Cirque du Cyclisme 2009: Good Friends, Old Bikes and A Few Beers

Gitane tubes, from Mel Pinto Imports, Fairfax, Virginia--
The one on the right is the same design as was on my 1974 Gitane Gran Sport

Having enjoyed my previous visit to Le Cirque du Cyclisme in 2007 in Greensboro, North Carolina, I decided to attend this year’s event in Leesburg, Virginia, giving me an opportunity to visit friends in the District of Columbia and to do some riding in green Virginia before joining others to ride the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) trail in Pennsylvania and Maryland.

The drive down to Washington on Thursday, June 4th, was uneventful as I left Ottawa early in the morning in beautiful weather but this was not last. As I came out of the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania it began to rain hard and by the time I reached Hagerstown, Maryland, it was a deluge. I stopped at a Panera Bakery which I had always found conveniently located before and chatted with a group of older cyclists, in their late 60s at least, who were on their way to ride for a few days in the Shenandoah Valley. Their van was outside and I noticed some high-end titanium bikes on the roof rack. The group, from Long Island, were are strong argument in favour of cycling since they all looked to be in incredible shape. I finished my coffee and offered them some suggestions on where to ride around Staunton and Lexington before I got back in the car and the heavy rain.

Of course, rainstorms in Washington always bring out the worst in traffic and when I reached the I-495 split everything slowed down and it took me around 45 minutes to cover the last 3 miles of my 11 hour trip. I spent a quiet evening with my hosts and reorganized the ton of equipment I seemed to have brought.

Friday, June 5th did not start out too well. It was still pouring rain, which meant that the rides scheduled for Cirque were probably going to be scrubbed for the day. I checked the Marinoni over and when I pulled the front wheel out of the wheel bag I saw that it was flat, the only time I have had a flat with the bullet-proof Schwalbe Marathon tires I used in the past for touring. I had been a little concerned when I put them on since they were last used seven years ago when I rode the Camino de Santiago and had been hung up ever since but they looked fine. In fact, it turned out to be a failure of the inner tube at the valve joint. At least I was indoors and could have a cup of tea while I worked. But on the way to Leesburg I stopped and bought another inner tube since the Campagnolo wheels on the Marinoni need a long valve stem. I also thought it might be a good idea to buy a lightweight rain jacket for the GAP tour in case the weather was not entirely cooperative.

The 45 minute drive to Leesburg was pretty miserable but when I arrived in Leesburg I had a chance to hang out with some of the old bike folks and look at some of the great machines they had brought. I go reaquainted with people I had met at the last Cirque, including Dale Brown, who had run the show in Greensboro, and I met Wayne Bingham, who is now the keeper of the Cirque flame.

The 2009 edition of Le Cirque du Cyclisme, billed as an event “celebrating vintage lightweight racing and touring bicycles, and the artists and craft persons carrying on the traditions,” marked the 12th year of the event. This time I was the only Canadian present but there was an impressive representation from far and wide in the United States. There were all kinds of interesting bicycles strung out in the reception area of the Best Western Hotel with racing bicycles from the 1950s interspersed with touring bikes, one-of-a-kinds and even a highwheeler. Of course everyone was busying photographing or else chatting and we enjoyed some food and drink while getting registered. I had mentioned to Wayne that I wanted to register my Marinoni and he encouraged me to do so as he wanted to see one in the show. As noted in previous postings, I had the Marinoni repainted last year and it looks wonderful, although not nearly as flashy as some of the bikes in the show.

The Sheldon Brown Memorial Ride prepares to leave

A brave group of cyclists decided to ride the Sheldon Brown Memorial Fixed-gear Ride (and one of Sheldon’s Raleighs was on display) but it was all too wet for me so I drove back to Washington and had a nice dinner in the Palisades area next to Georgetown.

As much as I had wanted to ride with the group, all the driving in the rain over the previous two days had quite exhausted me so I slept in on Saturday and once more made the trek along the Dulles Toll Road to Leesburg. There were some new bikes to look at and some new arrivals to chat with. Lunch was served and we all sat down to hear the presentations by three speakers.

Dave Wages, Ellis Cycles, with a customer's single speed randonneur bike

The first, Dave Wages, was previously a framebuilder at Serotta and Waterford and went out on his own in 2008, operating as Ellis Cycles. He brought several examples of work he had done over the years and even had a Powerpoint presentation to illustrate his career. At one point he seems to have become obsessed with carving lugs and one bike bore lugs that were way over-the-top, all in a flame motif. He described this as his “call for help.”

One gorgeous frame!
Photo by Steve

There must have been some kind of intervention as earlier this year one of his frames won Best Lugged Frame at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHBS) and a photo of the frame showed why it had captured the judges’ attention. The frame, made from Reynolds 953 steel tubing, uses polished stainless steel stays and fork and is beautifully understated. He brought a similar frame, but unpainted, to the Cirque for us to look at and anyone who thinks that individual artistry in metalworking is a thing of the past need only look at this. While not inexpensive (and the whole ordering process seems to be a very hands-on, individualistic thing since Mr. Wages went out on his own as he wanted to work directly with customers), prices are comparable to high-end Taiwanese carbon frames but you know that if you order one of these it will be the only one.

Jan Heine, getting technical

This enjoyable discussion was followed by some history as Jan Heine, the creator and editor of Bicycle Quarterly magazine, talked about the technological development of the competition bicycle. The talk was based on his superb book, “the Competition Bicycle,” which I reviewed for www.pezcyclingnews.com shortly after it was published. He had had that opportunity to measure many bikes ridden by famous riders and his fascinating talk was based on the fact that bicycles, such as Fausto Coppi’s 1949 Tour de France-winning Bianchi, did not use the latest technology, such as aluminum components or better shifting systems that had already been available for years.

The last speaker for the afternoon was Connecticut framebuilder Peter Weigle, whom I had met at the 2007 Cirque. He has become focused on touring/randonneur bicycles and Cirque always seems to have examples of his workmanship brought in by customers. But this time he had two bikes of his own as he spoke about attitudes to restoration. He mentioned the famous Masi restoration that fellow Connecticut framebuilder Richard Sachs undertook in which the bicycle was brought back to period correctness, a process illustrated here on Richard’s website in awe-inspiring detail. The goal was to rebuild only with New Old Stock (NOS) parts, to bring the bike back to what it looked like before anyone had actually ridden it. Peter doubted that the Masi has ever been ridden after the restoration but I cannot imagine anyone would want to be responsible for scratching it!

Peter then showed such a “period correct” bicycle, a Frejus belonging to one of his customers, John Drake. Then entire frame had to be rechromed, a project not for the faint-hearted, and of course all the right components found. It is a lovely bicycle and won the Cirque 2009 award for the Best Restored Bicycle 1960-1967. Peter then turned from the idea of “period correct” to going with your own ideas and had two bicycles to illustrate this. One was an old French utility bicycle that was pretty much ready for the scrap heap and that Peter turned into his own ride-around-town bicycle. It had incredible style, set off by the most wonderful Art Deco chainguard the world has seen. This was not as the original maker sent it out into the world but it was a success as a personal statement.

The second bicycle, a Schwinn Paramount, had essentially been dropped off at his shop to do with as he pleased. Paramounts were the top-of-the-line bikes for the company but probably not comparable to anything like a Masi. By the time Peter had finished reviving it, it looked more like a J.P. Weigle than a Schwinn. This “creative restoration” had brought about something new and unique and it looked good enough to win the Cirque 2009 award for Best Open Class Bicycle 1974-1980. I found Peter’s remarks very encouraging as I am proceeding with the restoration of my own old racing bicycle, which will be the subject of a posting (probably several) soon, and did not want to be forced into the idea that it had to be “period correct” and a sort of museum-piece. Bicycles are meant to be out on the open road and enjoyed unless they are impractical or unsafe but I can understand, having lusted for Richard Sachs’ Masi (he actually has two of them!), how someone would want a bike they could just simply admire and polish.

Unless connected to a famous cyclist or exhibiting some kind of unique technology, most of these bicycles are not really very historically significant. For example, most of the Italian racing bikes of the 1970s and 1980s use Columbus tubing and Campagnolo Record or Super Record parts. The name on the headtube might be different but there is a certain similarity to them. What makes them special to their owner is some association that gives them pleasure. One of the participants at Cirque mentioned to me that as a hobby collecting lightweight steel bikes was not very serious since you could generally buy the bicycle today for less than it cost when it was new. I think this must be true; an English gentleman sold a beautifully refinished 1983 Colnago Mexico frame (in Saronni Red, be still my heart) recently on E-Bay for under $1000, which, adjusted for inflation, would be about the same price as it would have been in 1983.

After the seminars we enjoyed a lavish dessert buffet (I was worried that my weight was going to go up because of all the eating and the fact that I had not even assembled the Marinoni yet!) and then we had yet another speaker, Keith Anderson, who had moved from framebuilding into the exacting world of painting. He talked about the how frames are stripped and prepped and the kind of detailed work that goes into masking. Some builders do their own painting but others farm this part out to specialists and I can see why some of these custom paint schemes are so expensive. Again, major time and skill must go into this.

At this point I got into the car and drove over to the local hotspot, the Tuscarora Mill, where I met my friend Tom from Pennsylvania for a beer. He had read that I was coming to Leesburg on my blog and since he was going to be in Frederick, Maryland he suggested we meet up for a beer. He was in Ottawa last summer and I introduced him to Creemore Springs Lager. He returned the favour with a sampler pack of Troegs craft beer from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. We know each other as contestants in the Fat Cyclist’s Weight Loss Competition a few years ago and I hope to lure him onto one of our European trips yet.

Bicycles all corraled

On Sunday, June 7, I got up early. The weather was great and after I said goodbye to my friends in DC I headed out on the Toll Road for the last time this trip. I drove to the Loudon County Fairgrounds where the Cirque Bicycle Show & Swap Meet was being set up. I planned to ride with some of the other Cirque participants on the Potomac Pedallers group ride, rejoining my old bike club, but instead I ended up riding with a local rider on a Gios (repainted orange, and surely the target of those “period correct” types who believe a Gios simply must be blue) and Steve from Indiana, who actually has built a goodly number of frames himself. We took advantage of the W&OD Trail, and rode from Leesburg to the end of the trail in Purcellville, Virginia. The Gios fellow wanted to be at the swap meet by 10:30 when the doors opened officially to be in early for the bargains so we just did this short ride before coming back. This suited me as it was getting quite warm and I did not want to overdo anything. But at least I finally got to the end of the W&OD Trail, a rails-to-bikepath route from Shirlington/Arlington, Virginia, past the Dulles Airport to Leesburg and onwards. I had ridden it only from Shirlington to Leesburg soon after I arrrived in DC in 2002, so this completed the route for me.



The 4-H Fairgrounds had plenty of room for all the bikes, divided up into their own corrals by era. I had brought along a stand and happily set up the Marinoni in the post-1987 group, sitting near a group of Colnagos in Mapei colours and a pair of Mariposa bicycles, the only other Canadian bikes in the show besides mine. It was a bit dusty from the ride in the morning but since there was no floor in the hall I figured it was going to get a lot dustier by the end of the day.





A leather-covered racing bike with its creator

I walked around and took lots of photos and spoke with many interesting characters, including the man who was a leather craftsman and had actually finished several frames in exotic leathers, such as ostrich and snakeskin! I chatted with Jan Heine, who had his books for sale along with the 650B-sized randonneur tires he offers, and who has lots of interesting things to say about cycling. Although I had vowed to keep my wallet unopened, I found a superb unused Nitto handlebar and stem and could not resist them. I have a used Cinelli handlebar for my project but no stem but I am a bit hesitant about using old used handlebars or rims with an unknown history. Taking Peter Weigle’s comments to heart, I have decided that the Nittos looks so good I can “hot rod” my bicycle in good conscience with them.

There were many beautiful bikes to look at, old and new, and I enjoyed cruising around all of them. I was particularly impressed with a restored Raleigh Super Ace and even more so with a gorgeous Raleigh track bike. There were a number of Peter Weigle bikes on display (and they took home lots of awards) and I was struck yet again about their just-right proportions.



Parts at the Swap Meet

By 2:30 p.m. I was feeling hot, dirty and ready to go, so I packed up the Marinoni and my time at Le Cirque du Cyclisme 2009 had come to an end. I drove off to Montgomery Village where I picked up a wonderful set of new wheels for my project, made up with Campagnolo Super Record hubs but new Mavic Open Pro rims, from Travis Evans, who has just set himself up in business as a mechanic. Between the wheelset and the new handlebars and stem, my old bike project is already starting at a pretty high standard. And after seeing so many wonderful bicycles at Cirque I am motivated to keep on going!

Escape to the Old Dominion

Hotel Roanoke

As I sit here in Ottawa, with the cold wind howling, it is hard to believe that a week ago I was enjoying the warm hospitality and rolling hills of Virginia.

After suffering through the second-worst winter in Ottawa’s history, we decided to escape to the greener environs of Virginia which, after all, is just a few hours’ drive along Highway 401 and then down Interstate 81–well, 12+ hours actually. Leaving Ottawa at 5:30 am on Friday, it was clear that Spring had indeed come the further southwards we headed. Stopping only for fuel and then for dinner in Staunton we reached our destination by 7:30 pm and checked into the elegant Hotel Roanoke.

A good night’s sleep, a relaxed breakfast and we were ready for our first test of the cycling season. We drove through Roanoke, up past Mill Mountain and onto the Blue Ridge Parkway. Leaving the car parked beside the road, we headed northwards. The road was in excellent condition and the gentle climbs and descents made a challenging beginning. The temperature began to climb and by the time we turned around after 25 kms it was nearly 80F. Nearing the car, however, the skies turned dark and then it began to rain gently but we made it back to the hotel before the deluge really began. 50 kms and 700 m of climbing! Of course, Mr. Mechanical Genius forgot to turn off his Garmin Edge so it appears that my top speed on the bike was 80 km/h, which was actually my top speed in the car on the way back.

We got cleaned up and dressed and then drove northwards again for ninety minutes to Staunton, where we enjoyed a superb meal at the hyper-trendy Zynodoa restaurant (Roquefort grits!), followed by a performance of “the Taming of the Shrew” at Shenandoah Shakespeare’s Blackfriars Playhouse. As usual, the actor were very entertaining, and produced a boisterous version of the play that would probably have the Bard spinning. By the time we drove back to Roanoke I was feeling pretty tired and slept very well.

Which was a good thing, since the next morning we joined some of the members of the Blue Ridge Bicycling Club on a 50 mile (88 km) ride around Roanoke. This was organized by Dan Casey, whose columns in the Roanoke Times had taken me to many excellent rides in the Shenandoah Valley. Jesse, Manly, Karen and Jay were all strong riders. We had a superb ride along Bradshaw Road, including a stop at a farm whose owner had a vast menagerie, including African Crested Cranes, llamas, Turkish sheepdogs and who knows what else. He was very enthusiastic about his critters and would have entertained us with stories about them all day.

The road was very good, and we had plenty of scenic vistas. The best part was a seven mile stretch of Bradshaw that gently went downhill. The pavement was good, the wind behind us and no traffic anywhere so we cranked up the speed and enjoyed ourselves. Unfortunately a bit later Dan had a flat and also some shifter issues but otherwise we had no mechanical issues and no weather problems.

That evening we went to a Mexican restaurant on the main street in downtown Roanoke and gorged ourselves on cheap and cheerful food.

Monday was a write-off from the cycling perspective as it was raining steadily. We took the opportunity to cross the street from the hotel and visit the top-rate O. Winston Link Museum located in the old railway station. Winston Link was a photographer from New York who took celebrated pictures of the last days of steam, from 1955-1960, on what was then the Norfolk & Western Railway. The photos were black-and-white and taken at night, with the aid of a vast number of flashbulbs. They are genuine artworks and it was wonderful to see them housed so well in Roanoke. In addition to the Link exhibition, there was also a small exhibit dedicated to industrial designer Raymond Loewy, who had redesigned the station in the late 1940s.

We then drove a few miles out of town towards Lynchburg to visit Poplar Forest, the less-celebrated home of Thomas Jefferson. He built it as a little retreat to escape the crowds at Monticello after he retired and it has been undergoing a long and exhaustive restoration. There was only one other couple visiting the place so we had a very relaxed tour before returning to Roanoke and yet another Mexican feast.

And that concluded our little cycling escape to Roanoke. We left early the next morning and had an uneventful drive back to Ottawa. As if to welcome us home, the temperature plunged and it felt like March again.

Testing the Garmin Edge 305 Bicycle Computer

Today's ride in Virginia, in elevation

Having been mightily impressed with Will's Garmin GPS unit during our rides in Alsace, I have decided to move into the World of Tomorrow and have purchased my own at a reasonable price on E-Bay. The unit is very nicely made, and was easy to install. Mine comes with all the fixin's, including a heart rate monitor and a cadence unit. The bike looks nicer with a single unit on it rather than the bike computer and HRM I had before. The Garmin is very light but I need to tighten up the base a bit as it shifted a little on bumps. It is easy to read and you can customize the screen with very little effort.

Today I rode a PPTC ride from the Plains, Virginia, on the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The weather was perfect and we were a small group of about ten, including two other riders with Specialized Tarmacs, including an E5 like mine. We left from the Plains at 9 am sharp and rode a big circle route around the town of Warrentown. We stopped briefly at a gas station to get the group back together and have something to drink at the 48 km mark. The course was fairly hilly but I felt very strong on it today. After two weeks of serious riding in Europe and a week to recover my legs felt good and I was able to keep up very well on the hills. As we approached the Plains again at the end of the ride I realized that by going five more kms out and back I would get a metric century for the day. The GPS was also indicating 996 m of gain, so I kept riding out on Halfway Road, to discover it has some good climbing in it too!

Once home, I downloaded the data to both the Garmin Training Center software and to Motion Based, a Web-based analytical site also owned by Garmin. A great deal of information can be taken out of the 305 and it was very interesting to read it all. Will will help me with using Google maps to save the route as well but for the moment I have very detailed information about the ride. Downloading was no effort at all, akin to loading an MP3 player. I have attached the chart indicating the elevation today. Oddly enough, the GPS unit showed 1115 m of climbing, while both GTC and Motion Based added quite a bit more, the latter showing 1370 m. So far I am very impressed with the Garmin and hope to use it to its maximum potential as I work my way through the 93 page Owner's Manual.

Off to the Cycling Doubleheader!

You want a profile? This is a profile!
Mountains of Misery--all 200 km of them


Yesterday the new cassette body arrived by priority mail from John at Neuvation. Following the instructions on his website, I easily installed the new unit on the axle and reinstalled the cassette and voila! the Tarmac is back in business. And a good thing too as tomorrow I leave for Blacksburg, VA and the fabled Cycling Doubleheader. On Saturday I will do the Wilderness Road Ride, where I have a choice of rolling hills in routes that go from 25 miles to 78--dare I go all the way this year for the first time? On Sunday comes the main dish: the Mountains of Misery Double Metric Century with a whole heap o' hard climbing. Having lost 20 pounds since January 1st and now outfitted with one of the best bikes you can get, I am looking forward to this challenge.

Unfortunately, the two friends I met on my very first MoM way back in May 2003 will not be able to ride with me. Jeff is volunteering at the Kelly Cup, his team's annual race, near Baltimore, while poor Ralph the Badger is recovering from a broken hip in Colorado. But I will dedicate my ride to them and the hills will become the Mountains of Mirth. On Monday I will ride out of the Hotel Roanoke and go up Mill Mountain, my traditional recovery ride, before a screaming descent back into town and an espresso at the Mill Mountain Coffee Shop.

The weather for all four days I will be away looks perfect. I plan to come back tan and relaxed and even lighter. I may even have photos of more than the usual en route food stops that I always seem to take at century rides. More anon!

Weekend Cycling: Virginia and Maryland

Virginia Hunt Country: a friendly horse

Saturday, May 12, 2007

One of the great benefits of living in the Washington, DC area is the excellent access it gives me to wonderful cycling adventures in both Virginia and Maryland. Most weekends the Potomac Pedalers Touring Club offers rides in each state of varying lengths. All of them feature quiet, well-maintained streets, charming villages. A few of them boast fearsome climbs: Virginia's tend to be long and gradual, while Maryland has ones that are short and sharp. Most of the ride starts are within an hour's drive of downtown Washington.

On Saturday I returned to Marshall, VA, one of my favourite jumping-off points in the state. From here you can head west into the Blue Ridge Mountains, or north into the Hunt Country, with its rolling hills and beautiful horse farms. I was here with Sigi and Don, who had won my United Way auction prize of a bicycle ride in Virginia Horse Country. We had settled on a reasonable route beforehand--I did not want to frighten any newcomers to cycling in Virginia with tales of 16 per cent grades and 100 km rides--and met at the VDOT parking lot at 8:30 am. There were a lot of other cyclists driving in as well since there were several PPTC rides starting at the lot that day too. One of the leaders was my friend Melinda, who had recently ridden up on Skyline Drive with us.

Getting ready to roll

Sigi and Don had made a weekend of it and were staying at a nice bed and breakfast place in Middletown, VA, which I pointed out is also the home of Route 11 Potato Chips. You can even visit the factory to see the chips being made. They offer the usual varieties, as well as things like Sweet Potato chips and Mama Zuma's Revenge, a seriously spiced version. Anyway, Sigi and Don had brought their circa-1976 touring bikes with them. They had been recently tuned but clearly needed so air in the tires. I explained that tires lose their air very quickly and it is best to check before each ride. Taking the pump from my car, I quickly raised the pressure in their tires from about 50 psi to 90 psi so that they would not feel they were riding on high-resistance mountain bike tires. The roads around Marshall are very smooth and traction is not an issue. I brought my steel Marinoni as we would be riding at a touring pace.

Leaving Marshall in excellent weather, we set out using a PPTC cue sheet, "Marshall to Middleburg Plus." We stopped immediately at the Marshall public school, where there is a plaque describing the disbanding of the Confederate guerrilla force of Col. John Mosby, the Gray Ghost, on April 21, 1865, rather than surrender to the hated Yankees. Mosby had an eventful Civil War, to say the least, and after the war became a Republican supporter of President U.S. Grant and US Consul to Hong Kong for seven years.

On Rectortown Road, leaving Marshall

The route is described as moderately hilly and I knew that many of the roads were quite scenic. We began a gentle, steady climb up Rectortown Road, turning right at one of my favourite (and favourite-named) streets, Frogtown Road. This meandered gently up and down, with excellent views of the surrounding hills and lush green countryside. We followed the road to Rock Hill Mill and on to Zulla Road.

We crossed Route 55, the John Marshall Highway, and passed over Interstate 66 before turning down a street that was new to me. Harrison Street is fairly short but has some particularly wonderful old buildings on it. The beautiful white house on the left side boasted a conservatory and a temple-like lawn structure recently roofed in shiny copper, and gorgeous landscaping. We then continued on Old Tavern Road, which took us back under I-66 towards the Plains along a rolling road with some traffic on it. We passed the tony Wakefield School, one of several private schools in the immediate area, and were soon in the village of the Plains.

There is a signpost in town, which boasts actor Robert Duvall as a resident, indicating the distance to various cities, including Shanghai, Washington, and Marshall, as well as the unexpected, such as obscure places in Kansas. There is a Civil War commemorative plaque which mentions that a Union officer, Jack Sterry, was hanged for spying after he killed a Confederate to get his uniform. The Union and Confederate armies fought for control of the Manassas Gap Railway, which ran through the town. It was chartered in 1850 and mainly completed by 1859. Unfortunately, the Civil War destroyed most of it and the remnants were absorbed by several railway ventures before becoming part of the Norfolk Southern system in 1896.

One of the makers also told the story of a local doctor who sat on his porch whittling a stick as the Union Army marched by. He put in a notch for each artillery piece that the Northerners had and then gave it to "a manservant" to take to the Confederates. I like the sound of "manservant;" it conjures up images of someone in a powdered wig and knee-breeches rather than Old Black Joe, which was probably the truth.

We passed through the Plains and along hilly Loudon Avenue, which was again busier than I would have liked, but turning off onto Landmark Avenue. Here we met some friendly horses. Time for photography, since when you are in horse country you have to provide evidence you were there! A couple on mountain bikes passed by and the man asked if we were planning to trade our bikes for horses, but then the woman chimed in and thought that she was ready to exchange a mountain bike for a road bike.

A series of rolling hills, one of them probably about 12 per cent but mercifully short, brought us into Middleburg (not to be confused with Middletown), a very horsey, upmarket kind of place. I was quite anxious to show Sigi and Don the town, which is charming if pretentious, and I was delighted to see that the bakery next to the Safeway was open, but we could see that the skies to our right were looking ominously dark and I heard some thunder. We decided that they could come back on their own by car, but for now we would see about riding the remaining 12 miles back to Marshall quickly to beat the rain.

We travelled a short distance along Rt. 50 before turning left onto Zulla Road again and retracing our path along Rock Hill Mill Road and Frogtown Road. The thunder was getting louder and it started to rain very lightly but we made it back to Marshall without getting very wet. We bought some submarine sandwiches and sat on a picnic table at the school--near where Col. Mosby's forces melted away--with some celebratory cold Franziskaner beers.

Statistics
Distance Cycled: 62.66 km/38.93 miles
Time en route: 3:08
Average speed: 19.95 km/h/12.39 mph
Maximum speed: 55.90 km/h/35.73 mph

Sunday, May 13th, 2007

Happy Mother's Day! The weather looked perfect for a long training ride, so I drove out to Gaithersburg, MD, and met up with Dr. Chef and two of his friends, Jake and Laura. Laura is going to ride a century (100 miles) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, next weekend and wanted to get in some training. She drew up the cue sheet and planned to cover 80 miles. Larry wanted to ride but was tired from his long ride yesterday with Tim, when they had done some 85 miles (136 km) and he and Jake were planning to do only part of the ride today. We rolled out from the Starbucks on Darnestown Road shortly after 9 am and headed out on what are now very familiar streets to me after five years. We headed out towards Barnesville and then along the excellent Peachtree Road before riding past the Comus Inn, which was enjoying a big Mother's Day crowd. There are also some Civil War commemorative markers here as well. There is a good view of Sugarloaf Mountain and the markers indicate that after the Battle of Antietam there was continuing action in this area and that the Confederate cavalry and its Union counterpart had a battle on the Mountain, although with one dead Union soldier and one injured one it does not really compare to the kind of casualties one is used to hearing about battles of this era. Old Hundred Road and then Slate Quarry Road took us through lovely green woodlands, alongside a small river. Larry likened it to our rides last summer in the Black Forest.

After riding a good speed along Thurston Road we came to a t-intersection. We could see that the wind was blowing in our favour as we headed towards Dickerson and I invited Larry to follow my wheel as I went into time trial practice mode. I was holding a steady 48-50 km/h and a heart rate of 151-155 and feeling very good. I asked Larry if this was okay and when he confirmed it I added a bit more power as I tried to bring the speed past 60 km/h but was only successful at holding 59 km/h for a decent period. When we came to the first little rise in the road, I turned to see how Larry was doing but there was no sign of him. I did not realize that the little acceleration had been enough to drop him, as he told me when we met up at the Dickerson store. I replenished my Gatorade and then Jake and Larry headed back to Gaithersburg, aiming to do a 50 miler.

Laura and I continued rode over to Sugarloaf Mountain, and rode up to the top to add a bit of climbing to the program. Sugarloaf was purchased by a wealthy businessman, Gordon Strong, in 1902 and he established a foundation that maintains the property. It is open to the public as a place of recreation and there is a road that goes up to the summit which is an excellent training venue for cyclists. At one point, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt wanted the property for a Presidential retreat but Strong turned him down and Camp David was subsequently acquired. Strong also commissioned the famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright to design a structure for the top of the mountain and he developed one of the first of his spiral buildings. However, Strong was not satisfied with the proposal and the building was never built. The Library of Congress has a fascinating Internet exhibition of documents related to the Wright proposal here.

After this energetic climb (and my Specialized Tarmac still squeaks on big climbs--aargh!), we made our way back along the Barnesville Road through Poolesville and then down Partnership Road to River Road, which we followed into Potomac. Unfortunately, the last few miles were along very busy Falls Road, which has no shoulder to speak of. Turning onto Darnestown Road for the final few miles, we ran straight into the hardest headwind of the day but pulled into the Starbucks under sunny skies feeling triumphant but tired.

Statistics
Distance Cycled: 137.2 km/85.25 miles
Time en route: 5:19
Average speed: 25.76 km/h/16.00 mph
Maximum speed: 62.0 km/h/38.5 mph
Altitude gained: 1272 m/4173 feet

My Time Trial Weekend: Racing in Virginia and Pennsylvania

Although I have been a member of Squadra Coppi for two years, I have done precious few mass-start races while wearing the blue jersey. As the lowest of the low, a Category 5 racer, I find myself racing people thirty years younger than I am so the road races often end up being solo time trials for me once I am dropped and the criteriums–well, I get pulled off the course before I can be lapped. Given this, I figure I may just as well do time trials–the race against the clock-- and get to be on the course for the entire race. Since I am quite a bit larger than most of the racers I think that I am probably better suited to producing lots of power on the flat. So of course the time trial I like to do each year is the one that involves 800 m of vertical gain in 10.8 km...

Yes, it is time again for the Wintergreen Ascent, climbing up the Blue Ridge through the Wintergreen Ski Resort. On Friday I returned to the site of the recent Squadra Coppi training camp, the Acorn Inn in Nellysford, to ensure that I got a good night’s sleep before the race. Last year, I got up at 4:30 am and drove in from Washington. Needless to say I did not feel at my sharpest and my time on the course, 54:29, was a minute slower than my 2005 results. I was determined to do better than this. Robert Panzera, who runs the training camp I attended in San Diego in January, was very helpful with advice and a training program that I followed religiously but he was doubtful that I could hit my target of 50 minutes given my previous results.

As I was driving in to Nellysford, I saw Martin Versluys, the proprietor of the Acorn Inn, out on his bike. I thought I would join him and once I unpacked a bit I took out the bike even though there was only about an hour of light left. We met up on the road and headed back to the Inn together. Then Martin suggested we drive up to the Wintergreen Resort and get our numbers. This was an excellent idea as it meant we would not have to go back up the hill in the morning except for the race itself. While picking up our numbers we met Mariette and Rick, fellow-PPTC cyclists who were also doing the ride.

The next morning I went on a bit of a wild goose chase to get a new battery for my bike computer. When I finally located one I could not get the computer to work, so I thought that this was the end of the line for this expensive piece of equipment which, admittedly, I have been using for 8 years. Anyway, no time to bother with this. I packed up the bike and the wind trainer and headed off to the community centre at the base of the hill.

I arrived in plenty of time to set up and get in a good 45 minute warm up, listening to cool workout tunes on my MP3 player. I changed into my racing gear and headed out to the course. The weather was gloomy and rain and drizzle had been forecast for the day but it was dry as I rolled onto the course as 11:26:30. All systems go!

Although my usual practice is to use both my heart rate monitor and my bike computer speed indicator to pace myself, the dead computer meant that I was going entirely by heart rate, which is sometimes not a reliable indicator of how much power you are actually generating. Nonetheless I was able to stick to my game plan of going a bit slower on the bottom of the course, which has a 3.6 per cent grade for two miles. There is a gradual increase in grade until you turn right past the Wintergreen gatehouse and hit the first of the 15 per cent grades. For some reason, my bicycle’s bottom bracket chose this moment to start creaking and groaning, which it continued to do for the remainder of the ride. While it was irritating, it did encourage me to get the ride over with as fast as I could so I would not have to listen to it anymore!

I had overtaken a few riders who were already suffering but I did not feel too bad yet. There were several slightly flatter sections and I found I could actually increase my pace on the hill. I was not able to do this the last two years, where I had simply ground my way up to the top, with a little sprint at the finish line to relieve the tedium. It was fun to speed up occasionally, and I even passed a few more riders on the way up.

Mr. Intensity going up the road
Photo by Gilbert Craven

Of course, the left turn up through the parking lot that heads towards Devil’s Knob took the wind out of my sails. This is a very short, steep section–another 15 percenter–followed by another left turn. I was out of breath after this second turn and for the first time on the ride felt how hard it was. Rising up past the final parking lot to the finish line I kept a steady climb, encouraged by the kind bystanders, but had nothing left for a big sprint. The announcer said: “And here is a rider from Squadra Coppi. And his number is upside-down, so he’ll be penalized!” And sure enough, it was upside-down! Looking at my heart rate monitor’s clock I was a bit disappointed since it looked like I was well over the 50 minute mark, probably 51. But riding up Wintergreen is so hard at a certain point all you care about is just finishing rather than what your time is. And the penalty comment was a joke, although in racing if the judges cannot read your number they will not score you.

Martin and Rick were at the top, having completed their rides, and Martin was hoping for a podium finish in his 60-69 age group (he came third!). At that point the fastest finisher had completed the course in 38 minutes! Loading my bike on the shuttle bus, I joined three other riders and we headed back down the hill to the community centre, passing riders still climbing the hill and all of them looked like they were suffering.

I packed up the car and headed back to the the Acorn Inn, where I showered and then drove back to Washington, passing through yet two more traffic jams before I got home. I took the bike out and dumped my stuff in the washing machine. While I waited for the laundry I put my time trial bike into the car and then made some spaghetti for dinner. An hour later I hit the road again, headed for Harrisburg, PA, two hours and fifteen minutes away. I checked into the Howard Johnson’s Hotel at 9:00 pm and immediately went to sleep.

A peaceful Pennsylvania farm

Another day, another race! Waking up early this morning, I had the usual pathetic “continental” breakfast served in inexpensive chain hotels and drove the 10 miles to the start line of the US 40K Time Trial Challenge. This was directly next to the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant and the steam generated from the stacks showed us that the course was going to be a windy one today. Red Rose Races, which organizes a number of cycling events in Pennsylvania, was launching this inaugural event and under clear cool morning skies 146 riders had assembled.

And the stacks of the Three Mile Island power plant across the fields...

I chatted with a local rider named Paul, who lived in Carlyle. He had taken an early retirement and moved to Pennsylvania from the DC area so that he could participate in all the races Red Rose was promoting! He was as new to time trials as I was and had a very nice Cervelo P3 that he had bought from someone who had lost interest in the sport.

After my usual forty-five minute warm-up, I headed to the start line. I passed a rider who had just finished and looked dead. He said that the side wind was really bad about halfway out, and that coming back the hills were more of a problem than the wind. Since I was using my 11-23 cassette I knew that I had to watch out not to get winded on the hills.

I have had various little mechanical issues with my Leader time trial bike in the past but everything seemed to be going well today. I even managed to reset my computer to zero as I was about to be started. Ahead of me was an older gentleman on a beautiful Trek time trial bike which must have cost a bundle. He also was wearing a Louis Garneau Rocket helmet, the same as mine. He looked pretty nervous. Behind me was a woman, so I guessed I must have been the last of the Masters 50-59 group. This is the first time I have ridden with the Masters rather than Category 5. In the unlikely event I finished in the top ten I would actually get back some money! The woman and I chatted for a bit since she recognized the Squadra Coppi jersey and she was quite impressed that I had ridden Wintergreen the day before.

Out on the course now, I was amazed that my legs felt quite strong. I knew that they would show how tired they were at some point so I was really doing this race for practice since there are so few time trials held around Washington. With the strong wind and the hills on the course I did not expect to record a brilliant time but would be satisfied with 1:09-1:10. I had an excellent start and the road began going downhill so I was in the aero position very quickly and accelerating smoothly. With a little tailwind I reached 61 km/h on the descent. Within 2 kms of the start I could already see my 30 second man on the Trek up ahead and I determined to slowly reel him in. He descended well but was losing time on the climbs. But it was hard to catch him as whenever we passed an open field we would be slammed by the sidewind. He passed someone whom I soon passed as well and then just before I caught him someone else passed me, moving pretty smoothly. This last rider had already taken 2 minutes off of me!

As we reached the turning point a third rider swooped by at startling speed, his disc rear wheel humming. I could not believe how fast some of the riders were going and it seemed impossible that they were in my Masters’ age group. I passed two more riders and attempted to close the gap on the fellow who had started two minutes after me when two riders blasted by me, the fastest I had ever seen on a time trial course. But by this point I had other things to worry about. I was focused on the 2 minute guy but he was slowly pulling away further up the road and I was starting to see my heart rate jump a great deal on the hills. But I tried to ride as smoothly as possible even though the wretched wind was more of a headwind than a sidewind. As I approached a sign that said “2 km to finish” I poured on the coals and tried to up the speed but of course the friendly downhill that had been at the start now became a very mean uphill, with a headwind straight down it. I could see the finish line but I could feel myself fading quickly and I crossed the finish line not feeling very triumphant at all. I had calculated my time as being around 1:07, which was quite acceptable. Specifically trained for a 40 km time trial–-the last one I did was in June 2006-- and properly rested I am sure that I could easily have taken 2-3 minutes off my time with no additional effort. I am sure that the last 2 kms was the Wintergreen effect kicking in.

I packed up my gear, after drinking all three bottles of sports drink I had kept for the finish, and then Paul rolled in. He had had a good ride–-1:04–and also said that the last 2 kms were terrible for him. He is planning to do Union Grove and I am considering it, but I will probably see him at the new 40 km time trial series being held in Carlisle itself every two months or so.

Driving home I took Interstate 81 which is a bit longer but has much nicer scenery. I had considered stopping in a brewpub in Frederick for a late lunch but instead decided to go directly home and cook for myself. It was just as well because by the time I reached Washington I could feel the cumulate effect of two days of racing and was very tired.

A hearty lunch eaten and lots of laundry done, I went onto the Internet and saw that the finishing times for both races were up. As expected, my time for the 40 km time trial was 1:06:51, which put me 13th out of 19 Masters’ 50-59 riders, the fastest of whom completed the course in 57:44. I was 87th out of 146 riders overall, which was pretty good. I discovered also that the guys who had passed me so fast were not in my category at all. Everyone started by order of registration so I was not competing directly with most of them. The two superfast guys were Pro/Cat 1/Cat 2 and one of them was second overall with a time of 55:47, so it was no surprise he passed me so quickly. Very impressive. The guy ahead of me on the Trek was one of only three Masters’ 60-69 and while he took two minutes longer than me and came in last in his category he was still on the podium!

The Wintergreen results were also in and I was delighted to see that not only had a I done better than last year, I actually had surpassed my target, finishing with a time of 49:37, placing me 21st out of 38 Category 5 riders. This was nearly 5 minutes better than my 2006 result and nearly 4 minutes better than 2005. If I would have raced Masters’ 50-59 this year I would have been 11th. Although I enjoyed the races very much, it did represent two hotel bills and 688 miles of driving over three days. Then again, I did lose three pounds since Friday...

So all in all things went very well: no mechanical or weather issues, plenty of time to warm up and acceptable performances to set up a baseline to gauge my future progress. And I realized when I got home that I had attempted to put the battery in backwards in my computer so it works fine now too!

The Virginia Civil War Century: Alone with History for 100 Miles

In Fredericksburg at the Military Cemetery

Mr. G.C. Moore of the Potomac Pedalers has prepared a cue sheet which presents a 100 mile tour covering some of the famous Civil War battlefields of Northern Virginia. Since I have already ridden Maryland's annual Civil War Century, put on by the Baltimore Bicycle Club, I thought I would take advantage of the superb Spring weather and do the Virginia version as a Do-It-Yourselfer, that is, with no support. Unfortunately, I could not find anybody else to come with me today, so it really was a true DIY in every way! But the starting point, the Stafford High School, was only about 45 minutes by car from downtown Washington, DC, so I could sleep in a bit after yesterday's Skyline Climbfest and still have a good ride.

I rolled out from the High School at 9:45 am, calculating that I would probably be back around 4:30 pm. The route has some surprisingly busy stretches on it and there are signs of suburban sprawl all over, particularly in the stretches around Stafford and Fredericksburg, both reasonable commutes to DC. The very well-prepared cue sheet was easy to cut up into four small pieces, although they tended to slip out from the alligator clip I use to hold cues against the brake cable so I had to stop a few times to reposition them to prevent them from falling out. So I otherwise had no clue where I was and how to get back to the car I was very careful with them.

After the initial busyness of Shelton Shop Road and Mountain View Road, things got much quieter as I rode into the countryside (including a stretch of the interestingly-named Eskimo Hill Road!), stopping briefly on Potomac Run Road to look at the typical swamps found in the Tidewater region of Virginia. There was very little traffic now and I spent a few moments looking at the birds flying around the marshes. But once I left this bucolic stretch, I came to new suburban development just past the commuter train station named, like much else in the region, after General Robert E. Lee.



With 18 miles (29 km) under my wheels, I arrived in Fredericksburg and visited the cemetery located on Marye's Heights. In December 1862 a series of battles took place around the city, most of them ending with disaster for Union forces. With more than 100,000 men available, the Northerners should have been able to take the town but the Confederates had fortified the heights and controlled all access. Unwilling to use their imaginations, Union generals, headed by Gen. Burnside, who would go own to demonstrate startling heights of ineptitude at Antietam and go down in history for his sidewhiskers (reversed to become "sideburns") simply threw more troops at the entrenched Southern forces. The artillerymen on Marye's Heights had a clear field of fire over a half-mile of open field below and not a single Union soldier made it to the stone wall at the base of the hill. The Sunken Road has been reconstructed, along with the wall, and is near the Battlefield Visitors' Center.

Four miles down the road one comes to the main part of the battlefield park, which is very extensive. I rode down the beautiful Lee's Road, passing through dense cool forest, before climbing a bit and heading towards the battlefield at Chancellorsville, which also looks like a big forest rather than a park. Nearby is where the battles at Spotsylvania Courthouse and in the Wilderness took place but they were not on this itinerary.

When I turned onto Road 610/Old Plank Road, I was confronted with an angry headwind, probably gusting at around 20 mph (32 km/h). Unfortunately, the 610 section went on for some 17 miles! At one point I stopped at a country store to load up on Gatorade and rest a bit as I was getting tired. The climbing from the day before and the relentless headwind were beginning to take their toll. This area in Culpeper County seems to have a lot of turf farms. They look very nice, but do nothing to block the wind. Oddly enough, it actually rained on my a little bit although I was riding in bright sunshine. There was one little black cloud and the strong wind was blowing a few sprinkles my way.

By the time I reached Kellys Ford, scene of a major cavalry engagement in March 1863, I was pretty toasted. I rode by the Inn at Kellys Ford, a fancy equestrian place, and stopped for a moment to consult the cue sheet and have a drink near the public boat landing on the Rappahanock River. I saw another cyclist go by--only one of three I was to see all day-- and thought I would follow him and sit on his wheel and recover. While he looked pretty fit he was going so slowly that I just passed him, put my head low and continued grinding into the wind. But things looked up as I passed through the little town of Remington and turned on Road 651/Sumerduck Road. Now I finally had a tailwind, and I made the most of it, cruising at a steady 42-45 km/h (26-28 mph). I passed a very unfriendly-looking US Army training base, the Warrenton Facility and was curious what kind of training they might be doing there...it is apparently something to do with communications and the CIA. According to the Internet, that is.

Suddenly I was at mile 82 (Km 132) of the ride and now I was facing the headwind again. There were a series of little hills through some subdivisions and the miles were just creeping by now. I was concerned that I had taken a wrong turn somewhere--not something you want to do so late in a century ride--but the right road turned up as indicated but it seemed so much further than the 3.2 miles (5.1 km) on the cue sheet. Stefaniga Road, which also had a few little climbs that hurt, was great--3.4 miles of fresh new asphalt!

I was happy to see the McDonalds on Garrisonville Road as I knew that my ride was almost over. It had been an excellent day, with great weather and comfortable riding, and I pulled into the High School at exactly 4:30 pm, as planned. This surprised me as I thought the headwind would have taken a lot of time to overcome. It is far, far harder to ride a solo century than with a group where you can rest in a paceline so I thought my 6 hours of riding was pretty respectable, particularly since I had accumulated nearly 12,000 vertical feet (3650 m) over the entire weekend of riding.

I think that as more and more subdivisions are completed and the sprawl moves even further out it will become difficult or dangerous to do this ride in a decade or so. However, between Chancellorsville and Kellys Ford there is still lovely green forested countryside and that will probably be there for the foreseeable future.

The statistics:
Distance ridden: 165 km (102 miles)
Altitude gained: 1737 m (5700 feet)
Average speed: 27.21 km/h (17 mph)
Maximum speed: 67.71 km/h (42 mph)
Riding time: 6 hours, 3 minutes
Beer consumed: switched to Indian chai iced tea given that it was very hot outside and I was alone

A Herd of Tin Donkeys: My Lemond

When I arrived in the United States with my two bicycles I was worried that compared to Europe the riding would be very poor. I had visions of being shoved off of eight lane expressways by SUVs but instead I quickly learned that Washington, DC has an extremely active cycling community. And I saw quickly that many cyclists were riding very high-end machines. It was about this time that I discovered E-Bay and after a short while I found myself in October 2002 the owner of a beautiful 2000 Lemond Maillot Jaune, built up in 2002 with Shimano Dura-Ace parts and dramatic red Velocity rims. I bought it from someone in Wisconsin who had only used it for indoor training and discovered that it was too big for him.

When the box arrived, I was certain that the seller had forgotten to pack the wheels given how light it was. But it was indeed all there and looked great. I had always wanted a set of Speedplay pedals and I indulged myself. I also added the CicloSport 434M computer I had bought in Germany in the off-chance I might find a suitable bicycle to put it on. I also upgraded the stem and handlebar (which were a bit too big for me anyway) with new Ritchey WCS parts--very light, strong and cost-effective.

The Maillot Jaune was the top-of-the-line Lemond in 2000, made by Trek in Wisconsin, and featured an aluminum frame with an aero downtube and a very cool Time Stiletto carbon fork. It was the same frame that was used by the Saturn professional bike racing team and I acquired a yellow Saturn jersey, along with a classic-looking Lemond Racing Cycles one. I even found a matching pair of Lemond Racing Cycle socks on E-Bay. My wall also boasts a Lemond aluminum shop sign and I have a La Vie Claire jersey signed by the mighty Greg Lemond himself.

It was on this bike that I really learned to climb hills, to descend quickly and to race. I had joined the Potomac Pedallers Touring Club and rode with different groups in Virginia and Maryland. Although I tended to ride the Marinoni for big climbs, such as the Mountains of Misery, the Lemond and I spent a lot of time on Skyline Drive and doing a lot of centuries. During the season, which runs in DC from August until early October, we would typically do six century rides in five weeks, including one back-to-back century weekend in each of the last three years.

On Skyline Drive, June 2003

I will never forget the first long ride I did on the bike, which I did in June 2003 with my new friend Jeff, whom I had met at the Mountains of Misery a month before. We had hit it off well and decided to be Real Men and ride the SkyMass route, along Skyline Drive from Front Royal, to Luray, VA, up Massanutten and back along Fort Valley to return to Front Royal. Little did we know what seemed like a reasonable 82 mile ride would turn into one of the worst experiences either of us have suffered while cycling. The 82 miles consisted of what seemed to us, as neophytes, nothing but climbing. Massanutten, in particular, was dreadful, and we were suffering from exhaustion and too little food by the time we came to Fort Valley, which was like a furnace. For the first part of the trip the Lemond was shifting badly as it was not yet dialled in. Jeff's wife was flying back from a trip and was expecting to be picked up at the airport so we were under time pressure as well. We laugh about it now, but we learned a lot about cycling that day.

The Lost Boys at Cedar Ridge, August 2005
Mike, Jeff, Larry, Me (and Ralph is not here)

It was on the Lemond that I also spent many happy hours riding with the Lost Boys, a group of fellow Potomac Pedallers. We sometimes rode with the club or just by ourselves and always had a great time. There was always a slight edge of competition that made us all into better cyclists, and we always seemed to take a wrong turn somewhere on our travels in Virginia and Maryland.

I took the Lemond twice to the Wintergreen Ascent and to the Coppi Training Camp in April 2006, the camp in California this year and even climbing in Gatineau Park in Ottawa, Ontario. But this Tin Donkey is off to a new owner as tonight I sold my Lemond to a gentleman who works at National Geographic. He was looking for a commuting bike but realized immediately that the Lemond was something special. I will help him adjust it and I know then that he will have as much fun with it as I have had. I have included the Lemond Racing Cycles jersey--and the socks!--in the deal.

11504 kms, and 104,345 m of climbing together. The bicycle still looks new and the Shimano parts function flawlessly. Seller's remorse? A bit perhaps, but there is a new Tin Donkey on its way!