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Archives for July 2011

Are You Watching the Tour?

07.10.2011 by Ray Niekamp // 9 Comments

I wasn’t going to. All the doping cases have me fed up with the world of pro cycling. For the past three years, I’ve done posts about the different teams in the Tour, and who their sponsors are, and what they do. This year, I didn’t. I just don’t care anymore.

But now the Tour is underway…and every day, I find myself tuned in a little longer, absorbing a little more detail about the race…

Saturday, I was at a friend’s birthday party, and lots of other cyclists were there. Sure enough, one of the most commonly-asked questions was, “Are you watching the Tour?”

Not one person I talked to hadn’t seen at least some of it. One fellow said he’d missed the day’s action, and asked me what happened.

“Oh, Vinokurov decided to go for it,” I said. “He tried to catch the breakaway. Almost did it, too. It was really something to watch him attack.”

I caught myself. I knew as much or more about what was going on as my friends did, even after vowing that I was through with pro cycling.

“But I was yelling, ‘Doper! doper!’ all during his run,” I quickly added.

How did I get sucked into the Tour again this year?

It was innocent enough. My summer school teaching duties ended last week, and I now have some time on my hands. I didn’t try to tune in. In fact, I missed the first two days.

Then I started sneaking peeks. You know, the fabulous aerial shots of the French countryside — the castles — the chateaus. Then when they were passing through farm country the farmers created a large bicycle mockup with those huge round hay bales. And the wheels of the bike went round and round. And the wheels were formed by tractors driving in circles. Big tractors. It was terrific. I called my wife to come see.

So then we sat and watched. And watched until the end.

“That’s Mark Cavendish,” I told her. “He’s the best sprinter in the world. He’s British, but he rides for the American team HTC Highroad, so we can root for him.”

“So who do you want to win?” she asked.

I caught myself again. Don’t forget, I’m anti-pro cycling.

“Uh…I don’t know,” I replied. “I guess I don’t have a favorite. Any of the American teams would be fine with me.”

“Who are the American teams?” she asked.

“Well, there’s BMC…”

“Oh, from Houston. I’ve been by their place lots of times.”

“No, we went over this last year,” I said. “It’s not BMC Software. BMC is a Swiss bicycle company. But the team is based in Santa Rosa, California.”

Then I went through the other American teams: Radio Shack (she knew about them, from last year’s Tour), HTC Highroad, and Garmin-Cervelo. I ticked off the top riders on each team.

“Who are you rooting against?” she asked.

Team Sky's Xabier Zandio

“Team Sky,” I said. “They’re sponsored by BSkyB, the British satellite TV company. Rupert Murdoch owns 39 percent of BSkyB, and wants to buy the rest, but that phone hacking scandal is holding him up. I’ll root against anything with Murdoch’s name attached to it.”

“Anyone else?”

“I’m not crazy about Alberto Contador,” I said. “I’d like to see Andy Schleck get his revenge this year.”

“Is he American?”

Andy Schleck

“No, Luxembourger. He and his brother Frank started Team Leopard-Trek this year. It’s based in Luxembourg, and is kind of an all-star team. My favorite rider, Fabian Cancellara, is on that team.”

“So you’re really for a foreign team.”

“No, like I said, I’m for any of the American teams.”

“Who’s going to win?”

“I think it might be Cadel Evans this time.”

“Is he American?”

Cadel Evans

“He rides for BMC, but he’s Australian.”

“Good grief,” she said.

“What can I say? It’s an international sport,” I answered.

During Sunday’s melee, Vinokurov wound up with a broken pelvis after a horrific crash that kn0cked several big names out of the Tour.

Monday will be a rest day. So I can get out and ride my bike, and maybe go a little longer than usual, coming off a weekend. Then I can get as much yard work done as possible, so there’s free time during the rest of the week to watch the race.

“Hey, did you read on Velo News what they said about…” called out one of my friends at that birthday party.

“Nah,” I told him. “I’m not that into the Tour this year. I haven’t read anything about it online.”

Then I reminded myself that Velo News’s coverage is pretty good. I’ll have to check it out — and even bookmark it.

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Categories // Racing Tags // Tour de France

Is Cycling the New Golf?

07.07.2011 by Ray Niekamp // 18 Comments

I’ll bet you’ve heard that line before. It’s become almost a cliche. But at its heart, the expression tells us something about the changing tastes of adults in recreation.

Industry figures sum up the story: The National Bicycle Dealers Association says bike sales (20″ wheels and larger) were up 15 percent in 2010 over 2009. A total of six billion dollars worth of bikes were sold last year. Service and repair work is reported to be up, too.

Golf, however, is declining. For the past three years, according to the National Golf Foundation, the number of golfers has dropped. It’s down to about 26.1 million. The recession, of course, was a large factor in that decline, and so was the generally poorer weather during the summer of 2010 compared to the previous summer. But those don’t account for all of golf’s loss.

The Bike Noob might be a typical golfer-turned-cyclist. Senior golfers — those of age 60 and up — are about 45 percent of all golfers. But that group is not growing, partly because they die off, and partly because they stop playing regularly.

The Bike Noob fades a drive back into the middle of the fairway during a Hawaiian vacation. (You can see the ball above my left hand.)

Golf has traditionally been considered a business relationship builder. I remember my father telling me years ago to take up golf, because business deals are done on the golf course. My dad was part of a golf league in the large company where he worked. But just last month, I visited the headquarters of a company renowned for its employee health and wellness program. It has a cycling group of over 100 people. No golf league.

Now, however, cycling clubs might offer the chance to grow business relationships. On a weekend ride, club members can churn out the miles, then discuss their biking and their business over coffee, or lunch, or whatever, afterwards. I’ve seen it happen among members of my own club — many of whom work in the same general field.

And as adults age, another popular recreational activity — running — might be losing its attraction because of the way it contributes to knee problems. Cycling is a good alternative, because while it can cause trouble with the knees, more often it eases chronic knee trouble. That’s why I switched from running to riding.

So it might not be much of a surprise to learn that the high growth area within cycling last year was among road bikers.

The golf industry, meanwhile, is concerned that the number of kids between 6 and 17 who take up golf has been falling — by about 24 percent during the last decade. Optimistic predictions about golf’s growth peg it at only one percent between now and 2020.

On the cycling side, high gas prices are causing more adults to look into bike commuting as a way to hold down their costs. Commuters are still a tiny percentage in most cities, but their numbers are growing.

Since 2008, my golfing has taken a precipitous nosedive. I played one round of golf last year. Just one. None so far this year. But I’m on my bike three or four days a week. I’m meeting new people and finding I have a lot in common with them. Neither my wife nor I miss golf at all, although we’ll happily play a round if the opportunity arises.

For us, cycling is indeed the new golf.

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Categories // Odds 'n ends Tags // golf

Chasing Pavements

07.05.2011 by Ray Niekamp // 4 Comments

Here’s a guest post from a reader on the other side of the globe, 17-year-old David Low of Singapore. (To remind our American readers, “pavement” is the U.K. English word for “sidewalk.”)

Should I give up or should I just keep chasing pavements? — Adele

I’m not sure how many budding teenage cyclists read Bike Noob, but as a 17 year-old kid, I thought I’d like to share my thoughts on cycling with other cyclists of my age.

I live in Singapore, a small city-state that is only 710 square kilometers large (268 sq. miles — roughly 3.5 times the size of Washington D.C). With an equatorial climate, the weather here is perfect for cycling all year round. However, the small island that my country resides on means that space is at a premium. To have dedicated bike paths that other countries can have is a luxury that we simply can’t afford.

Many beginners who are afraid to cycle on the roads start out on the pavements, and I think that’s fine. However, I feel that cyclists should try and keep off the pavements as much as they can because:

  1. Cycling on pavements is an anti-social (not to mention illegal in my country) behaviour in my opinion. People don’t expect to see a bike hurtling past them from behind, and many a time they are startled. Sometimes, they may also accidently move into the path of an oncoming bike. After a few bad experiences like this, people start to see cyclists as a menace, and we don’t want that!
  2.  It is dangerous to do so. Cycling on the pavements is always dangerous, as pavements are not designed for cyclists. Blind corners, hidden objects, potholes, and the list goes on.

It may be only two reasons, but I think that they are very important, and we can’t overlook them. Of course, sometimes the pavement can be safer for all the budding cyclists out there, but I always wondered where and how did everyone learn how to bike? Did you guys take the pavements? I’m sure the Bike Noob readers can chip in!

It’s here though that I would like to share my personal story on how I literally flew off the pavement to learn how to cycle on the road, and why I don’t recommend cycling on pavements.

In December 2007 (I was 14), as a complete newbie, I did not have the confidence to cycle on the road, and kept to the pavements like a good boy. I was cruising along at about 20 km/h on my mountain bike when I was startled to see a large gap (almost half the pavement was cut out, and it was now flush with the road level with a shiny new manhole cover where it used to be) in the pavement that didn’t use to be there. Before I could react, my front tire dropped into the gap and I came to a complete stop. While my front shock suspender largely cushioned the impact of the fall, the collision still sent me flying over the handlebars onto the road, right smack in the middle of a bus- priority lane.  You could imagine how horrified I was at the realization of where I ended up on.

Fortunately, luck was on my side, and the traffic light behind me had turned red. The few cars that were headed my way managed to avoid hitting me.

That incident got me off the pavement and onto the roads and made me a staunch advocator of keeping cyclists off the pavement. Although that close brush with death still haunts me, I am proud to announce that I am a confident cyclist today, rocking a Felt Z-80 road bike!

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Categories // guest post, Safety Tags // guest post, sidewalk

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