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

Prolonged sex, lightning bugs, crick fishing, and...oh yeah, randonneuring

Now that I've got your attention (as you'll soon learn, for males it mostly pays to be bold), I want you to adjust your eyes to the darkness, and imagine a soft, moonless and still summer evening. The come-on is expected, so you wait for it. Nobody moves. You hold your breath an instant...and there it is at last. A male lightning bug flashes his unique-to-his-species light that roughly translates to: "Calling all lightning chicks, I've got your nuptial gift right here! Calling all lightning chicks."

If you hail from a lightning bug part of the country (firefly to some), you know what I mean. Mixed with other pre-pubescent hot summer memories is the distinctive smell of the dank and musty lightning bug you've captured and put in a jar with a knife-pierced lid. It is an unmistakable odor. Every kid from a lightning bug homeplace knows what I'm talking about.

I loved that smell, and I loved our lightning bugs. The best place to find them was down by the crick, underneath the willow tree and amongst the forsythia bush branches. Our crick was, and still is, called Dirty Camp Run.

I know what you're thinking: it's not "crick", it's "creek". Well, I have it on great authority, Patrick McManus, that a "crick" is not only different from a "creek ", it is not a "creek" pronounced differently. Patrick is a fishing writer-humorist, and he knows all about workingclass cricks and how to fish them. Even if you're not a fisher, his post is hilarious.

Now, thanks to the New York Times story yesterday I understand why all those lightning bugs were hanging around the crick flashing every summer eve: to prove their nuptial gifts worthy to the lightning chicks. Science Reporter Carl Zimmer covers the research of Tufts researcher, Dr. Sara Lewis, that is all about the mating of lightning bugs.

Basic lightning bug mating lore:

• They remain coupled for HOURS. HOURS.
• They part at dawn; not sure about the whole cigarette thing.
• The males flash to attract females who lie in the grass waiting for The One.
• Males' flashes vary according to species.
• Males deliver a "nuptial gift", a coiled up nourishment package if you will, to the females in addition to sperm.
• The quality and size of the "nuptial gift" may determine the success of reproduction.
• Females judge the size and quality of the "nuptial gift" based on the boldness of the flashing.
• In one of Nature's cruel ironies, one species of lightning bugs predates on the others and favors those with the boldest flashings.
• Females insist in Cosmo surveys: the bigger the gift, the better.

Enlarge this graph from Lewis' research to see the call & response of lightning bugs. Lovely.

And here is a picture of modern day Dirty Camp Run, our crick, from Bridges and Tunnels of Allegheny County, Pa. It was so named by the Native Americans of our neck of Penn's Woods (Pennsylvania) in great honor of His Majesty's soldiers and the dirty camp the soldiers kept. To the Indians, it was simply the crick that ran by that dirty old, smelly camp the British soldiers lived in: Dirty Camp Run.

Today, it is so channeled up that it floods routinely, hence its relative fame. Pitcairn residents (downstream) blame Monroeville (where I grew up) land use practices, according to the Times Express. I feel for poor old dumped upon Dirty Camp Run and those unlucky residents affected by the flooding.
So how does this all relate to randonneuring? Well, if you go back to my earlier post of June 14, 2009 I talk about transport stages (where randonneurs rush in relative unison) and interest stops (places of interest where randonneurs "tour off their bicycles" to learn about the point of interest) during brevets.
I'm imagining a brevet where randonneurs start about 5pm and cycle a transport stage to a certain lowland area along a crick that is known for its lightning bug habitat. After cycling at high speed for hours, the randonneurs pause for a sex patrol control. One objective could be to count how many different species each randonneur confirms (by the males' distinctive mating flashings, of course). Cycling speed could play a role in that slower randonneurs might have less time to count the species (though lightning bugs do couple for HOURS). Or, the randonneur who finds the male with the shall-we-say "healthiest nuptial gift" could win a Lady's Choice award.
But seriously, I can imagine an enchanting evening brevet where the break or midpoint control could be a special lightning bug infested habitat. Why not?
One reason why not, unfortunately, is the decline of lightning bug habitat. Now Public reports that urban development, pollution, and artificial lights are culprits in the decline. I loved our polluted crick, Dirty Camp Run (though with intense mixed feelings as it was perhaps also responsible for my sister's polio), but the continuing destruction of its habitat is emblematic of our current path.
For the sake of our sexed up lightning bugs, we've got to turn this planet/ship around.
That's another reason I dig randonneuring. As it did when it was conceived, randonneuring pushes the presupposed limits of what one can do on a non-polluting bicycle.
Keep those "nuptial gifts" coming,

CurioRando
Post Script: DatreDame (aka Pramila, my wife) insists that I failed to point out the salient data point from the research, that there is a 20:1 ratio of male lightning bugs to female lightning bugs? What is she trying to tell me?

Training for a Century--the Marla Streb method

Marla Streb, pro bicycle racer, gives you exactly what you're looking for if you haven't crossed the Century threshold. And she gives it to you in doses of clarity, week by week. If you're doing it for the first time or coaxing someone else, Bicycling Magazine's Century Training Program is the book.

Marla uses her brother, Dave, as her foil to bring her vast knowledge to the average rider, and it works well. After each chapter/week, two training logs follow that contrast his actual sleep/miles/notes with hers. He of course has a "real" job and family constraints. I also like that she pays so much attention to sleep. Not only does my body dig sleep, adequate sleep is under-recognized in its importance to effective training to my mind.

Along the way are snippets of essential but basic wisdom about equipment, overtraining, riding in groups, heart rate, exercises, nutrition, basic periodization, etc. What I most like is what it doesn't include: intense charts and graphs that can be intimidating and off-putting to those we're trying to lure in.

And let's face it, the century is the benchmark. It is the ritualized ride. "Have you ridden a century yet?" is a common question. And once you've done "your century", the whole behind-the-curtain-of-the-harem-tent of longer distance cycling awaits the intrepid explorer.

So I consider Marla's well-conceived, simple, and engaging book to be an "Open Sesame" to the Century Ride. That's a pretty good service to the sport we lovingly refer to as randonneuring. Thanks, Rodale. Thanks, Marla.

Looking for a good guide to the Century? Go with Marla and her bro.


Keep it going to one hundred,

CurioRando

Colorado: cycling culture and other fun

Here we are: my wife, our sons, and me. Pramila traveled to Colorado for work. Janak went for Zimfest, a Zimbabwean Music Festival. And I visited my son, Mike. We all convened in Boulder, where I snapped this self-portrait (the skill is in avoiding the arm shadow; I did it in this one!).




Earlier, Mike and I had breakfast in Fort Collins as they were just setting up for their Brewfest. As a result, most shops were closed, including the Fort Collins Bike Library. Mike is standing in front of it here.

Inside, there is a Rudge High Wheeler on the wall that you can just make out through the plate glass window.


Mike and I also went for a walk in his town of Wellington which is such a quiet little town that little boys ride their bicycles right down the middle of the street. This guy is clearly not satisfied with silent bicycles as he accompanied his riding with very loud NASCAResque sound effects. Impressive!

On the wall of the Cafe Ardour is this 1898 Columbia Safety Bicycle made by Pope Manufacturing Company. It features a 98" gear, "The Kelly" adjustable handlebars, and wooden rims. There is a badge on the fork that is a permit for users of the paths.

This bicycle (also the Rudge and others I could see through the windows of the Bike Library) are part of the Fort Collins Bicycle Museum Without Walls. There is no building for the Museum yet, so it is a traveling collection. The Museum is a project of Bike Fort Collins. Jeff Nye, Vice President of Bike Fort Collins and owner of the Columbia Safety Bicycle pictured above, says this of the Rudge Highwheeler in the earlier picture:

This is a heavily restored 60" light roadster model built in England in 1885, it features spade grips, a replica Brooks saddle. Sixty inches was the largest size of production high wheel that was available in this period, it would take a person with an inseam of about 44". The bicycle hangs in front of a mural designed and drawn by me and painted by the very talented local muralist Grant Wade, the street scene in the mural represents some of the Victorian architecture of the Old Town area. The machine was the first machine purchased by BFC to be a part of our collection.

Boy, I sure am infatuated with those High Wheelers, but 44' inseam. Yikes! I tried to meet a collector in Golden, CO during this trip, but his current health situation precluded a visit. I wish him all the best.

And guess what else abounds in Boulder and Fort Collins? Bicycle Trails. Everywhere. Well marked. Heavily utilized. With tunnels. Well maintained. A normal part of the landscape. Here's a link to the Bicycle Trails of Boulder County.

Now I know that both are big University towns, but they are inspiring. Truly though, the Bike Library and the clear sense of civic support for bicycling was bittersweet to me. I loved that they've got the spirit in Boulder and Fort Collins, but why not Seattle? On the heels of the movie Veer (my previous post about the Portland bicycle scene), it just got me feeling a little blue because we have so much potential if we just had a little more support (taking nothing away from the progress many have worked so hard for).

Traveling is good for building perspective.


Here's another of Mike and I atop Flagstaff Mountain where we all went out to a lookout (May's Point).

Once again, putting motors to wheels is always alluring. Janak speeds away in Go-Kart #20. Mike is not far behind.


Keep your perspective,

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

My Randonneuring Bicycle, Part 2: More than the sum of her parts

As a union organizer, I've been accused from time to time of being a revolutionary. Tricky word, that. But I got to pondering my recent post about my current randonneuring bicycle, and recognized that I wasn't doing her justice, either individually or as a representative of her class. My current randonneuring bicycle is more than the sum of her component parts; why she's a bloody revolutionary!

She, like her sister bicycles everywhere, is a serious change agent. Just look at her in front of this big red barn from Sunday's ride, ready to git gittin'.

She's 33 years old, and burns no oil (excepting chain lubrications). Consistently, she challenges me to realize my better self. She takes me places I'd otherwise never visit, and she could quite possibly be a big part of the solution sitting beneath our noses to the problem of our self-destruction via fossil fuel consumption. (For the model of eschewing the burn-the-oil status quo see Kent Peterson who has gone carless--talk about a revolutionary act--for years and years!)



And like revolutionaries everywhere, she is that curious amalgam of real-world sturdiness imbued with her own beauty, absolute practicality soaked in abundant charm, and all the while answering to no one and yet eliciting broad appeal. Wheeled vehicles like her have a history of revolutionary change as attested to by my wife's posing with her steed alongside yesteryear's wagon.


If I seem over-the-top, understand just how remarkable bicycles are. They are the most efficient means of self-transportation for humans. Think about that.

And when I unceremoniously listed her component parts in my previous post (See Part 1, The sum of her parts), I omitted her very soul and her ability to satisfy mine (See also Part 3: First Tease). Also, check out Part 4: Let the Build Begin!

Others climb mountains for adventure. Cool. Or sail the seas. I considered that. But she transports my soul to my chosen or unexpected adventures while connecting me with the land, introducing me to new pals, and moving my legs and heart a whole life's long as Nature intended my legs and heart to do. And, she makes my cycling companions and me smile.


OK, she's got soul and she's a soul mover. What about her fitness for the seeking of adventure we call randonneuring? For fellow newbie randonneurs I have an obligation to say that one doesn't need a snazzy ride to randonneur (even though future posts of mine will document the creation of my new snazzy ride). As I recalled all the componentry of my current randonneuring bicycle it became obvious that I have switched out most original parts by now. Even that is not necessary, fellow newbies. Many randonneurs have and will ride brevets with old and new, faddish and unfashionable, and even unreliable bicycles, though I don't recommend the latter. Just know that there is no "must" for a Randonneuse.



What would I like her to have today that just wasn't widely available in 1976?

Wider tires and room for fenders.
A front rack built for her unique geometry. Braze-ons for three water bottles and a pump peg. A dependable lighting system integrated into her design.


But then, would I have had the sense to make them part of the order had they been available? Fenders were so not the thing. Wider tires would have elicited smirks.

The truth of it is that if I couldn't buy a new bicycle today I could certainly and happily keep tweaking the old Fuji, and she'd do fine.

Like all bicycles she is way more than the sum of her component parts. She is serious transportation and outrageous kid-on-the-bicycle-for-the-first-time fun. How can one vehicle be so much of both at once? Save us from our polluting selves and fun to pedal around with no object other than the pedaling? She is very simply the embodiment of the most revolutionary and transformative truth we all seek after.
It's what we get when we fall in love with one another.


What we want most of all is what she delivers: that special coming together when 1 + 1 = 3.


Keep it adding up,

CurioRando

UPDATE: For a hint at how I'm thinking about the new randonneuring bicycle I'm having built up, check out this post.

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

Bunnies on High Wheelers!

That's right, bunnies ride high wheel bicycles because Bunnies know what's cool and elegant!






Lucia Neare's Theatrical Wonders performed in Seward Park near my South Seattle home this evening. Though I couldn't stay for their performance, I snapped a few pics of these magical bunnies on high wheelers (the original fixies).

All part of their Lullaby Moon series--performances on the New Moons of every month for an entire lunar year--the Neare tribe was a wonder indeed. I had trouble capturing the Bunnie Bikers alone as they were followed continuously by a parade of enchanted young children.
























Check out the Lucia Neare website. Her influences include Dr. Seuss, P.T. Barnum, and her time living in Southern India. She describes her mission thusly:

I am devoted to creating free, living, joyful experiences for public audiences that offer vivid infusions of whimsy and inspire hope and expansive thinking--that gifts can spring forth on the streets and in our lives, that it is possible to fill the air with love through the power of our intent.

Of course all was enhanced by the specialness of the time of day when all calms, and the last light on the lake fades away.


Thank you for your inspired cycling, Bunnies!

Keep it enchanted,

CurioRando

My Randonneuring Bicycle, PART 1: The sum of her parts

My current randonneuring bicycle, or Randonneuse, is pictured here. She's an old pal, a Fuji Finest (See Part 2: More than the sum of her parts and Part 3: First Tease). I bought her in grand anticipation--with zero follow through--of the 1976 BikeCentennial. So I bought her in the Fall/Winter of 1975-76 but I worked the summer of 1976 instead of cycling across our nation. Ah, regrets!

She's an old favorite--ah, young love!--who's about to be replaced by a new Pereira custom-made Randonneuse so I want to give her her due now before I get all hot and bothered about my new flame. Ah, raw lust!

She was a Fixie for a while, but when I discovered randonneuring just after the 2007 Paris Brest Paris, I reconverted her back to her multi-geared origins. Here are her current specs:

• "Fuji Double Butted Chrome Molybdenum Steel Tubing"
• 73 degree Seat Angle
• 73 degree Head Angle
• 58.5 cm Top Tube (center to center)
• 6 cm Bottom Bracket drop
• 43.5 cm chain stays
• 5 cm fork rake
• Off-the-shelf replacement fork
• 144 mm Tread or Q-Factor
• Matrix 32 hole Front Rim
• Shimano 600 Front HubGentleman 81, 36 hole Rear Rim
• Suzue High Flange Rear Hub
• Grand Bois Cypress 700c 32mm Tires
• SKS Plastic Fenders
• TA Pro 5 Vis 170 cm Cranks
• Shimano PD A520 Pedals
• Technomic Stem
• Grand Bois "Randonneur" Handlebars
• Selle Anatomica Saddle
• Nitto Saddle Post
• Clamp-on Water Bottle Holders (no braze-ons)
• Weinmann Vainqueur 999 Brakes
• Tektro Brake Levers
• TA Cyclotouriste 32-44-52 Chainrings
• 14-28T five speed freewheel
• Suntour 7 Front Derailleur
• Suntour VX Rear Derailleur
• Suntour Shifters
• Chris King Headset
• TA Bottom Bracket
• Velo Orange Decaleur
• Velo Orange Front Rack
• ViVa Saddlebag Support
• Ostrich Handlebar Bag
• Ostrich Saddle Bag (not used on 200k or 300k brevets to date)
• Cateye Strada Cadence Cyclocomputer
• Planet Bike Blinky's
• Busch & Muller Ixon IQ headlight (not pictured)

Here she is in her original condition in a pic from a cyclotouring trip in 1977 along the Scioto River in Ohio. Note the Kirtland Panniers.

Discerning eyes will note the old red/white lenses on the "French" flashlight hanging from the left pannier. I also had a small handlebar bag mounted on a removeable handlebar rack. Non-aero brake levers. A Silca pump. Campy Record pedals with toe-clips. And a really heavy sleeping bag!

The tires were sew-ups and the saddle was a Unicanitor plastic saddle covered in Buffalo hide. I also had a Cinelli Stem and Handlebar. The original fork rake was 7 cm.

I'm a sucker for chrome, but alas will not go for it on the new Randonneuse. Too environmentally damaging. The Fuji was and is a good bike. And she's the only one since my Schwinn Continental, so I guess I'm about ready for my Pereira.

But she's got to get me through this season still. She and I are getting set for my next challenge: the 400k. Let's see how we do together.

Keep it, and keep it, and keep it...

CurioRando

UPDATE: For a post on my early thoughts about the new randonneuring bicycle I'm having built up, check this out. And also: Part 4: Let the Build Begin!

Welcome, DartreDame!

Who was that previous mystery poster? Why it was the lovely DartreDame, pioneering cyclist and the woman who abides my randonneuring ways: my beautiful wife of whom I have previously written! That's her with her son, Janak, as we headed out recently on a jaunt to Kubota Garden. Thank you, Dartre for your insights. It is great to learn of your perspective as an even newer newbie.

Expect to hear more from Dartre here in the coming weeks as she addresses her first century challenge.

Guest Bloggers

I also have a commitment from another guest blogger who'll post on tandems and his and his wife's journeys, from Seattle to Scotland by Bike Friday tandem. I expect to have yet another guest blogger report on his adventure transitioning to a recumbent bicyclist.

One thing every guest blogger really appreciates--and only you can help here--is comments. Lots of comments. Remember, we all need a little lovin', or even friendly disagreement! Consider it the small cost of admission to the special guest bloggers.

Blog Features

Here are a few other items about this curious blog. In additon to the blogs I recommend, do check out the website links at the bottom right. Some goodies there. The slide show has got all the images, and one item folks seem to like is the "How does one say 'randonneur'?" Especially the French version. Any guesses who the French speaker is?

And if you like a particular post topic, check out the topics list to find others with similar content.

Next for Me

I'm gearing up for the Seattle International Randonneurs 400k on August 22. It will be my first 400k, so a big adjustment. I will keep you up to speed on my training and plans just as DartreDame revs up for the July 25 Seattle Century. Also, links to the recently completed SIR 600k ride reports.

Tomorrow, I'm off to the other Washington, and I hope to blog remotely with a special blast from the past!

Pass it along, please!

If you know a cycling pal, please pass along the link.

Keep it curious,

CurioRando