The Bike Disease

My obsession with the bicycle which I commonly refer to as "the bike disease" has now taken on a new strain. Apparently just commuting nearly every day on the fixed beast wasn't enough for me. Now I'm set on donning the spandex and learning how to race too. Of course, that meant acquiring a new (to me) bike. It's a beautiful celeste green Bianchi Campione road bike that's roughly 15 years old. It's not as light and fast as the new carbon bikes with top grade components, but it should be good enough to get me started.

I'm going to start training with Team C.I.C.L.E. as much as possible and hopefully I can start getting into some actual events soon. Tomorrow I'm going to attempt to brave the "Montrose Ride." I feel like I've already come a long way fitness wise just from commuting all the time and crushing those Los Feliz hills with just the one gear at my disposal, so hopefully I'll be able to keep up better than I did on my humbling attempt at the Wolfpack Hustle last week. I got dropped like a bad habit around mile 6, and limped home with my tail between my legs. Now that I've worked out the bottom bracket issues on the Bianchi, I should be able to bring it next time and make a better showing. I hope.

C.I.C.L.E. - Explore the Urban Forest

So I just finished editing and scoring my video of the last C.I.C.L.E. Urban Ex ride. The ride was a great success despite the August-like blistering temps. Check it Out!

CICLE Urban Forest Expedition by James OToole is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Rising Gas you Say? Bring It On!

With the risk of sounding way to pleased with myself, I must say that all of this talk of rising gas prices is having the exact opposite effect on me than it appears to be having on the majority of my fellow Americans. I'm down to driving one day a week in "the Beast," and while we still take Tam's Mariner on the occasional jaunt, I spend very little time behind the wheel these days. U-oh, SMUG ALERT!!

Oh well, I just don't care if it sounds snooty. Bring on the high gas prices! Sure I might have to pay a little more at the grocery store, but all the more reason to but locally anyway. And if getting the squeeze at the pump is what it's going to take to get people to realize that our dependence on oil is one of the biggest problems we face, and that WE have to take that knowledge and DO SOMETHING about it, then so be it!

Yes, there are alternatives to traveling by car.  Yes, even in L.A. And guess what? You don't have to be an Olympic athlete to use a bike as major source of transportation. Just educate yourself and get on that saddle. The rest will take care of itself.