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Archives for July 2008

The Tour de France

07.06.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 3 Comments

I don’t race (unless I’m trying to beat that old guy) and I don’t really follow the world of pro bicycle racing. But for the past several years, I have made it a point to get in front of the television to watch the greatest spectacle in cycling — the Tour de France.

For me, what makes the Tour so special is the countryside of France. The aerial shots of the course and the ancient landmarks along it are stunning. My wife often shushes me if she is around and I start exclaiming over this castle or that picturesque village. I can’t help it. Sports played in stadiums don’t have the same je ne sais quoi as the Tour.

However, this is the first Tour I’ve watched since becoming what I consider to be a “serious” cyclist. So I’m watching the riders more closely than I might have in the past. These guys are unbelievable. To watch the bursts of speed they put on at the end of a stage — I can’t imagine what that must be like. And to ride three weeks of 100-mile days, mon Dieu! And let’s hope the effort to crack down on doping this year is successful.

I have taken note of the scandal surrounding the exclusion of team Astana from the Tour this year. They got a raw deal and the Tour is the poorer for their absence. But I’m also interested in the presence of two American-based teams, Columbia and Garmin Chipotle. Columbia seems to be poised to do something special. As Team Highroad, they racked up a number of wins. Garmin Chipotle got more publicity when they formed last year, especially after the Astana debacle, but I don’t have the sense that they have the potential as Columbia. As Dennis Miller used to say, that’s just my opinion — I could be wrong.

Anyway, I’ll be watching TV every day for the next three weeks, much to my wife’s chagrin. I might even spend some of my online time reading up on the background of this year’s Tour — the teams, the favorites, the strategy. They are, after all, the crème de la crème of the cycling world.

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Categories // Racing Tags // Columbia, Garmin Chipotle, Racing, Tour de France

Club Tombay

07.04.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 9 Comments

Regular readers of Bike Forums will know what I’m getting at here. I joined Club Tombay on my ride today — that is, I had a clipless fall.

Tomber is the French word for “to fall.” It is pronounced, of course, tohm-BAY. We Americans corrupt it into TOM-bay.

Anyhow, I was having a great Fourth of July ride. Pat and I started off together, but after one loop of the Veloway, she decided to head for home. I kept going, and figured I’d do about 25 miles or so.

I had just turned onto a street that leads through a residential area. It’s a hilly street, and although it’s a thorofare, it is lightly traveled. At the top of a challenging hill is a cross street with a stop sign. There were cars at the intersection, and I slowed to stop.

For some reason, I lost all my concentration. I usually disengage the pedal well before a stop, but this time I stayed clipped in while I downshifted one more time. I was slowed to a creep. The bike drifted toward the curb. I turned the front wheel slightly to the right, to maintain my balance. It hit the curb, and slid along it for a few feet while I felt the familiar, sinking feeling of going down and not being able to do anything about it.

No damage done, except to my pride and self-esteem. The driver of the car that had pulled up next to me at the stop sign looked at me like I was some kind of alien from another planet. The bar tape on the end of the right handlebar was scuffed, and the bar end button had come off. I picked it up to replace it, but dropped it, and it bounced around in the gutter before rolling into the middle of the street. Now, the remaining two cars in the intersection could watch me as I nearly fell over the bike in the other direction while grabbing at the plastic button. I finally got it, and pretended to be an expert bike mechanic while I replaced it in front of my small audience.

I got right back up on the horse, and bent it to my will as I finished my ride. Even did an extra mile and a half, just to show it who is its Lord and Master. I suppose there will be more of these, but I prefer them when they happen in my driveway, out of the glare of the public eye.

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Categories // Rides, Technique Tags // clipless fall, pedal, tombay

Measuring improvement

07.02.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 6 Comments

I got out for a short ride today — a bit of a treat, because I rarely get to ride two days in a row — and a bit of a downer, because I had to cut the ride short. But as I was mumbling to myself about what rotten luck I had that limited me to only a 13-mile ride, it occurred to me that I could put this ride to good use.

The ride was one loop of my Mopac route, one that’s popular around here not because it’s scenic, or challenging, but because it’s convenient. It has enough hills to make you work a bit, and there’s one downhill section where you can easily top 30 mph. There’s usually enough wind to add to your effort. By the way, the road is called the Mopac Expressway because farther north in Austin, the Union Pacific railroad tracks run between the northbound and southbound lanes. Before Union Pacific took it over the line was the Missouri Pacific, or Mopac.

Another rider leads me up a long hill on Mopac on a recent Sunday morning ride.

It’s the very first ride I logged when I realized I was going to get serious about biking last year. So that means I can compare my times on a ride of the same length over a period of months. Maybe I can learn something from this exercise. The route is 13.1 miles long.

  • August 8, 2007: 57 minutes, 8 seconds — avg. speed 13.65 mph.
  • August 15, 2007: 54:30, 14.51 mph
  • October 12, 2007: 49:53, 15.65 mph
  • November 30, ’07: 56:04, 14.08 mph
  • December 31, ’07: 55:53, 14.07 mph
  • February 29, 2008: 45:50, 17.15 mph
  • July 2, 2008, 47:08, 16.7 mph

In 11 months of riding, I have cut 10 minutes from a 13.1-mile route, and improved my average speed by just over 3 mph. These results are very gratifying.

An important factor in my improvement is my new bike. I got the Specialized Allez Elite in February, so the Feb. 29 ride was the first one on this bike. Its lightness over the old steel Raleigh is perhaps the main reason my times have improved so much. But so is conditioning. I’m only about 10 pounds lighter than at this point last year, but I’ve got more power in my legs and more endurance, and I hope I’m a more savvy rider.

Eleven months ago, a single loop on Mopac was a long ride for me. Now, as the table shows, I don’t do single loops much anymore. Usually, I’ll do two or three loops in a single ride, or I’ll combine a Mopac loop with another route.

That’s part of improvement, too — adding distance. My current shortest ride is longer than the 13-miles of Mopac. So I’ll just keep plugging away, knowing that over time, I’ll just keep getting better. I’m encouraged.

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Categories // Rides, training Tags // avg. speed, improvement, mileage, Mopac

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