The Glory of Biking..a Thanksgiving!

This past Thursday, yesterday, was a glorious fall day, the kind of day you would wish would last forever. There was no wind, the leaves were changing, the air was not cold and the sky was blue. It was the perfect day for an 87km bike ride near Orleans Ontario.

As I biked through farmlands, past log farmhouses, red barns, and may beautiful horses in the field with their colts, I was struck by an overwhelming feeling of being very fortunate. Our group, the CCCTS rode on quiet country roads, there were no roadside bombs.

Our group stopped for dinner at a small restaurant in Limoges, there was plenty of hot burger sandwich platters and grilled cheese sandwiches for all. As we sat down for lunch, a lady told us how she envied us because we had cycled.

After lunch, I rode behind the group with my new bike to make sure that no one was left behind. We call it the 'sweep' position. I was able to see our group of 8 cyclists wind down roads and up hills, past the small rivers and past waving fields of drying cornstalks. How fortunate we are.

During the ride I spoke with a retired naval engineer who had worked, as I had long ago on sound channels and salinity profiles, I spoke with others about Newfoundland, bike gears, geography, history and even a slight touch of politics. There were no battles, there were no machetes. How fortunate we are.

I came home thankful for the cycling club, for the beautiful day, for my bike and for my health and vigour. I came home and I realized that I had so much to be thankful for that I did not have any room or time to complain about anything, such is the glory of biking!

Home Renovation

The family that renovates together drives each other mad!

This week we installed new floors. The job was calculated to take three days, but it took the better part of a week. A week where our fridge and stove was in our livingroom and various sections of the house cordoned off as the ceramic tiles were installed.

Added to the chaos was one very disturbed llasa apso. Bubba, the llasa apso stayed with us during the renovations. We had wisely decided that Sophie should be babysat for the week and so she was boarded with a friend of mine.

The problem with home renovations is the chaos. Where do you put your stuff? Who put it away? Can it ever be found again? and of course, the inevitable: do we really need this stuff?
If we did not have any stuff, life would be very easy and home renovations would not be stressful. The stress is having to deal with our stuff. King David in the Old Testament set aside 1/3 of his army to look after his stuff. I think our stuff is simply drowning us. Putting things away brings it all to light, there are the 14 sets of mismatched dishes, the numerous tablecloths, the condiments that threaten to collapse our fridge, the paintings, the dog leashes, the bath products, the kitchen cupboards, and that blackhole to end all blackholes..the hallway closet.

Hallway closets are entities unto themselves as they are the resting place for extra jackets, numerous shoes, umbrellas, winter hats, summer hats and in our case, one unweildy old fashioned vacuum cleaner, that really does not do a good job as a vacuum cleaner but is excellent at taking up space and knocking unsuspecting visitors to the closet on the head with one of its hoses.

Although I did not do any of the renovations, except for the moving of fridges and stoves and furniture, after a week of having someone cut tiles, grout, sand and pound nails into our floor all the while being surrounded by chaos...I am exhausted. I have a new appreciation of the creation story in the book of Genesis. After God organized and made sense of the stuff of the universe even He had to rest...no wonder I am tired!

Brooks Saddles: The Cult...the Truth

A saddle is one of the most important features of your bike. Many of my friends after a mid length ride walk like rodeo cowboys and sit very carefully. They do not have cheap saddles, but often the latest in gel and plastic combinations. My talk about the virtues of a Brooks saddle are often dismissed as anachronistic or slightly masochistic.

Here is the TRUTH about the Brooks saddle.

Brooks saddles have been described by one of my biking friends, Martin as a cult. Either you believe or you don't in the claims that the Brooks leather saddle is the most comfortable saddle on earth. Here is the truth about the cult


1) Brooks saddles are by far the most comfortable saddles you can own.
2) They are cool in the summer
3) The claims of break in time are greatly exaggerated
4) They do not require much care
5) They are cheaper in the long run. A well cared for Brooks saddle will easily last 10 years or more.

The dreaded break in period


At first, the hard leather saddle does not appear to be comfortable at all and there is much fear and trepidation over how to 'break in the saddle' and care for it. I own three brooks saddles, one with springs, a brooks narrow B-17 and a special B-17 with copper rivets.

I have found that the best thing to do is to apply a good coating of neetsfoot oil, made from the hooves of cows, to the saddle when you take it out of the box. Rub it in, and apply some more with a hair dryer to make sure it penetrates. Then ride the saddle. It will be a little hard but if you keep applying neetsfoot oil and proofhide a few times a month that is all it needs.

I took my B-17 narrow out of the box and after one night of neetsfoot oil rode it for 100 miles. I was not sore. The more you ride the Brooks saddles the better they become.

My B-17 special is on my carbon bike as after 5000km of riding it is well broken in.

To care for them, there are only two things to remember:

1) If the saddle gets wet, it is not a problem just make sure it is stored in a place where it can dry out.

2) Once a month or so apply some neetsfoot oil or proofhide

3) Clean it once a season with saddle soap

4) Polish it with neutral or clear shoe polish. I have used beeswax but that tends to make the saddle a little sticky.

The Mystery of Food and Drink while riding

I have been puzzled by what to eat and drink when you are riding. Some of my friends don't eat but then chow down on enormous lunches. Some others that I know use power gels. Still others munch on power or protein bars.

Some swear by bananas which they stuff into their pockets, and others rely on drinks. I even know one person who has a tin of ensure as it is a meal replacement. Some drink water with lemon, and others have coffee in their bottles.

This is what I have found.

1) I am not on the space shuttle and refuse to eat food that I have to squeeze out of a tube
2) Bananas bruise easily and a bruised banana is not appealing
3) Granola or trail mix left in your saddle bag for the next ride will become food for rodents or other pests that inhabit your garage or bike shed.
4) If you buy a mix of nuts and chocolate, expect the chocolate to melt and you have a gooey mess
5) Muffins will simply disintegrate in your bag and leave a crumbly mess in your saddlebag
6) If you pack your granola in a single plastic bag, you will pick it up by the wrong end and your trail mix will spill all over the road
5) Energy drinks are heavy
6) Gatorade is far too sweet
7) Power and energy bars are far too chewy and I have yet to meet one that is tasty.
8) Granola bars, neatly packaged in foil will break and upon opening will spill like sawdust onto the road.

My best drink solution is a homemade one:

2/3 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1,1/3 cups of water
2 teaspoons honey
pinch of salt

This makes about 2 cups

I have found that MEC sells a little tube of capsules called Nuno. They are electrolyte replacement tablets and make your drinks fizz. They are slightly flavoured. I usually have one bottle of water with my fizz and one bottle of the orange mixture.

For food, I have learned that I can eat dried fruit on a ride, but not those energy or power bars. Almonds and other assorted birdseed is also a good bet for me.

I have also found that those little bottles of INSTANT energy that you can buy at stores that cater to all night truck drivers really do work. They give you a boost when you are flagging. They have different names, Power charge, Zap...but the ingredients are all the same, caffeine, taurine, sugar and electrolytes.

I am a new convert

For the past year, I have laughed at my bike riding friends who ride with very light carbon or titanium bikes. I laughed mainly because I could keep up or pass them on a heavier steel touring bike. As a result of my experiences, I had simply written off light racers as a fad, for Lance Armstrong wanna-bes. I reasoned that the engine, your heart and legs and lungs were what counted and the rest was frivolity.

This was before I rode my new DeVinci carbon bike. I could not believe the difference. The skinnier tires make for a bumpy ride, despite everyone saying carbon absorbs all the bumps, my steel touring bike with the wider tires is a softer ride. My bike has TIME clips which are wonderful for someone who is "clip challenged"

I was amazed at the way the bike responds and that in no time I was cruising at 38km/hr (no not on a downhill).

I am a convert! It is a thrill to ride such a machine.

Of course, the downside to my new stallion is that it will not hold panniers or any bag to speak of. I have a small saddle bag but no post mount, so it does bang a little.

I shall no longer laugh at those whom I derided in the past for being weight weenies!

Century ride and lessons on saddles and clothing and food

There is something magical about a true 160km century ride, or 100 miles. Today, Martin, Steve, Tim and I did just that. You can see us in the picture holding a centurion's bust after the ride was over. It was the Kanata Nepean Bicycle clubs fall century ride. There were three speed groups. I was leading the middle group, or S3. We began at 930 am, stopped briefly for lunch and at 515 or so, arrived at our start point, muddy but exhilerated and we had a beer and shared a plate of nachos.

Muddy because it had been raining off an on. I decided to wear a wool jersey, shorts and my mountain shoes. My feet froze! I needed my warmer boot covers! My legs were also cold and I would have benefited from my long cycling pants. My jacket, as all jackets, was fairly useless as I quickly heat up. Wool has the advantage of keeping you warm even when wet. This is true, to a point. I would have benefited from another layer as it took a long time for me to warm up when I got home. The real mystery in riding a bicycle is what to wear. Since you cant bring a huge saddle bag with extra clothing on such a long ride, you have to know what you are doing from the start. I clearly have a lot to learn in this regard.

100 miles on a bicycle is a real test of endurance and a true measure of your speed. Our average speed was 26km/hr which means that most of the time we were riding close to 30km/hr.

I was riding on a new brooks saddle and learned that despite all the hype about how long it takes to break them in, with oil applied the night before, they are ready to ride. Despite spending nearly 6 hours on a bike, I am not sore.

Food is also a problem on such rides for me. We stopped for lunch in Merrickville and I had a bowl of chile. This was a mistake as it sat heavily on me for the duration of my ride. I have decided that it is better simply to nibble on almonds and granola and have drinks rather than have a heavier lunch. One would imagine you would be famished after the ride, but this is not the case. This probably explains why most distance cyclists are so skinny. They can't eat!

Endurance biking is very different from a short jaunt say of 60-80km. You have to plan what you eat and wear with much more care than a shorter trip.

It was a great trip and hopefully this will become an annual event with KNBC.

I broke down!

Riding with cycling clubs is a good thing because it enables you to discover new areas and ride beyond the familiar, but it is also a bad thing because inevitably the talk will turn to the latest and greatest advancement in bicycles, particular the lightweight bikes. For many years I scoffed at the shiny, painfully uncomfortable and expensive pieces of machinery known as road bikes. They did not have fenders, so you get wet, you cant mount a rack so you can't carry anything, the tires are so skinny that if you hit gravel, you wipe out. I had resolved that road bikes were useless.

I ride a salsa casserole which is a lightweight touring bike. I resisted all talk of lighter bikes until I had my casserole fitted by Mary Patterson. I asked Mary if a lighter bike makes any difference at all, or is it more a function of the riders weight. Since Mary was not in my bike club, and was not going to sell me a bike, I thought her opinion would surely confirm mine, that the weight of a bike makes little difference. To my chagrin, she commented that indeed bike weight does make a very big difference. Even when I pointed out that the greatest source of weight for my bike is me, she still convinced me that a lighter bike is more responsive and faster and hence less tiring on long distances.

My casserole, when loaded is by no means a flyweight, in fighting form, it is a welterweight.

Today, I broke down and purchased, on sale, a beautiful Devinci CX2 carbon road bike. The good thing about carbon is that even if I wanted to put fenders on it, or racks you cannot mount anything on it. I even purchased time pedals and time clips, forever renouncing my hitherto fearful trepidation of things that clip and hold your feet while you ride, and presumably are easy to release. After a few embarrassing and painful falls as a result of SPD clips, which are supposed to be very easy clips, it took a while to convince me. I told Doug at Kunstaadt sports that I really required klutz proof clips!

My new road bike is equipped with my old brooks saddle. I have a new brown brooks saddle on my casserole. I decided that getting used to a new bike would be enough of a challenge without breaking in a new saddle.

I discovered that Tall Trees Cycles sells a beautiful leather handlebar tape. There is nothing worse than the feel of that horrible cork-like, plastic, gaudy spongy tape that purports to be handlebar wrap. There is nothing nicer than the feel of leather.

I am proud to say that it took an entire season of some nearly 5000km of bike riding before I broke down and purchased a faster bike.

My casserole bike is like a trusted station wagon. You can load it up and it will take you anywhere. It is comfortable and sports a few scratches, so I don't worry about new scratches, much like an old car. My first love of biking will always be bike touring, where you load up your bike with a picnic blanket, a camera, binoculars, a book and a splendid lunch for a days outing but there are times when the siren song of a sports car, or in this case a light weight carbon road bike, is simply too much to resist.