Stratus on Scenic Drive

The northcoast of California is in the southern shadow of the Pacific Northwest rainforest. But we can get a perfect day like this in the dead of winter. I headed north for Scenic Drive and the town of Trinidad and had perfect weather all the way.

I'm really enjoying the new Rans Stratus XP!

Bicycle boating, Arcata Marsh

A bike trailer allows you to haul items that might be a bit too large to carry on the bike itself. And if the bike fits comfortably inside the boat, that opens up some interesting new touring possibilities. Yesterday, however, was a white water day on Arcata Bay.

The Ergon: An Ergonomic Pedal

Back in the 90's Iris Schencke and I co-authored Ergonomic Living, a book of everyday solutions for the home and office. Somewhere in this world is a reading light, chair, bed perhaps even a keyboard or desk built just for you. Our book shows you how to find them.

We thought about going beyond the home and office but had to stop when we got to the car simply because automobile ergonomics were set in stone. If you wanted an ergonomic car you either bought a Volvo or a Mercedes—automobile companies that routinely put ergonomics ahead of style—or you learned to suffer silently. I'm 6' 2." I got tired of American car salesmen telling me to "lean way back" and "get used to the seat." I was expected to drive a car while lying on my back! An ergonomic seat makes on demands on you. It does just the opposite: it adjusts to the driver.

Unlike the car, the bicycle is easy to modify and has great ergonomic potential, as long as you don't insist on performing contortions while riding it. There's no need to perch six inches above the handlebars while bent over double in the name of "exercise." Let's face it, you're not Lance Armstrong.** Riding doubled up (as though you've been punched in the gut) is pretty weird, when you stop to think about it. Would you walk around town doubled up to "exercise?" Would you explain that bending forward at the waist helps cut through the wind? You do contortions on a bike for the bike's sake, not for your sake. Riding that way you've surrendered; you've adapted to the bike's needs.

What about your needs? How does your crotch want be treated? What about your back, neck and wrists? Humans did not evolve to walk on their wrists. Supporting half your body weight with your wrists--while pounding away at the joints--for say, four hours, does not qualify as fun; it's a public display of masochism.

Happily, the ergonomic bicycle is well within reach. Brooks saddles tend to disappear while you are riding, Raising the handlebars to seat level immediately relieves pressure on the wrists and neck and makes for a nicely balanced ride. Padded gloves further isolate the delicate wrist joint from constant vibration. And twist shifters, built into the handlebar grips, make it possible to change gears without repositioning your hands. I wish I could tell you to stop by your local bike shop for more ergonomic solutions. Alas, you'll probably end up on an ultra-light frame looking like you've been kicked in the gut. Only a few specialty outfits will point you in the right direction. Rivendell definitely gets bicycle ergonomics. I've been experimenting with their accessories and riding one of their bikes for about ten years ago and have yet to experience any bike-induced aches or pains.

When it comes to pedals we've had two schools of thought: either fasten your shoe to the pedal itself in the hopes of increasing power or settle for a plain vanilla flat platform pedal. Now we have a third choice: the Ergon, a pedal that fits itself to your foot.

Trust me when I say, you want to try an Ergon even if you've already ridden ordinary flat bike pedals. The bottom of your foot is not flat, it's contoured with an extended ridge at the ball just below the toes. Here, finally, is a pedal that takes note of that ridge and fits itself to the human foot. The moment you try an Ergon the ball of your foot finds its way into the forward depression while the gritty surface of the pedal grips the sole of your shoe. Like all ergonomic tools, the Ergon pedal adjusts itself to your body.

When was the last time you did something nice for your feet? You may not go quite as fast on an Ergon but your feet, knees and hips will love this pedal. There's no learning curve and nothing to "break in." Like most ergonomic products I noticed the difference right away as my feet said "thank you!"


Ergon PC2 Contour Pedal from ergon on Vimeo.

Ride Report

On a flat, platform pedal, with or without cleats, your foot tends to slide around while you ride, a sign of poor ergonomics. These foot adjustments may be small...but they are constant. And every time you reposition your foot, the platform pedal is failing you.

Clipless pedals lock your foot into a single position, avoiding the slip/slide issue and (possibly) making the bike faster. But you're back to the racing bike model: adjusting your body--from the foot to the hip--to the needs of the machine. If you have any foot, ankle, knee, hip or back issue that requires flexibility, clipless pedals can rapidly become a torture device.

Pedaling the Ergon my feet felt liberated and secure. There was certainly no "learning curve;" I hopped on the bike and off I went. Right away I noticed how still my foot had become. I hadn't realized how many times I was repositioning it during a typical ride simply to stay on the pedal. On the Ergon my feet remaied in place effortlessly with the ball nicely fitted into the forward depression and the rest of the foot firmly gripped by the rough surface of the pedal. Climbing made no noticeable difference; my feet remained right where I needed them to be.

I moved to clipless pedals years ago for the usual reasons: better climbing and maybe a small speed advantage. Yes, they could be a bit faster, but the jury isn't in even on that claim. Over the past thirty years I've fallen three times. No matter how adept you are in unclipping at a stop light, you're seldom fast enough to unclip in an emergency. All three of my falls would have been easily avoided if I hadn't been clipped in to my pedals. I'm so pleased with the Ergons that I've decided to keep them on my new Rans Stratus. They make an ergonomic bike even more effortless to ride—and definitely safer.

You can buy the Ergon Pedals here, here or here.

** unless you are, in which case, Hi.

Your frame on Crack

The website BUSTED CARBON is devoted to a single, sobering topic: failed carbon frames, seat posts and handlebars. You won't soon forget a visit to this site. See below and click on one of the photos for more.

Rivendell Bicycle Works has been sounding the alarm on carbon frames for some time. I bought a beautiful all steel Romulus from them years ago and have enjoyed every minute on it. It's a supremely comfortable and ergonomic ride. As promised, I can ride all day without any aches and pains. But have I really been safer?


Here is Ken Thiessen on steel/vs carbon bike frames:

I crashed hard on my all-carbon Giant bike a couple of years ago. Before I rode the bike again, I hired a mechanic formerly with TREK (I wanted an opinion independent from the manufacturer) inspect the bike for damage. The carbon bike checked out just fine and I am riding it today. One of the reasons I choose the Giant in the first place was that the composite layup seemed to be more stout than the competition. I would not buy a super light carbon bike designed for one-month's use by a 150 lb pro racer. I do not want to live in fear of an unseen pothole.




Meanwhile, I have broken three steel bike frames. My former steel bikes were all assembled with brazed lugs at the joints. I think that in all three cases the steel was weakened by excess heat applied during overzealous brazing. The most dangerous of these breaks was on a new Raleigh Super Course (Reynolds 531) where the fork crown braze parted from the steer tube. Fortunately the brake bold held the assembly together until I recognized the problem. Raleigh replaced the entire fork. No matter the material, paying careful attention to the integrity of your bike is paramount to your safety.

Ken's an engineer, a frequent contributor to this blog and a riding buddy of mine. He's definitely not the kind of guy who beats the hell out of a bike or exaggerates for effect. And let's face it, even if you were trying for spin, a blown fork crown doesn't give you a lot of wiggle room.




Every once in a while something truly unexpected happens out there in the physical universe: a devastating earthquake in Missouri, a near miss by an unknown asteroid, the melting of an ice cap or two. True, a bike frame failure isn't as catastrophic as, say, a mega-volcano erupting under Yellowstone National Park, assuming you're not actually on the bike when the frame fails.

This bike shop sounds a warning that you'll want to read, especially if you're thinking of adding a carbon fiber seat post to a steel frame.



Yes, more data is needed. What are your experiences with steel vs. carbon bike frames?

Blue Lake Ride

Cold, gusty winds along the Pacific sent me inland yesterday. If you live on the California coast you learn how to get warm quickly: go uphill a few miles or go east. A few miles east of Arcata on West End Road I rode into a new season: spring.







I shared the road with a few other cyclists and an occasional pickup.






Looking east from the Mad River bridge in the town of Blue Lake I saw clouds gathering over the foothills of the Trinity Alps. According to the locals 100 years ago there were so many salmon in these waters that "you could walk across the Mad River on their backs." Twenty years ago the river was close to fished out. Recently, however, the steelhead population has recovered and when the river is clear fishermen show up here to try their luck.



On the trip back to Bayside I rode through occasional rain squalls, but the Rans fairing kept me dry. Last night, for the first time in years, it snowed at sea level.

Raymond Carver's house in Arcata is for sale

The realtor was having an open house last weekend and I stopped by on a bike ride. She had no idea that the house was once home to Arcata's most famous author. If you're a Raymond Carver fan, here's your chance to buy his family home in Arcata. If you haven't discovered Carver yet, pour yourself something calming and curl up with Cathedral tonight. Start with "A Small Good Thing." If that short story doesn't take your breath away you may be clinically dead. And do keep in mind: it may have been written in this house.


You'll find photos of the house in Maryann Carver's memoir "What It Used to Be Like: A Portrait of My Marriage to Raymond Carver." She loved this house and called it "the happiest home we ever had."

Road Warrior

Dos Ciclos Short Film from SakeGroup on Vimeo.

A helmet tip to recumbent Rob for this video

New Year's Resolutions

Created by: Healthcare Management Degree

Some years ago I asked my Dr. about the health risks of cycling. He felt it was a safe sport and advised me to "start slow and taper off." It's a philosophy that's served me well, even on long, interstate rides. I also asked him about the ubiquitous fatties, the beach ball people, who fill the aisles in Costco pushing carts piled high with Doritos, Coke, Ice Cream and giant plastic Vodka bottles. What does looking like a beach ball cost a person? Healthy adults can now expect to live into to their mid 80's, maybe longer. The beach ball people have an average life expectancy of 60 years. So when Jen Rhee says "we pay the price," now we know exactly what the bill comes to: 25 YEARS!

A tip of the helmet to Jen Rhee for this very cool graphic. I've got a good feeling about 2012!

Birthday, New Recumbent!

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Eight percent of Portland's workforce now commutes by bike. That does great things for a city. Drivers get used to sharing "their" road with cyclists, bike paths proliferate and cool new bike facilities are planned. Bikes you can't even find in most places turn up in dedicated shops like Coventry Cycleworks Portland's recumbent-only dealer run by committed and knowledgeable 'bent experts. I stopped by for a day of test rides and took home a new Rans Stratus XP, a fast, dialed in and superbly ergonomic bike, shown here near the Willamette River.

Ken Thiessen turned up on the morning of my 70th birthday, December 11.
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It was the perfect time to explore new territory-- what better way to break in the new bike than a 15 mile ride along the river? We crossed the Willamette on a dedicated bike lane and headed south on along the East bank bike trail. Cars were relegated to a separate road. Minutes into the ride I got a lesson in what its like to ride a LWB recumbent: the laws of physics were suspended as both the train and its smoke rushed toward Ken.

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Ken brought his own camera along for the ride (see above) and rode his stalwart Civia. Fitted with disc brakes, it's a bike for all seasons. The Stratus is all set up for a possible disc brake upgrade.




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Interstate Route 5 cut Portland off from part of its waterfront. In a few months this bike elevator will take bike commuters to an elevated bike path over the freeway. This is not science fiction, it's Portland 2011. And do stay tuned because they've many more great bike projects in the works.


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I came back to our hotel feeling positively elated. As the sun began to set my wife Iris and I headed out on foot to hear Devin Phillips at Jimmy Mak's, a great jazz club in Portland's Old Town.

If it's fun, do it more

This RIH changed my life. I bought it in Holland back in 1981 after a Dutch friend introduced me to cycling. I rode the RIH into Germany and then around Finland. Cycling met the rigorous standards of my personal philosophy:

IF IT'S FUN, DO IT MORE

30 years later I'm still cycling all the time.


My RIH began life as a 3 speed but I managed to add two more speeds during my San Francisco days. Today it's my pickup truck used to haul packages around Arcata. And it's just as much fun now as it was 30 years ago! You'll find more photos of my RIH and its cushy British Bobby's seat here.

Avenue of the Giants by bike

"This valley,"said Ralph Waldo Emerson of Yosemite, "is the only place that comes up to the brag about it, and exceeds it."

Proving? That Emerson hadn't seen Redwoods National Park in Humboldt County.





Visitors go silent here. Atheists start talking about God. Locals too are speechless no matter how many times we return. Indeed, if we had tourists from other planets this stunning park could be used to advertise a trip to Earth.




The park covers much of Humboldt County. To drive or bike through the southern part head for Avenue of the Giants which stretches from a point about 7 miles north of Redcrest to the town of Philipsville about 30 miles to the south. I rode most of it in a loosely organized group excursion with my riding group, "The Latte Warriors."

Another Roadside Attraction

Bike tourists get a lot of praise. You're out there in nature grinding up the hills while everyone else is driving two blocks to pick up a case of beer. You could get a fat head over all the adulation...if the universe didn't toss a bit of sand in your gears from time to time. This bike tourist stopped to talk with a man who was pulling a small covered wagon down the road. His (actual) last name was Charleyboy; I don't remember his first name. He wasn't exactly a tourist, more a traveller. When I asked where his journey had begun he said "when?" Mr. Charleyboy had walked through 22 states. So far.









The Eel River traces the whole length of the Avenue of the Giants. Those are Western Maples in the foreground, Redwoods everywhere else.












I met my friends in Miranda, near the south end of the Avenue of the Giants.







In the northern part of the county (not shown here) Redwood National Park becomes perhaps the best example of a virgin old growth Redwood forest on earth. With 2,000 year old trees stretching as far as you can see in all directions this truly is the forest primeval. It's difficult to photograph but impossible to forget.

The Apple Store, Palo Alto

Mountain Biking, the downside

Review: Renovo Revisited

by Ken Thiessen

Back in 2009, I reviewed the intriguing Renovo “wood” bicycles. Back then, the frames were built with a wooden main triangle and carbon rear triangle and fork. But during my shop tour, Renovo owner and designer, Ken Wheeler pulled up a dream concept on his computer screen: a wooden pursuit bike frame made entirely out of wood. Suddenly we were into the realm of pure bike porn; I couldn’t wait to see this conceptual design come to life. But when I asked Ken about the all-wood frame he said it was in development and required more thought.

Fast forward two years...


Today, the all-wood concept frame has become the core design of the Renovo line. The Audi corporation, known world wide for their cutting edge car designs, took notice and commissioned Renovo to build an Audi-sponsored bike. Audi’s, innovative engineering and design is the foundation of the marque’s reputation. Like many European automobile lines, Audi sells branded products which exemplify the ideals promoted by the car. Audi product managers sought out Ken Wheeler to produce a line of bicycles to be marketed with the Audi four-ring logo as another example of the “truth in engineering concept.”


The Audi product managers had apparently considered several of the the large bicycle manufacturers and settled on Renovo to build the Audi Duo bicycle. http://www.audi-collection.com/Accessories In one step a regional Northwest bike manufacturer became a world class style setter.



Renovo retains its small manufacturing facility and shop in Portland, Oregon. Ken Wheeler was both surprised and deeply appreciative of the partnership with a style setter like Audi. Suddenly, thanks to the Audi connection, Wheeler’s bikes were being advertised in the Economist and Forbes magazines. A brief web search takes you further: the Audi Duo bicycles have been appeared in many newspapers, car magazines, bike magazines, and city monthly magazines. Renovo became the boutique bike shop with a million-dollar ad campaign!


It was time for another ride.

The Test Ride

The R-4 road bike I rode was a thing of beauty.


In the sun, the wood grain played the light with great clarity. It was like looking into a tiger’s eye.


The piano-finish gives the bike the unmistakable hallmark of fine woodworking making imperfections impossible to hide. I couldn’t find a single flaw.


The smooth finish was sealed with epoxy and linear polyurethane which not only brings out the wood grain but forms a tough seal for real-world riding. My bike was a 58 cm-equivalent compact frame with the big-boy’s blend of stiff hardwoods mentioned above. The R-4 was equipped with a Sram Red drive train, double tap shifters, an



The FSA Wing Pro carbon compact bars with flat tops and shallow drops made for a very comfortable riding position.



You can’t fail to notice the R-4's exceptionally smooth ride as the wood effectively absorbs road vibrations - more effectively than my own all-carbon road bike!


Then came the essential engineering question: if the frame is comfortable, will it also be stiff and efficient?





The Renovo accelerated quickly with a remarkably small amount of energy input to the pedals. Out-of-the-saddle climbs put my energy straight to the traction patch of the rear tire and again the Renovo felt faster and more nimble than on my own ultra light road bike. There was no perceptible flex in this bike while riding. Wheeler has given much thought to the geometry of the Renovo frames. The R-4 blends a savvy and intelligent combination of riding characteristics making this ultra high performance bike equally attractive for all-day century rides.


At the end of the day just one critical attribute remained untested: Portland has many bridges over the mighty Columbia River and other waterways, I would wager that my Renovo R-4 would float. Try that with your Madone!




The mouth of the Columbia River at Astoria Oregon. Note the long bridge from Washington to Oregon. Yes, it has north and south bike lanes but with a certain
amount of junk scattered around. It's hard to say whether this would turn out to be be a beautiful ride or a nail biter but if you're riding south along the Pacific, you'll be crossing this bridge.