The bike messenger in this video is named Alfredo Bobe. I met him at La Vuelta. I hope to write a post about him soon. In the meantime, I wanted to get this video up on my blog because it is so friggin’ cool.
It’s Your Ride from Cinecycle on Vimeo.
Another video featuring Alfred
Puma – Messenger
Uploaded by zip2two. – Full seasons and entire episodes online.
The Kalkhoff Pro Connect Sport is thought by many to be the finest electric bicycle in the world
Kalkhoff is one of Europe’s largest and best know bicycle brands. They also make high-performance electric bikes that are unlike any other currently available in the United States.
Today Greenlight Bikes, the exclusive U.S. importer of Kalkhoff bikes, officially announced the availability of these popular machines to the North American market.
If you live in Portland, you owe it to yourself to visit the Kalkhoff showroom and test ride one of these bikes. They are a complete blast to pilot and are guaranteed to make even the most serious hammerhead smile.
Disclosure: Greenlight bikes is a client of KoiFish Communications, the sponsor of PDX Cycling Online.
This week I had the pleasure of attending an incredible cycling event. Its official name is La Vuelta Lighthouse Tour of Puerto Rico, but most people simply call it La Vuelta. Fortunately for me, I wasn’t there to ride — there’s just no way I could handle an event like this (at least not right now). Instead, I rode along in the Tour Director’s comfortable and air-conditioned mega-truck, which gave me the absolute best seat in the house from which to watch the whole ride unfold. I’ve often wondered what it would be like be in a team car in the Tour de France or La Vuelta a Espana. I think this was probably pretty close. Either way, it was amazing.
The Ride
Calling this event a “bike tour” is kind of like calling the New York Marathon a jog. I imagined it would be something like Cycle Oregon where people cover a lot of ground, but have the chance to stop, chat with the locals, snap a few photos and, perhaps, get an ice cream cone at some point. It wasn’t like that at all.
La Vuelta seems more like a multi-day stage race minus the sprint finishes. If you’ve ever fantasized about riding in the Tour de France and happen to be an extremely fit and capable cyclist, you will simply love La Vuelta. They hammer all day every day with a few quick stops for water and fuel.
In 3 days, La Vuelta encircles the entire island of Puerto Rico. The total distance is 375 miles. The shortest day’s ride is 94 miles. And, while the total elevation gain for the entire ride is only 11,000 feet, the few serious climbs on the route are STEEP. Some of the grades exceeded 15% and go on long enough that they’ve got to hurt. Riders are divided into three pelotons. The fast group rode at 25-30 M.P.H., the middle group at 20-25 M.P.H. and the “slow” group at about 18 M.P.H.
Police escorts and emergency vehicles formed rolling roadblocks so the pelotons could keep moving. Motorcycles carrying photographers darting everywhere and, for a while, even a helicopter added ambiance.
The Riders
Every rider – including the slow pokes in the 18 M.P.H group – is an elite athlete. The only place you are likely to see more Iron Man Triathlon bracelets, jerseys, shirts, skullcaps and tattoos is at an Iron Man Triathlon. They are beautifully sculpted and bronzed and are a sight to behold in cycling gear. Most were wearing full team kits, which did a lot to add to the illusion of this being a stage race. Watching them ride was educational and inspirational. Most of them barely seemed fazed by the heat, mileage and difficulty of each day’s ride (though I’d like to think that at least some of them were at least a little tired). I do know that the maniac who founded La Vuelta got up at 3:00 a.m. the day after the event for an hour-and-a-half “spin.” I suspect he wasn’t the only one to do so.
The Bikes
The 30-person pre-ride the day before the big event was representative of the kind of bikes ridden in La Vuelta. High-end bikes all around. Many were pro team models. I’ve never seen this many Colnagos, Pinerelli’s, DeRosas and custom Ti bikes in one place in my life. Specialized was also well represented. To my surprise, there were very few Treks. It would seem style plays as important of a role at La Vuelta as does performance. There were also three Bike Fridays, which stood out like turds in the proverbial punch bowl. However, all three foldiphiles rode admirably, which I’d bet gave them a great deal of satisfaction.
The People
It is clear that, as a spectator sport, cycling gets more respect in Puerto Rico than it does in the U.S. Cheering fans lined the streets in most towns. More importantly, most of the drivers caught in the rolling roadblocks, many of whom were more than a little inconvenienced by the ride, took it all in stride. It would sure be great if that same sort of attitude worked its way to the States someday.
The Island
While there was very little time for sightseeing, there are many beautiful parts of Puerto Rico. Some of the most stellar towns apparently get very few foreign visitors. Instead, they serve as weekend retreats for locals.
Puerto Rico is definitely a place I’d like to go back and visit. Who knows, if I remain as inspired by the whole event as I am right now, I might even someday attain the level of fitness required to ride this mother. That would be something. The travel editor from Bicycling Magazine who was there to write about the event old me if I ever did, he’d come back again and ride with me. Be careful, Bill, I just might cash in on that promise someday.
To see more photos, check out my flickr page. There’s a great photo montage done by a real photographer in 2009 on La Vuelta’s Website. To see the short posts I did during the ride, check out La Vuelta’s blog.
Update: I checked with some of the riders who were using Garmin bike computers. The steepest bits were somewhere between 17% and 20%.
La Vuelta founder, William Medina commands a lot of respect on and off the road
Greetings from sunny (and warm and humid) San Juan. I’m here helping out with La Vuelta de Puerto Rico this week. La Vuelta is a three-day bike tour that is not for the faint of heart. This is a 3 day, 375 mile bike ride around the entire island. And that tally doesn’t count today’s optional 40 mile spin around San Juan. Tomorrow’s ride goes from San Juan to Ponce. This leg alone is 148 miles. Riders are split into three pelotons. The fastest group averages 20 M.P.H. The slowest group averages 12 M.P.H.. In my mind, that’s still a far cry from slow — particularly when you are talking that sort of distance in the heat.
It is not surprising that the riders getting ready for tomorrow’s challenge appear to be extremely fit. Not a clydesdale in the bunch. These guys and gals are also packing some serious hardware. High-end, high-dollar bikes as far as the eye can see. Lots of Colnago, Pinerello, Campagnolo, Dura Ace, custom Ti and carbon fiber to go around. There is even a wood-framed Renovo (Portland, OR in the house!).
Oh yeah, there is one dude keeping it real on his Bike Friday. I saw him drop a guy on a Pinerello on the one climb this afternoon, which should please the lovers of these peculiar foldable mounts.
These cyclists have inspired me to redouble my fitness efforts in hopes that I might be able to come back next year as a rider. This time, I’m happy to hang out in the rear with the gear in an air-conditioned vehicle and take in the sights of this beautiful place. I’m exhausted, so I’m going to leave it at that. I’ll be posting updates when I can over the next few days. In the meantime, you can check out my photos on flickr.
Update: I was very wrong about the speeds — the “slow” group averaged 18 M.P.H. The Fast group was 25 – 30.
Countdown to Cycle Oregon Weekend Ride
Countdown to Cycle Oregon Week Ride
Thanks to Robert Holler for the newer, nicer countdown clocks. See his blog at http://hollerit.blogspot.com.
I wrote a post in my marketing blog a few days ago about the current marketing campaign Titus is running on Facebook. The premise of the campaign is that people design a Titus Tattoo and tell the community of Facebook fans where on their bodies they would put it. Fans vote on which concept they like best and the “winner” is flown to Titus headquarters in Arizona, gets the tattoo (applied by an artist of the company’s choosing) and is awarded a mountain bike worth about $5,500.
My premise is that this is a ridiculous campaign because Titus is a premium brand and tattoos, while awesome, are still a little low-brow in many people’s mind. Moreover, paying people to get a tattoo of your company is lame and quite the opposite of authentic. Ultimately, while plenty of cyclists enjoy tattoos, they aren’t an integral part of the cycling culture.
I thought I’d ask the readers of this blog to help me with a reality check. So ….. as a cyclist, please let me know what do you think of this campaign? Does it change your perception of the brand? Does it make you want to run out and buy a Titus? Does it make you want to go to Facebook and submit a design? Finally, if you were to get a tattoo of a cycling brand, what would it be? I can only think of one — Campagnolo — and I’d be willing to bet that they’d never pull a marketing stunt like this.
Silly? I think so.
The tension between drivers and cyclists seems to be heating up. Some jackass even started a Facebook Fan Page called “There’s a Perfectly Good Path Right Next to the Road You Stupid Cyclist” that is currently getting a bit of notoriety. If you read through some of the comments, you’ll see a lot of drivers who talk about wanting to kill cyclists — or at least about how much they enjoy honking their horns at us or flipping us off. Of course, drivers aren’t the only ones saying stupid stuff on the page. One cyclist took it so far as to let people know she carries a gun while she rides and how she is looking to shoot at aggressive drivers.
Yesterday I was contacted by someone from https://www.sharethedamnroad.com/ asking if I wanted to share links with them on this blog (which, I guess, I’m doing in a way right here). These guys are selling riding jerseys saying things like “Share the Damn Road” or “Don’t Honk at Me.” Frankly, I think this is a flawed approach and these jerseys are more likely to inspire honking and other bad behavior than discourage it. I’m going to assume that most cyclists realize this and that these guys won’t be around for very long.
Let’s face facts — there are a lot of stupid people in the world, and many of them drive cars. Plenty also ride bikes and some are even serious riders. I hate to say it, but I’ve seen several cyclists — ESPECIALLY ON ORGANIZED RIDES — whose behavior justifies anger on the part of drivers. It is as if all of the sudden, riding 6 abreast or riding down the middle of the lane is just fine. I do realize that endorphins seem to have a negative impact on mental acuity, but there’s more to it than that. These cyclists put themselves and the rest of us at risk.
This poses a problem. While I’m confident that I could hold my own in a physical altercation with an angry driver who decided to stop his car and get out to try and demonstrate how tough he is, chances are that’s not going to happen. They are much more likely to choose the more cowardly tactic of yelling, throwing or using their car as a weapon. I have no doubt about who is more likely to prevail then and it isn’t the person wearing Lycra.
If you are a cyclist on a group ride and see a fellow rider acting like a fool, let them know in no uncertain terms what you think about the fact that they are putting YOU in danger. Finally, if you are a cyclist who actually carries a firearm while riding, do yourself (and the rest of the pro-gun community) a favor. Keep that fact to yourself or, at the very least, don’t go online and write about how you plan to shoot at aggressive drivers. Part of being a responsible gun owner is knowing when you can/can’t should/shouldn’t use lethal force. If you’ve received proper training, you’ll understand why going online and telling the world how you want to cap people is not too swift. If you haven’t received this type of training, you shouldn’t be carrying a gun in the first place.
At any rate, this season I’m expecting the very real potential that more drivers will feel OK about acting like jerks around cyclists (after all, now they have a place on Facebook where they can tell all their friends how much fun they had running a cyclist off the road). It might be valuable to think in advance of how you will respond. After a few years of trial and error, I’ve come up with my own theory on how to treat a rude motorist — ignore them completely. If they honk, yell or whatever, don’t give them a response. Even flipping them off shows that they’ve gotten to you, and that’s what they want. If they do something that endangers you or your fellow riders, get a license plate and call it in. It’s that simple. If they stop and threaten you, that’s a different story — then it is time to defend yourself in whatever way the situation demands.
Beyond that, act as an ambassador for cycling. If there is a car behind you, get over to the side of the road and wave them past. If a driver shows you a courtesy, be sure to signal your appreciation. Respect the rights of other drivers, but also make sure they respect your rights to be safe. If there’s a bike lane, use it, but if the bike lane is full of debris, don’t. If you need to take a lane, do so. For example, if you are going to make a left turn, own the turning lane. Don’t allow yourself to get pushed off to the left-hand section of that lane.
I’ve mentioned on this blog how much I enjoy Bicycling Magazine. It has great information and is particularly well-written. A few weeks ago, while getting the iPod ready for an upcoming business trip, I decided to give Podcasts another look.
I’m very glad I did because I discovered another excellent source for all the latest and greatest cycling info — the FredCast. The FredCast is all about cycling. It covers news, professional racing, reviews and tips for endurance cyclists. Particular attention is paid to “high-zoot” bikes and gear, which is fine with me, so long as I’m not driven to actually purchase any of it. The host is also a major Mac geek, which I appreciate now that I’ve pretty much drunk that Kool Aid.
On my flight from Seattle to Calgary, I found myself getting into the FredCast so much, I was actually disappointed that my flight wasn’t longer (and I was on one of those little Horizon Air Turbo prop planes, so that’s saying quite a lot). If you use an iPod or iPhone, you can download the FredCast via iTunes. If not, you can go to the FredCast Website and download it as an MP3 file, or just listen online. The FredCast is put out weeklyish and is free. Check it out.
I could not love a human baby as much as I do this computer
Last year I took the lead on planning rides for Team Fartlek as we trained for Cycle Oregon. At first I used Microsoft Streets and Trips to map out the routes. I’d print maps and directions for most of the crew and we’d use them to try and find our way. Dealing with maps and directions on a bike pretty much blows. We ended up stopping and checking constantly and, more often than not, we’d still get at least a little bit lost.
Mid-season I switched to the Garmin 705 GPS bike computer and that all changed. Truth be told, this is probably one of the coolest and useful gadgets I’ve ever owned. So much so that I’m not even sure it is properly classified as a gadget.
It is a killer cycling computer that lets you monitor and track any piece of data you could possibly wish to track including heart rate, cadence, speed, incline, altitude, etc., etc., etc. On top of that, it is also a GPS that provides turn-by-turn directions of planned routes and keeps track of everywhere you ride. If you want a detailed review, there are plenty to be found online. The purpose of this post is to let you in on some of the things I’ve learned about how to use this device. Because as awesome as it is, it works best in the hands of someone who learns its little nuances.
1) Map your route using either the Garmin MapSource software or something like MapMyRide. I like the Garmin software a bit better, but use MapMyRide because I can share the maps with my team and they are able to print them out for themselves. I can also embed MapMyRide maps in my blog, which is an excellent feature. Either way, when loading the route into your device, be sure to download it as a GPX file. This will allow you to get turn-by-turn directions. If you use one of the older types of files, you will only be able to see the route on a map (which is still helpful, just not as cool).
2) Have a good idea of where you are going and carry a back up map — and use your head. I do place a lot of trust in the device. However, I don’t trust it completely. This is especially true if you are going on a road or path that is not on the mapping software. For example, MapMyRide can’t deal with ferry crossings very well. One ride I did last season was an out-and-back with a ferry crossing in the middle. It worked OK going out, but on the way back it got confused and tried to direct us to a bridge 10 miles away (that also happens to be closed). That would have been bad.
3) You need to remember to press start when you begin your ride. Turning it on isn’t enough. If you don’t hit start, many of the functions will still work, but the device isn’t collecting all the data and it isn’t guiding you along the route. If you hit start too late, chances are good the device will try to direct you to the start of your route. That’s not good. If that happens, the best thing to do is to reset, start pedaling, then tell it to start navigating WHILE YOU ARE RIDING. As it is calculating, it may recognize that you are following the planned route and start navigating to the next way point. If not, you’ll still be able to follow the course by using the map, but turn-by-turn won’t work right.
Let's face it, sometimes, getting lost is just plain undesirable -- particularly when you are wearing Lycra tights
4) If mapping a route that starts and stops in the same location, consider putting the start point and the stop point in two different places. Put the mapped starting point a quarter mile or so down the road from the true starting point and the mapped stopping point a little beyond the real stopping point. If the computer thinks you’ve arrived at the stopping point at the beginning of the ride, your turn-by-turn wont work (as it thinks you are done with the ride). If you try to reset, the device will sometimes try and take you back to the start as explained above. Also, if you start in a parking lot, map the start point on the road so you don’t have to ride around in circles finding the place the GPS thinks you are supposed to start.
5) While the device’s software is really good, Garmin did one thing that was really goofy. The computer allows you to look at two screen’s worth of data fields (each screen lets you look at up to 8 pieces of data such as speed, cadence, heart rate, etc.) at a time. You use the toggle switch to go back and fourth between the screens when riding.
You choose how each screen is set up in the “Data Fields” menu. In that menu, screens are marked “Bike Computer 1″ and “Bike Computer 2.” This may lead you to believe one screen is for one bike and the other screen is for another bike. Not so. You can use both screens. If using multiple bikes, build a profile for each bike. Then, before your ride, choose which bike you are using. Both screens work for the bike you choose. To switch between bike profiles, you can hold the mode button down for a few seconds and you’ll be able to make a selection. This shortcut is not in the instructions.
I’ll update this post (or create a new one) as I learn more. If you have any tricks of your own, please feel free to share.
