hitting home?

"Impromptu vigils broke out around the world, from Portland, Ore., where fans organized a one-gloved bike ride (“glittery costumes strongly encouraged”) to Hong Kong, where fans gathered with candles and sang his songs.

Now, I realize Portland considers itself the home of "bike culture," and I'm sure it's a lovely place to ride a bike, but seriously--it's enough already. Is there any news or pop cultural event around which the people of Portland will not form some sort of kitchy theme ride?"


BSNYC posted this a couple days ago and while I do enjoy living in Portland, I can't help but feel that he's somewhat hit the nail on the head. "Bike Culture" as it is now has become one of those synergistic words, born from the increasing amount of people riding these days, and as much as I embrace the the whole DIY attitude of some of the subgroups of said culture, I can't help but sometimes feel that sometimes we cross the line. Keep in mind the line is blurry, ambiguous, and will be argued upon until the apocalypse, but every once and a while something like this happens and I do think to myself "really?"; either that or, "eh, I'm not surprised"


That and I just never really liked Micheal Jackson.

Last Year around this time

So I'm back in Seattle taking an obligatory do nothing week with my parents week, and while I suppose it is technically summer, its progressing at a different pace than last year. For those who don't know last year I found myself in a weird creative slump and it was all the excitement and involvement in Portland's bike scene that sort of kept me afloat and involved, but this time around things are a little different. Before it wasn't a matter of training, or competitive edge it was just a sort of fun involvement in a great progressive scene. The excitement of not knowing what was coming up next, not knowing what a challenge racing on mt tabor was, or having any idea of what the swan island criterium could be; there is something to be said about being completely in the middle of everything and simply knowing that things are fine how they are.

I'm not sure if its the kind of personality type I am, or if I just crave the new or unknown but things are different. I used to ride a pista, now I ride a scattante. Track used used to be my favorite type of racing, now I look forward to cross. I used to be tired all the time, now I eat 2500 calories a day.

Changes, I say, changes.

Danny

I will never have this or, Old people/dentists rejoice!

While it may come as a surprise to some, sometimes I'm not the best mechanic. Over the past year I've "overcome" (fucked up) a variable cornucopia of "hurdles" (bike parts), and its just now that I'm actually beginning to get a grasp of what I'm really dealing with when it comes to fixing my shit. Yes, it can be discouraging and to a very extent dangerous ( crank arm falling off twice...), but the great puzzle that is bike tuning is now actually coming to fruition, myself having just found all the edges of said metaphorical puzzle. However no matter how long I ride or how much I try to learn, I don't think I'll ever truly understand the mystery behind cables and housing. Sure, the concept is simple enough, cables connect to derailleurs, which then stretch cable to different increments to change the gears, etc etc, but for some reason or other when ever that faithful time comes around when I'm having to put all my weight on my shifters in order to change gears because their so full of gunk, I always know it will be an involved laborious process. TO contrast here's what most mechanics go through:

Replace cables and housing when worn/tattered:
- Remove old housing
- Remove old cables
- Put on new cables
- Put on new housing
- Adjust accordingly
- Eat a sandwich

Now here's what those fat cats in Washington aren't telling ya! Or how I go about the same process...

- Remove old housing
- Accidentally messing up shifting
- Curse
- Pay for new housing
- Mix shifting up with brake cabling
- Curse
- Measure old housing length
- Accidentally cut too short
- Cry
- More crying
- Laborious rebuilding/repacking of self-esteem ( like hubs, time consuming )
- Put shifting back on
- Put cables back on
- prematurely cut cables in foolhardy move
- figure out that I need shorter housing with current cable length


The list goes on. But wait! A light at the end of the tunnel? It can't be...



Excalibur! There is a God! Finally a system built just for me. Oh, I can't wait... What? Wait a minute, whats the you say...




Oh...Well at least the dentists will be happy. Until then my plight continues: the endless battle between cables and myself. I believe Captain Barbosa put it best...

Barbossa: Are we to be two immortals locked in an epic battle until Judgment Day and trumpets sound?


Answer:
Probably

Culture going wireless

If I've learned anything over the past year its that people obsessively cling to things, whether it be people, pass times, what have you, and in conjuncture cyclists are no exception to this rule, and in many cases the outliers we all hear about. Case in point; my own personal flow chart on some of the various divisions of the sport.

Fixed Geared Culture:
njs culture , track culture, city fixed gear culture , riser handle bar culture, 144bcd culture

Road Culture:
Campy/Shimano/Sram culture/obsession, century culture, STP culture
Cross Culture:
Embrocation Culture, Pain/Nihilistic Culture, Winter Culture

Touring Culture:
Riding long distances and watching pretty sunset culture... the list continues.


It seems for whatever discipline people settle on there's the corresponding culture, and subculture that go along with said culture and while I have no real problem against any of this I'm curious to see where this particular innovation lands...

http://www.competitivecyclist.com/road-bikes/product-road-bike-root-category/2009-shimano-dura-ace-di2-st-7970-sti-levers-5957.2333.0.NONAV.html

Yes, Shimano has apparently perfected that which can sometimes be the most annoying thing on a bicycle, and subsequently the reason why many ride fixed to begin with, besides the culture side of it anyway...

NO MORE CABLES! Shifting cables that is but don't trust my word, competitive cyclist has already beat me to it...



For all the chatter about electronic shifting replacing mechanical, the place where people will love it or hate it is at the shift lever. Shimano rightly lavished plenty of attention when they designed the Dura Ace Di2 Dual Control levers.

In order for the Di2 levers to work at shifting your bike, they must be used in conjunction with the Di2 front derailleur, rear derailleur, battery pack, and wiring kit.

The most obvious advantage to going electronic is the fact that the cable routing doesn't add friction to the system. No cables = no friction. Add to that the system is fast. Really fast. Faster than downtube shifting. 30% faster than shifting on mechanical Shimano Dura Ace 7900. Better still, the shifting feel is much lighter. You can do it when you're tired. You can do it with "weak" fingers. You don't have to move your wrists or forearm.

Unlike mechanical Dura Ace, the Di2 shift lever blade doesn't move inward. Instead there are two paddles behind the unidirectional carbon-fiber lever blade. The one closer to the handlebar still does the traditional shifting with the spring (aka onto smaller cogs in the rear, onto bigger in the front), and the one further does the traditional shifting against the spring (aka onto taller cogs in back onto smaller in front). They each have 2mm of travel. Each push results in one shift. Though if you're coasting, you can "pre-shift" any number of gears, and the system will take up the shifting when you start pedaling.

I'll be keeping my eyes open for any following "cable culture" to emerge from the dust that is Dura Ace Di2 but I'm not sure where exactly it will go in my little flow chart, or if it should be there in the first place.

Yonkers, NY

After several days of wonderful weather I think the people of Portland can somewhat officially say that summer is here for what I hope to be at least a couple months...after this week that is. In a last ditch effort to give one final post spring time flourish I think the weather is trying to rain one last time. Kind of...







In an attempt to surprise people into thinking they needed their raincoats today, it rained for about two minutes, and while one could call the actual "shower" lame it was moisture that was the lasting effect on peoples minds. Overall it left me in a lethargic kind of mood but beyond sweating a little more and moving a little slower it reminded me of New York and how long its been since I last visited. Maybe I'm over dramatizing it, but I'll always remember the very distinct feeling of NY humidity and for a couple moments today Portland almost matched it. The only thing missing really was the lack of insects chirping in the background. Specifically...




Fascinating