Month: August 2013

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Show #158 – August 31, 2013

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GUESTS: CLARK SMELTZER; CHUCK MAHRON

Oh August, where did you go? You were here just a minute ago, and now you’re down to less than a day, and it’s time to welcome September. We’re racing towards the Autumnal Equinox, which means the beginning of Daylight Rationing Time™. So make sure your lights and reflective gear are a part of evening rides from here on out.

Part and parcel of fall is Cyclo-Cross, and the Providence Cyclo-Cross Festival (aka Holy Week) is coming up in early October. The festival will feature three days of racing, a massive consumer and industry expo, expanded food court, and fun for kids and families. Clark Smeltzer is on the show this week to tell you all about it.

Our second guest this week is Chuck Marohn, Founder and President of Strong Towns. Strong Towns is a “non-profit, non-partisan organization that helps America’s towns achieve financial strength and resiliency.” Chuck is one of a new wave of certified planners who sees that the municipal development models used over the past 50-60 years are both inefficient and inherently unsustainable from a financial standpoint. Strong Towns is educating and advocating for development practices that put people at the center of community development.

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Show #157 – August 24, 2013

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GUESTS: HERBIE HELM, CHRIS MILLS

 

Isn’t it funny how good form can sneak up on you? For those of us who don’t actively and purposefully train (I already have a job, thanks) at some point in the season, we realize we’re riding a mile or two per hour faster than usual without being winded. Or we ascend a tough climb in a slightly taller gear than before. I hope you’re finding some “accidental form” about now, and that you will enjoy longer and stronger rides in the cool days of autumn that lie ahead.

As we pedal towards those falling leaves, we have two great guests on The Outspoken Cyclist this week:

Herbie Helm is a Michigan-based framebuilder (but we won’t hold his home state against him) who learned the craft from none other than Doug Fattic. In addition to being the force behind Helm Cycles, Herbie participated in Doug’s Bike Project in Ukraine, which endeavors to build bikes for church pastors who typically can’t afford to own and operate a car in order to serve their congregants. Herbie has a great sense of the form and function of a bicycle, and Helm bikes feature uncommon elements like SON dynamo-specific dropouts and internal wiring for lights.

To helmet or not to helmet? If you leave your house on or with your bike, you probably don’t think twice about grabbing your helmet on the way out the door. But what if you’re hopping on a bike share bike for a one or two mile ride in the city? Unless Inspector Gadget is hanging out by the bike share dock, you’re probably riding lidless. Chris Mills has a better idea: Helmet Hub. It’s a solar-powered machine that will dispense a helmet that is designed to be returned after use, sanitized, inspected, and re-used. Boston’s bike share is rolling them out, and they may be popping up in other cities as well.

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Show #156 – August 17, 2013

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GUESTS: KAREN BLISS, JOANNE KIESANOWSKI, MEREDITH MILLER, INGA THOMPSON, AMBER PIERCE

 

This week’s Outspoken Cyclist is the culmination of many months of planning and plotting to bring together five women who are either current or former professional bike racers, for a panel discussion on their experiences and expectations racing in the shadow of their male counterparts. The ladies often race the same courses at virtually the same speeds as the men (minus the high-profile cheating) and yet there is an order of magnitude of difference in the pay and media coverage. Why is that, and what will it take to change it? Well, that and many other questions are the subject of a full hour with five very smart and talented women racers.

You can learn more about each of this week’s guests by following the links below:

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Show #155 – August 10, 2013

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GUESTS: DAVID EPSTEIN, ROB GREENFIELD, SEAN WEIDE

You know that feeling when the temperature is just right, and there’s enough of a breeze to cool you down, but not enough to impede forward progress, and your bike is shifting and riding with the silent precision of a Swiss watch, and your legs feel like they could turn the cranks at this rate indefinitely? Yeah, me too. Rarely. But just often enough to lure me out in case today is that day.

And now on to this week’s show:

If you’ve ever wondered why your buddy climbs so much faster than you, or can out sprint you, even though you train just as hard (or harder) David Epstein has your answer. It turns out that almost all athletic achievement is, to some extent, genetically predisposed. The way our bodies respond to training, food and drugs varies according to our DNA. Epstein’s new book, The Sports Gene is loaded with information about how our potential for different sports is determined, and how it’s realized.

Our second guest this week is not a competitive cyclist, but he handily walks away with the prize for most interesting and creative use of his time. Rob Greenfield has traveled far and wide on a shoestring (or less!). His latest adventure involved a 4700-mile ride across the U.S. on a bamboo bike while living off the grid. Rob’s tiny carbon footprint makes mine look like a Sasquatch by comparison.

Finally, the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah is happening now, and Diane caught up with Sean Weide, the press liaison for Team BMC, which is racing the ToU. Diane and Sean talk about racing in the U.S., drug-testing, and the consistent success that BMC’s riders have been having this year.

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Show #154 – August 3, 2013

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GUESTS: GEORGE THOMAS, SEAN PETTY

 

Here we stand at the intersection of July and August, and I can see the light in the opposite direction has gone from green to yellow, which means it’s time to get a foot clipped in and be ready to push off on green. It also means there are just two months left for U.S. cyclists to log miles for the National Bike Challenge. Rolling!

If you need a bit of inspiration to get you moving, here’s much more than a bit: George Thomas joins us this week for the first half of the show. George is a solo and team Race Across America finisher, director of the Race Across Oregon, and host and producer at Over the Top Productions. But his story is much deeper than those accomplishments. After being hit by a drunk driver, he had to learn how to walk again, and then overcome debilitating seizures before he could become an ultracycling legend.

After a break and a trip through the week’s news, Diane is joined by Sean Petty, Chief Operating Officer of USA Cycling, to talk about the USA Pro Challenge, which is coming up August 19-25 in Colorado. The 2013 Pro Challenge will feature top pro teams and riders, including, it appears, TdF winner Chris Froome and Richie Porte of Team Sky!