Tour de France

I've been getting up early every day since July 4th to sit and watch the Tour de France with Sennet. I love the Tour, and have since I was lucky enough to be in Paris in 2000, on the Champs-Élysées, to see Lance Armstrong win the second of his seven straight Tours de France.

It's been a fun time, holding my boy, feeding him, rocking him to sleep, and watching the intrigue and madness of the Tour. Today was the last stage, Alberto Contador of Spain won - as he should have (being the strongest rider), Andy Schleck of Luxembourg was second, and Armstrong - after being out of the sport for almost 4 years and breaking his collarbone this past March - came in third.

This was probably a great disappointment to Armstrong, who really wanted to win again, but was a huge accomplishment for someone of his age (37) who had been away from competition for that long. He is the second oldest rider to finish on the podium.

What was most pleasing for me was his statements about this year's race. They are words and thoughts I hope to instill in Sennet as he grows:

"I'm realistic, I did everything I could," Armstrong said before the final stage. "For me, and even more for my kids, it's probably a healthy thing for them to see, because they saw their dad that never lost, and the kids in their class (say) 'your dad never loses,' so it's good for them to see dad get third and still be cool with that and still be happy."

That's a great gift to give to your children. Vive la Tour!

KJT - Seattle (2009)

Armstrong quotes from the Seattle Times, photo by Sirotti.

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Seattle to Portland by Bicycle (210 miles)

"The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man.
Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish.
Only the bicycle remains pure in heart."  
- Iris Murdoch, Irish-born British author/philosopher (1919-1999)


July, 2006. Woke up at 3:00 AM in order to stretch, have coffee & eat a light breakfast.

I clicked into my pedals in front of my house at 4:15 in the morning, up the street a few people were just getting home from a Friday night of partying. As I rode past them, they looked at me as if I was insane. It was still full dark.

I rode over to the start line at the University of Washington campus and met up with my co-worker, JJ. It was just the two of us together, as all the rest who had said they were going to ride with our group had dropped out for various reasons. We joined the 9,000 other riders milling about, and we ended up rolling out for the start of the ride just before 4:45 AM. The first 25 miles or so wound along Lake Washington Blvd, past Seward Park and along the route I take when I ride to work...

We stopped at a rest stop near my office in Kent for a couple of minutes to get rid of the early morning coffee and have some energy bars. We got to "the Hill" in Tacoma (as the ride organizers like to call it) before 7:00 AM. It was a fairly steep, mile-long ride - but no different than many of the hills we ride all the time. A few people were walking their bikes up, but not many.

We got to the rest stop at 50 miles and had some bananas and more energy food. As we rolled out, we jumped on a train of about 20 bikers and picked up the pace. We flew over the next 50 miles without stopping and arrived at the half-way point, Centralia, 100 miles into the ride, at 10:50 AM. Our goal had been to be at 100 miles by noon so we beat that by over an hour. It was the easiest hundred miles I had ever ridden - we averaged 19mph for the whole hundred, and that included the hill and the rollers.


JJ's girlfriend was driving support for us along with his dog, and met us in Centralia. Most of the 9,000 riders who participate in the STP ride it in two days, and Centralia is where most of them stop for the night. We were among the (foolish?) minority who had determined to ride it all in one day.

We relaxed in Centralia, rested, had a big spaghetti feast, lots of water, stretched, and then rolled out again just after noon. We had planned on going somewhat easy for the first 10 miles or so after Centralia, but it was clear pretty fast that JJ wasn't feeling good. We stopped at the next rest stop and he laid on the ground, complaining of a stomach-ache. After a bit I convinced him to get back on the bike and continue on. I kept hoping he would ride himself back into form, but he continued to get worse. He said the food was sitting in his stomach like a rock. We stopped in Winlock and he laid in the shade for about 20 minutes.

We mustered on. He would seem to look better and so I would pick up the pace and then look back and find him about a quarter mile behind. It seemed to take us forever just to get to a mini-rest stop at mile 137. Again he laid in the shade for about half an hour. I felt bad for him, but was getting antsy and frustrated at our slow pace. We had been cruising so well for the first 100 miles, but our momentum was now broken. We nursed ourselves to the rest stop at mile 145 and met up with JJ's girlfriend again. We told her she had better stop at every rest stop from now on, just in case.

I wouldn't have pushed him so hard, except that this wasn't the first time he had gotten sick on a ride. We had ridden the Flying Wheels Summer Century a few weeks previous. It was a 100-mile ride around northern King and southern Snohomish counties, with over 3,000 feet of climbing. After the first steep climb, just 8 miles into the ride, JJ had puked. He had had a triple latte and an egg McMuffin before starting (idiot!) and that didn't sit well with the exertion. After throwing up he felt better and was able to continue and finish that ride. With that memory in mind I just assumed he would eventually get better and be OK.

JJ rested again, ate a bit, and laid down. He said he thought we was feeling a little better. This would proof false however, as soon as we started again. He was still feeling pretty bleak & weak, and our slow pacing had really brought my energy level down as well and I began to feel the miles a lot more.


We passed through Longview, Washington and crossed into Oregon at mile 152, over the huge, steep Lewis & Clark bridge across the Columbia River. I paced JJ up and over the bridge and we continued on. The rollers were a little less steep now, but our pace was still well below where I wanted it to be.

Eventually we made it to mile 175 and I told JJ I thought he had better call it a day. He had had the dry heaves for the last few miles and was wobbling on his bike. Since his stomach was so upset he wasn't able to eat and drink enough and so that compounded his problems. He had come to the same conclusion, that he was done, and crawled into the back of his girlfriend's Blazer. I told them I would see them at the finish line.

Extremely tired and sore at this point, I decided to try to ride the rest of the way in as fast as I could. I jumped on the wheel of two really strong riders and drafted behind them at about 24mph for the next 15 miles, then stopped to refill my water bottles for the final push. Riding solo, and basically trying to time-trial home to finish the damn thing as fast as I could, I tried to stay between 18 and 22mph, I finally crossed the bridge into Portland and rolled across the finish line sometime after 8:00 PM.



Even with all the meandering and rest stopping, I still managed to average about 17.5mph for the entire 210-mile ride. Just over 12 hours of actual saddle time.

I met up with JJ and his girlfriend and went immediately to the beer garden. A cold one had never tasted so perfect. JJ was feeling a bit better - he had eaten and napped - but was still not well. After resting a bit with some more beer, we climbed into the car, got some food, and began the long drive back up to Seattle. Got home about 1:00 AM, took a long, hot shower, and fell into bed...

KJT - Seattle to Portland (2006)

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Vegas Sucks:Observations from Interbike

"Such a muddy line

Between the things you want,

and the things you have to do..."

- Sheryl Crow "Leaving Las Vegas" (1994)

1. Vegas Sucks.

I used to love Las Vegas. From the time I was 21 through about 27 or 28 years old. Now, not so much. I used to think Vegas was the epic party place (and it was/is) - 24 hours of debauchery: blackjack, roulette, craps, drinking all night, drinking all day, strip clubs, rock shows, no sleep, over-indulgence, etc. Now while I had a blast doing that, and I don't regret it, as I'm nearing 40, I find that it appeals to me less and less. Especially now that I've been to Las Vegas probably 11 or 12 times in the last decade and a half, five of those times just with Raleigh for Interbike. I can safely say I'm over it. The last four times I've visited the city I haven't gambled a penny, and I didn't have one hangover this entire trip - and there were plenty of opportunities. Walking through the casino on the way to the convention center every day, seeing the same sad, vacant people plugging money into the slot machines over and over left me with a depressed feeling. Because I live in Seattle I've gotten to where I take it for granted that there is no smoking inside. The smell and the smoke in the casinos and bars sucked. And don't get me started about the heat. 100 degrees at the end of September with no humidity - that sucks. You wince when you step outside, like you've been hit in the face with a hot cast-iron skillet. You have to use the air conditioner all the time, and that sucks too. 

Fake plastic city for fake plastic people.

2. Alaska Airlines Sucks.

They used to be a great airline, easily one of the best. I don't think I've flown on an Alaska Airlines flight in the last 5 years that has left on time - including both flights this jaunt. WTF?

3. Flying Sucks.

I don't like any of the other airlines either, and I have a special hatred for Southwest and their goofy, cattle-call boarding. Ridiculous. Flying gets you where you are going fast, but that is THE ONLY redeeming feature. I wish we had bullet trains in America. Please vote for that, California! (link)

4. Upper respiratory/Sinus Infections Suck.

Vegas hates me back. Not sure what it was, but from day one my sinuses were killing me, my nose was running, my throat felt like I had gargled broken glass, and I generally felt like shit all week. Friday night, the last night there, was really the only night I felt half-way decent. Was able to stay up till all hours and witness some extreme stupidity.

5. The Interbike Tradeshow went great for Raleigh. Our bikes rocked, our catalogs rocked, our graphics rocked, and everyone seemed pretty jazzed on all our stuff. The Raleigh Rainier Cross bike, with my graphics, really seemed to draw a lot of attention, even landing on the VeloNews website. (link)

6. I went to the CrossVegas Cyclo-cross race on Wednesday night, and that was a blast. Jeremy Trebon won, and Lance Armstrong raced. This was the second time I got to see him race live. (I was on the Champs-Élysées in Paris in 2000 when he won his second Tour de France.)

7. After the show wrapped up on Friday, our V.P. took about 20 of us out for a celebratory dinner at a restaurant called Rum Jungle in Mandalay Bay. The food was amazing - a full-on meat-o-rama. Unlimited skewers of spit-roasted meat carved right at the table. Marinated beef, bacon-wrapped chicken, chorizo sausage, habanero/mango-glazed turkey breast, roasted lamb chops, grilled jumbo prawns, bacon-wrapped scallops, and broiled salmon. The meal also came with a killer chop salad with a creamy mint-cilantro dressing, and Cuban rice, black beans and fried plantains. Epic feast.

8. More than ready to get back to my comfortable routine with Stacie and the dogs (just got back from a long walk with all of them).

9. After an entire week, I can't wait to get back on a bicycle.

10. I LOVE 64 degrees! Thank you, Seattle!

KJT - Las Vegas (2008) 

Lance photo: Kurt Jambretz/Action Images; Raleigh Rainier bike photos: Matt Pacocha.

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RainCity Ad

Here is the ad for the Avenir RainCity waterproof bags 

(see previous post). 

Would have been a decent ad, but for the clown in the background...

KJT - Seattle (2008)

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Shootin' in the Rain

"Upon us all, a little rain must fall..."

- Led Zeppelin, "The Rain Song" (1973)

Had to set up a photoshoot for our new waterproof bike bags and panniers. Obviously, to show that they're waterproof we wanted to shoot in the rain. After waiting for a week and a half, the weather reports finally looked favorable this week. Wednesday seemed to have the best outlook, with 80% chance of precipitation.

Our Raleigh marketing guy, BF, and I drove up to Seattle to meet our photographer and the "talent" (one of BFs biking buddies) at Bauhaus Coffee on Capitol Hill. Of course, when we got up to the shop there was no rain, and the clouds were actually breaking up. We decided to have lunch (Six Arms Pub - delish!) and wait to see what would happen with the weather.

Long story short, no rain so we decided to find some puddles to ride through. Problem two: no puddles. We drove around for a while, trying every place in the city we knew where there were always puddles - no dice. Then the sun came out and we had blue skies. This wasn't working out the way I'd planned. We went down to the industrial district and finally found some nice big puddles under some shady trees (so you couldn't see the beautiful blue sky and sunshine) near the stadium. We had the "talent" ride through the puddles for a while and slowly the clouds started building. After a bit we felt some sprinkles. Then it started coming down. Seattle didn't let us down after all. We shot in a few different locations near the stadiums and in Pioneer Square, got some great shots, all got somewhat soaked, and then called it a day after a few hours. I'll post some of the ads when I get them finished. 

KJT - Seattle (2008)

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Beer Bike

"When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading."

- Henny Youngman, American comedian (1906-1998)

So, for the cover of our latest parts and accessories catalog at work, I used a riff off of a great pacific northwest tradition, Rainier beer. I took the iconic Rainier logo and "Raleigh-ized" it, placed it on a die-line for a 12-pack box, printed it out & glued it together, and then staged the shot and had our photographer shoot the cover image. Our Raleigh marketing guy, BF, is a crazy single-speed bike nut (and true Rainier enthusiast) and he had our factory take the logo and use it on our latest single-speed cyclocross bike - producing a sweet limited edition (not for sale to the general public). We just got a couple frames in last week and they look super-cool. It's going to be a slick ride - he's racing it in the Cross Vegas race at Interbike next month. And we already know which post-race beers will be the perfect accompaniment.

KJT - Seattle (2008) That last pic is by BF...

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RAINY FRIDAY RIDE HAIKU

"The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain."

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet (1807-1882)

MICRO DROPS OF RAIN

STINGING NETTLES ON MY FACE

WIND-WHIPPED, WET RIDE IN

KJT - Seattle to Kent, WA (2008)

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Soaked to the Bone

"Be careful what you wish for, you may receive it."

- Anonymous, cited in "The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs (1903)

Well, I'm certainly no longer in a "state of inelegance" from the heat. Now I'm inelegant because I resemble a drowned rat. This morning might have been the second hardest rain I've ever ridden in. 

Thinking ahead, I rode my "rain bike" (the one with fenders) home last night, because the weather reports said we might have isolated thunderstorms today. 

For once they were right on the money. Thunder, lightning, and it was pissing rain. The ride from the house to the train station downtown takes all of 10 or 11 minutes. In that time I was thoroughly drenched. After drip-drying a bit during the 15-minute trip south to my stop in Tukwila, it was then back on the bike. The rain was just a gentle sprinkle as I started the ride from the station to the Raleigh offices. Two blocks into it, and the skies opened up. It dumped, and then dumped some more. It was actually pretty comical - the trail looked like a creek. At the office I had to wring my gloves out. Twice. Now I'm just hoping everything dries by 5pm.

Oh yeah, fenders and rain gear are a joke in that kind of downpour.

KJT - Seattle to Kent, WA (2008)

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