No room in the garage? Park it on the bookshelf.

If you've run out of room in the garage for another two wheeler, you can still partially satisfy the urge for more squeel with this scale model of the Honda Forza* maxi scooter. This could be a good thing for those who like to customize. Try out your wild ideas on one of these before you drop big bucks on the real thing. They even start you out with a Yoshimura pipe for a gutsy full bodied sound. Vrrooomm.

(*The Forza is a more advanced version of the Reflex sold outside the US that includes fuel injection, electronic transmission, keyless ignition, and a sound system. How come they get the good stuff?)

Enlightenment; now available at a store near you.

Some of you already know I've got a thing for green tea that I sometimes take a little far. Nothing breaks up a loooooong stale workout like a good long-brewed cuppa'. It breaks up that over-sweet Hammergel combined with dried cookie taste with something real and kicks in a nice little boost. During a long workout you'll often find a commuter mug stashed with my regular drink bottles.

It would be easy enough to simply grab an off-the-shelf prepackaged bottle but there is one big problem; none of them taste right. They have some of the grab and a little of the taste but often they are over-sweetened or combined with other flavors. It's a little like trying to satisfy a hankerin' for a juicy grilled steak with something you'd get from a drive-up window.

But I finally found it. I picked up a bottle of Ito En brand I found at New Sagaya Midtown way in the back of the fridge section. It was real. It had respectable snap, nose, and color as green tea I might buy from a specialty store. And just yesterday, I found it again at Carrs South Anchorage in the Natural Foods section. Finally, green tea in a bottle that doesn't taste like Aunt Jemima Pancake Syrup.

Ito En has a good thing starting in the US. And If I get to NY soon I'll try to get into one of their upscale restaurants.

Bad Bunnies

The USAT National Club Challenge starts December 1st. 44 clubs try to outdistance each other during a three month winter training session. The December emphasis is swimming, January is cycling, and February is running. Last year we held our own against bigger clubs like Washington D.C. and San Diego. We resorted to extremes like gathering New Year's Eve, the first night of the cycling session, to do a roller ride outdoors on frozen Jewel lake.

USAT made it a little harder for us this year by breaking up our 150 person team into two groups, now named Rabid Rabbits and Biting Bunnies, and by gerrymandering the time zone rules so we couldn't get an early jump on midnight by starting our sessions at 9pm. Too bad for them it won't make a difference. 

Beaker had me create the above logo to work with the team names. Simple but slightly twisted. I hope to hear about someone from San Diego or Washington D.C. who wakes up in a cold sweat and says; "I was being chased by a snowshoe hare wearing sunglasses...and...and...no matter how fast I ran he kept catching me. I just can't get that picture out of my head!"  Yes, I will have done my job well.

Winter false start

Does this look like winter to you? Just days ago the roads and fields were covered with four to six inches of snow. I'm not complaining because I got to extend the road riding season a little with a quick outdoor ride on Silverfish. All that chrome was pasted with mud and grit when I got back, but despite the cleanup, it was so much more fun than the rollers.

Where'd you get that tag cloud?

Blogger doesn't feature a tag cloud yet but if you're willing to copy-paste a little code into your template then you can try this one:

http://phy3blog.googlepages.com/Beta-Blogger-Label-Cloud.html

Want smoother indoor training? Get fixed.

We've got a shorter cycling season so indoor bike trainers are the way it works up here. Unfortunately most riders look forward to a session on the trainer with about as much enthusiasm as a follow up appointment with the tax accountant. Tunes, TV, and books fight the boredom but the machine plays a part too. Some indoor trainers do a good job simulating the feel of the road but others are not much more than wheel draggin' sweat machines and that feeling of constantly pushing a wheel that doesn't want to spin adds to the misery. Usually more money buys bigger flywheels, better parts, and a more realistic cycling experience but I recently discovered an exception and it's a little bit fun. Yes, "fun" and "indoor training" can go together.

If you've got a fixie hangin' up in the garage, don't just leave it there. Put it on the trainer and you might be surprised how smooth it feels. Fixies round out the pedal stroke and add flywheel-like inertia contributing to a good road feel.

I've got a Cycleops Magneto I use it because it's bullet-proof, and has progressive resistance. The road feel is better than most mag-trainers but not as good as fluid trainers I've tried. However when I put Silverfish, the parts-bin-Fixie, on the pegs, that trainer felt like a much better machine than it had a right to. It wasn't as smooth as a Computrainer but dang close or better than a fluid. Did I mention how easy it was to trackstand on the Cycleops trainer?

On rollers, my preferred indoor training tool, there was less of a difference however I did find handling was easier. Starts, stops, one-handed, and no-handed riding were easier on Silverfish, than on my Tri bike, Cat-Dog. Of course these things are easier to pull off on a Fixie on the road too. The added skills and balance will help when I put the bike back on the road in the spring.

Looks like Silverfish will be getting more miles this winter.

Not quite done yet.

eToys is offering this Eurostyle toy scooter called the Razor Pocket Mod Betty Electric Scooter. Ain't it cute as a button!

I think it needs a little something to make it more authentic. Driving around with this fresh-off-the-showroom-floor look is as unnatural as a wearing a pair of unwashed shrink-to-fit 501s. Here are a few mods that will make it more like its bigger cousins cruising the streets:



The "parking accident" is the easiest mod and will automatically happen within minutes of giving it to the kids. Extra mirrors are just a given in the list of required accessories but if you take it as far as one scoot I saw at AmeriVespa with over 30 pieces (!) of chrome hanging off the front then you'll be looking at a burned out motor in a hurry. Now modding' an electric scooter to get that authentic 2-stroke blue smoke is going to be tough.

But there was no room at the Inn...

Alaska Triathlon Club held their end of the year shindig at the Residence Inn. I would have liked to report more but I didn't catch a lot of the event.

I showed up a good 20 minutes casually late and the room was already packed so I enjoyed my food with the spillover crowd in the next room and missed a lot of the talk.

Should have known better. Every year this thing keeps getting bigger. Memberships have increased. Events sell out.

Triathlon seems like something that should not thrive in a place like this. It's cold and we've got a short season. So what makes it tick?

First. I think there is something with the light and dark of the seasons that creates a nice energy peak each summer in time for the events. We fight winter pounding on treadmills, pulling the front in the stationary peloton, and playing wall-tag in the lap lanes. Then spring hits, the world lights up, and people and animals come out to play. With all those miles in the bank and hours of daylight there's energy to burn. We're out doing hill repeats well after 10pm and adding extra pages in the training logs.

Second. There's a good community up here. Triathlon is an individual sport but not an isolated one. Riding a bike trainer indoors can be a cleansing experience for mind and body but it can wear down even the most tenacious willpower. It takes a good group not only to organize events, training meet-ups, clinics, and the fun stuff, but sometimes just to help each other grunt through the tough training days. Without this community, it would be too easy just to roll over and hit the snooze bar.

And it even matches your scarf...

Oh it's so cute. You know you want one. It goes with your shoes! (OK, I'll stop). It's the 2007 Limited Edition Vespa LX50 in a custom Crazy Stripe design by Gap.

http://www.gap.com/vespa

Tell the person behind the counter that you want the matching paper handle-tie shopping bag so you can carry it home from the mall.

Why now?

Yes, winter finally arrived, a month late and all at once. Friday, my neighbor Ben, drove his motorcycle to work and I almost considered joining him. Saturday things started turning ugly. Sunday the kids were out sledding. Now it was real: no more road rides with buddies; park the big bike and plug in the battery. If we had any doubts about winter arrival, then this weekend's weather show put them to rest.

So it seems odd to begin a blog about cycling, scooters, and two-wheeled fun things on the first weekend of winter. But I'm not worried about running out of material for the simple reason that not everything about two wheeled things happens on a two wheeled thing. I burn a lot of mental calories thinking, reading, looking at catalogs, reading race results, watching events on the tube, and BS'n down at the bike shop about parts. And I'm not the only one.

While the motorcycles and scooters are parked, and the bikes have moved indoors onto rollers and trainers, some of us are still thinking about riding.