9th Training Day - An Intro to Randonneuring

Randonneuring was a new word to me too. Most likely because it is not English. It is French, meaning to ramble or tour. I learned it just a few weeks ago. While at work, I sometimes chat online with my friend and older sister's boyfriend, George. We both share an enthusiasm for cycling. I'm not sure what led him to it but, while browsing the internet one day, George came across this word and an alternate definition of it. In the cycling world, a randonneur is someone who participates in long distance (200 km or more) cycling events. One of these cycling events is called a brevet. This is another French word meaning certificate or diploma.

A brevet is not race. The way it works is that you have a time limit to complete the distance. Anyone who completes the distance in the allotted time wins. There is no first, second, or third place. The results are listed alphabetically, not by time. For example, if you want to complete a 200 km brevet, you would have 13.5 hours to do so. There are typically checkpoints, or controles (more French), along the way where you get your brevet card signed for proof that you are indeed completing the route. Typical brevet distances are 200, 300, 400, 600, and even 1200 km.

George and I became excited when we learned of this group of people that shared in our enthusiasm of cycling. What fun we thought it would be to participate in one of these events together. 200 km in 13.5 hours would be a feat, but certainly doable. We would have to maintain an average speed  of 9.2 mph to complete the distance within the time limit. No problem. So, we registered for one. April 10th was the Princeton 200 km brevet beginning in Plainsboro, New Jersey. My mom and I drove out to Sam and George's place in New York on Friday, the 9th.

The brevet started at 7 am. According to Google maps, it should have taken George and I one hour and forty minutes to get there. We left at 5 am. Getting stuck in traffic never even crossed our minds. Had we known that New York City was performing construction on the George Washington Bridge and closing down all lanes except one, we would have adjusted our time of departure, route, or both to accommodate this inconvenience. Instead, we sat silently in our car nonplussed. We were not moving and watching the minutes go by.

We finally got over the bridge and were going to be late to our first brevet. At this point, I was reminded of the last post to this blog concerning my mentality. Here was George and I, racing to get somewhere. Driving well over the speed limit, cursing every driver and red light along the way. We were tense and in a rush. Hardly the mentality of a rambling cyclist. Even when we did finally get to the starting point, there was no time to waste. We pumped up our tires and were on our way. It was now 7:45 and we were well behind the 80 other riders taking part in the event.

The terrain was hilly. More hilly than either of us had anticipated. We had made it 20 miles in approximately 2 hours before we stopped for some food. In our rush this morning, we had failed to eat anything. Not a smart strategy for an endurance event. Bobbi's Deli in Sergeantsville saved us. We filled our gas tanks there and continued on our way.

Even at this point, after having been riding for 2 hours, George and I were not quite relaxed. We had a late start and it had been a grueling, slow pace for the first 20 miles. We wondered to ourselves if perhaps we had bitten off more than we could chew.

Sixteen hilly and windy miles later we arrived at the first controle. It was now around 11 am. I sat down to take my shoe off and work some feeling back into my left big toe. While we were resting, George called the man running the brevet to notify him that we planned to continue riding the course but, would be way behind and he need not worry. After a few minutes, a gentleman came up to us and asked if we were part of the Princeton 200k. When we said we were, he led us into a building across the street where there was food and drinks for all the cyclists. We were the only ones at the checkpoint at this time. I had a banana and some Gatorade.

I asked the man how the next leg of the route would be and he told us it would be the most difficult part. George and I looked at each other. We had climbed enough hills already today. George said, "I am already proud of myself." I was too. To learn that the most challenging climbs were next concerned us. We had a cue sheet instructing us which way to go. At mile 36, we were on the second of six pages of directions. It was a bit overwhelming. As we walked gingerly back outside to our bikes, George and I knew it; we were not going to finish the brevet.

As I looked through the directions, I noticed that on page 5 they lead you to this exact location and then along a different route back to the starting point. I suggested we skip the middle third and ride the last third back to Plainsboro. George agreed and that is what we did.

We totaled 80 miles (128 km) on the day. It took us about 9 hours to complete (we rode for 6 and rested for 3).

Somewhere in New Jersey. Yeah, that's New Jersey and those are chickens. It looks like the middle of Ohio to me. 

George and his brand new Bianchi. 

The Joe-mobile and the George-mobile.

At the end of the ride. 

You may have it in your head that is a small shame that George and I were unable to finish the event. That is what I would be thinking.

Since Saturday, I have thought a lot about why it is that some people think like this. Why do we have this natural racing instinct? Why do we want to be the fastest or the most efficient or the best? Why do we feel so much pressure from deadlines and time constraints? Why are we so goal oriented? This mentality, if you have it, is hard to turn off. While on the ride to the brevet, George pointed out that his windbreaker was baggy and not very aerodynamic. For a moment, I considered if my jacket was aerodynamic. I quickly snapped out of it and said, "Hey, it's not a race."

In fact, it was not until George and I decided we were not going to complete the 200 km when we finally did turn our racing brains off and relaxed. We were very easily sucked into the stress of getting to the event on time and riding at a fast enough pace. However, it was not so easy for us to turn it off. It took us four hours. When we did, we finally began to enjoy ourselves. We took pictures, talked more, rested more, looked around more, and appreciated the fact that we had no idea where we were. When was the last time that the most detailed information you knew about your location was the name of the state you were in? It felt great. Why isn't this our natural state of mind? Why do I have to force myself to stop worrying so I can relax and not force myself to stop relaxing so I can worry?

I don't know! I think that it is important to have this racing mentality. I certainly do not wish that I was completely without it. However, I do think that it is equally important to be able to turn it off. Even the people who ran the Princeton 200 km event can not completely turn off their racing brains. They posted the unofficial results and noted that the guy with the track record was four minutes off his fastest time and that he was training for an Ironman triathlon. They also bragged about the fact that they had the most people ever complete the course in under 10 hours. I wonder if those riders noticed the alpaca farms and the chickens. It does not sound like a group of "rambling" cyclists to me.

I'll show them what a real randonneur is this summer.

life=good

My Mentality

Yesterday, I got a call from the bike shop. I was at swim practice when they called so, they left a voice mail. I was nervous as I punched in my password to listen to the message. What if I had made a mistake when doing all those repairs to the bike? What if something was broken? I was not very optimistic but, I should have been. The voice mail said that the bike was ready and I could pick it up whenever. Yahoo!

So, this morning I went to the bike shop. The technician rolled the bike out for me and just as he hands it over he says, "Just a quick note on this one."

I said, "...yes?"

He said, "You have a triple crankset on this bike but, your front and rear derailleurs are only able to be used with double cranksets. In order to use all three gears on the triple crankset, you would need to buy different derailleurs."

Dang. The triple crankset cost me $140 and was a pain to install. Now, it turns out I will not be able to use it. When I got the bike home I took it off and put the original double crankset back on. The reason I wanted the triple crankset was for climbing hills and mountains. It would give me more gear ratios and make the climbing easier. I was bummed.

Not for long!

So what if I may have to walk my bike up a mountain or two?! Would Richard Halliburton, the author of "The Royal Road to Romance" and one of the most adventurous people to have ever lived, be concerned about the quality of his adventure if he couldn't get a bike with a triple crank? No, he would do it with much less than I already have. In fact, in 1884 Thomas Stevens rode his penny farthing bicycle from Oakland to Boston. It took him 104 days but, he still made it! Stevens was actually the first person to ever bicycle around the entire world.

The point is I need to change my mentality. Maybe it is because I am young, or because I am a guy, or because of how I was raised, or a combination of these, or something else altogether but, I have a hard time relaxing on a bike ride. While riding, I want to see how fast I can go. I am constantly checking my average speed. I want to see how far I can ride in one day. When I am stopped for a break, I feel like I am wasting time. My average speed is dropping and I need to get back on the bike. This is not a mentality that is conducive to fun and interesting adventures.

My bike trip is not a race. My goal is not to make it across the U.S. in a certain amount of time. My goal is not even to make it all the way across. My goal is to have an adventure. The maps should be referenced as a suggested route, not as the only route. I want to actually use my compass for more than just decoration on my backpack. There is no minimum distance I need to ride every day. I don't want to be concerned with where I will sleep tonight. I'll figure it out. I am excited to repair my first flat tire. I hope it happens in the middle of a rainstorm. I expect to get blisters, and sore, and tired. I also expect to meet a lot of interesting people and see a lot of wonderful sights.

This is the mentality I need to adopt. I've got less than a month and a half to do so!

8th Training Day - The Emerald Necklace

The Emerald Necklace is the name us Clevelanders have affectionately given our park system. The reason being that they make a U-shaped border on the west, south, and east sides of the city of Cleveland. It kind of looks like a necklace. The Emerald Necklace is also the name of a bicycling route I found on the website http://www.mapmyride.com/. I was looking for a longer route that was a loop. It goes through the all the parks, hence the name, and seemed like an overall pleasant ride. I decided to give it a go. Here is a map of the route.

Click to Enlarge

The total distance advertised on the website is a little more than 68 miles. I started in Strongsville (bottom left) at 8 AM and traveled counter clockwise around the loop. I've never ridden more than 35 miles in a single day and have never ridden outside of the parks, which I know inside and out. This ride was going to educate me on how it feels to go on longer rides (which I plan on doing daily for more than two months starting in the middle of May) and how it feels riding on streets I've never been on and having to navigate while doing so. It was going to be as much of a mental workout as a physical one.

The ride began familiarly enough through the parks until they ended in Brecksville. Here is where I began heading north and onto roads previously unridden by myself. The route on the map suggests you ride on the Towpath trail which is a wonderful biking/riding trail that goes right along the Ohio and Erie Canal.  Having been on the trail before, I knew that my road bike with no shocks and 23mm wide, rock hard, tires would make this roughly paved trail unpleasant to ride on. Planning ahead, I added some directions that would lead me to Canal Road so I would not have to be jarred around on the trail.

Those directions were useless. I came to the Towpath and it was a complete dead end except for the trail. I would have to endure the trail. So bumping along at 11 mph I was rather frustrated. Were it not for the flowing river by my side giving me some serenity, I might have become agitated. Sure enough, within a mile or two there was a bridge connecting the trail to Canal Road. It felt good to get back on the smooth pavement.

The rest of the ride up through the east side of Cleveland and then into the downtown area was rather uneventful. I must've been riding through Shaker Heights as Easter mass was ending. The church bells were ringing and people were walking around in their "Sunday Best." Upon leaving downtown I was more than halfway finished with the ride and had gone about 42 miles. I took a break to eat some lunch and refill my water bottles.

I left the downtown area via the Flats. I was now heading towards Edgewater Park. My directions to get into Edgewater park were not very exact. They simply said "Find Edgewater Park." I just figured it is a park and there must be a big sign and an obvious entrance.

Either of those would have been nice. I could see the park, but I had no clue how to get there. I rode around for a bit, now looking more for a person than the entrance to the park. I finally found one. I ran into her at an intersection and she told me to go right and go through a tunnel and that would take me onto Edgewater Beach where there is a bike path which, she astutely assumed, was what I was looking for. Fantastic! I turned right.

As I turned right I could see the end of the street. It simply dead ended about 500 feet ahead of me. I could not see a tunnel. I kept riding slowly looking left and right for a tunnel. It was not until I was 50 feet in front of it did I notice the tunnel. It was the most ominous looking tunnel I have ever seen. Right in the middle of the road was this black hole. I sat on my bike at the entrance to this pit of darkness and looked around in disbelief. I laughed, "You've got to be kidding me." I didn't have many other options. I picked up my feet and rolled in.

After about 20 feet I had to stop to let my eyes adjust to the darkness. There was garbage everywhere. It was dark and dank and disgusting. After seeing a broken bottle I decided that this would be the absolute worst place to get a flat tire and carried my bike the rest of the way. It felt as if I was in a sewer. I kept going down and down until finally it flattened out and I could see the water and the beach. It was a nice view but between the beach and I was a 200 foot stretch of nastiness. The water was dripping from the ceiling and the garbage and broken glass lined the tunnel. I did not think to take a picture but, if I go back I'll be sure to so you all can appreciate this little slice of heaven.

Anyways, I walked down the beach a few feet still carrying my bike and got on the path. Again, the next step in my directions were rather unclear. They simply said, "Find Cliff Dr." Before I was going to worry about that, I rode the path for a little and picked out a bench that overlooked the lake and decided to have a quick rest. It was a beautiful day.

I wouldn't have rather been anywhere else.

I was not too concerned with finding my way out of the park because, if needed, there were plenty of friendly people walking about to ask for directions. I actually never found Cliff Drive and didn't have to ask for directions either. I simply ended up on the street that was after Cliff, Lake Avenue.

I was on Lake Avenue for a while. Lake Avenue will get me back into the parks. Once back in the park, it is just the same road all the way back to my starting point in Strongsville. However, finding the park was going to involve a bit of risk management.

After riding on Lake Avenue for quite some time I suddenly realized that I was now on Clifton. It is funny how roads just become other roads. Not only was I going the wrong way but, I was going the wrong way down a hill! I had to climb back up it to get the point where Lake turned into Clifton. I stopped there looking around for an option. I noticed a street to my right that had no sign, went down a steep hill, and had a speed limit of 15 mph. What were the chances that this was the right way for me to go? From the first impression, the odds certainly seemed small which is probably why when I rode by it the first time, I didn't look twice at it.  

The second time, however, it was more appealing. I think it was because it was my only option. I'm not sure if this is good risk management but, I went with my gut and down the mysterious road. The road went down and back up to get under some railroad tracks. I was afraid to look at the street sign as I climbed up this no-name road. When I did look, I was amazingly back on Lake Avenue! What luck!

The rest of the ride was in the parks and I eventually completed the Emerald Necklace. The ride was 71 miles and took me 5 hours and 45 minutes! The navigating was a bit of a nuisance. However, in such an urban setting, complicated directions are to be expected. Fortunately, on the route across the country, the setting will be much more rural and, hopefully, the directions much less involved. I can certainly see myself attempting this ride again for another training day. It would be even more enjoyable a second time without me being so worried about the directions. I also noticed that this route would be much more challenging, because of the hills, if I were to travel the other way, clockwise, around the loop.

This was a great experience. My first long ride. Just in time, too. This weekend I am going to visit my sister, Sam, and George, her boyfriend, in New York. George and I plan to do a long ride on Saturday. I can't wait.

life = good

The Bicycle: A Simple Machine

Actually, the bicycle is not a simple machine. For two reasons: it is made up of more than two simple machines so it is actually considered a compound machine and, as the following account will illustrate, a bike is just not that simple.

The bike I will be riding on my trip is the Marin. Here is a picture of it in the condition that it was received.

My plan was to clean up, tune up, and replace some of the components of this bike. The parts I wanted to replace were the wheels and the crankset. I felt I needed to replace the wheels because as you can see in the picture, the wheels have few spokes and are considered racing wheels. I need wheels with more spokes so that they are sturdy and reliable. Also, the crankset that came on the bike is a double crankset. That is, there are two gears in the front and 10 in the rear giving me roughly 20 different gear ratios that I can use for all the different terrains and headwinds I may encounter on my trip. That might seem like plenty, but for long climbs up mountains it would be nice to have some lower gears. I decided to replace this double crankset with a triple. It will give me 3 gears in the front and 10 in the rear. What could be so difficult about this?

I ordered all the parts from online retailers. While waiting for the parts, I prepped the bike so it would be ready when they were delivered. I cleaned the frame and removed some things.

Look at that dirt!

All gone. Also, this is a good shot of the double crankset. See the two gears on the left?

The triple crankset was the first to arrive. So came the task of removing the double. To remove a crankset I needed a special tool called a crank puller that was purchased for $15 at my local friendly bike shop. From their description of how to use it, and from the online video tutorials titled, "How to remove a crankset," I felt I was more than prepared. What a fool.

Well, you have to understand why I was so foolish. The directions for using the crank puller are rather simple. You screw the tool into the crank until the crank falls off the bike. What could go wrong? The directions are correct but, they do not specify the amount of necessary force to be applied in turning the tool until the crank does fall off. 

I thought for sure I was doing something wrong. Did I really need to hold the bike down with my foot while I used all my might and weight just to turn the tool 90 degrees? My arms were burning, I was out of breath, and I had to put on padded gloves for better grip. I reread the instructions and watched a few more video tutorials. They just turn the tool and the crankset falls right off the bike. Having no other ideas, I just decided to keep turning the tool tighter and tighter. Sure enough, the crankset fell right off. 

Now, the crank puller was screwed into the crankset which was no longer attached to the bike. The problem was removing the tool from the crankset! I had used so much force to screw it in, the same force was needed to remove it. After trying every angle, I was finally able get it free. This all took about an hour and a half and I was only half way done! I still had to remove the pedal arm on the other side.  Again, I was in disbelief at how much force was necessary but, it worked once and it worked again. Here's me attempting to remove the tool from the pedal arm after I removed it from the bike.

A video of this whole process would be priceless.

I spy a cat.

Here's the bike with no crankset.

Putting on the new triple crankset was easy enough to do. Just apply a little grease and tighten a couple screws and voila!

So shiny... Notice the 3 gears on this one?

The crankset has been replaced! Now, onto the wheels. The front wheel was easy. The rear wheel was more interesting.

There are two main companies that produce drivetrain components for bikes such as shifters, derailleurs, chains, cassettes, and cranksets. These two companies are Campagnolo, more familiarly known as Campy, and Shimano. Campagnolo is to Shimano as Apple is to Microsoft. Campy makes high quilty components that are less popular as they are more expensive. Shimano also makes high quality products but they also have a lower end line and are more prominent than Campagnolo. If you buy a new road bike from your local bike shop chances are it has Shimano components. Most importantly, the products of these brands are completely incompatible. For example, you should not use Campy shifters with Shimano derailleurs or a Shimano chain with a Campy cassette. Some people do, but it is not wise.

I removed the rear wheel. The cassette is the set of gears that are on the hub of the rear wheel. I now needed to remove the cassette from the rear wheel and put it on the hub of my new rear wheel. After that, I just had to put the new wheel on the bike and presto, I would be done. Not so fast.

I could not remove the cassette from the hub without the help of two more tools which I did not own. After another trip to the bike store for a lockring, a chain whip, and a quick demonstration on how to use them, I was ready. Once again, more force that I would have thought was needed but, I removed the cassette.

Let me remind you that this entire time, I have no idea what I am doing. I have never done any of these repairs to a bike and have no technical bicycle experience whatsoever. As a result, I was surprised when the cassette did not fit on the hub of my new rear wheel. After a few moments of disbelief trying repeatedly to slide a ring that obviously had a smaller radius than the cyclinder I was attempting to put it on, I began to panic more than a little. How could it not fit?!

It turns out that the hub of the wheel that I bought was only compatible with Shimano cassettes. I had a Campagnolo cassette. I didn't think to look at this detail when purchasing the wheels which I did over a week ago and now could no longer return them. My mind was racing for solutions to this problem. Could I switch the hubs of the wheels? How do you remove a hub? Am I going to need to buy another rear wheel? How much would it cost? On and on I went. I took apart the axle of the new wheel trying to remove the hub. I couldn't figure it out. I even took the Shimano cassette off of Blue and put it on the Marin. But, everything on the Marin is from Campy and it was not until then that I realized Shimano and Campagnolo components should not be mixed. I didn't fall asleep until 3AM that night. I was downstairs disassembling wheels, up to my elbows in grease, and on my laptop desperately searching for a solution.

My solution was to call the bike shop in the morning and see what they had to say. At first, the kind man at the shop told me I would most likely need to get a new wheel. Then, as if it had almost slipped his mind, he said that some companies manufacture cassettes that are just like Campagnolo cassettes, except they fit on Shimano hubs. Within 10 seconds I was on eBay looking at these cassettes. Amazing! This is exactly what I needed! I ordered one.

Ironically, I think that even if I had known what I was doing all along I would have still ordered wheels with Shimano hubs and bought another cassette. Campagnolo parts are expensive. Just a rear wheel with a Campy hub is actually more expensive than BOTH the wheels I had purchased AND the cassette. Life is funny that way.

While waiting for the cassette to arrive, I was inspecting the bike and noticed that I had inadvertently knocked the cable that runs from the shifter to the rear derailleur loose. So I grabbed some pliers and began pulling on it to create tension before I fastened the pinching screw on the rear derailleur. Whoever installed this cable only left about .5 cm of extra cable to pull on. I frayed the end badly. It was going to need to be replaced. So it was back to the bike shop for the third day in a row for some shifting cable. I did not need a special tool for this job. It was relatively simple.

Finally, the cassette arrived. I was glad to see that it slid right on the hub. Perfect fit! Now all that I needed to do was put the rear wheel back on and tune up the shifting and it was ready to ride! Again, not so fast. When I put the rear wheel back on the bike, I noticed that it was not spinning very freely. I walked over to Blue and flicked the rear wheel and it spun for nearly half a minute. The new rear wheel on the Marin would only spin for 10 seconds. What could be the issue?

After a minute on Google I had found my answer. Back when I was in a frantic state, I took apart the axle of this wheel. When I put it back together I had actually tightened some of the nuts too much. This is what caused the wheel to not spin freely. So I removed the wheel, removed the cassette, and loosened some of the nuts and put it all back together. I didn't loosen them enough. Did it all again, and I loosened them too much and the wheel could actually be jiggled slightly from side to side. After only about 10 more tries I got it right.

Now, I could finally focus on the last step: tuning up the shifters. There are four adjustments that can be made to both the rear and front derailleurs to get just the right amount of movement so the chain slides nicely up and down the gears. For someone like me who has no idea what he is doing and has to adjust the screws first just to see what they adjust before I can actually do anything constructive, this was not going to be easy. Not only was it not easy, it was maddening. The bike was completely put together, it was a beautiful day for a test ride, and I'm in the basement on my back trying to figure out why the chain keeps slipping on the third sprocket only when I shift up to it.

I never even attempted to adjust the front derailleur. I threw in the towel. I was overmatched and over-frustrated. Time to let a pro step in. I took the bike to a local shop and left it there for the technician to finish. It will take a few days but at this point I am more than willing to spend a few extra dollars to get this bike operable. Not to mention that there is a high probability that in all my efforts I may have put something on upside down or backwards. It is probably a good idea to have someone who knows what they are doing look at it before I ride it 3,800 miles across the country.

Some of you may ask, "Why not just take it to the mechanic in the first place?" That is a reasonable enough question. My reasonable answer is, "Well, if anything on my bike breaks during the trip, I have learned so much from this experience that I should be able to fix it." However the real answer is, if I would've just paid someone else to do it I would have never been so frustrated and stressed and overwhelmed and mad. I would've just been going to work and living my life while someone else was having all the fun. And because I did it myself, I will never be more proud once I get into that saddle and take her for the first ride.