Category: Bike stuff

Happy Bike Month

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 10 Comments
Two wheels good, four wheels bad. But internal combustion still helps.
Two wheels good, four wheels bad. But internal combustion still helps.

Bike Month finally comes to Colorado in June (we’re a little slow). Naturally, the weather has gone to hell, with showers and thunderstorms in the forecast all week long. Bugger. I’ll bet it won’t slow down the guy we saw cycling through the Garden of the Gods yesterday, the dude with two prosthetic legs. Somehow I doubt a little precip’ will turn him into a weepy little girl.

I’m another story, of course. A sensitive artiste. Dribble a little water on me outside of cyclo-cross season and I melt away like the Wicked Witch of the West; what a world, what a world. Nevertheless, I plan to reprise my usual Bike Month vow, which is to leave the Forester parked as much as is possible for a lazy fat bastard.

That should be a little easier this year as I have expanded the collection of “bicycles” in the Mad Dog fleet. In addition to the usual Bike Month workhorse, a Soma Double Cross with rack, panniers and fenders, there’s the Vespa LX50 — which under Colorado law is classified as a “motorized bicycle.” So I’ll ride the scooter whenever I’m feeling a tad fragile or don’t want to turn up someplace all sweaty and fragrant.

While we’re on the topic of healthy pursuits, my man Hal Walter over at Hardscrabble Times advises that Phil Maffetone’s latest iteration of his popular book “In Fitness and in Health” is now available from Amazon.com. Hal edited this fifth edition, along with a couple of others, and he and Phil are collaborating on a new blog with news about the book, health and fitness tips, recipes and other goodies. Swing on past and take a gander.

And finally, Kathy Crandall advises that Old Town Bike Shop’s John Crandall, injured in a bike-car crash, undergoes shoulder surgery today and may be ready for visitors by Thursday or Friday. Think good thoughts and stay tuned.

Na zdarov’e!

~ Patrick O'Grady

A toast to Denis Menchov and Rabobank mechanic Vincent Hendriks, who between them managed to save the big Russian’s maglia rosa after he crashed short of the line in today’s rain-lashed final stage of the centenary Giro d’Italia.

I was casually rooting for LPR’s Danilo Di Luca, based on his balls-to-the-wall attacking style, but nobody can say Menchov didn’t have the final win coming. He had the legs and the brains, and that pretty much seals the deal unless someone else is better equipped in both departments. Nobody was in this Giro, not even the relentless Di Luca.

Elsewhere, you’ve been expressing lots of good thoughts in comments about my friend and neighbor John Crandall. Between work, cooking and visitors, I haven’t been able to pay him the attention he deserves, so thanks for filling in for me.

I’ve been buying bikes, parts and service from John and the Old Town Bike Shop crew since I moved back to Colorado from Oregon in 1983 or thereabouts, and I’ve never gotten anything less than stellar treatment. And it’s not because I’m that Patrick O’Grady, either — John and the gang go the extra kilometer for all their customers, not just the ones who happen to work for bike magazines. And John has more on his mind than simply putting folks on top-shelf two-wheelers, as this story from the Bibleburg Gaslight shows.

I obviously haven’t been to visit John yet, and I understand another surgery is planned for tomorrow, so it may be a while before I have a chance to pay my respects in person. I’m sure his wife, Kathy, will chime in from time to time — Kathy, if this suits you as a forum, by all means put it to whatever use you deem proper — and between the two of us, we’ll keep you posted.

Dry streets and wide loads

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 9 Comments

It finally stopped raining for a couple of days, and Tonatiuh the sun god has delivered us a long-overdue solar stimulus package. The cats couldn’t be happier — especially Turkish, a.k.a. Mighty Whitey the Blue-Eyed Bully of Bibleburg, Big Pussy, the Turkinator, Turkenstein, et al. Indoors is anathema to the big galoot, who on rainy days stalks from door to window to basement to office, making a doleful sound not unlike helium escaping from a leaky balloon.

Mia Sopaipilla is less demanding, but she’ll take the outdoors on a sunny day, if it’s offered. And so will I. I got out for a quick hour on the ‘cross bike, and wowsah, has the foliage ever exploded. All of a sudden there’s shade on the bike path — which is not always a good thing.

Once those spindly trailside trees fill in with greenery, every blind corner is one more crank on the handle of the old jackoff-in-the-box. A guy has no idea what’s gonna pop up. But whatever it is, it’s probably gonna be wearing an iPod.

I’ve thought about mounting a bullhorn on my handlebars, or maybe an air-raid siren, but my poor bike is already carrying more than enough weight. What a shame the iPod isn’t equipped to receive radio. Just think what fun you could have with a mic’ and short-range transmitter. “Hey, Wide Load, watch your six, incoming! Shift three feet to starboard. And put on a shirt, f’chrissakes. You look like a Wookiee with an eating disorder.”

Iron Head Bicycle Classic

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 4 Comments

My IHBC lasted all of 33 minutes, and pursued by thunder I hit the driveway just as the first raindrop hit my upper lip. That’ll teach me to piss away 20 minutes of fleeting sunshine chatting with the neighbors. If I could’ve kept my fat yap shut, my fat ass might be a tad smaller. But noooo.

Anthony Colby and Mara Abbott got a slightly better workout — they won their respective races at the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic this morning. My man Ned Overend could only manage 15th, two and a half minutes back. He must’ve had a mechanical. Or maybe somebody shot him.

My brother Mad Dog Mikey O’Schenk rode in for 67th in the masters 55-64, crossing in 3:52:17. And oh, the shame — his wife, Susan, was 17 seconds faster, finishing 19th in women 45-54. Mike Elmer was the fastest ex-Dog; his 2:49:17 was good enough for 28th among the senior men IV-V 19-34. Tungsten Alcazar was the slowest, crossing in 3:53:28 for 104th in masters 35-44.

The Iron Hose

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 8 Comments
In 1993 I thought I'd try racing the Iron Horse mountain bike race instead of its road cousin. Turns out I sucked at that, too.
In 1993 I thought I'd try racing the Iron Horse mountain bike race instead of its road cousin. Turns out I sucked at that, too.

Memorial Day weekend: High gas prices, check; lousy weather, check; Iron Horse Bicycle Classic, check.

I was never any great shakes at the Horse. My best finish was a 12th place in 1991, racing the masters 35 (2:31:33). My nadir was in 1995, the year we hit snow on Molas Pass. I had blown up earlier on Coal Bank, after tweaking a hamstring while working a chase group with Mikey O’Schenk, and was shaking like a dog shitting peach pits on the winding descent into Silverton, having all kinds of no fun at all.

O’Schenk’s wife, Susan, dragged my half-frozen ass into their minivan along with a couple of other blue-lipped Dogsicles. The sound of teeth chattering made the van sound like a Dumpster full of pissed-off timber rattlers. “Worst time I’ve ever had at Iron Horse,” I noted afterward in my race diary. And that was that.

The next year, instead of pinning on a number with the rest of the suckers I worked the race for VeloNews and watched colleagues Tim Johnson and Charles Pelkey freeze their nuts off along with a thousand or so of their closest friends. Some 400 racers were evacuated from the route in ’96, and many of those who made it to Silverton were treated for hypothermia; two were hospitalized.

In ’97, snow, whiteout conditions and 40-mph winds croaked the Horse altogether just as a 13-man break in the elite men’s race hit Purgatory. That year, I didn’t even show up with pad and pen; senior editor John Rezell covered the race for VeloNews.

But O’Schenk soldiers on. He and his wife — who had her own nightmare ride in 2007 after her drivetrain got sideways after an early crash — are registered, as are ex-Dogs Tungsten Alcazar and Mike Elmer. Susan didn’t get a chance to get back on the Horse last year, when the race was canceled due to (wait for it) snow. Here’s hoping she enjoys better luck this time around.

Even the weather should be vastly improved. The forecast is for rain.