2009/11/22

28 Days Later

Distance: 34.5 miles

Time: 2:08:52

Avg. speed: 16.06 mph

Weather: 50-48ยบ, humidity 61-68%, wind ENE10-11

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Yes, it's been four weeks since I last saddled up and rode. :: sigh ::

Easy-to-moderate ride with a fellow church member up into Harvard and Bolton. We kept the pace down to a level where conversation was possible as we went.

Had no trouble with any of the climbs, bike seemed to be in good shape despite the long idle period. It was good to be out there again!

Sunday Random Bike Pic


San Sebastian Bicycle Bits, originally uploaded by protorio.

2009/11/19

Gender Equality is Goal of UCI Proposals - But There's a Hitch

I didn't know that in the Beijing Olympics last year, there were seven track events for men and only three for women. It's admirable that the UCI is trying to even up the opportunities for gold for men and women track cyclists.

UCI president Pat McQuaid... described track cycling’s current medal bias for men as “way out of line.”

But this positive move does not come without it's cost, it would "likely would deny American phenom Taylor Phinney a chance to compete in his specialty event" (individual pursuit). Phinney hopes his Twitter campaign to raise awareness of the problem will save the event, saying that losing the pursuit "would be devastating".

Cyclo-cross: It's Impact on the Land... and the Public

A cyclocross event to be held in West Seattle had it's permit by the Parks Department shortly before race day has put a spotlight on not only the environmental impact of the racing itself, but how communication between cycling advocates and the larger community needs to improve.

Read the comments below this post to get a glimpse of not only how members of the same community can have different ideas about how public property should be used, but the varying ways in which both sides get their points across. I'm sure you've seen a similar dynamic elsewhere.

Meanwhile, it would be prudent for race organizers to plan ahead for such trouble by taking the time to produce documents like this one (PDF) that they can present to permitting agencies and the public to show how limited the damage from hosting a CX race would be as well as having in place a post-race restoration plan which might include donations to maintenance funds and having volunteers actively participate in restoration.

As cycling's presence on the public scene continues to increase, we have to be sure that the public at large gets the right impression of who we are and what we do.

2009/11/11

Wha-wha-what??

A former "roads minister" in Australia holds forth on cycling and shows that he is no friend of cyclists who share the road with motorists, but it sounds like cycling advocates there are not doing themselves any favors by the way they interact with the powers that be.

Meanwhile, Washington D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty wasn't helping cycling's public face by using a police escort to enable him to get his daily bike ride in and riding on limited access roadways.

2009/11/07

Northampton Cyclocross 2009 - Day 1

Excerpts from Saturday morning's heats of the 19th Annual Cycle-Smart International/Verge New England Championship Cyclo-Cross:

I've uploaded all the of the shots that made the cut to this web gallery.

I got fixated with photographing the participants traversing barriers, ignoring good action elsewhere on the course. It didn't help that I had my 9 year-old in tow - my attention was half on keeping her entertained, informed of what was going on and making sure she was warm enough.

Looking forward to seeing what More Bacon at Double Hop produces from tomorrow's races.

POLL: Do you prefer the Picasa slide show (above) or Flickr embedded slide show (below)?

2009/11/04

One Month Late

The terrible cold that I caught last year, in October, has finally arrived. Sore throat, head/chest congestion, all of it.