Ciclismo Classico Film Festival (free!)
Lots of neat little events to track down for bike week... just stumbled across this one:
To Celebrate Bike Week please bring a friend and join the entire Ciclismo Gang of family and friends for a relaxing and FREE evening of good food and cycling films from Ciclismo Classico tour as well as the top favorites from The Boston Cycling Film Festival.
FREE raffle for all participants
What: Ciclismo Classico Film Festival. Food. Raffle and much more!
Where: The Capitol Theatre
204 Mass Ave, Arlington MA
When: May 20th from 6:00-9:00
How much? FREE
Contact: lauren@ciclismoclassico.com
1.800.866.7314
www.ciclismoclassico.com
List of Films (tentative):
- The No Gasoline Tour (Michigan musician Peter Mulvey bikes to all his gigs)
- Round Up (from Lynette Chiang - folding bicycle relay)
- Another New Bike (2008 winner - A crazy adolescent chase, misunderstandings and a twist of an ending
- Guerilla Mechanics (surreptitious bike mechanics descend on abandoned bikes in the city)
- Inside Ragbrai (the most famous cross state ride from a unique filmmaker)
- Someone Faster (a cycling tweaker with one goal in mind)
- I Fell (a mountain biker documents an accident)
- Gelato Diet by Ciclismo guest Patria Lanfranchi
- Piedmont: Land of Barolo & Truffles by Ciclismo guest Chuck Brazell
- Bike Across Italy by Ciclismo guest Carlton Reid
Photo credit: hellochris
Guilt-fueled Riding
Usually a great workout is rewarded with a small treat. Maybe a scoop of ice cream, a slice of pizza, or a beer. Ok, maybe a bowl of ice cream, a few slices of pizza or a few beers.
Today the order was reversed. The tasty afterglow of my visit to Kane's Donughts in Saugus (see previous post), home of the "world's largest coffee roll" and delicious doughnuts, soon gave way to guilty motivation to get on the bike. Fortunately, it was a beautiful sunny, warm day to burn those extra calories.
Photo credit: Pink Sherbert Photography
Featured Ride: Mount Greylock Challenge
Climb it because it is there. When you summit Mount Greylock, you will be reaching the highest point in all of Massachusetts, where you can enjoy spectacular 360-degree views of the Berkshires. Unclip and climb the Veterans War Memorial at the summit to fully soak it all in. This challenging ride will bring you from Pittsfield to the summit in the first third of the ride. After completing the brake-burning descent (which requires great care and patience), you'll head over to Williamstown, a quaint town that is home to Williams College. The second half of the route takes you south through the valley, giving you a rest and a chance to appreciate the mountain range from a different perspective while climbing back toward Pittsfield at a more moderate pace. Plan to do the ride during the spring or summer as the Mount Greylock Scenic Byway is accessible only from mid-May through mid-October. Get more details, turn-by-turn directions, and map in the book Road Biking Massachusetts (affiliate link).
The New England Velodrome Becomes The Northeast Velodrome
Back in March, there were some sudden changes made at the New England Velodrome, which many simply described as a hostile takeover of sorts. The message sent out by Tony Eberhardt was posted in many places and generated a lot of curiosity. Subsequently, Cyclocross Magazine did a two part story which interviewed the parties involved. Here's Part 1 - the interview with the folks from the Cycle Loft. Here's Part 2 - the interview with Tony.
So, now the track appears to be up and running under a new name - The Northeast Velodrome.
Photo credit: Incase
Enjoy A Colonial Ride This Saturday
The Nashoba Valley Pedalers are hosting a "Colonial Ramble" with modest distance options (10, 21, or 33) and a modest pace ("no need to race through this relaxing ride"), though there will be some hills. The ride starts in Acton and travels through Concord, Westford and Carlisle. Great cycling country. A great way to start your season, if you haven't begun to ramp up yet.
Photo Credit: Gregory Leaf
Bay State Bike Week: May 17th to 21st
Massachusetts is promoting cycling through a series of events taking place across the state during "Bay State Bike Week." The effort is being spearheaded by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and MassBike. The City of Boston is running some events in the city, ending with its first "Bike Friday" of the season on May 21st. There seems to be a lot going on for bike week, but you'll need to dig around the above web sites a bit to figure out what you might want to participate in, as there doesn't seem to be a central web site with all the events/details.
The Magic Number: 100
The "century" ride. 100 miles on-bike in a single day. Quite alluring.
There's something about riding to that big, round, 3-digit number of miles with a simple mechanical device that it totally human-powered. It's a feat. It's a great goal.
Completing a century ride is a satisfying accomplishment, and a rite of passage for new cyclists. And, once achieved, is a recurring milestone in each subsequent cycling season. So, when will you ride your first century? Or your first century this year?
Three classics are provided by the Charles River Wheelmen, in the Spring, Summer, and Fall:
Enjoy the ride.
Photo Credit: bp6316
Look at nothing. See everything.
You're barreling down the road at 25MPH, pedaling hard. You're putting out a good effort, trying to keep smooth, steady pedal strokes. Efficiency is key. You focus on it, and your breathing.
Six inches in front of you is another rider doing the same. Keeping your efforts in sync is critical, not only to be efficient now, but also to be safe.
And, of course, there is another rider just six inches off of your back wheel. Doing the same. Trying to keep smooth and steady.
You're all barreling down a public road, with potholes, traffic, broken glass, pedestrians, and other hazards. So, where do you focus your attention, visually?
"Look at nothing. See everything."
If you stare at the back wheel in front of you, you may become distracted and miss an upcoming hazard. If you look around for hazards, you may not notice a slight adjustment of the bike in front of you. A subtle slowdown that could cause wheels to touch, or a bit of a speed up that could open up a gap.
You've got to somehow take it all in (at once) yet be aware of each individual detail. Peripheral vision becomes part of your primary vision. You discover a delicate balance, soaking it all in, aware of the details. Focused on them without lingering. Seeing each without focusing on any exclusively.
You're looking at nothing, yet seeing everything. Zen vision can be very handy for cyclists.
Photo Credit: Tony the Misfit
A Mashup of Mass (and NE) Rides
The folks over at BikeNewEngland.com have put together a pretty cool mash up of bike route resources for Massachusetts and beyond. A nifty little overview shows you graphically where each route starting point is at. The little bike rider icons are color coded for the various types of routes included - their own (it's a touring company), different bike clubs, Map My Ride favoorites (that's a great site - see earlier post), fundraising rides and state resources.
The interface is a bit clunky in that it's hard (impossible) to zoom in on areas where there are many routes, but if you dig around there are a ton of resources. Because they are gathered from so many sites, you'll need to deal with getting info in a variety of formats and popping out to different external web sites, but the authors are to be commended for their efforts. I've not come across another site that attempts to gather and categorize so many great resources all in one place.
So, go check it out as part of your ramp up for spring and summer riding. The direct link to the map resource page is http://www.bikenewengland.com/bike_maps.html.
Photo Credit: Bruce Berrien
MIT Multi-Sport Expo Fast Splits Indoor Time Trial (and outdoor riding)
A second goal of my winter training came today, the Fast Splits Indoor TT at the MIT Multi-Sports Expo. I like to have goals every 8 weeks or so during the winter. It helps to motivate me to train, to focus my efforts, and to put some effort into those dreary basement workouts on cold, dark winter days.
The Harpoon ITT was my first goal of the winter, and this was my second. But instead of mustering up the motivation to compete (only against myself, really) during a 12-degree January cold spell, today's challenge was to show up indoors for an event while it's mid-70s and sunny. I met that challenge by riding to the event. It took just about an hour and was a good warm up, and riding home was a good way to relax after an all-out effort. (And it was great to be riding outside today!)
The race is smaller than the Harpoon event, but it's surrounded by a fantastic Expo with all sorts of vendors with all kinds of cycling, running, and swimming gear, nutrition, and information. I was happy to have beaten my time in the event last year despite dropping my chain mid-race - the hills of the course (based on Central Park NYC) had me shifting between my big and small rings periodically.
All in all a great day for cycling. Really looking forward to this weather being around more consistently. And that seems more possible now that it's the first day of Spring.
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My PMC Ride 2010
- Fundraising reaches $3,514!One week to go! Permalink | Leave a comment » […]
- Fundraising reaches $3,309!Thank you to all the supporters who have been so generous in sponsoring my ride with the PMC this year. I just sent in some checks for deposit and our new fundraising total is $3,309! Only $891 to go to reach the minimum, and $1,691 to reach the $5,000 goal. Permalink | Leave a comment » […]
- Back on home turfToday's training was back on the shady tree-lined back roads of the North Shore, with a welcome change in temperature and humidity. Twelve days until the PMC rolls off. Permalink | Leave a comment » […]
