebook page commented that they couldn’t ride like this because they have to ride as far right as possible (laws generally state as far to the right as is safe or practicable) so as to not impede the flow of vehicular traffic (even though bikes are recognized as vehicles).

What are your thoughts about this, agree or disagree? Please explain your position.

Make Your Voice Heard

February 21, 2013 /

The UCI (International Cycling Union) has posted a survey they would like all of cycling’s "stakeholders" and fans to take. This is your chance to make your voice heard directly by the UCI. I encourage you to complete it, please give this some time. We need to make our voices heard.

I read Tyler Hamilton’s book last night, “The Secret Race”. The book was an eye-opening read into the world of professional racing, and not a pretty one. The doping problem in cycling was worse than I ever imagined – and like any serious fan, I knew it was bad. I blame the UCI more than the individual cyclists. Yes, the riders are responsible too, but without UCI allowing doping, the doping culture could not have been. Instead we would have isolated doping not the wholesale doping that Hamilton speaks to.

I for one am not convinced professional cycling is much cleaner now. Whether cycling will be (mostly) clean in the future remains to be seen; in large part it depends on whether the anti-doping mechanism is taken away from the UCI and given to an entity without any conflict of interest in the sport of racing.

The survey is probably just a marketing ploy by UCI, but what the hell, fill it out. It can’t hurt. 

http://www.aspectmr.co.uk/snapwebhost/surveylogin.asp?k=136079311931

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