“In Appia is my salvation”

Posted on July 2, 2008
Filed Under touring Italy by bicycle | Leave a Comment

“In Appia is my salvation,” I wrote in a journal entry shortly before I rode diagonally across the southern half of Italy, from Rome to Brindisi, following the historic route of the via Appia as accurately as possible.

Why do we make these trips, anyway? You’ve got your own personal reasons when you travel by bicycle. The more obvious benefits, like saving money, saving gas, cutting pollution and possibly improving your health are just icing on the cake. That’s not why you really do it.

Maybe you’ve been through something like this. I was in a confusing period in my life, where everything I wanted or thought I needed was either too easy or completely out of reach.

In times like that you need something to take you outside the box you’ve built around your life. A bit of challenge and adventure, the possibility of romance, a little bit of danger and a lot of fun. Touring southern Italy by bicycle, riding down the Appian way, gave me all of that and more. That’s why we do these things. That’s probably why you’re reading this.

Either you’ve done this route or something similar, or you have a craving for it. I’ll tell you the whole story on this blog, in little installments. You can follow along, get good route notes, and hear the tale, warts and all. “In Appia is my salvation,” I wrote, and I was right.

Saving dogs, fighting cancer, and having a killer long distance bike ride

Posted on June 25, 2008
Filed Under bike rides | Leave a Comment

There are true heroes in this world. If you want to meet one, check out Ted, who is doing something very few people have tried. There have been a lot of bike rides to raise money and awareness to fight diseases, but these have always been for the benefit of two-legged creatures.

Now there’s a biker who is riding for the life of animals. When a person gets cancer, they have a lot of options. For animals, sometimes the best they can hope for is to be drugged beyond the reach of pain. But when Ted’s dog came down with cancer, he sought out cures and treatments, and wrote a book for other dog owners.

But now he’s doing something great. He’s riding his bike across the country to raise money to help dogs with cancer. On his website you can learn more about the story, and the scores of fellow dog owners who are grateful for his work. You’ll see some videos of the ride, and you’ll have the chance to donate funds to help dogs who have been stricken with this disease.

Here’s the link: http://www.dogcancerride.com

Same bike, same route, different bike ride

Posted on June 17, 2008
Filed Under beginner training for bicycle riders | Leave a Comment

I read all those recommended training routines in Bicycle Magazine, but even when I have the time to try and follow them (which is rare and inconsistent) I’m usually not up to snuff.

But I’ve found a way to really benefit from the saddle time I have.

Nearly all of my bike riding time is commuting in the city. I get a short stretch of biking in between traffic lights and stop signs. Normally I would take the whole route at an easy pace, the kind meant for bike touring, and get restless and frustrated whenever the usual urban obstacles forced me to stop.

Now I look at my daily bike route as a series of sprints through an obstacle course. Now when I hit a red light I’m breathing hard, my thighs are burning, and I’m grateful for the 45 seconds of rest. The results:

This connects with a very popular philosophy of bike touring. Use what you’ve got. On a tour this means fixing a bike with duct tape, broken pens, or anything you can find because the only other alternatives are walking or hitchhiking.

In an urban bike commute, you practice this philosophy through better training. The “duct tape” is the time and circumstances you have available. Use what you’ve got.
Try this. Seek more challenges, fun, and rewards without changing where, when, or how long you ride. The secret is to change how you ride the bike.

Now you can ride with me in Italy, even if you don’t ride with me

Posted on June 5, 2008
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I’ve been getting a lot of emails (as well as a few comments added to old posts) from people wanting tips and advice on biking in southern Italy. Some of you are riding (or even hiking!) the Via Appia, and it’s a shame that it’s so hard to get a group of people together when our schedules, wills, and finances are all in alignment.

We’re basically all doing prettymuch the same ride, just not at the same time. So… Read more

Bicycle Samurai?

Posted on April 15, 2008
Filed Under benefits of bike exercise | Leave a Comment

Almost everyone knows the benefits of bike riding. But I’ve been thinking about the similarities between biking and various martial arts.

Both are essentially practical survival skills that benefit your health and physical fitness as a “side effect,” (Although for many people this side effect is the main reason to take up the art.)

If you get into it at all, it can become a lifestyle with social, mental, philosophical and spiritual dimensions. The experts incorporate daily rituals that include stretching and breathing, possibly visualization, and eventually dedication to the care and maintenance of your equipment. (For the bike Samurai, your bike is your sword).

Could this evolve into the richness of a martial art? Are there certain qualifications to be considered a master? What do you have to do to become a bike blackbelt? Who are the different, rival schools? (Think Karate vs. Kung Fu, Mountain Bikers vs. Roadies or Commuters vs. Messengers.)

At what point does a “sport” become an art, or a way of life? Are we there yet?

Biking in Italy–the sad truth and the happy implications

Posted on March 30, 2008
Filed Under touring Italy by bicycle, Tour de California | Leave a Comment

OK, this has bummed me out as much as it has a lot of you. After looking at the euro vs. dollar exchange rates, seeing how much touring Italy by bicycle is going to cost right now, and considering some interesting and exciting business prospects I have right now despite the general economic doom and gloom, I’ve decided to postpone this trip for at least a year.

If you still want to go, drop me a line and I can give you a lot of advice from personal experience touring southern Italy and Rome, especially. And there’s more.

If you’re not from the United States, this is a great time to visit our country. Everything will be unusually cheap, and the people will be really nice to you. I’ll be blatant. We need your tourist euros and other currency.

I shouldn’t have to say this, but if you’re in the USA and facing financial hardships, your bike can be a fun and healthy way to stay out of the mess. It’s much cheaper to buy, power, and maintain a bike than a car, and it’s a great way to cut corners, especially if it doubles as your workout.

Speaking of workouts, I’m going to be posting a lot more in the future about the benefits of bike exercise, and also a total body workout to keep your arms, shoulders, and core up to par with your legs and cardio, which are probably already rock solid if you’re biking even moderately.

I also have a surprise this coming summer that should be a huge benefit to travelers anywhere in the world, whether or not you travel by bicycle. So keep in touch.

As I post this, oil is $100 a barrel. Gasoline is still half what it costs in Italy, probably because of some irrational taxation/subsidy patterns on both sides of the globe. We’re living in interesting times, and that can seem like a curse but often be a blessing.

I’m just months away from my 40th birthday, and I had planned to bicycle around the Mediterranean sea as a present to myself. Now it looks like I’ll have to put it off for a few years but it’s not over yet. If I keep in shape I could probably still do it when I’m 50, and I don’t give up.

Don’t you give up either. Your bicycle can be cure for so many problems that plague the world today–global warming, pollution, peak oil, economic excess, poverty, even a lot of health problems and crisis.

I long for easier, happier days, such as, for example, the way things were ten years ago. But we cannot choose the times we live in. As Gandalf said, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

Enjoy these big hills that can only lead to easier times in the future. Ride swift and free, and remember it’s all about the journey. In fact, you don’t even know the final destination.

More bike accidents or just more bikers?

Posted on March 6, 2008
Filed Under bicycle commuting | Leave a Comment

There was an article in the L.A. Times a few months ago where they stated that the number of cyclists killed by motorists had doubled from 2005-2006.

Bad news, but the reason might not be as grim as you think. Apparently the number of bicycles sold also doubled during the same period of time. If there are twice as many of us out there, and everything else stays the same, then the death rate would also double.

There are more and more people riding bikes. Me and my girlfriend even went to a club on our bikes last night.

Drivers, please be careful.

A quick bike tip

Posted on February 25, 2008
Filed Under beginner training for bicycle riders | Leave a Comment

You have to eat. When you’re at the end of a hard bike ride (or sometime in the middle of a long one), you’ll recover faster if you give your muscles some protein and glycogen to work with. A boost of antioxidants can’t hurt, either.

A lot of nutrition companies have gotten rich selling sweet and milky “recovery drinks” that are designed to give you exactly these things. The trouble is they all taste like malted baby formula. Luckily, you’ve got alternatives.

The real quick fix is a bowl of cereal with skim milk. This gives you the right balance of amino acids and carbs, and the cereal is probably vitamin fortified.

Better still (and my personal favorite when I’m really at the end), eat a big fat burrito with a pint of beer. Just as long as it’s good beer. None of that watery Coors shit.

Buon appetito!

Bicycling around Rome with a new tech toy

Posted on February 7, 2008
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Rome has a new experimental system that combines GPS and the internet to bring walkers a whole mess of useful data in your cell phone: models of traffic, crowds, and even hot spots where a lot of people are gathering.

You can find out where the crowds are, and decide if you want to be where the action is, or whether you want to get as far away as possible. Not only will you be able to find the bus stop, you’ll know when the next bus is coming and whether it’s likely to be crowded or not.

This device is meant for drivers and walkers, but why not bikers too? Decide for yourself:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/11/27/mobile_mapping/

Some interesting bicycle facts

Posted on January 15, 2008
Filed Under beginner training for bicycle riders, benefits of bike exercise, bicycle commuting | Leave a Comment

The energy in a slice of pizza is enough to move an automobile 100 feet. That same pizza slice will take you 3 1/2 miles if you’re walking, or 10 miles if you’re riding a bike. Special thanks to Transportation Alternatives (link)

Also, according to the late Ken Kifer of www.KenKifer.com, the total cost to you and to society of traveling one mile by car or by bike comes out to 93.8 cents for a driver, but only 12.8 cents for biking.

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