Velophilia

As of September 1, the “Bike Commute Challenge” has started!

It’s a simple idea. Get on your bike and ride to then from work. Record your mileage. Done!

My full commute is 16 miles one way if I take the most direct route but can easily be as long as 20 if I take a more quiet route or as short as 5 if I take my bike and MAX to work. But if I at least multi-modal my commute to work then ride home I’ll still be logging at 21 miles per work day.

This should help keep me in shape for the coming cyclocross season and the Cross Crusade series.

Watch my progress!

-Tomas

Velophilia Lives, Again!

Consolidated into my personal blog back in 2009 to help simplify my life, I decided to split off all my bicycle-related content onto its own due to the sheer amount that I had.

Now my personal blog can focus on art and design, Velophilia will be all about bikes, adventure and community!

Enjoy!

-Tomas

I was inspired to write this post after reading Tammy’s write-up about Naysayers.

I’ve grown up around naysayers and found that I no longer have the energy to deal with them. I’d rather not associate with someone whom only seems to have negative things to say when I set goals or set out to accomplish anything challenging.

Here’s a quick list I was told “You can’t do that”, “Won’t work”, “Pointless”, “Bad for you”.

• Moving across country
• Living without a car
• Biking more than 200 miles in a day
• A Sprint Distance Triathlon
• Ran a Half Marathon
• Run Barefoot for 3 Miles
• Living comfortably without a college degree
• Summiting Mount St. Helens

If I had listened to my naysayers, I would be bored, morbidly obese, and working on an assembly line.  I still have many goals to reach that people still say I can’t do, shouldn’t do, or it’s idiotic to do.

To them I give the middle finger and say “Watch me” as I leave them to their TV shows, self-inflicted boredom, and mediocrity.

It feels so good to be back on a mountain bike. Like, pre-orgasmically good.

I sold my Gary Fisher Tassajara back in August 2008 due to dire financial need.  Now that I have a job and have been doing my best to take care of old debts, it was time to get back onto the trails.

I found this Gary Fisher 29er through a friend on Facebook for a very reasonable price and immediately remembered all those feelings of single-track, downhills, log-rolls and rocky trails.

On this very sunny Saturday afternoon, Ed and I took a mid-day ride up to Forest Park to get some dirt time. Although it was windy and a bit on the nippy side of temperatures, Leif Erickson Drive was an easy steady uphill ride. Plenty of water left on the trail from previous days rain left me coated with quite a bit of mud and grit in my mouth but never once did it at all discourage me from enjoying the ride.

We eventually wormed our way up Saltzman to get to Fire Lane #5 and try some REAL single track.  I was a bit nervous since the trail was a bit wet and I was re-building my confidence on a strange new bike. I rode the entire single-track section with dips, whoopdees, small drops and tight turns without once dabbing down or missing a beat.

It was a slice of paradise for the full 2 minutes it took to ride the trail. It was far too little time to really get the experience of cross country mountain biking, but it brought back so many good memories that I often ponder moving somewhere closer to more trails so I can make this a regular event.

We celebrated a pleasant ride by meeting some friends at Migration Brewery for celebratory beers and food.  It was a VERY good Saturday. I was aglow for the rest of the day.

Before and after riding the 200K this past weekend, I’ve had a number of people asking me the reason “Why?”

• “Wouldn’t you be hung-over?”
• “Won’t you be cold?”
• “Won’t you get tired?”

I sometimes answer their question with a question:

• Why would I want to spend the first of the year nursing a hangover?
• Why would I waste the day passively watching a sport on TV when I could be participating in the sport of my choice?
• Isn’t skiing or snowboarding also cold?

Of course, any of these questions are then followed up with something similar to “Yeah, but biking is hard…”
“So is anything else that is physically demanding like backpacking, rock climbing, skiing, snowboarding, etc…”

To truly answer the question as to “Why?” I have some easy canned answers that usually suffice and keep the conversation short:

• I wanted to start the new year with a personal challenge, success!
• I really love riding my bike, just needed to dress warmly
• It’s a great workout to start the year
• It gives me a chance to meditate on the go
• Gotta burn off all that New Year party pizza

What I really love about my circle of friends, close and by association, is that none of them ask me “Why?”, they usually say “Awesome!”

I hope to hear more “Awesome” than “Why” in the future.
-Tomas

 

Shimano Dynohub, originally uploaded by Tomas.Quinones.

This is now my third attempt at using a dynohub on my bike. All three hubs were Shimano branded, but there is something different about this particular wheel.

I built up my first dyno back in 2008 just before a trip and thought it was OK, but after a couple days of riding it around and having to conquer some hills, I soon came to realize that the hub created too much noticeable resistance.  I sold it on Craigslist and went back to using battery-operated lights.

The second attempt was with a slightly more expensive option of the Shimano Deore LX as ordered through Universal Cycles. Again, it was great using lights that never needed batteries and gave off a nice flood of photons, but I swear the resistance was worse! I’m not knocking the wheel. It was a great buy and solid wheel. Most riders probably wouldn’t notice the resistance until they got above 15mph. My main gripe was that they offered no cruising at all.

My latest dynohub-wheel was purchased at Clever Cycles for $99. It’s probably lower on the tier than the LX model, but it was a GREAT price point. A friend of mine recently bought one and was singing its praises, so I bit my wallet and dove into the Dyno-pool once more.

I have to say: This is the best dyno-wheel I have ever used.  It adds the same weight as previous wheels but it rolls really well and I don’t really feel any significant resistance or alternator buzzing that was symptomatic of previous hubs.  I can still cruise along at 18mph without feeling like I’m being pulled back by invisible gremlins.

This has me thinking of all kinds of projects I could do with a dyno…powering a stereo, charging my phone or AA batteries, lighting my way through all-night rides.

One of the Clever Cycles employees has mentioned that the Shimano Alfine hub is supposed to have less resistance and is competitive with the Schmit SON dynos. If this is true, I may have to let loose a few more dollars.

I can hardly wait to try some long distance, randonnuering rides with it.

-Tomas

Roxi, originally uploaded by Tomas.Quinones.

I’ve been saving up for months, sold Betty the Long Haul Trucker, and bought a brand new Raleigh RX 1.0 from River City Bicycles.

So far, I really love the bike. It’s so fast, responsive, and BE-YUTE-EE-FUL!

Surly Long Haul Trucker for Sale 50cm, originally uploaded by Tomas.Quinones.

I’ve had this bike for 3 years and have ridden it nearly 16,000 miles around Portland and Oregon. She’s been in all kinds of weather and never had any catastrophic failures. But, I wanted to get a lighter, faster bike for Cyclocross racing and Randonneuring so I sold her.

This is the last decent picture I took of her and I miss the gal already.

I hope her next owner loves her as much as I did.

-Tomas