Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun

If a sport is defined by the rules that compose a game, then I don't think of cycling as a sport. Sure, there are sporting events that are based on riding bicycles, from homegrown mountain bike races on the Cane Creek circuit to the NORBA Nationals and even the Olympics. Some people say that multi-stage road races like the Tour de France are the purest expression of cycling's ethos. Those lean trained bodies, the glossy frames with glittering flawless componentry, the self-organization and strategy of the peloton for some add up to what cycling is all about.

Although dominant in advertising, racing bikes and the racing lifestyle represent one of the smallest of all subsets of the world's cycling community. Not only are bicycles most commonly used for transportation, according to a recent report of the Worldwatch Institute, bicycles are also the most efficient vehicles. So I say that to find the essence of cycling you need only to look to the streets of any metropolitan area, mostly in the mornings and evenings, as the working class pedals to work.

Whether from looking to save the city some money on transportation planning or some carbon monoxide emissions, City Council and County Commissioners voted last month to give Durham's bike commuters a boost.

Not very often does a city get to rethink its transportation planning through the eyes of a cyclist. But Brian Bergeler spent the better part of 2006 doing just that. He and the other experts at Greenways, Inc. were contracted by Durham to take a comprehensive look at Durham's cycling infrastructure – from off-road greenways like the American Tobacco Trail to wide outer lanes and bike lanes – and to make recommendations on what Durham can do better.

Greenway, Inc's results were packaged into the Durham Comprehensive Bicycle Transportation Plan, which both the City and County adopted last month.

The Bike Plan is both an audit of existing bike facilities as well as a compilation of recommendations for what Durham can do next, prioritized from the simplest to the most luxurious. Bergeler says that the "paint project" ideas are the most attractive to him. Without laying any new pavement, Durham could "double or even triple (with full implementation) its existing on-street bicycle network." For example, by repainting sections of Cornwallis Rd., Fayetteville St., Roxboro Rd. and Broad St., Durham could quickly expand its bike-lane network without breaking the bank.

Dan Clever, a bike commuter and member of Durham's Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission, echoes Bergeler's enthusiasm. "Phase One," says Clever, "identifies several roads in the city that can easily accommodate bike lanes or signed routes. Implementation of Phase One would link most of Durham's key destinations."

"The plan is an invaluable guide towards expanding the viable transportation options for residents and visitors deciding how to get around in the Bull City," says Alan Dippy, also a member of the citizen board BPAC. "It's an impressive document, in scope and detail, and I think what makes it so exciting is its potential to connect people on bicycles with each other and with all the great things Durham has to offer."

Bergeler explains that the Bike Plan's scope extends beyond paving and (re)striping roads "to encouraging companies to provide showers and lockers to bicycle commuters, to appropriately enforcing the rules of the road on [sic] motorists who endanger the lives of cyclists."

Now that both the City Council and the County Commissioners have endorsed the plan, Durham transportation planning departments (both for the City and Metropolitan Planning Organization) have a map, which if followed, could lead to a more bike-friendly Durham.

Dippy adds "when one looks at all the positive changes and growth Durham is experiencing, the adoption of the Bike Plan is an important, timely and proactive step towards insuring safer roadways for those who opt to leave the car at home." If you'd like to learn more about the Bike Plan, feel free to attend the next BPAC meeting.

BPAC meets on the third Thursday of every month at 7pm in City Hall.

Posted by nicomachus at 9:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun

DURHAM -- You see more from a bicycle than you do from a car. You see even more from a balloon-tire Schwinn than you do from a carbon fiber Pinarello.

That’s why author John Stilgoe, in Outside Lies Magic, says to choose the cruiser.

“Bicycle to the store,” he says, “then ride down the alley toward the railroad tracks, bump across the uneven bricks by the loading dock grown up in thistle and chicory, pedal harder uphill toward the Victorian houses converted into funeral homes, make a quick circuit of the school yard, coast downhill…, tail the city bus for a mile or two, swoop through a multilevel parking garage, glide past the firehouse back door, slow down and catch your reflection in the plate-glass windows.”

Where’s Stilgoe taking us? Nowhere in particular; and that’s the point of exploring.

You know, if only intuitively, what he’s talking about. There's something nice about packing a lunch and riding off in no particular direction in search only of finding something new. It's not destination riding, it's not about exercise, it's about wandering. Exploring by bike is a way of reevaluating our everyday environment, the setting we're always in, and discovering mysterious and fascinating parts of our community we overlook.

With the right mindset, two lost arts can come together on a bicycle.

First is the lost art of appreciating something for its own sake. There’s not a whole lot of unstructured time in our daily lives. I think there’s not enough.

In response to the hurried lifestyle of 1920s Oxford, England, philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote an essay extolling the virtues of idleness. He reminds us that work, or moving stuff around, is not the point of life. If it were the point, then we might think that anything that doesn’t help us make more money, improve our test scores, or get a nicer house is not worth doing.

Oh, wait. There are a lot of us who really believe that. If you’re one of them, then you’ve fallen victim to what Russell calls “the cult of efficiency.” Valuing only time spent productively can lead us to believe that our lifestyles dictate a maddening pace.

Don’t worry, there’s a way out. There’s a way to reclaim some of that time, a way to set your own pace.

Some things are worth doing just for the sake of doing them. One of those things worth doing all by itself is exploring. The art of exploring is the second lost art.

Exploring is just looking closely at the things you pass every day and pausing to consider their meaning. Exploring is simple, and it’s accessible to all of us.

Exploring, in this way, is not about being the first to climb a mountain or photograph a waterfall. Jill Homer, a cyclist and journalist in Juneau, Alaska, says “my opinion about exploration has always been that if I've never been there, it's new to me.” And that’s the kind of exploring we all can do.

Back in Durham, neighbor John Schelp says he likes to explore the American Tobacco Trail.

"The ATT is a wonderful place to see the seasons change,” says Schelp. “The crisp fall air brings all sorts of new colors along the length of the trail, and it's neat to see the changes in the little gardens. These quiet urban spots remind me of my time in Congo and China, where vegetable gardens stretch to the edges of public paths or little foot bridges reach over ditches.”

As Schelp hints, part of exploring is noticing what’s there. The other part is making a connection with what you find.

The joy of exploring is in not knowing what you’ll find. Have you ridden the alleyways of Durham’s downtown neighborhoods? Do you know Durham’s many murals? Most are painted on the sides of buildings downtown and along Fayetteville St. Have you found the Eno Quarry? To the few who know it, it’s a nice swimming hole. Do you know where there’s a good spot to watch the sunset? Do you know which marching band practices on the field behind CC Spaulding Elementary School?

There’s no map that will point you toward these Durham treasures. But, they’re examples of what you might find if you’re out exploring. You’re not likely to find them if you’re in a car, because most of the time they lie beyond where cars can go.

If you try exploring for yourself, leave the heart rate monitor and spandex at home. Don’t run any errands. Just ride. See where you end up. And if you find anything interesting, let me know.

Posted by nicomachus at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun

DURHAM -- A Herald Sun article this past week described a hit-and-run by saying, "a recent Duke University graduate was critically injured when she was hit by a car late Friday on South LaSalle Street near McQueen Drive, according to police. The vehicle left the scene without stopping, police said."

One from a few months ago, describing an altogether different incident, says that "two women walking next to Kingston Drive were injured when a teenage driver left the road and hit them Friday afternoon." A later article concerning the same incident says that "a motorist ran off a road and struck two pedestrians Friday afternoon."

There's an important difference between saying that a pedestrian was hit by a car and saying that a driver ran off the road and struck pedestrians.

One way describes a world where accidents are the products of inanimate objects attacking innocent people. The other way makes it clear that those dangerous, inanimate objects are themselves driven by people too.

The language we use to describe accidents matters. If we go through life describing all accidents as incidents when inanimate objects unexplainably hurt people, then the world becomes a much scarier place. This careless use of language can contribute to the fear mongering of which the media is perpetually accused. The world described in this way is scarier, in part, because there is no responsibility and, therefore, no solution to the problems.

No one seriously defends the claim that we're not responsible for anything we do unintentionally. And so it goes with driving. Just because there are circumstances beyond our control doesn't mean we're absolved from all responsibility.

But accidents happen, you say. Not every accident is someone's fault, you're thinking. And I agree. But as drivers, if we think that just because our vehicles weigh so much and extend so far beyond our reach that we aren't responsible for what happens as a result of our driving, then we need to rethink what it means to drive a car.

Whether or not a driver involved in an accident is held legally responsible, it's still the case that someone was driving the car when the accident happened. To tell the story without the driver is to dehumanize the incident.

Why take the human element out of the narrative? If no one is responsible, then who's driving the cars?

If we take the human out of the vehicle, then we take responsibility away from the driver. And if we habitually describe these incidents with no one responsible, then we start thinking of accidents as inevitable.

We don't usually choose to have accidents, but we all make bad choices that make accidents more likely. If we choose to speed, then we're choosing to make our streets more dangerous for ourselves and for cyclists and pedestrians. Speeding, like driving drunk -- or driving while on the cell phone, or while adjusting the radio, or while putting on makeup, or while changing clothes, or while eating -- affects our ability to avoid accidents. And while drivers of Escalades, Expeditions, and Tahoes have at least an illusion of security, those of us on two wheels don't have even that.

In order to ride bicycles safely in traffic, cyclists need to recognize that the laws of physics are immutable. Just because a 3-ton vehicle shouldn't be passing through the crosswalk, much less at 45 mph, doesn't mean it's able to stop in a matter of feet. Just because a bus shouldn't be driving in the bike lane doesn't mean that it's going to move out of your way.

Only if we're all responsible for our vehicles is there a solution. More attentive driving, less electronic media distracting drivers, less alcohol intoxicating drivers, more driver (and cyclist and pedestrian) education are all changes that could make a difference in a world where drivers are responsible for their vehicles. These changes wouldn't make any difference in a world where cars simply careen out of control and strike pedestrians and cyclists.

I challenge the media to describe incidents more accurately. I also challenge cyclists, pedestrians, and especially drivers to take more responsibility for our vehicles.

Posted by nicomachus at 9:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun

Allegations that cyclists are doping are so common that anyone accused is guilty until proven innocent. And that's taking its toll on the sport. The cover of the October Bicycling, arguably the sport's leading monthly, makes plain why it matters – whether Floyd Landis doped or didn't, "either way, we lose."

Did Landis pull off one of the greatest accomplishments in cycling's history? The night before stage 17 of this year's Tour de France, Floyd Landis told his wife he was going to "go out in the morning and do something big." He attacked – broke away from his competitors, setting his own maniacal pace -- so early in the day that most thought he had no chance of following through. When you attack like he did you ride on your own, without the wind-breaking assistance of the peloton or even your own team. He went on to win stage 17, setting himself up to win the Tour.

Or, did he pull off an incredible fraud? A few days after being crowned champion of the Tour, a blood sample tested positive for irregularities – an unnaturally high ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone.

There are good reasons to doubt that he cheated. Testosterone is an anabolic steroid: a muscle-builder. It's the choice of weight lifters or sprinters, not endurance athletes. Testosterone helps an athlete only cumulatively. Over time, it helps an athlete amass muscle – more quickly, yes, but it's not an instant effect. If Landis was using synthetic testosterone for a performance boost, traces of it would have shown up prior to stage 17.

Besides, testosterone is produced naturally by the body and the human body is complex in ways that continue to baffle scientists. In addition to controlling muscle-growth, testosterone regulates bone density. A few days into the Tour, Landis announced he was suffering necrosis of the hip and was scheduled for hip surgery immediately following the Tour.

Human performance, at the level of a professional athlete, is a matter of refined efficiency. Do we know that the human body, especially one tuned as efficiently as Landis' and suffering a degenerative bone disease, could not independently and naturally slow its production of epistestosterone and accelerate its production of testosterone as a matter of survival? Landis may be right; he may not be able to give a good explanation of his blood sample.

If he successfully defends himself, Landis may recover his place on a pro-team and maybe even his reputation. He may keep his title to the TdF, but the damage seems to be done. The culture of drug-use in sports is so pervasive (or at least apparently so) that we're ready to believe the accused are guilty before all the evidence is in and without understanding the contested accuracy of the blood testing techniques.

About the only thing going for cycling's continuing dope-scandal plague is that it's not just cycling's problem. The U.S. Congress held special hearings in 2005 to investigate alleged drug use in Major League Baseball and is currently holding similar hearings investigating steroid use in the National Football League. Earlier this summer, Marion Jones and Justin Gatlin, international level track athletes, each failed doping tests and subsequently lost their multi-million dollar contracts with Nike.

The real problem is that while the margin between winning and losing is usually small on the clock, it's much bigger in the paycheck.

Athletes competing at the elite professional level live or die by the fractions of seconds between finishes. Taking any amount of drugs won't make me ride as fast as Landis, but it might give someone who is already training as hard as Landis the boost he needs to edge out a competitor. And there's his incentive.

The difference in lifestyle between a first place finisher and a fifth place finisher is more exaggerated than the differing times it takes them to cross the finish line. Corporate money in sports is corrupting sport itself. And it's the willingness to be bought, that most capitalist of virtues, that infects the players and brings the gods of physical performance down to our very human level.

Don't believe me? Tell me (and without Googling it) who finished second to Lance in each of his seven Tour de France wins. Or, this year, who stood in the third place spot on the podium while Landis stood on top? We don't know because OLN, Nike, Campagnolo, Phonak, Gerolsteiner, and everyone else who has money in sports reward one spot: the top of the podium.

What's the answer to doping in sports? I don't know... I don't have an answer, but I think a worthy pursuit in life is to ask questions the answers to which cannot be Googled. It's often useful just to articulate the problem, and that may be all we can do.

The growing popularity of single-speed rallies (Happy Fun Racing hosts one locally each year) and alleycats (five in the Triangle area so far in 2006) speaks to the growing uneasiness with the one-winner-one-reward paradigm. Weekend alleycats have traditional race elements, as does the Single Speed World Championship, but their rewards range from tattoos to messenger bags and bike parts, which are often distributed more democratically. They're often more anti-race, and more fun.

The monthly Tuesday night Cruiser Ride – Carrboro's social ride praising the virtues of low-tech and slow pace – is no race at all. It's a creative reminder that riding a bike is supposed to be fun.

Good news -- Yesterday, Marion Jones was cleared of doping allegations when her "B" sample tested negative. Let's see if Nike treats her a little more favorably.

Posted by nicomachus at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun

DURHAM -- Many mountain bikers pick up the sport as another way to spend time in the woods. But not all trails let an environmentally conscious rider enjoy the ride.

Improperly built trails soon develop deep ruts in the ground and can damage sensitive vegetation, especially if those trails are carved through low-lying areas that stay wet. Perhaps worse are the poorly constructed stunt zones where deep holes are dug or wooden structures are built hastily. If built of untreated lumber, these structures quickly rot becoming both neighborhood blight and safety hazards.

Trails like these exist in the Triangle, though they are usually pirated trails with quasi-legal status. If you ride much in the area, you know which ones I'm talking about.

It doesn't have to be this way; mountain biking and environmental protection go hand in hand. Since the so-called Park City Agreement in 1994 with the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA), the Sierra Club has recognized mountain biking as a positive, worthwhile outdoor activity. Raleigh resident Bill Camp sums it up best -- "mountain biking is a good way for families to spend time together participating in a healthy activity together."

Building environmentally sustainable mountain bike trails is not only possible; through organized education efforts, it's quickly become preferable. Car-manufacturer Subaru and IMBA co-sponsor two Trail Care Crew teams who annually travel the country preaching the gospel of sustainable trails. Their Trailbuilding Schools have taught more than 150,000 people how to build trails right the first time so that they'll last forever.

Jill Van Winkle and Chris Bernhardt, IMBA's east coast Trail Care Crew visited the Triangle in March 2005. The class was packed with volunteers, land managers, and park officials all hungry to learn how to build trails that will withstand the impact of the growing sport. At the end of the weekend, Bernhardt said he was impressed by the local commitment to sustainable trail-building, specifically Durham's Little River Regional Park's singletrack.

Well-built trails draw people to them. The more fat tires turn out on trails, more people will be there to protect wooded areas from development. Unsustainable development, here in the Southeast, is the single largest earth-scarring activity. Our fetish for new strip-malls anchored by big-box retail chains has meant the demise of many favorite homegrown trail systems.

The leadership of the Triangle Off Road Cyclists (TORC) is keenly aware that sprawl threatens access to local trials. "That's one of the reasons TORC was formed," says Camp, who is president of the advocacy group. Through fun events like last month's Fat Tire Festival, Camp hopes to "raise awareness of our trails advocacy and volunteer efforts to build and maintain legal singletrack in the Triangle area."

TORC has its work cut out. Right now, sights are set on new trails – conceived through memoranda of understanding with the landowners and built by volunteers -- from northern Wake County down to Chatham County. Thanks to TORC's lobbying efforts, developers' masterplans already include singletrack options at the city of Raleigh's new Forest Ridge park as well as the new park to be developed after the North Wake Landfill closes.

The Briar Chapel subdivision in northern Chatham County is a model for developer/volunteer collaboration. By the time the first houses in the new subdivision go up for sale, the publicly accessible singletrack TORC is building also should be open for business.

In local and regional media outlets, TORC has received flattering media attention for its efforts to preserve established trail systems and grow new ones in a region of North Carolina where sprawl is the norm.

And mountain bikers are generally good stewards of the land. I know of no other sport (organized or otherwise) where the participants take on lobbying for, building, and maintaining their own recreational outlets with the same fervor and tenacity as mountain bikers. Since its inception in 1988, IMBA's members have registered more than 1 million volunteer hours of trail work. Heck, every land manager I've ever met says that mountain bikers out-do all other volunteers when it comes to time spent with a McLeod rake or Pulaski in hand.

Park officials at Beaverdam State Park, Lake Crabtree County Park, and Harris Lake county Park say that on occasion mountain bikers have broken the rules and ridden closed trails but that it hasn't become a problem. Cyclists respect the trails, says Drew Cade, Park Manager at Lake Crabtree.

Even when a vocal minority of environmentalists try to claim that mountain bikers are harmful to the trails, science is on the side of the cyclists. IMBA has gathered on its website an impressive array of independent scientific studies of the environmental effects of mountain biking, all of which reach the conclusion that mountain biking makes no more of an impact on the natural environment than hiking, horseback riding, or other recreational trail activities.

With the right priorities, including a TORC membership card in your pocket, you can ride local trails knowing that you're doing it in the greenest way.

Now, if only we could grow our greenway and bike-lane infrastructure at the same pace, we could ride to trail-head and leave the car behind. But that's another story.

Posted by nicomachus at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun

Jan Ulrich and Ivan Basso lost their bids for the yellow jersey to Operation Puerta before this year's Tour de France even began.

Operation Puerta isn't a new contender for victory; it's a six-month doping investigation and arguably the most significant doping scandal of bicycle racing. Thanks to OP, thirteen professional riders were kicked out of the race and more than forty others are involved in a continuing investigation.

Around the same time Operation Puerta's news was breaking, Lance Armstrong was wrapping up his latest victory. He settled a libel suit with a British newspaper that had accused him of using banned drugs to speed his recovery from cancer and boost him to a Tour de France victory in 1999.

What's at issue when cyclists are accused of doping is whether or not professional athletes have cheated. The Tour de France is a stage race, spanning nearly a month with riders covering up to 130 miles per day with brutal climbing stages in the Alps and Pyrenees. Since stage races in cycling are tests of endurance and aerobic strength, cheating methods revolve around ways to increase the rider's aerobic efficiency.

Did Lance use EPO? Did Jan Ulrich freeze his own blood for a transfusion at a later time? What would it matter if they did? More plainly, what's wrong with doping anyway?

The superficial answer is that doping is against the rules. Every professional sport has a governing body that establishes the rules of the sport and the conditions under which athletes may compete. Doping is breaking the rules of the game. In a sense, it's like goaltending in basketball or slide-tackling in soccer.

But goaltending or slide-tackling can happen by accident, whereas doping is intentional. That's why the penalty for doping is more serious than giving the other team a foul shot or a free kick.

Doping is rule-breaking that you try desperately and secretly to get away with. An athlete caught doping will usually have gone to elaborate lengths to hide it.

In other words, doping is cheating.

For a more meaningful answer to the question what's wrong with doping, we have to see sport in a more meaningful context. And to do this, we turn to the arbiters of meaning – philosophers.

In The Philosophical Athlete, Heather Reid says that all sports have moments of challenge -- "times when an athlete finds him- or herself alone, faced with a particular task and the very real possibilities of success or failure."

It is these moments of challenge that make sport meaningful. Whether or not you can rise to the challenge – whether the challenge is to make the free throw, outrun a defender, or beat the current best time in a bicycle race -- is a matter of discipline and skill. Whether you can do so while respecting your opponents is a matter of personal integrity.

An athlete who dopes disrespects him or herself as well as his/her competitors, officials, and fans.

Without opponents there wouldn't be any competitive sports. Using drugs or blood transfusions to gain an advantage over your competitors is to disrespect your competitors by ignoring the rules of game. Without a competitor, there is no opportunity to win. Opponents are necessary to play the game or race the race. So, respect for your competitors is what fairness in sport is based on.

Cheating (or doping) enters the picture when the desire to win the game supplants the desire to be an athlete who is worthy of winning.

Pop culture's values may be different. On reality TV or in a culture of on-demand instant gratification, cheating is more a strategy to get ahead of your competitor than the forbidden alternative. Indeed, in these nihilistic venues getting caught, rather than cheating, is the sign of weakness.

But the concepts of respect and fairness, archaic as they may sound to some, are still what sport is based on. Training is a performance enhancing activity done in earnest. Preparing for a race, there is no substitute (physically or morally) for practice. If sport is a measure of physical discipline, mental toughness, and moral determination, then cheating leaves us unworthy of playing the game (much less winning).

Without Jan Ulrich, David Zabriske, Ivan Basso, Floyd Landis, or George Hincapie racing against him, Lance Armstrong's seven Tour de France victories would be meaningless. They also would have been meaningless if he hadn't developed the muscle-tone or dexterous precision needed to rocket his body and bike across the French countryside.

Posted by nicomachus at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun
June 8th, 2006

MORRISVILLE -- Do you have a mountain bike that just sits around while you say to yourself, "I really should go ride sometime?" Have you been looking for an event that will introduce you to the local mountain bike community? Or maybe you're already tapped in and want to show off your skills to a local audience.

This Saturday, June 10th, says Camye Womble, is your day to ride.

The Triangle Off-Road Cyclists (TORC) are sponsoring their first ever Fat Tire Festival � a day-long ode to the mountain bike.

From 9:30am until 2:00pm at Lake Crabtree County Park, TORC's members and volunteers will host a series of events for every kind of local mountain biker.

The slate of events is a veritable cornucopia of two-wheeled fun. From your standard events, like group rides for all skill levels and helmet fittings and safety checks, to games a little more unusual, the day is packed with opportunities for everyone.

"It is definitely plannedto be a very kid and family friendly event," says Bill Camp, president of TORC. Kids' events include races, a bike toss, and demonstrations on how to ride the teeter-totters and skinnies of Crabtree's skills zone. Later in the day will be an exhibition of balance and concentration as experienced "trials" riders demonstrate the gravity defying skills their sport requires.

Who should come to the Fat Tire Festival? "Folks who want to learn to climb hills, or make stronger turns; folks who want to learn how to ride in groups or meet new riding partners; folks who want to learn how to cross a log or ride a skinny; folks who want to see the bikes that the local bike shops are bringing as demos," says Womble.

Advocacy and education are the two main reasons TORC's putting on the festival. Mountain biking is just about the most fun anyone is allowed to have in the woods, but trails don't build themselves.

Around the Triangle, singletrack doesn't last forever either. "Hopefully," says Womble, "the Fat Tire Festival will make folks aware of how often we lose Triangle trails to development. But what we really want is to tell them that we [TORC] are here to build more." Though TORC is barely a year old, its efforts to work with land managers and build sustainable trails are already a model of success. They're establishing trail systems backed by good relationships with park officials and municipal governments.

Helmets are required for everyone, and children under 12 need to be accompanied by their parents.

To play is free, but you may want to bring some money. There will be a swap-meet, a sort of garage sale of bike parts, as well as some wraps, cookies, and drinks for sale.

Posted by nicomachus at 5:58 PM | Permalink

Phillip Barron
The Herald-Sun
May 25th, 2006

DURHAM -- "(The process) has enabled me to make some really wonderful connections with the people who make Durham work," says Iona Hauser of Stewart Engineering, who has completed the design plans for a new bicycle and pedestrian bridge over 147. The new bridge, a "graceful arch, framed by abutments that reference Durham's historic and unique rectangular smokestacks," will replace the existing pedestrian bridge linking Lakeland Street to the south and Gillette Avenue to the north.

Construction of the new bridge could begin this fall, and it may open as early as the fall of 2007.

The existing bridge was difficult to patrol because people couldn't see onto the bridge from the street, and because it sits between two different police divisions. After the two neighborhoods linked by the span expressed concerns that the bridge harbored and facilitated crime, the city closed the bridge in 1995.

The consensus is that the failure of the first bridge was one of design.

In 2003, a municipal agreement to replace the bridge was signed, federal funds have since been secured, and Stewart Engineering won the contract to design a new bridge.

But given the failure of the old bridge, designing a new one -- one that will satisfy everyone's concerns -- was no easy task.

Stewart Engineering met with community groups, city officials, bicycle advocates and anyone else who wanted input on the new bridge design. Hauser says she was "blown away by the commitment to the future of the city at every level -- city staff, police, community volunteers, downtown developers, everyone."

The new bridge features a well-lit, open design with good line of sight onto the walkway from both the approach and from 147. Entrance ramps on either end allow cyclists to ride right onto the 10-foot-wide path.

And then, Raleigh's new pedestrian bridge over I-440 stirred up the imaginations of Durham officials.

Bull City boosters challenged Hauser to design the new bicycle and pedestrian bridge over 147 in such a way that it says Durham. The rectangular "smokestacks" anchoring the new bridge do just that, "but I'm partial to the crowning element -- the 'Durham blue' LED lighting that traces the arch of the bridge" at night, Hauser says.

Beth Timson of Durham's Department of Parks and Recreation adds that the 147 bridge is part of Durham's extensive and growing greenway system. A trail was connected to the bridge until the span closed, at which time the city rerouted that trail over to nearby Bacon Street. When the new bridge opens, Parks and Rec plans to return the trail to connect with the bridge.

"I can't wait to walk across it and see it at night on my way to a Bulls game," Hauser says.

For more information on Durham's greenways, visit http://durhamnc.gov/departments/parks Design photos compliments of Stewart Engineering.

Posted by nicomachus at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun
May 11th, 2006

DURHAM -- The Ride of Silence on Wednesday will be the loudest statement of the year on bicycle safety and it will be spoken without a word.

The Ride of Silence is a Triangle-wide event, beginning at the Triangle Life Science Center (the former EPA building) at the corner of Alexander Drive and N.C. 54 in Research Triangle Park.

The second annual ride is for cyclists of all abilities and levels of experience. After a brief moment of silence and stillness, the assembled riders will take to the streets in hushed solemnity, proceeding slowly -- using only hand signals for necessary communication -- down Alexander Drive, completing a 5-mile loop through RTP, and returning to the Triangle Life Science Center. This is a no-drop ride.

The Ride of Silence honors and remembers cyclists who have been injured or killed on public roads. The goal is to raise the awareness of motorists, cyclists, law enforcement, and city officials that there's more work to do to share the road.

The Ride of Silence is bigger than the Triangle. The local event is one of more than 190 concurrent events in the United States. Also on Wednesday, eight other countries will host silent processions, each in honor of cyclists who have died or been injured will riding.

The Ride of Silence is a simple, grassroots event. "There is no brochure, no sponsors, no registration fees and no T-shirt," say event organizers Blanche and Larry Dean.

"The Ride of Silence," says Pete Schubert, Durham Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission member, "reminds us of the ultimate cost to cyclists when drivers fail to pay attention, ignore the rules of the road, disobey traffic laws, are not courteous, or otherwise do not respect their fellow drivers. We all know, in bike-motor vehicle collisions, the cyclist usually loses -- sometimes his or her life -- while the motorist usually lives to regret his or her experience."

The Ride of Silence is focused on safety. The organizers require that all participants wear helmets. Since the ride will finish at or just after dark, bring lights (headlight and taillight) if you plan to ride home.

The Ride of Silence has new significance this year for IBM employee Brian Carver. He has a hard time forgetting the moment of impact, when he crashed into the car window, bouncing off and landing on the road.

"I try to keep my head clear and forget that each car that passes next to me can snuff me out in a second. All it takes is one moment away from the road to text message your friends and the next moment you're explaining to a cop why you killed that rather obvious cyclist in the bike lane," says Carver, recalling the story of a cyclist killed in Colorado earlier this year.

"It took a long time for me to get the courage to ride again," Carver adds.

The Ride of Silence takes place this year at a time when soaring gas prices are encouraging some commuters to look for alternatives to driving and beautiful spring weather is turning some of those commuters to cycling. "We all must learn how to share the road and then practice safe driving every time we take to the road," Schubert says.

The Ride of Silence will leave the Triangle Life Science Center parking lot promptly at 7 p.m. "Cyclists should arrive early enough to air up their tires and participate in a moment of silence before the ride," Blanche Dean advises. "Daylight permitting, a second loop may be ridden."

The Ride of Silence is a reminder that motorists and cyclists will always co-exist on the road. Whether we co-exist safely is up to us.

HS url: http://www.heraldsun.com/features/54-733187.html

NOTE: I learned only after writing this article that Chapel Hill and Carrboro are hosting another local Ride of Silence event. From the RoS website:
Carrboro/Chapel Hill
Contact: Michael Babbitt
Distance: 8 miles
Notes: Start and end in the parking lot of McDougal Elementary on Old Fayetteville Rd in Carrboro.

Posted by nicomachus at 10:05 AM | Permalink

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun
April 27th, 2006

Remember the childhood fun of a scavenger hunt? You and your friends run around the backyard or school yard, gathering clues in corners or under rocks. Sometimes the clues stared you in the face, but the excitement of the game obscured them from view. And for some of them, there was a goal and even a winner. But that wasn't really the point. The point was to have fun, right?

Take a scavenger hunt, mix in a little punk culture, anti-authoritarian politics, and a taste of danger, spread the course out over town, and make it a bike race. Now, you've got what's called an alleycat.

Although only a handful of people showed up to Durham's St. Patrick's Day alleycat, they came from as far away as Hillsborough, Raleigh, and New Haven, Connecticut. OK, Mark didn't come to Durham just for the race; Yale Divinity School was on spring break and he was in town visiting old friends. But Eric Owens, organizer of the event, isn't surprised that folks came up from Raleigh for the ride.

"It's really growing at an exponential rate right now. Many small towns the size of Durham are now hosting alleycats, whereas a few years ago no one had heard of them," says Owens. So, where did they come from?

Alleycat races are an outgrowth of the bike courier scenes of major metropolitan areas. In cities like Chicago, New York, or San Francisco, the downtown centers are so densely packed that frequently the fastest way to get a letter, memo, filing, or other parcel from one side of town to another is by bicycle. Courier companies employ bikers to navigate through car, bus, and truck-filled streets, and because the courier is paid by delivery, efficiency is key to being a successful messenger.

Efficiency on a bike in a dense urban area, however, often translates into speed, disregard for traffic laws (it might be more convenient to ride the wrong way on a one-way street, for example), and a significant element of risk-taking.

The risks of the job, thinks Owens who spent a year as a bike messenger in Manhattan before coming to Duke for graduate school, bond the couriers together. Bragging about delivering this many packages over that big an area is something he heard regularly after work.

And an alleycat race is the place to settle the bragging rights, to see once and for all who is the fastest or who knows the city the best. "They grow out of a culture of work," says Owens.

An alleycat is a unique sort of race. It's designed to recreate the day-to-day challenges of messengers. At the Durham alleycat, each rider received a manifest made up of checkpoints throughout town. To complete the manifest, each rider had to visit each checkpoint and document somehow that he or she had been there.

For instance, to prove that they'd been to Cookout on Hillsborough Rd, riders had to write down the number of milkshake flavors the restaurant offers. Hand-written signs hung near the top of several parking garages downtown, and racers had to scribble down the signs' messages. And one checkpoint was simply to write down what's at 1825 Chapel Hill Rd. Riders had to go there to find out.

Unlike other cycling races, alleycats are not held on closed courses. They're held in the streets, where riders mix with other traffic. Nor is there a prescribed route; riders complete the manifest in whatever order they want. So in addition to being a test of speed, an alleycat tests how well riders know local landmarks and streets.

But, without a bike messenger scene in the Triangle, why are there alleycats?

"Now that skateboarding culture has been completely co-opted, is mainstream, and you can find everything you need at the mall, I think people are looking for the next underground thing," says Owens. Since alleycats are not sanctioned bike races, they have a certain chic factor to them.

So, did the St. Pat Alleycat bring together an emerging Triangle urban-bike scene? I'm really not sure. But it was fun, a little absurd, and no one got hurt.

For more urban-bike scene absurdity, check out bike polo. Meet at The Bicycle Chain, Durham on Thursdays at 8:30pm

A little post-alleycat video... complete with crooked-crank racing, bike tossing, and a brief night ride.

Posted by nicomachus at 9:56 AM | Permalink

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun
March 23rd, 2006

DURHAM -- Many mountain bikers love their sport so much they look for ways to give something back.

Week after week, some volunteers dig in the dirt; they build the trails we all love to ride. Sweet singletrack doesn't grow like kudzu, after all.

Some volunteer to attend meetings and hash out memoranda of understanding with land owners and property managers. Without these tireless lobbyists, we'd have no place to build trails.

Some organize beginner workshops to bring new riders into the fold. Some host races.

And skilled Triangle mountain bikers with an interest in helping other riders one-on-one just gained another way to give something back to their sport.

The Triangle Off-Road Cyclists (TORC) has the newest chapter of the Mountain Bike Patrol.

The Mountain Bike Patrol is a collective of volunteers focusing on education, safety, and peer assistance. Soon, you'll see members patrolling local trails in their green and yellow jerseys. Proficient in first-aid for both people and bikes, patrol members are trained both to respond to emergencies and just to represent the sport in a positive light.

The International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA) supports more than 60 volunteer patrol groups in the U.S. and around the world. TORC's is one of the newest.

Daniel Elzey, IMBA's southeast regional Patrol coordinator, says "I see the Bike Patrol as probably one of the greatest assets to advocacy work. Patrol members are out on the trails providing a presence for the local club/organization, they are primarily out there to help new bikers find their way around, to provide advice and experienced insight, as well as emergency medical care if needed."

"I like helping people, and I love the mountain bike community," says Spencer Horn of Garner. "Now having completed the training, I'm very excited to get started."

Mark Smith, who's heading up TORC's new Mountain Bike Patrol chapter, envisions Patrol members working closely with land managers to be the "eyes and ears on local trails when park managers are unable to observe" the trails in their area.

Local response has been positive. Drew Cade, Park Manager at Lake Crabtree County Park, is excited about working with the Mountain Bike Patrol. He thinks having volunteers on the 5+ miles of trails will be a big help.

You'll see the yellow-and-green-clad ambassadors of the sport out on local trails sometime this spring, says Smith. And when you do see them, whether there's an emergency or not stop and say hello. The Patrol is out there for you.

If you ask Patrol members about the rules of a particular trail, about the reasons to wear helmets, or about trail riding etiquette in general, they'll be happy to talk. But don't expect them correct anyone's behavior or kick anyone off trail. The Mountain Bike Patrol leaves law enforcement to the local park managers.

If you're a skilled mountain biker with an interest in helping others, think about joining TORC's chapter of the Mountain Bike Patrol.

What do patrol members get in return for their service? Elzey sums it up saying "I think being active in the Bike Patrol instills a sense of stewardship of the land and the trail in much the same way that building and maintaining a trail does. Besides, there's nothing more rewarding than spreading the love of the bicycle."

See TORC's website for contact information.
http://www.torc-nc.org

Posted by nicomachus at 3:56 PM | Permalink

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun
March 9th, 2006

WAKE COUNTY -- The only time it's fun to play on a see-saw by yourself is when you're on a mountain bike.

You ride up one side slowly, crest the apex, the board flops down, and you ride down the other side.

Between the see-saws (known to mountain bikers as teeter-totters), balance beams (called skinnies), ladders, and picnic tables used as stunts these days, some mountain bike trails look and feel more like playgrounds than nature paths.

So why are outdoor enthusiasts building hand-made creations on the trails? Unfortunately, some of the interesting and challenging natural features that exist in mountainous regions just don't exist locally, says John Whitfield, an officer in the Triangle Off-Road Cyclists. The man made structures [sic] help riders develop the same balance and bike control skills needed to master natural technical features.

Pisgah National Forest, just south of Asheville, is one of the closest regions to offer the highly technical natural terrain, says Whitfield. But, Pisgah is too far for most riders to frequent more than a once or twice a year.

As Lake Crabtree County Park's Trail Stewarship Coordinator, Whitfield oversees maintenance of the existing trail system and construction of any new trails or features. And to help mountain bikers hone their skills, Whitfield and others have installed two teeters and two skinnies on the new Loop 5 of Lake Crabtree's popular trail system.

And the stunts are bringing new riders to Lake Crabtree. I can hear the kids and even their parents laughing from my office, says Drew Cade, Park Manager at Lake Crabtree County Park. Cade has seen a 10% increase in ridership of the trails since the stunts were installed last year.

Mountain bikers tend to crave challenge, constantly looking for the next skill to learn. Handmade obstacles add a new challenge to our trails, and mountain bikers always like to try new things, says Cade. The stunts bring new riders and also new volunteers for trail workdays, he says.

Trail designers at Orange and Durham County's Little River Regional Park have used wooden structures to elevate the trail in places where drainage is an issue. These wooden structures are not only fun to ride, they keep tires from carving ruts into wet soil.

TORC volunteers have recently installed stunts on the Hog Run, the mountain bike trail system at Harris Lake County Park. But the most extensive set of local handmade mountain bike stunts open to the public is at Legend Park in Clayton. Allen Tutt, LegendPark's Trail Stewardship Coordinator, is known for the long, tireless hours he's spent making sure that Legend's Skills Zone is both challenging and safe.

Whitfield adds that man made structures also offer a safer way to learn to ride technical trail features. 'Fall zones' that are cleared of other obstacles and padded with mulch reduce the risk of injury. Man made structures also offer more consistency thenatural features.

If you'd like to try riding a teeter-totter or a skinny, TORC offers beginner rider workshops once a month from March through October. Clinics that take place at Lake Crabtree always include a session on the stunts.

To learn more about the next beginner rider workshop visit TORC's website. For more information about the Triangle's local mountain bike trails, visit TriangleMTB.com.

For an example of just how elaborate teeters can get, check out this brief video of a teeter in New England.

Posted by nicomachus at 8:58 AM | Permalink

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun
February 23, 2006

DURHAM -- Some in the Triangle suggest that recent bicycle-related fatalities, one in November and another in January, highlight the inherent dangers of cycling. There is an undeniable risk to cycling in traffic, but more soundly these deaths serve as a reminder that the privilege of driving an automobile and the right to ride a bike on North Carolina's roadways are each coupled with corollary responsibilities. Those responsibilities have to do with safety.

Sometimes accidents happen. The very nature of the word 'accident' suggests two things: first, it suggests that no one is at fault, and second it suggests that these unfortunate incidents are unavoidable.

When you look at statistics, fatal bike accidents don't happen too often. Although every year Durham county sees an average twenty-eight bicycle accidents involving automobiles, rarely is there more than one fatality per year. Nevertheless, one is too manyfor me.

So while it might be the case that (actual, unavoidable) accidents happen, it might also be useful for us to believe that all accidents are preventable, whether or not this is strictly true. That is, if thinking that accidents are avoidable leads us to adopt better habits (while driving or riding), to don more safety gear, or to be more patient on the road, we might all share the road with more confidence and respect for our fellow travelers.

And that may make the roads safer places for you to be, whether you're in the driver's seat, in the passenger seat, or on the saddle.

For a cyclist, safety begins with what we wear.

Growing up, at some point you probably reached an age when you wanted to take the factory-issued reflectors off your bike. That illuminescent red disk on the back of your seat post might slow you down, or the clear reflective mis-shapen rectangles claspingyour spokes might off-set the balance of your wheels so you argued with your parents, anyway. Really, you took them off because they weren't cool.

Cool or not, reflectors are an inexpensive way to make your bike more visible on low-light or night time rides. If you have to ride in the dark, and many commuter cyclists do, then your number-one concern is making yourself visible. Think about putting those reflectors back on your bike. Reflectors don't weigh much and don't require batteries to light you up as you cruise down the road. If you gave them to the kid next door, you can pick up a set of new ones at your local bike shop for about $10.

Bright orange reflective vests ($15), with neon orange mesh and safety-yellow reflective strips, brighten up your torso. But keep in mind that a vest won't do much good if you wear a backpack.

The local bike shop is also your source for bike-specific headlights and tail lights. Not only are adequate lights (front and rear) required by N.C. state law, they really do make a difference in your ride.

Geoff Martin of the Bicycle Chain thinks that the single most important piece of safety equipment a bicycle commuter can have is a blinking tail light. Whereas reflectors work only when a beam of light hits them, the battery powered, blinking LEDs scream I'm here, I'm on the road too all the time. This means that even before a car's headlights shine on you, a good blinkie can be seen from a hundred yards away.

LEDs, the light emitting diodes that most blinkies are based on, require very little power, so the batteries powering them seem to last forever. However, if you ride in the dark often you may want to consider investing in a set of rechargeable batteries and a charger. Recharging your own batteries produces far less waste than relying on disposable ones, and it ends up saving you money in the long run.

When looking for a blinking light or other commuter accessories for your bike, look for components made by Planet Bike. Planet Bike makes a range of quality add-on products for your bike from fenders to lights to speedometers and donates 25% of their profits to bike advocacy organizations. They sell blinking red tail lights and blinking white handlebar-mounted lights for $15 each.

LEDs have made their way into headlights as well, and there are more than a few models to choose from at your local bike shop. Cateye makes a headlight ($40) that throws a beam more than twenty-five feet in front of you; its mounting system stays with the light, so you can easily move the light to another bike or reposition it to a better spot on your handlebars.

Finally, although not required by state law, wearing a helmet is never a bad idea. Helmets start at $40 and the prices climb pretty steep. Differences in price have mostly to do with the aerodynamics and comfort features integrated into the helmet. Which ever style you're most comfortable with, just make sure your helmet is ANSI certified.

For more ideas on how to ride safely on the road or just to caffeinate on your way to work, stop by Mad Hatter's Café and Bakery tomorrow morning. Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of Durham's Bicyclist Breakfast.

--
Bikers Breakfast
7:30 9AM, drop-in
Mad Hatters Café and Bakery
1802 W. Main St.

Posted by nicomachus at 7:11 PM | Permalink

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun
January 26th, 2006

OTTAWA -- Feeling trapped inside by the cold weather? Are you taking a break from cycling until the spring thaw?

Winter cycling has an allure all its own, but to be sure it also has its challenges. I recently spent some time in Ontario and saw how truly dedicated cyclists make their way through the streets of Canada's frozen capital.

So, for some advice on cycling through the winter, I turn to the hardest working professional cyclists in Ottawa: the bike messengers. Like year round bike commuters, couriers have no choice when to ride. They ride every day they're working, and most of them are working every day.

The capital city's couriers offer four nuggets of advice to wintertime cyclists.

First, don't fall for thinking that knobby tires make good winter tires.

A lot of people think, “because of wintery slush on the roads that knobby tires are in order,” says Crazy Dave, a long time Ottawa messenger. But knobbies won't help, he says. “The snow packs in between the knobs and actually makes it worse.” Your traditional narrow road tires, or “slicks,” actually cut through the snow and find pavement to grip.

Sure enough, as I glance around at the couriers' bikes congregating at the World Exchange Plaza, almost all of them are bear the slick road tires.

But the Triangle area is known more for its ice than snow, so which is the best for one of those glazed over days? Well, neither slicks nor knobbies are going to grip the ice. Studded tires are about the only things that work, but chances are if you need the studded tires, you don't need to be out on the roads.

Second, Dave “Rambo” Besharah suggests using fenders over your tires. Roads dry out more slowly in the winter, and Durham's greenways are often wet in the mornings. A nice set of fenders will keep your rear tire from slinging all that water on your back and your front tire from soaking your pants legs.

Planet Bike sells supposedly indestructible sets of shiny, polycarbonate mold-injected fenders for both mountain bike frames and road frames. They come with mud-flaps and all the hardware necessary to mount them on your bike. Or, you could take a more do-it-yourself approach, like Rambo. His fenders are pieced together from lengths of plastic, cut-up tubes, and a combination of duct and electrical tape. He's even gone so far as to wrap the stanchions of his suspension fork in tube rubber to keep the corrosive salty slush out.

Third, all the extra water on the roads will demand more time for maintenance if you want to keep that drivetrain running smoothly. But for many of us, bike maintenance is the last thing you want to do after a cold ride. The wheels will be wet, the frame freezing, the chain and cogs greasy. The risk is that if you don't put in the time to dry and lube the drivetrain, you're letting parts of your bike rust. And rust is the last thing you want to see developing on your precious ride.

Allen Grier, a self-identified rookie with just four years experience on the streets of Ottawa, says there's no way he's going to put in the time needed to take proper care of his nice bike during the winter. So, each winter he picks up a “beater” -- a cheap bike that he converts to a single-speed and rides into the ground. Cheap frames are usually steel or chromoly, both of which are fond of rust. With no maintenance, a beater will do well to last one winter in Ottawa; there's just so much salt a bottom bracket can withstand before cracking.

Fourth, whether you pick up a “beater” or not, make your winter bike a single-speed. Grier's not the only one riding with just one gear in the rear – most of the couriers' trusty steeds are single speeds. And many of them are fixed gears.

Even if you're not adverse to the cold, chances are you won't be able to spend as much time riding in February as you can in June. Riding a single speed allows you to get in a pretty intense workout in a shorter period of time. Because a fixed gear bike won't let you coast, riding one of these cadence masters offers the most return for time spent on the bike. And as Angelo Sarrazin, an eight-year veteran of Ottawa's streets, reminds me, “if the brake cables rust through and snap, you've still got brakes on a fixed gear.”

Posted by nicomachus at 9:58 AM | Permalink

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun
January 12, 2006

CARRBORO -- If there's an ideal Platonic form out there for everything that exists in this world of imperfect approximations, then there's got to be an ideal bike for you and me. Now, how are you supposed to go about finding that bike?

Nestled in an upstairs unit of a converted warehouse in Carrboro may be the first step on the journey. Cycling Specifics is not your average bike shop. In fact, it's not really a bike shop at all. �We're more of a cyclist's resource center,� says co-owner Laurin Stennis when she invited me in for a fitting.

When you walk in, the warm colors of the exposed brick walls and the smooth, worn hardwood floors welcome you and your bike to two-to-four hours of the most attention you'll ever receive together. What CS does is make sure that you're riding a bike that suits your body and your cycling needs.

�Most of our clients come in for a fitting,� says Lori Hoeffer, the other half of the CS team. She's referring to a process built around bicycle manufacturer Serotta's philosophy that the bicycle can and should be built to the body that will be riding it. A personalized fitting at Cycling Specifics yields enough details for Hoefer and Stennis to do one of two things: order for you a custom built bicycle or properly configure the components on your existing bike.

In the course of a fitting, Stennis and Hoefer measure your body, they record the current configurations of your bicycle, and determine your current strength and flexibility. They take into consideration what kind of riding you do and plan to do. It's the most thorough, scientifically sound, and technologically savvy bike fitting you'll experience.

Hang on, it gets complicated.

One of the essential tools they use in the fitting process is something called the SizeCycle.

�The SizeCycle helps us find your ideal points in space,� says Hoefer. �It's Serotta's infinitely adjustable sizing tool.� A stationary bike where every angle is adjustable and each clamp is a quick-release, the SizeCycle can mimic the frame geometry and size of just about any upright bicycle.

Using it, Stennis and Hoefer can find your ideal seat height, handlebar position, and top-tube length among other details. As we're dialing in the size of my Platonic bike, we're making adjustments down to the millimeter.

If you visit CS to get help adjusting your own bike, they are able to chart these �ideal points in space with X/Y coordinates, and carry them over to your bike,� says Hoefer. They'll adjust the seat and seat post, stem, and handlebars as much as they can. If your frame is close enough to your ideal, something as simple as replacing your stem or adjusting your seat post can make could make a big difference to your riding.

�Two or three years ago I began to experience neck and hip problems from cycling and was considering going to a more upright bicycle or finding another form of exercise,� says CS client Mary Sugden of Carrboro.

�During peak cycling season for the past two years, I was making weekly trips to either a massage therapist or physical therapist,� she adds. �But after making the necessary adjustments to my bicycle based on the measurements from the fitting, my cycling efficiency immediately and drastically improved. Best of all, my neck and hip problems associated with riding are now almost non-existent.�

While the price tag of an Independent Fabrication (steel or titanium), a Serotta (steel, titanium, or carbon fiber), an Orbea (aluminum), or a Parlee (all carbon-fiber) may give you reason to pause (a true custom frame starts at around $1700 and complete bikes can top $8000), Stennis invites you to think about this. �A custom bike is one you keep forever,� she says. �People get the new bike itch every two or three years for a reason, and that reason usually has something to do with your comfort on the bike. When people get a custom bike, they keep it.�

Sometimes, after all is said and done, they have bad news. Like the fact that my commuter bike is just too small for me. Well, I really can't complain about a 1970s frame I bought used for a whopping $10.

But the bad news can be good news. They helped me diagnose the recurring pain between my shoulders. And, perhaps the best news of all is that I have professional advice backing me up when I say I need a new frame.

Hmmm, and you say the Indy Fabs come in whatever colors you want, right?

--
Cycling Specifics � (919) 933-4831 - moved at the beginning of January; their new location has less exposed brick but more space for titanium and carbon fiber eye-candy and fewer stairs to climb.

Posted by nicomachus at 9:20 AM | Permalink