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Your trail: Home  Bikeman Blogs Road Thoughts
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The Bikeman Blogs section is our collection of blogs from our Team Bikeman members and friends of Bikeman. Contributions from regular riders and commuters, bike aficionados, and world class racers.
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Howdo. My name is Zach Magoon and I have been commuting year-round by bike for the last 7 years in both Boston, MA and Portland, ME. Because each day brings new challenges, whether it be changing weather conditions, crappy drivers, sore muscles or mechanicals, I think my ramblings will be, at the very least, moderately amusing. | |
Commuter Files Archives. |
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Greetings and salutations. My name is Rick Nelson (no, not that one damnit) and I am a rider for Team Bikeman.com. You can check out my profile in the team rider section. “Racin Rick” covers my trials and tribulations as a mountain bike racer, commuter, new father etc. In truth, its just a way for me to kill time at work and to see pictures of myself on the web. So here are some excerpts from all my blogging, hope you enjoy. | |
Racin Rick Archives. |
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Welcome to Tales From The Soiled Chamois. This is going to be an online journal taking you through my season of training for and racing marathon, 6, 12, and 24 hour solo endurance races all while working a full time job, being married with a two year old son. I'm no pro, even though I do occasionally race against them. I'm just out there having fun pushing myself. | |
The Soiled Chamois Archives. |
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Not to be confused with the time-trial and women's-specific 650C wheel, the 650B wheel is all about comfort, versatility, and speed over varied terrain. The key to this is all in the tires. A 650x38B setup is about the same diameter as a 700C wheel with a 19mm tire... | |
650Blog Archives. |
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Road Thoughts |
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Written by Jason Mahokey
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Tuesday, 25 July 2006 |
Haven't been checking in all that often for the simple reason I haven't been doing too much racing for the past few weeks, so life hasn't been all that exciting. I've been in a productive "recovery and build" period though and getting a lot of hours in on the road bike, pluse getting on the trails with the Dos Niner whenever possible.
I also of course got all caught up in this year's Tour DAY France. When the Tour first started this year I wasn't all that interested. Not a fan of the flat stages and with all the "dope" busts and accusations it was hard for me to be excited about it, but after it hit the mountains and seeing Floyd's incredible comeback performance, I regained my interest in it, and of course my interest in putting even more miles in on the road bike.
Road riding is such a great way for me maintain fitness and get big miles in without completely destroying my body and putting wear on my race bikes. The unavoidable problem with road riding of course is traffic and motorists. Been doing some thinking about motorists and here are some thoughts:
Motorists fall in to 4 categories...
THOSE WHO FEAR YOU:
These are usually older drivers or real young drivers. They're unsure if you know what you are doing and trail behind you at a snails pace and refuse to pass, even though you are hugging the white line and motioning for them to pass. This can be frustrating and I try to always give them an indication that it's all cool to pass or I just go ahead a slow to a near stand still to let them get by. They're usually nervous about you and think they're doing the right thing. It's frustrating, but at not as bad as...
THOSE WHO HATE YOU: (AKA- ***holes):
These folks are the ones who believe that you in NO way belong on the road, and no matter how much room you give them to get their 8 mile per gallon, Dubya stickered SUV to their McHousing Plan®, they still feel the need to blow their horn and scream something about getting off the hell off the road or something which questions your sexual preference because you're on a bike.
If they're REALLY pissed, you might even have them attempt to run you off the road (happened only once thankfully) throw a Big Gulp at you (happened to a friend) or pull in front of you and gun it on the shoulder so as to shoot rocks back at you (ah, the love)
These folks used to REALLY get to me, they still do in their own way, but these people are NEVER going to change and since a 170 lb. shaved legged cyclist on a road bike has no real chance against a 5 ton SUV, so I keep my mouth shut, smile, and wave.
More than anything I usually end up feeling sorry for these folks. What makes them so angry with cyclists? Is is that they see my riding as freedom they may not have the chance to enjoy? Do they see a level of fitness that they don't have and it makes them angry with themselves and in turn the take it out on me to make themselves feel better? Maybe they would feel better if I wore a sign on my back that says "RELAX, YOU MAKE MORE MONEY THAN ME".
THE MULTI TASKERS:
These are folks that are drinking coffee, lighting a cigarette, changing a CD, and talking on their cell phone ALL at the same time. The "Multi Tasker" is the one you hope is NOT coming up behind you. At least you know the "*** Holes" see you since they're shouting something at you and flipping you the bird.
Of course the are also a ton of great folks out there that will shout encouragements, give a wave, or at the very least just respect my right to ride my bike on the roads and give me a little room.
Kids are great too. Nothing like screaming down hill at 35 or 40 mph, looking over and seeing the jaw dropped face of a little kid in the back seat, or seeing them smiling and waving at you.
Of course I try to keep to the farm roads and back roads as much as possible. Cruising an old farm road on a summer evening, with the day's stress behind you is a great way to unwind and get a little zen time in. Plus knowing that big miles on the road bike are going to help make those incredible days on the trail or race course that much better is good motivation to chamois up and hit the road.
I always try to give the cars the right of way. I look at myself as a visitor on the road and respect the fact the roads are built for cars, go fast and can cause a world of hurt, BUT since I'm allowed to ride on them if I follow the rules, I only ask for the some respect in return. I hope someday motorists in the U.S. will respect and admire cyclist the way they do in many European countries, but until then you just gotta be careful out there.
Another week of maintaining some fitness and then I start tapering for the final 6 Hour race of the year on August 6th and a big August that will end with a 24 Hour race and may have and 18 hour race in the middle.
Hope everyone's summer going great and you all are getting some miles in whether it's on the road or on the dirt. Stay safe and ride defensively.
Jason
"The Soiled Chamois"
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