the gospel!

sometimes it takes a legend in the cycling world to get a point across but at least it is being done.

it is raining (again) today and i am off to the shop. trying to get a bunch of work done at the workbench before i have to leave to head to iowa in june. i am looking forward to seeing my family and friends and also help build my parent’s new house but it seems that the list of things to do prior to leaving isn’t getting any shorter as the dates creep by. last week i sent off rick d’s rando bike to Massachusetts and it arrived in one piece. i am looking forward to hearing about some riding adventures on the east coast once he gets some miles in on it. i also found this photo of otis and tori at the second stage of the mt. hood classic race on mt. tabor the other day.

enjoy!

back to our regular schedule…….

for any regular reader of these posts, i am not sure what to say other than there goes any chance of i have for running for political office.

photo by brian verner.

i spent last weekend in Hell A for 2 rapha rides that we are dong for a long term project. long, hot days with temps in the mid 90’s and about 8000 feet of climbing was super tough. in general, i don’t really like LA and the car centric culture but it is good to know some good rides outside of the city. it takes hours to escape the cement city but once we were out past all the suburbs and masses of people, the scenery opened up and climbed up the side of the san gabriel mountains for about 20 miles. the sun baked on our backs as we slowly made our way to the sky. the road wound in on itself and every massive switchback we made our way around showed us the miles of ribbon that we just completed. like the photos you see of the great tours where the roads cascade down the mountainside toward the valley floor, we slowly climbed up to about 7000 feet as the road turned to a narrow path strewn with sharp rocks fallen from above. the road was closed to traffic due to the shape of the road and we rode alone without a single car for about 4 hours. out of water and dry, we stopped to fill up at a mountain spring near the top. all the climbing translated to a thirty mile downhill with speeds holding around 35 to 45 miles per hour. imagining obree in his tight aero tuck with his head and hands tight against his chest to squeeze the last drop of wind cheating position out of the ride. somewhere ben and i hit 48 mph. down past mt. wilson and down the angeles crest hwy. to pasadena. 95 miles with around 8000 feet of climbing total.

the next day we rode out of santa barbara up gibraltar road that is famous for being a training ride that armstrong did back in the day. the road rises sharply out of town with 7% grade at the base. climbing for about 8 miles up to the top of the ridge took it out of all of us with 12-13% grades for the last couple miles. i think the total elevation is around 3900 feet. with the ocean blow us, we made our way north to painted cave road and back down the hill to eat tacos and head back home.

getting back to portland really makes me appreciate this beautiful place where people are aware of the world outside the american centric bubble. people grow gardens, ride bikes and participate in the world to make it a better place for the generations to come after we are all dead and gone.

meanwhile back at the shop………….

i finished up rick’s road frame, took it across the street to weight it on the postal scale. 3.13 pound steel, 61cm fillet brazed frame. carbon fork and dura ace kit should yield a pretty light road bike. looking forward to getting it done. jake’s cross/ commuter bike with polished lugs should go to paint this next week and i am looking to finish one more bike before i leave for iowa.

Ira’s Life In Pictures

Pickle here again, Ira is still off living the life so I thought I would take another blog post of your time to share some photos I have of Ira through the ages, from scared farm kid with a nice hat

to qualified and competent bicycle mechanic

to confidant drinker and disturber of sound sleepers the night before RAGBRAI would start.

There was the motorcycle phase

and the painted toenail phase

and of course the riding in a dress with good friends phase.

Ira possesses a keen mind and was a regular at the special RAGBRAI afternoon guest lectures facilitated by the orphanage in the early nineties which introduced him to such topics as PBP winning made easy by Scott Dickson, how to get out of jail free (and stay out!) without really trying by Kim West and effective pancake bolting in any weather by Dog Bait.

Like any quality cyclist he moved to Tucson, AZ to get all fit and tan and try to

be a pro bike racer but he found more inner peace in his volunteer work chalking inspirational, if at times cryptic, messages on criterium courses.

He already knew a nice pro who seemed to have the situation under control.

What to make of this?

Or this?

Ira has always been a good friend and looking back over these pictures I am glad that he has found his true life’s passion in bikes and I can look forward to many more years of happy riding and touring with him.

Unless he gets that job as an astronaut which he has been training for at the laundromat.

We Have Assumed Control

Howdy folks, its yer friendly guest blogger Pickle here.  I got to thinking, Ira does not update his blog enough for my liking so I asked him for his password and he gave it to me and here we go, a fresh post!

Once I entered the seedy inner workings of his blog I was immediately stunned to see that he gets way more traffic than I do over at my little web page.  Like 3 times as much!  His most views in a day is seven times mine.  After I post a few times for him maybe he will see a decline in readers.

So I talked with Ira, busy man that he is, earlier today and he told me he is in California to do some Rapha riding.  Some sort of 105 mile ride tomorrow and then a 150 on Saturday somewhere around Santa Barbara I think.  He said he gets to sleep on a couch and the rides are going to be hot, like Sahara desert hot.  Pretty glamorous stuff!

The big news that reportedly got Ira more excited than the 10 lane California interstate he was travelling on was from the Giro where old friend Jason McCartney made the break and in his typical fashion went for it all with 10k to go.  His first attack was reeled in and the counter attack stuck.  Jason tried to heroically bridge to the leaders but did not make it.  A super strong and solid ride and while he was unsuccessful we were pretty jazzed that a guy from the Iowa City group ride is attacking the break to try and win Giro stages.

photo by Graham Watson, linked here from www.velonews.com

revolution?

head down. barreling forward trying to get work done and keep my head above the water. i listen to a lot of npr at the shop and it seems the world is going to hell in a handbasket sometimes but every time i hear about oil hitting another record i know it is going to mean that more people will ride bikes. big oil companies are posting record profits and the average american drivers are paying for it. will suburbia crumble after we hit peak oil? will the (oil based) fabric of american society be torn apart? will i be able to afford to have tubing shipped across the country in a ups van? will we be able to afford a loaf of bread? all these questions brim to the top of my head as i head off to the shop to finish jake and rick martin’s bike. jakes bike has polished top tube and downtube lugs and is set up to be a commuter and light touring rig. ricky is getting a light and simple road racing bike. he is planning a campaign on the furnace creek 508 in june. the stem is for ari’s porteur bike in chicago. 120mm with one degree rise from horizontal with a 26.0 clamp. powdercoat silver or white to match.

keep putting one foot in front of the other and listen to the world around me shift to more bikes, gardens and awareness.

new stuff

trans iowa weekend

otis’ disc cross bike.

in “honor” of the trans iowa race that is taking place this weekend, i decided to ride 300k in oregon instead of the 300 miles on gravel in iowa. i am more than happy with my choice to skip the epic gravel race this year. i think the promotion could be better and it is hard to justify that much pain for the glory and a couple water bottles and t shirts.

the brevet series in portland is great. good people, great routes and wonderful organization. the idea of being at your own pace all day without the pressures of racing is ideal for most people. waking up at 4am on saturday to get a ride out to forest grove for a 6 am start is a little rough but they had doughnuts, coffee, granola bars and smiles all ready for us. watched the sunrise as we rode out hwy. 6 towards the first control. the group of 60 or so quickly spreads out and everyone finds their own pace. lot’s of fenders, lights and big seat bags. i felt super sleek with a tiny seat bag and everything for a 13 hour ride stuffed in my jersey pockets. rachel, dan sharp and i all ended up rolling the same pace all the way to the coast. the sun came out and shined on our backs all the way to the ocean. a tail wind to the sea meant that there would be a headwind all the way back. i kept hoping it would shift but it never did.

i reminded myself what time is was in iowa throughout the day to imagine what was happening on some quiet gravel road somewhere in the midwest at the same time.

we were making good time and getting tired as we turned back in from the coast towards the roads south of forest grove. the route back was the reach the beech route reversed taking us through grand ronde, willimina, sheridan, amity, dayton and lafayette before turning north. the headwind never let up along the flat straight road east.

we finished in 12 and a half hours and waited for dan sharp to roll in before we could drive back to portland. sore backs, necks and swollen feet but all in all we had a blast riding from dawn to dusk in the oregon coastal mountains.

today i am headed into the shop to continue working on jake’s commuter bike with polished lugs. hoping to start ricky’s road bike and maybe jeff’s commuter bike. believe it or not i kind of want to ride today but i think 186 miles in one day is enough to warrant a rest/shop day.

dirt!

a little more extensive report about our trip and future thoughts on mountain biking and maybe a little racing.

we flew into salt lake city and picked up the big white pickup loaded with gear for a weekend of camping in the wild west. since we flew with our bikes, we drove to the wild rose bike shop in salt lake to assemble them before we hit the road for our 5 hour drive to fruita. wild rose is a great little shop and patrick helped us out with a couple tools and stashing the bike boxes for the trip back. the drive was long and when we got to fruita, most of the good camp spots were taken. we opted for a tiny state park and looked froward to the riding the next day. the sun was bright and in the sky by the time we were on the road to the kokapelli trail head the next morning. we kind of got lost and ended up on a super technical trail called moore fun. we ended up doing a lot of hiking but i managed to clean a couple sections on my rigid bike in the presence of some full suspension dudes. that felt good. it’s the throttle, not the model. that afternoon we drove up to 18 road to explore some of the trails and found it to be buttery smooth single track in every direction. fast riding with plenty of places for air and technical climbs and decents. after riding for about 5 hours friday, we headed up to colorado monument to camp. beautiful camp on the top of the mountain. the wind picked up that night and kept us awake late. not wanting to deal with the wind or setting up/tearing down our big dome tent, we headed towards town the next day to find a spot that would work better for camping. we met up with dr. doom, jon bailey, mellisa and a couple other colorado friends from telluride at the hot tomato pizza shop at noon for a beer. we drove up to 18 road and had a rad time riding with a group. for the record, jon, doom and thad can rip it up on some single speeds! super fun. the wind blew hard all day and into the night. we had a little fire and even got out for a evening ride under the full moon. the camp was a little busy as i think a lot of people had the same idea to get to fruita the week before the fat tire festival to maximize the riding before the masses moved in.

sunday morning we all mobilized to make breakfast at jen and anne’s house before they took us on a ride in grand junction down the road about 10 miles. we amassed at the trail head with 13 people! the greatest thing about this group was the fact that 7 of the riders were women and they were really good too. we rode up to the ribbon trail where a couple of us split off the head back. riding in a big group can be a little frustrating at times and rachel and i just wanted to get some time in riding. we said our goodbyes to everyone and headed back to our tent which was flattened by the wind. tired and dirty from no showers and riding for 3 days in a row, we packed up the truck and headed back towards salt lake. we made it to ogden by midnight and showered before sleeping in a real bed. ahhhh. monday we rode the shoreline trail in the morning for a couple hours before we had to box up our bikes, ship them back to portland and make our flight in the evening. we made everything on time and got back to portland and the rain by midnight.

i love traveling and riding in new places but the time it takes to decompress and get back to life and business is hard too. i am happy to be back at work and have plenty to do in the next couple months. this trip really makes me want to mountain bike more this year and maybe even do a 24 hour race or two if i can find the time. we will see……..

zippity do da

a brief post to say i am back to my life in portland and the shop. rachel and i took 4 days to go mountain biking in fruita, colorado. if you have never been to fruita and love to mountain bike, you have to visit this mecca of cycling. we camped and rode every day. the trails went off in every direction and rolled like ribbons over the hills. super flowing single track that begged for more daylight to ride. we met up with jon bailey and dr. doom from durango and rode in grand junction for a day. riding a rigid mountain bike requires a little more finesse but it was worth it for the looks people give you when you clean a section of technical trail passing a rider with a full suspension bike. i will say that i want disc brakes though. colorado is a beautiful place to ride.

gone fishin’

just finished jerdan’s heavy duty cycle touring bike today just about an hour and a half before he came to pick it up and sweep it away to a new life of adventure. i can safely say this is one of the finest bicycles i have made to date. to be able to make a bike for someone as enthusiastic about bicycles as jerdan has been a super fun process. his idea for a bike started with the desire to be able to tour off road on some of the great hidden roads in the cascades. the lugs are custom filleted to give the profile a smoother look and add a little strength to the forces of fully loaded touring offroad. using dedacciai cromoly tubing all round to maintain a truly classic style to the bike. jerdan supplied most of the parts including the vintage 6 speed 600 freewheel, the old school shimano cantis and the sugino crankset. beefy phil wood wheels and 700 x 32 tires are going to hold up well. stainless tubus racks, brooks b-17 and nitto noodle bars are all new bits and built to last.

i have been building more than a few rando bikes that are mainly suited for roads and light loads so it is nice to construct a bicycle that is made for the long haul with all the trimmings for weight and gear. this bike has a distinct rugged feel to it. think of it as the brutish lumberjack cousin to the rando bike with skinny fenders and a handlebar bag. needless to say, i had a good day handing off this beautiful machine to a great friend and cyclist.

tomorrow rachel and i are off to fruita, colorado for 4 days to ride mountain bikes and camp. i am very excited to make my first pilgrimage to the rocky mountain state to ride some great singletrack. looking forward to seeing some new scenery and meet some new people. i will be away from email, phones and civilisation for a couple days.

shred on!