As readers of this blog must have deduced by now, I am rather obsessed with bicycles.  I have gushed about my folding bike, my 29er mountain bike, the trailer for my touring bike, and the recent upgrades to my racing bike.  In line with that passion that borders on obsession, several months ago I upgraded my racing bike to a new carbon fibre frame from Cervelo, a carbon fibre fork from Easton, a carbon fibre handlebar from Zipp, and a beautiful, lightweight clincher wheelset from HED.  Though I got the bike in December, the rather long and cold winter here dissuaded me from doing much riding outside, and I haven’t put in serious miles on the new bike until now.  I wanted to share some photos of the bike and describe its rather amazing qualities–namely, light weight, stiffness and an incredibly smooth, comfortable ride.  Read on for more photos, details and thoughts on the bike.

I have had a bad run of luck at bike races.  After longing for years to try my hand at racing, my fist two events last year were, well, unsatisfactory.  My first race, back in August of ‘07, didn’t go well for the simple reason that I was grossly out of shape and overweight.  I gave up 10 miles into the race, as I was unable even to keep up with people riding 1970’s steel bikes and jeans!  The great thing about that race, however, was that it inspired me to get back on the bike and start training again.  I immediately signed up for the last road race of the year in New England, the Jamestown Road Race, and began training hard.  On October 13th, I entered the event 10 pounds lighter and fairly confident that I could keep up.  Unfortunately, that race ended in disaster as well, as I crashed just 8 miles in.

This year I was determined to, at the very least, finish the damn race!

Yesterday I headed out to do a 90 mile ride from Providence to Wellesley College and back with a group of 5 racers on the Brown cycling team.  When I woke up it was raining pretty hard, yet I received an email confirming that the ride was still on.  For a moment I hesitated: on the one hand, I knew that if I went out it would be a long, wet, cold slog, but on the other hand, I knew that if I stayed inside I would regret it.  Also, given my long-term goal of doing an ultra-endurance cycling race, I was keenly aware of the need to become accustomed to training in any and all conditions.  So at 7:50 AM I left my apartment and met up with the other riders.

At first, the roads were wet, but no rain was falling.  Within half an hour of our departure, however, the heavens opened up and we were all instantly soaked. Fortunately, I had a rain jacket with me which, though it kept me dry, is made of PVC and doesn’t breathe, so I was soon covered in sweat instead of rain.  It became clear that the rain wasn’t going to abate anytime soon, and I started fretting about hypothermia and other neurotic concerns.  The ride itself was fast–averaging well over 18 MPH over slightly rolling terrain on beautiful back roads.

I am now the proud owner of a Bike Friday folding bicycle.  The name of the particular model is the Pocket Rocket, and it is a beautiful, fire-engine red bicycle that rides like a regular road bike but folds down small enough to fit into a suit case that can be checked in at the airport.  I got this bike because in order to meet my goal of riding my bike at least an hour a day for 10 years, I will have to have a bike that I can take with me when I travel by bus, train and airplane.  Of course, I recently upgraded both my race bike and my mountain bike, but the fact of the matter is that when it comes to cycling, few are more obsessed and in love with the sport than I!  It is rare in life to find an activity that guarantees health, fitness and happiness, and for me cycling is just such an activity!  So far I have ridden 10 days in a row, and I feel absolutely fantastic.  Read more about the bike (and see more photos!) after the fold.

Al Gore’s Challenge Inspires My Thesis, and My Own Challenge

Al Gore recently challenged the U.S. to get 100% of its electricity from renewable energy within a decade. I was so excited and inspired by the challenge that I decided to switch my thesis topic in order to look at some of the issues raised by that challenge; specifically, I want to understand how to address the intermittence of renewable energy sources through geographic distribution, energy storage, smart grid technology and innovative demand side management. 

Around the time that I read Al Gore’s challenge, I came across a completely unrelated article about a guy–Jim Langley, the former technical editor at Bicycling Magazine–who, in 1990, set a goal to ride his bicycle at least an hour a day for ten years.  Not only did he meet his goal, but the streak is alive to this day.  After I read that I thought to myself, hmm, wouldn’t it be interesting to spend the next 10 years devoting myself to meeting Al Gore’s challenge and eradicating poverty through my micro-credit initiative, while at the same time riding my bike at least an hour a day?  And so it was that I decided to challenge myself to achieve the goal of riding an hour a day for 10 years.  Hopefully by the time I have accomplished it the planet and human society will be as healthy thanks to clean, renewable energy that doesn’t impact global geopolitics as I will be from the riding.  Read on to find out why I’m doing this and for details of the challenge.

Okay, so I’m pretty obsessed with bicycles.  For one thing, I have three (a touring bike/car, a mountain bike/winter bike and a racing bike).  Secondly, when I’m not riding my bike, well, I generally find myself thinking or writing about cycling.  Given that paradigm, it isn’t surprising that I’m extremely excited about some new upgrades to my racing and mountain bikes.  I recently had my entire gear set on the race bike switched from Shimano Ultegra to Campagnolo Record.  For those of you that aren’t familiar with bicycle gears, Shimano is made in Japan and is extremely functional, but Campagnolo is made in Italy and, apart from being functional, is drop-dead gorgeous.  I am literally physically attracted to the gears on my bike.  Campagnolo Record is the top of the line gear set, and my new bike looks absolutely fantastic with it (photos after the fold).  For my steel mountain bike–a 2006 Surly Karate Monkey–I just installed a new, massive front tire, as well as a neat clip-on rear fender. 

During the last few weeks I’ve been riding my bike with a religious fervor.  Despite feeling stressed about RISD classes, the fact that my best friend continues to ignore me, my grandma’s fall, and doubts about how to proceed with my thesis, cycling has served as a constant, steady anchor point.  I know that so long as I get up in the morning and will myself on the bike, by the time I get back home I will feel energized, productive and ready for the day.  It isn’t just the fact that I love bicycling (though I most certainly do), nor is it that riding the bike gets me outside into the fresh air (though I love that feeling as well), but rather it’s the fact that by cranking out 20,30, 40 or more miles I feel like I am progressing, making my muscles and lungs and heart stronger, my mind crisper.  It is very rare for me to go for a bike ride and then feel sad during the rest of the day, yet I often struggle with sadness on days that I do not ride.

After my first bike race in August, which went rather poorly, to say the least, I decided I would spend the next two months training for the last road race of the season in Jamestown, Rhode Island. During those two months I rode at least 5 days a week, did intervals, recovery rides, group rides, and I even played some tennis for cross-training. All that training paid off: I lost 8 pounds, rediscovered my once-sculpted legs, and generally felt much fitter, faster and stronger on the bike. In other words, I was all ready for my second bike race.All week I have been tapering off my mileage while still throwing in a few hard efforts, just as all the training manuals recommend.

Michele and I have been living in Providence for about a month now and we’re finally starting to get adjusted and settled in. Our apartment is fully furnished, including a guest room just waiting for guests! So if anyone wants to visit us here, please do! Beyond that, I have been riding my bike every day and, to my pleasant surprise, I’m finding that there are excellent bike paths and bike lanes throughout the area. In fact, I just discovered a 25 mile long bike path that hugs the bay and is surrounded by woods, parks, campgrounds, playgrounds and even an Audobon center. It’s called the East Bay Bike Path, and it is another great example of the work of the Rails to Trails Conservancy. They take old rail lines that have fallen into disuse, remove the tracks and then build a bike/jogging/walking/rollerblading path.

I’m finding it really easy to meet other cyclists because I am now part of the Brown Cycling Club, the best feature of which is that they have a Yahoo! group where you can post a message looking for someone to ride with. Most of the time someone will respond and, just like that, you have a riding partner for the day! The club often has group rides (for instance, every saturday morning there is a 40 mile ride called the Tim Horton loop), and many of the riders are not only experienced racers, but very smart and interesting people. Already I have ridden with a psychology student, and a PhD candidate in music theory.