Driving a couch

For your entertainment, I present a fine example of Massachusetts traffic signage. 

Driving to work can be fun. I'm a commuted bike committer, but on those rare days that I'm required to drive in, it can be a guilty pleasure.

Yes, sitting in traffic is frustrating, not getting my morning excercise leaves me groggy, and I just plain don't like taking the car out of the driveway. However, it's sometimes pleasant to get a few minutes more sleep and ride a couch to work. I liken it to spending a Saturday watching TV. It feels indulgent, warm, and pleasant...but by the time dinner rolls around, you feel disgusting, and you're ready to wake up early on Sunday to seize the day, get out of the apartment, and make something out of yourself. 

I'm thankful that making the choice to sit on(in) the couch(car) is truly a choice for me. Unfortunately, for too many folks, the other options are unconsidered or unrealistic. 

Too many bike commuters-turned-internet-personalities get on a soapbox (in my opinion), but the truth of the matter is that riding a bike to work just doesn't make sense for many people. Long drives, multiple children, lack of hours in the day...there are many reasons and places it doesn't make sense. On the other hand, there are many for whom it could be a possibility - but they don't allow themselves to think far enough outside the box to leave their car at home.  

I'm not riding a bike to change the world - I'm more selfish than that. I ride a bike because I love to. Having a little bit smaller impact on the world is just all part of that.

Fancy New Bike!

Another bike entered my fleet this weekend - a long-term project and collaboration with my friend Ryan and Royal H Cycles here in Somerville, MA. I'll certainly post more pictures of this bike as it gets ridden more, but here are a couple to start off. Hard to see in these pics, but the bike has a left/right two-tone paint job and a pinstripe down the center line dividing the colors. 

'Cross gut

While cyclocross is painful, it's also short. Roadies call it a 'pukefest'...which doesn't seem too far off.

After every race, or even a hard interval set off-road on a cross bike, I end up with a stomach that doesn't stop churning/cramping for hours, and sometimes for the rest of the night. I've heard people describe this as 'cross gut', but haven't found anyone who has a solution, or even knows where it comes from. I have never gotten these symptoms from MTB races, crits, road races, or anything else really.  I've been in search of an answer, and have found a few strategies thanks to some friends, some coaches, and the good old internets.

Strategy #1: Beer

 Inspired by former Richard Sachs-RGM rider Dan Timmerman is the beer strategy. After Canton Cup last year, I remember talking to him about how his stomach is only settled by '6 beers as soon as possible after the finish'. Hopefully he didn't have to drive himself home.

This strategy is definitely the most fun, but only 'fixes' the problem in that I don't care as much. Admittedly, only 3 beers were quickly drunk right after the race, but I was unable to put any more away without getting nauseous. Presumably, Timmerman can just get back into his pain cave and push through to finish a sixer, but I'm not man enough for this strategy. Maybe I need a beard. 

Strategy #2: Go Hungry

While a 2:30 race start is convenient from a sleep standpoint, it makes eating hard. One strategy that many folks employ is to eat absolutely no solid food for at least 3 hours before a race. This strategy seems to help out - though the fact that my stomach stays in a knot well beyond when my stomach would have cleared tells me it might be something else. That said, from a 'pukefest' standpoint, I've continued to not eat solid food within a few hours of any race or hard workout.

Strategy #3: Cool Down

Typically, cross races finish with an all-out effort, followed by promptly stopping and attempting not to die. So...cooling down? What? Why do those roadie goons hop back onto a trainer after their races? Don't they know we're done racing now? It's beer time, people!

However...those goons have a point. After Gloucester day 2 (which was a kidney-pounding, seated power course), I actually took the time to go back out on the road to re-ride my warmup route. It sucked, let me tell you, to keep spinning the legs, wearing not enough clothing, but boy did I do it...and it helped. I didn't experience any stomach cramps immediately afterward, and the effects seemed very mild throughout the evening. I could still tell that my guts weren't happy with me for what I'd done to them...but at no point did things get too uncomfortable.

So, for all my 'cross brethren that are cursed with stomach cramps, make sure to not eat too much, cool down well, and drink a beer when you're done. I'm also toying with the idea of trying out an inexpensive suspension post for bumpy FTP workouts on the cross bike. Will report back!

Euro-Cool

I'm constantly surprised by what's considered "cool" in cycling. While one of the most visible affectations is hipsterism in all its self-deriding transendental smarminess, I'll leave that up to better writers. Instead, my curiousity is piqued by "euro-cool". It amazes me that just about anything that Euro pro cyclists wear ends up being adopted on this side of the pond. In the long-standing American tradition of the creation myth, I present to you the origins of some of euro-cool's signatures. Some true, mostly lies, hopefully entertaining.

Shoe covers when it's not cold out


You wear shoe covers because of problems with sponsors' shoes not fitting your pigeon toes? Wear DMT shoe covers, over those Sidi's, son. 

Embrocation

Need some nerve stimulation at night to keep your EPO-thickened blood flowing through your veins? Embrocation is born, and magazines are named after it.

Cycling caps

Once upon a time, cyclists didn't wear helmets. As such, they got brain-freeze headaches any time it was cooler than 50f, and sweat blinded their vision above 80f. They needed something to hold down the wet lettuce they used to cool their heads. They needed something to block locusts from their eyes during the Paris-Cairo. One brilliant soul put on a dandy cap of some kind, then chopped the brim down until he could see.

White bar tape

Originally a sign of European royalty - white gloves, white collars, white tape. If you're too good to put your own chain back on, then your tape stays fresh. This also explains shaved legs (hiding no cat5 tattoos) and colored tires (riding only on clean, well-traveled roads).

Tubulars

Racers used to shoot up all kinds of dope. Racers had experiences likened to 'floating' while riding on silk-walled tubulars. When they rode clinchers in training...sober...they didn't experience this same sensation. Nor did they hear their tires 'singing'. Now, in the post-amphetamine era, nobody can tell much of a difference. Surprised?

Barends

In Europe, mountain biking was originated by porteurs carrying (portaging) objects between towns...over mountains. As their racks became too full, they needed extra appendages to hang cheese, bread and traditional Swiss Vuvuzelas. While most of the vestigial knobs have disappeared, two have remained, on the ends of the handlebar of many a UCI xc racer. 

I hope you learned something today.

Brew Day - Fire in the Abbey

Inspired by my girlfriend's love of Rauchbier, and my love of its nickname 'liquid bacon', we decided to brew a smoky twist on a Belgian Dubbel. As this was an extract batch, we weren't able to use a full grain-bill's worth of smoky rauch malt, but that would have been a bit much anyway.

Some steeped rauch malt was used, then a traditional Dubbel extract recipe - Saaz Hops, Belgian Pale Malt LME/DME, Wyeast's abbey yeast, and dark candi sugar.

The main thing we learned during brewing is that the rauch malt you can buy from Northern Brewer is, well, not smoky enough. It lends a nice twist to a simple Dubbel, but not so much that you can specifically call it out as smokiness...it feels more like an interesting specialty grain choice. 

At first tasting (2 weeks, FG at 1.018, down from 1.072), it looks and tastes like an unfiltered red-brown dubbel with a nice twist. Still well within classification, but just a little more interesting. Boozy warmth and caramel sweetness dominate, but should be muted given time in secondary, some carbonation, and refrigeration. This will likely go into corked 750's, as it will both age well and provide a nice set of holiday presents for my beer-ey friends/family.

As the first beer I've actually given a name, it had to be good. Thanks to my good friend Ryan for the name...Fire in the Abbey! 

Little Things

Bike commuters in the US tend to be hardy creatures. In the vast majority of the US, bike commuting is known to be associated with two things: Hippies and DUII's. Voluntarily getting on a bike and facing weather, traffic, and sweat is an uncommon thing (but holding strong at .55%...sheesh). Even beyond those obstacles, the poor, pitiable soul arrives at work, there is the inevitable forgotten sock, rain-soaked dress shirt, missing piece of fender hardware, or other small setback. I can count on one hand the number of times I've forgotten socks, but on a single (middle) finger the time I forgot shoes. Clip-clopping around in road cleats is less-than-professional for a 23 y/o mechanical engineer, let me tell you. 

All that said, this post is dedicated to the little things that make life better...as a cyclist.

• Warm feet (I'm sure I'll write a poem about warm feet by mid-January)
• Street sweepers
• Fenders
• Wind vests
• When the guy with a leaf blower turns it off as you pass
• Tailwinds 
• Headwinds (reminds us to use the drops more)
• Hot coffee on a cold morning
• Waterproof blinkies

Bike Racer Haiku #1

Safety pins strewn in

The back of my Subaru

Little reminders