AKG, AAKG, and my Parkinson’s

It has been six years since I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. (PD.) I am fortunate that the progression of the disease has been slow, and I like to think that this is largely due to my paying attention to my diet, exercise, and certain supplements I take on a regular basis.

The only medication I take is the very basic Levodopa/Carbidopa that has been around since the 1930s. It is relatively inexpensive compared to the latest treatments, probably contains more natural ingredients, and has less side effects. I also take a natural supplement, Dopa Mucuna which is a plant-based form of Dopamine.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that the body normally produces naturally, but sometimes as we age the body stops producing dopamine, which is the cause of Parkinson’s. Unfortunately, one cannot simply take a pill to replace the dopamine.

Most of what we take orally, never makes it past the gut and our digestive system, let alone make it to the brain where it is needed. It is better we exercise, eat healthy, and encourage the body to take care of itself.

In 2017 I started taking AKG and AAKG, supplements that are relatively safe, and are used by body builders to improve muscle mass, and endurance. At some point around 2019 I stopped taking it, I guess I felt there was no benefit.

About six months ago I came across a container of left-over AKG capsules. The expiration date was still good, so rather than throw them away, I decided to take them. This coincided with a disturbing development with my PD.

The only adverse effect with my PD up to that point was a tremor in my right hand, and the medication and supplements seemed to be taking care of that. This new development was in my facial muscles, my mouth would make involuntary movements, and my jaw would lock. This was somewhat painful and made it difficult to speak.

However, after about a week of taking the AKG capsules, I began to see an improvement. My wife even noticed and asked. “What are you doing different?” I got back with the manufacturers named “Simplesa,” and found that since 2019 they had improved the “Protocol” to include:·       

• ·         AKG,
• ·         AAKG,
• ·         Ubiquinol,
• ·         GABA,
• ·         Niacin.

Linked to the above list are articles explaining each of these ingredients. You can also do your own search, there are plenty of reliable online resources.

I eat a plant-based diet, I have not eaten meat since 2017. Fish, cheese, milk and eggs are my main source of protein. I eat a lot of fruit and green vegetables. I find as I grow older, I can get by on less food. I eat only twice a day, breakfast around 9 am. or 10 am. Evening meal is usually done by 6 or 7 pm.

This means I am effectively fasting 14 hours a day from 7 at night to 9 in the morning. This means my gut and digestive system gets a break each day.

I do not ride my bike as much as I used to, now I am in my eighties I am concerned with falling. I walk regularly, at a brisk pace for an hour or so. So far the Parkinson’s has not affected my walking. There are some nature trails near where I live, that are hilly and quite challenging. I also have a weight machine at home and do weights every other day.

As usual I must point out that I am not qualified to give medical advice, but I am simply stating what I have found to work for me. I know the Simplesa Protocol is working. I take three doses a day at six-hour intervals, and if I get off schedule, or miss a dose, I soon feel the facial seizures returning.

If you or someone you know has PD or possibly some other neurological condition, I hope you may find this useful. The human body is a wondrous thing, and for the most part will heal itself, but you must give it a fighting chance to do so.

Believing half of what you see

My mother always told me. “Believe nothing of what you hear or read, and only half of what you see.” In this age of fake news and half truths I find that sound advice.

Just this week the Sun Newspaper reported a US Government 1,500 page inquiry. An excerpt from the article states:

One document included in an Acquisition Threat Support report, sets out how to categorize "anomalous behavior" - with encounters with "ghosts, yetis, spirits, elves and other mythical/ legendary entities" classed as "AN3".

Seeing a UFO with aliens on board would be "CE3".

Poltergeists, crop circles, spontaneous human combustion, alien abductions, and other paranormal events are also categorized.

Studies into advanced technologies such as invisibility cloaks and mind-controlled robots are also included in the document cache.

The Sun is a British newspaper that now has a US edition. The term “Newspaper” should be taken lightly as it implies this is a publication with actual “News,” when it is along the same lines as “The National Enquirer” familiar in America for outrageous stories that most read for entertainment value rather than a legitimate news source.

I have never had an encounter with Ghosts, Goblins, or Creatures from another Planet, but I try to keep an open mind about those who have. When all is said and done, who am I to doubt what someone sees, or think the see? It is their experience not mine.

Let me share with you an experience I did have around 1992 or 1993. I do not usually retell this story but do so now to illustrate a point. My framebuilding business was winding down, my marriage was over, and I was searching to find myself, and decide what course my life was about to take.

One weekend I drove to Sedona, Arizona, turned off the highway and followed a dirt road about 12 miles into the desert. I parked the car and walked towards one of those rock formations that rise from the desert floor like some kind of monument.

As I approached this rock, I saw a pure white cougar climbing what appeared to be a natural pathway that led like stairs to the top. I ran towards it and followed, and the cougar kept stopping and looking back as if it was waiting for me.

When I reached the top, I became scared for the first time. I was following a wild animal and I could no longer see where it was. I pressed on cautiously, to the flat top of this rock formation. The cougar was gone, nowhere in sight.

I stood and took in the view. There was a silence that I can only describe as “Intense.” I slowly turned and I could see a complete 360 degrees and I every direction there was just desert, pure nature, not a single thing was man made. Even my car was parked out of sight beyond the rim of this rock.

I am not sure what happened that day, but it was truly a “Life Changing” experience. I began to see my true self for the first time, and my relationship to everything else. However, when I returned home and retold the story, I was met with anything from skepticism, to outright ridicule.

“Maybe it was a white feral cat you saw, and it was closer than you think.” Was a suggestion that was put forward, but I know what I saw. I soon stopped telling of my experience for fear I would be labeled a “Crazy” person. Also, this was “My” experience whether it was real, or I imagined the whole thing. I did not need to share it with others.

Soon after this I left the bike business and l later moved to Eugene, Oregon. It was several years after this incident, I met, and became friends with a Native American, from a local Oregon Tribe. One day I told him this story of the white cougar, and he said, “That was your Spirit Animal.”

He explained that when a Native American man reached a certain age a pure white animal or bird will appear and lead that person to a place where he connects with the “Great Spirit.” This statement just blew me away because at the time of this incident in the early 1990s, I had had no exposure to Native American culture, that this Idea could have been placed in my subconscious.

It matters not one bit to me what people think, if they think this story real or not. It is real to me, and more important it was “Life Changing.” Sadly. anyone having a similar encounter today would be so intent on capturing the whole incident on video that they would not have the final outcome that I gained from the experience.

I am not expecting that by reading this story, it will be “Life Changing” for you. The best I can hope for is that you have been entertained and have been given food for thought.

The whole point I am trying to make is that my own encounter with the White Cougar is no different from a meeting with Big Foot, or Aliens from another Planet. The big difference is this encounter happened just once thirty years ago. I do not have these encounters on a daily or weekly basis.

Therefore,I am not writing about these experiences continually, thus adding to the shit-pile of fake news and conspiracy theories.

Chrome Plating on Bicycle Frames

In 1982 when I began building custom frames in San Marcos, Southern California, I was fortunate that there was an excellent chrome plating business in nearby Escondido.

It was the chrome lug work and other parts of the frame that helped me gain my reputation for beautifully finished work.

This was the same plating shop used by Masi, later used by myself, Dave Tesch, Brian Baylis and other local builders.

What makes a high quality chrome finish is the same as what makes a good paint finish; it is what’s underneath, the preparation.

On a frame like the one pictured above, the whole frame is chrome plated, however, only the parts that will show are polished; the main tubes that are painted are left rough.

First it would be an unnecessary expense to polish these parts, and secondly the rough surface made a better key for the paint.

The parts of the frame that would be left exposed chrome plating were first highly polished. The slightest scratch left by a piece of emery cloth, would show after the plating process.

To achieve the best chrome finish, (Which this is.) the polished steel is first copper plated, polished again, then nickel plated over the copper, and finally chrome plated.

The copper affords the best adhesion to the steel; nickel gives the finish more corrosion resistance, but is yellowish in color. Finally the chrome gives the bright, bluish, almost mirror like finish. The coats of plating are extremely thin, measured in millionths of an inch, rather than thousandths.

Chrome is an abbreviation of the word Chromium, one of 91 natural occurring elements. Chromium is a metal which is not useful by itself; things are not made from chromium. However, it can be alloyed with steel to increase strength and hardness, or used for chrome plating.

Chrome is always applied by electroplating; it is not simply dipped in a tank. Say for example a frame was to have a chrome rear dropout faces, right chainstay, (To prevent chain slap damage.) and a chrome front derailleur braze-on. 

The Fuso Lux frame (Above.) and the John Howard fames were chromed in this fashion.

The frame is suspended in a vat of chromic acid. H2CrO4 with the parts to be plated below the surface, the surface of the liquid acid is agitated to make small waves. Without this there would be a solid line where the plating ends that would show beneath the paint.

Electric terminals are connected to a plating material, either copper, nickel, or chromium and to the frame to be plated. A current passes through the acid solution (Electrolyte.) and molecules of the metal travel through the solution to deposit on the frame.

A frame plated in the manner just described would be plated 2 or 3 inches up the seatstays, to include the whole rear dropouts on both sides, left and right chainstays, and the bottom bracket shell. In addition, the seat tube would be plated up to 2 to 3 inches above the front derailleur braze-on.

Also of course part of the down tube would be plated; it being impossible to immerse the derailleur braze-on without immersing much of the lower portion of the frame.

As I mentioned before, only the dropout faces, right chainstay, and front derailleur braze-on would be polished; the remainder would be plated, but with a rough, less shiny surface.

A frame with chrome head lugs (Picture left.) would have the head tube and several inches of the top and down tube plated.

After chroming in this manner the parts to be left unpainted would be masked with masking tape.

The edge around lug work required some delicate cutting of the tape with an Exacto knife.

If a fork crown was chromed the steering column was masked with duct tape before the fork was placed in the tank so it was not chromed.

Similarly, the bottom bracket threads were protected with a rubber plug.

I would use an etch primer over the chrome; this contains phosphoric acid that etches into the metal and provides a firm key for the coats of paint that followed.

Good chrome plating is expensive; one of the reasons being the high cost of disposing of the large amounts of toxic waste this process generates. Even the water used for rinsing the chrome parts after the plating cannot be disposed of without first treating it to render it harmless.

I remember the shop in Escondido had a low wall, about 18 inches high, built around the plating tanks so any spillage was contained, and could not escape out of the building and seep into the ground.

The chrome plating industry was the first to be regulated for toxic waste by the government, and is still highly regulated. Workers in the industry have to undergo regular medical checkups.

It is not the business I would choose to be in, but I was glad to have access to a good plating shop when I needed it.

Important Footnote.

Throughout the 1980s it was common practice for bicycle stores to tap treads and face the bottom bracket of a new frame before assembly. Also, the head tube was reamed and faced top and bottom. Finally, the seat tube was reamed.

The reason being that most import frames, especially those from Italy, were shipped from the factory with these parts unfinished.

However, all frames from my shop had the bottom bracket threads tapped, and all other necessary reaming and facing was done before the frame was painted. After painting the bottom bracket and head tube faces were carefully sanded to remove excess paint but leaving the primer coat to protect from rust. Threads were re-tapped, and the seat tube reamed, again to remove any paint residue.

Once a frame has been faced in this manner, under normal circumstances it should not need to be refaced. The BB cups and head bearing cups are not moving parts, therefor there should be no wear. This did not stop over-zealous bike mechanics from refacing my frames.

It becomes a serious issue when a bottom bracket and head lugs are chromed, like the frame pictured at the top of this article. To reface such frame will not only ruin the cutting tool, but there is also a danger large chunks of chrome will peel off and ruin the frame.

Never re-face a frame that I built that has chrome, it was faced before it went to the chrome plater. If it has a chrome right chainstay the bottom bracket will be chromed under the paint as mentioned in the above article.

A more detailed description of the Chrome Plating Process can be viewed here

Brass vs Silver

Joining metal by brazing became the method of choice when the bicycle was invented in the late 1800s. Early bicycle lugs were in fact pipe fittings, but greater strength was needed, so brass was used instead of lead base solder.

Soldering and brazing are pretty much the same process, flux is required to allow the solder or brazing material to flow. The difference is the melting temperature of the different materials.

Soldering takes place at 427 degrees centigrade and below. Brazing between 593 and 895 degrees centigrade. Different sources will give a slightly different range, but as silver and brass will both melt within the range for brazing, that is the correct term. Brass brazing or silver brazing,

Silver is often known as Silver Solder, but strictly speaking it is not soldering because the melting temperature is above 427 degrees. Silver brazing rods come in soft, medium and hard, the soft being at the low end of the temperature range, progressing to a higher melting point for the medium and hard.

Silver is more expensive as it is for the most part silver, alloyed with other materials such as cadmium, or nickel. The price of silver brazing rods, will fluctuate with the price of silver on the Precious Metals Market.

Brass is already an alloy of copper and zinc, other materials will be added to give desired characteristics, like flow properties and workability. Brass melts at the higher end of the brazing range.

Often silver brazing is quoted as being best for lightweight bicycle frames because it melts at lower temperature. However, in the hands of a novice it is just as easy to overheat a joint using either silver or brass. In fact if you overheat a joint using silver, the silver will no longer flow, and the joint will have to be torn apart, thoroughly cleaned and start all over again.

Most framebuilders become proficient in either silver or brass, but my guess is, only a few totally master both. I became proficient with brass, but never built a complete frame using silver. The only time I used silver, was for brazing water bottle bosses, and top tube cable guides. The reason: Using the higher temperature brass would put a slight ripple in the thin un-butted part of the tube that would show after painting.

The traditional front and rear drop-outs, (Campagnolo for example. (picture left.) The type where the front fork blade, chainstay and seatstay are slotted to take the drop out, have to be brass brazed.

Silver will not fill in the gaps, or fill the hole in the end of the tube. So even a builder who uses silver for the main frame will use brass for this type of drop-out.

Silver requires closer tolerances for example where the tubes fit in the lug. My method of altering the angle of the lug with a small hammer as I brazed, could not have been done with silver. The steel lug had to be at a bright red heat in order to be malleable enough to reshape. This would be too hot for silver.

Brass historically has always been used in Europe, which of course includes the UK where I learned to braze using brass. As a framebuilder becomes proficient at brass brazing, he learns to braze a joint cleanly, and not spill globs of brass over the edges of the lug. If this happens the builder will spend hour’s hand filing the excess brass away. Possibly leaving behind ugly file marks.

Silver on the other hand is softer and the excess can be sand-blasted away, or even scraped away with a small penknife. The fine and intricate, sharp edge lug work carried out by the late Brian Baylis, could not have been achieved using brass. English builder Hetchins did some fine elaborate brass brazed lug work, but on close inspection the corners and edges are not as fine and sharp as one can achieve with silver. (Baylis below left. Hetchins below right.) 

Silver brazing bicycle frames on the scale it is used today is an American development that can be traced all the way back to the Schwinn Paramount. Read the history here. One of the reasons the Schwinn Paramount was built using silver, was the easy clean up.

The intricate Nervex lugs used (Right.) would have been a pain to brass braze cleanly.

Many of the early American builders were influenced by the Schwinn Paramount, and a few even apprenticed there.

Brass or Silver? Both have their own advantages and disadvantages. Both require different skill-sets.

I could never have done what Brian Baylis did, and on the other hand, he could not have built the number of frames I built using the methods he did.

Brass is more suited to production, silver is more suited to the artisan builder, custom building frames one at a time.

In my opinion, brass in many ways is more forgiving from a workability standpoint. For an absolute beginner, don’t be misled into thinking silver is easier.

Try brass brazing a few pieces of scrap metal together. You will have a lot of fun for not too much money. And a lot less heartache, than spending a ton of money by plunging straight in, and trying to silver braze a frame with little or no experience.

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Climbing out of the saddle

Climbing a hill out of the saddle, standing on the pedals is very tiring and a rider can soon burn himself out. But used sparingly at the right time, a fit and experienced rider can save energy in the long run.

When deciding how to climb a hill on a bicycle, think of it as a work load. Imagine two men, each moving 100lbs. of sand from A to B in five minutes. One man hoists the 100lb. bag of sand on his shoulder, moves it from A to B in one minute, then sits down and rests for four minutes. The other man divides the sand into five, 20lb. loads and takes a minute to move each 20lb. for a total of five minutes.

Now imagine that the two men have to immediately repeat the same task over and over. Who is the fresher? The one who makes a big effort to start with, but then rests, or the man who spreads the work load over the full five minutes? A lot depends on the makeup of each individual.

Often if a road is an undulating series of short steep hills, it is often in the interest of a rider to use the speed and momentum of the descent to carry him half way up the next climb, then without shifting down, he gets out of the saddle and puts in a super human effort to keep the momentum going to carry himself over the crest of the next hill, knowing that even if this effort takes him to the point of exhaustion, he can recover on the following descent.

On a long steep climb it is different, even a long gradual climb. One must still try to keep momentum, and must occasionally get out of the saddle to boost that momentum, but a rider cannot put in those super efforts, when there are no downhill respites where he can recover.

A rider climbs out of the saddle not only to get his full weight over the pedals, but to get his body nearer his hands so he has a direct pull on the handlebars in opposition the downward thrust of his legs. Think of using an elliptical treadmill in a gym. One has to constantly move their body from left to right, so the user’s full weight is directly over the downward stroke of the paddles.

On a bike, instead of moving the body, move the bike. As the rider thrusts down on the right pedal, he pulls upwards on the right side of the handlebar. This not only puts an opposing thrust on the pedals but it moves the bike to the left, effectively using the bike as a lever.

As the right leg pushes down on the right pedal, power is transferred through the crank, chainwheel, and chain to the rear wheel. Meanwhile the bike’s frame is moving to the left and the bottom bracket, is moving upwards on the right side. 

There is not just the leverage of the crank arm, but the leverage of the whole bike frame working in the opposite direction. As the pedal moves down towards the bottom of its stroke, the right side of the crank axle is moving towards the top.

When the right pedal gets to the bottom, the rider pulls up on the left side of the handlebars, while pushing downwards on the left pedal. The rider’s body stays vertical, and the bike moves from side to side. (See top picture.) Also as the rider pushes down on one pedal, he pulls upward with his other foot on the opposing pedal. 

Obviously climbing out of the saddle like this is very tiring, one is using the whole body. But used sparingly, to increase momentum, it can be very effective. For example if the gradient of a climb starts to level out, a strong rider can shift up a gear, then get out of the saddle to get the cadence back up to a level where he can sit down a pedal again.

It is all a matter of a rider knowing his fitness level, and his recovery time. Knowing his strengths and limitations, and that only comes with hard work, training and experience.

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