The Crazy Cyclist

December 13, 2005 at 7:11 pm | In Cycling, News, Road Bike, Road Biking | 9 Comments

Ok, I just found this on Flickr. It is a picture of The Crazy Cyclist. Why is he the Crazy Cylist? Well, you just have to look at the picture for yourself and figure out why. The question is really not if he is “THE” crazy cyclist, but what the biggest reason that you can think of as to why he should be called the Crazy Cylist. I was thinking more along the lines of the Insane Cyslist. But, you be the judge.

San Francisco A Cycling City

December 13, 2005 at 6:01 pm | In Cycling, News, San Francisco | 11 Comments

I was just thumbing through the December 2005 edition of Bicycling Magazine and they had a 10 page write-up on how much of a great town San Francisco is for cycling enthusiasts.  I really couldn’t agree more.  Living in San Diego for 15 years, I was fortunate enough to ride in some of the best year-round weather and some of the most beautiful terrain in the United States. Or, so I thought until I moved to San Francisco two years ago.  This could be the most scenic city I have ever lived in and ridden in.  The vistas from each street, the headlands of Marin County, Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, they all work together to make one of the most incredible cities to ride your bike in.  And, don’t think for a second that all of the hills make the cyclists here few and far between. Quite the contrary, there are more cyclists on the road here every day than I ever saw in San Diego. And, San Diego is reported to be one of the big tri-athlete training grounds in the world. Anyway, if you get a chance you should check out the article.

Back on the Bike

December 5, 2005 at 1:59 am | In Cycling, Fixed Gear, News | Leave a Comment

The weather in San Francisco has been dry, clear and quite cold in the past week.  I have not been on the bike much lately, aside from my fixed gear on the flats over Thanksgiving.  But, I have been eating, drinking and ahem, smoking for the past two months.  There has been little riding and a lot of Amici’s.  So, today I finally got off my lazy ass, took out the LeMond and went out for an easy 25 mile bike ride.  What I was reminded of was that there are two things that can really hurt your performance on a bike.  The first is not riding, the second is gaining weight.  I have managed to keep my, relatively high caloric intake, up over the past two months, while not doing anything to burn it off.

Part of the problem was that I was overtraining riding 40+ miles 3 to 4 days a week.  There were no easy rides or base mile rides, they were all fast-paced, training rides.  So, I was a bit burnt-out, but more than anything, I was losing performance. I could see my ride times declining a bit and more than anything I felt like crap every time I went out.

Today however, I REALLY felt like crap.  This was mostly due to the fact that I have not been riding and that I have probably put on 15 pounds in the past two months. I am 6′4″ and about 225 lbs right now and it is a lot of weight to push around on a bike. The other thing that was not helping was the cold weather and my ignorance. I thought about putting on some long tights to keep my leg muscles warm and somewhat protected…I did not.  Riding over the Golden Gate on the way out, my calves started cramping, I knew I did not make the wise decision.

The good news is that I got on the bike today, and that I will hopefully be back on a 3 to 5 day a week riding schedule. For now, I will probably keep the rides down to 20-30 miles and not push it while I am out there.

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