The Vuelta never disappoints

Of the three Grand Tours, I often feel that the Vuelta a Espana is the most entertaining. Coming off one of the best Tour de France events in recent years, I wondered if this was likely this year, but after just over a week of racing, I have to say, “Possibly.”

What makes any sporting event entertaining and exiting is the unknown, the unexpected outcome. Prior to this year’s TDF I thought Tadej Podacar was unbeatable, but he proved to be human after all. Or it could be argued that the strongest team won, not necessarily the strongest individual.

The Vuelta always has the unknown element because it is such a tough race, with more climbing than the other Grand Tours. This year has the added unknown of so many new riders entering the sport at young ages, (In their early twenties.) previously unheard of.

Looking at the start list before the race, I was struck by the number of new names, most I had not previously heard of. One notable exception to this was Remco Evenepoel. So much has been written about this 22-year-old Belgian rider during the last year, along with the speculation that he is the new Eddy Merckx.

I can’t help but feel what a tremendous and unnecessary burden this is to place on such a young athlete, but sadly this is what the press and media do.  They build people up only to knock them down again when they fail.

Cycle racing has to be one of the toughest sports out there, both physically and mentally. The constant steam of new-comers to the sport keeps it fresh and interesting, but entering the sport, especially Grand Tours, at such a young age I expect to see shorter careers than we have seen in the past.

What are your views?

A summary of the two Tour de France races

I missed posting here last week for the first time in a long time. The reason, I got wrapped up in the Tour de France. First the men’s race, one of the best I had seen in recent years. Followed by the women’s race.

In the men’s race it was good to see that Tadej Pogacar was indeed human, and could be beat, although I can’t help feeling that Jonas Vengegaard was not greatly superior to Pohacar, rather equal, but having a stronger team.

Anyway, it was refreshing to see the respect these two young riders had for each other and it brought me back to what the sport used to be, as I remember it years ago.

I didn’t know what to expect in the Tour de France Femmes, but from the first stage on, I was hooked. Shorter stages meant that tactically the race played out quicker and was extremely entertaining and exciting to watch.

In the flat sprinter’s stages for example, there was none of the holding the break at two or three minutes for the entire race, until the last 10 kilometers.

Because the stages were shorter, breaks were brought back quickly, often followed by more attempts to break clear. This fast, attacking style of racing, over a shorter distance was not only exiting to watch, but it also meant by the end of the stage the peloton had split into smaller groups.

The result being, only the strongest riders contested the sprint, instead of the chaotic entire field, bunch sprint that has become all too common on the flat stages of the men’s races.

As for the final two mountain stages, Annemiek van Vleuten just dominated the entire race, winning both stages and the Overall Classification. It was a joy to watch her climbing ability.

It was great to see the support of fans by the roadside, especially as they had been exposed to three weeks of the men’s race. Apparently, the TV coverage was also watched by more viewers world-wide.

I can only imagine that having a Women’s Tour de France, will create an increased interest in the sport, by people who would otherwise not usually watch.

This can only be a good thing for the sport in general and perhaps create a way forward from the somewhat tarnished image that unfortunately the sport has created for itself over the years.

Transport

I started this blog in 2005, later this year it will be 17 years old. Looking back over the hundreds of articles written, I realized I had seen the Fixie trend arrive and disappear again’

Hipsters riding fixed wheel track bikes (Sometimes brake-less.) on the road. What happened to the “Hipster?” They must still be around, but probably under some new name that I have yet to learn.

I imagine they are all riding e-bikes and e-scooters now. Electric assist. The bicycle industry finally overcame the last drawback to riding a bicycle, it requires effort to propel it along, especially up hill.

There has never been a perpetual motion machine made that will run for free without some energy input from somewhere. In terms of efficiency, the bicycle is the best renewable source, form of transport that you can use over and over again for free, aside from initial cost, and a little maintenance.

I am ignoring skates, skateboards, scooters, and the like, because although slightly more efficient than running or walking, (The most basic form of transport.} In a straight-out race, the pedal bicycle would win every time.

In the mid-1980s when my business was operating at its peak, the bikes I produced were probably the simplest and most efficient of that era. Simple friction shift, and rim brakes, and aerodynamically efficient’

However, for an unfit person, the saddle was too hard, the aero position was uncomfortable, and the friction gear levers needed a certain skill set to operate. Add to that, the fact that the bikes were over geared for most but the strongest of athletes.

In other words, a person needed enough dedication to stick with it until their body reached a level of fitness, where riding ceased to be a chore and became a pleasure. Few had this level of dedication, which is why many of the bikes I built in the mid-1980s are still in nearly new condition when re-sold on eBay or Craig’s List.

Any form of exercise regime requires effort and dedication. How many people pay a gym membership or buy an exercise machine and then fail to use it regularly? The bicycle is both a form of transport and an exercise machine, but few take full advantage of that fact.

The drawbacks of commuting to work on a bike is that one is exposed to the elements. You arrive at work soaked in rain or sweat. The advantages of electric assist do not go unnoticed.

Many see electric bikes and electric cars as the future but remember even electricity needs to be transported. The best places for producing wind or solar power are not necessarily where electricity is needed, and there is a cost in getting it there.

Even our most basic need like water must be transported from its source to where it is needed. That means pumping using electricity. Everything, including ourselves needs to be transported often on a daily basis.

In the meantime, all the batteries for these electric vehicles are being produced in China because they are cheaper. One of the reasons they cost less is because China uses cheap fossil fuels to produce electricity.

We also have an abundance of cheap fossil fuel but may do the right thing and not use it. Isn’t that the principle they used when restaurants had a smoking section?

Talk is cheap, but at what cost?

What sets the human species apart from all others? I believe it is not that we have a superior brain or opposing thumbs, it is language, our ability to communicate with words.

I prefer the written word. It can be edited, whereas often the spoken word comes out and cannot always be taken back. The old saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” is seldom true.

We tend to forget physical pain, but when someone says something unkind, 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 were only words, and it is our choice to relive them. It is not easy to dismiss words once heard or read.

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 clever lines and comebacks we recite in re-telling the story, are not the words we 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.

People who talk incessantly miss out on a lot. 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. A thought from outside our own mind can spark an entirely new line of thinking.

“Talk is cheap,” is another common expression. Some can talk for hours and say nothing, certain politicians have honed this to an art form.

If some can use words and say nothing, others can stay silent and speak volumes. And silence is simply words left unsaid.

Words may be cheap, but the cost can be enormous. Say the wrong thing and it can cost you your job, end a relationship or lose the love and respect of a valued friend.

Words can be powerful at times, but other times are inadequate. Words can fail and are not always necessary. Sometimes just to listen, hold a hand or give a hug is enough.

Even though cheap, words should not be wasted. Words can build people up or knock us down. They can be both our blessing and our curse.

The gift that keeps on giving

When I was building frames in Southern California in the 1980s, I could not foresee there would be a future with the Internet and social media.

Therefore, as I built frames and stamped a serial number on them, sent them off to the bicycle dealer, unless those frames came back for repair or a repaint, I never expected to see them, or hear about them again.

There was never a second thought that I might be corresponding people about these very same frames thirty or even forty years down the road. Who could even imagine what the future will hold that many years ahead?

When I stop and think about what has happened, I am both amazed and at the same time humbled that I find myself spending much of my time corresponding with people, either directly, or though this blog and social media.

My online presence started in 2003, ten years after I left the bike business. I had written a novel, Prodigal Child, and created a website to promote the book. People started to write to me asking, “Are you the Dave Moulton who used to build bikes?”

People started sending pictures of their bikes, and I opened a bicycle section on the book website to post these pictures. This bike section grew, and I found myself somewhat “Dragged” back into the bike thing.

Two years later in 2005 I began this “Bike Blog.” Three years on in 2008 I quit writing for reasons I outlined in this post, “The Party’s Over.” The post received 88 comments, probably my highest score ever. It was mostly an outpouring of kindness, and thanks for what I had written.

Quitting was a huge mistake. I lost a huge following, one that I will probably never see again. Six months later I was back when a group of bike enthusiasts, (Some of which I had never met.) got together and presented me with a “Tribute Bike.”

I was so touched that I had to at least write about it. Once more I was “Dragged” back, but this time with a new resolve never to quit again.

It is still difficult to come up with fresh and interesting stuff each week, but I look on it as exercise for my brain, which as I age, is just as important as physical exercise.

When I started out building bike frames, I was trying to build a better bike for myself. I achieved that goal, then set about building frames across the entire range of sizes, even though I could never test ride most of the larger sizes myself.

However, feedback from people who rode my bikes told me I was on the right track. I often went against what was fashionable and stuck with what I believed was right.

I remember turning down an order for 10 track frames in 1975. The order was from the Canadian Olympic Team. It was lucrative and would have carried a lot of prestige.

The problem was the team coach, sent drawings for each frame and insisted I build to the exact specs. I could have built the frames and took the money, but I would have hated it knowing that I could have built something better.

The same happened when I resumed building custom frames in California in 1982, some thought “Custom” meant building to their specs. I always said “No.” Had I built the frame, and they later sold it, it had my name on it, and it was my reputation at stake.

I went for consistency, every frame I built will ride, handle, go around corners, and feel stable on fast descents. People constantly tell me, “This is my favorite bike, my go to ride.”

And that for me is the gift that keeps on giving.