Enginerve : Bikes

10% luck, 20% skill, 15% concentrated power of will, 5% pleasure, 50% pain…a 100% reason to remember the name

  • Disclaimer:  I own more than one pair of Five Fingers and I enjoy them a lot.  I also have a standup workstation.  And the fact that the author has a reference to thinking about walking that engages my fellowship.   I walk a great deal, but have never thought about it, and like running, I might learn something thinking about it.

    I haven’t made the transition to barefoot running although I have started and stopped a number of times.  As a long term runner I am convinced that my muscle memory prefers my regular running shoes AND that barefoot running may ease a number of injuries and wear that one sees as well as improve my balance for other foot related activities. Of course I am going to start by running a lot of short distances for a long time to get my legs used to it.  I had to at the beginning of each soccer season when I shifted back into cleats.  The same with flat bottomed skating shoes.

    But Mark’s Daily Apple talks about How to Make the Barefoot Transition.  I just learned about the Lacrosse Ball (although I use another type) last year, and it worked as a speaking/performance opener so well that I read his whole article and will get started with these tips as well:

    • Buy a Lacrosse Ball
    • Strengthen Your Feet
    • Think About Your Walking Form
    • Use Linear Progression
    • Sample New Ground Cautiously
    • Swallow Your Pride

     

  • Updated

    I am learning that ideas that are extremely clear in my head are much more difficult to communicate on a blog.  I am relearning it.  I am hoping to put it into practice.  After all, I have an idea how all my articles are connected and why I put them up here.

    My first recollection of a bike adventure book was reading Miles From Nowhere by Barbara Savage.  My later recollections were that everyone mentions that she was killed later while riding her bike closer to her home.  For most people, bikes are just that, a continual safety nightmare and a reason to hate (no comments will be posted, I have toured enough to see this).  I was thrilled that this woman just went places, places I would never go without a bicycle.  I hope that this book may stimulate someone else to go someplace and to do it on a bicycle.  I am not against traveling like the images I have of Colonial British, where I have funds and tea sets are set out, white linens, pith helmets, but I would miss just learning about myself and the people I am going by.  What I would miss most is understanding what adventure is.  These days, that is the most important thing.

    So when I saw this eBook about Melanie Swanson, a cycle tourist from Washington on a one-year, ’round-the-world bicycle tour.  And I realized you could download her eBook FREE, “The Neither Authoritative Nor Concise Guide to Riding Bikes in Southeast Asia” on the GoingSlowly blog, I thought I would give it a plug.  I am hopeful it is good book, but even a fair one that gives one any reason to jump into the world of bicycling adventures would be a worthwhile addition.  And I am from Washington as well.  I hope she has fun.

  • Hard to explain.  They NYTimes has an article which says

    What seems to separate randonneurs from bike-path cruisers is as much mental fortitude as physical stamina. “It’s a whole different spirit,” Ms. Pineda later explained. “The kind of people who do these kinds of things are always in a good mood.”

    In a short post this Spring, VeloOrange says this on randonneuring:

    Randonneuring is centered around endurance cycling – riding comparatively long distances. The events are timed, and in order to qualify, a rider has to prove that they completed the ride (brevet) within the time allotted. Riders are seriously interested in qualifying, because the rides are preliminaries to a Grand Randonée, and this year Paris-Brest-Paris overshadows all others. Americans seeking to participate in a 1200k ride like PBP will need to complete a 200k, 300k, 400k, and 600k brevet within the time limits.

    And the LazyRando tells one how to navigate a Brevet, the starting distance.

    Now, next year all I have to do is join and get going!

  • They are called an S240 ride, Rivendell Bicycles suggests what you might want to bring, around Portland Cycle Wild has a map (see it below) that suggests where around Portland you might want to go.  Portland’s “rideshed” which is “anywhere you can ride a loaded bike on a summer day.” About 75 at the most, farther with MAX.

    Visit Cycle Wild’s Where to Camp page to learn more…


    View Portland Rideshed Campsites in a larger map

    View Portland Rideshed Campsites in a larger map

  • Best Rides around Portland – Printable Version


    Portland is a great place to ride for any reason, or no reason at all!  See the map below for an overview of some enjoyable & scenic recreational bike rides around Portland.  Choose the type of ride that suits your preferences, from short & fairly easy (flat) to longer & more demanding (lots of hill climbing).   

    » Ride 1: Southeast Neighborhoods  13 miles, flat (pdf, 921k)
    » Ride 2: North Portland Trails  19 miles, flat (pdf, 955k) ***SLOUGH BRIDGE on N. MARINE DRIVE near KELLEY POINT PARK is CLOSED for CONSTRUCTION from APRIL 16 until OCTOBER 2011 (more details HERE)
    » Ride 3: Big Eastside Loop   51 miles, flat (pdf, 8,046k) ***SLOUGH BRIDGE on N. MARINE DRIVE near KELLEY POINT PARK is CLOSED for CONSTRUCTION from APRIL 16 until OCTOBER 2011 (more details HERE)
    » Ride 4: Short, Steep, & Sweet   15 miles, very hilly (pdf, 943k)
    » Ride 5: Sauvie &/or Skyline    32 to 45 miles, either very hilly or flat (pdf, 3,641k)
    » Ride 6: Northeast Ramble   15 miles, flat (pdf, 1,693k)
    » Ride 7: Powell Butte & Springwater  26 miles, mostly flat (pdf, 2,387k)

    » Ride 8: Waterfront Loop  11 miles, flat (pdf, 1,245k)

  • Gene Bisbee has this to say to do myth-busting comparing the elevation of the RAGBRAI and Ride the Rockies bike tours, take a look at the article to see hardest day comparisons along with average days and enough stats to make everyone happy.

    From his article:

    In terms of elevation gain — which should really be the yardstick for comparing a flat ride and a mountainous ride — there’s not much difference between the two.

    The total elevation gain for the 2011 Ride the Rockies bike route announced on Sunday is 21,604 feet. I was amazed by that total, until I went back to check the RAGBRAI route and discovered that cyclists in “flat” Iowa would climb 21,206 feet.

    It was news to me that RAGBRAI rivaled Ride the Rockies in difficulty, so I hunted around the Internet until I found the expert on RAGBRAI trivia. That’s Rich Ketcham, a software consultant who has been crunching all the RAGBRAI numbers and has them all online at GeoBike.com.


     

  • Russ with PathLessPedaled shows how to pack your bicycle in the Amtrak box to take on the train with you.