Bikeridr - Part 2

February 3, 2013

Refreshed

Sheldon and I have been filling the pages of this blog since October of 2008. In almost 5 years, we’ve written over 400 articles and have interacted with you through thousands of comments, hundreds of tweets and countless Facebook updates.

Although our lives and the content of this blog continue to evolve, our passion for cycling remains unchanged.

When we unveiled our new kit last summer (to a very small distribution) – we felt it marked a more ‘grown-up’ Bikeridr. Along with our kit, we have slowly been updating all our digital touchpoints and the refresh of this blog marks the last step.

Unsurprisingly, we’ve noticed an increasing number of you coming from tablets and smartphones and even better – that you’re actually taking time to read our articles. We’re proud to say that our new design is optimized for reading… Regardless of device. Bigger photos, bigger text, less distraction. We hope you enjoy.

– Ken & Sheldon

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.
– Albert Einstein

January 30, 2013

The Beard

At Christmas, Ken showed up at my place with a truly horrendous beard. Naturally, I thought it was awesome, and figured I should grow an even worse one.

4 weeks later, I sent Ken a text message to find out the state of his beard, and discovered that he didn’t enjoy looking like a lunatic who’d wondered off from the nearby hospital, so he’d buckled and trimmed it. This however confirmed to me, that with some willpower, I stood chance at beating him. When I let him know my plan, he scoffed – called me a ‘copy-cat’, among other things and demanded an immediate photo. So, fueled by his displeasure, obviously I forged on. At first I was just going to take the photo right away, but being aware of the photo of him sporting his ridiculous beard and that even more ridiculous fur hat, which he posted on Facebook, I knew I needed to ponder my photo carefully – it needed to be epic.

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January 22, 2013

Cyclocross Comes of Age

According to USA Cycling, cyclocross is America’s fastest growing cycle-sport. Participation has grown from 32,000 to 72,000 in the just the last five years.

125% growth over 5 years sure ain’t bad.

Here at home, similar trends are afoot. The feeling that the start line is getting a little crowded is definitely justified. Rumour has it that a Novice category will be added to 2013 races – A definite sign that cyclocross in Alberta is maturing. I’m unsure of whether this decision was a result of an active effort to grow cyclocross, or simply a response to the burgeoning Sport class (usually easily in excess of 40 racers). I’d imagine it’s likely a bit of both.

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January 8, 2013

Gettin’ Old & Stayin’ Young

Amongst friends, co-workers and family there’s been a lot of talk lately about getting old. Arthritic hips. Aching knees. Tweaked backs. Fading eyesight… The list goes on, and it’s less than inspirational.

Now, I can’t in good conscious say that there are parts of me that haven’t been affected by the years going by, but I think there’s something about riding a bike that keeps you a little younger at heart, body and mind than everybody else.

As people get older I think they have a tendency to move past certain activities. I can’t really say why. With cycling specifically, perhaps it’s because they view it as childish, something only the young do – Without realizing that reason is precisely why they should embrace it.

As I reflected on 2012, I noted how much cycling had given me. It made me think of what cycling offers everybody and the benefits are pretty wide and deep – I pulled together a list. It’s just five things. But, to me, they’re big:
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January 2, 2013

Hello 2013!

Hello 2013! And, goodbye to 2012. Looking back, as we all like to do this time of year, I thought it would be interesting to check some stats – specifically to do a comparison between 2012, and 2011. On the whole I felt like 2012 was an off year, for cycling… Life was busy. I was working longer hours at the office. At home, I was enjoying more time with the family, and what felt like less time on the bike. At least, I really thought so.

I made the decision very early in 2012 that I needed to be more pragmatic about my training. It needed to be more concerted, more purposeful. So I adapted shorter and more intense training sessions. Most of the time, I’d limit all my training rides to 1 hour. In fact, I’d even go as short as 30 minutes if I was doing really hard intervals. The thinking was that by training this way, regardless of my busier schedule, by pushing harder for less time, I could still manage to build a reasonable amount of fitness, hopefully at least similar to that achieved in 2011. Generally speaking though, I was resolved to 2012 being a ‘blah’ year on the bike.

So, looking back at 2012 now, the stats are a bit shocking!

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December 28, 2012

Winter Training: XC Skiing

Before I had kids, I got out for winter rides pretty regularly. In particular, there were two years in a row when I got out there a lot. I had a good mtb bike for it, outfitted with fat, knobby tires, and tons of warm riding gear to keep the chill out. That said, I don’t want to make myself sound like I was set to run the Iditarod, cause I’d really only go out if it was -15 or warmer.

In general, I enjoyed it. I’d connect with other winter riders – we’d hop on the snowy trailers for 2 hours or so and then converge back on DaCapo for coffee and pizza. In many ways I miss it. But now, with less free time on my hands I just don’t get out there anymore. I’ve deferred back to the indoor trainer in the basement. Such is life. The pain cave in the basement isn’t so bad though, as long as you set yourself up properly with a fan, a TV, and a good menu of training videos and movies to watch or music to listen to. The other key I’ve found is to keep the sessions short. No more 2-3 hour spins in on the stationary bike for me – just honest, hard, short efforts for no longer than an hour. I’ll even jump on for as little as 30 mins, if I feel up to really hammering. It hurts like hell, but it’s the kind of hurt we cyclist crave.

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November 28, 2012

Bike Shop Community

Edmonton is pretty fortunate to have the bike community we do. After all, we live in the midst of the Canadian prairies, where we’re blasted by winter-like conditions nearly 9 months of the year. Even after living here most of my life, I’m still surprised by the number of independent bike shops we have – and somehow they all find a way to co-exist in the face of competition with each other and with big retail. You might not think Canadian Tire, or Walmart bikes are direct competition to a small local bike shop, but they definitely are, especially in the ‘bikes for kids and families’ category, which is a huge percentage of annual bike sales across the country. So with all that in mind, I have to wonder, how do so many independent Edmonton bike shops manage to co-exist in a small city of just over a million people?

Other than observing the basic business savvy-ness needed to operate a business on thin margins, with a need to carry big inventory, in an industry with extreme seasonal highs and lows, there are a few other key things I think bike shops need to do:

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November 21, 2012

Kitsbow Mountainbike Wear

Upon evaluation, the landscape for road bike clothing provides offerings for nearly every conceivable style, size and budget – From bargain-basement multicoloured neon discount kits, to the finery of brands like Rapha or Assos. Unfortunately a more refined offering has been long lacking for the road cyclist’s fat-tired brethren (at least to my knowledge)… Until now.

Described as “impeccable mountain bike wear for obsessives,” Kitsbow appears to be striving for the best fit and finish with little compromise. From tailoring to materials, every detail has been cared for… Or at least that’s what their marketing wants me to think ;-)

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November 7, 2012

Cycling vs. Driving

Most days I ride to work. I enjoy it. And while it’s true that I gently guide and help coworkers and friends who want to cycle more or commute, I’m by no means a ‘cycle-nazi’ – I still drive. Be it looming deadlines and late nights at the office, cross-city running around, or simple apathy, there are times I’ll trade two wheels for four.

Case in point – As my recent schedule became increasingly overwhelming I begrudgingly put the bike in the garage and grabbed the keys. However, rather than mindlessly meandering between locations I was keen to get something more out of my time behind the wheel – I decided to carefully monitor my mood, feelings and actions on my drive as well as my observations of others.

While perhaps not shocking, and definitely not scientific, here what I found:
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