One Hundred Eighty-One

Working Media

That would be me.

One Hundred Eighty

Autographs

Chris autographed my program from his introduction into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. Tinker signed a picture of himself taken during RAAM. And I bought a copy of Mike and The Bike for David and Lara, and got it signed by Grammy Award-winning guitarist, songwriter, and avid cyclist Michael Ward, illustrator Bob Thomson, and narrator Phil Liggat.

One Hundred Seventy-Nine

Cool People

Greg Schmidt, Service Manager at Phil Wood, totally made my day when I took his picture and he said, "Thanks. No one ever does that." I asked Greg about his job. Among other things, he assembles and services hubs. He says it's great being surrounded by all the components. I want a job like that. Seriously.

I also finally got to meet Brent. Anyone who's ever sent email to Phil Wood knows Brent. Now you can see what he looks like. Seems like an awesome guy. (Strong handshake!) We talked about the latest batch of bolts they made - at my request - to let me pull my Bob trailer behind my KISS-OFF fixed/fixed hub. Sheldon ordered ten of them. They made something like 100, so if you want some, give Sheldon or Brent a call and they'll probably be able to set you up.

One Hundred Seventy-Eight

RAAM and the UMCA

To my extreme delight, Race Across America and the Ultramarathon Cycling Association had a booth at Interbike. On Wednesday, I got to chat with "Nubs" and saw Jonathan Boyer. Jon seemed intently focused. A couple of guys came over to the booth and I heard them talking about a "Bikes for Rwanda" program. It sounded important.

On Thursday, I almost didn't come back to the expo center. Boy, am I glad I did. I had the best conversation with Tinker Juarez, another member of the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. We talked about various RAAM topics - riding without aero bars, hand problems, the day before the race - and Tinker's ambitions to do Race Across Oregon someday. Of course, I offered to help in any way I could, and he genuinely seemed interested in taking me up on the offer, possibly as a crew member.

I also had a great time talking with Fred Boethling and his son Rick. Rick gave me some camera tips and Fred and I discussed the merits and pleasures of riding fixed gear bicycles. Fred says he rides a different bike every day of the week. Sounds fun!

One Hundred Seventy-Seven

Mountain Bike Hall of Fame

The main reason I decided to go to Intebike was to attend Chris King's introduction into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. That turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip.

The fun began when Zap introduced Travis Brown. I was spell-bound by the stories and warmth that permeated the room. I felt somewhat ashamed of how little I know about the history of mountain biking. It quickly became apparent that I was in a room full of legends. Something like 25 members of the Hall of Fame were at the ceremony, including Gary Fisher - a name that even I recognized.

Zap told stories about a picture he took of Travis when he got 10th place in his first pro race in Durango; bad times at the World Cup in Mazatlan when Travis broke his leg and failed to get into the Olympics for the second time due to injury; how Travis was the great bike hope of America; the time Travis came crawling into a hotel room "spewing the whole way"; a great shot of Travis shaking Lance's hand; how his Mom Sandy and his dad were super-freak fans; and on and on. Zap emphasized the importance of family in Travis Brown's life, and he talked about how his own proudest moment also involved his mom and dad. "It always comes back to family", Zap said. He also stressed what a big proponent of cycling advocacy Travis is.

Travis talked about how is wife is a big part of the reason he could keep going throughout his career. He said it's ten times as sweet when you come back after being in the gutter. He recounted the story of his parents thinking he was crazy for becoming a professional mountain bike racer after graduating from school, and how they kept those thoughts to themselves while supporting their son. Travis said he is totally in love with mountain bikes. It's what he does on vacation. It's still what he loves. Travis talked about how mountain biking is a thought catalyst and a social catalyst. He recognized his wife's contributions to the sport as the new Executive Director of Trails 2000. And he acknowledged all the support he has received from his sponsors, including Trek.

During Robert (Bicycle Bob) Gregorio's introduction, "Jonny Butthead" told us about two things Bob would always say during a ride. He began every ride with, "Let's ride!" And if anyone ever suggested a shorter way back home, he would say, "Complete the loop." There were stories of Bob hitting a pothole at full speed, being pretty jacked up, and saying, "I can make it... It's not a good ride unless you're bleeding." We learned about how Bob got vintage single speed back into mountain bike racing, his wheel building expertise, and "Les System Bob" - the product of a competition with Michelin to build a better tubeless tire.

Bob apparently wasn't the best bike shop guy. He would soak chains in oil and wax and put them in corn husks on the roof, making them good for another six years, before selling someone a new chain. He stashed bikes in places all around town, and probably has 80-90 frames around Durango today. Bob drank with the boys and knew how to have fun. He also appreciated the finer things in life, like fitting a hot chick for a new frame or tuning her bike to a tee for, like, three bucks.

Bob said he felt the love that night of the bicycle family, and he paid respects to all the heroes in cycling who are never noticed or recognized. He spoke eloquently about how cycling stands as a fitting metaphore for life, both involving choices and consequences. He noted that obstacles once faced provide confidence, and he highlighted the health and physical fitness benefits of cycling. Bob said that cycling is a healthy addiction, and it is the core reason we are here. Bob told us about Thomas Stevens, his first cycling hero, who rode a 58 pound high wheeler across the country in 1884 and then went around the world on the bike. Bob described "The Fleeting Moment" that happens as we ride down a path, pick a line, our body in the present, our rear wheel barely in the past, and our front wheel leading the way to the future. Finally, Bob extended an invitation, saying that if you ever come to Durango to be sure to get hold of him. "Let's Ride!", he said.

As Scott introduced Chris King, we were reminded of his fabulous components, but even more impressive were the stories of Chris King's dedication to his employees, the community, and the environment. Eight years of "Trail Days" brought hundreds of volunteers together to build and maintain trails near where Chris King's company was based in California. I listened with envy to the description of the kitchen Chris built and the gourmet cook he had on staff for his employees. To encourage people to ride to work, subsidies were offered that doubled or quadrupled what the next most generous companies, such as Patagonia, were offering at the time. Today King employees get paid time off in exchange for riding to work. It's not uncommon to come to work and find a room full of commuter bikes and maybe one car in the parking lot.

Chris told a story about how in the late 70's, Gary Fischer came by his bike shop, which was the size of a two car garage. He had a rolled up drawing of a mountain bike frame Joe Breeze had created. Gary predicted that mountain bikes were going to be bigger than road bikes. Chris went on to explain that he never could have made a living selling components to the road bike scene. And that it was 1987 when he was finally able to start making a living selling to the mountain bike community. Chris talked about how he really misses the days when 100-150 people would come out to do trail work, and that he thinks they'll start doing it again in Portland. Chris said it was quite and honor to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, and that it "really feels good."

Travis, Bob, and Chris each received trophies commemorating their introduction into the Hall of Fame.

One Hundred Seventy-Six

Exhibits

There were so many exhibits at Interbike. I was only able to focus on a few. Mostly, I just walked around gawking at the displays. Exhibitors are there to make contact with distributors to sell more stuff. I didn't want to interfere with that mission. In fact, I genuinely wanted to help in some small way if I could. Compared to a lot of people who attend Interbike, I'm pretty green when it comes to knowing the cycling industry. But I have started to develop my own sense of personal taste, and I tried to take some pictures of and talk to people about products I admire as well as anything that looked like it might be of interest to the fixed-gear / single-speed community.

My camera is an el-cheap-o Cool Pix 3200, and I am not an experienced phtographer. Nevertheless, I managed to get a few decent shots of an Ant Bike (note the front fender); a single-speed high-wheeler; the Nitto booth (love their bars and stems); some Suzue hubs; two Pacific Northwest studs (wearing Cyclepath and LogiTel jerseys) representing iNSiDE RiDE, makers of the most technoligically advanced rollers I've ever seen; the famous Vanilla single-speed tricycle; Rohloff hubs (up close and inside); Peter White's SON hub generator and light display, Speedplay's Museum of Pedal History (as well as some close-ups of their new cleat design); a bunch of American Classic wheels; some Cane Creek SCR-5 brake levers (affordable alternative to those spendy carbon Campy Record levers); the Henry James exhibit; and lots of great Phil Wood stuff: grease, oil and bearings, hubs and cogs, a spoke machine, Brent, Greg, and Greg's new bike with a White Industries crankset and freewheel.

One Hundred Seventy-Five

Welcome to Interbike

This was my first trip to Interbike. Interbike is to the cycling industry what the Smithsonian is to our Nation's heritage or what the Library of Congress is to books. Massive. Everyone (well, almost everyone) has an exhibit at Interbike. I was a little surprised that Chris King Precision Components and Paul Component Engineering, a couple of my favorite manufacturers, were not on the list of exhibitors.

One Hundred Seventy-Four

Welcome to Las Vegas

Getting to Vegas was an adventure in itself. I wasted several hours Tuesday preparing color copies of various pages from my website. In the end, I only handed out one of the packets. The business cards worked much better. Everyone is so busy at Interbike. No one really wants a bunch of handouts from some pesky Working Media guy like me. Tuesday night I was busy making last minute hotel reservations and figuring out how I was going to get to the airport. I didn't go to bed until 2 AM Wednesday morning, and my flight left PDX a few hours later at 6:05 AM. This email thread explains one of my multiple transportation dilemmas:

John,

Thanks for the e-mail. I hope you ride tomorrow!

You can park your bike in an enclosed and covered bike parking area at PDX. While this area is not locked, it is in a visible area near the terminal and next to our employee bike parking area. You also have the option of using one of the ribbon racks near the MAX platform. These are adjacent to the building.

Feedback from the bikeportland.org site led us to leave the main public bike parking area open to all and without a locking mechanism. Most respondents felt this was secure for them because of it's location near the Terminal, Concourse E and the employee parking area.

If you choose to park there, it is on the opposite end of the lower roadway from the MAX platform (MAX is on the south end and the main bike parking area is on the north, underneath the ramp leading to the upper roadway)

Jason A. Gately
Senior Aviation Planner and Project Manager
Port of Portland
7000 NE Airport Way
Portland, OR 97218

From: John Spurgeon
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 12:30 AM
To: Gately, Jason
Subject: Airport Bike Parking

Jason,

I got your email address from http://bikeportland.org/2005/12/13/airport-bike-parking-for-employees-only. I would love to be able to park my bicycle in a secure location at the airport. I live in Hillsboro and my flight for Las Vegas (to attend Interbike) leaves at 6:05 AM tomorrow. The earliest MAX train from the closest station to my house (Quatama) gets me to the airport by 5:41 AM. If I ride my bike to the Beaverton Transit Center, I can catch a Red line train that gets me to the airport by 5:26 AM. If I knew there was secure bike parking at the airport, I would ride to Beaverton, take my bike on the train, and park at the airport.

John Spurgeon

I won't bore you with all the details, but here's some advice if you're ever at the Las Vegas airport looking for a cab ride to the Strip: bring cash. I had $5. A cab costs $5.50. I ended up spending $30 on a limo. I probably should have begged someone for the 50 cents.

On the bright side, my flights on United and Ted were all on time; I had plenty of space in "Economy Plus" (or whatever they call it); my seats were all at the front of the plane; and the service was great. The pilots on one of the flights were a former B52 pilot and a Navy pilot. That was cool.

One Hundred Seventy-Three

Just sent this email to Andy Wergedal in response to some questions about my Albatross bars. (Check out this web page too.)

Hi Andy,

Sorry for the delay. I rode to Hood River and did my first cyclocross race yesterday on the fixie with the Albatross bars. That was FUN! I was pretty spent by the time I got home. And today I've been working on some designs for a t-shirt and getting ready for my trip to Interbike. (Yeah!)

What's your longest ride on a fixed gear? Do you still ride geared bikes too? What about non-fixed single speed? How far are you thinking about riding? I'm working on my first article for Ultra Cycling magazine about how riding a fixed gear some of the time can improve performance on a conventional bike. If you have any thoughts on the matter, I'd love to hear them.

About the Albatross bars...

> Do you find that you sit more upright with them, is that a problem or a benefit?

You can certainly sit more upright when your hands are on the ends of the bars. I put cork grips on mine and I like them a lot. For me, sitting upright is nice when you are going down hill. If it's a steep, long hill, the upright position feels more comfortable to me and helps you catch some wind so you don't have to brake so much. Also, I don't like to have a lot of my weight on my hands when I'm descending on a fixie. Sitting upright is great when I'm commuting, because it's easier for people to see me (I think) and I can take in the scenery better that way. For really long rides, however, drops are probably the way to go. I think you could do 500 miles on the Albratross bars OK, but you might not go as fast as you would go in drops. I'm planning to use drops on both my single speed bikes for RAAM next year.

> Why did you change to those bars? I read about your wrist hurting after RAO was there another reason?

I've had two pair of Nitto Albatross bars in the garage for a while (both sizes from Rivendell). I wanted to experiment with them, because I had heard how much some people like them. I'm still thinking about putting them on a custom single-speed tandem that I want Tom Kellogg to build for me. I did take the riser bars off the bike because my fingers were going numb (my wrists were OK, actually). The Albatross bars seem to be working better for me than the riser bars did.

> Why Orange tape?

I think the orange goes nice with the Country Road Bob. It came with orange tape on drop bars originally. Also (in case this wasn't obvious) I often ride with my hands on the tape instead of on the cork grips. It's always nice to have multiple hand positions on long rides, and the Albatross bars give you several. You can even put bar ends on the bars - sort of like aero bars - and then you have even more positions and more room to stretch out.

Tailwinds!
John

Andy Wergedal wrote:

John,I have read about you in the 508 and other things. I have been riding fixed gear bikes for a few years and am interested in longer races.I am interested in your new albatross bars on your bike and I have a few questions...

Thanks in advance,
Andy Wergedal
Rocklin Ca.

One Hundred Seventy-Two

My application for a media pass to Interbike was approved today!

I intend to report on all things single-speed (including fixies, of course), RAAM and Ultra Cycling (they have a booth), and Chris King's introduction into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. I gave my word that I would NOT solicit for sponsorship or abuse my pass for personal gain in any way. (In case you were wondering.)

My plane arrives in Las Vegas the morning of the 27th and I depart in the afternoon on the 28th. To save a few bucks, I didn't book a hotel room. I figure there will be plenty to see and do all night. (???)

If you want me to take pictures of anything or talk to anyone in particular, let me know: john at sabertoothsalmon dot com.

One Hundred Seventy-One

I added a new cause to my website today: the Community Cycling Center. I ran across a link to their website as I was browsing websites for local bike shops and daydreaming about being a mechanic. It looks like a super organization. I plan to attend the next volunteer orientation. Hopefully there will be some opportunities to get the kids involved too. It looks like a great place to donate some nice bike parts that I'm not using and maybe pick up a decent used bike or two for David and Lara as they get older.

One Hundred Seventy

Wednesday I attended my first cyclocross clinic on the Bob fixie with a rack and bag (that was interesting!) I couldn't believe how many people showed up. I got there (Alpenrose) early and went for a spin around the track a few times. It was a thrilling evening, let me tell you! Next time I'll bring the camera.

One Hundred Sixty-Nine

Discretion is a virtue.

One Hundred Sixty-Eight

I finished my Downshifting essay today. Check it out.

(Then I updated it. Now it's a work in progress again.)

One Hundred Sixty-Seven

ROF SAG Station

A few hours ago we arrived home from Maupin, the host town of this year's Ring of Fire 12 and 24 hour time trial races. If you weren't there, you missed out on one incredible ultra. The course was epic. The weather was made to order. The competition was phenomenal.

I rode basically the same bike I rode at Race Across Oregon - at least the gearing was the same: 44x17. I used 56 cm Nitto Albatross bars instead of the riser bars that made my hands numb at RAO. The bike only had one brake (a Paul V brake) and one headlight this time. (Unfortunately, my wiring was a little sloppy and I had some problems with the connectors coming loose from the taillight at night.) For tires, I used a comfy 35 rear tire, a 28 front, and thorn resistant tubes. The Van Dessel could have supported someone twice my weight with ease.

I'm happy with my "race". My mileage was composed of the day course plus three night loops and some change. Nothing to brag about, but I really wasn't trying to ride as far as I could. Since this was my first long ride since RAO, I wasn't sure how far I could go. My objectives were to get in a good training ride, test out the Albatross bars, see how Ensure works for me, and minimize my time off the bike. Three out of four isn't bad.

The first thing that lured me off the bike was the scenery. I couldn't resist stopping to take and pose for pictures. Otherwise, I did a pretty good job staying in the saddle during the day. But by the second lap of the night loop I was getting very sleepy and a little fatigued. It was tough deciding whether to push through or to give in to the temptation to stop. On the one hand, stopping seemed like such a cop out, especially given my aspirations for RAAM. But on the other hand, it was hard to see the point of risking injury or impacting my ability and desire to stick to my training schedule. I ended up taking a 2 1/2 hour nap after the second lap. Maybe I should have tried to keep riding. Maybe I did the smart thing. Who knows? In any event, I came away with a renewed appreciation for the need to ride fast and manage time off the bike.

One of the best things about this year's ROF were the people. I made a point to learn a few more names (seems almost everyone knows mine) and get to know my fellow riders a little better. Bill Nicolai greeted me at the start. My wife and frequent crew chief, Julia, snapped a good picture of Bill passing me as I was changing glasses. After the race Bill gave us a copy of his awesome RAO race report, pictures included. Near Little John Snow Park I started playing leap frog with Jan Acuff. Later, Julia helped Jan out with water as she struggled on the big climb up 197. I complimented Jan on her beautiful pink Trek. On the way toward Dufur, Tyler Tabor and I rode together for quite a while. Tyler doesn't like to descend, so he made the perfect partner for a guy on a fixie. However, he's quite a climber. As Tyler was disappearing up 197, John Climaldi caught me on his bent. John turned down the offer of an ice cream bar from his crew, so I got it instead. (Thanks, John!) I learned that John is good friends with Robert Johnson of TerraCycle. (Robert always gives me a warm welcome whenever he sees me visiting Sacha at the shop.) Another John - John Henry Maurice - kept me company on the long climb up to the Bake Oven Summit. John and I both work with computers (he works at PCC), so we talked some shop. At the turn-around George pretended to be a cone for us. Then we all had a brief party before getting back to business. After the race, we enjoyed breakfast with Glenn Johnson and his friend. Glenn had great animal stories to tell. One involved a close encounter with a raccoon (or perhaps a porcupine) that could haul ass. Just before we left, I got to talk with Kenneth for a while. I enjoyed our conversation very much. We would have talked longer, but Lara kept informing my that it was time to go and everyone was waiting. Of course, there were many other old and new faces: Ben Larson was there, I saw the perfect way to mount a headlight on Urs Koenig's bike, Chis Hopkinson was pretty in pink (pretty damn fast!), etc. And George gave me my first pair of ski goggles!!

On the way home we stopped at a park in The Dalles and at Multnomah Falls.

Thank you George and Terri for a wonderful weekend!!

One Hundred Sixty-Six

Matthew and I

Matthew (R) rode with me during one of my few long rides leading up to Race Across Oregon this year. Here we are climbing Mt. Hood near the end of the ride.

Thanks again to the AthletesLounge for giving Matthew a new helmet! (See previous post.)

Be safe.

One Hundred Sixy-Five

My good friend, neighbor, and RAO crew member, Matthew Rider, was hit by a car last evening while riding on Germantown road near the intersection of 185th. The sunset might have affected a driver's vision.

Matthew went to the hospital and was released a few hours later. He was banged up, but didn't seem to be hurt too seriously when I spoke with him last night. His bike is toast, and his cyclocross season may be too.

A few days ago, I was about to ride to work without my helmet. Matthew saw me and reminded me to put my "lid" on.

Matthew helped organize the OBRA Woodland Road Race. I was very excited when he got to park the OBRA truck in front of his house a few weeks ago.

Get well soon, Matthew!

One Hundred Sixty-Four

BEAutiful

A few hours later - after sending Julia to the store for a new tube of super glue - the problem was solved, and I was finally able to relocate the start and finish lines for the Pints to Pasta 10K. (A car ran over my tape measure and put some nasty kinks in it just as I was finishing.)

One thing that went right this weekend was the new cable routing I created for my front brake. I really like it. In the back, the brake and cable were so gummed up with sports drink, that I decided to forget about a rear brake all together. I also removed the bottle generator, even though I love the mount that David Levy made for it.

By the way, Friday was my last day at the Reserve. I took some pictures and updated a page on the website.

One Hundred Sixty-Three

Jones counter - apart

And here's what it looked like 15 seconds later. As I was about to hang the bike up on a hook, the train started moving, my whole body lurched forward, and the Jones counter caught on something. The counter part snapped off the drive shaft. Wonderful.

One Hundred Sixty-Two

Jones counter - together

Sunday was a wash with respect to Pints. I met Lee at 1:30 and gave him Sacha's 18 tooth Chris King cog. Then we searched high and low for cork grips. Of course, most bike stores were closed today and yesterday. And the ones that were open don't carry the kind of cork I was looking for.

When we got home I did something productive - I forget what, but I know I did something. So Monday rolls around and I'm all prepared to get the job done for Paula. To save some time, I decide to ride the MAX down town. Above is what the Jones counter looked like when I got on the train.

One Hundred Sixty-One

the damage

Saturday we went to the beach. I wanted to go on Sunday, because I hadn't finished measuring the Pints course, and I wanted to get that done with some time to spare in case something went wrong. Julia wanted the kids to have a couple of days to rest before school, so Saturday it was. As I feared, the problems began the next day when Julia started backing the Saturn out of the driveway and nearly ran over the bike I was going to use to measure the course. Luckily, the only thing damaged was one of the new cork grips that I had just glued onto the bars. I tried using spray adhesive, but it didn't seem to be setting up at all. Then I tried liquid nails, which worked better, but still took some time to dry. That's why the bike was leaned up against the car in the sun - to help the glue dry faster.

In case you're wondering, I'm NOT going to comment on who was more at fault - me for leaning the bike against the car, or Julia for almost running over it... Nope. Not going there. (I keep telling myself this is good training for dealing with issues during RAAM.)