Turning New Pages, Part 2



Scribblings


Yesterday I described how I've added ten new Pages to this blog. For each new Page there is a tab to click on to reach it. The ten tabs are located directly under the blog banner. Here are the ten new Pages:

• à Paris!
• Stanzas
• Rantings
• Captured
• Ahhh!
• Scribblings
• Heartholds
• Vintage
• One World
• Sillinesses.

Each Page is focused around a topic and I described the first five topics covered in the first five Pages in yesterday's post. Here is a description of the final five Pages:

The sixth Page, Scribblings, is a listing of links to all the Book Reviews I've done to date as well as a few upcoming ones. I review books that are about cycling or traveling or training or related topics.

Heartholds

The next Page, Heartholds, is about what I hold deeply. I haven't got much down on this one yet as it will require some thinking and being. But the intent is to put down what I believe. Mainly, this is a blog about cycling and randonneuring, but I can't help that it creeps into Life, into what it means to persevere, what it means to be human. I know some folks just want the cycling stuff, and I hope they get their dose. But I believe that what we believe is what makes us human, so I'll explore that on the Heartholds page.

The other thing about bicycles is that they are just so deceptively simplistic on the face of them. But, given the context of the Age of Oil in which we now live, they are nothing short of revolutionary. Maybe 100 years ago they weren't; today they are. So that begs a few questions even though this blog is "just about cycling and randonneuring".



Vintage



Vintage is a page with links to older bicycles, and it's really nothing more than an indulgence. I love old bicycles, and I have always especially loved highwheelers. But it also captures not-as-old bicycles like my old 1975 Fuji Finest. Old bicycles are cool. So, here you'll find links to any meandering posts of mine about those cool old bikes.



One World

One World is a Page about our natural world, and again mostly because I'm just continually enthralled with our world, our critters, our natural environment. I post often about the critters I see or hear on rides, and you'll find links to those posts here.




Sillinesses

 Sillinesses, the final Page, is just that: being silly. Consider it an antidote to the times. There are two parts to this page. The first is a list of links to posts where I get silly or goofy or, some might say, stupid. A post about the mating rituals of lightning bugs (fireflies) is one example. There is no point to it other than to notice the absurdity of our lives.

The second part of the Sillinesses Page is a collection of photos. I anticipate the collection growing. It started because I couldn't decide what photo best represents Sillinesses. So, instead of deciding I just kept adding new ones. Mainly, these are photos of family and friends. For most readers of this blog these people mean nothing to them. I'm hoping that their expressions translate even if you've never gazed on their countenance before.

The thing about this Page is that it is so out there. I never would have dreamed of such a thing a few years ago. But, as with many, I've discovered that Facebook and blogging have torn down interior barriers. For better, for worse? For me, the jury is out. Hmmm, maybe you are the jury. Gulp!  Perhaps I'll be cringing a few years hence wondering "what on earth was I thinking"? Ah well, blogging is nothing if not self-indulgent. Do check out the photos at least, and I hope you get a smile on your face too!


And again, these pages are just collections of impressions about a topic or notion. If you want to find posts about topics not covered (or covered) by the ten Pages, you can always search the blog by going to the Search box at the very top left of the blog (above the banner). Alternatively, you can check out the Topics sidebar to the right of the main text body. Enjoy!


Keep it silly, for sure,

CurioRando

Training with LSD: Long Slow Distance

Joe Henderson wrote a treatise in 1969 promoting the promise of running long and slow and for long distances. Go slow to get fast was the idea. That's Joe, above, from his website where you can find his treatise--complete with a revised Introduction--all in one place.

Wikipedia summarizes the theory thusly:

Long slow distance (LSD) is a form of aerobic endurance training in running and cycling.^[1][2] Physiological adaptations to LSD training include improved cardiovascular function, improved thermoregulatory function, improved mitochondrial energy production, increased oxidative capacity of skeletal muscle, and increased utilization of fat for fuel.^[1] Ernst van Aaken (1910–1984), a German physician, is generally recognized as the founder of the long slow distance method of endurance training.

The theory certainly has its detractors, but I like the notion of fewer injuries and focusing on the enjoyment of one's sport rather than the pain-for-gain approaches. I'm not saying it's for everyone and certainly not claiming any proficiency about training, but I do assert it is an attractive approach.


One of the runners that Joe writes about is Tom Osler, about whom I posted here a while back. As with Tom, I was turned onto to Joe Henderson by Ian Jackson, but again, that is a story for another day.


Given that I'm of a certain age, I also enjoy the context of Joe's writing. It was a time of change, rethinking, and shatterings of the status quo. It's refreshing to me to capture that sense of all thing's possible again. Not that Joe gets into that, more that if you went through any of that time you can catch a whiff of it. Those times were certainly a counterpoint to today's days of retraction.


Joe, like Tom, writes about endurance running, but all is applicable to endurance cycling, at least I think that's true.


I'm also just now getting into this book that came out in 2007 titled Base Building for Cyclists: A New Foundation for Endurance and Performance by Thomas Chapple. He also argues that if you build your anaerobic system up by going hard all the time, you do so at the expense of your aerobic system. This is too bad, he says, because you can build and build and build your aerobic capacity over years. And once you do that, you train your body to burn fat, so that when you really need to burn carbs for anaerobic performance you've got some available to burn.


Or at least that's how I'm getting it. My response is to go even slower instead of striving harder. At least for now as I work to build that base. Again, remember I am a neophyte when it comes to all this training stuff, so use your own judgment.




Keep it challenging, but slow, man, slow,


CurioRando

Paris Brest Paris: intuiting and relaxing.

When I decided to engage randonneuring and set the 2011 Paris Brest Paris as my objective just shortly after the 2007 edition of PBP (and my first learning that such an event existed) I had a mental image of myself surviving--barely--an event for which I had very little perspective. In fact, reviewing my first post on this blog I find two photos of PBP 2007 participants. One is of a smiling finisher looking pleased but not beaten. The second is of a cyclist asleep on the floor of the gym at the conclusion of that same event. While I bravely posited the question as to which would be me in that post, the truth is my only real objective at the onset was to finish. No matter how I survived, I just wanted to finish. I'd be thrilled to be the guy in the fetal position. And given how I fared on my longest ride to date--the Surf City 600k--I have a pretty clear image of what just surviving feels like.

Today, I here declare that I want more than to finish only. I want to enjoy PBP as an experience start-to-finish, and I want to be comfortable and relaxed in my overall pace. And to do so, I am going to follow in the footfalls of the gentleman above. Well, sort of. Tom Osler is apparently well known to those in the know among the running crowd, but I won't be running my way to Paris. I will, however, adopt Tom's training philosophy because...I intuit that it will suit me and my relaxed PBP finish visualization just fine.

I won't go too far into explaining Tom's approach because the links below to excerpts from his little book, The Conditioning of Distance Runners, speak for themselves. I will expand a little, however, on this notion of relaxation.

I've never really physically competed. Once I was chosen to compete in a track & field endeavor in elementary school and I failed superbly. The only accomplishment was breaking a basement (what we called cellar) window practicing the shot put with a soft ball! Another time I got put into the final minutes of a high school hockey game, and not because I was a clutch player. Nothing to rave about there either. I think that about covers my experience in physical performances.

Nor have I performed artistically. I don't sing or play an instrument. About the only thing I can think of that relates is public speaking: as a panelist, speaker, leader of a meeting. One thing I've learned about that is that being prepared and being relaxed are key, and they are linked. Breathing plays an important role in speaking too.

Another instinct I'm drawing on is my reaction to a book I bought to read on the plane as I went to India last month: Chris Carmichael's The Time-Crunched Cyclist. I know Chris is pretty much the guru cycling coach of the day, and I know that I probably qualify as a time-crunched cyclist, but I reacted pretty stiffly to Chris's prescription. In some ways though, Chris really ratifies what Osler contends. Chris's idea is that you can cheat by putting in less time, but just don't expect the results to last over time. I guess I don't disagree so much with that conclusion, but the notion of intervals, kilojoules, and overloads in a compressed time program put me off. It doesn't feel like it will have me very relaxed, either in training or in Paris.

Too, I am paying attention to my homeopath who winces when I describe brevets or permanents which leave me feeling spent. Spent is a warning word for him, and I listen to his winces. And when I described my intention to my physical therapist (the one I call The Healer) to begin to engage in interval training to build speed for PBP (this is prior to discovering Osler) I heard her silences. And she is an ultra-runner so her silences run deep.

All of this, combined with my bodily intuition that I want to pursue relaxation at a faster cadence, have led me to Osler and perhaps to some breath work as well. So what is Osler's prescription, written in 1967 for endurance runners?

Here is the link to Part 1 as reprinted in Runner's World in 1984.
Here is the link to Part 2 as reprinted in Runner's World in 1985.

The photo above of Tom running more recently is from his own website which is also worth pursuing. There you'll discover Osler's prolific and successful running career and rather astounding mathematics career. One glance and you'll see Tom Osler is not some goofy uninformed weekend athlete. Nope, he is that rare character that is wondrously athletic, analytical and intuitive all at once.

I thank Ian Jackson for turning me on to Tom, but Ian is a story for another day.

All this is not to say that I wouldn't be grateful just to finish PBP. I would. But my visualization is grounded in randonneuring as ambling, faster ambling. And to get there, I am going to eschew the frantic and the rigid, favoring intuition and relaxation instead. That previous sentence is not just about my cycling, it's about my visualization for my life.


Keep it visualized,

CurioRando

The God of Things That Ought to Be

Have we got a slacker God? By the shape of things today, it seems the little God of Things That Ought to Be has been taking time off. Never heard of Billiken? I hadn't either until I saw the play Two Wheels North.

A little while ago I posted about the Book-It Repertory Theatre's production of Two Wheels North, an adaptation of the book by the same name by Evelyn McDaniel Gibb. Two Wheels North is the tale of two high scool graduates who rode borrowed bicycles from Santa Rosa, California to Seattle in 1909 to attend the much ballyhooed Seattle Yukon Pacific Exposition. The author is the daughter of Vic, one of the two intrepid young men and she won the Pacific Northwest Writers Association Nonfiction Book Award for Two Wheels North. This Book-It production was adapted and directed by Annie Lareau and starred Damian Peterson (pictured above) as Vic McDaniel and Nik Perleros as Ray Francisco. Supporting actors included Kelly Kitchens and John Ulman.

The other character, our aforementioned Billiken, isn't depicted onstage, but he was a big deal in the U.S. in 1909. Especially at the Seattle Yukon Pacific Exposition. Billiken, the God of Things That Ought to Be, was a clay totem for the Exposition. Haven't heard of the Seattle Yukon Pacific Exposition? Neither had I until recently. But aside from a double shot of gumption, Vic and Ray carried Billiken on their journey as a good luck charm. And while he didn't reshape the world into the way it ought to be, Billiken did the boys alright.

The actors relax just before showtime at Book-It.

The actual Vic (left) and Ray in Santa Rosa as they readied to embark. Photo scanned from the book, but originally courtesy of Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

Close-up of the 1930's era Excelsior bicycle loaned by Recycled Cycles for the production.

There are many ways to take in Two Wheels North. One is as a coming-of-age story of two young men who set off as friends are wont to do, to see what the world is all about. Another is as an exploration of the world 100 years ago. Or, more specifically, as an exploration of cyclotouring a century ago. Still another is as an introduction to the Seattle Yukon Pacific Exposition, a fascinating subject itself.

Then there is Vic's and Ray's journey as an epic tale: the myth of Ulyses by bicycle. This is how I absorbed Two Wheels North. A constant tangle of heroic choices, moral minidramas, and creatures that sought their demise.

Think I'm exaggerating? How about a very large rattle snake that bites and doesn't let go until his head is shot off. Even then, it hangs on. How about a fistfight between naked bathing workmen over the treatment of a young orphan boy whom one views through the lens of homophobia while the other sees a fatherless boy making sense of a world that oughtn't be. Or the knocking of almonds out of a tree, veritably manna from the heavens. As for sacred places, this epic tale has them too. Mount Shasta is a mystical mountain, and the Exposition--if you really place yourself back in time--was as close to a world wonder as most would ever see. And if you've got young men, you've got young women and hot young love. And unfortunately for the young lovers a watchful mother not to be messed with on an epic scale!

And of course, the heroics of long distance, unsupported cycling--randonneuring the hard way--is ever present. Falling over the edge of cliffs. Crossing high train trestles at night. Meeting a train midway through a narrow tunnel.

The author, Evelyn, was there for the show and graciously posed with the actor who posed as her father.

I thoroughly enjoyed Two Wheels North, and I'm grateful that Evelyn took the time as her father aged to talk with him for an hour a day to get down the details of this amazing tale. I bought an autographed copy, and though I haven't finished it yet, I highly recommend it.

As for the production, I thought it too was well done. Good acting, creative effects, and simple staging that left me--sitting in the first row--feeling like I was aboard for the ride.

If you enjoy history or Seattle or World's Fairs, I also recommend poking around all the great stuff that celebrates the centennial of the Seattle Yukon Pacific Exposition. For starters, check out the hour long special that aired on the Seattle Channel. DartreDame scored me a copy she gleaned from her travels (I think from the producer), but you can view it online now at the Seattle Channel website.

Of course if you're Buddhist, you'll not highly regard this Billiken, because the world just is. Maybe it oughta be this or that, but it's not. Both Vic and Ray went on to fight in the War to End All Wars, WWI. Talk about wishful thinking!

But for me, I savored the tale of two young lads setting off to just see how the world really is. The original Curious Randonneurs perhaps?


Keep it curious,

CurioRando

Cycling Anatomy: It's time for weight training!

Hello, shifting body clock. The aroma of rotting leaves, the sun's hanging low in the sky, and birds flying south all point to the big shift. Not that we don't keep riding. But how do we take stock, prepare and adjust our bodies to our changing environment?

One way is to work different muscles.

I've been seeing a physical therapist for a couple years now, and we talk about muscles. She encourages my body questions. Why does this get sore? What muscles are these, and what do they do? What I relearn is what I already knew:

each of us posesses a remarkable body.

What I like about this book by Shannon Sovndal, MD and forwarded by Christian Vande Velde are the graphics that make my remarkable body a little more comprehensible, and they do so in cyclese.

The muscle groups are identified so I can see exactly what I am feeling when I do the exercises or when I ride.

On the even pages are pictures of an excercise focuse on a specific muscle group like the graphic above. The odd pages depict a cyclist in one of a variety of riding positions with the same muscles highlighted again.

As you can see, you can think about what you'd like to improve, find the exercise and go for it.

There are chapters on;

• The Cyclist in Motion

• Arms

• Shoulders and Neck

• Chest

• Back

• Abdomen

• Legs: Muscle Isolation

• Legs: Complete Power

• Whole-body Training for Cycling

Some of the exercises require free weights as illustrated above, but others utilize stability balls, weight machines, cables and even just you and your body (isn't my body...me?) on a mat. There are other photo series showing the layered muscles of the abdomen, for example: surface, deeper, and deepest. We are complex beings.

I enjoy weight training, though thruth be told I've been off of it a while. It feels good, it helps on the bike, and importantly, it encourages bone density (one of cyclists' achilles heels, if you will). It's also a good strategy for keeping the best body composition possible.

If you are looking for a book that has a sensible, visual approach and is dedicated to cyclists, give Cycling Anatomy a try. It's 192 pages for $21.95, and lots and lots of clear graphics.

If you're looking for a book with lots of info on strength training theories and making a schedule and such, go elsewhere. While there is a fair bit about each muscle group at the beginning of each chapter and an introductory chapter about how we as bodies work while cycling, this isn't a foundational book. The authors know their focus--cyclists--and stick to it. I like that.

Whatever you do, stay active, keep moving, and do stress your body in a variety of ways. The off-season isn't a time for staleness, but rather a time for variety.

Keep it uplifting,

CurioRando

In Search of Bicycling Bliss

Bicycling Bliss is unlike any other single bicycling book. You might find one of the subjects of Bliss covered in some other book or a different subject in still another book, but you won't find all that this author's jammed in anywhere else in one place, and there is plenty here you just won't find anywhere at all.

I met the author, Portia H. Masterson, at the annual Cascade Bicycle Club Seattle International Bicycle Festival a couple years back. You know how you discover something by yourself without having been referred, and it feels more like your own? Silly, I know, but sometimes that's how it feels. Well, that's how it is for me with Portia and her book.

I stepped up to her booth and I discovered she had owned a bicycle shop in Golden, Colorado just after I left Golden. So, I connected with her on her Golden history, and bought her book. It is self-published and costs a whopping $29.95, but it is a goodie. I hadn't seen it anywhere else so I grabbed it. Since then, I've seen other good reviews including in Momentum, and it is now stocked in bookstores in which I hadn't seen it before.

Now understand that Portia is not a randonneur to my knowledge; the term is not in her index. However, just look at the photo below. Clearly she understands a thing or two about long distance cycling and certainly about not being self-conscious. Here's a cooling technique I think some randonneurs believe they've invented. Personally, I would have taken off my helmet, but maybe she's wary of falling rocks or...pirhana?

Here's how I describe Portia's writing: sensible, no-nonsense, caring, gentle, and determined. On the last point, she comes across as one of those folks who just knows that while some of her ideas are not mainstreamed yet--acupressure, meditation, journaling, breathing (I guess breathing is mainstreamed, we all seem to do it, so I'll say conscious breathing)--she's clear and unabashed from personal experience about what she knows. She isn't prone to the latest this or that, so her ideas are grounded in observation, logic, and years of listening to customers.

She also knows a fair amount about body mechanics and body geometry. There are pictures of muscles and anatomy as well as a pithy cartoon here and there as below.

She goes on to say that many cyclists pedal with their saddles too low, essentially doing to our knees what the knee-bending backpacker does.

Portia's also intrepid. When she opened her bicycle shop she didn't know how to wrench at all! Just learned it as she went. That takes some confidence.

But mostly, Bliss is thorough and it's a good book to come back to as you'll continue to draw out nuances. For randonneurs, she's all about comfort on the bicycle and long-term solutions. It's a randonneur's approach for sure.

So if Western medicine has let you down or you want to see how some of the less obvious strategies for wellness pay off if you commit, or even if you don't mind getting distracted by something you come across but weren't looking for, then Bicycling Bliss ought to interest you.

While the text is pretty dry, some of the graphics lighten it up. If the print is too fine in the drawing above it says:

"The unfortunate Timothy McTight is a high-mileage cyclist who has not committed himself to a daily stretching practice or to developing good riding form. Imbalanced and tight muscles limit his health and riding performance."

If you like a cycling book that focuses on the body, then Bliss is a comprehensive and I'd say unique find.

If you also like a book that throws in a two-page chart that outlines all the considerations for different bicycle clothing fibers:

• cotton
• wool
• nylon
• acrylic
• polyester
• polypropylene

according to:

• benefits
• drawbacks
• durability
• care
• best use
• avoid use
• common use,

then Bliss is for you.

If you like a book that respects its readers throughout all 473 pages, and that I guarantee you cannot devour in even several sittings, then what are you reading this for? Go get Blissed!

For more about blissful cycling from Portia herself, go to her Bicycling Bliss website.

Keep it Blissful (of course)

CurioRando

Riding around the world...on a highwheeler!

• If you haven't noticed by now, I'm a sucker for high wheelers (and no, it isn't the Bunnies). That's why when I heard about Around the World on a Bicycle, by Thomas Stevens and first published in 1887, I couldn't resist.
  
  Really, around the world?
  
  Yep.
  
  Around the World on a Bicycle was republished by Stackpole Books in 2001 with an introduction by Thomas Pauly, and everything about it is daunting:
  
  
  
• Going around the world



• Riding a high wheeler



• Through undeveloped land over the roughest of trails



• Amongst people who had never seen a bicycle



• With essentially no supplies other than a slicker



• Eating whatever came his way



• Sleeping outdoors, in mangers, wherever



• Writing over 1000 pages



• No Control Stops



• No Perpetuem!

How to begin describing such a journey? Let's have Stevens speak for himself after a brief setup.

Stevens writes of his Hungarian companion, Igali, whom he fell in with for a spell. Igali had his own bicycle, and was considered the ultimate sporting cyclist of all Hungary at the time. Stevens adjusts to Igali's slower pace by riding ahead and waiting in a comfortable spot for him. There is a little tension around tempo, but it resolves as they ride along and encounter adventures together and learn to appreciate one another more deeply.

My companion is what in England or America would be considered a "character"; he dresses in the thinnest of racing costumes, through which the broiling sun readily penetrates, wears racing-shoes, and a small jockey-cap with an enormous poke, beneath which glints a pair of "specs"; he has rat-trap pedals to his wheel, and winds a long blue girdle several times around his waist, consumes raw eggs, wine, milk, a certain Hungarian mineral water, and otherwise excites the awe and admiration of his sport-admiring countrymen.

On the Slavonian national dance:

Livelier and faster twang the tamboricas, and more and more animated becomes the scene as the dancing, shuffling ring envdeavors to keep pace with it. As the fun progresses into the fast and furious stages the youths' hats have a knack of getting into a jaunty position on the side of their heads, and the wearers' faces assume a reckless, flushed appearance, like men half-intoxicated, while the maidens' bright eyes and beaming faces betoken unutterable happiness; finally the music and the shuffling of feet terminate with a rapid flourish, everybody kisses everybody--save, of course, mere luckless onlookers like Igali and myself--and the Slovian national dance is ended.

On the popularity of the wheel:

Many readers will doubtless be as surprised as I was to learn that at Belgrade, the capital of the little Kingdom of Servia, independent only since the Treaty of Berlin, a bicycle club was organized in January, 1885, and that now, in June of the same year, they have a promising club of thirty members, twelve of whom are riders owning their own wheels.

In addition to cultural misunderstandings, mechanical breakdowns, sickness, attacks, headers, and severe weather, Stevens had to walk much of his journey as he had just one gear. Despite this, it took him 104 days to travel from San Fransisco to Boston, the first cross country cyclist. Eight months later in May of 1885 he left for England returning back to San Fransisco in January of 1887 via France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Slovinia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Azarbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Singapore, China and Japan. Some 13, 500 miles "wheeled" he says.



Stevens can be compelling at times, but also repetitive. I'm probably one fifth of the way through its 1000+ pages, and I start and stop because there is no real drama apart from his various escapades. He's thorough, and I'm learning a great deal, but it ain't a great read.

I can't seem to find attribution for the line drawings, but as you can see they are fabulous.



His feat is remarkable in so many ways, but the detail that gave me heart as I contemplate the Paris Brest Paris in 2011 is that he decided to ride cross country just two years before he embarked. At the point of that decision he hadn't yet ridden a bicycle!

And, the one he rode, a Columbia Bicycle by Pope Bicycle Factory, cost him $110. Consider that a tea set then was $4.75, a sewing machine $13.50, and set of parlor furniture was $17.50 according to the Introduction. Even a 425-pound buggy cost only $44.50, so my custom bicycle isn't looking too bad in comparison.

All together, I'm enjoying my long distance journey with Around the World on a Bicycle, but like his journey: it isn't for the faint of heart.

Keep it high,

CurioRando

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

Bicycle Book Gems

In my family, there is a running gag that if you want to try something new--and we love that--you'd better get a pile of books first. Especially my brother! And being older, he was my role model.

The singular anticipation that comes from a good introductory book is sublime. And the key ingredients are a little self-effacing humor and and a distinctive charm. In the 35 years since Anybody's Bike Book and Bike Tripping were published I haven't seen any to supplant them. (If you disagree, please post a comment with your recommendation!)

Anybody's Bike Book was the first of the two in 1971, and my smudged copy taught me how to repair bicycles and start repairs I had to have "fixed" by a real pro, though there weren't many around Pittsburgh then. But mostly what it did was demystify bicycles and nudge me into seeing bicycles as the revolutionary vehicles they are. Of course in 1971, Revolution was in the air and at 14 I was tuned in (too young to turn on or drop out) to everything that challenged the status quo. Though not quite the Steal This Book (by Abbie Hoffman and also published in 1971) of bicycling, the underlying theme was self-sufficiency--a requirement and trademark of randonneuring--and the notion that society was changing and we better help it along.

Rick Morrall was the illustrator, and juxtaposed with clear, exploded views of complex components, say a headset, he provided clever caricatures of all the funky bicyclists out in the world, and the goofy ways we have of getting into trouble. He doesn't compare to Daniel Rebour in terms of precision or fineness but his cleverness and wit satisfy. Bike Tripping (published in 1972) includes a special frame section written by Albert Eisentraut, but otherwise the text in both books is by Tom Cuthbertson.

Cuthbertson provides the charm:

You can do an amazing amount of your short-distance traveling on a bike, instead of in a smogmobile. If you live in a small town, or a suburb, or even in a quieter neighborhood of a big city, you can learn to take routes that mix good transportation and ecology vibes with enjoyment and escape from the humdrum. Do at least part of your daily commuting and/or shopping via bicycle, and it will break up the routine, like recess used to when you were a kid.

Truth be told, these two books formed deep impressions into my psyche. Bicyles became more than getaway machines, they became transformative machines. They were also my pals. Check out the big old grease stain!

Looking at the diagrams I came to understand that machines had logic to them, and were no more than a composite of separate pieces. Sounds obvious, but if you are intimidated by machines, it is a profound revelation.

But check this out. Who is the conspirator? Who is wrapped up in their own world? Who is at risk?

I loved these old charmers, and I refer to them still.

Bike Tripping even sent me on my first cyclotouring trip down the C&O Canal towpath at 16 years old for two weeks with a pal. We pedaled into a Washington, D.C. festooned with Soviet flags in honor of Premier Leonid Brezhev's visit. But that is another story!

How about you? Any cycling books that turned your crank? Don't be miserly now, SHARE!

Keep it curious and keep it tripping,

CurioRando