The Hills of Pittsburgh

This is Dan of the blog ranDanneuring. As you can see he's at the top of one of Pittsburgh's hills, Mt. Washington maybe?

I checked out his blog the other day, and his Ground Hog Day post has a great video from a TV show on WQED TV. This is the public station I was weaned on, so it was cool to see. But the video is fantastic.

I will say no more but you ought to check it out. And you gotta love those Pittsburgh accents!

Here's the video. I hope yunz enjoy it.


Keep it climbing,

CurioRando

Coup de Torchon Cycling

Coup de Torchon is simply french for The Dish Towel Technique as put forward by Ian Jackson of BreathPlay. The idea is that instead of pushing down into the bottom bracket we pull the pedals away from one another as if we're trying to keep the dish towel taught and straight.

Or, as you see in the photo above or in the video, if you imagine you're holding a dish towel between your hands, your hands represent the pedals.Then, to keep the towel straight you must push each pedal away from the other with equal and opposite force.

I discovered this technique in another podcast by Terry Bicycles owner Georgina Terry.

Ian posits that even as we contrive to push down on the down stroke and pull up on the up stroke or "wipe mud from the bottom of our cleats" we are still engaging in essentially centripetal pedaling rather than centrifugal pedaling. Coup de Torchon is about pulling around the circle rather than pushing into the circle we all hope to pedal. I'm certainly no physicist, but I am intrigued by the visualization.

I've tried it--not yet for long rides (tomorrow will be first longer test)--and I like it. I can tell I am recruiting some new muscles and my stroke is smooooothing out.

Let me know what you think.


Keep it smoooooth,

CuriooooRandoooo

Paris Brest Paris on Facebook

If you haven't seen the Paris Brest Paris facebook page yet, do check it out. There is a webcam of the official PBP Startline, pictured above though admittedly not so exciting.

Better is a YouTube interview with a PBP official about the new start times. Also, what seems to be an interactive lesson on the history of PBP. Though on that I am not certain because I need to learn French!!

Maybe that game is a way to practice my French?

Oops! Just in, the second part of this YouTube interview, this time about rider quotas and rules.

Exciting to ponder being in Paris with thousands of other cyclists!


Keep it faced,

CurioRando

Audux-Style Wolves and Out-and-Back Ants

Background for newbies or the otherwise uninitiated about "Audux-style" randonneuring from the Randonneurs USA (RUSA) website:

Audax (oh docks) - A style of group bicycle touring found mostly in France, but also in Holland and Belgium to lesser degrees. A steady pace is set by a road captain, who is in charge of a group of fellow club members. In modern times the pace is usually about 22 km/h between stops; the itinerary and resting places are planned in advance. Audax groups often ride about 16-20 hours per day until they reach their pre-arranged sleeping point. In the case of Paris-Brest-Paris, each group's objective is to finish inside the 90-hour limit with all its riders together. ("All for one, one for all" is their motto.)


In the U.S., we follow a more individualized style where one goes at one's own pace or joins up with others, whatever the pleasure. The Audux-style or in-line version has always intrigued me due to its collective nature, but I also very much enjoy the individual freedom.

Now to the wolves: this past summer, DartreDame (Pramila, my wife) and I took a two-day cyclotour of the the mountains, from Joseph, Oregon to Halfway, Oregon and back. I posted about that here.

I mentioned then that some Elk hunters who gave us water told me about how in bugling in Elk they inadvertently bugled in a wolf pack...twice. I'd heard that wolves had moved into the area, but some were skeptical. This video proves it.

I especially enjoy how the last wolf--the mama?--swishes her tail as she turns back after checking out whoever was checking them out. Classic canine disdain, but here not in a domesticated dog but in a wild wolf.

Hail the wildness!!! Welcome back, wolves.

Did you notice their Audux-style manner of randonneuring up the mountain? Methinks wolves have a captain and a bunch of followers, and so it appears from the video!


And how about those out-and-back ants? Did you catch the story on NPR about the "pedometer" ants that count their steps? Apparently, some scientists tested the theory that the desert ants count their way out to their food source from their nest and repeat the count to get home.

The scientists experimented by cutting short the legs of some ants and Super Glueing pig bristles onto the legs of others to make their legs longer. This proved it is the steps they count, not the distance they measure. To fully grasp the ingenuity and the hilarity of this you have got to watch the video I reference below.

Just like us randonneurs on an out-and-back ride who use our odometers, these ants count their way home. Crazy ants. Check out the NPR website that has an animated video as well as actual photos of ants with pig bristles glued to their legs. The animated video is not to be missed!

Which is the weirdest? Wolves who walk in line, ants who count steps, or randonneurs who don't know when to stop?


Keep it wild at heart,

CurioRando

Cycling Proselytizers

Think you're a committed cyclist? Hardcore in any weather and all? You do your R-12 events every month for a year (that's at least a 200k every month), and think that is something?

Well, move over bub. Let me introduce you to some cyclists that even RUSA record-breaker Vincent Muoneke (and a hearty Congratulations to you, Vincent!) would be obliged to respect.

Meet Byron Ramos, Couper Millar and Bradley Gabor, pictured above l to r. These three missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are on a two year, seven days a week in all weather door-to-door campaign on their bicycles throughout south Washington State. They cycle from house to house proselytizing for JCLDS. Their mission is for two years, and is unpaid.

I spied this trio in Milton-Freewater, Oregon a town I posted about when we did the Oregon Randonneurs 300k last summer. They were outside a restaurant, and I picked them out by their natty clothes and ties. I figured who else would ride with dress clothes on a nasty day but somebody on a mission, and I was right!


Byron, Couper and Bradley were very patient with my incredulous questioning, and I thank them. Can you imagine riding every day of the week for two years? As I motored away I couldn't help but imagine the reactions they got from all the folks whose doors they knocked upon. The bicycle is a disarmer. From my limited touring, I've learned that most folks respect that you've earned your way to the very spot at which you've met them on your bicycle.

So, these three got me thinking about other ways to visit the world by bicycle. I hope they now realize that they've inspired me to think bigger about the possibilites of the bicycle. Not to mention my respect for their commitment. Awesome.

Having said all that, I just got to say that the JCLDS position on California's Prop 8 is one that I find very disturbing. Keith Olberman does a fine job of stating my failure to understand why some insist on perpetrating their values on others when no harm to others would occur. It just baffles me, and I believe such discrimination against any of us divides us and pits us against the loving world we all seek and need.

Nonetheless, you just have to admire Byron, Couper and Bradley. There is much to learn from such commitment. I wish them all the best weather with friendly door knockees, only downhills, no flats and no dogs! And when that doesn't all work out, I hope they know they've earned the respect of this curious cyclist!


Keep it loving and inclusive of all, every day in all weather and any circumstance,

CurioRando

Bicycle Film Festival: Scraper Bikes and Trini's with BIG SOUND Bikes

The Bicycle Film Festival came to Seattle and it was a fun event with a stoked crowd full of messengers and other young-to-my-fifty-plus-self folks. Crowd reactions to the dozen or so short films was an integral part of the show.

Call me a curmudgeon, but I had very mixed feelings to one theme. There were ALOT of shots (in several of the films) of cyclists on fixies blasting through traffic--day and night--and barely running over pedestrians as they snuck through seams in the traffic. Don't get me wrong: it was beautiful, almost like watching a corpuscle squeeze through a narrow vein under a microscope. But it was dangerous to the public too. I admire the skill even as I cringed with concern and delighted in the drama. Very mixed. Also, just too much of the same thing.

Here's the Seattle Times' take. When it comes to bicycling, Seattle has so much P-envy (Portland envy as the emcee told us), that it makes a Seattlite like me want to groan.

The show stealers for me were the kids. Not just any kids. Kids of color and immigrant kids in tough neighborhoods. Bicycles and their imaginations and their sticking together are probably saving their lives.

Check out these Scraper Bikes. These kids (10 - 15 years old?) modify old hand-me-downs and turn themselves into a colorful tribe with a wonderful spirit of adventure and kid-fun. One the one hand, they are as unselfconscious as kids playing anywhere. On the other, their fun is a political refutation of the kinds of things kids in their circumstances get lost in, and they know it. It is intentional and prophylactic fun. Bittersweet, but better than bitter only.

Check out Scraper Bikes and a YouTube here.

Like Bicycles? Love loud music? Wanna be outrageous? Cool. Let's add HIGHpowered speakers and island music right onto our bicycles--even if it then weighs 300 pounds--and go cruisin'.

And who better than the young immigrants from Trinidad and Tobago? Trinidad and Tobago (two islands as one nation just off the coast of Venezuela) is where steelpan, calypso, soca, and limbo were invented. Quite a musical pedigree.

Here are the stars of that film, Made in Queens. I loved their understated yet very loud love of music and bicycles.

Again, they found one another and formed a tribe. Very endearing.

I visited Trinidad and Tobago a while back, but unfortunately not during Carnival. It's a fascinating place. According to Wikipedia, the largest ethnic group are the Indo-Trinidadians who were Indians brought to the islands as indentured workers to replace the freed slaves who refused to work any longer on the sugar plantations.

Tourism is big now, and the Scarlet Ibises returning to roost every evening at sunset is one of the world's wonders. Go here for one take on that.

Queens is a long way from Trinidad and Tobago, but the young men and women in the film remind us about our tribes and tribal music.

Keep it close,

CurioRando

Power of Compassion Broke the Cycle of Vengence Today

Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill

I have been noodling for a little while about a post I might write some day about a belief I share with many others that acts of altruism or compassion are not simply expressed and then lost. It is the belief that these acts of compassion or selfless kindness feed a reservoir that promulgates or spurs further acts of altruism. I had hoped to illustrate the point with some randonneuring examples.

I was planning to write about how I tested a corollary to this theory in my college Research Psychology class thirty years ago. The short version is that we approached strangers on the street and asked for directions and variously reinforced them. We found a difference, though not statistically significant, and of course our methodology was suspect. The idea, however, that altruism begets altruism stuck with me.

I was planning to draw this together with randonneuring by telling of a few unselfish gestures. The first is when the randonneur I'd been riding a few shorter brevets with told me I should not ride with him on my next longer brevet: my 400k attempt. John Vincent told me that he'd slow me down, and that I should ride with others so as to increase my chance of success. Riding with him, his logic went, decreased my opportunities.

It is a small thing in the scheme of the world, but it touched me: his generosity.

Then when I attempted my first 400k and ended up riding with another new acquaintance, Tom Russell, I could tell Tom was hoping to finish in under 24 hours. And given his pace, he'd have had no problem. As I reported in my Oregon Randonneurs Alsea Falls 400k Ride Report, Tom chose to hang back with me and my slower pace instead even though he knew he'd finish in more than 24 hours.

Is this a big deal? Not really, but it touched me again. In the race for time and accomplishment today, it is refreshing when someone steps back from these expectations to just lend a hand. The question then is will I extend their acts to fellow randonneurs as they have done. I can only say I hope to.

So as you see, these examples didn't add up to a complete post so much as a notion I'd been noodling.

Then today when I heard Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill's statement about his releasing the sole person convicted of the Lockerbie bombing on grounds of compassion, I felt compelled to post.

After a nearly endless cycle of cries for vengeance in so many circumstances all around the globe, I was hearing on my radio a departure from vengeance and opening up to compassion. And not with bashfulness or apology. Kenny MacAskill called upon the Scottish people's heritage of honoring humanity and openly called upon Scottish values of compassion and mercy.

I couldn't believe my ears it was so extraordinary.

Here are his concluding remarks:

“Scotland will forever remember the crime that has been perpetrated against our people and those from many other lands. The pain and suffering will remain forever. Some hurt can never heal. Some scars can never fade.

“Those who have been bereaved cannot be expected to forget, let alone forgive. Their pain runs deep and the wounds remain.

"However, Mr Al Megrahi now faces a sentence imposed by a higher power. It is one that no court, in any jurisdiction, in any land, could revoke or overrule. It is terminal, final and irrevocable. He is going to die.

“In Scotland, we are a people who pride ourselves on our humanity.

“It is viewed as a defining characteristic of Scotland and the Scottish people.

“The perpetration of an atrocity and outrage cannot and should not be a basis for losing sight of who we are, the values we seek to uphold, and the faith and beliefs by which we seek to live.

“Mr Al Megrahi did not show his victims any comfort or compassion. They were not allowed to return to the bosom of their families to see out their lives, let alone their dying days. No compassion was shown by him to them.

“But that alone is not a reason for us to deny compassion to him and his family in his final days.

“Our justice system demands that judgment be imposed but compassion be available.

“Our beliefs dictate that justice be served, but mercy be shown.

“Compassion and mercy are about upholding the beliefs that we seek to live by, remaining true to our values as a people. No matter the severity of the provocation or the atrocity perpetrated.

“For these reasons - and these reasons alone - it is my decision that Mr Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, convicted in 2001 for the Lockerbie bombing, now terminally ill with prostate cancer, be released on compassionate grounds and allowed to return to Libya to die.”

Click here to watch Secretary MacAskill's full statement.

Then this evening I had dinner with several of my wife's Indian relatives. When I asked them whether they had heard MacAskill's statement, we got to discussing death penalty cases and how they are viewed. One of them said that he believed that everyone, by being human, has the capacity to change. Even those who have committed evil acts are not themselves evil. Each of us has the capacity to change. If we don't believe that, where does that leave us?

Driving home from dinner I heard another radio show: about non-violence and Martin Luther King and Gandhi. One of King's followers talked about the absolute requirement that to succeed in their campaign against racism and unjust laws they had to sincerely listen to their foes and even love their foes, all of them. She talked about how she led them in a song and added a verse about loving "even Bull Connor" the infamous "member of the Ku Klux Klan, and a staunch advocate of racial segregation" according to Wikipedia. If they didn't believe in their foes' capacity to change, then non-violence fell in upon itself.

A powerful set of insistent truths for one day.

I am awed by Kenny MacAskill's commitment to the truth that we all deserve compassion. It is consistent with Gandhi's Satyagraha or "insistence on truth". The thing that is startling is that while we were all taught about compassion and the Golden Rule as children, living by such a seemingly simple dictum is rare and hard. Kenny MacAskill reminded us that while it is hard, it is possible as individuals and as peoples.

Thank you for indulging a not-so-randonneurish post. I have simply been inspired by compassion and selflessness both big and small. And I believe that small leads to big.

Keep it, give it,

CurioRando

This land is your land. Happy July 4th!

What a land in which we live! Who knows better than the randonneurs who tour it?

The only one I can think of is Woody Guthrie, seen here on YouTube singing his This Land is Your Land love song. He gets us pretty good. Here's my favorite stanza:

As I was walkin' - I saw a sign there
And that sign said - no tress passin'
But on the other side .... it didn't say nothin!
Now that side was made for you and me!

In honor of the 4th, here are a few ride reports--many with fabulous photos--about our land:

Pennsylvania: New Jersey Randonneurs progress and ride reports of the PA 1000k

Alaska: Alaska Randonneurs on the Alaska 600k

Washington State: Rando(m) Adventures on the SIR Spring 600k

Utah: The Utah Randonneur Zion Canyon 200k

Oregon: Oregon Randonneurs Mark Janeba's Covered Bridges pre-ride 2009

Colorado: Colorado Brevets Lyons-Berthoud Populaire

Georgia: Research Trailer Park Audax Atlanta Summer Solstice 300k Brevet
California: MAXP.net San Francisco 300k Brevet
Minnesota: http://www.biketcbc.org/randonneur/ portal to several Minnesota ride reports
Keep it free,
CurioRando

Veer, the movie about bicycling culture

If you like bicycles, infectuous fun, the good guys taking on the powers that be, outrageous costumes, and a lively music selection...then go see Veer. I saw Veer a few nights ago at the Columbia City Cinema, my neighborhood theater. Among other emotions, envy filled my chest at the unabashededly pro-bicycle aura that surrounds Portland, the city featured in the film. But sadness rolled around too as Veer delved into the dangerous side of cycling.

As we know bicyclists are vulnerable against automobiles and trucks. Portland has had more than its share of tragic collisions recently. This collision side of cycling is conveyed very powerfully in the grief of the victims' families.

Organizing for a new law emerges from their pain: "vulnerable user" legislation. I won't spoil the story, but David Hiller, lobbyist in chief for Seattle's cycling community and the Advocacy Director for the Cascade Bicycle Club, vowed during the interim between the early and late shows at the Cinema that we'd win "vulnerable user" legislation in Washington next year. I'm not completely clear, but I think the impact of the law would be that a motor vehicle operator who injures or kills a cyclist and is convicted of reckless or careless driving would have additional penalties added due to the relative vulnerability of cyclists.

Currently, a driver who kills a cyclist could get off with a small fine and not suffer any further consequences. I believe David that we could pass "vulnerable user" legislation, but it will take all of us backing up David's and the Cascade Bicycle Club's efforts. They will need our help.

But again, Veer is primarily about the infectuousness of bicycling. Even a Portland bicycle cop admits he'd like to go ZooBombing. ZooBombing is a weekly semi-organized event in which cyclists ride 16" wheeled children's bicycles really really fast down really really steep hills, including the one near the Zoo.

So where is the cause and effect in this wannabe cop Zoobomber? Does the Portland policeman who rides his police bicycle every day want to ZooBomb because riding his bicycle tunes him into the fun side of cycling, or is it that he chose to be a cycling cop cause he loves bicycles in the first place? Who cares? His unabashed admission is a kick.

What's missing, I'm afraid, is the randonneuring scene in Portland. I've participated in two Oregon Randonneurs brevets this year, and they are their own subculture too. The Oregon Randonneurs (ORR) is a great and highly organized group and would have made a balancing contribution to the film. Together with the commuter subculture and perhaps a little more depth to the cyclotouring segment, the ORR would have rounded out the age diversity in this protrayal of bicycling culture. Veer seems to imply the cycling subculture is a younger people's thing. Not exclusively so.
The showing I attended (perhaps the only night in Seattle) was a benefit for the Cascade Bicycle Club's Major Taylor Project.

Here are the goals of the Major Taylor Project:
* Engage youth to learn about the benefits of bicycle riding and maintenance.
*Introduce groups of 11 to 18 year olds to Major Taylor and different types of bicycling, including road touring, mountain biking, track racing, and cyclocross riding.
*Provide mentorship and physical activity in an out-of-school time activity.
*Partner in the community and increase cycling overall in targeted neighborhoods.
Marshall "Major" Taylor (1878 - 1932) was the first African American professional cyclist, and he endured enormous discrimination. If you aren't familiar with his story, explore a little; he's an inspiration.

Veer is spirited. Veer celebrates bicycles. Veer cheers what bicycles can do. Veer loves cyclists coming together.

Go see it!


All of the graphics and photos here are from the Cascade Bicycle Club website.

Here is the YouTube trailer for Veer.
Keep it bombing,


CurioRando

Bunnies on Highwheelers Video!

The Bunnies captured many a heart so here is a YouTube video of sweet bicycling bunnies.

Also, here's a bunny from a ride report from randonneurextra. Every bunny is cute, no?

Yes, the bunnies on highwheelers are actually on trikes. Not quite the same, but I'm told all the hopping made them unstable on traditional highwheelers.

Coming up next: My Randonneuring Bicycle, Part 2: More than the sum of her parts.

Keep it hoppin'

CurioRando

Celebrating the Bicycle is Fun, Fun, Fun! (YouTube)

Not yet having enough fun this Memorial Day weekend? Stay tuned. I've got a treat for you.

How about tall bikes, tiny bikes, cyclotouring bikes, cyclo-sewing bikes, recumbent bikes, high wheeled bikes, big-eyed wonder, broad smiles, and a bouncy soundtrack? And everybody looks so fit and fashionable.

In Jan Heine's latest issue of Bicycle Quarterly he reviews this YouTube video that charms:

Charming You Tube Video.

Jan says the narration is Czech, and it is from the 1930's and 1940's Europe. This is the vital and exhilarating European life we seldom get a sense of when we think of Europe during those years.

Enjoy!

Keep it fun,

CurioRando