Gratuitously Inconsiderate

Time for another predawn wake-up. This time for 95 mile loop headed north from Rockville, at the end of the Red Line.

I switched to eating peanuts, orange juice, and gatorade instead of clif bars. It seemed to work much better. Less sugar energy spikes (clif bars are mostly rice syrup, aka sugar).

Quadratic Drive?

Albuagh Rd. The gravel of Old West Falls Rd a few miles back was better 'cause it was shady.

I stopped for lunch in Mt. Airy when the weather was starting to get very hot. At least it seems that way when you've been riding for hours and there isn't much shade to be had. Luckily, I started packing 3 water bottles instead of two. I used a whole bottle just dumping water on my head and back.

It was hot enough by mile 85, I had to stop and dip my feet in a roadside stream and spotted this wild strawberry. That's how you know it's been hot the last few weeks.

Wild strawberries...

Had some encounters with gratuitously inconsiderate Maryland drivers. Apparently, asking them to wait the 1 second for oncoming traffic to clear is too much to ask.

Georgeous Prince George's

That's the PG County motto, and I hardly thought it applied given what I previously knew about PG county, mostly their car-centric Metro station design (stations surrounded by acres of parking, with poor pedestrian accessibility and no businesses).

After numerous trips out the C&O canal and surrounding areas west of DC I thought it was time to give the east side a try. I found a 200K route through the area. It doubled back on itself which can be boring if ridden frequently, but was ok this time. I shortened it to 80 miles so I could be back in time for an afternoon appointment.

Fridays are my day off and the metro starts running at 5am (instead of 7am on the weekends), so I can reach the start of the ride by 6am, perfect for warmer weather and it allows me to get things done later in the day. All I have to do is wake up at 4:45am, no problem, right?

Watching the sun rise over West Hyattsville.

This is why it's worth it to wake up that early... I remember now.

The USDA Beltsville Agricultural Research Facility

Beaver Dam Road

But, you are still in Maryland. People love their trucks...and littering on the side of the road.

I ran into this a few hundred yards before I was supposed to cross the Patuxent River. I was really hoping it didn't turn into this. The closest crossing was many miles away and was on a major highway. I decided to investigate further. The small bridge was fine for bikes. But perhaps it had been damaged enough to prevent it from carrying car traffic. I saw 2 other walkers using the closed off road as well. Closing a road to cars sure makes it pleasant for walking and biking, and no more potholes, infrastructure problems: SOLVED.

I made it all the way to Deale, MD before turning back.

Made it back the metro at exactly noon for six hours of riding, including 15 minutes of breaks. I had some trouble eating enough food while riding, Clif Bars are not cutting it anymore (too much simple sugars). Time to do some more research on Glycemic Index, maybe I will switch back to using peanuts and orange juice like I did in France.

Velo Orange 50.4 BCD Cranks Mk II

While looking for lower gearing I was searching for a crank that would take smaller chainrings than my current 110 BCD compact double. Compact doubles usually take 34 teeth for the smallest ring. There are some mountain bike doubles available that go smaller, but they come stock with much smaller rings and I did not feel like replacing rings. The other option is to use a triple crank, but only use two of the spots, with the third left unused.

At the time, I only knew of Sugino, TA, Rene Herse, White Industries and Velo Orange cranks that would fulfill my criteria. Pricewise, the choice was clear: Velo Orange (VO) was at least $150 less than the others. Especially since when I was choosing them, I had access to them at wholesale prices. That access was unavailable when it came time to purchase because the company I work for is disorganized and incompetent, so I ended up paying retail. Afterwards, I also found the IRD Defiant Wide Compact cranks which are similar in price and features to the VO cranks. They use the more commonly available 94 BCD rings, instead of the less common VO/TA chainrings. See the bottom of the post for more comparisons.

Upon installation (greasing the bottom bracket spindle) it quickly became clear that one of the chainring bolt spacers was missing. The bolt that it was supposed to be on was still tightened, causing the inner ring to dive too close to the outer ring for one portion of the rotation. In this state, it was unusable as the chain would get jammed against the big ring.

The spacer in question, missing from another position on the crank.

My temporary solution: 4 small spacers to replace one large one.

I contacted the seller and they contacted VO and got me a replacement spacer and chainring bolt. The extra chainring bolt may come in handy since these aren't the same size as standard chainring bolts.

Standard chainring bolt on left, 50.4 BCD bolt on right

They also include very nice aluminum bolt covers (on right in photo below). Unfortunately, one of the crank bolts had a built in flange that was slightly off-center. With the tight fit of the cover over the bolt, I decided not to install it and risk damaging the extractor threads, I also decided not to go through the trouble of filing off the offending part of the crank bolt. I had an extra bolt cover from some very old cranks (on left in photo), but decided not to use it since I only had one. In any case, I didn't see any reason to put a cover over the bolt, it would just require one more tool for removal.

Cranks, minus crank bolt cover.

The recommended bottom bracket length is 118mm to give a chainline of 43.5, the standard for road doubles. I decided to go with a 115mm bottom bracket to keep the q-factor low (143mm w/ 115mm BB). The inside of the arms are 120mm apart at the ends, you can use that info to measure your chainstays to see if you need a longer bottom bracket for clearance reasons. I also figured since I wanted to use the entire cassette with the large 46 tooth ring (42 to 92 gear inches), putting the large ring a little closer to the frame would minimize the chain angle when using the large cogs on the cassette.

With a 115mm bottom bracket the measured chainline is 42.5mm (measured at the midpoint between the two rings) and rear cassette has a chainline of 42mm on a 130mm hub. When using the small 30 tooth ring, the chain starts to catch on the ramps and pins of the large ring when using the smallest cogs on the cassette. This can lead to severe chain suck and a broken derailer, so I need make sure I don't use those combinations. I may make a little indent on my barend shifter so I know when to stop downshifting in the small ring. This is a problem that is possible on other compact doubles, though it is a non-issue with an unramped large ring like I was using previously.

The gear range is what I was looking for, and it that respect, it gets the job done. My gear range is 27-93 gear inches using a 13-30 cassette, enough for everything I'm using it for, unless I start doing camping trips with it. The chart below (created using a wheel size 4 mm smaller than mine, so not perfect) shows the useable gears, good range in the big ring with a two gear overlap in the small ring.

The smallest chainrings available are 26 teeth. The 50.4 BCD designation is misleading, since the small ring mounts to the large ring, not to the crank arm spider. The small chainrings use a 6 bolt 80mm BCD pattern. To compare, the Rene Herse cranks use a larger BCD spider (70mm) but can mount smaller rings (24 teeth) because both rings are mounting to the same crank arm spider.

I rode it for a while until finally replacing the missing spacer. There was some lateral oscillation on the big and small rings. After a little internet research (thanks Sheldon and Jan) I took the rings off to check the spider. The video below shows that two of the spider arms are closer to the frame than the others. They disturb the zip tie I attached to the frame as reference. They are about .5-.75mm out of alignment, which is magnified at the chainring.  It may take a few viewings to see the arms in question.

I was able to straighten the offending arms with a 12" adjustable wrench. I don't recommend doing this unless you have a very good feel for the elasticity of metal. You need to be able to feel juuuust when it starts to deform, not an easy task when you're using a 12" lever. After doing this, there was one arm still slightly out of alignment (perhaps .1-.25mm), but it was so difficult to adjust the zip tie to get it to hit only one arm I decided to leave them alone.

After reinstalling the chainrings, they were much better, within 1mm at the edge of the chainring.

Here's a table comparing the Velo Orange and IRD cranksets

	Velo Orange Grand Cru 50.4	IRD Defiant Wide Compact
Price	$200	$199
Stock Chainrings	46/30	46/30
BCD	50.4 outer/80 inner	94
Smallest ring	26	29
Bottom Bracket	118	118
q-factor	149	152
Notes	uses non-standard chainring bolts

Velo Orange Grand Cru Zeste Brakes Review

I've been struggling to find cantilever brakes strong enough to satisfy my needs. The very rainy Severna Park 200k ride demonstrated that a few hours of rain, road oil and grit can turn adequate brakes into non-stoppers very quickly. After way more research than I thought possible on the subject of cantilever brakes, I got the Velo Orange Grand Cru Zeste brakes. I figured the longer arms plus the low profile should give me the most stopping power available from a cantilever brake.

While researching cantilever brakes, I relied mostly on this mechanical analysis from Circle A Cycles. I also read Sheldon Brown's article on cantilever geometry, but I found it oversimplified things and left out a lot of details. I did not completely verify the math in the Circle A Cycles article, but I will trust the resulting equations. Namely, the equation relating mechanical advantage (MA) to yoke height (footnote 8 on page 3, his equation uses degrees, mine uses radians).

For a given bike, PO is fixed at half the distance between the cantilever bosses, and DO is the vertical distance from the cantilever boss to the middle of the rim braking surface. The variables are PA, the distance between the cantilever post (P) and the cable anchor point (A), YO, the vertical distance from the cantilever boss to the yoke, and 'a', the cantilever angle, the angle from vertical of the line PA. This angle is measured differently than in Sheldon's analysis, where it is the included angle between the A, P, and the rim surface.

Circle A Cycles diagram. Cantilever Angle is APZ (not APR as in Sheldon's).

Sheldon's Diagram. Cantilever Angle is angle APS.

The equation is far from elegant, but it is easy to see that lengthening the arm of the cantilever brake will increase the mechanical advantage. And it doesn't take much, if DO=24, PO=44 (in mm), and a=.436 rads (25 degrees), then a 10% increase in the arm length (PA) leads to a 30% increase in MA. If your canti bosses are higher than normal and DO is smaller, so that the pads are in the lower end of the adjustment range, the MA can be increased 15-25% over pads at the upper end of the adjustment range.

For reference here is a list of a few cantilever brakes and their arm length (PA, pivot to cable anchor distance, measured 'as the crow flies'):

Brake Name	Arm Length (PA) in mm	'a' angle (approx)
Velo Orange Zeste	76	15
Paul touring	68	20
Shimano Non-series	67	20
IRD CAFAM I	67	30
Avid Shorty Ult	63	75 or 30
Tektro Oryx	60	30
Paul Neo Retro	47	74
Tektro 720	48	75

There are threads started every day on how to adjust cantilever brakes, and given that I've used four different sets on my rear brake (Tektro CR720, Shimano non-series low profile, generic low profile, and VO Zeste), here's what you need to know.

• lower yoke height=more power (but less modulation)
• medium and wide profile brakes are less sensitive to yoke height, up to a point
• low profile brakes are sensitive to yoke height throughout the range

This is relatively common knowledge, the part most people don't realize is there is tipping point for wide profile brakes (like Tektro CR720). Lowering the yoke height doesn't make them much more powerful, until you reach a certain point. Then the mechanical advantage skyrockets with each small lowering of the yoke. Perhaps all the people who are satisfied with the CR720's have sufficiently narrow tires or other frame distances that allow them to have a lower yoke height and thus higher than normal mechanical advantage. It's also possible that different levers have sufficiently different mechanical advantages (while still being 'short pull'), that the 720's can perform well. TRP makes two versions of the mini-V brakes with different length arms (and thus different mechanical advantages) for Shimano/Campy and SRAM brake levers, respectively.

Enough with the engineering, onto the review.

Comes with two brakesets, enough for one bike. All necessary hardware? Yes. Instructions? No, none at all. Tools necessary: 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5 mm allen keys, 10 and 13mm wrenches, phillips screwdriver.

When installing the calipers, the 5mm allen key bolt should be facing out, and the 13mm nut should be behind the caliper. The 13mm nut has to be very tight to keep the brake pad holder from moving. It would be easy enough to label the bags of hardware 'front' and 'rear.' But they weren't.

There are so many adjustments that can be made it can be time consuming to go back and forth between various adjustments until the pads hit the rim squarely, at the same time, and all adjusting bolts  (spring tension, pad angle, cable barrel adjuster, etc.) are near the middle of their respective adjustment ranges.

These take more tools to install than are present on any multi tool I have ever used. It is a little bewildering that a brake that may be used for long distance events would require either a 13mm wrench or an adjustable wrench.

I certainly appreciate the long arms that provide more power than almost any other cantilever brakes, but the user interface (to borrow a software term) is not quite refined enough to be truly useable for non-mechanics. These brakes could really use a couple hundred more hours of engineering. I would have considered halting the project once a 13mm wrench was required. It is unfortunate that Velo Orange is such a small company they can't afford to make these more user friendly without making them prohibitively expensive. As a comparison, Compass Bicycles offers boutique centerpull brakes that are as powerful as possible with no performance compromises (they also directly copied a well established design, so they spent a lot of time on manufacturing, not as much on design). But they require specialized bosses that are so sensitive to alignment and spacing, they should only be installed by a framebuilder. They also cost $325 for one bike.

Update: In corresponding with smutpedaller about these brakes, they pointed out that they are available here under a different name, although the listed arm length is significantly different (66mm vs. 76mm) than the Velo Orange ones. After a careful analysis of the product photos with some calipers and using the length of the brake shoes as a constant (54.2mm actual, 26.5mm in the photos), it seems the product description is correct, they are indeed shorter than the Velo Orange Zeste brakes. Perhaps the only thing VO did was spec the arm length and the brake pads.

The brake pads sit far enough away from the frame that the entire arm swings out of the way for removal of fat tired wheels. It's a nice feature, and Grant can tell you all about it.

I swapped out the stock pads for Kool Stop Salmons. Once installed the brakes work great. Fantastic power with good modulation. The Compass 650Bx42mm tires have so much grip you are still unlikely to lock up the wheels. I could stop the bike with one or two fingers on the front brake. On a drop bar lever, that is pretty impressive. Pads run pretty close to the rim for cantilevers, about the same as V-brakes.

After using Kool Stop pads for about 8 months, they developed a horrible squeal in both brakes. I switched to the Velo Orange stock pads, which are supposed to be resistant to squealing. They were quieter, but also not nearly as powerful. I put up with it for two more months until they started squealing as well. The pad holders don't allow you to toe the pads in very much, so I wasn't able to eliminate the squealing that way. I finally gave up and switched to a linear pull V-brake with a Travel Agent in the rear. I couldn't do this in the front because of too little clearance between the front rack and the fender, so I am switching to the Tektro Oryx calipers. They won't be as powerful, but hopefully they will be silent.

So, after 1 year, I had to abandon both Velo Orange brakes due to squealing issues. It's possible it is partly an issue with the rim, but I don't have a spare wheel I can try I haven't been able to eliminate this cause.

Cable Pinch Bolt (Sturmey-Archer on left, Velo Orange on right)

There were only two reviews of these brakes I could find online. One mentioned that the pinch bolt was prone to cutting the straddle cable since the end of the bolt can be sharp. I checked out the bolt and it seemed fine. I have been using the Sturmey-Archer pinch bolt of a similar design for years on my drum brakes without problem. The S-A pinch bolt uses larger diameter threads, but is functionally identical. If you aren't used to these types of anchors, they actually deform the cable instead of the clamping it. You do not need to tighten as much as normal anchor points where the cable is clamped between a washer and the arm. If I had to guess, I would use 5Nm.

If you go the V-O webpage on these brakes, here. You will notice that the brake cable exits the pinch bolt on both sides at a strange angle. Whoever installed it didn't hold the anchor with a 10mm wrench while tightening the M4 bolt. Please do not follow their example.

By the numbers:
Power: 5/5; Ease of installation 3/5; Field Serviceable: 1/5

Mudflaps: A Elementary Treatise on Their Design and Construction

After last weekend's very wet ride through rural and exurban Maryland, I thought it time to collect my thoughts on the subject of the seldom used, oft-misunderstood mudflap. Not merely a place to display lewd or political images on your semi truck or bike, they actually serve a purpose. Material choice, shape, and placement all affect how well they fulfill that purpose.

What is the purpose of a mudflap?

• Keep as much water off you and your bike as possible when riding on wet roads
• Keep water off the people riding behind you

The photo in this post by Jan Heine show how much of a difference a good mudflap can make in keeping your bike clean. But we are interested in going even further into the fluid dynamics that allow your feet to get wet.

Water leaves the tire tangent to the wheel in the direction of rotation. 

Another Jan Heine post demonstrates how much extra protection a longer fender provides.

But we are also interested other paths the water takes. When riding through standing water (anything deeper than 1/8"), the tire plows through the water sending it simultaneously back toward your feet and outward. Anyone who has watches a car go through a puddle at full speed will appreciate how much water can be moved and how far. A narrow mudflap will fail to stop the water that isn't thrown straight back. Result? Soaked feet.

I have also found that wide tires (more than 38mm) going through puddles throw up enough water into a fender that a significant amount leaks around the edges and onto your feet. So, the less water that is directed into the fender, the better.

Front fender wraps around the sides of the wheel, offering maximum protection when riding through standing water. (from book Rene Herse by Jan Heine)

So what is the ideal mudflap for very rainy rides? It should hang as close to ground as possible (less than an 1" away), it should be wide enough to provide protection from puddle tidal waves, and it should direct as much water as possible toward the ground and not up into the fender.

The result:

hangs low and wide and is attached behind the fender, not in front

Which can also be seen in countless classic photos of cyclists riding and racing on fully equipped bikes.

One of the lower-rung teams of the VCCA competes in the Coupe Herse in 1956. Lucien Detee leads Rene Delahaye. Marcel Pineau is in third position, apparently pushing a rider going through a  difficult patch.
(from book Rene Herse by Jan Heine)

I use 1/16" Neoprene on my fast bikes because it is more flexible in the wind while still providing good protection. On my utility bikes I use thicker 1/8" Neoprene.

Now that we've addressed the design and placement of the front mudflap we should note that the rear mudflap has different design considerations.

If you want to be courteous to the rider behind you, you would like to protect them from as much of the water off your back wheel as possible. This means a low hanging mudflap. Since the rear fender typically ends 12" off the ground, 12" of Neoprene flapping in the wind doesn't offer much protection. In this case, it is better to go with a stiffer material, usually thin, hard plastic. Perhaps a piece of a trashcan or something similar. It also doesn't need to be as wide because the following riders feet are considerably further back (roughly 3') than in the case of the front fender and your own feet.

Severna Park 200K

The DC Randonneurs organized the Pastries and Coffee 200k on Saturday, March 14th starting and ending in Saverna Park, Maryland. It was rescheduled from the 7th due to snow on all the roads. Here's a brief report with some pictures.

Weather was low 40's with a light steady rain at the 7am start. Rain continued until about 1pm with temps steadily rising into the upper 50's. Rain recommenced at 3pm and lasted until 5:30pm.

Ride start @7am

Things that worked?

1. Wool, Wool, Wool. Everything wool that I was wearing was great: socks (feet were a little chilly when soaked, but tolerable), gloves, hat, sweater, knee warmers. Other people had waterproof shoecovers and their socks were still soaked. Sometimes, less is more.
2. Waxed handlebar bag. Everything stayed dry and I was able to carry some backup clothes I didn't end up needing but gave me some peace of mind.
3. Full Fenders and mudflaps. I had to fiddle with my front mudflap a little before the start since it was scooping water up instead of directing it down to the ground. After that was solved, they worked beautifully. My feet still got soaked, partly from other riders who didn't have fenders, but the rest of me (jacket, and from the knees down) stayed a lot drier because of the fenders. And I'm sure other riders behind me appreciated the extra long coverage on the rear. I chose to keep riding with another person in part because they had similarly complete fenders and mudflaps.
4. Tweezers. Had to use them twice to pull tiny (very, very tiny) shards of glass out of tires. Thanks for the tip Jan Heine.

Things that didn't?

1. Could use a little more gear range in my drivetrain at the low end for longer or steeper hills, currently 35 inches, hoping to change to 27. But I've known this for a while, and change is imminent.
2. Some knee pain, not sure if it due to pedals or saddle adjustment. May trying changing pedals first.
3. Glue in the patch kit had dried out. Make sure to check your glue or replace glue every year or so.

Rode with Nick who had 4 flats. First was on the front tire. Second was on the rear, third was on the rear and was probably the same piece of glass as before that we didn't find. Fourth was on their car after finishing the ride. Two cans of fix-a-flat/inflator seemed to solve that enough to get home.

 Flat #1, on the front

Flat #2 on the rear. Near BWI Airport

What a day.

Post ride drop-off on New York Ave. in DC

Waxing Poetically

Would you believe I've been riding my bike?

Well, I have...and gettin' crafty.

I decided to add some wax to my Velo-Orange Grand Cru handlebar bag to make it a little more waterproof. I haven't actually ridden in anything more than a drizzle yet, but it pays to be prepared. Plus, who doesn't like to wax stuff?

Fifteen minutes of internet research led me to purchase 4 ounces of beeswax and 1 lb of paraffin wax.  One or both may be available at your local hardware store. Mixed in a ratio of 1 part beeswax to 4 parts paraffin, it makes a good wax for applying to cotton.

Some people seem to have lots of trouble applying waxing products to cotton ("had to throw away my Carhartt jacket, it was RUINED!!!" says The Internet). I'm not sure what they did differently, so here's what I did.

After heating in a jar in a water bath on the stove, I used a cheap paintbrush to apply to the cotton. The wax instantly dried when it hit the room temperature cotton. That's the white stuff on the bag below.

Then I used a hairdryer to melt the wax into the cotton and a rag to rub the wax in and take off any excess. Pretty straightforward, but time consuming. When finished, the cotton looks a little irregular, about the same as something well aged. I also did the leather accents, since beeswax and paraffin are ingredients in most leather waterproofing products. You can tell in the picture below, the leather on the left is a little darker, it got a little more wax.

I only did the front and the inside of the top. There is a plastic stiffener which is in between the inside and outside cotton layers. It runs down one side, under the bottom and up the other side, acting as a reasonable moisture barrier. And the rear pockets are covered by the top flap and don't get rained on as much because when riding, rain mostly hits the front and top.

Total time, 1 hr.

I would pay an extra $30 to have the whole exterior  of the bag treated like this during the manufacturing process.

Here are some pictures after riding for 11 hours on a rainy day. Rain was light but steady for 6-8 hours and there was a lot of road spray off other riders hitting the front of the bag.

Front, completely soaked on the outside

And completely dry on the inside

Ride more, even in the rain.

Biking further afield

Yes, we've been doing lots of stuff...and to prove it...

Trevor and I took a trip to Southern France (the region surrounding the Dordogne River) in order to do some biking. We took the train and arrived in Brive-la-Gaillarde, home of a foie gras factory...

After taking a circuitous route to Proissans, we stayed in a Bed and Breakfast outside of Sarlat-le-Caneda, and went to the Saturday market in Sarlat. It was pretty hectic. There were lots of tourists and a lot of stalls selling lame clothes and other crap to tourists, we even saw one stall selling gear plastered with characters from American professional wrestling (WWE). We also caught this guy, who left his car parked overnight in the lot used for the market. Now he's trying to back out between the vendors...good luck.

Of course the region is known for their castles perched on the cliffsides, not their intricate parking maneuvers. We spotted plenty of the former, but opted not to take as many pictures as the tour groups being chauffeured in tour buses through the winding roads. I like this one because of the ivy-covered small building beside the main residence.

Near the end of our second day, we took a break in Assier after riding 125km through rolling hills. Luckily, there was some entertainment in the form of a tiny kid riding his bike around like he owned the place. He was jumping it up and down the steps of this gazebo and generally acting like a pint-sized bad-ass. Keep up the good work.

After riding 140km through almost continuous steep hills, we were worried we would be too sore to complete the third day's riding to make it to Cahors where we were getting on the train back to Poitiers. Fortunetely, a good nights rest and a decent breakfast helped a lot. We were on our way, just outside Capdenac, when we encountered this in the way...

The road had been washed out. We tried to get around it, as the shortest detour by road was an extra 15km out of the way. The wall to the right supports a railway, we were able to climb up onto the railway. One of the tracks was still in use, but veered off into a tunnel going the wrong direction. The other set of tracks were unused, but were overgrown with thorns and we were stymied. We had to shorten our journey and head back to Capdenac to catch the train there. On our way back into town we found a notice from the city regarding the temporary closure of the road...dated February 21, 2006.

Luckily, Rebecca was waiting for us in Poitiers with a rabbit stew....Mmmmmmmm.

A Saturday AND Sunday in Hell...

I came across this poster (link now broken) on the internet a few days ago. Initially, I was almost giddy...the 20th of June?!?

Having participated in this glorious hypercycling race only once, in 2006, I had resigned myself to missing it in both '08 and '09 because it is normally held in September each year. Even if our visas had arrived on time 10 months ago, I still wouldn't have made it to the 2008 edition, and in September of this year, we'll be cosying into our new place in Champaign-Urbana, gearing up for the academic year.

"But June 20th?" I thought to myself. "I could actually swing that."

And then my newly cultivated Inner Voice of Reason said, "What are you trying to get us into?" While my experience racing in 2006 was sometimes enjoyable, it was also plagued by periods of intense pain and delirious soul-searching, and many questions of "What the #@!* am I doing this for?"

Here's my account of riding in the same race (a little shorter and with different cities) which I wrote after finishing in 2006:

The 23rd of September was the start of the 3rd 24-hour race in Holland. I'd seen somethings online about the previous ones. I was planning on being in Europe for my friend's wedding in Scotland a few weeks prior, and decided in July that I should stay and do the 24-hour race in Holland 2 weeks after the wedding.

I got to Holland on Thursday for the race which was scheduled for Saturday. I spent most of Thursday and Friday finding maps, getting a rear rack for a track bike, helmet, bottles, bottle cages, and adjusting fenders.

My bike from 2006 that is currently in the U.S. in storage. I miss you.

The race started in Utrecht, about 35km from Amsterdam. There was food and drinks at the start to try and build up the energy reserves. I had 2 water bottles, extra clothes for the night time, nuts/fruit, cell phone for emergencies, mp3 player, 4 maps of Holland or parts of Holland, rain gear, and bike tools.

The start of the race in Utrecht: hot bikes + random cute toddler

Almost 60 people took off at 12:10PM from Utrecht to Amsterdam for the first checkpoint. I was riding a 46x16 fixed gear (with a 17t freewheel on the other side) 'cause I wanted to be able to keep up with the leaders as long as possible. About 15km outside Utrecht I lost the leaders. We were cycling mostly on bike paths which were too narrow to do a lot of passing. When the group in front of you got dropped, so did you. Soon after we lost the leaders, there were navigational problems. We managed to ride an extra 4km from what race organizers stated it would be between Utrecht and Amsterdam.

At the checkpoint in Amsterdam we had more food, drink, and a quick group map-check and we were off to Zwolle, 138 km away. Much more getting lost ensued in the suburbs around Amsterdam. We never got too far from the intended path, but we spent a lot of time looking at maps or asking directions. Around 15 km from Zwolle my legs were hurting, and I was no longer able to go very fast. Our group of 6 from Amsterdam (Eva, Hannes--both from Stockholm, Louise from Dublin, who lived in Chicago for 6 months, Pedro from Madrid, Chris Berling from Amsterdam, and me) was still together. I got leg cramps just outside of Zwolle and I wasn't sure if I would continue after that.

After more map checking we found the checkpoint in Zwolle. We spent 45 minutes there. More eating (rice and pancakes), drinking, switching to the freewheel (after 90 miles), stretching, putting on some cold weather clothes, engaging front light, hooking up the mp3 player, and we were off, plus one lone German (Tibor Sillo, from Hamburg) who had showed up while we there.

We made pretty good time to Arnhem, with Tibor, Louise, and I sharing most of the pacemaking. The freewheel made all the difference, so did the music I started to listen to; it really took my mind off the monotony. It was nice to be a group because you had more eyes to look out for signs in the dark pointing the way. We went through one decent-sized city, Apeldoorn, and the cobbled bike paths and streets were brutal on the hands. I knew they would only get worse in every town for the rest of the trip.

Arnhem was the site of the Open Dutch Messenger Championships a month before this, which Tibor attended. So he showed the way to the checkpoint, a messenger service headquarters. After 30 minutes of food, drink, and a little beer, we were off again to Nijmegen.

Outside of Nijmegen we asked a man pushing his bike for directions. He said he was going to the same neighborhood and would show us the way. En route, his bike broke down twice while he was riding. Once, his bungees got caught in his chain, and then his chain fell off. Luckily, there were three people there who had tools to work on the problem all at the same time. Nijmegen checkpoint: more food, drink and we were off to Eindhoven.

Checkpoint times for our group. Left Utrecht at 12:10.
Arrived in Amsterdam at 13:50, Zwolle at 20:00, etc.

By the time we reached Eindhoven, everyone was lagging except Tibor and Louise. I didn't quit in Eindhoven because there was no place to sleep and there was a drunk guy yelling at at everyone about how they 'had to keep going, it is ONLY 85 km.'

We left Eindhoven for Maastricht as the sun was coming up. About 30 km outside of Eindhoven we started encountering clubs out for a Sunday morning training ride. There was a lone cyclist from Eindhoven following us. Once he found out where we were going he decided to join us and show us the way because he was out for a 'leisurely' 160 km training ride. We followed a canal for around 60 km, it was really boring, and clogged with morning exercise traffic, but it was the shortest way.

Once into Maastricht we had to ask for directions every few kilometers. There were a few small hills, but there was one leading right up to the finish outside Maastricht that was 2km long. It was torture after riding for 24 hours. Everyone in our group finished except Chris. There was a short awards ceremony after the race, not really any prizes, a few trophies and patch kits.

The race finish at a campground in Bemelen.
Tibor getting an award for finishing in exactly 24 hours; 2 minutes ahead of me

It was a lot of fun, even if it wasn't as much of a social event as it would have been in the States. The checkpoints along the way were more fun than the finish.

Race checkpoint in Arnhem at the headquarters of Velocity Couriers

So back to the present...

Tickets from Paris to Amsterdam aren't too expensive, I'm better prepared both physically and equipment-wise for something like this than I was three years ago. But it still kind of scares me. Any misadjustment of your bike's fit or minor discomfort will be enormously magnified after performing 90,000 pedal revolutions. Not only is this year's race the longest version yet (490 km=305 miles), there are only 23 people registered so far, nearly all of them Dutch. The more people that race, the better your chances of finding a group to ride with that is going your pace. And the Dutch aren't much help: they are cycling robots, capable of inhuman speeds over vast distances. The 2006 winner (Dutch, of course) finished the 400km race in 14 hours, for an average of 18 mph, an incredible pace for 14 hours straight.

Now the Inner Voice of Reason is wondering how I'm going to consume 10,000+ calories while riding my bike for 24 hours straight...

2000 km later...

My rear tire, which has been replaced after covering around 4500 miles since last August.

Our first visitors have come and gone and our next guests are a few weeks off. Rebecca's students are on vacation for their trimester break and the weather has been mostly sunny. With the free time and nice weather, I have been trying to cram in as much biking as possible. Some to get in better shape, but mostly to keep exploring the hidden corners of the Poitou-Charentes Region.

I won't be entering any races anytime soon (edit: apparently I will be entering races), but being able to go a little farther and faster allows me to cover more ground and keep expanding the territory available for exploration.

The town of Le Blanc, which I visited for the first time on a recent 140km ride (not my photo)

After riding the same routes for much of the winter, I've been trying to map out a new route at least twice a week. The spring greenery and sunshine have also added new life to old routes.

The thing about riding around Poitiers that I will miss the most is the infinitely varying terrain. The gently rolling hills with the roads that gracefully twist and turn to find the path of least resistance across the undulating landscape. A road system diametrically opposed to the rigidly numeric grids of Central Illinois.

Champaign-Urbana, IL
Those boxes aren't lines of latitude or longitude, those are ROADS!

So, while Rebecca was charting her increases in speed, distance, and incline on foot, I decided to set some goals of my own. I came up with the relatively arbitrary goal of cycling 2000km during the month of April.

This didn't sound too bad, it is more than I've ever done in one month, but there seemed to be enough free time in my schedule and the sunshine was becoming more frequent.

I got off to a slow start, with rain and the threat of rain keeping me off the bike for a few days each of the first two weeks of April. If you've seen pictures of my bike in earlier posts, you know that it is equipped to handle the rain with full fenders and a mudguard. These are fine for running errands around Poitiers in the rain, or sightseeing in Berlin, Paris, Toulouse, or Bordeaux in winter showers, but the prospect of riding for 3-4 hours in soaking rain makes it seem more like a job than a pursuit of happiness.

My bike rides during the month of April

I barely made it to 2000 km for the month. The last few days were a little rainy and I wasn't able to ride as much as I would have liked. The last day was overcast for the first two and a half hours of riding, then it started raining and I had to keep going for another hour and a half to make it 2000 km for the month.

In pushing the boundaries of my cycling universe, an unexpected hurdle was consuming enough food to sustain me for the occasional 140 km ride. Eating breakfast, lunch, during-ride snack, post-ride meal, pre-dinner snack, dinner, and making sure there are enough calories in all those meals to replace the ~3300 burned during a 5 hour ride (plus the 1600 burned when I'm not on the bike) can be a little disconcerting.

After riding for a few days in a row, I found myself very lethargic. I mentioned this to Rebecca and we did a few calculations and found that I was not eating enough to replace the calories consumed during 4 days of riding. This came as a bit of a surprise since I eat a lot of food, snacking throughout the day and consuming 4-5 normal portions at dinner.

So now I've been trying to eat a little smarter by consuming more fat (hooray, duck fat, butter, cream, etc.) and protein (beans and meat) and fruit.

This has worked out great so far. I'm not nearly as tired after multi-hour rides and can actually accomplish things around town shortly after getting off the bike. Now that I feel more comfortable going longer distances the train+bike adventures will continue farther afield. We are going to visit Tours tomorrow. It is an hour away by train and 116km (4+ hours by bike). We picked Tours partly because one of Rebecca's colleagues from ESIP lives in Tours and has volunteered to steer us to interesting sights (thanks Ann!), and also because it is the right distance away through the interesting terrain of the Indre et Loire department.

We've been told that Tours leaves a little to be desired from the tourist perspective. Perhaps this is because it was bombed heavily during WWII and its Palais de Justice was the site of the Nazi headquarters for central France. Nevertheless, it is a little larger than Poitiers and hopefully we'll find some interesting things there to tell you about.