Leg Shaving

A few posts ago there was a picture of Lance "Killing Machine" Armstrong's calves and upon which he commented by saying that his unshaved legs were proof that he wasn't taking cycling too seriously yet. I think that is the best reason to offer as to why cyclists do shave our legs; it's because we take cycling seriously.

I have heard and read lots of reasons for shaving your legs. My favorite is when people talk about aerodynamics. If you are shaving your legs for aerodynamics, I also hope you are taking these similarly useful steps to improve your cycling performance:

• Shaving off your eyebrows to smooth airflow over your face.
• Either plugging your nostrils or never opening your mouth - your choice.
• Shaving the bumps off of the tread of your tire to help with both aero and rotational mass.
• Being careful to get just enough grease on your bike to keep the chain and wheels moving, but not so much to add to the weight or rotational mass.
• Sanding the paint or clear-coat off of your frame, but only very smoothly.
• Lowering your head whenever you exhale so you don't create negative forces against your motion.
• Wearing latex gloves over your hands or shaving down your knuckle hair and uber-trimming your nails for airflow on the leading edge.
  

I think you get the point. Aerodynamics is NOT a good reason to shave your legs.

One really good reason to shave your legs is to aid with the massage process. Unfortunately, this doesn't apply to a single cyclist that I personally know, unless self-massage counts. And no, I'm not following that up with more commentary.

So, for the average cyclist who races but doesn't have a soigneur (Here is an odd note - I spelled that word correctly without spellcheck, which means I devote too much of brain to this sport. I may need an intervention), what is the reason to shave your legs?

In complete honesty, I think there are three reasons. First, if you fall, and for most racers it is a question of "when" you fall, it does help with the wound cleaning, bandaging and healing process. Road rash on a shaved leg is indeed better than on a hairy one. Second, it helps with cleanliness. It is much easier to wipe off your legs, spray them with a water bottle or whatever, when they are shaved. Hairy legs do a better job of holding onto sweat, dirt and grit (please take note Mo'Nique). And for any rider who knows what chamois cheese is, you know that staying clean is a good idea. And lastly, and this may be a bit of blasphemy, it is stylish.

Now, I know that most guys are very hesitant to do anything that is considered "stylish", but the truth is that we could wear technical t-shirts to race in, but we wear jerseys with pockets. I'm not saying the jersey doesn't have a useful purpose, but there are rides we could do without pockets and we still wear jerseys. Heck, there have been thousands of words spilled across the internet about Armstrong's penchant for dark socks or longer socks. This is purely a style question (or almost purely), so let's not pretend that style is not a part of cycling.

Rouleur

I don't speak French. I enjoy French Fries and am glad to drink French wines, but failing to understand in the 7th grade what an obsession cycling and the Tour de France would ultimately be I spent my formative years sitting in Spanish class instead of French. Please note that I did not say "studying Spanish" or even "learning Spanish", because, frankly, my years of Spanish were enough for me to be able to take one boondoggle "language" trip, in which I was able to order beer and a meal with confidence, but that's about it. Shortly after that trip, I carried the memories of the mischief and architecture for many years, but I appeared to carry the Spanish language for about 6 more months. It failed to trouble my consciousness much beyond that.

As a result, I watch a great deal of cycling on television that all comes from France, but I am not able to follow any native language discussion. And if it were just television coming from France it wouldn't be too much of an issue, but a lot of our cycling traditions and language comes from France. Words like peleton, echelon, domestique and suitcase-of-courage are all foreign to us. Another of these words is rouleur.

The word rouleur is much less common than domestique or peleton, but it has served as the inspiration for an obscure cycling magazine of that name. Rouleur is printed quarterly by the company that makes Rapha clothing. It is quite pricey even when you aren't paying for the shipping from England and it is literally double the pricey to get it from England. Nonetheless, this quarterly is an exquisite piece of the cycling world and I look forward to it immensely.

It is hard to describe the magazine without holding one in your hands. There really should be a word other than "magazine" for this publication, because it is printed on paper dramatically more substantial than that of any other monthly periodical. It is bound more like a paperback book than a magazine. The quality of the graphics and substance of the stories make it a shame to consider disposing of it. Although obviously, not everyone agrees with me.

From Misc Bike Pics

The stories in Rouleur tend to be very long and very involved. This is unlike Bicycling magazine, which I understand has studies correlating the length of its articles to the average time the American male cyclist spends on the crapper. They also tend towards insipid, but that is another matter.

Rouleur also tends to spend much more time on bikes produced between 1965 and 1985 than doting after the latest carbon fiber miracle. Much more leather saddle and steel frame than gel saddle and carbon frame. As a result, they focus on bikes that featured components either from Campagnolo or now-defunct companies. Shimano and SRAM just weren't competing for space on the derailleur hanger of the Molteni Team. A few issues ago they gave some time to the Dura Ace versus Record discussion, but it is hard to compare "efficiency" versus "history", when your prism is respect for tradition.

The latest issue, however, features a lengthy interview with Mr. Shimano and it includes numerous pictures from the factory. It also features a long article about the "Z" team, or Team Zed if you prefer, and pictures of the Tour of California that purposely feature the gray wet days of last year's race that make it look like it was held in the English countryside. Once again, it draws a spotlight to the beauty and anguish and joy and struggle and pain and elation that makes up this sport.

I just had time to glance through the issue, but as I put it down, I realized that the definition of Rouleur was not "good all rounder" or a moniker for guys like Jens Voigt and Sean Yates. No, the definition is "love". Of course, "love" in a manly way. No, not in a Roman gladiator movie-manly way, just manly. Because it is a celebration of the part of cycling that is so tough and, if we are honest with ourselves, that we love.

This Picture Speaks for Itself

Quicksilver's Saturday Ride Report

Rider Three spent time on Friday making a video which featured a character with an outhouse on his head. That was supposed to be me. I guess it was supposed to be funny. I was working and riding my bike instead. The way men do.

Here is my ride report. We met for a ride on Saturday and went for two hours. Weather was fine. I plan to do it again soon.
Quicksilver

Saturday Ride Report

Here is a quick ride report from Saturday. First, and of the most importance to me, is that prior to the ride I only had a couple of comments about the ride announcement, which I not-humbly called "The Best Ride Announcement Ever". I try to write things that are amusing, interesting and occasionally funny. On Friday I created the video announcement and I completely cracked myself up. I thought for sure that after I posted it I would get a few messages along the lines of "G-D that was the funniest thing I have seen since Caddyshack" or "Holy cow, other than getting the technology from BikeSnobNYC, that was very funny and clever". Instead, however, I got two complaints about not providing a text pronouncement (Thanks Bobs) and not much else.

As I rode up to the group on a beautiful Saturday morning, I honestly thought I was going to get a number of looks like "what is the matter with that guy?", and also, to be honest, I don't want to have a conversation about what is the matter with me. The list is too long to start. Anyway, I was pleased that the reaction was good and that people enjoyed it. In the post-Oscar glow, my inner-Sally says, "They liked it, they really liked it!" As evidence of that, the blog posted a five-fold increase in readership from the prior days.

But you are now asking, what does this have to do with a ride report? Nothing, but then again if I didn't digress, this blog would be filled exclusively with six-word entries from Quicksilver.

So, on Saturday at 11 a.m. the sun was shining and the temperature was rising slowly. The group grew and grew, until we had an impressive 27 people ready to go for a ride. Not bad for this early in March.

There was a wide range of clothing, from M. S. who looked like Nanook of the North to my fellow TTW riders who seem impervious to the cold and dress like it. As it turns out, those with the light clothing on were suitably attired. I ditched my wind vest approximately 3 minutes into the ride and the stops were used more for shedding layers than shedding water (if you know what I mean). Speaking of shedding water, or what the professionals call a "nature break", last week the group had turned a corner with a stop sign and had stretched out a bit. I was in the middle rear of the group with Rider 1 and we saw Rider 2 take off at a dead sprint off the front of the group. Rider 2 is usually the diesel motor type, not the pretty-pony type, so I said to Rider 1, "What is up with #2?" He said, "No idea", so I said, "Shall we catch him?" "Sure" was the response. So, feeling frisky and knowing that primarily all I had to do was sit on #1's wheel, we got quickly up to speed and started eating up the asphalt between us and #2. At that point, however, just as we were closing in at full speed, #2 pulled off the left side of the road to a, shall we say, private area. Unfortunately, we had pulled the group up to warp speed as everyone was getting onto the train before it left the station. This left #2 well and truly behind. Now, #2 had a theory that we could have turned off the gas, but jeez, we didn't keep speeding up, we just burned off the momentum we already had. Before you get feeling too bad for him though, it turns out that we were not far from a long downhill, which Rider 1 took at full speed, and then the road turned up sharply for a long hill. This is where I saw Rider 1 again. Going by. Quickly. Let's just he wasn't really in danger of being dropped.

Anyway, this week we had a couple of more organized nature breaks. Rider 2 took the time to complain about the deference offered to those with stops on Saturday.

The ride took the lower portion of the "new" Fish Lake Trail. This trail is definitely being discovered and we saw lots of people on it. Our group was very civilized and I can assume that T. W. was doing his "Gregarious Rider" impersonation to every person we passed. With 27 riders we needed to be courteous and I believe we were. At the intersection with the Cheney-Spokane road, we turned towards Cheney and stayed on the road. We had a bit of a city limit sprint and then made our way to Betz Road. By this time, we had shed a few riders off the back. I actually dropped off the back at one point to find out what happened, but the few riders must have turned around since they were not within sight.

As we headed up Betz road, one of Rider 1's favorite sojourns, we did have one fearless soul dash off the front who then served as our rabbit as the group kept up a good tempo. We eventually caught him as we left Betz Road and the group came together again for a few minutes. As we left Four Lakes we did have another burst of speed, first by a couple of speedsters and then by Rider 1 who decided, without warning I think, to open up the after-burners for a 3-minute threshold attempt to get an idea of how his Sunday 12k TT was going to go. Or at least planned to go, as it unfortunately did not, but I am proud to say that I caught up to him. I would like for this to stand as a testament to by speed and and fitness, but it was not. Instead, I used a bit of trickery, like cutting through a stop sign at high speed and then again at an intersection where Rider 1 had stopped traffic and I was just barely close enough to make it through the intersection before traffic started up. Yes, trickery was much more useful than speed.

Anyway, we made our way back to Thorpe, sped down to Vinegar Flats and then I headed home and let the rest of the diminished pack head up the fish ladder on the way home. It was largely an uneventful ride. A few got dropped, a few were frisky, and I think that everyone was tired after the two hours of effort, but the real news is that the sun was shining and the temperatures are getting hopeful. It was a ride that reminds me of why I enjoy cycling so much. Just the right mixture of BS, hard work and the easy camaraderie of a pack of like-minded souls. Thanks for the ride, guys.
Rider 3

Dr. Spalm - Round 2

Dr. Spalm - I have two follow-up questions from your last answer. First, you said the you removed the hyphens from Never-was-again's name for two reason, but you only gave one.

Second, the question was more of "how do I get benefit from drafting a smaller rider", rather than a "how do I make a smaller rider sorry for not offering more draft".

Signed,
Still Curious

Dear Still Curious - While I am not a native English speaker and some of your ways are deeply foreign to me, I must note that I do have more than a basic grasp of your language. As such, I can clearly and definitely recognize that you, Still Curious, are an idiot. How, you ask? You have said you have two follow-up questions and yet if you look at your "questions", you will find they are statements and not questions at all. The lack of question marks should have been a tip-off for you.

Nonetheless, I understand that Family Guy and Sarah Palin came to an agreement that we personages of show business are supposed to be kind to idiots and not fling around the "R" word without sufficient justification. As such, I will pretend that your statements are questions and answer them as such.

First, you have stated that I said there two reasons for something and I only gave one. What are you, the pedagogical police? No, we have already established that you are a curious idiot and not simply pointing out the syntactical or structural error in my paragraph construction. Besides, why do you need to know? As it turns out, my grandmother met an early demise when she choked on a hyphen. There, are you happy now? And thank you for dredging up the memory of my poor Nana's death.

Second, you have suggested that I didn't answer the question asked of me by Never-was-again. I mean Never was again. I fail to understand your point. Clearly the Volkswagen gets more benefit from following the Semi than the other way around. This is basic physics and, without the benefit of a quantum physic-style extra dimension, this set of the laws of physics appear to be immutable. Therefore it is not possible for the Semi to get protection from the wind behind a Volkswagen and it is not possible for the meat wagon in question to benefit from his cricket-sized companion. Thus the only logical conclusion is that Mr. Cricket must be punished. Just as Semi's run the Volkswagens off the road. Next time you are on a car trip, keep an eye out for the rusted remnants of Volkswagens in ditches and ravines. I think it will prove my point.

The Best Ride Announcement Ever

Dr. Spalm - Round 1

Dr. Spalm has recently returned from the Haiti. He was not there helping.

An astute and perspicacious reader sent in the following question:

Question for Dr Spalm - How does a 208 lb meat wagon effectively draft
behind a 135 lb cricket?

Signed,
Never-was-again

Dr. Spalm responds: Thank you astute and perspicacious Never was again. Before I go on, I should remark that I have removed the "-", or as you Americans call them, hyphens, from between your name. I have done this for two reasons. The first is that I am paid by the word to produce answers to these questions and those cold-hearted b*st*rds that make up Team Two Wheel would argue for an hour about whether "Never-was-again" was one word or three, but I have forestalled this issue by cleverly removing the "-" and by droning on for a multitude of words before getting to the topic.

Next, I should address that nickname, Never was again. I don't know you personally, although I have been told that you should shower more regularly, but I am guessing that this is clever word play on the concept of a "has been". I would argue, dear NWA, that you are not a "never was", but more of a "never could have been", but I guess that is for history to determine.

Now for the meat of your question. This is indeed a perplexing problem. On training rides with relatively few riders of the recreational variety, it is often the case that larger riders and smaller riders will appear. I have heard that one approach is to recognize that people come in every shape and size and that we should learn to love our brethren for their differences. This is nonsense.

I suggest that you do the following: 1) first, start the ride next to your cricket-sized friend; 2) if the wind is blowing or you end up in a paceline situation, take a short and hard pull and then quickly pull to the side while you examine your brake or crankset, which will cause the cricket to a) not understand that you are faking it and b) cause him to move up; 3) when Mr. Cricket moves over as if to allow you forward, simply move over behind him and, if possible, adjust your shoe and re-examine your brake or crankset; 4) when Mr. Cricket finally won't fall for this tactic anymore, ride up next to him on the non-curb side as if you were going to take a pull and then when you are 2/3 in front of him veer sharply towards the curb. Mr. Cricket's front wheel will be battered sideways causing him to head directly into the curb, gutter or gravel-strewn shoulder and crash. Since you were in front of him, you have no need to look back or recognize the anguished cries of Mr. Cricket and his cracked clavicle. He will, however, never dare sit behind you enjoying your massive draft while he offers no such similar protection from the wind.

One final caveat. If your cricket-sized friend is actually Paulo "The Cricket" Bettini, do not try this. He will cut you so quick you will be bleeding before you know he has his knife out.

Training in the Cold. Training through a Cold.

I had a phone conversation with a friend about being sick and missing training. He was complaining about not feeling well and missing a week of training. He sounded stuffy and miserable on the phone. So what did I do? I made fun of him and offered him some advice. I said that if you are sick “below” the neck, take time off; if you are sick “above” the neck, you can train. I forgot to mention what to do if you are sick “in” the head.

I think I read the "above the neck/below the neck" rule on cyclingnews.com in their oddly detailed Fitness Q & A. It is oddly detailed because they don't just answer general questions, they sometimes will give very specific advice in a series of e-mail that ultimately results in the reader buying a new pair of cycling shoes, moving his saddle 4 millimeters up and 3.2 millimeters back (this sound logical to Rider 1), saving his banana for after the ride and taking Psych 101 as an easy prerequisite. I just don't get that, but then again, I took Deviant Psychology instead. Anyway, I digress.

I was also recently sick. I have the landfill worth of Kleenex to prove it. BTW, Team Two Wheel is not endorsed by a particular brand of facial tissue. I just thought it was easier to use that brand name than drawing attention to the clumsiness of that sentence with the words "facial tissue" in the place of "Kleenex". Anyway, I digress.

The problem with my recent sickness is that I was really sick. Sometime I get a runny nose or sound bad, but I don't actually feel too bad. I can still ride my bike, but I have a built-in excuse. When I ride up to the group and it sounds as if I have my nose squeezed tight but my hands are no where near my face, it comes across as a nasally way of saying, "I'm here because I am such a hard man, but clearly it is like riding with one lung and therefore you can reasonably expect me to be at the back of the pack and if I am front of you it is just more proof of what a hard man I really am." Last week, though, I really was sick so that I not only had that nasal sound, but my chest felt tight and I was prone to intermittent coughing fits that forced me to the side of the road. It hasn't made riding any easier, but then again, we don't do this because it's fun, right? Wait. What? Anyway, I digress.

The point to this is that the early season can be a sloppy, cold, miserable time of year to ride, or it can be decent outside and just sloppy, cold and miserable in your head. The important thing is knowing when it is better to just get on with the riding and when it is better to rest and recover so that you don't make yourself sicker and miss more training as a result.

So remember this simple rule: If you are sick above the neck, go ahead and train. If you are sick below the neck, recover and wait on your training. If you are sick only in the neck, get advice from Dr. Spalm. In the meantime, move your saddle 4 millimeters in some direction and save your banana for after the ride.

GU Cycling

In Spokane we have a few racing teams, like Baddlands and Emde Sports, and a few shop supported teams like Rocket Velo and Vertical Earth (not to mention Team Two Wheel), and we even have a godfather of bike blogging in John Speare, but we only have one collegiate cycling team - the Gonzaga University Cycling Club.

They are a group of GU students who like to ride their bikes, who ride mountain bikes and who race in the collegiate series. As you can imagine, even when you are used to living like a college student (oh look! half racks and top ramen on sale!), it still takes a fair amount of cabbage to get a bunch of racers around the Pacific Northwest to a bunch of races. These folks race in a series with these colleges: Central Washington University, Gonzaga University, Montana State University, Portland State University, Oregon State University, University of Idaho, University of Montana, University of Oregon, University of Washington, Walla Walla College, Washington State University, Western Washington University, and Whitman College. That means that most of the time they have quite a drive, vehicle expenses, food and lodging expenses and race fees all to consider.

So, to support their efforts they have solicited sponsorships and are selling t-shirts on campus and online here: https://commerce.cashnet.com/GUCLUB3CYCLING. The t-shirts are very cool and it is only $15 to get one shipped to you.

Check out their website here, Gonzaga University Cycling Club, and then go HERE and buy a t-shirt to support these student-racers.

Shop Rides

Last year Team Two Wheel hosted one Shop Ride. We left from Two Wheel Transit at about 5.30 pm and did the 7-Mile Bridge/Riverside State Park loop. We had about a dozen people and had a good time. For a variety of reasons, we didn't end up getting another ride together, but we are back from the dead and bigger than ever. So here is the tentative schedule for Shop Rides in 2010: Thursday, April 1; Thursday, May 6; Thursday, June 3; Thursday, July 1; Thursday, August 5; and Thursday, September 2. Do you see a pattern here? Yes, yes. I used the Fibonacci sequence.

No, I didn't.

We are going to have Shop Rides on the First Thursday of each month until September.

Here is the overview. This is a casual pace, no-drop ride. There is no sign-up, no fee, no waiver and no responsibility. As in, neither Team Two Wheel nor Two Wheel Transit are responsible for accidents, injuries, death or maiming, but we will help with flat tires. It is an open road ride. It is not a race and it is not a ride for someone who has never been on a bike, but for people who would enjoy taking a group ride and are capable of getting around the course on their own power.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the shop or drop us a line. Get these dates on your calendar, get your bike tuned-up and ready if you haven't been riding and we will see you in a month.

Ready to Race

The race season has started for the Pros. You have to throw out the Tour Down Under simply because it is in January and their water goes down the drain the wrong way. We have to have standards, right? And you have to discount those oil-sponsored desert races. They make office park crits look picturesque. We have to have standards, right?

Well this weekend we got the first of the "real" races with Het Volk (please, I am not going to call it by its new name until is has been 25-50 years) and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. These are real races run in the face of rain, snow, hellish winds and misery.

Just around the corner here in Spokane our race season is about to begin also. The season kicks off with the Frozen Flatlands race. It is too long, too cold and has a miserable wall-style climb that separates me from the pack, but I will be there proudly supporting Team Two Wheel in my slightly slow but spirited manner. The omnium this year involves a 12-mile time trial, a 47-mile road race/misery-fest on the same day (what?) and in a change from the circuit race of prior years a 24.5 mile road race using the "old" finish line after a series of rollers. Should be interesting and painful.

So, how do you know if you are ready to race? I suppose that is in an individual question. I know I am ready when I can follow Quicksilver for an hour or two without wanting to throw up or curse him for failing to ever, ever notice he has a small chainring. Alternatively, I know I am ready to race when I can converse with Rider 1 on a ride and the conversation doesn't center on "my legs are shot", "my tank is empty", "I am sick", "I am hungover" or finally, "please, please make it stop".

Lance "Killing Machine" Armstrong has a different way of knowing he is ready to ride. Here is a picture from a new Lance Armstrong book, the caption for which is, "You can see here I wasn't yet serious about cycling: I still have hairy legs."

From Misc Bike Pics

Here is another picture from about eight months later. The caption reads, "It was a day or two before the start [of the Tour] . . . Clearly those legs were ready to race."

From Misc Bike Pics

Um, yeah. He looks ready to ride. And no, Tom, we didn't mix up a picture of your calves with Lance's.

Quicksilver Rides Again

Quicksilver here. We are riding and blogging again. Well, I'm riding, like I usually do. Rider 3 is better at pushing on his keyboard than on his pedals, so I guess we will stick to our relative strengths.

New Vibe at Two Wheel

Because we are just getting rolling again, I will take the liberty of reproducing some information from the new Two Wheel Transit website. I think it tells the story reasonably well. Two Wheel Transit has been around a long time; I have personally been spending my money there for over 20 years. That reminds me of a funny story involving money, bikes and my wife, but I think I will save that for another day.

In any case, the shop has a lot of the same stuff about it, great guys doing great service work and selling great stuff. It also has some new stuff that Geoff and Bruce have brought along, like a cleaner, more organized look and feel to the showroom and a real enthusiasm for supporting the cycling community in Spokane.

Whether you are a long-time customer, a been-shopping-elsewhere-but-should-give-it-a-try-again customer (like you, Ken), or never darkened the doorway before, stop in and say hey to Geoff, Tomas or Dave. You can't say hello to the guys in the basement as easily, but Tom and Willy are down there (in what I have heard is a remarkably cleaned-up and well-lit shop area) turning out the pro work they always have.



I will let them tell their story though. Here is the new Two Wheel Transit as explained on the website:

Focus on Trek brands, a bike fitting physician and excellent customer service are all keys for success of Two Wheel Transit.

Geoff Forshag, CPA and Bruce Abbotts, M.D., have purchased the assets of long-time Trek Bicycle dealer Two Wheel Transit, Inc., which is located in downtown Spokane at 1405 W 1st Avenue. The store will continue under the name Two Wheel Transit and focus on Trek and Gary Fisher bicycles, and Bontrager clothing, parts and accessories. Fisher and Bontrager brands are both a part of Trek. The business also provides full service bicycle repairs and maintenance and welcomes all bikes regardless of brand or type.

Mr. Forshag and Dr. Abbotts are both avid cyclists and excited about the opportunity the store, Trek, Fisher and Bontrager lines represent. “We chose to keep the three existing lines for the quality, selection and customer service of these product lines. When you decide to represent one company, you need to choose the leader in the industry – which is Trek in this case.” according to Forshag. Trek and Fisher combined have over 100 models of bikes to choose from starting with a selection of kids bikes, comfort and commuting bikes, all the way up to custom Trek road bikes through Project One. Trek is a pioneer in designing products specifically for the needs of women cyclists with Women Specific Design or WSD.

Mr. Forshag will act as general manager and oversee the sales and operations of the store and has a few changes in mind for a better customer experience. One planned change is involves creating a dedicated bicycle fitting studio. Forshag stresses that proper bike fitting is one of the keys to the success of the store since it is an area where mass retailers are often lacking. “You are pretty much on your own when you roll your new bike out of a big box store, but if it isn't properly adjusted to fit the riding style, fitness level and other characteristics of the rider, the buyer will never be completely satisfied with the bike. We include this service with all of our bike purchases.”

Dr. Abbotts is a pediatrician at Valley Young Peoples Clinic and will focus on performing bike fitting sessions for customers in the studio. “We want to be known as the store that is easy to deal with and listens to the needs of our customers” says Abbotts. “This means learning about any physical limitations or issues and observing the riding position and pedal stroke of each rider. After this diagnosis, we begin making small adjustments to correct specific issues. Sometimes moving the bars or saddle a few millimeters can make the all the difference in riding comfort.”

The co-owners of Two Wheel Transit also stress community involvement as part of the store's mission. “Our community sponsors some great events like Bike to Work Week and Spokefest – supporting these and other venues which advance cycling in Spokane is part of our identity” adds Abbotts.

Two Wheel Transit is a locally owned dealer of Trek, Gary Fisher and Bontrager bikes, parts and accessories and provides repair service on all brands.. The store is located at 1405 W. 1st Avenue and open 10 – 6, Monday through Friday and 10 – 5 on Saturdays.

It LIVES!

Yes, Team Two Wheel lives again.

Pick your graphic.

From Misc Bike Pics

From Misc Bike Pics

In any case, Rider 1, Rider 2 and Rider 3 are back in your service and pleased to be flying the Team Two Wheel banner again. Well, we don't actually fly any banners on our bikes because that would cause them to go slower, but you get the idea.

In the coming days we will have information about the shop, its new owners and some plans for the upcoming season. In the meantime, you can check out the redesign of the Two Wheel Transit website, re-bookmark this site and check back for the ramblings of Team Two Wheel and the return of Dr. Spalm.
Rider 3

Ride Announcement

Good Citizens of Morning Ride, let not the rain that falleth from the skies deter your spirits or spines for riders will be coming from many directions to gather at the Giant Shooting Fire Stick on the 14th of our city's primary paths, come rain or shine, both upon the morrow and yet again after the passing of a sun and moon. These hearty riders shall be steadfast in their aim and fecund in their goals. These gatherings shall be first upon the highest point of the sun, although it be obscured by the clouds and this time shall be obfuscated by the existence or non-existence of daily savings time. These riders shall go forth for a period of two passings of the sands and shall be undertaken with reasonable rapidity. The second of these gatherings shall be two passings of the sun prior to the highest point of the sun but shall be undertaken for four passings of said sands at a pace more reasonable to such duration. We know not where our wheels shall take us or upon which paths we shall trod, but please come for these festivities as the joviality of such gatherings shall increase upon the abundance of said participants.

Translation:

Rocket on 14th Avenue, Saturday, Noon, 2 hours, tempo pace.

Rocket on 14th Avenue, Sunday, 10 am, 4 hours, endurance pace.

The more the merrier.

I don't know what "fecund" means, but it sounds smelly.

Rider 3

Update

Watch this video. Now.



Does it mean something or is it just weird? Does this presage the return of Team Two Wheel? Or is just a way of saying, "Happy Birthday, Dad!"

Time will tell.

Help, I've Fallen and I Can't Get Back Up

No, the headline is not completely true. We haven't fallen but we have stopped treating this baby as a daily obligation.

Two Wheel Transit was sold recently and it has left Team Two Wheel a bit up in the air. We don't have a commitment from Two Wheel Transit to keep up the team or blog and we don't have a commitment from any other shop, however, we are having one such conversation.

If it comes together, you can expect to see some more posts and if it doesn't, then we will have to see what becomes of all this work and nonsense.

It has been a pleasure having this conversation with you, our beloved readers. We will get back to you before the end of the month with more news or to put this expirement out of its misery.

Thanks for reading.
Rider 3

The Vuelta and More

No, we haven't fallen off the face of the earth, although our little blog has indeed gone dark for the past week or so. In fact we have a slew of posts that are almost ready to go. In the mean time, here are a few things to check out:

In the mean time, check out this link from today's Vuelta. N-A-S-T-Y crash. Ick.

If you haven't read it yet, Joe Parkin's "Dog in a Hat" is a great read. I knew Joe a bit back in my time running mountain bike teams, and he's one of those guys that in retrospect I wish I had talked with more about his experiences on the road in Europe. Andy Bishop rode for me and I absolutely loved hearing about him learning Dutch, riding for PDM, what it was like as a pioneering pro, etc. Anyway, in addition to Joe's book he has a great blog. Loved this checklist.

Unlike some people's take on Serotta, the brand will forever remind me of the Coors Light team from the 90's and the first team I worked for, Morgul Bismark. The team was sponsored by a bike shop owned by Ron Kiefel and Davis Phinney, as well as Serotta, Mavic (in the days of Mavic Zap and the most difficult to install/maintain bottom bracket in history), Killer Loop, Pearlizumi and others. That team was stacked with some seriously talented riders and is worthy of many, many blog posts. I still have vivid memories of driving around the country in a van with Tyler Hamilton, Anton Villatoro, Patrick Eyk and others. We rode very sweet custom Serottas painted in flourescent yellow and purple. Pez has a review of a custom Serotta that for some reason brought me back. And I think this is the most blinged out, pimped out rig I've seen in a long time.

That worked so well, let's try it again. Remember this when Team Shack hits the road next year

Even CEO Can't Figure Out How RadioShack Still In Business

April 23, 2007 | Issue 43•17

FORT WORTH, TX—Despite having been on the job for nine months, RadioShack CEO Julian Day said Monday that he still has "no idea" how the home electronics store manages to stay open.

CEO Julian Day

"There must be some sort of business model that enables this company to make money, but I'll be damned if I know what it is," Day said. "You wouldn't think that people still buy enough strobe lights and extension cords to support an entire nationwide chain, but I guess they must, or I wouldn't have this desk to sit behind all day."

The retail outlet boasts more than 6,000 locations in the United States, and is known best for its wall-sized displays of obscure-looking analog electronics components and its notoriously desperate, high-pressure sales staff. Nevertheless, it ranks as a Fortune 500 company, with gross revenues of over $4.5 billion and fiscal quarter earnings averaging tens of millions of dollars.

"Have you even been inside of a RadioShack recently?" Day asked. "Just walking into the place makes you feel vaguely depressed and alienated. Maybe our customers are at the mall anyway and don't feel like driving to Best Buy? I suppose that's possible, but still, it's just...weird."

Enlarge Image

A RadioShack store that somehow manages to bring in enough paying customers to turn a profit.

After taking over as CEO, Day ordered a comprehensive, top-down review of RadioShack's administrative operations, inventory and purchasing, suppliers, demographics, and marketing strategies. He has also diligently pored over weekly budget reports, met with investors, taken numerous conference calls with regional managers about "circulars or flyers or something," and even spent hours playing with the company's "baffling" 200-In-One electronics kit. Yet so far none of these things have helped Day understand the moribund company's apparent allure.

"Even the name 'RadioShack'—can you imagine two less appealing words placed next to one another?" Day said. "What is that, some kind of World War II terminology? Are ham radio operators still around, even? Aren't we in the digital age?"

"Well, our customers are out there somewhere, and thank God they are," Day added.

One of Day's theories about RadioShack's continued solvency involves wedding DJs, emergency cord replacement, and off-brand wireless telephones. Another theory entails countless RadioShack gift cards that sit unredeemed in their recipients' wallets. Day has even conjectured that the store is "still coasting on" an enormous fortune made from remote-control toy cars in the mid-1970s.

Day admitted, however, that none of these theories seems particularly plausible.

"I once went into a RadioShack location incognito in order to gauge customer service," Day said. "It was about as inviting as a visit to the DMV. For the life of me, I couldn't see anything I wanted to buy. Finally, I figured I'd pick up some Enercell AA batteries, though truthfully they're not appreciably cheaper than the name brands."

"I know one thing," Day continued. "If Sony and JVC start including gold-tipped cable cords with their products, we're screwed."

In the cover letter to his December 2006 report to investors, "Radio Shack: Still Here In The 21st Century," Day wrote that he had no reason to believe that the coming year would not be every bit as good as years past, provided that people kept on doing things much the same way they always had.

Despite this cheerful boosterism, Day admitted that nothing has changed during his tenure and he doesn't exactly know what he can do to improve the chain.

"I'd like to capitalize on the store's strong points, but I honestly don't know what they are," Day said. "Every location is full of bizarre adapters, random chargers, and old boom boxes, and some sales guy is constantly hovering over you. It's like walking into your grandpa's basement. You always expect to see something cool, but it never delivers."

Added Day: "I may never know the answer. No matter how many times I punch the sales figures into this crappy Tandy desk calculator, it just doesn't add up."