Trying not to rush getting older

I read somewhere that people do not grow old, they become old when they stop growing. I think back to when I turned fifty, I hated it. I hated the way I looked, I hated my life, and really, I hated myself. I was older then than I am now.

Here I am, close to 35 years later, and my attitude has done a complete 180. Instead of hating my life and having to make a living, I am retired and so I do not have to “Make” anything. I simply live life, enjoy life, and in the process because my needs are less, my needs are met, I manage to comfortably get by.

I am so busy all the time, I wonder how I ever found the time to make a living anyway. I have a purpose in life, and that is essential. A reason to live, to exist, a reason to chew through the restraints and get out of bed every morning.

I work hard at keeping myself healthy, I cannot afford to get sick. I eat a simple plant based diet, and that alone saves me money, Meat is expensive, and with the money I save by not buying it, I can afford to buy the best in organic fruits and vegetables.

My family, friends and loved ones, are my reason to live. I have grandchildren, and even great grandchildren I have yet to meet. I would like to do that one day. I have many good friends I look forward to seeing again. I measure my wealth not by money in the bank, but by those who will miss me when I am gone.

I also see this as a reason to get through this damnable pandemic, and we will. This too will pass. I was scheduled to speak at this year’s NAHBS but it was canceled due to Covid-19, I would like to have the opportunity to do that again sometime.

This pandemic may seem like a long haul, but as a child I remember WWII, and that lasted five years, It didn’t affect me, I was a child and at time I knew nothing else other than there was a war going on. But it passed as all things do, and possibly when this is over, we might learn something from it.

Every day I exercise my body, without my body, where will I live? I also exercise my mind, writing this is making me think, mind calisthenics if you will. That alone makes the effort worthwhile, and if I can bring a little joy into someone else’s life, entertain, inspire thought, that is an added bonus. Helping myself, while communicating with others, isn’t that what those who created this almighty mess that is the Internet and Social Media, intended?

It saddens me to see our country so divided, and it does not have to be that way. I have friends on both sides of the political spectrum, I love them all equally, for the way they treat me, and the way they make me feel when we are together. If they choose to post their political views on social media, it doesn’t mean I should rush to un-friend them. They are still the same person I love as a friend no matter what their views.

However, people who try to force their views on me, change me, or read into my views some political agenda, I can do without that and I will try to distance myself from that person. There is an unwritten, unspoken agreement, I will respect your views if it does not affect me in a negative way.

I get the feeling that some people need an affiliation to this or that political/religious/conspiracy belief group in order to feel they belong to something; maybe it satisfies some primal tribal need, and there is not necessarily harm in it unless they become victims of their own fantasies. 

In the meantime, I will continue to believe in myself and a few close friends who share the same values in life. I cannot right all the problems in the world, but I can do my best to keep those problems outside my own world. I gave up on World Peace a long time ago, but I will never give up on inner peace.

     To Share click "Share Article" below 

Power, Torque and Traction

Belgian Wout van Aert wearing the World Cyclocross Championship Jersey.

A higher gear equals more traction under certain conditions. I learned this driving a manual (Stick-shift) transmission car in the late 1950s. The engine puts out torque, or twisting power, and torque is what moves the car forward. But only if the tires are gripping the road surface, if the wheels start to spin on ice, snow, or soft ground, then torque is reduced to zero, and the car goes nowhere.

The torque the engine produces is multiplied by the transmission, with the first gear (Lowest) increasing the torque the most. Therefore, first gear is engaged when starting out from a standstill as more torque is needed to move the weight of the vehicle. Once the car is rolling, less torque is required so the driver shifts up through the gears to eventually reach top gear, which puts out the least amount of torque, but transmits more revs, or speed.

If the car is stuck in mud or deep snow, the driver can sometimes get out by starting from a standstill in 3rd or 4th gear, thus reducing torque. He then pushes the clutch pedal down to disengage the clutch, revs the engine a little, and then allows the clutch to engage slightly so the clutch is slipping.

In normal circumstances, if the driver were to allow the clutch to fully engage, the engine would most likely stall because the load would be too great. But by slipping the clutch the driver is limiting the power going to the wheels. As the clutch slowly engages, torque is transmitted to the wheels gradually, just enough to move the car, but not applying too much torque so the wheels start to spin.

Now let’s fast forward from what I learned from driving a stick-shift in the 1950s, to what I learned riding cyclo-cross in the 1970s, and bear with me, there is a connection.

I was running my frame building business just outside Worcester in the West Midlands area of England. A good place to be in the bike business, as this area was a hotbed of British cycle racing, including cyclo-cross. From October to January there were events every weekend within easy driving distance.

Business slowed in the winter months, my commute to work on my bike, and a two-mile run on foot every evening was enough training, coupled with a cyclo-cross race each Sunday. I always reckoned a one-hour cyclo-cross race was the equivalent of 80 hard miles on the road. That is what my legs always felt like after a race.

There were all class of riders in these races. Professionals rode with the amateurs, and after a bunch start, the events soon strung out to a procession around a one mile or so course. I was in my early forties and still pretty fit, plus over time I gained a cyclo-cross skill set that allowed me to beat riders who were younger and faster on the road.

Some of the bigger events in the Birmingham area had enough prize money that some professional riders from Belgium and other mainland European countries would come across and enter. These guys were in a different class all together.

On a one mile course I would expect to be lapped at least two or three times during a race by the leading pros. I remember this Belgian rider went past me having caught me on my second lap, he then passed me every second lap. In other words, he was riding at twice my speed.

One time I was passed going up a steady incline through deep mud, I was in a low gear struggling to keep moving, and as this guy went by, I noticed he was on his smallest sprocket, probably 13 or 14 teeth. While my wheels were losing grip, slipping, and spinning, he appeared to be gliding across the top of the mud. Which of course was exactly what he was doing.

I remembered my old driving lesson that while my lower gear gave me more torque, it was of little use if I did not have traction. His higher gear equaled more traction, plus with his speed and momentum he was going so fast there was less time for him to sink in the mud.

Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) leads the GC group on the Grand Colombier (Image: Bettini Photo)I was recently reminded of this story watching Wout van Aert perform in the Tour de France. Setting an unbelievable pace on mountain stages, shelling some of the world’s best climbers out the back of the peloton. (Above,)

Not really considered a pure climber, certainly not built like one. The other thing is Van Aert won several stages in a sprint. Former World Cyclo-Cross Champion, he must have built up a tremendous core strength riding big gears through the mud in the manner I described earlier.

He certainly developed a big engine that produces a lot of torque.

     To Share click "Share Article" below

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, an 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 workload over the full five minutes? A lot depends on the makeup of the individual.

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 big effort to keep the momentum going to carry himself over the crest of the next hill. He does this 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 must constantly move their body from left to right, so the user’s full weight is directly over the downward stroke of the paddles.

However, on a bike, instead of moving the body from side to side, one can move the bike and keep the body vertical. 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 can pull 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 highly 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 experience, hard work, and training.

     To Share click "Share Article" below

Selling the Benefit

Go to any seminar, or read a book on selling, (Or marketing as some prefer to call It.) and you will learn that you always “Sell the Benefit” to the consumer.

In other words, “How will the consumer’s life be made better” if he buys whatever it is you are selling. In the case of a bicycle, how will it improve his performance?

One can build or manufacture just about anything then put up some wonderful sounding argument stating why it is of benefit to the user. Most of these statements cannot be proved or disproved.

Even when these theories are disproved, nobody really cares least of all the company who has made a lot of money, and everyone just moves on to whatever the next trend is.

In the late 1960s Cinelli built a frame that was devoid of all brazed-on fittings, stating that braze-ons weakened the frame. Gear levers, cables and cable guides, etc. all had to be clamped on to the frame. (Picture top left.)

Some years later people realized that the clamps held moisture and started rust spots, and the clamps sometimes caused stress risers and tubes often broke adjacent to the clamp.

For a while, every other framebuilder followed suit, because it saved a tremendous amount of time. (Which was of course the real reason.) Cinelli had stumbled on an incredibly simple way to cut labor costs, then actually sold the idea to the consumer as a benefit.

At the time Cinelli charged double what anyone else did for a frame. The psychology was it costs more, and therefore it must be better. Also, if it costs more you win the one-upmanship game. A psychology that is still being played out in today’s high-end bicycle market.

Weight saving is always an easy sale to the bicycle enthusiast. Push weight saving to its limits and in the case of a frame, it becomes flexible. Then you sell the idea that a flexible frame is an actual benefit to the rider. The big question here is, “How much flex?” Aluminum for example makes a strong and lightweight frame. However, it has little or no flexing qualities.

Back when I built frames, they were made by brazing a high tensile steel tube into a lugged joint. In the case of Columbus, the tubes were heat treated and were like a strong steel spring. When the framebuilder heated the tubes to braze the joint it actually softened the tubes, thereby losing a tiny amount of the strength, and spring qualities.

Remember Cinelli’s argument that braze-ons weakened the frame. Actually, there was a grain of truth in that statement. However, brazing the lugged joint and attaching braze-ons is part of the frame building process. The tubes are designed to withstand losing some of the strength during the building process. Brazed correctly, the end product is still far stronger than it need be.

This is why steel tubes are butted, (Greater wall thickness at each end.) so there is still adequate strength left after the joint is made. The trick is to use just enough heat to get the job done, but not heating the tube a greater distance from the lug or braze-on than necessary, thus retaining as much of the tube’s inherent strength as possible.

Because a frame is like a very stiff steel spring, when the rider makes a sudden effort as when he jumps in a sprint, the frame gives or flexes slightly. This is desirable, but the operative word here is “Slightly." It is like the difference between an athlete jumping from a concrete track or floor, and one jumping from a Tartan track surface or a floor made from wooden boards.

There is an old Briticism, (A saying from the UK.) that “Bull shit baffles brains.” Whenever you are reading the sales pitch for the latest and greatest high-tech wonder. (Not just bicycles, but any consumer product.) Keep an open mind.

They are selling the benefit. Your life will somehow be better for owning this product. Turn that idea around and ask, “What is the benefit to the manufacturer?” Is this product really better than the old one, or has the manufacturer found a cheaper way to make it?

Or has the manufacturer simply come up with something "New and Improved," that serves no real purpose other than to make the old one obsolete.

     To Share click "Share Article" below 

War of Words

Websters Dictionary describes a War of Words as: 

“An argument in which people or groups criticize and disagree with each other publicly and repeatedly for usually a long time.”

It saddens me to see my adopted country torn apart and polarized by a War of Words in the News Medea, and Social Media for no other reason than to make money from advertising revenue. Foreign governments too, no longer engage in costly wars, they can just spread fake news stories to cause disruption and distress.

The old “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” maxim, is seldom true. Words can, and do hurt a great deal. Those who would drive us apart use this to their advantage.

Physical pain goes away, and we tend to forget, but when someone says something mean or nasty those words are locked away in our memory bank to be brought back along with the hurt, over and over again. It takes a strong person to recognize that these are mere words and it is our choice to relive them. 

Fond memories can be re-told to others and relived in our own mind. Bad memories often get re-told and are exaggerated, made worse than they originally were. The cleaver lines and comebacks we recite in re-telling the story, are not the words we actually said, but rather what we wish we had said.

Told over and over the stories eventually become our reality. Others will steal our stories, make them their own and retell them until they become their reality. This is how urban myths are born.

“Talk is cheap,” is another common expression. Some can talk for hours and say nothing, certain politicians have honed this to an art form. Words may be cheap but say the wrong thing and it can cost a politician or other public figure dearly.

People who talk incessantly miss out on a lot. For one thing by talking continuously they are not letting others express their views. Then when the other person speaks, they are not listening because they are thinking of what they will say next.  

It is only by listening to others that communication pays off. I could even go so far as to say, unless there is at least one person listening, there is no communication taking place. A thought from outside my own mind can spark an entirely new line of thinking.

I may not agree with another’s opinions, but if I listen and keep an open mind then possibly, I may at least understand how and why the other person arrived at their point of view.

I sometimes wonder what happened to the mindset that people “Are entitled to their opinions,” and the old adage of, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will fight to the death for your right to say it.”

No one can see or understand another’s view if they stand in different places. The further they stand apart the harder it is to see what the other is seeing. It is only when they move from their extreme positions, towards the center and therefore towards each other, do they not only begin to understand who the other is, but each can now start to see the other’s viewpoint.

I saw the Devil in the distance and my heart was filled with fear

I looked again and saw it was a man but still afraid as he drew near.

I looked again as he came closer, it was then that I discovered

This man I'd been afraid of, I saw it was my brother.

(From my song “Devil in the distance.” © E. David Moulton.)

     To Share click "Share Article" below