Tour de Basement Revisited: Epic Blue Ridge DVD

In the past I have done reviews of training DVDs under the rubric “Tour de Basement” because, well, I was doing my riding on the trainer in the basement.  That was some time ago and not only have I relocated to a different country (Germany) but I have come out of the basement and up several floors.  The Tour de Basement has become the Tour du Grenier or,  more accurately, Das Rundfahrt auf dem Dachboden—the Tour of the Attic.

Unlike my previous basement, I have a window which overlooks a park.  Generally, and today is no exception, it also a view of continuously drizzling rain or, as wags here refer to it, liquid Dutch sunshine.   Nobody comes to the Rhineland for the weather.   Well, except for Fox News experts who believe that Germany is sunnier than the United States, which explains why all those people from Texas, California and Florida enjoy the German Riviera so much.

But if it rains and you can’t play outside, there is no reason you can’t play inside when you have DVDs as good as the Epic Rides series.  I have enjoyed using the Epic Acadia DVD and the latest in the series,  Epic Blue Ridge, continues to meet the high standards of the previous release.   This is one of the longer DVDs in the series (and also available as a download) at 75 minutes and is rated as “very hard” on the website. 

This is a fair comment.  One of the things I like about Epic Rides is they don’t  go to especially exotic destinations but to places in the United States that offer beautiful  and challenging riding.  In 2009  I did an excellent spring trainingcamp with four friends in North Carolina, based at a ski resort north of Asheville.   So it was with some wistfulness that I relived one of the best rides I have done in the US here in the Dachboden: the ride along the wonderful Blue Ridge Parkway to the top of Mt. Mitchell, the highest point in the Eastern United States.

We did the ride from Little Switzerland, on the Parkway itself, but the group of three riders featured in the DVD began in the opposite direction, departing Hendersonville.  They claim the climb is one of the finest rides in the area and is 2.5 hours of effort and without further ado we have a five-minute warm-up before switching into no less than 50 minutes of climbing intervals.  When you get to the end of that, the road turns and you are on the final summit climb, an additional 20 minutes that brings you to the top of Mt. Mitchell.

Appalachian Spring: the view from Mt. Mitchell

Riding the Blue Ridge is really special.  There is very little traffic most of the time and the quality of the pavement has to be about the best in North America as there is no commercial or winter traffic.  You can see this on the DVD quite clearly.  Gradients are reasonable; in the video the warm-up is at 2%; the intervals at 4% and the final summit climb 5%.  There are superb vistas as you look down into the mountain valleys and the whole area is parkland so it is green and lush.  The downside is that since the Parkway was built during the Depression as a make-work project and does not leave the Ridge and go down into any towns, there is really nothing along the ride where you can enjoy an Eiskaffee or Apfeltasche, as is the case every 5 kms or so in Germany.  But it really is beautiful and I never get tired of the view and you can see this much of the time on the video.

Pretty much my only negative comment on the video is that the ride takes you up to Mt. Mitchell but that portion is in fog, which shrouds the view and is a bit disappointing although the three cyclists reach the altitude sign in the parking lot.

The day we rode up there was no fog!

The positives are similar to the Epic Acadia ride (and, I think, the rest of the series).  There is an excellent dashboard feature at the bottom of the screen that provides really useful information for training.  It shows you the ride profile, where you are on the route, what your heart rate zone should be, the grade and elapsed time on the segment, as well as time elapsing on a climbing section.  The video footage is crystal clear and the accompanying music, which is of course a personal taste, I found to be really tuned to the course.  Epic Rides is unusual in that the DVDs not only have a music soundtrack but an alternate soundtrack can be downloaded and played in sync if you get tired of the first one.  There is no hectic action on the video but you know it is an all-climbing all the time project and it is good training for setting a climbing rhythm.   EpicPlanet uses an instructor who has race experience but also teaches indoor cycling to advise on the training format.

Also on the Epic Ride website you will find a Training Guide for each of the DVDs.  For example, the Blue Ridge Training Guide breaks down the course and offers three variations (Beginner, Intermediate, Race) which seem to vary primarily by cadence.  Another feature is that you can choose to do the complete ride or shorter 45 or 60 minute versions.  This would seem to be ideally suited to spinning classes or other groups.  

A non-cycling friend asked me how training DVDs work when you have a bike set up on a trainer.  She seemed surprised when I explained that as the road gets more difficult you shift into a harder gear on the bike.  I also said that it is important to watch your heart rate to get the proper workout.  This all sounds rather simple, I suppose, but I can honestly say that 75 minutes of climbing the Parkway while watching Epic Blue Ridge will leave you soaked in perspiration and the sweat is not virtual.  Anyway, it is pleasanter than riding outside in the cold rain and the dark!  Recommended, and if you have never ridden up to Mt. Mitchell this should whet your appetite.  Epic Rides’ website even has a downloadable route map for when you get on the road!

Epic Blue Ridge

Produced by EpicPlanet

75 minutes, in 16:9 widescreen format, 2013

DVD is US$29.95 and download is US$19.95, available at www.epicPLANET.tv

A Classic Ride: the Klassikerausfahrt 2013 Season Begins!

The ritual takes place the first Sunday of each month and the 2013 season official began for Düsseldorf's own retro troupe, the Klassikerausfahrt, today with a ride from Ricci-Sports, the unique bike shop on Grunerstrasse, out along the Rhine to the harbour at Krefeld and back again.

Old steel steeds, for the most part

At 10:30 participants began to arrive at the shop.  There had been enthusiasm on Facebook but the number of people who said they would come dwindled due to the not very nice weather.  The forecast called for 20% chance of rain and for 30 minutes of sunshine.  Seriously, 0.5 hours of sun.  In any event leaving home we came across some snowflakes and then leaving with the still considerable group after the traditional coffee and croissants around 11:00 we rode off into light rain.

Fueling before the ride

There was a motley crew assembled.  There were the familiar bikes: the silver Rickert; the red-and-white-Bottechia; the blue Colnago; the blue-and-white Merckx; a pair of Bianchis; the omnipresent and always welcome Gazelles.  Mixed in were some less familiar: a fine Legnano; a Saronni Red Colnago; and more than a few modern bikes, including a sinister black Canyon and a white one; a Cervelo R3 and, impressively, a borrowed S-Works Venge.  Team Tin Donkey was represented with two tricolori bikes (a Faggin ridden by Nick and my Chesini) as well as my sea-green l'Eroica Peugeot PXN-10, ridden by Enrico, who had been drafted from my office.  For both Nick and Enrico this was their inaugural Klassikerausfahrt run, although Nick rode the Rommerskirchen-Düsseldorf Classic organized by the group in June.  "Organized" is a loose term: Klassikerausfahrt proudly proclaims: "No club; no duty; no etiquette."  It is the least German organization in Germany and in spite of its dedication to classic steel racing bicycles, if anyone shows up with carbon or aluminum underneath them it is all the same as the group is "unbeatably tolerant."

Enrico, considering leaving the Dark Side of triathlon for the even Darker Side that is retro riding

Riding gently out of Derendorf and across the Pempelfort sections of the city through innumerable stoplights as we broke the still Sunday calm with the screeching of our pathetically inadequate but wholly authentic brakes, we turned north upon reaching the Rhine, passing he Messe and the sewage plant and rolling along the bike path along the embankment.  After a short time our route took us over the Flughafenbrücke over the river, with its hilarious circular descent on the eastern side, and we continued on the bike path on that side ever northwards.

We passed where the Kaiserswerth ferry crosses and hooked around the village of Nierst as we made our way to Krefeld and its impressively unattractive harbour.  Turning onto the B288, we crossed the bridge over the Rhine.  Some of us took the bikepath but others, including myself, missed it and rode on the bridge proper, which was not so nice.  But soon enough we were back on a country road.

Well, not all of us.  The group pulled in at a country inn after passing some horse farms as the group had gotten split up.  While waiting Nick wandered in and had a chat with the proprietor, who donated a little bag of biscuits to him even though we didn't stay around for coffee.  We were waiting because, it turned out, at least three of our number had gotten flat tires.  As we were to learn later, Enrico was amongst them.

Waiting, coffeeless...

Eventually we headed down the road again, always in on/off light rain.  It was not uncomfortable although we never did see that 30 minutes of sunshine but I was thankful that I was wearing a wool jersey, along with a Gore-Tex rain jacket, long-fingered gloves and wool socks so I was warm enough the whole time. 

Again at the 35 km mark we had another brief stop between Rahm and Angermund as we waited for the group to reform.  A few meters further down the road we passed the ancestral home of the Grafs von Spee, still occupied by the family in its 13th generation and possessing an impressive English-style landscape garden.

Home Sweet Home, if you are a von Spee (Photo: Creative Commons)

Soon our group was all back together and I was relieved that we did not have to send out a search party for Enrico, who enjoyed chasing us down at full tilt as he had not been overly impressed by our meandering speed.  Our route, which included some pretty rough field paths, brought us soon enough to Kaiserswerth and the Rhine bikepath as we retraced our way back to Ricci-Sport.

All in all we rode 54.07 kms with an early season average speed of 21.17 km/h.  And climbed 199 m, which Nick, who lives in a very hilly area, found amusing.  It was great to get in the first ride of the season, enjoy the fresh and the good company that makes up the Klassikerausfahrt experience.  The next ride should be on Sunday, April 7, although quite of few of us will go to the Stalen Ros racing bicycle market and show in Holland on March 24.

Special thanks to Konrad for getting the coffee ready and to Carsten and all the shepherds who made sure everyone get back, flat tires and all.

The Triumph of Design

Having just returned from the amazing Velorama bicycle museum in Nijmegen, Netherlands, I thought I had seen pretty much every weird idea in cycling. Apparently not as up until now I have never come across deer antlers turned into bicycle handlebars.  These come from Taylor Simpson, a designer in New York and you can check out his M-O-N-I-K-E-R handlebars here, although there is not much information about them.

For several reasons, I can imagine as dramatic as they look there are some drawbacks to this idea.  I am sure the first pedestrian you pierce will point these out but I also think in the event of an accident you are going to risk getting pierced yourself as the rider if they shatter.  They do look cool, though.

1959 Tour de France

On July 14, 1959, a helicopter was used for the first time to provide television coverage of the Tour de France.  Wobbly live images were broadcast to nine different countries.  The Franco-German broadcaster ARTE has been digging out old television treasures and here is a preview of their program of the Tour from fifty-four years ago.  Although covered by journalists since its inception in 1903, from this date the Tour moved from being a national event to one reaching across borders and eventually around the world.

There is a DVD of the complete program available.  Narration is available in either German or French but just looking at the black-and-white images is rewarding

The Life List

 

I recently picked up the latest issue of the German cycling magazine RoadBike (yes, it is German in spite of the title!) primarily for an article about cycling in the Marche area of Italy but I enjoyed another story "Einmal in Leben," ("Once in a Lifetime") which is a list of all the things a cyclist must do before finally stepping back from the podium, so to speak.

Being irrevocably middle-aged, I thought I should be Germanic and make a list of what I have already done from this list before time runs out.

1.  Go to the Tour de France

Check.  Was there in 2005 and again in 2008.

2.   Won a town limit sign sprint

Check.  Even better than this, in 2009 I won a sprint to a country-limit sign (from Austria to Germany).

3.  Conquer the Stelvio Pass

Check.  Three times so far!

4.  Trigger photo radar while riding

I can't figure out how to do this as without a license plate the authorities cannnot track me down.  I did once exceed the speed limit on Skyline Drive in Virginia and was pulled over by a policeman with others from the Potomac Pedallers.  No ticket though.

5.  Master the legendary climb of Mont Ventoux

Check.  Done in 2010.  An extraordinary experience.

6.  Shower in the Roubaix Velodrome

Not yet but I plan to do it within the next two years.

7.  Experience the Dolomites

Check.  The Sella Ronda route is definitely a must-do and I did it in 2009.

8.  Go to a training camp

Check.  Twice in Mallorca, twice in Nellysford, Virginia with Squadra Coppi, once in Sicily, once in San Diego and once in North Carolina.  

9.  Survive the Őztaler Radmarathon

My excuse for not doing this is that the registrations sell out instantly.  Luckily.  There is no way that I am doing a 238 km ride with 5500 m of climbing.  This is insane.  Look at the profile!

9.  Ride to Cap Formentor

Not yet.  My two trips to Mallorca did not include this but I would still like to do it.

10.  Ride on the Track

Check.  Twice in Kaarst-Büttgen seriously and once in Cologne just to say I did it.  The list should include seeing at least one Six Day Race.

11.  Complete a 200 km Ride

Check.  In addition to riding the Mountains of Misery long route three times, I have completed "Radmarathons," as the Germans call 200+ km rides, often in Germany, as well as the 220 km Eleven City Tour of Friesland in the Netherlands.  My one attempt at a 300 km ride, the "Animalthon" in Ontario, failed after 180 kms due to terrible weather.  So that is still on my list.

12.  Cross the Alps

Check.  The 2008 Lost Boys Tour did the Route des Grandes Alpes, surely a monument of cycling.   I am looking at other routes, particularly the Via Claudia Augusta, which would take me down into Verona.

13.  Suffered the Hunger Knock or the Dreaded Bonk or Hitting the Wall or Getting Hit by the Man with the Hammer

Check.  Too often.  The worst was probably riding the infamous SkyMass ride in 1999 with my friend Jeff and we were both totally blown at the end.

14.  Ascend the Muur of Geraardsbergen

Check.  Done in 2002.  Well, most of it since I had to walk part of the middle section. This is one of the many famous stretches of the Tour of Flanders and it is a genuine relief when you see the chapel at the top.

15.  Experience l'Eroica live

Check.  Done in 2011 and wanted to do it again but it sold out too fast in 2012.  They are going to a lottery system for 2013 so there is still another chance.  A wonderful ride.

Not too bad so far:  of the 15 on the list, I still have only to ride in Mallorca again and take a shower in Roubaix since there is no possibility of doing the Őztaler and I am baffled by the photo radar problem.  A man's gotta know his limits.

Happy New Year! Resolutions for 2013

At this time of year I traditionally and bravely dance out on the highwire and present my resolutions for the coming year after seeing how well I did in meeting the previous year’s.  The idea is to get motivation for the coming twelve months by setting real achievable goals.  At least I thought that’s what the aim should be since I did not do very well with my 2011 resolutions, as I pointed out here in January 2012, but in many ways 2012 was much worse.  I will blame this not only on my own laziness but also interference by life getting in the way unpleasantly from time to time.  So first the catalogue of misses:

1.   Weight down to 78 kgs as soon as possible, as in “now.”

Well this was a huge flop as not only did I fail to drop the 8-9 kgs I had planned but in fact went completely in the opposite direction and gained 7 kgs, bringing me to an insanely-high 92.6 today.  To reach my original target (actually set in 2011) I now have to get rid of 14 kgs, or 31 pounds!  This is a key resolution since I feel sluggish and tired all the time and I know that I will be hopeless riding up hills in the coming year unless I get really serious about this.  There is also the general health issue.  So, I need to stay away from beer and cake this year and work out a lot more.    

How I look (or at least feel) now

2.        Organized Rides

Well, this actually worked out quite well although I did not manage to get into l’Eroica for a second time and could not work out the logistics for the Paris-Roubaix sportif.

 

6 Hour Charity Spinning Event, Netherlands (January 28)—completed!

Amstel Gold Sportif 150 km (April 14)—completed!  And then ridden a second time a month later!

Lake Garda (1), including watching Giro d'Italia team time trial after riding course (May)--completed

Lake Garda (2) Pezcycling Camp with climb up the Stelvio (May-June)--completed

Gran Fondo Damiano Cunego, Verona, Italy 85 km (June 3)--completed

Paris-Roubaix Sportif, France 210 km (June 10)—too complicated to get organized for

2012 Lost Boys Tour of Europe: Corsica, France (June-July)--completed

L'Eroica, Chianti, Italy (September)—unable to get registered

Unexpected organized rides completed:

Gruyere Tour 88 kms in August

Romandie-Verbier Classic 100 km in September

WK Limburg Sportif  170 kms in September

Rund um die Baumberge 125 km RTF in October

So I will give myself a passing grade on this!

3.        Touring

I did manage the first part of the Limes Radweg but this was it.  I would still like to do the Xanten-Paderborn "Roman Route" and more of the Limes, but with better planning. 

4.      Doing something about learning Italian.

Well, five visits to Italy this year certainly helped! 

Now, for the 2013 Resolutions:

1. 1.       Get serious about weight loss.

1. 2.       Get serious about weight loss.

1. 3.       Get serious about weight loss.

Time to roll out the High-Intensity Training Plan again, and also crack open the Olympic Distance Training Program that I have.  Although I have no interest in doing a triathlon, switching between three disciplines is probably good for me at this point in life.  I am also going back to keeping a food diary as well as a training one.

2.       Organized Rides:

Tour du Lac Leman 180 kms May 26 in Switzerland

Ride two Radmarathon (200 km) rides in Germany

Lost Boys Annual Tour of Europe: July/August in Switzerland

Hallzig Historica in August (retro ride)

Ride two CTFs

Rhön Bicycle Weekend 18/19 May (152 km Saturday, 205 km Sunday)

At least one time trial!

3. Blog entries at least twice a week, so 104 entries instead of 2012’s sad 31.

4.  Improve riding skills, particularly descending as it was not very good in Corsica for some reason.  Well, partly due to a crash, but still...

 So that's it for 2013's resolutions.  If everything goes according to plan, I should get into the last part of the year looking more like this:

Yet Another Book Review at Pezcyclingnews

'Tis the season to do book reviews as hints for the person seeking the perfect gift for a cycling fanatic.  I am trying to get one done each week before Christmas comes.  This week at Pezcyclingnews.com we have "Bike!", a more-or-less catalogue of the stories behind the most notable brands in road cycling, covering both bikes and components.  It was a pleasure to read and you can find my review at Pez here.

My Latest Book Review: Guide to the Great Road Climbs of the Northern Alps

The most recent in the Rapha Guide series to mountain riding is "The Great Road Climbs of the Northern Alps."  I previously reviewed the guides to the Southern Alps and the Pyrenees at Pezcyclingnews.com and now you can find my latest review of the latest volume here.  It is a really beautiful book full of remarkable information.

My Latest Book Review: Merckx 525

Now to be found at Pezcyclingnews.com is my latest book review, covering the volume of photos dedicated to the career of Eddy Merckx, the greatest cyclist ever.  His 525 victories are noted in the title, which is "Merckx 525."  I really enjoyed it and you can read my review here.

1974 Paris-Roubaix: Eddy Merckx being followed by Roger De Vlaeminck (the eventual winner). 

 

The Swiss National Cycling Museum

 During my recent trip to Switzerland I picked up a copy of the Swiss cycling federation’s magazine. Along with a very interesting long article about the Oerlikon velodrome marking its 100th anniversary, I saw a little piece in it about a bicycle museum not so far away. Following some fine cycling in the Gruyère area I was stuck indoors for three days due to non-stop pouring rain.

Determined to make the best of it, I decided to drive to the Biel area, where I met Markus Stüdeli, a keen Swiss cycletourist and the husband of one of the Canadian Embassy staff in Bern. After some coffee in a local hotel, we crossed the street and found ourselves in front of the somewhat rundown Hotel du Pont in Brügg on the outskirts of Biel and the Nationales Velo Museum Helvetia, or the Swiss National Cycling Museum. I have a favourite sweatshirt with an old cycling poster motif, showing a highwheeler bicycle. The poster was issued in 1933 to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Swiss Cycling Federation (SRB).

It was actually in the Hotel du Pont where the organization was founded those many years ago. In mid-2009 a temporary exhibition was set up in the former restaurant of the hotel to mark the 125 anniversary of the SRB’s organization featuring the collection of a passionate enthusiast Edy Arnold and it appears that the temporary exhibition simply has continued. The museum is open on weekends after Easter until November. Entering the museum (for which no admission is charged) brings you to the remarkable world of Herr Arnold, who was present in the former bar of the hotel, where light snacks are available. He is a very genial man, although my German capability was not really a match for his Switzerdeutsch. In addition to his impressive collection of more than 300 bicycles, he is renowned as a racer on highwheel bikes and there were many photographs, posters and newspaper clippings of his exploits.

Markus and I were pretty much alone on the rainy Saturday as we walked through the numerous rooms that make up the museum. It is not a formal place with a lot of high-tech explanations (or any explanations, really) but rather represents one man’s labour of love. The history of the bicycle is covered from a replica of Baron Drais’ Laufmaschine from 1817 to pretty much the current day. In addition to the bicycles themselves, there is much in the way of memorabilia, including some marvellous banners for Swiss cycling clubs.

Ferdi's 1942 racing bike

 

There were numerous highwheelers on display, including a Kangaroo geared model. There were utility bicycles of all kinds and even a remarkable Velocar, a so-called quadricycle in wonderful condition and with little Swiss flags on it. The Velocar was invented by Frenchman Charles Mochet in the 1930s but the rising popularity of automobiles pretty much killed the concept, at least until fuel shortages in World War 2. Mochet is better remembered as the inventor of the recumbent bicycle.

I was not aware of how active Swiss industry was in bicycle production and Biel in particular seems to have been a hotbed of industry. Many brands represented in the museum were unknown to me: Imholz from St. Gallen; Dressler from Baden; Wolf, Estelli and Cosmos from Biel; Paul Egli from Zurich; and Goldia from Goldach.

A Colnago tandem

Some of Switzerland’s great riders were represented, including an original 1942 bicycle belonging to Tour de France winner Ferdi Kübler. The high point of his career was 1950-1952 and at 93 he is the oldest living Tour winner. Having a coffee with Herr Arnold (who loved my sweatshirt) after admiring his collection was an education in itself. He is a generous person and enjoys chatting with those who share his cycling interest. The museum, as quirky and individualistic as it is, is definitely worth visiting the next time you are in the Seeland region of Switzerland, only about 30 minutes’ drive by car.

On the drive back to Charmey I stopped in Avenches, whose claim to fame is not merely that it is the headquarters of the Nespresso company but was a significant Roman settlement. Excavations of the Roman town were carried out during World War 2 by interned French soldiers who had crossed into Switzerland after the defeat of France. There was an exhibition about this in the charming little Roman Museum, which is in a 17th century tower next to the Roman amphitheatre. There are also ruins of a large temple as well as a theatre.  And on the way back I drove through Switzerland's Worst Named Village: