While waiting for my bike to bike to be serviced the other day, I had some time to walk around the bike shop and browse. I cam across the tools and picked this one out. I just quickly looked at the container, decided that I needed to replace my broken Allen key tool, propped it up on the counter with some Alcis cream and ran off to work. Then I had some time at work to pull it out and look at the instructions and boy was I surprised!! This instrument has 16 different tools on it. Of course there are the Allen keys, one of which is a 5mm Allen Key that has an 8mm head that slides up and down, thus giving you two tools on the one key. There are also spoke wrenches, which I imagine one day I will learn what they are for, especially in an emergency situation. The black plastic sides pop out to become tire levers!! Sweet!! But the super awesomest thing about it is the chain tool. It installs or removes chain pins and loosens stiff links. Also has a chain hook. Double sweet!!

And double good that I have this tool because I learned that day that you cannot change the chain without having to replace the entire cassette as well. The chain and cassettes fit perfectly together as they wear on each other over time. Putting a new chain on an old cassette wouldn’t quite work. I did not really know that. But now I’m glad I do. I have been thinking about changing my cassette anyway, especially getting a gear that gives me more resistance on downhills. Now I have to figure out whether to get road gearing or mountain gearing. OH!! The agony of cyclocross!!

Well anyway, going through the website for Topeak (as I always do for anything I buy for my bike), I came across this glorious thing of beauty that must have been made by god him/herself:

Oh god, just looking at it brings a tear to my eye…. This bad boy, the Bikamper, uses a 26” mountain or 700c road front wheel in place of tent poles. This is a one person sleeper (kind of a bummer), three season and packs down compact enough to strap to the handlebars. How freakin’ cool is that?!?!

Also, I hate to report my poor bike seat is starting to die. I have already started looking for some new ones–again, the mountain or road gear dilemma–and going through said Topeak site, came across the link for another one of their companies called Allay which makes saddles. I was looking at this one as a possible candidate:

We’ll see what happens…

Yes, so despite being a cyclist for years, there are still things that I am learning. Either from talking to other cyclists or trial and error. I have to say, the trial and error part hurts…

First off, I have been noticing lately that I don’t always pedal right. Especially when starting in a low gear from a complete stop, and also riding uphill. I sometimes pedal from the knees, and that is not right. My left knee is already messed up from snowboarding, and so it is weakened. When I pedal wrong and pedal from the knee, I can feel the tissue just weakening even further, possibly tearing something in there. When I am pedaling with correct form, I don’t feel a thing. Obviously you pedal from the thighs and hips, but I am trying to learn what it is that the pros do with their pedal to get those calves!! I have the cleats, which supposedly put my foot in the correct position, but I am not quite sure if I am pedaling with force on my toes or relax the foot more and distribute the force of the push throughout more of the foot. In my curiosity, I came across this page which is quite useful: Cycling Performance Tips, Form and Technique. Check it out, read it carefully. Good information.

Above, that is a picture of me after having ridden in the heat all day long, hitting three boroughs on one bruised knee, one knee totally scraped(friction burn) and my whole body is sore. No really, when I say my whole body is sore, I mean that it even tired me out to smile for the shot. So what have I got to help the pain? A lotion called Alcis. This stuff is killer. It is a topical lotion in which you rub into sore muscles and I swear in a few moments, you feel good as new!! I use it when riding, specially when my legs feel like they are about to give out at any moment because they are so sore and tired….

Food is good. Eating healthy selections, rounding out your diet with all food groups and eating at least three times a day is good for riding. I have found that the harder I ride, the longer trips I take, the more I push, the more I eat. And I can pretty much eat whatever I want, because I burn it all off on the ride. Naturally I really don’t eat junk food, so the food I do eat is pure fuel. But the most enjoyable part is to eat what you want!! Meats, cheeses, breads, grains (and by grains I mean beer), veggies, fruits, spicy, spicy food…..mmmm….spicy food…. I seem to have maintained a good weight this summer as I have found that right balance between diet and exercise that keeps me healthy, just like in all those crazy commercials that try to sell you a pill for weight loss, but someone for god knows what reason will not tell people to get themselves on a bike!!

Lastly, I have learned that wearing cleats gets you all kinds of respect from everyone. When they see you, they think you are some kind of super athlete!! I admit, I don’t mind the attention…..

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I admit it. After swearing off the Brooklyn Bridge in a previous post, ranting about the ever annoying tourists clogging up the bike path and vowing to only take the Manhattan Bridge, I pussed out. I have started taking the Brooklyn Bridge again. Don’t give me that look. It’s just that the Manhattan Bridge is so desolate and really scary at night. I know, I’m girling out right now, but I can’t help it. The Manhattan Bridge is creepy, and I can’t ride it all the time. Now I guess I have to learn how to do that kick that cyclists do to get pedestrians out of the way… Eh. I’m not that mean. I’ll stick to yelling at them…

Also, I have now started hanging out with a friend in Queens and have widened my riding circle. Long Island City and Astoria have now felt the burning of my tires on their streets. I have ridden in Queens before of course, but not regularly. I totally dig Long Island City for the long stretches of nearly deserted roads (especially down by the waterfront) in which you can ride without the constant starting and stopping, especially with the cleats. The streets aren’t that bad and you can really get in a good amount of mileage. Astoria is nice, clean and quiet, with more residential streets, but they seem even less crowded than Brooklyn. You can tear down the roads at whatever pace you choose, provided that you know how to get around Queens. No, really, Queens streets are totally confusing. I understand how the addresses work, but not how the grid works…when there is an actual grid. Most of the time the streets run like London streets–they start and stop and continue at their own will!!

Anyway, getting out to Long Island City from Brooklyn is a pretty cool ride. There is the 59th Street Bridge which goes straight into LIC, but I prefer to go through Williamsburg, heading straight down Bedford Avenue to its end where it crosses Manhattan Avenue, making a right and going down until hitting the Pulaski Bridge. The Pulaski Bridge is a little bridge that takes you over the water that cuts Brooklyn and Queens on the northern edge of the island. It’s a nice climb then descent, and when ou get to the Queens side, you are smack on the edge of Queens Plaza. You know by the Citibank building right there. I can see that building from my place here in Brooklyn. To look at it from my place is a real sight–I can see how long I ride to get out there!!

The 59th Street Bridge is a kind of cool ride. There are people on it–even this bridge has more people on it than the Manhattan Bridge…creepy…–and the incline is very weird. Going from Queens to Manhattan, the grade is long and gradual, then drops quickly almost all the way over to the Manhattan side. Thus, in turn, when going from Manhattan to Queens, you have this sharp hill going up, then the rest of the ride is the easy, long downhill. There is this weird part of the bike path in which you could literally go into the traffic, which also kind of creeps me out, but I suppose it’s for emergency access. I just wish they would somehow cordon it off so that may be kids can’t just turn their bikes or scooters into traffic. Anyway, once you get from Queens to Manhattan you are, of all places, 59th Street!! East Side, and when you get to the end of the bike path, it makes a totally sharp turn, in which if you don’t know it’s there and are tearing down the hill, you could get hurt. So be careful over there.

I plan on doing some more distance riding, as I have learned this year that I prefer the endurance rather than the sprint…although I can sprint pretty damn good. I am working my way, albeit slowly, to be able to a century, then I think I’m seriously considering entering cyclocross races. Yes!! I realise what I have to do is to start out doing more and more endurance, all the while working on my sprinting (easy in the streets of New York), and then uphills (AAAARRRGGGHHH), finally working on my offroading. I look forward to getting any new gear I might need for that…..

So, I have gotten my first comment on here that is biting and I am happy that someone new has read my blog. Yay!! Now lets’ get into it….

This person commented on my post entitled A Big No No in which I commented about a newbie (my word for the new riders that ride fixed and think they know everything about cycling) whom was riding on a hill ahead of me and how he rocked his frame back and forth so much it looked like he had a metronome attached to his butt. The commentator attached a YouTube video of part of a sprint from the Tour de France (find the posting and click on the link in his comment) and this is what he said:

When sprinting the frame can be rocked for additional leverage. Given a fixed gear’s typically low gearing it’s especially applicable to rock the frame when riding up a hill or when sprinting. You are dumb and probably old.

Wow. OK dude. I apparently touched upon a nerve to have been insulted like that!! First off, upon looking at the video that I am glad that he showed me (I am always for being shown new things), the sprinters absolutely were NOT rocking their frames as I had described in my post. So right there shows that this reader did not fully grasp what I was saying when I wrote what I wrote about the rider. Secondly, if he had taken the time to read through my blog, he would have gotten a fuller picture of what kind of rider that I am. Which is an ex road racer, license and all, trained by a professional coach. I can only speak on what I was trained for. And my coach beat into my head two things that have still stuck with me to this day: never stop pedaling and never rock the frame when riding, it wastes energy that you could channel into the rotation. And those two bits of advice have never steered me wrong. And I pass that info onto any rider I come across as well.

Now I’d like to point out that his calling me dumb is just his way of lashing out because as I said, I touched upon a nerve with him. I suppose he too is a newbie, and for him to post a video that doesn’t corroborate his point just proves that. Sure, I could post pictures on a website all day of signs in New York deli’s that say they serve “Ice Tea”, but that doesn’t mean that the correct spelling of the beverage isn’t “Iced Tea“. In other words, just because you and your newbie friends all ride wrong because you have never taken the time to be trained or have even seen the inside of a velodrome doesn’t mean that the way you ride is correct!!

It is funny how now I am starting to realise the snobbery that comes with cycling that is akin to the kind of snobbery that comes with people who are into wine, jazz or literature. There will always be those who get into the culture who learn just enough to regurgitate whatever it is they feel makes them authorities on the subject, all the while having no formal training. And with balls turn their noses up on others. The nerve…

As for the old comment, well, I think he wants to validate in his own mind further that I must be wrong because I am not young. I am not, ohhh, I don’t know……a newbie? Last time I checked, I wasn’t old. And even if I were, thank god!! I have wisdom, experience and being a cyclist, I will live forever!!!!!

And one more thing, the way he has spoken to me has just validated my claims here that we in the cycling community need to STOP trying to separate ourselves from each other and get together and celebrate the sport together. I cannot stress enough my unending amazement at how the newbies think they know everything about cycling just because they have spent a good deal of money on a nice bike. And why treat us free-wheelers like shit? We ride too. We enjoy the culture too. There are Ghost Bikes all over the city for fixed and free-wheelers alike. So what’s the beef?