New Bike!

I found the original receipt for the Trek 520, purchased in 1986.  People said you had to be crazy to spend that much on a bike.  Ah, but it was so light — probably about 28 pounds maybe a little less because it was so small, double butted chrome-moly Reynolds tubes with the latest Shimano Biopace elliptical triple crank and down tube friction shifters!  The stuff of dreams!  HUH?????????

At the time no one cared about 5′ 2″ women riding a bicycle except an overzealous woman named Terry we met on a ride upstate.  She could make a bike for us but it was out of our price range.   When you’re a 5’2″ woman you knew what she was saying about bike fit was right, but try to convince a bike shop — most of them laughed!  We scoured the bike shops, magazines and catalogs and along with our tape measure set out to find something that came close to fitting.  The Trek 520 was one of the few 19 inch frames around in our price range and had the shortest top tube — so there it was.  Over the years we we able to find oddball parts and even had some custom machined to try to make the bike fit.  It worked for a while but twenty years later the body can’t make that stretch anymore.

Over the years we became zealots of woman’s bike fit on the training rides.  We knew women could get a good fit and advised our riders to go to another shop if the sales person insisted on selling a bad fit.

You'd think I could take a better photo of the new bike!

We could never understand the industry because every year most of our enthusiastic new riders were women who couldn’t buy clothes or bikes to fit unless they spent big bucks.  Forget about comfortable seats!!!!!

Bikes don't look comfortable in the house -- they like to be ridden.

Twenty years later — all we had to do was change the stem and get a perfect fit starting at entry level price and going to whatever you could afford to pay — all different brands and most important — colors!

The wind was so strong the bike stood still going down a mountain.

Ah that steel steed, faithful companion over thousands of miles.  So many states and Canada.  Mountains, valleys. rivers, lakes, oceans, forests, cities, bridges, suspension, covered wood and washed away but still on the map.  Rain, snow, sleet, mud, heat, cold, dogs, eagles and moose.   55 mph coming down a mountain — we must have been crazy. One day the wind on the coast of Nova Scotia was so strong the fully loaded bike came to a standstill going down the mountain and actually blew over.

You would never have seen the moose from a car

Kind strangers willing to share diner just to find out why you were passing through.  Loggers, cross county semis, and jerks in pickups, SUV’s and muscle cars — if they killed you it didn’t matter cause they were having fun!   Why do they hate us?

Freedom -- Everything you need for two weeks in Nova Scotia without a car.

All in all — joy, freedom, ride for days or weeks without a car or cell phone — that wonderful high — endorphins, nature, speed, stealth, seeing things you’d never see in a car, but seeing so much more than walking.  Cows smell sweet, dips smell different than hills, you can smell the rivers coming up around a bend — home style cooking made with love — you don’t ever stop there in a car.  Dogs and horses run along side, for miles sometimes, like they wish they could jump on and spin for a while!

“Bicycles move

With the flow

Of the earth

Like a cloud

So quiet

In the October Sky

Like licking ice cream

From a cone

Like knowing you

Will always

Be there.”

I had to quote from the poem Bicycles by Nikki Giovanni in her new book of poetry Bicycles:  Love Poems (HarperCollins).  Turn off the computer and read the book the next time your ride gets rained out!

Week 3 — 40 Miler, 12 mph

30 degrees, why are these people smiling?

It’s going to be another cold one.   Morning temperatures around 30.  Two cold weeks in a row and we’re sure to lose a couple more of the first timers.  It takes a few attempts to figure out that you can actually be warm on a day like this.  Most new riders are not going to have the right clothing and it can get quite expensive to stay comfortable in this unseasonable weather.   Well at least the sun is strong and amazingly the wind is calm for the third week in a row!  The March sun can warm up a day pretty quickly.  We should probably do the talk on clothing earlier in the rides, but it is all so important, spinning, drinking, eating, the things you have to know to be able to stay on your bike for 100 miles.

Does Spiderman really need a helmet?

At least the sun was shining.

It’s so cold out there I didn’t really pay attention to taking pictures for the blog. Luckily Lori had a camera and sent me a few of her photos… leg in a cast, riding 40 miles in 30 degree weather AND taking pictures!  I guess she’ll do the hundred.  The battle in your mind, especially the first time you try do 100 is as difficult as getting into shape, and as important.

Mary Ann and Lori ride past the DEC area.

We lingered too long at the start, but once we got underway it went pretty well.  We spent too much time at the first bathroom stop, with a few bike adjustments.  Then on to the Bagel Cafe in Middle Island.  New owners there, but I’m happy to report the bagels are good, the bathrooms are clean and they seemed happy to have our group of cold riders!  Hmmm I’m thinking we could rename this the “Tour de Bagels.”

Evie's going to ride the Road Bike next week. 40 is usually the limit for hybrids.

We stayed too long at the bagel place too.  Everyone is keeping up but we’re spending too much time at the stops today.  I love the ride through Middle Island and Ridge;  ponds, horses and I even saw a deer on a side street.  I forgot I wanted to take pictures of this area that has kept some of it’s charm.  Long Island looks so much different on a bicycle.

Could this be Josie's last ride on this bike?

I forgot to check the time we got back.  This ride took too long.   Everyone kept the pace pretty well even though we threw in some hills.  Dare I mention, we are done with week three without any flats?  We have to watch the amount of time we spend at the stops.  Same old story.

The whole day seemed like the red team against the yellows.

It never warmed up, which contributes to the delays.   I doubt it ever hit 40.   The forecast was wrong as usual.  We’ll start the 50 at 9 next week.  Could be another cold one with one hour less of that March sun.

Week 2 — 30 miler, 11 mph

We got a decent turnout for a cold beginner ride! The bike is on the trainer for a demonstration

Well we always wonder what’s going to happen on week 2.  The temperature is about half of what it was the week before.   Temperatures in the low 30’s in the first couple of weeks of the beginner rides can knock the group down to just a few riders.  I always wished the 100 could be a couple of weeks later, because riders have to be committed to come out on a day like this… or as most normal people would say “they should be committed if they ride 30 miles on a day like this!”

Lori's Ligiment

We got a pretty good sized group for a cold day.  A few did drop out from the prior week.  As the group gathered, we noticed Lori’s leg cast — some kind of ligament damage — but she rode like a trooper.  There that committed dilemma again!

We weren't sure if some of the riders were going to rob the train.

Normally we do lunch at another bagel place on the 30 miler, but Fred and Darren from Carl Hart Bicycles http://carlhart.com graciously offered to give us a bagel lunch.  Support your local bike shop and they will support us.  Thanks for the spread Fred.  It’s always hard to decide what cyclists like more, bikes or food, but put them both in the same place and and you’ve hit on a winning combination.  Throw in a bathroom and we’ll ride another 15!

Thanks Fred and Darren

Men in tights!

Temperatures actually started warming up by the time we were done with lunch.  Feels like another photo opp.  In years past I used to just sprint ahead of the group, get out the camera and take a picture as everyone rode by.  Now I have to ask them to give me a head start!  Still, a bad day on the bike is better than a good day at almost anything else.   I should even mention that we had no flats for two weeks in a row.  Just a couple of minor repairs, Slav’s derailleur and Audry’s seat.   We were back by 2:30… and a good time was had by all.

Week One — 25 miler, 10 mph

I realized the bike and the bodies were not in shape.

So on Friday night before the first ride,  you realize that the New Years resolution to get you and the the old bikes in shape never panned out.

It still looks like winter!

There are 16 inches of snow out there and even though the temperature will be in the 60’s the phone keeps ringing — not only are we going to ride, but it may very well be the best weather we’ll have until May.

We’ve been leading these rides for twenty something years and the only sure bet about Long Island weather in the spring is that the forecast will be wrong and there will probably be a headwind in every direction!  We always wonder what the group will be like.  It’s never the same, but almost always turns out to be fun?

We made it out of the parking lot and across the street without any flats.

It ends up that more than 25 people signed up for the rides,  but a bunch can’t make the first week.   Still,  it is a good crowd and the ride is much easier to lead if there are less than 20 riders.  We’re still using the Ronkonkoma Train station as the start because the beginner riders need rest stops with bathrooms at predictable distances.  We didn’t have time to scout out new routes that were relatively flat, had the bathroom and lunch stops at the right distances and didn’t have much traffic.  B riders don’t have the same needs and fears as new riders, that’s why these rides are different.

Tell your friends you rode 25 miles in the snow.

It’s an interesting group this year, no clunker bikes.  There are only two hybrids and most have clipless pedals or toe clips on the first week!  In 23 years there have been four or five people that did all of the training and the 100 on a hybrid.  They just end up slowing the whole ride down for the first four weeks or so until they finally give up.  You need a road bike to ride these distances at these speeds and it looks like we finally got that message across.

We usually have a flat tire during week one before we get out of the parking lot.  Surprise, we got across the street with no mishaps — this is not the usual beginners group!

"Rocket" flew up the first hill, some others had a bit more trouble.

We got to Railroad Ave — 1.6 miles into it with snow on the grass.  Usually two or three riders quit by this point but everyone is still with us — still no flats! THIS IS THE ONLY TIME IN 23 YEARS WE EVER DID A MILE AND A HALF ON THE FIRST RIDE WITH NO MISHAPS!

Lincoln Avenue, the first hill and probably a good photo opp! Wow no flats and no walkers!  It”s a different kind of ride for sure.

Beginner training rides and bagels always seem like a good match.

Lunch at Bagel Lovers in Medford.  No flats yet!  We love stopping here.  They love cyclists, the bagels are great, and the bathrooms are clean.  I could never understand the shop owners that don’t want us.  We always call ahead and 25 hungry cyclists can turn it into a good sales day as long as we don’t wreck the bathroom!

Unreal — it 1:30 and we’re pulling back into the parking lot with all of the riders, no flats and everyone is going to come back for week two.

Wing it!

Someone thought a blog about the beginner training rides might be interesting.  I’m not so sure, but since week two is tomorrow I guess I should get something in there about week 1.   I’ve been thinking about what to write for about for a couple of weeks.  Guess we’ll wing it!