Looking For A Sign

I've got the February blues, and I'm looking for a sign. The road bike sits in its basement bunker, waiting patiently for it's moment to attack the twisting roads up to Lansing, Dryden, McLean, Groton, Trumansburg, Ellis Hollow, Richford, Brooktondale, Spencer, Candor, and beyond. Yet these are desperate days for me, as I realize how I'm in complete withdrawal from road biking addiction. Sure, I see brave cyclists on the road in winter climbing up East State St. and elsewhere, but I have no intention of breaking out the road bike until the bulk of the road salt is washed away.


Every day I visit Accuweather and check out their 15-day forecast temperature graph, hopefully looking for signs of a warming spell, but today's graph offered no encouragement. The anticipated high temperature has essentially flatlined for the next two weeks, so I guess I just have to face the inevitable, and prepare for some more indoor riding with the trainer. It's so hard to get motivated for indoor cycling, but it will surely pay off.


Speaking of indoor training, my friend Joe sent me the link to a story that ran on the radio show Only A Game about an annual event called Bikes and Beer. This event sounds like a blast, and if I lived closer to Boston, I would definitely participate. Nearly 300 cyclists visit the Harpoon brewery for an indoor time trial, a stationary bike race that simulates an eight-mile course. Imagine all these riders riding on trainers that are all networked to an electronic scoreboard. The software is so sophisticated that it allows for drafting! Somehow an event like this appeals to me (in theory at least) much more than a spinning class, not just because you're using your own bike, and it's not just because of the beer reward afterwards. As one of the participants pointed out, if your a recreational cyclist participating in a race with Cat 1 riders, you'll only see them for a minute or two, and then they'll be out of sight for the rest of the race. In this even, however, you see them for the whole race, which might offer some inspiration and some performance tips. Here are some pictures of the event.

If you're starting to think of cycling events to participate in for the summer, I recently heard about an event called BikeIt! Here's a blurb from their web site:

Imagine 5,000 bicyclists riding into Detroit, the Motor City, to help bring about a different world. We see thousands of cyclists coming from every direction converging on the United States Social Forum next June, voting with their legs for a greener, cooler, fairer society. We’re taking that ride, and we invite you to join us.

The first U.S. Social Forum took place in Atlanta from June 27 to July 1, 2007. Like the annual World Social Forums, the Atlanta event brought together activists, organizers, people of color, working people, poor people, and indigenous people from across the United States. They built unity around the common goals of environmental and social justice, formed alliances to broaden the social justice movement, and had a blast while doing it. Now the second U.S. Social Forum is organizing. It will open in Detroit on June 22 and run until June 26, 2010. We are now looking for organizers to recruit squads of cyclists and biofuel-powered support wagons to ride from wherever they are to the Opening March.

Hopefully I'll be chatting with the organizer soon and providing more information about the event. Lots of rides are being organized around the country to head to Motor City and participate in what looks to be a really important event that will hopefully initiate grassroots activism on a range of environmental and social justice-related issues. If you're interested in joining the Finger Lakes BikeIt Ride, check out this link. This group will have a max of 50 riders from Ithaca, Syracuse, Binghamton, and smaller towns in Central NY. The ride will be about 500 miles, and here's the map of the route:

If I had the time, I'd love to participate. The Canadian section of this ride is spectacular. There's very little traffic for most of this stretch, and the views along the Lake Erie shoreline are spectacular.