The Suitcase of Courage

Cycling Fun Friday:Inside the Postal Bus& Ride Fast

While the shorter days mean less after-work cycling, the longer nights mean more after-work reading (at least when you're not doing home improvement projects, but we'll not get into that here).  So for this edition of Cycling Fun Friday, a couple more books to add to your nightstand.

"Inside the Postal Bus" is an account by former US Postal Cycling Team member Michael Barry.  It's a fun, light read.  Barry's writing is engaging and does a fine job of conveying what it's like behind-the-scenes on a pro cycling team.

Interestingly, while he was on the team the same time as Lance, there's not a lot of dishing about the 7-time Tour champion.  Barry didn't race the Tour in 2005, but he did many of the bread-and-butter European races.  I found the stories about these races the most enjoyable of the book.  He also gives an account of his time on the Olympic cycling team.

All in all, I'd rate this book a B+.  It won't win any literary awards and the stories loosely follow in chronological order, but they seemed a bit scattered, with no unifying theme to connect them - other than the fact that they were all about bike races.

Get this book if you want a glimpse into the the day-to-day life of a pro bike racer.  That's what Michael Barry knows best and he does a fine job of letting us into his world. 

I recently re-read Eric Harr's "Ride Fast: Get Up To Speed On Your Bike In 10 Weeks Or Less" and was pleasantly surprised at how well it's held up despite all I've learned about training since I first discovered it a couple years ago.  Like the book by Chris Sidwells (reviewed here), it provides a pre-packaged training program, but Harr's book kicks it up a notch by setting a goal: take a newbie cyclist and train him (or her) to do a 3 mile time trial at an average speed of 25 mph - a daunting task.

Harr's book functions best as a one-stop course in performance cycling, and could even stand-in as an introduction to racing.  There's information on proper gear, bike maintenance, nutrition, and race preparation, as well as the training plan itself.  A number of sidebars are packed with additional information as well, covering everything from proper massage to basic physiology.

The biggest strength of the book, like the Sidwells book, is that its program covers not only exercise on the bike, but overall fitness/exercise as well.  There are a number of off-bike exercises that are recommended - and those workouts only take about 40 minutes at a time.

The on-bike workouts are gauged by either perceived exertion or a percentage of maximum heartrate.  In that way, it's pretty standard.  But my biggest criticism is that Harr has you calculate "maximum heartrate" based on the flawed formula "220 minus your age"  The plan in this book would be more effective if you're either very good at calculating your perceived exertion, or you know what your actual maximum heartrate is, based on a field or lab test.  That old formula is pretty useless.

Overall, I'd recommend this book to anyone that's ready to graduate from casual to serious riding or from haphazard training to planned training.  It's not the be-all, end-all but it does provide an excellent introduction to performance-based cycling and a great foundation you can build on.

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The weekend's forecast looks good again (amazingly), so more racing on Sunday.  Will let you know how it goes, so watch this space . . .

A Dog in a Hat

I just finished reading "A Dog in a Hat: An American Bike Racer's Story of Mud, Drugs, Blood, Betrayal, and Beauty in Belgium" by Joe Parkin.  Good friend SDC gave me this book a while back and I'd been saving it for winter reading.  If you race bikes, wonder what it's like, or wanna spend some vicarious time in Belgium while staying comfy by the fire, you'll enjoy this book.

The subtitle really says it all.  Unlike classics like "The Rider," Parkin's account reads more like what you'd hear sitting around the bike shop listening to the local hero.  Except this hero isn't local, and his experience is  unlike anything you've heard before.  The story of Belgian bike racing is much more than Paris-Roubaix or any of the other spring classics.  It's workaday, gritty, and there's very little glamour.

But there are drugs.  Parkin gets to page 13 before he gets to them, but they're there.  Sadly and inevitably.

But not surprisingly.  What surprised me most - though it probably shouldn't have - was how much of a grind pro bike racing can be.  If you're not on a well-known (and well-funded) team, you're relegated to an endless cycle (if you'll pardon the pun) of kermises and small stage races.  You discover very quickly that you race because you love to ride your bike fast and see what your body is capable of.  You don't do it to get rich or famous.

Like the real thing, if you read this book, you won't get soaring platitudes or much to inspire or motivate you.  But you will get a very realistic, up close and personal diary of an American bike racer in Europe.  If you're like me, you'll figure that that's as close to pro racing as you need to get.

Ten Points and Six Years After D-Day

 I finished reading Bill Strickland's memoir "Ten Points" last night and it's one of the best books I've read in a while.  I know this because I spent the whole of two straight evenings devouring it.  If I hadn't had to go to work the day after the first night, I would have stayed up to finish it.  As it was, I was up til 2 (and had to get up at 530).  It was that good.

But it wasn't all that much fun.  If you haven't read it already, you've likely at least heard about it.  Bill Strickland, the executive editor of Bicycling magazine tells the story of his life against the backdrop of wanting to fulfill a promise to his daughter to win 10 points during a tough crit series.  The reason he wants so desperately to win those ten points has as much - if not more - to do with his facing down his own personal demons as it does trying to impress his little girl.

And it's those demons, created by years of unconscionable child abuse, that drive him.  The book goes back and forth between the present day world of bike racing, beautiful, loving wife and precocious, precious daughter and the much darker world of Strickland's childhood.  He tells his story so compellingly - and so graphically - that each time the book shifted back in time, I felt an almost physical feeling of dread myself.

But the bright spot throughout the book, for me at least, was Strickland's daughter Natalie.  As the instigator of the promise, she is also herself a promise of personal redemption for her father.  Not so much through securing ten points in a local crit against high odds, but as a way to stop - if not reverse - the curse that haunts him.

Of course, you'll have to read the book to discover whether Bill Strickland ever got the ten points he'd worked so hard for.  But whether he did or not is nowhere near as important as the journey his daughter helped him begin.

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If you're looking for some great escapism, this book is for you.  If you're a cyclist - especially a tourer or radonneur - or if you're into history, look no further.

"Six Years After D-Day: Cycling Through Europe" is the true story of Marie Bennett Alsmeyer and her husband taking off for a European vacation, by bike, five years after World War II.  They had both been in the service during the war and were curious how things had changed.  Ms. Alsmeyer's account is vivid and descriptive.  You feel like you're right there along with them.

What struck me most about the story was its contrasts.  On one hand, it reads like a travelogue from the 1950s and has the fresh, naive outlook that so many had at the time.  Marie and her husband discover neat little shops and meet interesting people along the way.

But interwoven throughout the trip are reminders of what had happened in so many of these places only a few years before.  As an accomplished journalist, Ms. Alsmeyer uses her words to paint a picture of the devastation war brings not only to the physical places, but to the spirit of a people.

Overall, despite the occasional dark reminders of recent history, it was a fun journey to take.  The author shows us Europe in all of its charm and mystique.  The fact that we see it from the seat of a bicycle adds to the enjoyment.

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For me, the wintertime is the best time to catch up on reading - especially books of, on or about cycling.  It provides the sensual stimulus that the trainer just can't match.  When you can't get out to ride, sure, get on your trainer.  But after your recovery shake and cooldown, pick up one of those books that you never seem to get around to.  It might just make the offseason go by a little quicker.

Let me know if you have any recommendations of what I should read next, or want to tell me about one of your personal favorites.  Together, we'll get to spring - and outdoor riding - a little faster.

Cycling Fun Friday:Extra Edition

Due to an unusually quiet lunch break today, yet another book's been added to the "Recent Reads" list on the left sidebar (see today's earlier post for more).

During our vacation, one of the things we (ok, mostly I) enjoyed doing was visiting the local bike shops.  You just never know what you're going to find.  While most shops tend to stock the same type of stuff, Monomoy Sail & Cycle stood out.  It reminded me of rummaging through your grandma's attic, if your grandma were a cyclist.  And I mean this in a good way.  There were quite a few new-old stock items, components, etc.  Unfortunately, I don't know enough about old components to know whether there were any real treasures there.

But I know books.  And Monomoy Said & Cycle had an interesting book collection.  Right there next to a still-in-shrinkwrap VHS of the 1989 Tour de France (and still with its original 1989 price of $39.99), was a copy of "The Ten Speed Commandments: An Irreverent Guide to the Complete Sport of Cycling," by Mike Keefe (at its original 1987 price of $5.95).  I'd finished the vacation books I'd brought with me, (see left sidebar under "Recent Reads"), but more importantly I'd already read "Roadie" and was looking for some more cyling humor.

"The Ten Speed Commandments" fit the bill.  Mostly.  There may have been a reason why this book languished on the shop's shelves for over 20 years.  It was ok, but much of it was pretty dated (which you'd expect from a 20 year old book - and humor doesn't always age well).  There were some funny sections, but most of the jokes elicited the kind of half-laugh you save for your goofy uncle's antics at the annual family get-together.

It was what it was, and worth the 6 bucks - even if only for the illustrations (many of which were pretty funny, especially the dated ones.  Check out the depiction of a cyclocomputer!).  I was surprised to find a copy still available on Amazon.com - for $15.95 (inexplicably - it's the exact same book/edition/printing.  Have we had that much inflation in 20 years?)

But don't pay full retail - keep an eye out for it next time you visit an old book store.  Paperbacks there usually sell for a couple bucks and at that price "The Ten Speed Commandments" would be a worthy addition to your bike book collection.

Cycling Fun Friday:Recent Reads

Cycling isn't always about the riding.  As the cooler months get closer, you may want to read something cycling-related when you can't get outside to ride (or you're cooling down from your trainer session).

For some good recommendations, remember to check out the "Recent Reads" section in the left sidebar from time to time.  This is where I'll post mini-reviews of the cycling (sometimes non-cycling) related books I've read.  Usually, I'll post a detailed review in a regular post and then write a mini review for the sidebar sometime later.

The latest additions to "Recent Reads" include another cycling murder mystery, Floyd Landis' side of the story of the 2006 Tour and an account of a 53 yr old woman learning to ride the bicycle - in the 1890s! (trust me, you'll love it).  More in-depth reviews of the first two can be found here.  For some wonderful posts about "Wheel Within a Wheel," be sure to check out the great posts on this blog.

Cycling Fun Friday:Vacation Reading

In this week's edition of Cycling Fun Friday, we'll review a couple of bike books.

As I mentioned earlier, in addition to riding, I did some reading on vacation too.  I don't think I'm the only one to save certain books for vacation and I'd been looking forward to reading "Perfect Circles" by Greg Moody ever since I got it months ago.

Perfect Circles is the sequel to "Two Wheels" (mini-review on left sidebar, full review here). and continues the story of Will Ross and his participation on the Haven Pharmaceuticals cycling team.  This time around, Haven is the target of some especially unscrupulous operatives trying out a new, undetectable form of doping during the Tour de France.

Unlike some other reviewers, I thought Perfect Circles was better than Two Wheels.  At the very least, it started out MUCH faster and kept the fast pace up all the way through.  The villians were much more sinister and the description of doping seemed very authentic - and appropriately scary (especially when Moody described the side effects).

Like the first book, Moody displayed a special talent for describing how people die - from the perspective of the person dying.  Instead of saying so-and-so shot him with a gun equipped with a silencer, he says:

"The last thing he saw, consciously, was the hole in the pipe, fatter than the barrel of a gun, he thought, and the puff that came out of it.  The last thing he heard was the hollow "thup" that greeted the puff as it left the hole in the end of the pipe.  The last thing he felt was a slap on his forehead, just above the bridge of his glasses, that joined the "thup" that greeted the puff as it left the hole at the end of the pipe."

The fast pace of the sequel was a welcome contrast to how slowly the first book started out and the characters seemed more believeable - though the main villian, a statuesque aryan named Magda Gertz was a little over the top toward the end.  And speaking of the end, there isn't just one, but two twists that I didn't see coming.  The last one was especially surprising - maybe not the main hallmark of a good mystery (since there wasn't much mystery), but it certainly added to the suspense.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who loves mysteries/suspense and especially if you're also into cycling, since Moody provides a lot of behind-the-scenes detail of racing Le Tour.  But be sure to read "Two Wheels" first since "Perfect Circles" does mention some of the events in the first book and while you do get enough info to have an idea of what happened before, you'll know a lot more of the backstory.

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I'm clearly late to the party, despite having been right in the thick of it early last year, but I finally got around to reading Floyd Landis' book "Positively False."  Mrs. Suitcase and I have been fans of Floyd ever since I got into racing in the spring of 2006.  It just so happened that that, of course, was his banner year having won the Tour of California and Paris-Nice and competing in the first post-Lance Tour de France.

I wasn't expecting any surprises, especially since everything Floyd-related was thoroughly covered by blogs like Trust But Verify long before the book was published - one of the benefits, and challenges, of living in the era of digital journalism.  What I got was a much better understanding of Landis' background, character, and the source of his drive (IMO, it's not testosterone).  Of course, while you would expect to like a person more after reading their book, I also came away with a deeper respect for what he accomplished, not only at the 2006 Tour but throughuot his career.

If his claims are true, then the persons responsible for dope test results have a lot to answer for.  If the testing process is irreparably flawed, then anti-doping efforts are going to have a much more difficult, if not impossible, job being taken seriously.  How can you know whether those efforts are successful if you can't rely on the testing?

At the very least, Positively False raises some serious questions.  While the answers can't come in time to help Floyd Landis, hopefully people will raise the bar as high on the testing process and the labs as it has been on the anti-doping efforts themselves.  Integrity in both is absolutely critical if the sport of cycling has any hope of ever getting beyond doping.  If any good is to come out of the Landis affair, it'll be that his case raised that bar.

Why Cycle Wednesday:Bike Books

As you could probably tell from some recent posts, I've been getting a lot of reading done by the fire lately (certainly less strenuous than riding the trainer), but those books haven't had anything to do with cycling.

Until now.

The L&T Mrs. S gave me a couple of "bike books" for Christmas that I'd never heard of, so on my recent trip to the west coast I thought I'd read one.  You'll know why I picked the one I did for this trip when you hear the title.

"Two Wheels North: Bicycling the West Coast in 1909" is the amazing story of two 18 year olds who decide to ride their bikes from their home in Santa Rosa, CA to the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle, WA.  The ride alone would be quite a feat by any measure today.  The fact that they did it almost 100 years ago is absolutely remarkable.

The book is non-fiction, but reads like a boy's thriller novel.  The things these kids went through to ride the almost-1000 miles are unbelievable.  You get a sense that they had a hint of what they might encounter when you read that they packed a .22 rife and .38 revolver for their trip (they weren't weight weenies fer sure).

So why'd they do it?  They'd seen a traveling show about the Exposition and thought it "might be fun" to try and get there "on wheels" rather than taking the train or a steamboat up the coast.  They got a local paper to sponsor them and agree to pay them the whopping sum of $25 (a month's wages) if they made it to the fair before it ended.  In exchange, the boys agreed to write letters back to the newspaper that would then be published.

It was a unique way to sell papers.  And one of the cyclists (Vic) admitted to his daughter (the book's author) that the dispatches were always more heroic than the truth.  So each chapter of the book starts with an exerpt from one of the letters home - then continues with the "real" story, as told by Vic.

Cyclists will certainly get a kick out of what all the boys did to make the trip.  "Bike racks" weren't heard of in 1909, so they had a local blacksmith make up racks to allow them to carry their saddlebags safely.  And this was the era of the single speed and coaster brakes (forerunner to today's "cruisers") so they weren't lightweight bikes by any standard.  Canteens were used instead of today's water bottles and trees(?!) were tied onto the bikes to aid the brakes and slow their descent!

History buffs - even if noncyclists - will enjoy reading about travel at the turn of the century.  The descriptions are vivid and you really get a sense of being transported back in time.  Even the postcards the boys sent home are reproduced in the book.  And the accounts of how almonds and hops used to be harvested - as well as the, shall we say, primitive way to treat saddle sores - will make anybody thankful to be living in the era of modern machinery and ergonomic saddles.

Did they make it?  I won't spoil it - you'll have to find out yourself.  But I guarantee you, you won't be disappointed - in fact, I'll wager once you start it you won't want to put it down.

So when you've done all you can to keep the winter doldrums at bay - and you can't stand the thought of another minute on the trainer - pick up a good bike book like "Two Wheels North" (or check out some of my quick reviews on the left side of the screen).  It'll give you some inspiration that you can tap into when you're able to get back out on the road.

Recently Read BooksPart 2

Continuing my Cape Cod theme, I decided to take a turn to the more serious and reflective and - in a local bookshop, purely by chance, - picked up a copy of "The Outermost House" by Henry Beston - an old beat-up Penguin edition from the 1970s, but it was only a buck so I couldn't go wrong.  Beston was a WWI vet who lived for a year on a Cape Cod beach to help forget about the war.  He's most well known for his naturalist writing, and this book is his most popular and enduring.  I'm not a fan of this type of writing generally, but his style was very enjoyable.  His description of a wave alone is worth the price of the book - well more than what I paid.

I then decided to try the Grand-daddy of all naturalist writers - Henry David Thoreau and his "Cape Cod" collection of stories.  Maybe it was the writing style, or the era in which he wrote, but I found Thoreau to be much less accessible.  Then again, maybe I wasn't in the mood to think or contemplate as much as his books may demand.  After hearing so much about Walden - and especially living in New England and being interested in history - I thought I would have enjoyed this book more than I did.  It was certainly on the right subject.  But I'll have to try another one of his books sometime in the future and give him another chance.

"The Quickest Route: The History of the Norwich & Worcester" is a book that's been on my shelf for some time and I finally got to it.  It's what you'd guess - an exhaustive history of a southern New England railroad that was built in the early 1840s and was finally absorbed by the New York New Haven & Hartford Railroad in the 1890s.  I really enjoy collecting these railroad histories, but they all follow mostly the same lines (no pun intended).  Since we moved, we're much closer to where this particular line went (actually, the tracks are still pretty active), so it was neat to learn some more of the local history.

My most recent of recent reads was "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis.  I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it.  While not an expert in late 18th century American history, I am a history buff and wasn't expecting to learn a lot of new stuff from this book.  But I was wrong.  Ellis describes in great detail how these men related to each other and how important character and personal honor were in order to nurture the infant republic.  For example, I'd always known that Adams and Jefferson were bitter enemies that developed a famous friendship toward the end of their lives, but I learned a lot about their competing visions for the new country.  The description of the Hamilton-Burr duel contains research I'd never read before and cast a new light on that dramatic episode in our history.  The book itself is divided into chapters are easily read in an evening, and I just about blew through this book over the course of one week.  Ellis' writing style is as enjoyable as his topic is compelling.  If you have any interest in this era, you won't be disappointed.

Somewhere in there I also read "Ghost Train," a collection of railroad-related ghost stories, and "Classic Christmas Stories" edited by Julia Livshin, a collection of, well, you know.

So that's it - that's "what I did during my summer vacation" the last two months, just in case you were wondering what possibly could have kept me off my bike for so long...

Recently Read Books

As I've mentioned here and here, one of the main things I've been doing in the "off season" (instead of riding, which for me was just about all of November and December), is reading some books by the fire.  Mrs. Suitcase and I have wanted a fireplace for a very long time, and with the move last summer, we finally got one.

With house attached of course.

So after going through almost a cord of wood already (and it's hardly January!) and having a fire almost every night, I realized that I'd read quite a bit more than usual.  Interestingly, none of these books have anything to do with cycling, but in case you're looking for some good weekend reading, I share them with you here.

I think the first one I read was "I Never Left Home" by Bob Hope.  I think it was a two bit (literally) purchase from a library book sale a few years ago and I finally got to it.  It's LONG out of print, having come out in the middle of World War II.  It even had the "War Production Board" language on the pulpy-type paper.  If you can find a copy, I think you'll enjoy it.  It's basically a travelogue of his USO tour in 1943 with Frances Langford, Jerry Collonna and friends.  It doesn't soft soap the horrors of war, but since it's by Bob Hope you know there's a lot of humor in it.

Then it was time for a  little detour into the passion I had before cycling - golf.  But even bettter - golf and history (another favorite topic).  Better still?  Golf and LOCAL history (like right down the street).

I don't know whether you'll ever run across a copy of "The Morgan Cup: A Century of Golf at Fenwick" or - if you do - whether you'd be interested.  It was a limited run edition mostly for the local "Fenwickians."  But if you're into golf, and history (with a little Hollywood and WASP culture mixed in), it's an interesting book.  The writing style is a little dry, relying heaviliy on a recitation of facts, but you'd expect that from what is essentially a 100th year c0mmemorative of a little 9 hole course that weaves through some of the most exclusive real estate on the East coast.  Katherine Hepburn aced the 6th hole the day before her "cottage" (along the 2nd fairway) was destroyed by the 1938 hurricane.  There are many accounts of The Season and how insurance executives and other capitalists from Hartford used to summer there.

Then for some reason I got into a Cape Cod kick.  Maybe because we usually go to the Cape in September and couldn't this year.  But these books were the next best thing to being there.  I started with "I Retire to Cape Cod" by Arthur Tarbell.  It's a very funny account of a college professor that, you guessed it, retires to the Cape.  It's all the more funny because it's nonfiction.  The book itself is from 1944 (an old bookshop acquisition) and has beautiful period drawings that could easily have been in The New Yorker magazine.  A very fun read.

(to be continued...)

Why Cycle Wednesday:Fitness

Not a surprising topic for this edition of WCW, but considering it IS the second day of the new year - and hopefully some New Year's Resolutions are still intact - I figured it'd at least be timely, if not very original.

I hate exercise for its own sake.  But in cycling I've finally found something I can do to stay (or get) in shape and get a little fitness in my life.  The racing is all about keeping me focused and motivated to bike, but it's the bike itself that keeps me motivated to exercise.

So in the tradition of one of THE most popular New Year's Resolutions, I'll share what I'm doing to "exercise more."

In previous posts here and here, I reviewed various books and methods I've used for winter training.  I almost decided this year to either use those tools again - or combine them in some new way.

Then Mrs. Suitcase reminded me that she'd bought "Workouts in a Binder For Indoor Cycling"  Of course, I find this out, literally, on New Year's Eve after I'd already gotten all set up to just do something familiar from last year.  But I promised to check it out.

I'm glad I did.  It has a number of workouts that you do on your trainer that focus on different skills & aspects of your cycling.  But it's in how they're put together in a program that's especially helpful.  For somebody like me, that's been off the bike for a couple of months, there is a 5 week "preparation" training program that give you a little bit of everything then ramps you up slowly so that you can start on the 12 week "base building" program.

Now of course, that's 17 weeks - over four months(!) - and my first training races start in March.  A little over 2 months away.

I guess I should have started this program in early November.  About the same time I got off the bike. 

Ooops.

But one thing I learned last season is that the best laid plans often go awry.  And you have to set goals that are not only acheivable, but realistically take into account "real life" getting in the way (unless of course if you're a pro, in which case you probably aren't reading this anyway...).

The one constant - and a goal that meets these criteria - is exercise.  Maybe I don't get to every workout, maybe I don't race competitively as early in the season as I'd hoped, if at all.  But I'm ramping up responsibly and, most importantly, I'm doing SOMEthing to get my body moving.  Shooting for the goal of racing keeps me focused and motivated enough that I'll do at LEAST enough training to be able to check off "exercise more" in the new year.

I'm getting out there (ok, in my basement) and getting active.  And that's a great reason to cycle.