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Cyclists are the biggest sandbaggers and secret trainers around. They'll say anything to soften you up for the kill. Don't let this happen to you. Study this handy rider's phrasebook to find out what they really mean when
they say:

"I'm out of shape."

Translation: I ride 400 miles a week and haven't missed a day since the first Bush administration. I replace my 11-tooth cog more often than you wash your
shorts. My body fat percentage is lower than your mortgage rate.

"I'm not into competition. I'm just riding to stay in
shape."

Translation: I will attack until you collapse in the gutter, babbling and whimpering. I will win the line sprint if I have to force you into oncoming traffic. I will crest this hill first if I have to grab your seat post, and spray energy drink in your eyes.

"I'm on my beater bike."

Translation: I had this baby custom-made in Tuscany using Titanium blessed by the Pope. I took it to a wind tunnel and it disappeared. It weighs less than a fart and costs more than a divorce.

"It's not that hilly."

Translation: This climb lasts longer than a presidential campaign. Be careful on the steep sections or you'll fall over --backward. You have a 39x23 low gear? Here's the name of my knee surgeon.

"You're doing great, honey."

Translation: Yo, lard ass, I'd like to get home before midnight. This is what you get for spending the winter decorating and eating chocolate. I shoulda married that cute Cat 1 racer when I had the chance.

"This is a no-drop ride."

Translation: I'll need an article of your clothing for
the search-and-rescue dogs.

"It's not that far."

Translation: Bring your passport.

Get in Your Training Hours by Riding to Work!

Hardly anyone could disagree that commuting to work on the bike has many benefits for the avid cyclist. With many commitments at work and at home it is often difficult to get in all of your training miles during the week. But adding 2-3 days per week of commuting can make getting all your required time in the saddle much easier. Not to mention how much money you will save on gas over the long haul.

The most convincing argument I have heard against making the commute into work by bike is that it is dangerous. But there are a few simple things that you can do to make the trip safer. The first and most important thing I can recommend is to get a very bright color jersey. The uglier the better. There are brands made of material that actually reflects headlights (Illuminite is the brand I like the best). I know that some folks have to look very fashionable when then go anywhere on the bike. Save yout "kit" for the group ride. You have to drop your vanity and realize that your choice of practical over fashionable in this instance could be a life or death decision.

Another thing to consider is adding reflective tape to your crankarms, front fork, and chain stays. You can get reflective tape at any local hardware store. Of course if you are commuting into work on your 5K$ BMC I can understand if you do not want to go this route. Since the road conditions are often harsh and high end components are very expensive, I suggest getting a second "beater bike" for commuting. Even better get a Fixie!

In winter months when you will be riding home at dusk or even in the dark. I cannot stress enough the importance of having a reasonably bright light on you bike. And the 20$ brand that you are going to find at the discount biking outlet stores are not going to cut it. You need a light with high wattage. Most top end bike lights come with multiple settings to prolong battery life when the rides get longer.

More time on the bike is more time on the bike. And commuting not only benefits our legs, it benefits our wallets. You can use the money you save on gas to put your kids through college or buy that new GPS/Power/HRM 1000 function Bike Computer that mows your lawn and cooks you breakfast. Be as visible as possible, obey ALL the traffic laws, and constantly be aware of what is going on around you. You will save money, get in more riding time, and even do something positive towards preserving the environment for future generations of cyclists.

Check Out the Gyro's Jersey

The North Raleigh Gyro's new team Jersey.

Live Strong

There was a NIKE commercial a few years back that depicted Lance Armstrong training on his bike and encountering different people in very different situations and inspiring them all in some way to live strong. This was not his credo back then but the idea was the same. I had been away from training for a long time when the commercial was released and I cannot put into words how inspirational it was for me.

But I saw a very different commercial than the one I think NIKE intended. What I saw was the picture of dedication, of hardwork, and of commitiment to a cause. I saw someone who was completely devoted to his craft and was working diligently as the world went on around him. And this was exactly the kind of motivation and inspiration that I needed at that dark time in my life.

Here I am about 3 years and 15000 miles later. Saying that a lot has changed in my life is an understatement. And biking has been a major part of that. I watched the commercial again tonight on youtube. My eye is more trained now from hours spent on the bike and learning about equipment. So I noticed some minor things that detracted from the authenticity of the film. The water bottles on Lance's bike were these cheep walmart brand bottles that he almost certainly would never use. He wasn't sweeting when he was riding in the desert and I doubt he would ever ride those crappy wheels shown in the film, even on a training ride.

But the spirit of the commercial still resonated with me. I still got the same chills when the solitary guitar strummed to the opening shot of the ocean and the camera panning to Lance riding along the coast. Memories of the thoughts that I was having at the time all flooded back to me. Things seemed so hopeless then. So I got on my bike a rode away from it all. And seeing this commercial again has helped me understand just how far I have come.

Biking can be a constant companion in times when you need something to cling to. But it is not the only thing under the sun that can bring you out of hard times. If you are suffering and have lost your way, find something, anything, and make it your own. Become fully invested and dedicate your life to it. Set goals and work you ass off to achieve them. Richard Leider wrote "the purpose of life is to live a life of purpose." And creating that purpose is the first step on the path to happiness.

New Bike Lanes!!

Well these are probably about as safe as the regular bike lanes!

What to do about Road Rage...Nothing!!

I was talking to a friend and fellow rider this morning and he described to me an incident that he witnessed that occurs all too often. He told me that he was stopped at a red light the other day just as a white van was pulling up next to him. Like most of us he did not really make any eye contact with the driver and was content to wait for the light to change and not risk the dirty looks we often get from drivers who have to suffer the loss of precious seconds from their commute as they wait for the opportunity to get past us.

But before the light changed another biker rolled up next to him and proceeded to bang on the window of the van yelling obscenities at the driver telling him that he "passed too close back there." The driver rolled down the window and asked the guy to please not hit his car like that. But, undeterred the biker kept yelling how he was entitled to be on the road also and the guy was a complete ass for passing him so close. Shortly thereafter a female rider arrived at the scene and joined in harassing the driver. Both were yelling into the vehicle which sped away as soon as the light changed.

My friend tried to remain focused on the light and when the car was gone the other rider apologized for loosing his temper and said he was sorry to put my friend in the middle like that. My friend said nothing, nodded to the biker and continued on his way.

So let us now explore what the irate biker was hoping to accomplish with his outburst. Do any of you really think the driver will think twice about running another biker off the road after being insulted and screamed at by more than one of us at a stoplight (my poor friend being guilty by association.) Do any of you really think that this sort of behavior will increase the wheeled cage's tolerance for us on the highway?

I have seen the worst behavior from motorists. I have been run off the road, I have been hit with bottles thrown from car windows, I have been cussed at, cut off, and actually bumped by a truck. I have had people pull around me and jump out of their cars with tire irons in hand. Once I even had to explain to a sherrif's deputy that I actually did have a legal right to ride my bike on a state road and directed him to read the the state statute if he did not believe me.

Trust me folks I have had my fair share of road rage. And in all of this I have never once, not for a second believed, that attacking someone's car, yelling back at a drunk driver, or throwing my water bottle would do any good to improve the situation. I am convinced that most times retaliation only makes the situation worse. It is the psychology involved. The angry driver is looking for a reason to lash out at us. We are "wasting valuable seconds of their time!" And the moment you flip them off or yell at them then that is all the justification to run you out of the road they need.

So what do I suggest you do? Simple. Do nothing. Ride on like you did not even notice. I guarantee nine times out of ten this tactic will get you home with no bruises from a tire iron. Since I have adopted this stance I have never had a problem. In fact I spend a lot of time trying to be courteous to drivers. I always make it a point to wave when someone lets me go in front of them at a light. When someone has to follow me for a short time before they pass me I often wave and say thanks as they go by. I am more than sure they were angry waiting to go around me but when I extend just the slightest courtesy they often wave back. As if they meant to be courteous in the fist place. Yea like they were really looking out for me back there as opposed to fuming at me for being in the way.

Now there are sometimes when it does not matter how much you ignore road rage. You still may find yourself being directly confronted. If this is the case remain in control of your emotions and dial 911 immediately to report the driver. Get a good description of the car, the driver, and try to get the tag number. If someone is going out of their way to mess with you it is likely you are not the first one and the police might be looking for them anyway. Besides calling the police is enough to get most jerks to shove off in and of itself.

There is no question that it is annoying to be confronted by an irate driver on the road when you are just as legally entitled to be there as they are. But there is no point is trying to take on a moron in a 5000 pound vehicle. You and your 16 pound bike will loose every time. Quite simply, your life is in their hands. The best policy is to ignore what you can and call the police if the incident gets out of hand. Road riding has undergone a sort of renaissance in this country in the last few years. There are a lot more of us on the road now and drivers are just going to have to accept it. But lets do what we can to make the adjustment easier for both of us.

Summer Blues and the Tour...

When July rolls around, I always get a little charge in the cycling batteries from watching the Tour De France. By this time I have usually been on the bike nonstop since March and I am feeling the burn from so many hours in the saddle. But this year there is just something missing in the Tour. Admittedly I am a little burned out right now. I am not feeling the excitement of the group rides that always turn into epic races on the weekends. I am having trouble getting motivated to get in all my training hours. And when I am on the bike lately I find myself thinking about other activities that I am missing.

I was taking my bike out of the garage yesterday before my weekend recovery ride and I could hear the music by the pool in my apartment complex and the urge to stick the bike back in the garage and go sit by the pool and just relax was nearly overwhelming. I felt such a heavy spot in my chest thinking about suffering through a 2 hour ride in 90 degree/90 % humidity weather while most other people were sitting around enjoying their Sunday morning.

I wanted to feel superior. I wanted to tell myself, "Look at those lazy asses, lounging by the pool!" "They don't have what it takes. They don't have the dedication and commitment to haul their abundant asses off the couch. You should be proud of yourself. " I wanted to feel righteous. I wanted to feel like riding my bike was fun and that there was nothing else I would rather be doing. But what I really wanted to do was anything but get on that bike.

The ride was exactly as I expected. Hot, slow, and tedious. "High cadence, easy spinning, light effort on the peddles." Yea, yea. More fun than I can put into words so I will spare you. I was looking for any reason to cut it short. "Man is that a rain cloud?" I said to the one tiny cloud in an ocean of blue sky. "Yea it looks like it could be bad" I am telling myself as I work hard to ignore the blue skies and sunshine all around me. “These Dura Ace components are way too expensive to get wet. I have to think about the long term.” These components have to last and that means keeping them out of the downpour that was so clearly coming any minute.

So I make a right turn and start to head back, glad that I am “mature enough to take care of my equipment.” I roughly retrace my steps and cut through an adjacent neighborhood to make it back before the deluge hits. I get the bike put away and oddly the sky looks much clearer to me now. "Wow it is clearing up" I say to myself. What good luck! Well since it looks like the rain is going to hold off...I guess I could go on over and sit by the pool."

March Towards Madness

The 3 Mountain Metric Madness (3M) cycling challenge is probably one of the most popular cycling events in the South East. Every year hundreds of avid cyclists travel to Pilot Mtn state park to suffer through 75 miles of shear agony. There is over 9 thousand feet of climbing on the 75 mile course with grades of 19 % or more in spots on Pilot Mtn. The route includes three big climbs, Sourtown, Hanging Rock, and the much hyped Pilot Mtn. This year my local cycling club decided to make the 3M one of out regular events and to prepare for the event we went as a group to train on some of the climbs there.

The following was taken from my training journal:

The route we chose led from Pilot Mtn State park to Sourtown, on to Hanging Rock then finishing withe the climb up Pilot Mtn. The ride out to Sourtown was very scenic with some pretty fast decents on two lane county roads over rough pavement. Climbing Sourtown first was probably a good way to warm up since it is clearly the easiest (relative description I assure you) of the three climbs. I had the Garmin so I was able to watch the grade while I was climbing. The average grade was around 9% but there were some sections, particularly at the end that I was reading 14-16%. The decent was pretty fun, I managed to get up to about 38 mph in the straight sections.

After the misery that is Moores Spring Rd, I made it up to the Hanging Rock entrance and they were doing some paving there so there was a lot of gravel and fresh asphalt. I cleaned off the tires before making the right turn onto Hanging Rock and climbed pretty well until about halfway up. There is a section around halfway that kicks up to the mid teens in grade and after those rolling sections it was a shock to my legs. I was glad to see the relatively level 9 % grades near the top.

Descending on rubbery legs was a bit of a challenge but I made it down ok. The rest of this loop is very beautiful and there are lots of rolling sections and a gas station/grocery store/taxidermy around mile 40 that was an interesting diversion. But the course was pretty challenging and by the time I got back to Pilot Mtn. was pretty tired. I had never done the climb up Pilot before and that first little up-turn that goes by the parking lot at the bottom hit me like a brick. I reasoned that it cannot be any worse than this and resolve to continue the suffering for just a little longer if for nothing else but to say that I did the climb. The really hard thing was to not give in to temptation since I would be passing my car on the way up since I parked at the entrance to the park which is located at the start of the climb.

When you get onto the mountain, you make a sleight left turn then bam!! The grade kicks up 10, 12, 14 then 16%. Good lord. I am already feeling the lactic acid and in my mind I am thinking my car is still pretty close by...but I press on. The grade stays in the teens for what seems like an hour. Hell it might have been. There is a nasty switch back not far ahead and my speed drops to 3.4 mph. It is like trying to walk through deep mud. I am out of the saddle, wobbling, trying to keep the bike up and not put my foot down. I reach the next section and the grade is now reading 21%!! So my Garmin starts auto pausing since it thinks I have actually stopped moving and I have this cramp is my left calf that is making it hard to turn the peddles. There is another switch back and someone passes me on the way down in a convertible and yells "What the fuck is wrong with you?" And I tell myself that that is a great question. What the fuck is wrong with me that I think this the way I should be spending my Wednesday afternoon off. The grade is 18 and I start focusing on every pedal stroke just to make it happen. There is a brief leveling out to 11 % and man this feels great. I used to think 9 % was steep. I make kind of a right then a straight section and I see the top. There are two parking lots and I head for the upper lot and there are two camera crews there one from FOX and one from ABC. Not sure what the occasion was but I was sure it was not for me We were the only ones up there except for an older gentleman who asks me if I rode the bike all the way up the hill.

Then came the hard part... I rolled around to the bottom of the parking lot and started to descend. I was ready to get off the bike and back to the car. But immediately my speed is up to 40 mph! At 200 lbs I am a big guy and gravity really works with 20 % grades. I grab a hand full of brakes and try and slow down since the turns are pretty sharp. But I can barely let off the brakes before I am doing 38-40. On legs that are barely holding me up, I am really getting worried. So now it is a game. How much can I hold onto the brakes without heating up the rims and popping the tubes while trying to keep the bike under 40 mph. I remember thinking vaguely PV=nRT, and wished I had paid more attention in Chemistry class. So I actually stop about halfway down and check the rims. Burning hot to the touch. And for the first time I really appreciated what Phil Liggett means when he says that "it takes nerves of steel" to descend some of those climbs in Europe. And I doubt those guys are using the brakes very much anyway. By now there is a car behind me and I am feeling the urgency to get off this Mtn so I start letting the speed creep up to get down and save my tubes. The fastest I got to was 48 and it was terrifying. I finally see the last small hill before the parking lot and slow to make the left to the finish. I get back to my car a little shaken but with a feeling of accomplishment. . I had heard a lot about Pilot and chalked most of it up to hype. But this one really lived up to its reputation as a leg-breaker.

Water, Wasps, and Waiting to be Rescued

Riding in the heat has always been harder for me than riding during the cooler months. Give me a frigid winter day anytime over a humid sauna-like summer afternoon. And yesterday afternoon was one of the hottest I can remember. It had been at least two days since I had been on my bike outdoors. The last few days had been rainy and I was indoors on the trainer. But I decided today I was going outside, even if it meant dealing with a little rain.

I started out at my recovery pace and immediately I noticed the traffic was heavy. I cut through an adjacent neighborhood to avoid the wheeled cages and make my way to some back roads that I know will be less traveled this time of day. As I am pulling up to a four way intersection a feel a few drops of rain on my face. I was a little discouraged but the sky was still mostly blue so I decided to press on.

A short time later I come to the first climb on the route and I notice a substantial drop in the temperature and the air feels a little humid. At the top of the climb I can smell a little water in the air. It reminds me of the feeling I get when traveling to the coast and I get that first smell of the ocean. My resolve to ride outside was still pretty strong, but I knew I was looking at the very real possibility of riding back in the rain.

By now the western sky is darkening and I am headed right for a very ominous looking cluster of clouds over the lake. I catch some lightening out of the corner of my eyes west of where I was. I come to a bridge and the first drops start falling. Not so bad I think but not more than five minutes later the rain is coming down in torrents and I cannot see more than a few meters in front of me. I remember that there is a hiking trail not far ahead on my right and there is a small covered bulletin board at the trail head. The plan was to wait out the rain there then ride back as safely as I could on the wet roads.

After creeping along in the rain for a few miles I saw the trail just up ahead and I rolled off the road onto the wet gravel. At this point I am far less concerned about crashing than just getting out of this down pour. I headed directly for the covered message board and there is a box with a glass door that seems to be blowing in the wind. I put my hand on the glass door to close it but it would not stay closed and I surmise that it must be broken.

At this point I noticed a buzzing sound and through the fog on my glasses I saw several black specks flying out from the glass case. Wasps! Fuck. Just my luck. I was ready to be stung so I just prepared for it but I noticed they are not going for me. They quickly retreated back into the case and seemed to not really notice me at all. I did not want to question good fortune, but why was I not swelling with multiple bee stings at that moment? Then it came to me. The door is always blowing back and forth in the wind, since it does not lock, and the wasps must be used to it.

So here I am in the pouring rain, sharing a hideout with a bee’s nest, trying to be as quiet as possible so as not to arouse the wasps. The rain was giving no sign of letting up so I decided to make a call and get a ride. I had to be careful not to get the phone wet since I had already trashed 2 phones this year riding in the rain.

As I waited there, just me and the bees, I could not help but notice how beautiful the water covered world was. I was in a pine forest and seeing the steam rise through the forest was a stirring sight. I felt so connected to the world, and in an odd way, thankful that the rain had given me the opportunity to stop and notice it. It is easy to get caught up in the things that we set before ourselves to do. Work, family, training, hobbies. It is in these moments, when we are forced to pay attention to something other than ourselves, that we remember how nice it can be to just enjoy a rainy day.