More Bamboo Frame Building

I spent another afternoon at the Bamboo Bike Studio a couple of days ago finishing the bamboo bike frame. This turned out to be much more fun that I expected and I'm very interested in building another much more custom bike for Kathy (559x1.0+12.5"STL)

The nearly finished net shape of the head tube. The carbon fibers and epoxy are now a solid mass that can be filed and sanded.Finishing the seat cluster with 3 feet of 80 grit Emory cloth. Black carbon dust sure makes a mess. Make sure you don't get any in your espresso.

Garden update

The garden is rocking along producing tons of tomatos, beans and squash. The Basil is booming, squeezing out the Japanese Eggplant and some of the peppers. We're buying lots of fresh motz to compliment the tomatoes and basil. Roasted squash is also popular on the menu now. I don't know about the corn. Some of the ears look ok but over all it looks pretty spindly and thin. Pumpkins are coming along nicely with 3-4 already ripe.

I don't think we added enough fertilizer to the soil at planting time which prevented some of the plants from really thriving. I've recently started to add nitrogen and have seen a big response. We have been composting our yard clippings for 6 months and have a good supply of amendment now so things should be better when we replant this winter.

Jens crashed (twice) today in the Tour

But it's Ok, the mountain wasn't badly hurt and is expected to fully recover.

fsck and Time Machine

If you use Apple's Time Machine to back-up your Mac and you notice fsck running (and you will notice because it uses up about 50% of available CPU when it runs) don't kill it. Even if it runs for 24+ hours, crippling your machines performance the whole time, don't kill it. Even if you have a SSD based drive that manages file-system integrity at a lower level, and aren't completely sure it's needed, don't kill it.

If you do get impatient, for example watching an exciting finish of a tour stage and the video re-buffers constantly, and you stupidly kill it, you will immediately get a message say your time machine backup agent explaining that all the existing backups are now inconsistent and you will need to start a completely new 100+ Gb backup set from scratch. Lesson Learned.

Bamboo Framebuilding

Thanks to a friend I recently had the opportunity to take a bamboo bicycle frame-building workshop at the Bamboo Bike Studio in San Francisco.

Bamboo on Wheels is a video
from Jan Sturmann on Vimeo
that describes why bamboo
makes good bicycles.

Here are some of the tubes used to build the frames. Tubes are selected according to rider weight and the ride characteristics desired.

The jig is setup with balsa wood blocks to anchor the main tubes and steel dropouts to anchor the stays. The ends of the tubes are roughed up to increase the grip of the epoxy and carbon used to join the tubes later.

File and saw remove everything this isn't a bicycle.It sure is a lot easier to file than a traditional steel frame.

Filing the non-structural balsa wood to make a smooth shape around the steel head-tube. Glad I had clean fingernails here.

Here is the frame ready to wrap with carbon thread.

The carbon is a thread made of many thousand strands of super-fine fiber that must each be coated with epoxy for maximum strength and stiffness.

The finished joint is wrapped in tape to compress the epoxy deep into the fibers. In 12 hours the epoxy has cured and is hard enough to sand smooth.

Stage 4

Great work by Thor to stay in Yellow today. He's a giant - 6' and 180 Lbs - for a pro cyclist, so staying with the lead climbers for that uphill finish shows was an amazing performance. It takes a great rider to wear the yellow jersey but the jersey makes them greater. Thor & Co. will wear it all week.

Cycling's Phil Mickelson, Cadel Evans, finally kept his head out of his saddle to win a much-deserved first stage. It's great he's found a place where he is happy and I look forward to seeing how well he can do now.

Day 1

I like that the Tour started without the traditional prolog, kinda like jumping right into the deep end of the pool. Contador's lost minute is gonna make things interesting. After his Giro performance he needs the handicap. The finish fit Gilbert like a glove and he crushed it, destroying Cancallara in the process. Mark Cavendish says it better than I could...

MarkCavendish Just saw todays last kilometre. Gilbert humbled everyone with the equivalence of pulling down his pants to reveal a 13incher. #YIKES

Le Tour

That big bike race in France starts tomorrow and after the brutal appetizer that was this year's Giro, it should be quite a show. Seems unlikely anyone can even get close to Contador this year. He was a monster in the Giro. Two years ago I was a huge fan having watched him as a junior rider, but after close call of Puerto and the Clenbuterol train-wreck, he seem to be just another pro doper now.

There is one rider I have followed for years, since his spectacular performance on Stage 15 of the 2004 tour, and look forward to his antics this year especially. He'll never challenge for the Yellow, but he's always there to drive the break and steal the odd win. My man is Jens Voigt. With 15 seasons in the saddle, he's nearly my age yet he yet he races with the abandon of a junior and the power of a machine.

Reflecting on the twilight of his career, he recently wrote: "Every time I race, I will race so fiercely my legs cry, and when I can’t do that anymore, that’s when I will know it’s time for myself to shut up and leave."

There is a word used in climbing, cycling, even in the military to describe that rare individual who never even thinks to quit, never shirks, never even thinks about the pain. That word is "Hardman". I only personally know a few guys who I would call "Hardman" - most were Marines -- but Jens defines the word. When I'm climbing on the bike or run out on a steep pitch and feel that first flicker of doubt, I think of Jens and and say "Shut-up legs" and push on knowing that whatever I'm doing, Jens is doing more.

My Chicken Salad

I like lots of different flavors and textures in my chicken salad. Celery, shallots, apple and cucumber for body, pecans and walnuts for crunch and the sweetness of rasins and apples balanced with a little vinegar.

I usually stuff it into a some Pita bread so I tend to chop everything pretty coarse -- think 1/2" chop -- to maximize how it fills the sandwich. If I were serving as a salad I'd chop closer to 1/4" for a more refined texture. I also don't use much mayonaise -- It's not good for me and I think it masks too many of the other flavors -- but you may want to add more to make it richer. Makes 6-8 pita sandwiches

1 whole roasted chicken - meat removed, chopped and cooled

1 cup mayonaise

2 ribs of celery (chop)

1/2 Granny Smith apple (dice)

1 English cucumber (dice)

1 medium shallot (dice)

1/2 cup toasted pecans (coarse chop)

1/2 cup toasted walnuts (coarse chop

1/2 cup currants or rasins

1 Tbs tarragon (chopped)

1 Tbs apple vinegar

Combine everything in a large bowl and mix gently. It's always better the next day.

Garden Update

The backyard garden is rolling along nicely. We have already enjoyed a couple of English Cucumbers and used some of the cilantro and basil in salsa and salads. There are a couple of zucchini that are ready to pick now too. The tomatos, now taller than their 5' cages, dominate their half herb garden. A few of the Cascade cherry tomatoes are showing enough color that they'll be ready to pick by Friday. There are a couple of zucchini that are ready to pick too. Some of the other squash plants have been a little slow to start and the peppers are still a little small although most of them are showing fruit.

The corn is 4' now with many plants showing tassels and a couple showing their first ears. The runner beans are also growing rapidly and a couple of plants have already reached the top of the 7' trellis.

Above is a picture of the garden the day we planted and below is a pic I took this morning. Looking good for 2 months. Back in Denver we would have planted just last weekend - Fathers Day is the traditional date to absolutely avoid a freeze.

PR - Hunters Point Climb

I set a new personal record (59Min 22Sec) this morning climbing to Hunters Point in the Fremont Older Open Space Preserve.

I have become a little worried about the lack of diversity in my training regimin. I've been logging long hours on the bike and feeling the benefits, but I want to maintain a high level of "whole body" fitness so I cut way back on the cycling milage and instead focused on strength work for three weeks. I like the CrossFit WOD concept so I do them nearly every day now. I built Kathy a 10' slosh-tube which is also a great work-out aid. The last three weeks have been 90% anaerobic with lots of sets to failure.

Two things happened...

I lost 10 lbs.

I PR'd the first time back on the bike.

Probably a combination of newly developed strength and a health appetite for riding after a couple of weeks off.

Dear Lance,

"I never took drugs" and "I've never tested positive" do not mean the same thing.

Summit and Skyline

On Saturday I drown my track-day sorrow on the bike with a visit to Lexington Reservoir, Summit Road, Skyline Blvd and Stevens Canyon. I was still a little sore, dehydrated and undernourished from Friday so I should not have been surprised by my poor performance. It wasn't a hard bonk, I just felt weak the while time. 58 miles and 5k ft in 5.5 hours. I crashed lightly trying to avoid poison-oak while descending the canyon. Next time, hit the plant.

Summit and Skyline

Tough track days

I've clearly committed some terrible deed and have offended the all-powerfull god of head-gaskets (GoHG). He first smote me two years ago but striking down my M3 at Pikes Peaks. Then a year later GoHG struck again at Pueblo. This spring I lost the third one in my car -- this time at Buttonwillow. Then last month GoHG struck the LTW during the Buttonwillow enduro costing us a likely podium. So it wasn't entirely unexpected that he struck yet again on Friday, this time striking the mighty S-14 powering the E30 M3 I was driving. The head-gasket failure probably happened the last time the car was on track and just showed up at this session but the result is the same -- a weekend at the track yielded just three laps. On the plus side I remembered at least some of the Thunderhill track even though it's been something like 10 years since I had lapped there. Also the E30 M3 fits me like a glove. I raced one for many years and find them to be among the most fun cars on the track.

Price Controls Suck

As you get older you begin to really understand the power of advertising and how it pervades, controls and to some extend undermines society. I have also spend most of my career in an industry that is largely driven by ad revenue so I watch the issue closely.

A couple of weeks ago I got an ad in my inbox from one of the many on-line bicycle retailers with which I've done business. It advertised a site-wide cycling shoe sale. Given the tatty condition my current shoes it was a timely arrival. I went to this site already dreaming about shiny new shoes. I added a pair of Dominator 5's in size 45 to the cart and applied the 20% off code and... wait, where's the discount? The discount code won't apply. Then I noticed the fine print in the as the said the the discounts don't apply to any Sidi products. In fact there were over 20 brands on the list.

I was lured into this trap again this morning, when the big pedal sale started. I got to thinking, hey, I actually have a nearly new pair of Sidis at home, but they are drilled for road pedals which are incompatible with the Egg Beater pedals I use. They have been i a box for over a year, but with a new set of pedals, I could use them again.

Then the disappointment that the pedals I wanted (Speedplay or Look) couldn't use the code either, and again the fine-print says that Speedplay, Look and many others were not eligible for discount. Instead that brands that are on sale are the off-brands or the house-brands.

Disappointment turns to anger as I realize these ads are just a waste of time, luring me in with misleading words and phrases and then not providing the expected value. Not a good customer experience. I'm not sure who I blame here, the vendor or the manufacturer but either way I be wasting no more time reading their ads.

BTW, the real irony here is that due to the vagaries of the value of the doller you can now buy things in europe and have them shipped here for very competitive prices. I recently orded a new Brooks Saddle from the UK for about $25 less than US prices.

The Giro on TV

The 94th Giro d'italia started yesterday with a Prolog TTT. It's a month-long suffer fest for pro cyclists that covers some pretty spectacular scenery and offers some epic racing. Eddy Merckx won five times (as did Binda and Coppi) and American rider Andy Hampsten won it in 1988, the only time an American has ever won. 1988 was my second season racing bikes so I watched Andy's achievement in awe

Obviously I'm pretty excited about the race, but since we are cable cord-cutters and don't pay for TV the chances of seeing these events are pretty slim without some sort of on-line access. You can imagine my surprise to learn that NBC/U is showing most of the race on their Universal Sports channel which is free over-the-air here in the Bay-Area as Channel 12.3.

The commentary isn't up to the standards of Paul, Phil and Bobke on Versus, but at least they pronounce the names right most of the time. Petacci just nipped Cav for the Stage-2 sprint. The Italian looked a little wobbly there and Cav is pissed but I think the results will stand. Petacci looks good, he's lost some weight from last year, but I'll bet Cav crushes him in the next sprint.

Ridin' update and saddle fit thoughts

In April I rode 631 miles -- It's been a long time since I have ridden that kind of distance in a month - especially this early in the season. But, this achievement is not without cost as I've been dealing with a saddle fit problem for a couple of weeks that is annoying but not a show-stopper.

I originally installed a honey-colored Brooks B17 on the Black Mountain Monstercross bike -- you can see it in the pictures I posted a couple of days ago -- and put about 500 miles on the rig. The B17 a bit wider than the Team Pro model I've had on my other long distance bike, but I didn't think it was a big difference. After a couple of long rides, I began to notice some recurring pain on my sit bones. It took a couple more rides and swapping saddles a few times, but I realized the the B17 is just too wide for me. I think I've also determined that the Brooks Swallow is a little too narrow for me. So like Goldilock's last bowl of porridge, the Team Pro is just right. Brooks also makes a B17 Narrow that may also work but I've not ridden one.

The B17 is a good alternative as it uses a thinner leather than the Team Pro and typically breaks in faster. Even though I weight nearly 200 lbs., I'll admit that I had to resort the Lon Haldeman technique to soften up the thick hide on my Team Pro. I put over 1800 miles on the damn thing, but it looked and felt as stiff and unyielding as a brand new saddle. I followed Lon's suggestion pretty much as written and now the thing fits like a glove. I had to soak it twice, the first time I soaked it for about 5 min but it failed to soften it enough so I did it again the next day and it was just right.

The outcome is that I now have 5 Brooks B17s for sale -- I'm going to keep my vintage 1977 version. I tend to lean my bikes agains things using the corner of the saddle so all these have very minor wear (typically just loss of color) on the rear corners. All are broken in and have been treated with Proofhide top and bottom once or twice a year since new.

Age and pain

Getting old sucks! Everyone knows this, but for me it coming home to roost now. For the last few months I've been writing extensively at work, churning out dozens of specifications, plans, diagrams, presentations and schedules. During the same time my lower back has started to ache so badly I was having a hard time sleeping through the night.

My doctor diagnosed it a age-related lower back pain and suggested that I live with the pain and accept that my back is aging and I need to take it easy. Yeah, that not gonna work for me. While looking for a new doctor, I researched some of the causes and treatments for chronic lower back pain. A number of papers sugest that people who sit for long periods or ride bicycles extensively can develop a chronic condition that maintains the spine in flexion. This is caused as the quadriceps shorten from prolonged sitting. The shortened quads (and other associated muscles) prevent the pelvis from tilting naturally and causes the lower back muscles to bear the weight of the upper body instead of the lower spine.

The treatment is pretty straightforward and involves stretching the lower back and hip flexors so they will allow the pelvis to tilt naturally. I've been stretching 3 times a day for 4 weeks and I'm seeing real relief now. I do 4 different stretches for the back and 3 more for hip flexors and they leaves me really sore after a session but the results are worth it. I've probably doubled the flexibility of my lower back by 50% or more and about a weeks ago crossed some threshold so I can now stand normally and tilt my pelvis enough to transfer the strain from muscle to spine.

More than anything the whole experience reminds me how important it is to stay physically fit as we age. For me physically fit means more than being able to ride a 20+ mph century or complete a 200k brevet. It means also maintaining the flexibility and core strength needed for off-bike activities. I'm renewing my commitment to stretch every day and adding a couple of new stretches just for this.

Schwalbe Tires

I have to admit I'm a little smitten with Schwalbe tires. I've had a pair of 35mm Maraton XRs on the IndyFab for a couple of years and just installed a new pair of 40mm Marathon Extremes on the MonsterCrosser last week and the love affair continues. I build the MonsterCrosser with a pair of big 29er knobbies and now that I've logged a few hundred miles on them I have come to love the traction and comfort they provide. But they are a really tight fit in the frame and occasionally rub on the fork legs or on the front derailer in granny gear. So while the big tires are cool and work great on rides that are 75+% dirt, the Marathon Extreme model is a better fit for the frame and with a less agressive tread pattern provide a significant reduction in rolling resistance. Their smaller size dramatically changes how the bike handles. With the big knobbies it rides just fine, but doesn't provide particularly sharp feedback to the pilot. With the Marathon's it feels more like a road bike with crisp feedback and reduced steering effort.

BMC MonsterCross with 40mm Schwalbe Marathon Extreme tires

Last Saturday I rode a 70 miler with about 25 miles of dirt. The large size (700cx40) of the Marathon Extreme still provides great traction and comfort but being slightly narrower and a lot smoother. They have a little more agressive tread than the Marathon XRs but seem to roll about the same.

BMC Monstercross with 29x2.0 Kenda Kharma Tires

I just checked and my Garmin says I have ridden 2734 miles on the Xrs on the IndyFab but I've had the bike a year longer than the Garmin so I suspect the true mileage is more like 3500. There is no visible wear on the front tire at all and the rear has developed a little wear in the center of the tread but I'd estimate that wear is in the 10-20% range. Based on the wear I'm seeing on the IndyFab I expect to see over 7000 miles from the Maraton XRs which is more than three times the milage I get from the Michelin Pro Race III tires I use on my lightweight road bike. Based on a discussion with a Schwalbe product guy at the Sea Otter event, the Extreme's have the same rubber compound as the XRs so I expect comparable wear from them.

Final shot showing the beautiful Nitto lugged stem and bar tape detailed with a little orange electrical tape. Too bad the stem is totally hidden under my Garmin GPS when it's installed.

LiveStrong.com

I've been wearing a bright yellow Livestrong bracelet since I was diagnosed with skin cancer 4 years ago. I have worn it with pride, both for my support of Lance and his incredible performance as a cancer survivor and to support what the organization stands for.

I feel gutted after visiting the site last night in search for information on ischial tuberosities and bicycle saddle fit. I was stoked to see the site had a large number of articles on the topic. I mean it's organized by one of the greatest cyclists of al time so they must take cycling topics pretty seriously. As I began reading the site I realized that all the articles were almost the same and actually provided no information about the topic. I saw that there were many articles on bicycle saddle fit. but when I read them, that were all the same article with just a few words changed. They seemed to be just like the useless articles on ehow.com. Then, on a hunch I went to eHow and found the same articles there.

Then I googled "Livestrong.com" and "Content Farm" and there it was. The brand I had so identified with, and was so proud to support is in fact just a greedy business making money on ad placement and not at all focused on the things I thought it was.

That why after wearing-out 5 different bracelets over 4 years, I took mine off for good today. Goodbye Live Strong. I'll be making my donation to another organization from now on.

Zyclara Treatment

Having recently experienced another recurrence of skin cancer, my Dermatologist suggested I try the new anti-skin cancer drug Zyclara. Zyclara causes the auto-immune system to attack pre-cancerous lesions under the skin and may reduce or future outbreaks. It's a topical cream that is applied to the skin for 14 days, then a 14 day break and then another 14 day treatment. Sounds easy enough.

Many new drugs have some crazy side-effects, Zyclara has some side effects, but what you really need to respect are the direct effects. The primary direct effect is the eruption of itchy, scratchy, inflamed, puss-filled sores. It got so bad at the end of the first week I started to worry that I was allergic to it -- the symptoms of allergy ARE "swelling, redness and rash". I Googled "Zyclara" and after looked at the images I realized that my experience was pretty typical. At the end of the first treatment I had over a dozen scabs and sores on my face, under my eyebrows and along my hairline. I was a mess.

The sores healed quickly after the first treatment and after the 2-week break I only had a couple of light pink patches to remind me of the worst sores.

The second 14-day treatment was a little easier but I still broke out pretty bad. This time the sores were on my cheeks and jaw line and were generally smaller and less agressive that the first session.

My second session ended 2 days ago and my face is now starting to heal. I had planned to add pictures of my face taken during treatment but after uploading them I've decided they are a little too gross and deleted them.

New Garden

One of the things we enjoy most about being back in California is the consistently beautiful weather. While we miss the snow of Colorado a bit, the temperate weather here provides a long growing season to grow a healthy vegetable garden.

We built a couple of small raised beds in the back yard and installed a simple irrigation system controlled by a battery powered timer. Last night we planted tomatos, cukes, zuks, peppers, basils, cilantro and Garbanzo beans.

BMC on the Bayshore

I've got about 400 miles on my new Black Mountain Cycles Cyclocross bike including a couple of rides over 50 miles. What an awesome machine. Thanks to Mike at BMC for an excellent frame design and meticulous assembly.

It's configured for long, comfortable, all day epics on multiple terrain types. It has large, lightweight 29er knobby tires and wide 52/42/28t front and 11-36t 9-speed rear drivetrain.

I'm currently running a hybrid brake system with a TRP Mini V-Brake on the front and Avid Ultimate cantilevers in the rear. I chose the Mini-V in the front to reduce the front brake shudder that plagues many cyclocross bikes. The shudder happens as the front fork flexes and the brake cable tightens/slacks.

I've done a couple of white-knuckle decents and I'm really happy with the results so far.

Check out the killer Timbuk2 seat-bag in orange and brown! A score from the bargain-bin at the local REI. The spare 29er tube is so large it needs the large-size seat bag. Since these pictures were taken I swapped in an old Nitto lugged seat-post which has a huge amount of set-back to match the Brooks saddle and and fits much better than the 5mm setback one shown.

My what big tires you have...

One of the biggest reasons I picked this bike is the tire clearance. During the build I installed Kenda Karma 29x1.95 (50mmx700c) tires. These are massive tires for a cyclocross bike and just fit -- they had to be carefully massaged to properly fit. I love those big 29ers but they are best when used on long dirt-centric rides. For more road-centric (but still multi-terrain) rides I'm looking for a slightly narrower and smother-rolling tire as an alternative to extend the range to 75 miles and beyond.

I've been riding a pair of Schwalbe Marathon XRs on the IndyFab and LOVE them. They may be the best tires I've ever owned. They are incredibly durable, have a stiff carcass that prevents pinch-flats and some magical belt under the tread to prevent punctures. The tread is smooth rolling but offers enough traction to handle anything including hardpack and mud.

As for reasons beyond understanding, Schwalbe only made them for a a year and stopped a couple of years ago. I have the last two I own on the IndyFab and don't know what I will do then they are worn out.

So if you know of any light-weight, large-volume, fast-rolling, thorn-proof cyclocross tires in 38-45mm, drop me a note.

MonsterCross

Since we returned to California, we have been adjusting to living an a much smaller space. I'm not sure it's any more "green" than out LEED certified house in Colorado, it sure is smaller. As such, that last thing I need is another bike and yet I find with the warmer weather a man's thoughts turn to new bicycles. I've been riding my custom Land Shark cyclocross bike since the early 90s. In it's current configuration I can just shoe-horn a set of 38mm knobbies on it but unfortunately Tom Ritchey stopped making the 38mm MountCross tires about 10 years ago and my last set are worn down to the threads. There are few tires in that size that offer an agressive off-road tread; most seem to be made for hybrids and tracking bikes and have compromise treads best suited for road and gravel. Since it is a custom frame, I specified a lightweight racing bike but it's been 7 years since I raced cross, and I find that I use it as a replacement mountain bike more that a competitive cross racer.

With that I mind I've been looking at frames that are built to use a larger tire. I want something that that can handle extended off-road use but not climb like a pig; not quite as big as a full-size 29er which can get as big as 2.5", but larger than the the 38s I'm limited to on the Land Shark. Panaracer makes a very nice looking tire in 700X45c that seems to be about perfect for my application.

With all this in mind, I'm really excited about the cyclocross built by Mike Varley at Black Mountain Cycles in Pt. Reyes Station, CA. It fits the Panaracer 45s and even larger 29x1.9"tires and has a lot of the same measurements as the Land Shark. It would be easy to swap parts from one to the other pretty easily. Is it time to retire the Land Shark?

Learning about bikes

I've been riding a custom fillet-brazed Landshark Cyclocross bike for ~15 years. It's had three different drivetrains, 4 different wheel-sets, and a dozen seats. I love it but yesterday I realized that it may be time to replace it. Last weekend I rode a friend's carbon Ibis Hakkalugi on the Montebello/Steven's Canyon loop. Yesterday we did the same ride again only this time I rode the Land Shark and it scared the hell out of me. I was slower up and down and found the flexibility of the frame was a little scary, and the shudder of the fork under braking was terrifying. I really missed the solid feel of the Hakka' and the confidence inspiring front disk-brake. The Hakka also has almost 2cm more top-tube witch makes it fit better than the shorter Land Shark.

Maybe it's time to retire the Landshark...

RuBo

Will Ruth Bourdain become more popular than either Ruth Reichl or Tony Bourdain?

Find out here or here or get a semi-regular fix via @ruthbourdain