Back in the Saddle

I promised to upload some photos of my restored Dynamic Crosstown 7. (Shhh, I'm using a lab camera to take and post these while our own camera goes in for warranty repair.) So here they are. Note: I saw a little video blurb called BrightBike about putting reflective tape on your bike and decided to get visible. In addition to adding to the cheese factor and increasing visibility, the white tape on the top tube covers up and inappropriate "Tempo" logo. This bike is not the Tempo model but uses the Tempo frame, apparently.

When I went to go buy the reflective tape, I brought Caroline with me, and she got into her head that she needed a new bike helmet and that I was going to get her one at the hardware store. I did some fast thinking and convinced her to accept her own $2.50 package of reflective tape instead. Of course she chose the read and white candy stripe pattern, some of which ended up as decoration on her helmet and some of which ended up adorning the drive shaft cover on my bike. (And yes, that's a spare pair of socks I keep at my desk that you see. I didn't notice it in the photo before.)

Eliza came out with me while I was working on the bike. She, my Little Helper, wanted to participate, so I set her to cleaning the spokes and hub. Everything's nice and shiny now and it looks more or less brand new.

I had mentioned previously that I was having trouble with the shifting. A new cable and sheath and a good clean-out of the rear hub fixed that problem. I had a little bit of worry when I noticed that the gears were grinding during my first commute on the new frame. That turned out to be a simple error on my part of not sufficiently tightening the right-side axle nut on the rear hub. It was allowing the bevel gears to get out of alignment and grind. It was very easily fixed.
I'm happy to be back in the saddle again.

Framed!

The frame arrived this evening. Unfortunately (arghhhh!) my camera has a "lens error" and won't focus now. We have lost more cameras to lens errors. Bummer, because I wanted to document the rebuild with photos. Oh well... Maybe I'll just nab a stock photo:

I'm surprised by how light the frame is. Total shipping weight including the box and packaging was 6 lbs. It's nice and shiny and new and looks just like the old one with two small exceptions. First is a "Tempo" decal which tells me that the frame is common with the Tempo model. OK. The second is another small lug of some sort on the seat stay just above where the brake mounts are.

Dynamic, per my request, sent the frame with the steer-tube bearings pressed into place already, so the only other tricky thing I have to do is press out the left-side bottom bracket fitting. I'm looking forward to getting going on it tomorrow when I get home. It will be nice to be back on my regular commuter.

Driveshaft Disassembly

Today I finished stripping my Crosstown 7 in order to replace the broken frame. That involved removing the driveshaft assembly, cleaning it out, and re-greasing it. The bottom bracket came out by loosening the three screws on the left-hand side. Here's what the inside looks like. Somehow, dirt managed to get in there, but I don't think that had any consequence on performance, since the whole front crank case is sealed.

Here's what the front crank-case assembly looks like fresh from the bottom bracket.

Loosening the three screws on the other side allowed me to open the case and remove the gears for cleaning. Initially, the inside of the crank-case was full of grease, which I removed with clean rags.

I noticed that the gear ratio was 11:27. Because 27 and 11 are both prime, each tooth on the shaft eventually interacts with each tooth on the bevel gear, and no wear pattern develops. After cleaning everything up, I closed it up again and shot it full of fresh Teflon grease.

Here's what the rear end of the drive shaft looks like. This is where the 7-speed internal hub connects. The hub is similar to the chain driven version except for the bevel gear in place of the chain cog.

The next step is to receive the new frame and reassemble. I'm expecting the frame on Wednesday, so I'll post photos of the reassembly process then.

Stripping the Frame

As I said I would, I started to take apart my Crosstown 7 in preparation for replacing my broken frame. So far, this job has been about what I expected, with no surprises. I started by removing the bike rack, seat post clamp, and rear fender, which all came apart as an assembly. Then I removed the brakes.

Then I removed the front brakes and unhooked the shifter cable, which allowed me to remove the handlebar, with everything still attached. At this point, my neighbor Emily saw me over the fence and offered me the use of her husband Jeff's work stand. I accepted, and boy what a difference that made. That enabled me to remove the kickstand and take off the cranks. Fortunately, I had a crank extraction tool from a previous project. Without a crank extractor, that task is near impossible and guaranteed to mess up your bike.


One interesting thing to note here is that when you add grease to the crank, it eventually comes out through the bearing on the right side near the crank arm seal, which makes it kind of messy since this spot is tough to clean with a rag with the crank arm still installed. In the photo below you see a year and a half worth of grease accumulation. The color of this grease when clean is light brown, almost white. A couple of times I had added shots of the green marine grease that I use for my water-brake dynamometer at school. I plan to open this up and clean it out thoroughly and re-grease with the white teflon grease supplied by Dynamic.

In a way I'm glad for the opportunity to get inside my bike and see how it all goes together, although this process is time consuming and no so convenient. I'll take the challenge to learn a little about bike repair rather than complain. Here's how I left things when it got too cold and dark to keep going tonight. (My workspace is the back patio. I miss my garage workshop.)

It's time for a new seat

Alas, my faithful and intimate companion is close to retirement. I speak of my bike seat, which has served me well for many years. It took me a while to find just the right one, and I have a few old seats in my shed which did not pass muster before, inevitably leading to numbness and later to soreness on account of being too soft. Many recreational seats are marketed for their padding, but after more than a few miles, all that squishy padding ends up acting like a tourniquet on some pretty important arteries. I will say no more.So, the question arises of what to replace with. I'm thinking of two options, and they represent two quite different approaches. The first is less expensive, will not last as long, but would probably be OK for several years more. The critical feature is the cut-out, as shown in the $40 example below:

The other option appeals to the pay-for-quality buy-it-to-last-forever side of me, which is the fabled Brooks saddle:
You have to read the website and look at a couple of pages of Google search on "Brooks Saddle" to understand just how truly special it is. It is in fact a stretched leather upper that breaks in over a month or two and becomes personalized to one's own particular shape. There are plenty of stories of people riding the same saddle for 50 years and more. Apparently, after it's broken in, it more or less disappears from underneath you and you don't notice it any more. The only catch for me at present, and the reason that I hesitate, is the usual $80+ price tag. It is ill-advised to buy one used since it may have broken in on someone else's bottom...

So, that's the dilemma. I'll post a photo of the new saddle once I've decided.

Igor Kenk, Gold Medal Bike Thief

The police have apprehended Toronto's and possibly the worlds most accomplished bike thief. Igor Kenk (don't you just love mug-shots?) was found with 2,865 bicycles in his possession, all of them stolen. He was also found with a fair stash of crack, cocaine, and marijuana. Apparently, he had them all organized by make and style and was purportedly waiting for the Oil Crash or a spike in commodities prices to come so that he could sell or melt them. Kenk's nominal job was running a used-bike shop (wonder where he got his stock), and was something of a sideways philanthropist since he hired local transients and mental out-patients to nab, maintain, and organize his bikes. During public viewings of the stash, around 1/4 of the bikes have been claimed by their owners.

Yeesh!

(get the full story here)

A Poor Man's Pannier

One of the keys to surviving hot weather on a bike is to get as much wind on your skin as possible. Because I carry a laptop in my pack-pack to and from school, so getting my bag off my back is an important part of managing the heat. I like the idea of mounting a pannier that I could stick my bag into, but they can be kind of pricey. Decent ones typically run $50-$100. I may have mentioned the cash-flow situation with graduate school before, but especially in my case, minimizing expenses is a high priority. 

That's not to say I want to go cheap, but I definitely don't want to spend unnecessarily, so I thought about other solutions. As a matter of fact, on first returning to school, I purchased a cheap back-pack from eBay that looked like it would be a good deal, but it fell apart half-way through my first semester. I replaced it with a very well-built and only slightly more expensive ($50) Super Deluxe Book Pack from L. L. Bean. It turns out this pack has a very strong handle on the top that turns out to be very useful for attaching it to my bike.I rummaged around and found that the rack that holds my bicycle baby-carrier was removable, and I had a few bungee straps. I installed the bike rack, and then, using the two S-hooks from a rubber bungee-strap, I secured the pack handle to the top of the bike rack, as shown in the photo. Then I used two more bungee straps: one to sling under the bottom of the bag to help take some of the strain off the handle. 
You can see it as the brown/yellow cord in the following photos. The other bungee strap wraps around the outside of the pack to hold it against the side of the rack so it doesn't move around while I'm riding. In order to make sure the shoulder straps don't get caught in the spokes, I cinch them tight and tie the loose ends around the padded part of the straps. This arrangement has worked really well for me this summer so far. The cost was zero, the improvement in comfort was substantial.Last of all, let me make one more plug for L. L. Bean. Their products are really focused on the end-user, and I don't get the feeling that any corners were cut in design or production. And you just have to love the sign they post in their stores and on the web:

Independence Day Parade

Our neighborhood does its own Independence Day parade, complete with speeches from our local politicians, free ice-cream from Amy's Ice Creams, Lemonade from Jim-Jim's Water Ice, and plenty of small-town flair right in the heart of Austin. First of all in order to get into the spirit of the day, and second to avoid bringing home big bags of candy, we decided to decorate our bikes and ride in the parade. Actually, I had very little to do with the decoration. Hannah bought the supplies and made us pipe-cleaner Mohawks, and the kids shooed me away while they decorated my bike in secret.
The parade was led by a contingent of Revolutionary War garbed actors. Then there was a section with fancy cars followed by the bikes, trikes, and strollers. Those who wanted could enter the contest for best decorations, and the results were announced at the end, after the political speeches. All in all this was a fun way to get out on the bike (my son's scowl notwithstanding) and wave the Grand Ole Flag.

Spotted: Tandem Trike Trailer

My Dad is spending six weeks teaching in Cambridge, England this summer, and he spotted this gem parked outside a grammar school there. It looks like Mum brought two kids to school on her bike and is taking them inside at this moment. Note the safety vests, helmets, and handlebar pannier. Kudos to British Mum, whoever and wherever you are!


By the way, this is a Pashley U-Plus 2, available in Pashley Cycle's Brilliant Bicycles product lineup. You can't see it in this photo, but the kids have their own 7-speed derailleur. I think this is cool beyond words...

Bike to Work Day

Friday was Bike to Work Day. Maybe you knew that and maybe you didn't, but there were events all over town. Probably the best thing of all was that the Austin Cycling Association sponsored breakfast at various stations around town. I managed to show up at two of them and grab the likes of bagels and cream cheese, orange juice, coffee, fruit, etc.
At the first stop on Shoal Creek where the Far West bike trail intersects, I snapped a few photos and spent a little time to chat with some other bikers. The other breakfast station was at Wheatsville Coop, near the end of my ride, where I was just in time to grab a last cup of coffee before they cleared it all away.
The Austin American Statesman did a little piece on Bike to Work day, which you can watch online here.
For me it was not that terribly different from normal, except that I got to talk to a bunch of other bike commuters. It seemed to me like most of the people hanging out at the breakfast stations were regulars already, and I didn't meet any newbies. But it was fun nonetheless.

A Visit to Mellow Johhny's Bike Shop

Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop is Lance Armstrong's new bike shop in downtown Austin. Ive heard a lot about it recently, and someone forwarded a link to this article in Momentum Magazine talking all about the shop and what Armstrong's motivations were and so forth. I decided that since I work so close to the shop I might as well bike over and check it out.
Mellow Johnny's is tucked into the corner of 4th of Nueces on the western side of downtown Austin. This is the heart of the area experiencing reinvention in the new urbanism mold. (That's the shop in the lower right corner.) The photo is deceiving because this is actually a neat part of town, close to both Lady Bird Lake and the Shoal Creek hike and bike trails. The fenced off area is a soon-to-be-built-on construction site for more new urbanism...
So where does the name Mellow Johnny's come from? It's a pun on the yellow jersey won by the race leader in the Tour de France, which Lance has won seven times. In French, the word is maillot jaune, and do I really need to explain how an English mispronunciation could yield Mellow Johnny's? I didn't think so.
They're not exactly in your face when you walk in, but sure enough, there on the wall toward the back are the winning jerseys.
So what's it like inside? This shop is all about promoting biking for everyone and making biking accessible to everyone, from the weekend recreational rider right on up to world-class racers. This is actually a tricky thing to do in a single bike shop. Most racing bike shops I have been in suffer terribly from bike snobbery, and finding staff who can adapt to a wide variety of customers had to be quite tricky. I talked to several of the staff at M-J and found them all to be friendly (even the guys behind the counter working on $3000 bikes). Maybe it's just the newly-opened store smell but they did a good job of making me feel welcome.
Inside, I found offerings from Trek (of course), Schwinn, Swobo, and Masi. (There may have been others that I missed.) There were plenty of high end racing bikes, but a lot of floor space was given (photo on the right) to urban/commuter bikes, and there was even a semi-decent selection of kid bikes. (I think I'll bring my kids here when it's time to upgrade.)
Then there was the window display, which had a mannequin not in lycra and holding on to a bike with panniers stuffed with groceries! I think I like the message.
So I realize that I've done a bunch of gushing here. Was there anything disappointing? Just two little things. First, I was shocked to discover a rather glaring lack of bike racks around the building. I asked Todd about this inside, and he sheepishly explained that the racks were on their way, and yes it was a little weird, but please to bring my bike in and park it inside. That brings me to my second thing: the big sliding glass doors of the main entrance have a step outside, not a ramp. This means you have to carry your bike in instead of rolling or riding. Seems just slightly odd to me...
Anyway, it's worth a visit, whether for supplies, repairs, curiosity, or coffee (did I mention there's a coffee and sandwich shop there, too?). Stop on by if you get a chance.

My Crosstown 7 Reaches 3000 km

Just in case anybody cares, I flipped 3000km (1860 miles) on my odometer yesterday on my ride in. Lifetime average speed for the bike is 18.1 km/hr, or about 11.2 mph, including all of the stops and walks, etc. I've had the bike since the end of last Juy, so it's been almost a year.
No major problems have come up, and it continues to perform well.

Recognizing the Importance of Bicycling in Transportation and Recreation

If you've never written your congress people before, here's your chance! (Here are convenient links for Representatives and Senators.) It's time to request support of House Resolution 305 "Recognizing the Importance of Bicycling in Transportation and Recreation". It raises the priority of investments in cycling infrastructure. Technically this is a House thing at this point, but it would not hurt to let your Senator know to support the Senate version when it comes through.
Here's a nice excerpt from the motivations section, nice because it says a lot of the great things about cycling:

Whereas a national transportation system conducive to bicycling produces enriched health, reduced traffic congestion and air pollution, economic vitality, and an overall improved quality of living is valuable for the Nation;

Whereas by dramatically increasing levels of bicycling in United States cities tangible and intangible benefits to the quality of life for cities and towns across the country will be realized;

Whereas we now live in a Nation with 300 million people, and that number is expected to grow to 365 million by 2030 and to 420 million by 2050 with the vast majority of that growth occurring in urban areas with limited ability to accommodate increased motor vehicle travel;

Whereas since 1980, the number of miles Americans drive has grown 3 times faster than the United States population, and almost twice as fast as vehicle registrations;

Whereas one-third of the current population does not drive due to age, disability, ineligibility, economic circumstances, or personal choice;

Whereas the United States is challenged by an obesity epidemic, 65 percent of United States adults are either overweight or obese, and 13 percent of children and adolescents are overweight, due in large part to a lack of regular activity;

Whereas the Center for Disease Control estimates that if all physically inactive Americans became active, we would save $77 billion in annual medical costs;

Whereas over 753 of our Nation's Mayors have signed onto the climate protection agreement of the United States Conference of Mayors urging the Federal Government to enact policies and programs to meet or exceed a greenhouse gas emission reduction target of a 7 percent reduction from 1990 levels by 2012;

Whereas the transportation sector contributes one-third of the greenhouse gas emissions in the United States and passenger automobiles and light trucks alone contribute 21 percent;

Whereas bicycle commuters annually save on average $1,825 in auto-related costs, reduce their carbon emissions by 128 pounds, conserve 145 gallons of gasoline, and avoid 50 hours of gridlock traffic;

Whereas the greatest potential for increased bicycle usage is in our major urban areas where 40 percent of trips are 2 miles or less and 28 percent are less than one mile;

Whereas in 1969 approximately 50 percent of children in the United States got to school by walking or bicycling, but in 2001 only 15 percent of students were walking or bicycling to school;

Whereas as much as 20 to 30 percent of morning traffic is often generated by parents driving their children to schools, and in the United States, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children ages 3 to 14;

Whereas many public agencies in cities are using bicycles to deliver critical municipal services, for example, more than 80 percent of police departments serving populations of 50,000 to 249,999 and 96 percent of those serving more than 250,000 residents now have routine patrols by bicycle;

Whereas surveys show that a majority of people want to ride and walk more but are dissuaded by concern over traffic danger and other barriers, and case studies have shown that when those barriers to bicycling are removed, people start riding;

Whereas investment used for improvements for bicyclists and promoting bicycle use resulted in the quadrupling of bicycle use in Portland, Oregon, since 1994 and a recent report to Congress on the nonmotorized transportation pilot program reveals that 19.6 percent of trips in Minneapolis, Minnesota, are made by biking and walking, reflecting the benefit of initial investments in nonmotorized infrastructure;

Whereas the American bicyclist generates enormous economic returns, in 2006, the national bicycling economy contributed $133 billion to the United States economy, supported nearly 1.1 million jobs across the United States, generated $17.7 billion in annual Federal and State tax revenue, produced $53.1 billion annually in retail sales and services, and provided sustainable growth in rural communities;

Whereas a national network of interconnected urban and rural bikeways can provide valuable community benefits, including low or no-cost recreation and alternative transportation options for people of all ages and abilities;

... There's more if you have the time and haven't run out of patience. Click the link above.

Bike Sharing in D.C.

I'm taking a quick break from writing my dissertation proposal to point out this great idea: Washington D.C. is following the example of Velib (oops, their website's english pages turn out to be in french!) in Paris, France to set up a bicycle exchange program. SmartBike DC is the name of the public/private program wherein, ClearChannel gets an advertising monopoly on bus shelters in exchange for running the low-cost program. $40/yr gets you a membership entitling you to a 3-hr no-additional-cost rental of a 3-speed bike to get around the city. The stated purpose of the program is to relieve pressure on the congested transit system, so it's aimed more at residents and people who work in the area and need to get around the central business district than at tourists who want to see the sights. The rental locations and fee structure are clearly geared toward this market segment.
Presumably someone has studied this and decided that is the most important market at present, but with the number of tourists in D.C., it seems crazy not to set up a bunch of stations around the main mall and make a short-term membership available to out-of-town visitors, too.
All in all, I'm happy to see the program. More people are becoming interested in human-powered transportation as gas prices go up. Maybe we'll see this model in more and more cities.

Gas Consumption Drops!

According to the Energy Information Administration, gas consumption in the U.S. is projected to drop this year for the first time in 17 years ago. (Did it really drop 17 years ago?!) Read the same article I did in the New York Times. This is apparently the consequence (finally) of high gas prices and a slowing economy. I wonder how the bicycle makers are doing. Interesting question: in a slowing economy with rising fuel prices, do people buy new bikes or dust off old ones and ride every once in a while instead of driving?
One piece of anecdotal evidence, which doth not a trend make: today when Ian and I biked our 1.5 km to Sun Harvest for groceries, the bike rack was full and there were at least two other bikes self-locked against the wall. I have never yet seen that at this store, which I ride to with some frequency, but the weather has been nice and it could just be coincidence.

Tim's Tips for Hot Weather Bike Commuting

Sweaty days have arrived in Austin (today was in the upper 80's with humidity flirting with 90%). Do you live in such a place? Should this be an excuse to stay off the bike? Never! To convince you, I have conveniently compiled Tim's Tips for Hot Weather Biking!

1. Water: Water is your friend. If you're like me and you start off your day with coffee and need a coffee boost sometimes in the afternoon just to make it, then it's very easy to find yourself in a bad situation hydration-wise. The morning ride is usually fine since it's cooler then and hopefully you've just had breakfast. The fun starts when it's time to mount up for the ride home in the heat. I've had some bad rides where I didn't have water along, and I was dried out, and the weather was hot. Don't do that. The best thing is to start tanking up an hour or so before you have to leave and then drink early, often, and in small doses. Embrace the sweat! It's good for you, and you can shower when you get home.
   
2. Shade: Shade is also your friend. The ride in in the morning is usually pleasant because it's cooler and the sun is lower in the sky, meaning (at least in Austin where there are trees) that your ride is shadier. In the afternoon or evening, when the heat is up and the sun is high, seek routes that have shade, even if you have to go out of your way. This can mean the difference between a pleasant ride and discomfort. Direct sunshine makes a big difference (see next point).
3. Shirts: Bring an extra shirt for riding. If I wear a lycra jersey (I have a couple from some charity rides, but I don't usually like to show them off) then it's easy enough to change out for the day and put it back on for the ride home. T-shirts usually don't recover during the day and need to be stashed out of sight in a bag so bring a second one for the ride home. Short-sleeve button-downs actually have an advantage: if you practice a little bit and don't use a backpack, you can find a posture that will inflate your shirt through your sleeves or collar, and this is awesome air-conditioning. It's possible to do this with T-shirts, but I've had little success with polos, and I think we don't need to mention long sleeves for hot weather riding...
   
4. Shorts/pants: Shorts are best, and with pants, the lighter the fabric the better, but that said, I usually have to wear jeans because I work in an engines lab, and if I can wear them year round, so can you. I recommend against spandex shorts, for several reasons. Black ones are sun-magnets and unbearable in the sun. White ones show way too much, and any other color is bound to be plastered with that ultimate poseur-sin: the team logo. Actually, in my humble opinion, spandex shorts are almost always poseur-fashion and don't really offer enough advantage to justify wearing them on a commute. They belong in bike races, not on the commuters.
5. Load: Lose the backpack/shoulder bag. They leave sweat stripes. I used to be a backpack only rider, but I have made converted to a bike rack, and will not go back, especially for summer riding. I use a bike rack, two S-hooks, and two bungee cords. My backpack (L.L. Bean) has a sturdy handle which I attach to the top of the rack with the S-hooks. The pack then hangs over the side of the rack, and I hold it in place with the bungee cords. I used to worry about my laptop getting shaken, but I keep it in a padded case in my backpack and have had no trouble. The result of all this is that I can get to work without a sweaty back and sweat-stripes on my shoulders. By all means lose the back pack and let air flow in and through your shirt.
6. Effort: Don't sweat it! Last of all, and probably most importantly, remember to enjoy the ride and not try to beat your personal speed record when the heat is up. Relax, take it easy, leave plenty of time, and enjoy the ride. There's no shame in going slow, and it can make the heat a lot less oppressive. Consider the payback as you pass long lines of cars waiting at traffic lights.
   

I hope I've convinced all of my biker readers, and especially my non-biker readers, that you should not use hot weather as an excuse not to ride. Live! Breathe! Quit your gym, and save some gas! Ride a bike!

MS 150

The MS-150 fund-raising bike ride from Austin to Houston is in progress at present. The MS-150 is a bike tour that raises some millions of dollars annually for research into treatment and cures for multiple sclerosis. I have participated in a similar fund raiser (the Pan-Mass Challenge, for the Jimmy Fund), and am somewhat familiar with this kind of thing.

I wanted to hilight a neat thing going on this year. My friend Steve works at National Instruments, and he told me about the team they are fielding this year, which, appropriately enough, features fully instrumented riders, whose vital signs and position data is updated live to the web. Check it out here. Very cool.

Human Powered Car Gets Pulled Over!

Now here's a concept I can get into:

Four people pedaling a stripped out Buick Regal. It's a little funny that they got pulled over since the charges apparently were thrown out in court. Major bummer about the towing charges to get it back to the studio where it was built... Check out the full story here. Thanks to CommuteByBike.com for the tip.

Clearly this is not a motor vehicle, so does it fall under motor vehicle laws? Why would it not be OK to drive this when bikes are OK? I think we need more cars like this!

Commuter Racing

See!!?? I'm not alone. Here's an excerpt from a guest post at Bike Commuters.com:

It’s often referred to as “commuter racing” or the “great race”, but it’s seldom talked about openly (the first rule of commuter racing is, of course, that you don’t talk about commuter racing). And one of the first things you’ll find out when you start bike commuting is, everyone does it but few people admit it.

...

 I know a number of singlespeed mountain bikers who dedicate their commuting lives to overtaking riders on geared bikes. You, the guy with the beard riding a vintage 70s touring bike you’ve owned from new - you’re telling me that you don’t get a buzz from passing a 20-something on $4k of carbon fibre?
No-one’s immune.

Read here for the full account.

Apparently, I've violated the first rule of bike commuter racing, but so did he, so I'm not too worried.

(smile)

Emergence of the Spandex Warriors

You've heard of the 11-year locust, right? It stays hidden out of sight for years at a time, and then once the conditions are right, a whole bunch of them emerge in a frenzy of activity for a few days, lay eggs, and then die off and disappear.
Sometimes I feel like we have a similar phenomenon on the bikeways of Austin. Through the winter months there are a few hardy souls pedaling with sweaty backs and frozen fingertips to and from work, and through the summer months we same few bring two extra shirts along with us to stay dry and partake of the three-shower day.
Then for a few short weeks, the weather is nice in April and in October, the spandex warriors emerge, and Shoal Creek Boulevard is crowded with folks in spandex and bright jerseys riding $$$$ bikes. Sometimes they're in big packs even. Some are very fast and some are slow. Although you may think you detect scorn in my tone, I am truly thankful for these folks, and here's why:

Nothing motivates me to ride fast like a spandex warrior, and this is definitely a good thing. My usual pace is something around 20-22 kph, if I'm just pushing easy and not in any particular hurry. I'm not normally motivated to do sprints on my own just for the workout. However, when I pull up next to a carbon fiber bike at a traffic light, it's impossible for me to avoid a sprint to stay up with the guy. It's hardwired somewhere in the Y-chromosome, and the more duded up he is and the less flashy I am, the better. Usually, when sucked into a friendly unofficial race with said spandex warrior, I find my speed is up near 30-35kph. Granted I'm a melted puddle by the time I get home, and he's still got 30 km left on his joy ride, but I sure showed him that the clothes and bike don't make the rider...

Right. Will you just listen to me? Is this pathetic or what!? I'll stop the introspection here and continue to enjoy the all-too-brief season of friendly races (all in my head, I'm sure) until the weather moves into three-shower-day season, and the roads clear up again, and I'm left alone with my thoughts on the road.

Thanks for reading, and please comment if you either identify with this or this I'm crazy.