Vintage bikes: Still Relevant?

Can Vintage Bikes Compete in Today's Peloton?

Yes, they can. They can also be easy to find and can cost1% of the actual cost of one of today's high performance professional bikes. 

How is that even possible? One of today's bikes being as fast as one from about 25 or more years ago? At first glance, it seems like an ambitious, even foolhardy statement to make. But I have the facts to back it up. Being a bike nerd, I have developed an attraction, to the point of infatuation, for all things vintage when it comes to bikes. I have collected novels with accounts from the Golden era of cycling when riders rode on Reynolds 531 steel, used down tube shifters, and used over the brake hood cable routing. Bicycles that were anything over 14 speeds seemed like a myth, or an unnecessary amount of gears.  And I can tell the races back then were just as fast as the races are now.

Let's compare, for example, the average speed of the peloton from the 1982 Tour De France and from 2012. The 1982 Tour was only 11 kilometers longer than the 2012 tour. The average speed for the peloton in 1982 was 38.05kph, or 23.64 miles an hour. In 2012, the average speed was 39.9kph, or 24.79 miles an hour. That is about one mile an hour faster than in 1982. The difference? Smoother roads, electronic shifting, built in wattage and cadence meters, indexed shifting, carbon fiber and lots and lots more money being poured into the sport than in 1982. The modern race bike is around 15 pounds, six pounds lighter than the bicycles back then. The benefit of all of this, again to emphasize is one mile an hour.

One mile an hour. If I don't eat before I ride I will sometimes go one mile an hour faster than with a sandwich in my stomach. One mile an hour on one's average speed is a big deal when building up the speed necessary to compete professionally, but it certainly ceases to be impressive in a lapse of thirty years. One would assume that with all of today's technology that it could be faster than this. But it isn't, and let me tell you why. 

What are now vintage bicycles were and are great machines, works of art in their craftsmanship and attention to detail. By the 80's, the racing bike had been perfected in every way shape and form for the purpose that it served, to go fast and be reliable. They not only were fast and reliable but looked great doing so. So what happened? What had to change?

Absolutely nothing. The saying goes if it's not broken don't fix it. Bikes from back then should have been left untouched for at least another 30 years. In hindsight, to gain one mile an hour difference, there simply was no point. The Tour De France is not the only race where this applies. Since 1986, no one has been able to break the speed record set for the race across America, or RAAM. This record was set using 1980's technology and still stands until this day.

In 1982 the tour was won by Bernard Hinault. known as Le Blaireu (the badger) for his aggressive nature and the way he took charge of the peloton during races. He was a true leader, a man's man. The guy never backed down from a fight, and he wasn't the kind of guy you would want to mess with. Fast forward to 2012. Bradley Wiggins wins the tour. So what, big deal. Not to be disrespectful, but Wiggins does and will never hold the air of authority over the peloton that Bernard Hinault once did. Next year someone else will take the yellow jersey, or if no one else is ambitious enough then Wiggins might have it again. In all honesty, Wiggins fails to impress me beyond those ginormous mutton chops he possesses.  Slaying The Badger, the current book I'm on, gives insight into the kind of rider Hinault was. I recommend anyone looking for cycling inspiration to read it too.

For those of you who are considering getting into the local bike racing scene on a vintage bike, it can be done. There is no reason why it would be impossible. I want to read of stories in the future of guys wailing at criteriums on their friction shifter equipped Peugeots and then saying "booyah!" to the competition. I recently discovered that I don't like going slow if I don't have to. Whether my bike is vintage or modern, I tend to ride faster than most people that I know. I have to stop looking at that as a negative and see what I can do with it. It's one thing to be faster than my family and friends but I know I'm still far from being able to win a race. But looking at these numbers from 1982 I at least know that its possible, and that gives me hope and makes me want to start training harder to ride faster. 

I hope that if you are like me and own a vintage bike you too will start mashing the pedals harder on your next ride. As long as the bike is mechanically sound, enter it in a race and let me know how it goes. Knowing that there are competitive retro-grouches out there lets me know I'm not alone in this. Keep training hard, riding harder, keep the rubber side down and the cycling cap on with the brim tilted upwards. Stay tuned for more insightful articles from my blog, and subscribe if you haven't already.

Riding For the Long Haul: Addressing Pains and Aches on the Bike

Answering why your fingers may be getting numb while on your bike, among

other concerns.

When I started riding, I experienced pains in my knees and fingers which I thought were the result of not wearing gloves and being out of shape. Through my now six years of regular riding experience I have discovered how to ride pain free, without even requiring the use of gloves on while on my bike. Gloves should not be a substitute for dampening road vibrations and saving your hands from Carpel Tunnel Syndrome. They should only be used as a safety item for if a rider should fall and have to catch himself on the asphalt. The following are some adjustments you can make to your bike that will allow you to ride for the long haul, that is, for many more years without having to give up early due to unnecessary injury.

Why your fingers get numb:

First let's answer this by saying that it isn't due to not wearing gloves. That has been a successful marketing scheme that the bike industry has used to sell more over priced cut off gloves. What the bike shops don't tell you is that today's bicycles are more stiffer than they have ever been, with almost all bikes made of oversized tubing and straight blade forks, with the forks twice as thick as what they were twenty or more years ago. The result?  A far more jarring ride. 

For example, there is a big difference in the ride quality of my steel Woodrup and my aluminum Raleigh. The country roads that make up my ride route have many potholes, dips and cracks as well as areas where there are loose gravel. While steel bikes like my Woodrup absorb all these road imperfections, with the fork blades visibly bouncing as I ride over road obstacles, my Raleigh has no give whatsoever. The front fork, although chromoly and with a small amount of rake, does little to improve the ride quality of the bike. The result is that, unless I use gloves to ride my newer Raleigh bicycle, I'm in for some wrist pain after my ride. The same can be applied to most modern bicycles now made, regardless of the materials used. So, before going out to buy some new gloves, it might be the bike itself causing the trouble. Since gloves are less expensive than a new bike, buying gloves might be the more sensible alternative than getting a new (or used) steel bicycle. Just remember to invest in the long run, a good bike will last longer than the many sets of gloves a rider can and will go through.

Check the handlebar position. Believe it or not, adjusting the handlebars by tilting them even a few milometers up or down can have a drastic effect on your ride. For a few years I played with the tilt of the handlebars on my Raleigh, until now I am comfortable enough with my hand positioning that I sometimes forgo using my gloves. Adjusting hand position, such as gripping the ends of the drops on the handlebars, also goes a long way to easing any hand related pain one might incur.

Why your knees are hurting:

The commonly accepted myth is that the frame size of the bike is off by a few centimeters. People sell bicycles that fit them because they were "a little too big, or a little too small" for them at the time. While it's true that having a extra long top tube may cause the rider to overstretch trying to reach the handlebars, the truth is that the same principle does not apply to seat tube length.  So that we are clear, the seat tube is the tube on the frame that the seat post slides into. The seat post height is the critical factor that will determine the fit of the bicycle. Many knee injures on a bike are the result of a poor seat post height.

Here's a rule of thumb that I use when fitting a bike to my personal dimensions. I must have at least 4 inches of the seat post exposed from the seat tube in order to have a comfortable ride.  At around 4 inches the seat post starts to absorb road vibrations, any less and you will be feeling the full effect of the road surface on your posterior. If I can't at least have 4 inches of seat post then the frame is too big for me. However, the opposite is true if I expose so much of the seat post that I pass the seat post height limit that is usually marked near the bottom of the post. Too much exposure of the seat post will put too much load and stress on the post and on the frame joint, causing seat post or frame failure in the long run.

Given these rules of thumb, I can ride between a 54cm and a 56 to 57cm frame. Measured with a ruler, I ride frames that are both 21.5 and 23.25 inches tall. A more compact frame such as a 54cm gives me climbing advantages that a larger frame might not. However, a 56 or 57cm frame allows me to maintain my top speed more efficiently and have a more aerodynamic position on my bike due to the also slightly longer top tube.

When adjusting the seat post height, make sure that there is a slight bend on the knee with the pedal turned  down  and parallel to the floor. Make sure you can achieve this with the foot resting on the pedal, parallel to the ground and not tilted up or down. There should not be too much bend on the knee nor should the knee lock with the leg being all the way straight. A slight bend is a slight bend, enough to engage the leg muscles and to only use the knee as a pivoting point when pedaling. 

I am also a spokesman for cycling shoes. Purists might say that these shoes did not come around until the mid 1980's, and that the benefits associated with them are placebo like. But let me assure you, cycling shoes make a big difference in your ride, and can even contribute to saving your knees. That is because they serve the important function of preserving the natural arch of the foot. I rode without cycling shoes regularly for several months last year. Upon visiting a chiropractor I discovered that I had become flat footed. The arch in my foot had completely collapsed as a result of putting pressure on the wrong part of my foot. I started using cycling shoes again, along with an orthopedic soles in my regular shoes. The back pains that I was having have seemed to have now subsided. I now only ride platform pedals when using my mountain bike. They are no longer an option I consider when going long distances, or going fast.

Why your back aches:

Another reason people give up cycling is because their back starts hurting. They might already have had back injuries, and cycling might be aggravating that problem for them. There are a few bicycle adjustments that can be made to avoid having any back associated pains when riding a bike.

Lower back pain on the bike comes from having too long a top tube on the frame to where the rider is having to overstretch to reach the handlebars. It can also come from having a poor saddle positioning where the saddle might be tilted inward or outward, instead of being a flat surface for the rear end to rest on. The saddle should only be moved forward and backward, never tilted up or down. There are saddle designs, like ones made by Vetta or Selle San Marco Concor, where the end of the saddle will have a small lip that flips upward, intending to catch the rider's rear end and keep it there. These kind of designs call for tilting the saddle slightly. Most newer saddles are no longer designed this way.

Upper back and neck pains are associated with stem length and handlebar width. Most people who started riding with a new road bike are conditioned to having a  sloping top tube, a riser threadless stem, and at least 42cm wide handlebars. Going to a traditional diamond framed bicycle with a flat top tube, quill stem and 40cm handlebars might make things uncomfortable at first. A quill stem forces the rider to find their comfort zone much faster than a riser them. That is because there are only mere centimeters that can be pulled out of the head tube before the height limit is reached. Quill stems force a rider to adopt a racing position much quicker because the rider has to reach below the top tube to grab the drops of the handlebars. This stretches the back in a way that might seem unnatural at first. The discomfort usually goes away in a few months. If it doesn't, then maybe it's time to look at some other causes, such as the width of the handlebars.

Why are handlebars wider nowadays? Because  we are bigger than our parents were in their prime, and our parents who are still riding have become old and fat. Wider handlebars allow the rider to breathe better, but also affect aerodynamics and top speed. The key to choosing handlebars for a road bike is not choosing the widest ones first. Choose the handlebar that will allow you to breathe efficiently while still allowing you to adopt a racier position.

Here's my rule of thumb on handlebar width. I choose the handlebars according to my tuxedo size. My chest size for a dress suit is between 40 and 42 inches. 44 inch suits will start to feel baggy on me. The same goes with handlebars. You can get the "sport" fit at 40cm, the "relaxed" fit at 42cm, or the old man "frumpy" fit at 44cm. Keep in mind, at 44cm speed gets taken out of the equation, as average speed can actually go down by a couple of miles an hour.

For some older riders or riders getting into cycling with previous injuries, these adjustments might not be enough. Some might have to buy special stem adapters to achieve a more upright riding position. Eventually, this leads to the stereotype where all recumbent riders are old guys with white beards. But road biking isn't for everyone, and some people no matter how hard they try just can't get a road bike to work for them. That's fine, that is why there are different bikes for different people.

These are some tips that may save your knees and and your wrists and may keep you from quitting the sport early. I have talked to a few people who now no longer ride because they kept injuring themselves out of a lack of  bicycle fitting knowledge until the damage was irreparable. Cycling has become so popular now that most people know about fitting themselves on a bike or know of someone who can fit them on one. I hope these tips have been helpful. Stay safe, stay fast, and keep subscribing to more informative posts from a Bicycle's Point of View.

Nairo Quintana Wins Pais Vasco

Columbia back on the rise, Nairo Quintana "Spanks" the competition

for the win

Courtesy of Cycling News

The Tour of the Basque Country (Pais Vasco) is a six stage bicycle race held in the Basque Province of northern Spain. This race is over 50 years old and has cemented itself as an important Spring classic and as training for the grand tours of the summer (Giro Di Italia, Tour De France, Vuelta A Espana).  For the first time in 20 years, a Colombian rider has grabbed hold of a major victory and has set the tempo for other Colombian riders to follow.

Some readers might think this is just another sport article about bicycle racing, a topic which has worn thin to many people due to the corrupt actions of some of the athletes in the sport. And while it is an article about bicycle racing, let us not generalize this cyclist's great achievement with the regrettable actions others may have taken in the past. This guy deserves full credit for his hard work, including the training before the race that put him in peak form and in prime position to win Pais Vasco.

Nairo Quintana is no stranger to success in this sport either. The diminutive, five foot seven inch Colombian with strong, indigenous features won the Vuelta a Murcia last year, a race only consisting of two stages but nonetheless one that put Quintana on the spotlight.  At 23 years old, Quintana is a rising star that can only get better as time goes by.

Researching the back story of Quintana makes him all the more relatable. Nairo Quintana was not born of wealth and did not come from a pedigree of great cyclists. Quintana grew up in a family of peasant farmers who lived high up in Colombia's mountains. With the walks to school being exhausting for Quintana, his parents worked hard to save up $30 to buy Nairo Quintana his first bicycle, a cheap mountain bike. Nairo would race to and from school, prentending to summit finish once he got back to his house, and that he was King of the Mountains that day. One day his dreams actually materialized as he finally got his chance to enter professional cycling.

Quintana worked hard on Stage four of the race, which had over five summit finishes. The stage was held in freezing temperatures coupled by a relentless rain which wore down the majority of the peloton. Nairo was able to hold a minute and thirty second advantage over the peloton for the majority of the race that day. When the peloton finally caught up to him, Nairo made an attack on the last few meters before the finish, thus winning the stage. On the time trial at stage six, he took another 20 seconds away from the leader of the general classification, securing the overall win.

Nairo Quintana was spectacular to watch and I am looking forward to seeing him further develop his repertoire as more racing comes his way. It's a job well done for Nairo Quintana, and hopefully a sign for what's to follow with Colombian and Latin American talent gaining traction in the cycling world.

My Favorite Things, What They Say about Me, and What Yours Say About You.

These are a few of my favorite things.

Photo Courtesy of Big E's Cycling

Has anyone seen The Sound of Music? If not, I will spare you the agony of having to watch that musical and just tell you that it features a song called "These are a few of my  favorite things" by Julie Andrews . There are some things which as cyclists we eventually develop a taste, an affinity, or even a dependency for. One of these things is coffee.

The Coffee Loving Bicyclist

I am a coffee loving cyclist. In fact, I love coffee so much that I regard myself as a coffee connoisseur. Having had a brief stint working at Starbucks has also reinforced my coffee knowledge, and this was shortly before taking up cycling again. Coffee knowledge is something that personally goes beyond cycling and Starbucks for me. It is a knowledge that has been passed down for generations of coffee addicted Puerto Ricans. In Puerto Rico, Folgers and Maxwell House don't exist, or are very irrelevant to society otherwise.  Nope, in Puerto Rico, one only drinks the pure, undiluted, fine granules that come from high up on the mountain tops.  The coffee is always strong with a low acidity, which gives mental alertness without the constant urge for urinating oneself.

Add to that my love of cycling, and that further inflames my passion for coffee. I could even say it's the other way around, because coffee often times gives me the energy to go on long bicycle rides. I have also been drinking coffee way before it was the cool thing to do, starting at the wee age of six (it didn't stunt my growth or anything like that, I'm an average 5'10").

My love of both coffee and cycling might be running on a parallel course with the rise in popularity and coexistence between these two activities among members of society, specifically millennials entering into their late 20's and early 30's.  But speaking in general terms, excluding my personal background and the fact that in some unfounded sense of grandeur I might even say that I founded this trend, coffee drinking and cycling can say a lot about the person who does so.

Like I just mentioned, most of this crowd is made up of millennials. Who are millennials? They are people who were teenagers during the first ten years of the new millennium, or the 2000's. Those years were a lost generation for us, with societal views and world events which would shape the career choices and lifestyle for many of us who lived through that period. During this same decade, Starbucks started to globalize and become popular among young people, first for it's sales of Frappacinos,  then for it's sales of coffee once we found out how fattening Frappacinos were. Starbucks was a common ground that all young people shared, it didn't matter our walk of life or our popularity, Starbucks took care of us.

Having been a millennial that also makes the implications for other outlooks and personal tastes which many of that generation have a common ground on. Societal views during the 2000's worked against our interests as young people looking for advancement opportunities. Back then there were little if any pre-college credit courses and schools were polarized in the way they taught their students. All the football players in school got a free pass and all of their grades doctored up without so much as a peep from anyone. If you had to dropout of a AP course because you had to work to support your single parent, you were out of luck if you were truly an intelligent person. You now had to share class space with Brutus the Brute. The end result, you may ask? Many millennials are smart people with unfinished college degrees. That means that many of them are either self employed, work freelance, or are very underemployed. That's where the bicycle comes in. As a money saving tool, bicycles give millennials a means of transport without having to spend money on rising gas prices. It is also a form of recreation but can get burdensome, especially on cold days. That's where Starbucks comes in. In cold or inclement weather we retreat back to our comfort zone which supported us during the many times we had nowhere else to go. 

The 2000's and the Bush years also marked the end to what I call the "Build it bigger, bigger is better", years. The financial collapse in 2008 and the great recession of 2011 proved that outsourcing jobs that could be done locally, building subdivisions faster than people could move into them, building superhighways that cut off the lifeline of small communities and putting a Megalomart in every town had left the economy in tatters. By this time, though, the burden of responsibility has been left to our generation of young adults to shoulder. So what is another side interest we enjoy as coffee loving cyclists? Many millennials believe in New Urbanism. If you don't know what that is, it's the movement that really isn't. Its just the result of the surburban sprawl of the early 2000's. Therefore many coffee loving cyclists are also into working at bike shops, cooperatives, organic grocers, privately owned businesses and any other establishment that gives back to the local community. Being that the bicycle also serves a purpose as transportation, many New Urbanists believe in closing distances from home to work by using bike lanes, trains, and other facilities that will enable us to get to where we need  to go by using a car to a minimum or not at all. New Urbanists believe in the concept of having mixed use zoning between commercial and residential spaces, in other words having an apartment building on top of a coffee shop. 

During the years of the financial collapse and the great recession, without a promise of a job many millennials had to rely on their own talents in order to turn a profit. Therefore, many coffee loving cyclists are also artistically inclined.

The bicycle also serves another purpose for the coffee loving cyclist. Many millennials, as a result of a shaky job history or working for themselves, are uninsured or have really bad private insurance. The bicycle serves as a means of keeping us healthy. 

Roadies and Coffee

I'm not going to ignore the correlation between roadie cyclists and coffee. Many in this category are not millennials but are actually ex yuppies from the 80's decade or boomers. That dates many in the roadie coffee category to be in their 50's to 60's. Yuppie roadies like coffee because Starbucks became popular around the time they were having a mid-life crisis, Boomer roadies like coffee because it is considered "Italian" when paired with cycling and thus are trying to emulate the movie "Breaking Away".

Yuppie cyclists have stable jobs and are usually going to be found in the technologies or medical industries. Their bikes are usually brand new and they usually ride in full kit. There is not much difference in the choice of bike for the Boomer, except the Boomer is probably retired and bought the bicycle using his 401K. Both covet and respect vintage Italian road bikes, which I own and they don't (hahahaha). 

Newer roadies, or the sons of yuppie roadies, are not known as coffee drinkers. They usually stick to their food gels and Chamois Butt-r  to get their nutrients from. They also tend to be millennials graced with not having to go through what their less privileged counterparts went through.

I say all of this, generally speaking. There are millennials that probably don't like coffee (I'll disown you if you are my age and don't like coffee) or newer roadies who have the good sense to love coffee. It's not to say that any of these scenarios aren't interchangeable and can be reapplied to the opposite group. But, as a general and broad rule of thumb (I don't want to get accused of stereotyping) this is usually how it goes. This isn't to say that neither of these groups are not relate-able to each other either. The key is to want to relate, and that goes for millennials, yuppies, boomers, the nouveau yuppies, and the nouveau middle class (in this economy, there's not enough nouveau riche, we'll just leave that one out) and anyone else I may have left out, who is a lover of cycling and coffee. 

One thing I can safely say about the coffee loving cyclist, no matter who they are, they love to travel, have an appreciation for the outdoors, and are usually all around good people. By the way, I don't think Lance Armstrong drinks coffee, he just thinks he does.

In conclusion my background as a millennial, my pre-existing love for coffee, art and cycling influences my tastes for my employment, urban development and holistic outlook where quality of life trumps social or economic gain. Not to mention that cycling is also one of my hobbies that are among my favorite things. It stands in the same category as artisan coffees, Italian wine, painting a landscape, vintage photography, playing guitar, hole in the wall restraunts and sitting by the ocean.

 Where do you fit in the picture? What are your favorite things? How does coffee and cycling influence you? Drop me a line in the comments section if you would like to share. Stay tuned and subscribe to my blog for more in depth articles like these. 

Vintage Find: 1940's-1950's Samchuli (Samchuly) Korean Roadster

My 1950's (possibly 1940's) Samchuly Korean Roadster

A few months back I was fortunate to run into this bike on Craigslist and purchased it for less than three digits. This bicycle is one of the first bicycles ever to come out of what is known today as South Korea. It dates back to a time when the Korean War was on the front page of the headlines and it survives as a legacy of that era.

This bicycle is a roadster, meaning a workman's style utilitarian cargo bicycle. The rear cage is so strong I was able to ride the bicycle with my wife also sitting on it. This bike comes with rod lever brakes, as opposed to the cable operated brakes of today. These brakes work using a front and rear rod that pulls up the brake pads and compress them against the inside diameter of the rim. The rims, known as Westwood rims, are made specifically so that the braking surface was on the inside of the rim instead of the sidewalls.

This bike has some really cool details and because of that it is best to leave it unrestored. The only thing I did was to replace the dry rotted front tire with a passable Chinese tire. Even still, the tire wants to ride off the rim so I can only put about 20 psi of air in it. Despite this, this bicycle is still ridable and would work perfectly if the 26" Korean dimensioned westwood rims would be replaced with 26" westwood rims of English dimensions.

Here's a couple of more photos I took of this bike. I decided to go with my studio setup for the pictures, as it is also for sale online. Check out my eBay link or personal message me for more information. This bicycle weighs about 45 pounds, so it will have to be shipped disassembled in two boxes. Enjoy the pictures!

Vintage Find: My Guerciotti

Vintage Find: My 1986 Guerciotti made by Alan

Here is another one of my Campagnolo equipped "grail" finds, my 1986 Guerciotti. This was the first attempt at buiding an aluminum road bike. The frame was built by another company called Alan, which specialized in making lighter composite frames for various bicycle manufacturers. This frame was built by a special process in which the frame tubes are actually screwed and glued into the frame lugs. This process was known as bonding, and was also the process used to build the first carbon fiber frames.

Today I rode this beauty down White Rock Lake. I saw another rider on a steel Guerciotti.  Guerciotti bicycles are a rare bird, so I grabbed his attention and pointed at my bike. He said "An aluminum Guerciotti still on the road?". Apparently there were a few bad apples made that really destroyed the reputation of bonded frames. There are stories of riders flexing the frames with their own weight and frames simply snapping under too much load. I am not the lightest that I have been in a while. Yet this frame holds my 190 pound weight really well. If I had any complaint about it, it would be that the bike is actually almost too stiff for me. It accelerates wonderfully because there is direct power transfer due to it's stiffness. It also is an amazing climber. I was suprised at how quickly I was making it up some of the hills on the lake.  I rode 28 miles in under 2 hours, stopping to take pictures along the way. To me, that's a pretty good speed. If a person weighs more than I do, they should probably not ride this bike anyway. There are Surly Long Haul Truckers that can hold their weight wonderfully.

I'll not abuse this bike very much, to me this bike is like the Ferrari that only gets driven on Sundays. Since I will never be able to afford a Ferrari, this is the closest I will probably get to owning Italian luxury.

It's fun to own bikes almost as old as I am and still be able to enjoy them. There is joy in the hunt when looking for bikes like these, but there is also joy to be had in owning the bike and riding it. People like to accessorize their shoes, suits, hats and even their cars. I accessorize my bicycle. I tend to get bored of only one bike, although if it came down to it I could probably only live with one. But there would be no fun in that. I can't say this will be the last bicycle that I will keep to myself, but definitely one of the last, because I don't plan on making this a long term hobby (and I mean years). I have to focus my attention on other projects and pursuits in the near future. In the meantime, check out some more photos of my vintage Guerciotti.

Guerciotti Headbadge.

Cinelli Criterium Handlebars.

This bicycle is fully equipped with a Campagnolo Victory drivetrain and Campy Record brakes.

Vintage Find- My S.M Woodrup "Grail" Find

My 1985'ish S.M Woodrup Bicycle

So, it's been awhile since I have updated my audience on my latest vintage finds. I have come across a few finds during the winter but I have been too busy ( and lazy, quite frankly) to write articles about them. Most of the finds that I have written previous articles about have already been sold, since there are only so many bikes that I can keep in my garage. Now that I no longer qualify as a candidate for the show "Bike Hoarders", I have made room for a few more sweet bikes that I have recently acquired.

One of them is this S.M Woodrup, one of a kind custom road bike. When I say one of a kind, this bike was hand built in s small shop in Leeds, England, to the exact measurements and specifications of the previous owner that I bought it from. Thankfully the previous owner has the same build and height as I do. It was an easy sell, one which I was able to afford thanks to selling a few bikes of my own. I will remind the reader that most of the time there is little or no money to be made in the bicycle collecting pastime, most of it goes right back into bicycles. I will say that the bicycles that I posses have a greater collector's value than the ones I have sold previously. One must work their way up and eventually leave behind the point of sale market. Anyway, let's talk more about that Woodrup!

Awesome Headbadge emblem! Custom made in Leeds, England

This bicycle is completely Campagnolo equipped, with Campy Syncros shift levers. These were the first attempts at SIS shifting, which Shimano perfected and got the one up on Campy in the bicycle market. Campy Syncros shifting is notorious for the clunkiness of the shift and at times skipping gears. Even with these setbacks, I was able to sustain 18mph for over 20 miles at a time. Not bad for a steel bicycle. The rear derailleur was a setback at first. I had to remove it and readjust the chain tensioner which had snapped in half and come off the derailleur. I managed to piece back the tensioner and re-connect it to the derailleur, giving me a working but I'm afraid not so permanent fix. After a hundred miles it's still holding up, so that's a good sign. On a side note, anyone selling a Campy Athena rear derailleur they could let me have at a good deal?

This bicycle is potentially fast. Like all bicycles, the power is in the engine that drives it. I hope I can ride this bicycle one day at the speed it is supposed to be ridden. That way I can pull an Eddy Merckx-style breakaway on a group of unsuspecting time trial cyclists on the trail. I will say that there are stiffer, lighter and more snappier bicycles out there. But there is definitely a coolness factor to this bike that can't be overlooked. In fact, this bike is so so cool that I finally caved in and topped it off with a Brooks saddle, something I never thought that I would buy for a bicycle. Riding this bike takes me back a couple of decades, and let's me see how the view from an 80's professional race grade bicycle looked like back then. I can feel the same way Miguel Indurain or Bernard Hinault felt back in the day. I'm keeping this one, I've already sold a lot others. I could always entertain a trade for a new Cannondale Supersix Evo Team Liquidgas Edition though. Anyone have one lying around?

Stay tuned for more vintage bicycle articles from a Bicycle's Point of View.

Don't Ruin A Classic

Don't




Ruin




A Classic




Need I say more? Why yes....

Dallas Vs. Austin- Which is better?

Dallas VS Austin

I have walked around both of these city centers, as well as other bike friendly cities around Texas, the U.S and the world. With a little bit of knowledge about Austin and a little bit more about Dallas, I am ready to give an assesement of which of these two cities is better.

Why Dallas and why Austin? Because both of these cities are in Texas. Dallas is a city that I have just recently started to acquaint myself more with having grown up closer to Fort Worth. Austin is the city I have really wanted to love after hearing all the hype from friends who visit there as well as other sources about the city's easy accessibility by bicycle. Austin is also the state capital, so by default one would automatically assume that it is the best city in Texas. People are always singing Austin's praises when talking about Texas cities and Austin is always getting accolades from the cycling community.

I recently both visited Austin and took a walk around downtown Dallas during the daytime to compare which of these two cities had it going on. Let's compare a few pros and cons about my observations of both places.

Austin: Pros and Cons

Pros:

Bikeability- Austin is a very bikable place. The sources got that part right. From the outskirts of the surburbs to the city center, one can go anywhere in Austin by bicycle. That is a asset that Austin has that Dallas is reluctant to capitalize on. I'm sure that if people in Austin actually had a place to be they could count on their reliable bikeway system.

Music capital of Texas and beyond:  Although in all honestly I only saw two bands performing live shows the whole day and one of them was a one man production, Austin is known for it's live music and outdoor concerts such as Austin City Limits and South by Southwest. If you are a lover of music, especially independent label rock music, you will love going to Austin. Again, that's a pro to a lot of people but music just doesn't top my priority list like it used to these days.

Natural Beauty Surrounding City Limits: As I was leaving Austin, I had to acknowledge that the natural scenery around the city is much prettier than in Dallas, Austin being in Texas hill country. I would have loved to explore the Colorado River in more detail, rather than focusing on the downtown area during my last visit. Last year I had the opportunity to go to Pace Bend national park, about 30 minutes south of downtown.  Lake Travis is an awesome place for a weekend camping trip and has some great spots for cliff diving. 

Cons:

Hipsters: Hipsters are migrating south from their Northwestern spawning grounds of Portland and Seattle and their Norheastern burrows of Williamsburg, New York. They seem to be taking over every major metropolitan city and replacing the city culture with something that only they can understand. They seem to give reverence to the single speed bicycle in the same way some Chicanos revere the lowrider bike. Austin is a college town, and although I have seen some hipsters work around the city, most of these young kids in Austin are university students (or dropouts) living on their parent's dime. Most of the young bicycle commuters in Austin didn't seem like they had anywhere in particular to be, unless it was bar hopping by bicycle. I would have liked to have seen more bicycles with baskets and people actually doing real errands on them. Instead you have a bunch of hipsters parading on their single speed bikes for the sole purpose of making a statement about themselves. Maybe I am antiquated in this regard, and I would gladly admit to that if I were ever called out on it. I also feel a certain disdain with the way that hipsters treat their bicycles. They have no moral qualms about taking a classic, hand built 80's Colnago with campy super record components, spray painting it flat black, taking all the components off and adding their stupid track wheelset with a single speed flip flop hub. The way that they treat valuable things says a lot about the persons they are. In my opinion, that makes hipsters spoiled, self-entitled brats that have nothing to contribute to society. Instead, they can take the beauty of a place like Austin and turn it into something butt ugly in their quest to be ironic and original. I'm just glad San Antonio isn't going that route.

4th Street: What can I say? I got hit on at least 3 times going down 4th street, by other dudes. To me, that's a minus.

Where were the Food Trucks?:  Where were all those food trucks that I saw on the Travel Channel documentary? I was looking forward to lunch from a Food Truck while I was walking around downtown. The fabled food trucks never showed up.

Dallas: Pros and Cons

Pros: 

Dallas is Growing: Dallas is starting to go through another construction and cultural boom. Being one of the cities that has held up well financially since the great recession, there has been a massive amount of migration from other states. The result is more money is now being poured into the infrastructure of Dallas. As a result Dallas is becoming a prettier, more walkable city than it used to be. There are still some sections to avoid, but law enforcement has picked up dramatically since the last time I actually worked in the city center, around 2005. 

Dallas has Bike Lanes: Dallas is now started to install bike lanes and sharrows along a few roads in downtown. I have yet to see these on all roads, but there are so many stop lights in Dallas one almost doesn't need the sharrows to keep pace with traffic. It's great to see more cars acknowledging more cyclists, although there was recently a hit and run in the city when a car hit some cyclists in the Deep Ellum district.

Dallas is Stable: Dallas does not suffer from an overabundance of hipsters or the heated and volatile political climate that Austin seems to have. Dallas is like an empty canvas right now, anything can happen. What has happened so far is great and is moving in the right direction. In that sense, Dallas is stable.

Cons:

Dallas has crime: Dallas has real crime. It has always had crime, and it has never been a good idea to walk around the downtown area by oneself at night. The crime rate in Dallas is going down, and with a little common sense, Dallas can be a navigable place, even in the late hours.

Dallas has stubbornness issues: Dallas has a city council that is made up of progressive thinkers as well as old timers. The old timers are desperately trying to please the fringes of the population in Dallas, who are usually made up of other stubborn, old timey people. So bike lanes as well as the Dallas Bike Plan have had a hard time taking center stage when it comes to projects approved by the city. Old timey people generally don't ride their bicycles places, although they should. Bicycling is just not a relevant issue to them. Add to that fact that bicycling is seen as a political issue rather than a community one.

If we were to have  a face off on which city is better, today's Austin would probably beat Dallas by a very narrow margin. Walking around Dallas has made me realize that Dallas isn't far from surpassing Austin as a more bikeable and walkable city. It just needs a push in the right direction. So keep pushing Dallas, keep pushing. Dallas will eventually have a greater coolness factor if it continues on the same trajectory.

Just Checking in

Hello Everyone,

 Sorry it's been a while since my last post. Keep visiting my page from time to time and check out my "Resource Guide" tab which features some real interesting articles along with helpful cycling tips from an unofficial expert (myself, then again, no-not really).

Please keep up the enthusiasm for my blog. I have acquired several more vintage finds since my last articles, some which I might post in the near future. I have been weighing several topics in my head which I have wanted to discuss on my blog, but none of them have seemed worthy of an article so far.

I will however highlight that I went to Austin on a trip recently just to check out the downtown area in more detail. It was a Saturday, and I didn't stick around for the nightlife that Austin is known for, so maybe my opinion is a little skewed. My overall impression of the downtown area was...meh. I was expecting to be more impressed than I actually ended up being. Yes, Austin is very bicycle friendly, but they are way overdoing the hipster thing. Don't get me wrong, as a creative and artistic individual, I like displays of originality and ironic things. That is, until everyone in one area is doing it, then it is no longer original. Case in point, downtown Austin. All the twenty somethings were on single speed bicycles wearing either what I would call a stocking on their heads or dreadlocks, although I am skeptical of there being that many devoted Rastafarians concentrated in just one area. This along with 4th street (for reasons I will not disclose, just go there if you dare) in downtown are my chief complaints about the city. And although I know deep down inside that I'm a cool guy I just wouldn't be able to hang in the city of Austin. It hit me while I was there that I had outgrown this city on a social level. The images of the cyclists that I saw fit like a glove into some of the stereotypes of cyclists Eben Weiss describes in his book "Bike Snob NYC". I wasn't seeing anyone in business suits commuting to work, or anyone that seemed like they even had a bit of responsibility. That kind of turned me off a little bit. In world class bicycle cities like Berlin you see that sort of thing, and as I can recall I didn't see even one hipster throughout my whole visit there. Maybe it's the old man talking, but I doubt it. I'm afraid that in Austin's case cycling has to do the the bigger trend of hipsterdom and Lance Armstrong worship. Once it's no longer cool to be a hipster that might effect the whole bike thing in Austin, at least that is what I fear.

I am currently following some of my own advice and dieting. Yes dieting. I am on a mostly vegetarian diet and am staying away from breads and sugars. I also joined a gym to lose some annoying poundage before the summer (and bike racing season) starts. I am going to try my hand at racing (and probably losing) once again pretty soon. More info on that later. I am strongly considering showing up to an official race on a 30 year old bicycle, so I need to be in shape if I am in it to win it. Anyway, we'll see how that goes.

Let me also add that I do get too busy to blog sometimes. As outrageous as that sounds,  I too suffer from the malignancies of living a normal life and having projects, tasks and errands to run each day. Most of these happenings aren't bicycle related topics, although I do have interesting things happen to me on a regular basis.

Keep reading, subscribe if you are just visiting my page, and stay tuned for more exciting news from a Bicycle's Point of View.

Should I?

Is it time to sell the Raleigh?

My 2007 Raleigh Sport. My only modern road bike

I'm having a struggle coming to terms on whether or not I should sell my Raleigh Sport road bike. I have seen a couple of nice Italian "grail finds" listed on craigslist recently and I have been debating on getting them. That would mean I would have to sell my most modern road bike that I own in order to purchase another one. Should I sell my modern, STI equipped aluminum road bike for something that might have a full Campagnolo and Cinelli gruppo  and made of Reynolds 531 tubing? Should I break my six year relationship with this bicycle that reintroduced me to the world of cycling? 

This is a not so new thought that I have been having. I bought this bicycle off the shelf as a beginner's bicycle to get into cycling. I never upgraded anything on the bike, everything is stock except the tires and handlebar tape. I have pushed this 25 pound bike over 18mph average speed on 30 mile rides. I have ridden over 3,000 miles on this bike alone and have taken it over rolling hills in the countryside as well as around the DFW airport. Recently I got back on it after a while of riding my older, steel framed bicycles. The ride was jarring to say the least. I guess I have gotten accustomed to the flex the steel frames provide as well as the dampening effect of the thicker 27" tires. I averaged a slow 15.9 mph overall speed on a 22 mile ride (granted I was fighting against 24mph headwinds) the last time I rode it. Maybe I have let the older bikes make me seek too much comfort rather than speed, although I do not feel like I am going any slower on my old bikes.

I have always had the mentality of "If it's not broken don't fix it" when it comes to my bicycles. So far I have thrown everything I could at this Raleigh, and its still going strong. But I do want to go faster and am hard pressed not to at least upgrade this bike to make it a little lighter. Maybe replacing the chromoly fork with a carbon fork and the current wheelset with a low spoke count one. But if for the same price I can get me a custom made Italian bicycle I am almost persuaded to sell my bike for an old school "upgrade".

The other option is just to keep this bicycle and work at upgrading it's engine (that's me). Parenting duties, shorter days and bad weather have kept me off the saddle more than I would have wanted to this winter. In other words, compared to a few years ago I'm probably fat. In fact, if my cheap scale is telling the truth, I am 15 pounds heavier than I was last year. So the engine probably needs a sugar and carb free diet to get lean and mean again.

What do you think, keep it as is and upgrade the engine, upgrade components, or trade in for old Italian steel? Send me your opinion in the comment box below.

What's an Old Bicycle Worth These Days?

Vintage Bicycles: Perceived value versus actual value

To the collector and reseller, with time one learns to understand that the business of buying, owning, and selling vintage bicycles is mostly supported on the perceived value of the item that is being purchased, sold or collected. While it is true that most things depreciate over time (the automobile being the best example of that) not all things are equal, and some things actually appreciate in value as they become rarer and rarer with the passing of time. So what bicycles depreciate and what bicycles hold or increase in their value? What are some things to look for when collecting vintage bicycles? And how can bicycles become a fixed asset that yields dividends when it's time to sell?

Let's consider the first question. Today's bicycles, as well as some of yesteryear's, are manufactured with depreciation in mind. If we were to compare a Huffy from last year with a Huffy from 20 years ago, they would both be worth $40 today. You can, however, up sell a bicycle on the perceived value of it, according to the current trends and what is popular at the moment. A few years ago when road bikes soared in popularity, I managed to sell one Huffy road bike for $200. Granted, I pulled the wool over a newbie's eyes when I did it, but being a newbie myself at the time I hold no qualms about it today. Road bikes started to become more expensive after 2008, with the most basic models selling at $800. Everybody seemed to want one, and there was a big wave of consumer demand for them at the time. This proves that even a Huffy can sell big in the right market.

There are some bikes however, that are worth keeping around as real investments. When money is short they can serve as a financial relief when it's time to sell. Plus they are bikes that someone will want to keep because of the quality of their craftsmanship and their rarity in the market. They are sometimes referred to as "grail finds" since to some they are like finding the Holy Grail when coming upon one. If someone is buying bicycles only to sell them, I believe they are missing the point. While not promoting people to become hoarders, there is nothing wrong with a reseller having a small private collection of these grail find bicycles. Which leads me to the next question in this topic, what bicycles are considered grail finds, and what are some things to look for when determining the collectivity of a bicycle?

Anything Italian- Anything Italian, if it is in the U.S, is usually a grail find. Vintage bicycles from Italy were usually hand made and imported into the United States when bike boomers wanted to ride what the pros were riding. Any Bianchi pre-1990 is worth a closer look, especially if it is a celeste green colored Bianchi. Brands that hold their value or have increased in value include Colnago, Gios, Atala, Frejus, Cinelli, Guerciotti, Ciocc, Legnano, Magistroni, Basso, Zeus, and the list goes on and on. So if there is a bicycle at an estate sale or on an online classified with a funny name, the best thing to do is at least call and inquire a little bit about it. If it's at a good deal, just buy it outright without questions. Sometimes too many questions may raise suspicions in the owner's mind that what they have is worth much more than what they are selling it for.

Campagnolo- An Italian bicycle parts manufacturer that usually made drive train components for high end bicycles, although the bicycle may not necessarily be Italian in origin. Known otherwise as Campy, for short, bicycles that come with this brand of components are almost guaranteed to be high end, top of the line racing machines. If you are not sure about buying a bicycle, but notice that it is campy equipped, buy it without delay. The components might be worth more than the price paid for the bicycle.

Reynolds 531- The gold standard of steel tubing for quality bicycles of the past. Used in the Tour De France with victories as recent as 1995. There will usually be a sticker on the frame or fork indicating that it is made with Reynolds 531 tubing. Many of these bicycles can still compete with today's bicycles in most local races held.

Intricate Lugs- Intricate, chromed or polished lugs on a bicycle are usually a sign of something high end and very valuable. If there is a cutout on the bottom of the bottom bracket,  usually in the shape of a clover or spade, this is usually either a Colnago or a Ciocc. Alan bonded aluminum frames also came with polished lugs, so lugs are not limited to steel bikes only.

Rod Lever or Roller Lever Brakes- Featured on Dutch cargo bicycles or on Asian or English 3 speed bicycles. These bicycles are usually equipped with westwood rims, which allow the brake pads to brake from inside the rim diameter rather than on the sidewalls. These bikes are rare in the United States and are only still common in India and China as working class or utilitarian modes of transport. They are increasing in popularity here in the U.S as a fashion item and as a result of the burgeoning cargo bike community. Depending on the condition, the value of these bicycles start at $400 and up. 

Skip tooth Chain and sprockets-  A skip tooth chain is indicative of any bicycle made in the U.S before the second world war, therefore rare and very valuable if in very good condition. The most valuable example of this is a pre-war Schwinn Paramount track racing bicycle. Some have sold online for as much as $8,000 in the past. However, skip tooth chain cruisers, or paper boy bikes as they were once called, are steadily losing their demand in the collector's market. These bicycles featured a tank with a built in horn or wiring for a front headlight. Mountain bike pioneers would strip these bicycles of their fenders and tanks and take them on the trail with knobby tires. I still see the asking price on some of these bicycles around $2,000, but seldom do I see a reserve price being met at auction.

Keep some of the tips in mind when treasure hunting for a collector's bicycle. While some of the bicycles being made today are likely to one day become collector's items, for the good majority of the bicycles being built today that is not the case. Overseas manufacturing has killed most prospects of future collectivity on many new bicycles. The lifespan of a carbon fiber bicycle is five years. The consumer who usually pays top dollar for a carbon bike will want a new one even though it might not be necessary to replace the one they have. After five years a bicycle that cost five grand will be worth only a thousand and less and less after each consecutive year. I have seen carbon fiber bicycles from the 90's being sold for only $150-$200 here locally. So while it's tempting to shell out a few grand on the latest technology, the best buy for the average person that isn't racing in the Tour De France is probably an older bicycle in good condition. Get fitted at the bike shop first, then buy a bicycle on the classifieds later. Fittings are usually free and an incentive shops offer to get people to buy their products. Once the used bicycle is purchased, visit the shop for tires, brakes and other components which may have worn out over time. This is another way to support the local bike shop without fattening the industries profits on the top end. I hope these tips have helped the reader to evaluate the price and collectivity of their old bicycle.

Taking the Schwinn out for a Spin

Lately I find myself riding my old steel bikes for than my aluminum bike with clipless pedals. After a five mile run earlier this morning, I hopped on my Schwinn Le Tour and did 3 laps around White Rock Lake. I must say the run did take a lot out of me, but overall I feel I had a good ride. Here's a video I took with my Go Pro camera. Enjoy. Here is a link to the video directly on Youtube if for some reason it's not visible on this page. See link

Lance Armstrong-Final Thoughts

I'm going to make this a short and sweet article of the conclusions I have made of this whole business with Lance Armstrong. First of all, my previous articles may have had a hint of support for the humbled and dethroned athlete. For the record, I would like to change my view about Lance Armstrong. It has taken me a long time to finally withdraw all sympathy and pity I once felt for him. His most recent appearances make it clear that he is guilty without doubt of using drugs and rigging the system to come out on top. When it was revealed that he used cortisone steroids as well as EPO and blood transfusions, that was the final deal breaker in my support for Lance. Lance Armstrong is a grown man that will have to face the consequences of his own actions, even if those consequences may haunt him forever. As far as his victims go, the real victims are the ones who bought into the lies of competitive cycling, throwing away their resources and relationships just so they could compete with the top of the line equipment and use drugs to game the system as well. I am not talking about the professional peloton which includes some of Lance's former teammates and opponents.  They were part of the game and to me are as guilty as Lance himself. I am talking about those who aspired to be like them.

Let this be a lesson to all of us that cycling is something we should do primarily for our health and our quality of life. If someone happens to be faster than most on a bike and they want to compete, there is nothing wrong with that either. But we should not look up to the example that these guys have given us. There needs to be a drastic change in the sport of cycling if it is to survive from here on out. A change in training, a change in expectations and a change in the way cyclists see and treat each other. Bike snobbery has to end, period. Category 1 riders need to not compete in category 5 races. There needs to be a path to success in the sport that is attainable to anyone. Prize pots and entrance fees probably need to disappear altogether for amateur cycling. Scouting for semi pro or paid teams need to start at the beginner level. There needs to be more developmental programs for people wanting to get into the sport but who are not rich. And finally, bike jerks need to be put in their place. Roadies need to quit running stop signs and running over pedestrians just because they do not want to be slowed down. I was riding at White Rock Lake today, when a group of roadies nearly ran over a little girl on a skateboard. That was not cool. This really ruins any good efforts that the cycling community makes to have provisions granted to them, like bike lanes and trails.

What would be drug free racing field look like? It's going to be slower, at least by three miles an hour. There will be more breakaway artists and all rounders in cycling once training changes to consolidate sprinters with climbers and time trialists. The notion that someone can't climb because they don't weigh 90 pounds is absurd. Steel bikes might start popping up in amateur races again once races stop giving prize money. It will be a sport about having fun, unlike the way other professional sports have also failed in this regard.

On another note, I did probably make this group of roadies, which was led by a time trial bike, chase me on my 1970's Peugeot road bike when I blasted by them like they were standing still. That is still no reason to have nearly run over a little girl trying to catch up to me. Their mothers would be ashamed.

Restored bike vs. Beater bike

Bikes you Keep, Bikes you sell.

Two Peugeot UO8 Bicycles, one restored, the other fixed up

When finding an old bicycle worthy of restoration, it's easy to go over one's head trying to fix every detail on the bike. I have a simple rule of thumb that will make the decision process a lot easier. Is this bike for oneself, or is this bike to sell? If this bike is not for sale, or you do not have the intention to sell it in the future, and you have money to spare, then by all means customize it to your very tastes. If this bike is for resale, as a lot of vintage bicycle enthusiasts often end up doing as a result of a garage full of bikes and one unhappy spouse, then fix what is necessary to sell the bike. You'll be surprised at how well most bicycles clean up. The scratches and blemishes will sometimes add character to the bike. The key to any item for sale is to sell it at more than what you bought it for plus your investment to fix it up. I'm fortunate to have had amassed a collection of period correct parts for vintage bicycles over the period of time I have been tinkering with them. Having a stockpile of parts and accessories makes this process a lot more affordable. Take for example, the white Peugeot at the top of the page. I was able to get it to riding condition with several parts I already had in my garage, including wheels, tires, cables, derailleurs, and even a saddle. On the other hand, take the green Peugeot featured as well. I bought this bicycle with the intent of making it like new with period correct parts. I had the frame repainted and bought decals for the frame. I bought new shifters from eBay as well as a leather saddle and saddlebag. After it was all said and done, I spent about $250 restoring the green Peugeot. I'll probably take it on a tweed ride or start my own randonneur club locally, who knows! Anyway, for me it was an investment well spent.

The lesson to be learned here is to do what best suits you according to your needs as a cyclist or as a collector and seller. If I commuted by bicycle more, I would probably keep the white Peugeot because I could use it as a beater bike for riding around muddy roads and won't take a big hit if it gets stolen. I also realize there is a market for beater bikes in college campuses and more urban areas. When a bicycle goes for sale, these are the markets that I try to target. There is no right or wrong way to restore a bicycle, there is only the perceived value that it may have in the buyer's or one's own eyes.

CONFESSION:

Photo originally owned  by Livestrong. For illustration purposes only.

Lance Armstrong Confesses to Cheating.

Without adding to much color to the situation, I wanted to write an article about the days events, when an anonymous source heard Lance Armstrong confess that he used performance enhancing supplements to Oprah Winfrey. What does a confession mean for the retired 7 time Tour De France champion? Is this confession genuine or the result of legal compromise and breaking a man down?

It's safe to say that with 25 eye witnesses willing to testify against him in a grand jury, this confession, whether sincere or not (only Lance knows if he truly cheated) would have come sooner or later. Hopefully, it comes at a time when he has arranged a plea deal not to be thrown in prison for perjury. As a married man with kids to look after, I would really feel for Lance if he had to go to prison. Along with the confession there will be a slew of lawsuits coming his way from different media companies and some who may have donated to his charitable organization. Lance has sued media companies in the past for libel on his accusations of doping, and some of these companies will be eager to place counter lawsuits in retaliation. I hope his charitable organization is protected to the fullest extent of the law from any prosecution, whether public violations or private lawsuits.

Lance Armstrong will have to pay the millions he earned from the tours that he won. On top of that, he will have to pay millions more in possible lawsuits. What would I have done if I were Lance Armstrong? I would have left the country two and a half years ago, as soon as I was acquitted of the first trial and set up a Swiss bank account and declared bankruptcy in the U.S. I would have stuck a fork in my cycling career and just be happy to be a middle aged man raising my kids, teaching them some foreign language. I would have eventually become a citizen of that country so as to make extradition for a second trial virtually impossible. Of course, Lance did none of that. He decided to stick around, and I admire his courage for that. That may have also become his downfall.

Readers of my blog know that I follow Lance and I am one of his biggest fans. Will I lose any sleep over this? No. Has doping tarnished my impression of Lance? Absolutely not. Is he still one of the greatest, if not the greatest athlete of all time? To the dismay of the USADA and all the other haters, absolutely yes. His name will be remembered alongside Coppi, Merckx, Hinault, Fignon, and yes, even Lemond. Some might say that is stubborn thinking. But I am more disillusioned in the way Lance was prosecuted to reach such a final outcome. I found the scare tactics used disgusting. I am also disillusioned at the world of competitive cycling. It was never my scene to begin with, but as a fairly faster than average cyclist in my peak of fitness (18-19mph average speed  with a 32mph sprint, on an aluminum bike)  I thought I had a chance of at least shaking up the local race classifications where I live. Knowing that even on the local level guys are probably using steroids or some other stimulant, just so they can win $200 or a T-shirt in a category 5 race, shows me how egotistical and elitist the world of competitive cycling has become. Not to mention that competitive cycling, even at an amateur level, can be a money trap of constantly upgrading your race bike. There has even been a new market that was propped up all thanks to Lance Armstrong. The high end bicycle and "sports nutrition" industries in the U.S have flourished thanks to the hopes that Lance Armstrong gave. As he goes down, he takes all these people down with him. But not cycling. The progress that the U.S has made in only the last few years to give commuting cyclists a place on the road is noticeable and should be respected. These cyclists are not Lance Armstrong. They are our new generation of cyclists. People that have left the idea behind them that go can't go anywhere without a car. These people are fathers, sons, husbands and wives. These people deserve equal treatment on the roads as well as their lives respected. 

If Lance somehow escapes the dark cloud of persecution that is about to overtake him, I hope Lance devotes his free time to more strongly advocating commuting by bicycle. He needs to put on a Waltz cap, grow out his beard, ride a bike in jeans and wear a beer bottle opener on his belt buckle. He needs to come down to our level. Ditch the carbon, the Lycra, and the $10,000 bike. Just ride a little, laugh a little, have fun, and stand up for the real cyclists who are actually trying to make a difference. My heart goes out to Lance, he is still my hero, and he can still be a hero to everyone else.

Passed a Roadie on my old vintage bike=feel good.

Why passing Roadies on expensive road bikes makes me feel good.

I ride at White Rock Lake trail a lot. White Rock Lake is a lake with a beautiful bicycle and pedestrian trail located in the nicer, upper echelon part of Dallas. It's  an almost ten mile loop around the lake, and can be a good workout if you lap the lake several times, as I do on my old, steel and vintage bicycles.

Today I was on the lake riding along when out of my peripheral vision I saw a Dura Ace crankset and a carbon fork come up next to me as the rider yelled "On your left!". My guess is he was expecting to fly by me and take control of my lane. Under normal circumstances, I abide to these rider's requests with no problem. There was nothing wrong in the way he engaged me, and I actually thought he was polite. But today I had a score to settle with the roadies on the lake. Maybe it's buildup from having so many of them pass me and scoff at me and my bike. Today my legs were good and they were well underneath me, my knees riding parallel to my frame, and I felt they could give a lot more. Today he would take the brunt of my frustrations with roadies.

So I said no to the rider's request. I didn't say no physically, I sped up and didn't let him in my lane. He wasn't going to have it his way today, not with me anyway. As I sped up so did he, and I finally offered him entrance into the lane. He denied, so I went into a full sprint. I didn't see him again until after I had arrived at my car, within 3 minutes of my arrival.  As I left him and he posse of carbon and spandex behind me, I was later told that words were being shouted and hand gestures were raised. That made me feel even better. Perhaps they weren't expecting the surprise that I gave them. Perhaps it was the way I blew them away on 30 pounds of 30 some odd years of steel. Perhaps its because I spent $20 on my bike and spent another $200 in the restoration cost, while they spent about $5,000 each on their "steeds". Today at least that group of roadies got a wake up call. They are not the fastest, most omnipotent things on the lake that can just weave in and out of their constituents without confrontation. 

I attempted a few bicycle races in the past without any success. Road bike racing season here in Texas occurs during the same time of year as the rest of the country, which is flawed reasoning if you ask me. Riding in 105 degree weather isn't my forte. Put me in 41 degree weather and sunny, now we are talking! My robust frame handles the cold much better than the heat. While it's funny to see the cold weather blowing roadies and carbon off the trail like a giant leaf blower, I am usually too anchored down by my old bike and riding with too much momentum to be slowed down by headwind.

Maybe I'm just hating. I don't own any fancy bicycles, and the bikes that I do own are cheap by comparison to these newer, high end bicycles. Having been raised up with little means, I took a disdain early on from the mockery proceeding of the preppy, the opulent, the football jocks, and the aristocratic. Although I have nothing to prove to these people, when I am out doing my sport, they are in my territory. It's safe to say that races can and will happen, whether intentioned of not. Sometimes they initiate, sometimes I do. Sometimes it's just getting behind them and drafting on them for a few minutes. Sometimes it's sprint intervals. Either way, these races are real, and for someone without the means to compete professionally, free of admission and registration. Finish lines aren't drawn, these races are simply to see who will crack first. Once the other guy can't respond to a sprint or an acceleration, you know you've won. You can be king of White Rock Lake for a day, leader of your own general classification. 

I ride all year long, sometimes putting up to 90 miles or more in a week when I am seriously "training" (for no reason as I don't compete). I have ridden on some of the hottest days and on a lot of the coldest ones. Just a few days ago it was snowing here in Texas. As the seasons change I adapt with them. Riding my bicycle is simply my routine. I don't log miles, average speeds or calories anymore. I just make sure that when I ride, I am putting my whole soul into it.  I do it because I want to, and since I have nothing to prove, I believe that makes me more formidable than someone who, say, likes to flaunt their wallet on their bike. 

Maybe one day, if I save up enough, I will get my Cannondale Super Six Hi Mod Team Liquidgas edition road bike, and I will join that special club of high end bicycle elitists known as "the Roadies". Maybe one day, even better, I'll just become a tough-as-nails old rider that can smoke anyone on an old, steel frame. I don't know, I haven't decided which way to go on this. Suggestions?

Road to Valor- "A Must Read" book review

Are you a history buff? Cycling fanatic? Vintage bicycle enthusiast? Or just love an all around good read? Then you have to read the autobiography of the late Gino Bartali Road to Valor- A true story of World War II Italy, the Nazis. and the cyclist who inspired a nation. This is a well written documentation of the life and trials of this famous cyclist, who as it was later discovered, became one of the greatest humanitarians of his time.

The backdrop of this true story is set in pre-war and post war Europe, namely in the agrarian region of Italy known as Tuscany, from which Gino hails from. Tuscany as well as southern Italy can be described as a picturesque,  paradisaical landscape which most of us only dream of seeing, especially in it's pre-war days. The book describes in great detail the rolling hills and lush vineyards that surrounded Bartali's hometown near Florence. But a dark shadow was looming over the country in the early part of the 1920's. With Mussolini in power as the country's dictator, a Fascist presence fully manifested itself during World War II and threatened to rip the country apart. Gino did not give in to the xenophobic demands of his government at the time. Rather, he used his fame and his talents in an underground life saving work. As part of a human rescue mission, he helped Jews fleeing for their lives to obtain false documentation during the Nazi regime, thus leading to hundreds of lives being saved. He would smuggle all these documents in the frame of his bicycle, using what was once his means of livelihood to save lives.

In 1938, Gino was in his prime of fitness. As the war escalated, Italy distanced itself from the Allied Nations. Italy did not partake of the Tour De France after Gino's Tour win in 1938. The Tour was altogether canceled for a number of years during the latter half of the second world war. After the war, Gino emerged a changed man. Having lost his prime racing years and a lot of his fitness during the war, a insurmountable task lay ahead of him, win the Tour De France of 1948. He would have to do this ten years after his first tour win. Despite the odds, Gino Bartali took victory in France in 1948, closing a ten year gap of virtual non-existence on the professional cycling level. He won the race on the mountain stages. He summited up gravel and mud roads in the middle of two freak snowstorms that left his opponents literally frozen. When it was all said and done, Gino won with a mind blowing 21 minute lead over the field, a feat that very few elite cyclists have achieved, even today.

During his racing career, Gino Bartali made many friendships and rivalries. His biggest rival was fellow countryman Fausto Coppi. While Gino was a clean racer, a man devoted to his family, and in his own way a deeply religious man, Fausto Coppi contrasted him in many ways. While many can identify with Fausto Coppi of being the secular champion of Italian cycling, I believe Gino Bartali deserves more merit. His accomplishments go far beyond the world of cycling as his cause was far bigger than himself. I would have to say I personally identify with Gino Bartali on many points, both as a cyclist and as a person. I guess, after reading this book, I am now a Bartaliani (read the book, see the reference).

Final thoughts-Today's cycling scene can greatly benefit from the examples of great cyclists like Gino Bartali and even the way the race was raced back in the day. Today people talk about a  new cycling phenom called gravel grinding. This back then would be simply referred to as ciclismo. There were essentially no paved roads back then, and cyclists rode on vintage steel bikes with cottered cranks. Now that's hard core. I would like to see that in modern times. That would really level out the playing field, and no amount of steroids would be able to compensate for the pure skill and athletic ability one would need to have to do what these great masters did back then.  

 I will end this review with one of the most inspirational quotes that I have read, in Bartali's own words.

"Everyone  in their life has his own particular way of expressing life's purpose-the lawyer his eloquence, the painter his palette, and the man of letters his pen from which quick words of his story flow.

I have my bicycle."

My Restored Peugeot

My Peugeot Restoration

 

I Finally found a workaround for uploading photos on this blog, so I won't be starting a new one for now. Here's some updates on my Peugeot UO8 restoration. This bicycle has been repainted and decaled. It was a long and complicated process, I would provide some how to articles on this bike but they would be too entensive and detailed as to what I had to do to restore this bike, especially removing the cottered cranks. I will, at the readers request, provide any information that they would like to know on any specific topic. Hopefully, my next restoration will be less complicated than this one.