A Tisket, A Tasket, A New Bike Because of a Basket?

Since I was a kid I’ve always been a fan of big dogs. I’m not sure how it started, maybe it was because our family poodle never wanted to be around me and even bit me when I was five. Or because that neurotic toy thing was later replaced with a loyal Shepard/Collie mix that my brother brilliantly brought home on my birthday much to my mother’s chagrin. If it wasn’t either of those reasons, it had to be my repetitive viewings of Old Yeller.

But then came Lance. Not some pound puppy, stray or offspring of a friend’s surprise litter. No, Lance was an addition to our family after a year of research of what dog would be small enough to take back and forth to Canada with me, to the office and of course spend his fluffy little Maltese days on the bike with me.

To locate the right cycling companion I read everything, contacted breeders and hung out at pet adoptions on weekends, lifting and sizing potential distance riders.

At less than 3 pounds, Lance came home with us and immediately turned 12 year old Duke back into a puppy. Every morning started with the two of them racing through the house while the cats looked for higher ground. Our Retriever mix had always hung out quietly under my desk or by my side where ever I went. Now I was forsaken as she became a partner in this rapid fire Mutt and Jeff scene.

Now came shopping! Lance would need all the doggie basics… a helmut, a portable water dish for our stops and a basket to ride in. I did resist the urge to get him a yellow doggy jersey.

The helmut was a guessing game to me. I knew how large he was at the moment but since he was a rapidly growing member of our family I had no idea how large his head would be. Lance was turning out to be just a wee bit bigger than the 4 to 5 pound baby Maltese the pet store had promised him to be. In fact, he has settled in at just a hair over 8 lbs. Bless his bow legged little heart!

I found a fabulous basket on ebay. Collaspible and light weight, plus it had a rain bonnet (just in case!). The basket became part of our sharing time together. I put it on the bed and petted Lance while he sat inside it while I watched TV or read (or truthfully spent too many hours playing solitaire on my cell phone.). I placed the basket on the floor next to my desk so Lance could hang there during the work day next to Duke would would squeeze under the desk between reams of paper and my feet. I even carried Lance around in the basket so he could get used to the motion of a soon to be basket on a bike.

What I never did was actually test the basket on the bike.

Uh oh. I couldn’t put the basket on the intended commuter bike, old Belle had her brakes in the way. No worries, at 40 years of well loved age, Belle didn’t ever shift out of 3rd or 4th gear anyways so I tended not to ride her much. Not to be diswayed I attempted to place the basket on my Trek (I will now admit to you what a geek I am and let you know that she is named Enterprise). Nope, didn’t fit here either. As I moved from one bike to another, I found that all 3 of my road bikes, from Belle to the WSD would not accept a basket of any sort at the handle bars!

I’m not comfortable with rambuncious Lance in a back pack, And believe it or not, I am too anal to handle the idea of one panier, making the bike lopsided in my mind. With the way I am about visual balance, I would have to get two dogs – and what if they didn’t match? Or worse yet, what if one was Lance and the other Lemond – would they get along? Yeah, he’s named after that Lance.

So here I am with my”bikey dog” still paying off a Madone 6.5 while looking at Beach Cruisers for the two of us.

The Rock vs The Bike – ca-ching!

Recently, I ordered the bike of my dreams as a birthday present to myself.

When I returned to cycling after a 30 year break, I purchased a good bike (Trek 1500), just a step or three above entry level, and one that would take me towards my goals. My previous bike had been my brother’s Peugot which was about 40 years old by now.

I don’t want to imply that the Trek 1500 is no longer of use. That could not be farther than the truth! While its still my baby (something only a bike geek could understand), I have bike envy. I also told myself that if I stuck with this for two years then I would buy a “forever bike”, one that would be around another 40 years.

Week after week, I continued to climb the stairs at Helen’s Cycles (where they keep the special bikes) and eye them like a hungry orphan watching the fat cats dine on meals just out of reach. Each time, I would tell myself that these are for the real cyclists and return to the bikes downstairs, the ones for the rest of us.

Then came my birthday, it was time. In the last two years I’ve cycled more miles than I ever thought any human could, least of all this human. I’ve signed on for more events and have organized a team. I very rarely drive any more, if at all. It was most definitely time for that forever bike.

Back to Helen’s I went. Right up to Tony, the Manager and announced which one I wanted. I was committed now! As we were doing the paperwork, I quietly joked/asked if this was too much bike for me. He replied “probably, but not by next year.” There it was, confirmation that by the time I was done paying it off, it would be the right thing to do.

A day later it hit me… I told my husband that I realized the bike was more cash than the very nice engagement ring I was wearing. He nodded, told me that he was well aware of it and that the ring had better be viewed as the “forever rock”. No worries, sweetie – I’m here for the long haul. But the diamond …

Brentwood Grand Prix, or Things that go bump in the pack.

We came back from Midnight Madness at 5 am, then up and in the car at 7 am to watch my friend Joe race at the Brentwood Grand Prix. I was pretty excited because I had never been to a race before, Dave was less excited – something about sleep I think.

The Brentwood Grand Prix was held on San Vincente blvd. which made a perfect 2.2 mile loop for them. It was a little lower then where I usually do my Thursday night rides (omg, those false flats!) but in a good spot not just for the race but to watch the riders warm up on the hill and back.

Joe had asked us to attend so that we could take pictures. This _seemed_ like an easy request but turned out to be much harder than we thought. His race (cat 3 mens, 33+) was at a much faster clip then the others we saw before and after. There was no coasting round the turn and they were shoulder to shoulder thru much of it. During the entire hour race (one frickin’ hour at top speeds!), we were only able to see him once and missed him in the camera frame.

There were 125 cyclists in this race, that sat at 30+ mph through most of it. During the final lap, speeds increased … Joe was at 38.6 when the cyclist in front of him clipped his wheel while looking for a hole in the group. Joe went endo, 30 riders went down and we celebrated by spending the day at the E.R.. Seems a broken clavicle was the trophy.

For the gear heads in the group, the bike that took a major owie is a Red Trek Madone 5.5. It is recovering nicely from what I hear.

My Understudies Debut.

Late Friday night, after the car was loaded and all set for our early o’ dark hundred training start, my husband takes the car to the market. Unfortunately, my bike was on top of the car when he entered the underground parking garage. For the sake of brevity, I’ll tell you that you may insert bad word, bad word here and that the bike is now at the Trek Hospital (Helen’s Cycles) on life support.

Saturday morning had me trying the first climb with a 40 year old bike who’s gears were rusted stuck in 3rd or 4th gear. I tried with two hands to shift and could not do it. I struggled up that climb and finally thought that it was too stupid to try 70 miles of Charlie’s tour like that. I rode back to town via the bike path, bought a new bike to return to training (20 miles round trip). I didn’t have a whole lot of bucks and I wasn’t about to leave without a bike that day but I think the understudy bike will do nicely.

Here’s the new addition to our family:

Trek 1.2 WSD

Specifications
Frameset
Sizes Women’s 43, 47, 50, 52, 54, 56cm
Frame Alpha White Aluminum
Fork Bontrager Approved, carbon
Wheels
Wheels Alloy hubs; Alex alloy rims w/eyelets
Tires Bontrager Select, 700×25c (43cm: 650×25c)
Drivetrain
Shifters Shimano 2203 STI, 8 speed
Front Derailleur Shimano 2203
Rear Derailleur Shimano Sora
Crank Bontrager Sport 50/39/30
Cassette SRAM 850 12-26, 8 speed
Pedals Nylon body w/alloy cage; clips and straps
Components
Saddle Bontrager Select FIT CRZ+ Basic
Seat Post Bontrager Carbon
Handlebars Bontrager FIT VR, 31.8mm
Stem Bontrager Select, 7 degree, 31.8mm
Headset Aheadset Slimstak w/semi-cartridge bearings, sealed
Brakeset Alloy dual pivot w/Shimano 2203 STI levers

Why a woman’s bike when I generally don’t have a gender specific bike?

WSD Comfort: Contact Points
Contact points are customized to fit a woman’s anatomy.

1. LESS PAIN
Narrower handlebars keep hands in a more natural position for greater control and less shoulder pain.

2. MORE COMFORT
A woman’s specific saddle with key anatomical features provides optimized comfort and support.

3. LESS FATIGUE
Shorter-reach levers and smaller-diameter grips are sized to fit a woman’s smaller hands.

4. MORE POWER
Shorter crank arms improve leverage for a more efficient pedal stroke.

Here’s My Ride

2007 marked the return of cycling in my life and becoming an endurance athlete, which is a very nice way of saying I park my ass on a bike and pedal long distances on purpose. I don’t do this because I think this is the best way to travel long distances (it lacks a driver and room service), I do it because I believe that in my own way, I can make a difference by fundraising to support various cancer related causes.