Crotchrocket to Heaven - OR - Natural Selection in Action - OR - Another Road Shrine on the White Spars

Forrest and I decided to ride over the White Spars today.  Nothing intense or fast.  Time for a nice, slow, leisurely Sunday morning bike ride.

On the way back (just south of mile 20) I saw a firetruck, an EMT vehicle, a police car and three motorcycles off on the west side of the road  One of the motorcycle's front end looked like it was made out of clay and had been mangled.  All the motorcycles were of the `crotchrocket' variety.

The EMTs, fire personnel and police were standing deep in a ravine off the side of the road.  Below I noted a person laying on the dirt, on it's back, with a sheet over the top half.

That particular section of the road,(crotchrocket) when traveling south, is a steeply descending switchback.  Apparently one of the `rocketeers' chose to ignore physics and thermodynamics.

I'll Settle.

Tonight I pronounced, thoughtlessly, that I was `happy.'  And I immediately checked myself. 

All my life I've skirted around declaring `happy' about anything.  `Meaningful.'  `Useful.'  `Can't complain.'  But ... happy?  Nope. 

I'm refitting my upright bike so that it works better.  Since I've not used the upright bike for years the components were worn out and pretty much a hodge podge of incompatible parts. 

The right Ultegra shifter is a really banged up 9 speed.  The big ring up front is worn to the nub.  Shifting is sloppy. 

All my newer inventory parts are 10 speed so I bought a new Shimano 105 10 speed right shifter.  Replaced the big ring with a new one.  I've got a dozen nearly new rear 10 speed cassettes in inventory.   

Looking online at rear 10 speed derailleurs meant putting out anywhere from $65 - $110.  So I started digging around my derailleurs bin and found five almost brand new SRAM and Shimano 10 speed rear derailleurs. 

So I `felt' really happy.  I can finish the job tomorrow in half an hour with great drive train and shifting parts. 

It isn't so bad being an `inventory' freak.

HOPE

Maria Parker's determination to raise funds for brain cancer research is chronicled in this incredible feature film.

HOPE

I'm a Slow Learner

The motivation for athletic accomplishment is complex and multifarious.  My own motivation has been fundamentally to stroke my own ego.  There are other motives that are less vain and perhaps more reputable.  Introvert.  Health benefits.  A sense of control over the simple mechanical aspects of bicycles.  Ego.  And ... more ego.

RAAM.  Race Across America.  Several years ago this annual event was sponsored and run by a non-profit organization and then sold to a profit based private party.  Before the sale RAAM was apparently on the ropes because the non-profit organization did not have the resources to pull it off. 

I'm disenchanted with the RAAM organization.  It seems that it is nothing more than a marketing organization that holds a party on two coasts every year. 

I'm not disenchanted with a race across America, though. 

Is the `RAAM organization' worth it?  I don't think so. 

Its sort of like a new religion that sets itself up with rules, rituals, promises and entry fees.  History is littered with examples of people who convince themselves that `nothing' is really `something.'  The RAAM organization is not something that takes place between two coasts.  It takes place between two ears. 

Once the race starts it is literally `out of business.' 

For hundreds and thousands of miles there is no presence of the organization. 

Check points are mostly intersections on a map with nobody there. 

Racers are to call in when they get there ... the honor system. 

The organization has marketing and media teams that take pictures, videos, produce short internet bobbling head youtube videos. 

Data reported to the organization for presentation to the public via internet is late, slow, after the fact, rarely current and often inaccurate. 

So, admittedly, I don't get it. 

At least NOW I don't get it.  Because I was swept up in the race `hoopla' myself.  So that I could publicly scratch my ego. 

I can publicly scratch my ego for a lot less money and with a lot more validity without the organization. 

So ... it's a marketing and media organization.  Except for recording when the racers start and when they stop it throws parties on both coasts and ... is like a cult of true believers. 

I guess bowling is like that, too.  But a lot cheaper and without the hype. 

That's nothing new, though, for me.  I mean, being a `slow learner.' 

Slow, but I usually come around.  Often with a spongy sounding `thud.' 

RAAM - Is There An Adult In The House!

Brilliant!

RAAM Media puts out a 14 minute video clip about how RAAM Officials are out on the road making sure that "safety is our first priority." http://www.ridefarther.com/

And, of course, they film a RAAM Official driving and texting and reading email at the same time while she participates in an interview with the videographer. (6:50 into the June 19th video)

The clip shows two `racers' casually riding 2 x 2 on a two lane road with a passenger vehicle less than 10 feet behind them.

That shit just sickens me.

-----------------------------------

UPDATE:

I JUST WATCHED THE VID AGAIN.  SINCE I BROUGHT ATTENTION TO THIS LAST NIGHT (June 20) AT AROUND 11PM (Pacific Time) THE RAAM MEDIA CREW EDITED OUT THE TWO SECTIONS I NOTED IN MY POST FROM LAST NIGHT. 
 
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS IS GUARANTEED TO THOSE WHO OWN ONE. 
 
AN EXAMPLE OF DISHONESTY AND DECEPTION ON THE PART OF THE RAAM ORGANIZATION. 
 
HAVING BEEN A RAW PARTICIPANT, RAAM OFFICIAL AND RAAM CREW CHIEF I CAN ONLY CONCLUDE THAT RAAM (MIS)MANAGEMENT AND INCOMPETENCE IS ONE THING.

DISHONESTY AND DECEPTION, HOWEVER, CHEAPENS THE COURAGE AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF ALL RAAM AND RAW PARTICIPANTS.  

DRAW YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS. 

Progress With Standard Frame Bike

The two wheeled bike many of us rode as kids goes by many names:

• standard bike
• diamond frame bike (DF)
• upright bike
• road bike
• cross bike
• mountain bike. 

This is an example of a contemporary `standard' bike.

Recumbent bikes tend to not have so many `names.'  But recumbent bikes all share a key feature of allowing the cyclist to `recline,' more or less, on the bike. 

I've been training on my DF Airborne Zeppelin road bike for the past few weeks and am relearning and learning some useful things.

First, I've confirmed that the DF bikes are faster when climbing.
 
Second, my heart rate when climbing on the DF is about 15% higher, in general.  Part of the increase is due to the fact that my heart has to pump blood perpendicular to the road surface.  On a 'bent I'm partially reclined and my heart doesn't have to fight gravity so much.

Third, getting re-acquainted with the hunched over discomfort in the DF position has been difficult.  But I'm surprised that only 12 - 15 hours of training (over several days) has resulted in a dramatic reduction of discomfort.  It's working.

Fourth, now that my heart rate is elevated and my upper body (shoulders, arms, neck) is more intensely used I'm becoming stronger and more fit.  I'm riding faster and with less perceived effort. 

--

I recently read an old thread that keeps coming up in cycling email forums about `best way to pedal.'  This is an area that is very unique and different for each cyclist.  So your experience may be different than mine. 

But I find that my cadence is faster, and that I'm much more quickly enlisting the entire leg (thigh, calf, shin and ankle) when I turn the crank.  And my cadence with strength and power is much faster. 

--

I'm really enjoying the DF and I'm even more pleased that my body is `learning fast.'  

Using Both Recumbent and Standard (diamond frame) Bike in a Race

In 2008 I completed an 8 day 900 mile trip through southern and central Indiana on my Airborne Ti Zeppelin standard (diamond frame) bike.  Having found meaning and expression in cycling all my life I was pretty shaken at the end of those 8 days: it was physical and emotional torture.  More pain (saddle sores, shoulder, arm, wrist, neck) than I could `rationalize.'   

Cycling had become a way for me to push back (be tough!) against the kinds of limits that life presents to us all: age, job, responsibility to find meaning, relationships.  But in 2008, when cycling went `flat' on me I was presented with a growing sense of worry, mild dysphoria.   Was my `tough' self defeated? 

What would I do with myself?   

We are all confronted with the `problem / opportunity' of making meaning in our life.  A need to express our self in ways that we consider useful, good, productive.   Sometimes we're able to do that in an abiding way.  A struggle, perhaps, but `worth it.'  Sometimes we're not so `able' to do that and wind up being frustrated and feeling empty inside.  Like "What's the point!" 

A friend suggested that I try riding a recumbent bicycle.  My reaction to his suggestion was: “A recumbent?  Why?  I don’t have any physical problems?  I’m not fat.”  But, I gave it a try and found it a very demanding athletic challenge.  (Bacchetta Ti Aero high racer). 

The recumbent bike has been one of the key methods by which I have been able to express myself in a useful (healthy) and productive way these past several years. 

--

I'm fortunate to have survived many of life’s adversities.   That is, the stupid stuff I've done hasn't had such crushing consequences that I couldn't recover.  (Just dumb luck!)

I live in what is called the `central highlands’ of Arizona.  The Bradshaw Mountains.  Nary a flat stretch of road for miles and miles.  Great training location for cycling.   But, for recumbent cyclists it can be a solitary experience. 

Recumbent bikes don’t climb as fast as standard bikes.  They are typically faster on descents and the flats than standard bikes.  There are no other recumbent cyclists out here.  It is just too damned hilly. 

The result is that when I ride with a group they are all on standard bikes.  They wait for me at the top of hills.  I wait for them at the bottom of hills.  Kind of herky-jerky.  Takes lots of the socializing and fun out of group rides. 

So I’ve done almost all of my cycling alone.  A guy can be `solitary’ just so much.  It’s good to have friends, acquaintances, shared activities, etc.  

--

A (very) long story short: I’ve taken up riding my standard bike again.   One day I ride the recumbent bike.  The next day I ride the standard bike. 

In fact, I went on a small group ride on my standard bike just a few days ago.  Met a new person and had the pleasure of the company of a few cycling friends. 

But I really, really suck on the standard bike!  It’s painful.

I’ve been off it so long that I don’t have the capacity to deal with even a few hours of the discomfort standard bikes require (hunching over the handlebars; shoulder, neck, arm, wrist fatigue; saddle sores).  But … I think I can reduce the discomfort with consistent and progressive training on the standard bike.  Enough so that I participate in group rides with the locals. 

--

Herewith enters the `tough guy.

I want to do a race using both the standard bike and the recumbent bike. 

Climb with the standard bike.  And descend and do the flats with the recumbent bike.  Best of both cycling `platforms.’ 

I do know of cyclists who are `good’ on both kinds of bikes.  But there are no `races’ that permit, allow, the racer to interchange bikes during the race.  (That I know of).

There are, however, cycling events that are challenging, recreational and don’t restrict the cyclist to any one platform.  The event that I’m giving some thought to is the Skull Valley Loop Challenge
http://www.prescottbikeped.org/prescottcycling/loopchallenge/.  It is an annual (September) open invitational cycling event in Prescott, Arizona. 

The SVLC is a 52 mile loop through the Bradshaw Mountains.  Lots of climbing and descending (about 4,500 ft).  I’ve `raced’ this event three times in the past three years.  I know of no two wheeled recumbents ever doing this event.  (But Mike Cash raced his Ice Trike at the Skull Valley Loop Challenge last year.  Riding trikes in this terrain is even more uncommon than two wheeled recumbents). 

With a vehicle and a crew of one or two I’d switch bikes (standard to recumbent to standard) about three or four times.  There are two long ascents and two long descents with very little flat to rolling terrain. 

My best time is 2:49:00 (2012) http://connect.garmin.com/activity/223495272.  At this point I wouldn’t venture a `goal’ finishing time.  But I could guess that I could take 25 minutes off of that PB. 

 

Multiple Bike Types in Cross Country Race

Wouldn't it be cool to do a raam style event (without the glitz, hype, "charity" charades, etc) allowing for recumbents, cross bikes, mountain bikes and DFs available to the racer.

Some off-road / mountain bike / gravel race routes could be included, too.

I think it is essential to have support vehicles (two) for a cross country event.

However, I don't think it necessary to have the same crewmembers all the way across the country.   Two `core' crewmembers would do the whole trip.  The other crewmembers would start and stop every 300 - 500 miles.  Different crewmembers. 

Maybe the crew would use their own vehicles, and `relay' bikes and provisions to the next crew and vehicle.  Even use mountain / cross bikes `borrowed' and left behind. 

A few dry runs for shorter distances (1,000 miles) and safer routes would work out some logistics and offer productive lessons.

I  might do it.

"So I just laid down on the road."

I was driving back home after a long solo bike ride on a stretch of empty, desolate, desert road in the middle of scorching Arizona.  On a turnoff into more empty, desolate, desert road I came across a school bus is stopped in the middle of the road.  No bus lights were flashing.  And there wasn't a kid in sight.  But the car in front of had stopped as well.  We're waiting for the kids to be discharged, etc.  

Nothing is happening.  No kids visible, neither in the bus nor out of the bus.  But the school bus is half on/off the road. 

After 5 minutes the car in front of me slowly drives to the left of the school bus and stops.  I watch as the driver rolls her window down.  A fellow steps out from in front of the school bus and is talking to the driver.  A minute later the driver's window goes up and she drives off leaving the fellow still standing there in the road.

I slowly drive to the left of the school bus and stop.  Same guy in front of the bus.  I roll down the window.  The guy has his shoe in his hand, gestures in 3 - 4 directions, explaining something.  He says something about the police being called.  I assume there is mechanical problem with the bus.  Then the guy asks for ride to Congress (15 more empty miles ahead) where he'll meet police.  

Sure. 

So the shoeless guy gets in the car and continue on to Congress.  He is clearly tense, nervous, hyperverbal - and smelly.  He says he has been `on the road' for a few days.  He "tried" to get a ride at the last intersection but nobody would stop.  He says: "I'm tired, hungry, thirsty and my feet are killing me.".  

Then he said he just got frustrated and decided to just lie down in the middle of the road to "make the bus stop."  

I'm curious.  Alert for danger, etc.  But there didn't seem to be a hint of danger.  

I'm trying to think of some kind of conversation for the next 15 miles to Congress that won't result in an `episode.'

----------------

ME: "So. Um. How was the road? Warm?"

HIM: "Yeah. Not bad. Hard. But o.k."  "I'm going to the Hillside church because I live in Yava." 

ME: "Yava?"  (Yava is a barely a faded bent up road sign next to a cattle guard on another desolate road in a desert canyon).

HIM: "Yeah. Yava."

ME: "Couldn't be more than 3 people in Yava."

HIM: "Twelve of us, actually." 

I get to the gas station at Congress, drop him off, wave goodbye.  

The `West' IS wild.