Here is my iMovie music video featuring Michelle Rather’s photographs of some of the Cyclocross events of December 3, 2011 at the UCI CYCLOCROSS LA Weekend in downtown Los Angeles State Historic Park. The event was presented by Spy Optic, Shimano, Focus Bicycles, Cynergy Cycles, and Golden Saddle Cyclery. The event was hosted by Cycling Clubs: The TEAM SoCalCross, LA Velocity, Mudfoot, Cadence, Montrose Bike Shop, and Surf City Cyclery. Of course, a good time was had by all!
I have been riding my 56cm (Large frame) Scott CR1 Comp for about a year now and have just begun making upgrades to it. I held off on that because I got input from various well-meaning cycle shop employees and bike-knowledgeable friends post-purchase saying the bike is too large for me. I am 5’9″ and the sizing charts put me on a 54cm frame (Medium frame), but when I was bike shopping and told my salesman (Elan, then of Triathlon Lab) of my neck and shoulder issues, Elan recommended getting the 56cm frame, saying the fit would work better for me considering my physical issues.
Although I absolutely loved how the bike felt when I test rode it, I only test rode a hand full of bikes, so the repeated input post-purchase caused me concern. One bike shop owner, Nir of Bike Improve, even encouraged me to sell while my bike’s value is still high (it’s a 2011) and get a smaller framed bike, then invest in upgrades. (Interestingly, Elan now works at Nir’s shop.)
Buddha In a Very Good Moodra
So, my money had been spent and I had relied on my instinct (as well as my young salesman Elan’s knowledgeability) in making my purchase. But who am I to trust my instinct (and Elan) over sizing charts and other more experienced bike folk? Well…as the Buddha indicated by touching the ground in the face of delusion, being here on this earth gives me that authority, and I made the right choice! I say this now with confidence because I went for a fitting by Steve Carre at Bike Effect in Santa Monica a couple weekends ago, and while the adjustments were small, the results were amazing!
What we did: Steve recommended downsizing my handlebars by 2cm. He urged carbon bars but since they are over $300 I opted for aluminum as an interim measure to get the benefit of the downsizing. This change meant I could breathe more deeply as well as be more relaxed in my arms while riding. I was told by Jim Hannon (esteemed president of the Beach Cities Cycling Club) that my elbows should be more flexed when riding than they were as he observed me during last year’s club Holiday Ride. When Steve saw my straight arms and my attempts to flex my elbows as I rode the sizing bike, he directed me to lean over the sizing bike while pedaling but balance my upper body using my core strength, not my arms, which I folded across my chest. He said to then just gently rest my hands on the bar tops, then move to the brake hoods. Steve also raised my seat slightly. Until now, I have rested my hands behind the brake hoods on a flat part of the shallow drop bars my Scott came with stock. But Steve says a rider should be comfortable with hands fully on the brake hoods. These adjustments comprise a completely different way to ride than how I’ve been riding.
Of course cyclists use their core when riding, and I figure I have been using mine. But I’ve also been supporting the weight of my upper body on my hands through leaning on my handlebars. This is not well-developed technique. Steve mentioned how when we were kids, we jumped on our bikes to get from point A to point B. As an adult, I have wanted it to be that simple. I have resisted the whole velo craze, and have worn jeans, yoga pants or my work clothes to ride in, gathering excess material in binder clips or underneath rubber bands or reflective velcro strips in defiance. Not very stylish, but I was making a point, at least to myself!
Narrower Handlebars, 40cm (Down From 42cm)
After these few adjustments to my riding technique, I could feel the simple truth of Steve’s comment that a cyclist touches the bike in three places: hands on handlebars, feet on pedals, butt on seat. With my core fully engaged, I could clearly feel just those three places in contact with the bike. I could also feel, while pedaling the sizing bike, how clipless pedals would enhance my ride. Making the changes Steve had already brought about to my technique put so much more power into my lower body and legs (freeing my energy from the struggle to support my upper body) that I could feel how having my feet connected to the pedals during the upward motion would really make a difference in power/energy-transfer. I told Steve about my urban encounter with an oblivious motorist when I was newly in my Speedplay Light Action clipless pedals which led to my using platform pedals only. He invited me to call him up to let him know whenever I’d like to come in and use his training cycle to practice clipping in and out. Steve has a training cycle set up with Speedplay pedals, so they would work with my cycling shoes which I kept. I also took Steve’s advice yet again and purchased a fork mount for my Sportcrafters Rollers so I can practice clipping in and out at home safely in front of the t.v. on my bike.
I have only been on a couple of rides since the fitting, both from Santa Monica on up to Saint Mary’s College and back. Uphills have been particularly challenging to me in general but with this new technique, I feel so much more power available that I am rarin’ to go uphill!
After hearing about my experience at Ladera Ranch, Kevin at Performance Bike urged me to check out Westridge Trail on my cyclocross bike. I had the time to go right on up there, with a quick stop at home first. I picked up the bike, filled a water bottle, made sure I had an energy gel pack, sunscreen, and a CO2 cartridge in my repair kit, and off I went. Even though I shouldered the bike last Saturday and took a few hills on a tough trail, I consider Thursday, August 18, 2011 to be the first time I really rode my CX Comp on a trail.
This was a fire road trail with mostly packed dry earth, not so much gravel or other debris on the path, and no treacherous up or down hills, especially if you stayed on the fire road. I rode for over an hour, but needed to take it in 15 minute intervals. The reason for this was it was hot, dusty, sunny with no shade, uphill most of the way, and I started at 3:00 p.m. Basically, I couldn’t do it any other way!
I went out for 45 minutes, then came back in about 15 because it was downhill all the way back! But I was out longer than that because on the way up, I spent some time learning the gearing to make sure I knew how to shift up or down as needed. Then, on the way back, to challenge myself, I took a detour up a side hill and got a flat! I was worried it would take me 2 hours to fix it the way it had with my road bike awhile back due to an extremely tight tire bead that I just could not get back onto the rim. My hands ached for at least a day after that fiasco.
On the Way Back, The Side Trail
This, in contrast, was very easy. I’m only sorry I wasted my CO2 cartridge first, making the mistake of removing the thorn that caused the flat, then using the cartridge, which didn’t inflate the tire because I had unplugged the hole caused by the thorn. Gotta learn these things by doing sometimes! I had only used the cartridge because I didn’t think I could easily change the tire-glad I was wrong on that one!
LA Looked Beautiful From Up There
When I had first pulled up to the trail head, I parked on the street in the shade of a tree, and I noticed cars parked in a dirt parking area baking in the sun. When I stopped to fix the flat, suddenly I realized why that dusty parking lot would have been the wiser choice: it might have taken me a long while to fix the flat, and I’d have a ticket when I got back!
They say to look out in front of you as you’re riding a difficult patch rather than to look down so that you can keep going and meet the challenges of the ride. In that same way, I looked out in front of me at that potential ticket and fixed that flat in no time!
Yesterday I told Kevin, the assistant manager at Performance Bike in Santa Monica, about my “wake up call” in Ladera Ranch. I asked him what kind of bike Danny Macaskill was riding in Industrial Revolution, a music video of Macaskill’s bike riding filmed to ”The Wolves” by Ben Howard. This is the first time I have seen Macaskill’s, or anyone’s, dirt jumping (or in this case, iron jumping). It was phenomenal, and made me want to go out and start working on my jumps! Er…what jumps?! Despite driving the 66 miles to Ladera Ranch, I bailed on the cyclo-skills workshop after calling it quits on the endurance ride, and I didn’t go to the cyclo skills class in Santa Monica about a mile from where I live this past week, either. But now I’m interested in dirt jumping!
After seeing Industrial Revolution, I looked online to see if any girls or women ride BMX and found out about Chick Flick, a documentary about girls in BMX riding which is being released later this year. It’s inspiring, although I think everyone involved is under 20. Is it my fault that this is only happening in cycling now? (In fact, one commenter wrote underneath the Industrial Revolution video: “So humans have always been able to do this?”)
Back at Performance Bike, Kevin listened to me, watched the Macaskill video on my iPhone, then did some internet research and found a starter bike for bottom dollar that would get me jumping. At the time, I told him I would look for a used version on Craigslist, but frankly, as with the Scott CX Comp, there are none like what I’m looking for on CL, and the price of the bike new is less than half of what the CX Comp cost, so I’m game!
This morning I drove out to the Ladera Ranch Grand Prix, an all day bicycle race event, but I did not go for the race, so if you’re looking for details on it, definitely check out their website. I went for the skills demo and trail ride put on by SoCal Cyclocross. We were a small group made up of SoCal Cyclocross organizer and leader Dorothy, her friend Allison, who is 30 and wins money in bike races, Justin, a helpful, accomplished cyclist, and me, bike commuter and weekend warrior to the min (not max).
I arrived at the top of the hill on my ‘cross bike, and while the spirit was willing when I was in the cool of Santa Monica’s flatlands, thinking about this morning’s “endurance ride” as I loaded my bike up for the 60+ mile trip to Ladera Ranch, the flesh was mighty weak in the hot, hot sun on the top of that roller coaster-sized hill!
It happened after Justin told me that he had not listened to his body one day when he felt tired and should have been resting rather than riding. Instead, he went out on his bike, had a momentary lapse in attention, hit a parked vehicle, and broke his neck in 6 places.
Ladera Ranch Area Mountain Bike Trails
I had shouldered my bike while walking up a steep pathway to get to the trail, and had ridden a couple steep ascents while on the trail. But I knew after shouldering the bike that I wasn’t as well-nourished, hydrated and rested as I really needed to be to tackle that ride. Though I had said I was willing, and that I would walk anything that seemed too dangerous for me to ride, when I crested the top of what I will call a mountain (though my more experienced companions might call it a foothill), I thought, “Ten more miles of this? No way!” I had had enough.
When I told Justin that the hill was too steep for me and I just wanted to turn around and go back, he first encouraged me to ride it. But I had learned from Justin’s story about not listening to his body to listen to myself at such a crucial moment. I got off the bike and sat down on the side of the trail, needing to catch my breath – I think it was still somewhere behind me on the ascent! Either that, or I was visited by sudden-onset asthma as I realized that I could have really been hurt if I had not stopped. I had actually started to descend, then felt that I would not be able to maintain control of the bike. I have not ridden on a trail before, let alone a steep one; it was simply beyond my abilities at this point.
Suffice it to say, it was an exciting morning! I learned that I know my limits – at least once I meet them – and that I’ve got a lot of training and practice ahead of me if I want to be in shape and skilled enough to ride trails on my cyclocross bike, and maybe even eventually try a Cyclocross race.
Meanwhile, here again (as comfort to me) is my favorite cyclocross bike trail-riding video which inspired me to get the bike so I could do some light off-road riding.
Ok, the Beach Babes Cycling Classic 2011 was not a race – at least, I didn’t ride it as one. And I was not the first one to cross the finish line, or reach the end of the ride. But I still won!!! That’s because after the metric century (@ 37 miles) ride, the Luna Chix held a raffle, and I won the grand prize! Below is the Los Angeles Luna Chix Cycling Team presenting me with the gift basket and the doormat, which I absolutely love! In fact, when I saw the doormat, I went around telling everyone: ”I really want that doormat! I really want that doormat!” And, as if by magic…
Mary Ann with the Luna Chix & her winnings
I decided to purchase $5 worth of tickets, knowing the money would go to the good cause of breast cancer prevention research, and knowing I would have spent $25 on that doormat if I saw it in a store somewhere. Before I had turned my tickets in, I heard an announcement saying were closing the raffle, but I got my tickets into the jar just in time. Luckily I was standing up front by the stage when they announced they were closing the raffle or I would have missed my chance at the prize!
So, then I took a stroll over to talk to the band, Aloha Radio, who had been booked for the after-ride party. I wanted to find out how they got such a great gig since I’m looking for gigs for my new band – we’ll be ready to play out in late September! Lauren was a great singer, and the band played well together. I liked their rendition of “Secret Agent Man” – they were fun to listen to, happy and at ease on stage, just perfect for a party at the beach after a great bike ride! They are surfers, but at least one of the band members commutes by bicycle, he said. I stood there imagining the band commuting by surfboard when they next play Rusty’s Surf Ranch in Santa Monica…
And that’s when I heard the announcement: “Well, I guess nobody won…” and I shouted, “What number ticket?!” and they read off my number! I was amazed, as was my friend Linda, who rode with me and the Luna Chix that day. Linda drove us out to Long Beach from Santa Monica and wanted to get home after the ride, but I imposed on her to wait until after the raffle. Thank you, Linda!
I had a blast on the ride itself, paced myself well thanks to the Luna Chix. One of the Luna Chix riders got a flat near the finish, and the Chix stuck together, helped fix the flat, then finished the ride as a team. It was really a fantastic experience, and I look forward to riding with the Luna Chix again – tomorrow in Santa Monica, in fact!
A big thank you to the building management team at 1875 Century Park East at Watt Plaza located in Century City, Los Angeles, California. Not only did they decide to allow me to bring my bicycle into my office as a temporary solution to the need for safer bike parking, but they are also planning to get bike lockers for the building. Maybe this will provide incentive to other employees in the building to start commuting to work by bike.
Bike Lockers
I have been riding my bike to work for about two months now, and every now and then I was getting flak from security guards upon my arrival because it is against building policy to bring bikes inside the building. I didn’t want my bike to be stolen so I kept bringing it in, but the frustration at being hassled inspired me to act.
After LAPD notified our building of recent thefts in Century City parking garages, I wrote a letter to Joe Marcinek, the property manager. Along with my letter, I sent a CycleSafe brochure on Parking Garage Bike Management, and a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) brochure showing that the building could possibly even increase its LEED Gold Certification to Platinum because bike lockers will earn them more LEED points.
The building management team at Watt Plaza is very forward-thinking and dedicated to improving the environment, as shown by their recent installation of electric car charging stations. Joe called me personally to thank me for my letter. Ultimately, it was a very uplifting experience!
