October 1, 2021

Happy October, Group Riders. If 2021 is a big apple pie, somehow we have already managed to gobble down three-quarters of it. 

In that time, according to Strava, I’ve logged 2,470 miles. Not bad, but way off the pace of last year’s total. I attribute the decrease to 1) frequently opting for my mountain bike over my pavement-devouring road bike, and 2) focusing on the quality of the miles I ride, not just the quantity. Even if I haven’t been setting distance records, the time I've spent riding has been meaningful and memorable.

And there are still three months to go. What do you say – shall we dig into this last big slice of 2021 together?

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Warm Up

Badly Byrned

New York Times

You probably know David Byrne as the principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of the Talking Heads. He’s the guy who has, on numerous occasions, enchanted you onto the dance floor, belting out, “Psycho killer! Fa fa fa fa fa fa!” 

That’s how I knew him until I read this NY Times article. As it turns out, there’s a whole other side of David Byrne. He's a straight-up velophile.

Byrne rides chiefly for transportation, but also as a means of bonding with his bandmates. He rides all over his home city of New York, rain or shine, often dressed in white, tailed by drummers, guitarists, and friends. This year, Byrne even rode an e-bike to the star-studded Met Gala, for which I award him 1 million cool points.

When he goes on tour, he travels with a folding bicycle, bringing it to cities like London, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Istanbul, Manila, Detroit and San Francisco. He commonly rides 25 miles before sound check, then presumably electrifies audiences with hits like "Take Me To The River" and "Once In A Lifetime." He even wrote a book called “Bicycle Diaries,“ described as "an enchanting celebration of bike riding and of the rewards of seeing the world at bike level.” Cycling, world travel, and a sprinkling of rock and roll – sounds like my kind of book. 

The epiphany that Byrne is an avid cyclist makes me adore his music even more. If we really are on a “road to nowhere,” as his lyrics suggest, he’s certainly a fascinating person to have along for the ride.

Crank It

Beware the Bonk

Photo credit: Viktor Bystrov

After bad drivers, I’d say bonking ranks next on the list of things that cyclists fear. I can’t say I’ve ever truly, honestly, unmistakably bonked; I’ve never run so completely out of gas that I tap out and take a Lyft home. But I’ve had my battles with hunger, and I know that when I’m positively ravenous, I’d just about eat the chewing gum off of a city sidewalk. 

That’s why I chuckled my way through this blog post about narrowly escaping a bonk and finding salvation in a bucket of stale Red Vines. Like the author, I, too, have found myself out on a ride, having wildly overestimated my energy reserves. That day, instead of stopping for the food I surely needed after 60 miles, I decided to push on towards home, still another 35 miles away.

When I finally rolled into our driveway, I dropped my bike on the ground and collapsed onto our patio furniture, tank empty. If memory serves, I may have even texted my wife, who was just inside, to please oh please bring me calories, any kind at all, it doesn’t matter. A half-eaten bag of tortilla chips and leftover pasta have never tasted so good.

Since then, I’ve been better about eating before I’m hungry, drinking before I’m thirsty, and paying close attention to the signals my body sends. Each tweak, twinge, and twitch is a prescription, of a sort, to help me achieve my ambitious goals. I listen closely because all it may take to stay bonk-free is a licorice whip.

Coffee Stop

Guzzle Without Guilt

Photo credit: Blake Wisz

As I mentioned in the most recent Group Ride, I’ve been studying up on how to prolong my life as a capable, confident cyclist. A key component is getting more fiber. Not carbon fiber, although I’ll take a little extra of that too. I mean dietary fiber.

Adequate intake of dietary fiber is associated with digestive health and reduced risk for heart disease, stroke, hypertension, certain gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers. Yet most Americans aren’t getting enough. Experts recommend 21-38 grams of dietary fiber per day. Sipping from a can of pinto beans would help me reach this goal, but after a long bike ride, I much prefer a refreshing soda. 

So last weekend, my wife and I shared our first can of OLIPOP, a soda with the “added benefit of microbiome and digestive health support.” Through some sort of sorcery, OLIPOP sneaks 9 grams of dietary fiber – yet only 2-5 grams of sugar –  into each 12-ounce can. After the first sip, I looked at the label in disbelief. I sipped again, grabbed a pen, and added three more OLIPOP flavors to our grocery list. 

So far, I’ve tried Orange Cream, Classic Root beer, and Cherry Vanilla. Each has been more or less indistinguishable from the taste of the sodas I grew up with, and all are certainly far superior to lentil-banana smoothies or whatever other beverage ideas you may have conjured to boost your own fiber intake.

Give ‘em a go and let me know what you think.

Jaunt Back

Cycling State of Mind

Photo credit: Margaux d'Arbeloff

Over the years, I’ve dabbled in meditation, mostly as a way to shut down on those evenings when my thoughts won’t stop racing. I’ve tried apps, yoga classes, youtube videos. The results have been...mixed.

One reason I’ve found it difficult to commit to regular meditation is that I already feel like I get many of its claimed benefits from cycling. A connection to my breathing, separation from constant interruptions and distractions, a reliable way to put both literal and figurative distance between me and the things that are weighing me down – when I ride my bike, I get all of this and more, sometimes for hours.

Still, lately I’ve wondered, is there more I can do to merge these two wellness activities? I poked around the web and found examples of individuals experimenting with cycling as a moving meditation and another providing guided audio meditation to riders on their bikes (for those brave enough to face traffic with headphones on).

For now, my first step is simply to ride more mindfully: tuning into my senses, observing my thoughts and letting them pass, and staying in the moment.

Cool Down

Age of Enlightenment

Photo credit: Dawid Zawila

Every so often, you come upon an article that speaks truth so clearly, you wonder quietly, “Wait, did the author write this just for me?” That’s how I felt reading Outside’s recent essay called “The 6 Stages of Cycling Enlightenment.” It lays out the journey that many cyclists take, from Innocence to Enlightenment, and ultimately highlights how similar the two ends of the spectrum are in mindset and equipment. 

Reflecting on my own path, I seem to be currently straddling three of the stages. For example, the Group Ride newsletter – and relatedly, my constant search for cycling-related content – is evidence that I am in the Hunting and Gathering stage. But then a line from the paragraph about the Disenchantment stage also stands out to me: “Devouring miles becomes less of an imperative, too; you’re riding just as much, but you’re savoring it rather than binging on it.” Isn’t that what I was just talking about in my intro?

In any case, I have not yet achieved cycling nirvana, so there’s more work to be done. Wherever you are on your own cycling journey, I hope enlightenment comes to you soon.

Peel Off

Giphy

In case you missed it, another cyclist from the small town of Durango, Colo. made headlines in September for blowing away the competition at the UCI World Cup cross-country Olympic race. Christopher Blevins was the first American male to win the top spot since 1994.

Not saying I’m cut from the same cloth as Blevins and Tour de France stage winner Sepp Kuss – not even close – but I like knowing that the roads I grew up on continue to propel other Durango cyclists to the tippy-top of the sport. I look forward to seeing more Durangsters follow suit in the years ahead.

That's all for now. Time to go peep some leaves. See you on the next Group Ride. 

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