ian dewar - circling the world on two wheels

USGP Madison Cyclocross

Madison Wisconsin kicked off the National USGP series with a double-header of racing.  Perfect September cyclocross weather greeted racers on Saturday and classic cyclocross rain and mud rolled in Sunday.   With almost all the major US cyclocross racers in attendance this race solidifies the kickoff to the season. 

Men’s Race Summary

Who looked great:

Ryan Trebon (9 of 10) is definitely for real this season.  After driving the case for almost an hour at Cross Vegas we knew Trebon was in good shape, but after riding away from Jeremy Powers and two time world champion Bart Wellens he proved he is fit, serious and ready for this season.  First on Saturday and third on Sunday prove he’s just as good in dry fast conditions as he is in wet, muddy ones.

Bart Wellens (9 of 10) is a two time world champion for a good reason.  He’s also consistently one of the top Belgian cyclocross racers in a country that has a lock on the top of the UCI standings.  That Bart only won three of the five UCI races he did on his USA tour is a testament to the quality of racing in America today.  When he won on Sunday in the mud it was proof that when conditions are bad the Belgians excel.  The huge efforts he made on Saturday chasing down Jeremy Powers opened the door for Trebon’s win – but an off-result for Bart still put him in second place.  Not a bad trip to the USA for him.

Who looked great on Saturday:

Jeremy Powers (6 of 10) is going all-in on cyclocross this year.  His road season was simply a prep for this fall and he’s made it clear the National Championship is his goal for January 2012 with an eye on 2013’s World Championship in Louisville, KY.  On Saturday his attacking style may have cost him the race as he went to the front every time they pulled back an attack.  He still finished a solid 3^rd on the back of a Wednesday night win and 4^th last week at Cross Vegas. On Sunday he was never in the race.  He’s going to have to get better in the mud if he wants to compete in the World Cups and rest of this season.

Jamie Driscoll (7 of 10) was consistent both days hovering just inside or outside of 5^th place.  He finished 5th and 6th and was definitely solid on both days in the fast dry and slow mud.  Driscoll is also all-in on cross this year and should be set to take some solid wins later this season as race conditions worsen.

Who looked great on Sunday:

Jonathan Page (6 of 10) finally put together a good race on Sunday.  After a terrible CrossVegas and Saturday race in dry fast conditions Page immediately went after Rob Peters' lap 1 attack in the rain on Sunday and rode a technically perfect race.  His results will be better in muddy and sandy European races then American dry and fast races like last year’s USGP races.  Bend in December and nationals in Madison should favor him.  His speed is still off – he lost time on the flats and made it back in the technical mud sections. He’ll need to get that back up to contend in Europe and at nationals.

Rob Peters (7 of 10) put in a huge attack mid race on Saturday and to start the race on Sunday – trying to losen things up for Bart – by the mid-point of both race the top five were Peters, Wellens and Heule (all Euros), Jonathan Page (huge Euro experience) and only Trebon left of the regular American cross racers.  Peters couldn’t maintain either of his huge attacks on Saturday or Sunday to win – but with 4^th place finishes each day he’s solid for the rest of the season.

Christian Heule (6 of 10) rode really well Sunday in the rain and mud, but was completely out of the race Saturday.  He’s been travelling a lot since his 2nd place finish at Cross Vegas – so the incredibly fast start Saturday may have been a shock to him.  It’s a rude awakening mistake that he won’t make again.  No matter what the conditions in Fort Collins in two weeks look for Christian to be ready.

Who’s having a rough start to the season:

Tim Johnson (6 of 10) looked good at Cross Vegas until he crashed and chased back to 5^th place on Saturday after the early speed put him into trouble. 

Todd Wells (5 of 10) has had some bad luck so far this season – a tough 10^th place at Cross Vegas and a broken chain on Saturday put him into last place at the end of lap 1.  He chased back through more then 40 guys to finish 20^th but with a limited season this year to focus on making the Olympic mountain bike team next year Wells is going to only have a few more chances to notch some wins this season.

Geoff Kabush (5 of 10) rode well enough for top 15 in Vegas and top 10s both days in Madison but isn’t anywhere near the CX form that saw him winning races last year.  He’ll need to get his starting speed back up to content in future races as he’s been on the chase from the start in both wet and dry races so far this year.

Who’s missing:

Chris Jones from Rapha-Focus hasn’t started his season yet. With his fast starts and road fitness he should be a good rabbit to take some pressure off Jeremy Powers in dry races – but his wet racing skills aren’t the best and he’ll need to have top fitness to stay away from a fast starting Trebon this year. 

USA Cyclocross Power Rankings after three weeks:

1. Ryan Trebon – fast when it’s dry, faster when its wet
2. Jeremy Powers – good when dry, terrible when wet
3. Jonathan Page – good when wet, terrible when dry
4. Christian Heule – good in Vegas, flat race on Saturday, better on Sunday
5. Jamie Driscoll – solid performances in all races, good attack in Vegas
6. Tim Johnson – bad luck has seen crashes in 2 of 3 races
7. Todd Wells – good fitness but doesn’t have the fast snap of the front 3-4
8. Geoff Kabush – consistent top 10 but never in the top 5
9. Yannick Eckmann  - the top U23 rider on Saturday and 2nd best Sunday in Madison
10. Brian Matter – local boy and Chequomegon 40 mtb winner had a great pair of races with the big boys in Madison. Can he keep it up all season?

Here's a cool video from Sunday's USGP!

 

USGP Barriers on Saturday

 

 

San Francisco by Bike (by Ian)

My blog posts have been long lately so here’s a short one with a bunch of photos. I went up to San Francisco on Monday for the opening ceremonies of ThinkBike a two day workshop collaboration between cycling infrastructure experts from the Netherlands and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.   Building on a week long trip some city officials did last year to the Netherlands with Bikes Belong this session allowed city officials to highlight three specific areas that are slated for cycling improvement; Market Street; Polk Street and the Wiggle. 

It goes without saying that this type of collaboration is exactly what we need to jump start bike infrastructure development in American cities. But the truth is that these events will not happen without a lot of work and it takes a very committed group of people to accomplish this huge change in attitudes toward transportation.  In this case it included; the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition; the Board of Supervisors (the president of the board David Chu joined the trip last summer); the Department of Transportation (the new head XXX XX also joined the trip); the majors office (new Major XXX Lee is an unashamed supporter of cycling for San Francisco; the Dutch consulate; the Dutch cycling union (CROW); Bikes Belong; and countless overs who worked to help make this happen.

I look forward to following the progress of the committee recommendations as they work to make San Francisco an even more cycling friendly city.   In just the two short years since a moratorium on cycle track development was lifted the city is way more bikeable.  Here are some of the things I saw:

Large group of Dutch cycling experts, city employees and SFBC staff head out to inspect the different areas of study.  Interesting to note no one is wearing cycling specific clothing.  Being able to create a way for people to ride to work in work clothing is paramount to making a city more cycle friendly.

Newly painted green bike lanes on Market Street.  What a difference some color and plastic dividers make to increase the confidence level of cyclists.  With safety as the main concern for cycle commuters, these small changes have a huge effect.

In the past sharrows (arrows with bike logos) were painted in intersections.  By adding the green box the sharrow becomes so much more visible. 

Everything isn’t perfect yet – but with a plan in place to create bike lanes, bus lanes and vehicle lanes the city will continue to make the trip up and down Market Street a key way to access the city from the bay.

Of course any trip to the city isn’t complete without expensive hipster coffee at Blue Bottle and an almost perfect day to sit outside and enjoy it.  By creating a bike lane all the way from the Ferry building up to City Hall the city is further increasing the transportation options for people who don’t want to drive their car into the city.  Imagine a commute that involved a ferry and a bike ride rather then 45 minutes in your car every day.  Awesome.

Thank you Globe Daily for taking me on another city adventure.  I love your basket, your riveted-saddle and your single speed.  May we have many more adventures together.  Now if only I can figure out how to keep my white tires white…

Vegas By Bike – An Impossible Task

Las Vegas has hosted the Interbike bicycle trade show for years, and every year thousands of cyclists descent on the city – some even bring bikes.   For the first time in five years this year I decided to bring one with me so I didn’t have to take cabs everywhere.  I figure most years I spend somewhere near $200 getting around – it’s $25 from the airport, $20 from any hotel to any other hotel on the strip, $30 to get to dinner the way the cabs go back and forth.  So even though I was only staying a mile and a half from the convention center I made a point to ride as much as possible.

WOW.  My first reaction to riding is Vegas was just how car centric the city is and how build around limo and taxi traffic.  Even out on the east side in Henderson where I stayed the first two nights there were sections of roads without even sidewalks.  Getting to the grocery store my first day in Vegas involved a 2 mile ride on a road aptly named Boulder Highway – even though it was only about a half mile from a real highway.  Riding up the sidewalkless road I got stares as if I were riding a camel.  Once I arrived at the grocery store the lack of any safe bike parking made the experience complete.  I figured maybe it was just the store – so I rode all around the mini-mall looking for anything to lock my bike to.  Nothing.  No racks, no railing, nothing.  So I guess that isn’t exactly surprising given that the road leading to this shopping center (ok almost ALL shopping centers in Vegas) was four lanes wide.

As I got back into town the lack of any sort of bike support did surprise me.  In five days of riding around the strip I never once saw a bike race or a safe place to lock my bike.   Among the places I locked my bike in five days included:

• The motorcycle parking at TI (level 3 by the employee parking)
• A railing at the Fashion Mall with everyone looking at me like I was an idiot
• At valet parking at the Venetian (only cost a $5 tip to get it back)
• A railing outside Mirage (before I got yelled at)

To be honest the other thing was even more difficult then finding bike parking was riding safely around Vegas near the big hotels.  Basically there are three options;

1) Ride on the sidewalk

2) Ride on side streets and through parking garages the way cabbies do

3) Just ride balls out like you own the road

None of the options offered any level of safety that would make cyclists feel good about riding and none of them are a real viable cycling solution.  I realize that cyclists who ride into and out of the Strip or Downtown Vegas are definitely few and far between… but it’s crazy to see just how car centric the city really is.

I’m a pretty confident rider and riding The Strip at night was one of the craziest 2 miles of riding I’ve ever been on.  Fun – yes. Dangerous – for sure. Unrideable – not quite.  

Small Victories

Ironically this week was also when Andy Clarke from the League of American Bicyclists gave 11 new and 14 renewing Bicycle Friendly Communities awards.

But out in Henderson some awesome separated bike lanes and paths are being build – so there are examples the city can look to.

I guess the one benefit of seeing this starting point is that future of cycling in Vegas can only get better… man it’s definitely starting from the bottom.  I look forward to returning next year – I’ll stay a bit away from the convention center again; and I’ll bring my bike with me again.  Hopefully there are small improvements I can report back.

On the plus side Interbike always brings out some unique cycling with it… here’s a couple videos from Cross Vegas and from the Circulus Race between J-Pow and TJ.

 

 

Portland – Ride, Walk, Drink Beer, Repeat

Of course Portland’s hipster cred is never in doubt.  It would be foolish for me to write a blog-report on “how cycle-hip is Portland”… In fact I was reading that actual story in a cycling magazine that I picked up upon arrival in Portland.  How’s that for hipster irony. I bought a bike magazine in Portland with a story about Portland with a list of things to do and places to see that I’d already been to.  Glad to know my trip was hipster approved!

More then just the ever expanding hipsters on fixies – the bike culture of Portland has expanded because of two main reasons – better ways to ride bikes and more need for people to ride bikes…  Sounds pretty obvious, but the building of bicycle infrastructure in Portland is the main reason more people ride.  Shocking I know – and second an expanding urban workforce with housing within riding distance (1 to 5 miles) of employment has meant that an expanding workforce that lives close to their work can ride safer to work.  Again – a shockingly obvious observation – but in most cities in the USA there are two main reasons people give for not riding: Not Safe and Too Far.  In Portland infrastructure development helped solve the first problem and regional economic development helped solve the second one.

Some of the awesome things I saw in Portland include:

A green bike lane with a waiting Bike Box at dangerous intersections.  These Bike Boxes were all over Portland and the green lanes highlighted dangerous areas. This lane was a the end of a bridge with a dangerous turn on it and makes the cycle-lane more visible for car drivers and cyclists alike. What a perfect way to make it safer to ride without a huge building cost.

 

 

 

Across Portland small additions like this make cycling safer at intersections; on busier car streets and create clear cycle routes to put cyclists into safer environments.

Bike parking was everyone – in Portland there never seemed to be a loss for places to park bikes, but at the same time – they were in constant use.  I would estimate at any time at least 60-70% of available parking was being used.  In high traffic areas additional parking was created.  Here are some awesome examples:

Powell’s Book Store is an obvious spot for cyclists to park, but so is the bike parking at the Oregon Health and Science University. 

In fact there were so many bikes parked at OHSU that the school in cooperation with a local grant put on a four week FREE BIKE VALET PARKING experiment to see how popular it would be.   It should go without saying that the experiment showed students, doctors and professors alike all loved it.  The next step is finding out what the value of the service is.  Like many cycling projects once built they are incredibly popular – and like many cycling projects the biggest concern is who pays for the project?  The users (cyclists), the other users benefiting from less cars on the road (the University), the user group who don’t cycle and require more space to park (the drivers)?  As OHSU continues to look at how to offer more alternative transportation options it’s great to see Bike Valet included as a real viable option to reducing car congestion around the university and hospital.

Touring around Portland by bike – and many hotels in Portland offer bike rentals as an option – it becomes clear that much thought has been put into not only the cycle track layout but also the signage that goes along with it.

Of course it’s not all about just making it easier to ride to and from work.  One of the most exciting things about Portland’s continued investment in cycling includes making sure that it’s as easy to ride to dinner, bars, theatres, shopping as it is to ride to work and home.  Throughout the city there were bike-parking additions carved out of what used to be car parking. 

These 8, 10 and 12 bike racks were built up all over the city and especially on the east side where urban renewal is happening at a rapid pace. 

Build in front of coffee shops, restaurants and old warehouses now turned into office buildings these bike racks take up the space of two cars, but allow for 12 to 20 bikes to be safely parked.  Easy to install, relatively inexpensive and able to be put up almost everywhere these bike racks continue to add to the bikeability of the city. 

The best part about riding in Portland is not just that everyone else is riding – it’s that it’s fun and makes you want to ride more.  With safer roads, more places to safely park bikes, lots of housing within riding distance of great housing options and a high density of great restaurants, bars, clubs and hotels – Portland makes riding not only an easy option – but also a cheaper and faster option in many cases. 

Portland Recommendations

Finally in the vein of Portland-as-hipster-cyclists-destination here are a few awesome recommendations of places to go by bike while visiting.

Jupiter Hotel – www.jupiterhotel.com - 800 East Burnside 

The Jupiter falls squarely in the neo-hip hotel position but lives up to it’s hipster billing with a great restaurant, inexpensive bar and a live-music venue. The Doug Fir restaurant and club make it hard to leave the hotel but the location within walking or cycling distance to a ton of new places make it a perfect spot.  Of course they have bike rentals and the TVs have Universal Sports so you can watch cycling while hung-over in the morning if you’re staying during a grand tour.

Le Pigeon – www.lepigeon.com 738 E Burnside St

Right next to Jupiter this small restaurant (only has about 25 seats) is the darling of the neo-hip-food-revolution taking place in Portland.  Tattooed chefs, waiters who ride fixies to work, foie-gras raviolis, a single page but extensive wine list, what’s not to love?  Make a reservation ahead of time and don’t be offended if you sit at the long communal table with other people you don’t know.   Order a few small plates before selecting an entre.  Don’t rush your dinner and unless you have a clear provision against it order an Oregon Pinot Noir.

                                   pick a winner!!!

Beaker and Flask – http://beakerandflask.com/  727 SE Washington St

Beaker and Flask is to drinks what Le Pigeon is to appetizers: inventive, unusual, and always changing.  Based on what fresh fruit they have available to make mixers and XXX (drink sweeteners??) the drinks are ever changing and include every combination of mixer.  Not to be outdone the food also changes with what’s available – sometimes there are more small plates, sometimes more entrees.  Make your choice wisely – the drinks will make you want to order another… and another.

Sweet Pea Bakery – http://sweetpeabaking.com/ - 1205 SE Stark St.

Trying to offer a balance to the voodoo donut crazy expanding in Portland… Sweet Pea Bakeryoffers dark coffee, fresh vegan pastries and a lot of space.  With reclaimed space bike parking out front there's no reason not to head down for an early morning start.  As a bonus on Saturday they make donuts!  yum.  oh yea and they serve sandwhiches too if you want to pretend to have a lunch meeting so you can write off your trip to Portland.  

Finally no story about Portland would be complete without a picture of classic hipster.  Enjoy!