Tommy gave my Eyewater the most thoughtful, fundamentally sound, refined, and simpatico build I’ve experienced. We went out for a little ride ostensibly so I could shake the bike out after he’d shaken it out several times himself, but as I told him somewhere along the way, the bike and its build was so spot-on it felt like I’d been riding it for years. So instead of diagnosing and tweaking we settled into one of those rides only possible these days between people who have been riding a long, long time and who still are or at some point were good enough to sometimes be considered good enough by those who are truly good or better. I reckon he figured out how much I appreciate flow and sublime topography because somewhere in there we changed up the route plan so he could show me some of his favorite roads. I think here we’re just surfing on Hillside. There was also one of those goofy local-favorite circles (this one and up-and-down actually called Circle Road if I remember right) that keep feeling like a secret no matter how many people know about it, maybe because fewer people do it than know it because the detours make no sense unless you seek and welcome and cherish joy.
A tip or a superstition?
In this episode of The Bicycling Show About Bicycling we talk about how superstitious cycling actually is, and how many pre-ride habits, rituals, and routines we all follow without even realizing it.
Watch the full episode at the link in our bio.🔗
If you’re over 50 and finishing rides completely wrecked, the problem might not be age—it might be underfueling.
On the latest episode of The Bicycling Show About Bicycling, our editors break down why older riders need to pay closer attention to carbs, protein, hydration, and timing. If you want to go deeper on riding as you age, Bicycling’s How to Ride Strong at 50+ offers more guidance on staying strong for years to come.
Watch the full episode at the link in bio.
Modern pro racing looks a little different than it used to—and one big clue is how little time riders spend in the drops.
On the latest episode of The Bicycling Show About Bicycling, our editors break down why pros are spending more time on the hoods, how aerodynamics changed what “fast” looks like on the bike, and what that shift means for the rest of us.
Watch the full episode at the link in bio.
It was 1991 that I got hired into Bicycling, more for my writing ability than my riding ability, though probably in the end because someone there sensed I had a passion for both that would go on. Tim was the first of all those more experienced more important more expert enthusiasts who went out of their way to ride with me. Except in his own style: Just about every road ride I did with him seemed to depart late, finish later, steer off-route, take a detour, seek a view, explore an unpaved road, underbike a trail, out-and-out bushwhack, find a farmstand, induce a mechanical, and wrap up, no matter what, with his genuine, guileless, goofy smile that asked and stated that it had been great after all, right?
And it was.
Thanks in large part to Tim, how he rode and how he lived, I started mountain biking about a year after I got to Bicycling, and for five or six or seven years or some number I don’t even know anymore and no longer care to try to count I mostly was a mountain biker and mostly wrote about mountain biking. Tim and I taught skills clinics and led rides down in West Virginia, up in Crested Butte, other places. Everything was always going wrong in wonderful ways. At one session he gave the most beautiful, persuasive talk I’d ever heard about the sublime experience of building speed through smoothness, then got on his bike to start the ride and with his first pedal stroke snapped his chain. We laughed so hard, so long, rolling around the grass — like fools but also like those who at least in that one moment are so deeply wise about savoring what makes a life worth living.
Anyway, I’m terrible about staying close with those who aren’t close, and once Tim moved away we couldn’t stay in touch. I just heard yesterday that he died at the end of March. I’m going to go out today and get at least a tiny bit lost, because I know that’s where I can find him.
I played a very, very small role in getting Moriah’s story from our pages into this doc. I hope you watch it. I hope everyone watches it. Especially in today’s hyperpolarized world, I believe that Moriah’s energy and spirit, the humanity and resiliency shown by her parents, and the love and friendship shown by Caitlin Cash can get people to rethink how they’re living their lives.
I mailed my last MetroCard to Nina, and she cut it up and used it in one of her mosaic collage works and I look at it every day, or at least every day I’m home, and some of those times I think about how we perceive value, and that’s kinda priceless.
Can’t find a machine anymore to refill at any of my regular stops. Got a single ride’s fare still in it. I’m not sure if there’s more to be had from one last swipe with the knowledge that it’s the last, or from leaving that one ride on there forever.
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#nycsubway #subway #metrocard
Gabe and Kacey asked me to come out for the final regular-season night of the 20th anniversary of a thing I and a small bunch of believers in cycling stumbled our way into creating. I was taught not to look back in bike racing, and because bike is the way of life, for me anyway, I tend in my daily existence to value the roads ahead more than the ones behind. Sometimes to a fault, for sure. I don’t think so in this case. What I said to this much-bigger bunch of believers in cycling was: “The benefit of the past is that you don’t have to currently live in it, so it just gets better and better. Being here tonight, I would say that the best days of Fifth Street Cross are right now. You should all know that these are the good old days. Just live that, and don’t listen to anybody who says it was better back then.“
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#bikeisthewayoflife #fifthstreetcross #fsx #ogfsx #cross #cyclocross #bikeracing #bikes #emmauspa #longtailproductions
Join Bicycling as we celebrate the legendary battle of Eros Poli vs. Mont Ventoux.
The inspiring and tear-jerking documentary, “GRINTA!” is just one of many cycling-centric movies you can see at the Bicycling Film Festival New York.
For all of the details of this exciting event, head to the link in our bio.
