We did see quite a few who looked like “first timers” heading up several hills. You can tell from the expression as they near the top. Exactly like what you see in these photos of Kevin some years ago. Nowadays, it’s more likely that look is on my face as Kevin rides away from me up the hill. His improvement the past 6 months has been phenomenal. Once he got onto a regular schedule of doing the Tuesday/Thursday-morning ride, it was all over. I’m glad that he’s been able to inspire people; now we just have to inspire a Neurologist to come up with a solution for his seizures (epilepsy). Maybe they need to see him ride. Thanks for the note- –Mike–

We often spend money we don’t have today. Its called a mortgage. Although “mortgaging our future” has come to have a bad sound to it, how many Americans actually have a mortgage on our homes and factories?

We borrow the money (or raise taxes, God forbit) because there is allegedly a long term benefit to building important things. I think that is true of bicycling infrastructure, if it is built correctly. On the grand scale, we often borrow money to do big things with the assumption that the economy will grow and allow us to pay off our debts. Municipal bonds. Treasury Bills. Remember those U.S. Savings Bonds?

That is the big question. With the U.S. living from economic burst bubble to economic burst bubble and not knowing how the heck we will replace all the lost jobs and factories that built our enduring economy during the twentieth century, we really do need to worry. But the pittance we spend on bicycling stuff, and the positive results we see in our communities from it in terms of green transportation and better public health, are well worth every cent, whether borrowed or taxed. There are far bigger sacred cows to go after in Congress.

Not to mention, we need to learn to do stuff again rather than agonizing over every insult, real or imaginary, large or small, it might do to someone or something or to “the environment”. Yes, to make an omelet, you need to break a few eggs. They are breaking them every day in the third world, and making far more of a mess of the planet than if we did it ourselves.

I don’t need Congress to screw up now.

TomPrager

Really glad Jeff at Palo Alto Bicycles told me about the Patagonia ad. It wasn’t just me thinking that way. It pointed a new, and in retrospect, old & obvious, way of looking at our place in the world. I think Patagonia intentionally held back on the obvious (buy higher-quality stuff less-often) because that doesn’t get the attention that an ad telling people not to buy does. Whatever, anything like that is a relief after those awful Black Friday mall-store ads!

So you DID get the fake iPhone 5! How is it?

We had fun inadvertently crashing the Low Key Hill Climb event on King’s Mtn. Had taken the routed through Huddard so didn’t see their start and had no idea the race was on. Got passed by a couple of guys flying by me, which isn’t all that unusual, but was confused by the photographers further up the hill. I mean, I look good on the bike and all, but really?

Then saw a ’200 meters to go’ sign and realized that with all those cheering fans up at the top I’d have to sprint. The guy with the stop watch wanted to know what my number was, but by then I didn’t have any extra lung capacity to answer…

Cheers,

Jeff

China’s a pretty amazing place. Very friendly, very curious people (as in, they want to know what’s going on in the outside world, and they’d kill for Tiananmen Square photos and stories, but it was one of those things where I really didn’t feel all that comfortable talking about things that might get someone in trouble). Shanghai is a lot more “western” than Beijing or Xi’an, but everywhere you go you get this feeling that it’s unfortunate they couldn’t be a bit pickier about what parts of our culture they want to beg borrow & steal. –Mike–

(For those wondering why I brought up Shenzen and the iPhone together, it’s because Shenzen is home to Foxconn, one of those city-sized factories that makes iPhones & iPads and such)

Stefan

Regarding integrity, it’s really not an option for me to be otherwise. Being disorganized, if I’m not transparent in my actions & motivations, I’m in trouble because there’s no way I’d be able to keep a made-up story straight. Seriously!

In the end, it all comes down to one thing. I love putting people on bikes, and keeping them on bikes. I can’t see myself doing anything else (although I do sometimes wonder where I’d be now if I’d gone to those early meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club with a friend of mine back in High School. He’d come back with all sorts of interesting stories about what was going on, and I’m sure many of them involved Wozniak & Jobs).

Bike companies are held hostage by Shimano. They are not in control of their own destiny; they have to work around Shimano’s product cycles. Nobody can afford to be late to the game with the latest DuraAce or Ultegra group. Trek operates on a three year product cycle for high-end frames, which is reasonable. Their hand was forced in 2009 with the UCI’s ruling on aero seat posts, cutting short the product cycle of the first of the “new” Madones (those with seatmasts instead of seatposts). 2010, 2011 & 2012 6-series framesets are nearly-identical, the only changes being to the fork column (making it more tolerant of ham-fisted customers & mechanics) and graphics. Oh, and the introduction in 2011 of the “SSL” version, weighing in at 2 ounces less than the standard 6. I would call that a far less significant upgrade than the iPhone4 to iPhone4s. –Mike–

How do bike companies deal with this, where almost all changes are internal? This years Madone looks almost the same as the last and drastic changes are thing like the head tube getting thicker? Maybe it helps that the time between bikes is larger so the small yearly changes add up.

Will I buy an iPhone4s? You bet. Even if my iPhone4 hadn’t been pick-pocketed in France this past July, I would have gone for the new phone if only for the camera alone. The faster performance will be nice as well, although I really didn’t have issues with the iPhone4 in that area. I think it’s a darned fine product, and, for me, I can’t think of anything that disappoints me, aside from a desire for a slightly-larger screen. –Mike–

by analogy, does that mean obama is at fault because all the progressive idiots thought he was the new fdr when in fact he was just the slightly less inept second-coming of george w?

anyone who puts credence on the rumour mongers is a fool. apple is run by professionals, not idiot bloggers ….

I agree with your observations for the most part, but I think the conclusions here are too dire. Apple will do well with the new phone (which is a winner in many ways, as you point out) . It really isn’t the post-Jobs era yet and momentum will continue. The next-gen iPhone will indeed have to be a sensation to meet another round of swelling expectations.

Of course, time will tell.

Regards,

Jeff

9 could be such a pleasant descent given you can hold the speed limit.

The Share the Road signs go both ways – I try hard as both a driver and cyclist to act that way.

Needless to say, your son is an admirably determined and brave young man. Good luck!

Looks like a reverse of the loop that has become my “saturday morning” ride. I climb Bear Creek Road coming from Big Basin and Boulder Creek. I see more cars going down Bear Creek Road than ascending, even around noon. Hope Kevin is feeling better and has everything under control. There’s a big difference in the first pictures of Kevin as a kid to those of today, as a young man. He definitely has earned that super bike he currently rides.

Great pictures. Thanks for sharing. Always enjoy checking out your cycling adventure pics. I’m planning a trip to France next spring for my 50th, and I’m now considering to include a bike ride just like you did, but I don’t know if I can drag my wife with me

I’m out for one week, so I’ll see you next Tuesday morning!

And thanks again for going over my bike before you left–the Marin century went perfectly.

There are all sorts of way to enjoy riding a bike. The only time I get frustrated with people who say they want to ride faster up hills is when they ride with me and they’re hardly breathing, not working all that hard, and wonder why they can’t keep up. Up to a certain point, you can get faster just by gradually getting in better shape, eating better, doing longer rides, without any high intensity. But you will plateau at a speed well below the “fast guys” you come across. Which is not a problem, unless someone doesn’t understand the dynamics and thinks they ought to be able to continue to ride as they always have and get faster. At some point, it’s gotta hurt, if your goal is to get really fast. –MIke–

King St is fine and highly preferable to Mission St/Hwy 1 in Santa Cruz. I never liked riding on Mission unless it was early morning with few cars. Even when there is a lot of traffic you can usually get across half of Mission, hang out at the median, and wait for somebody to slow and let you across the other half.

Or just turn south on Swift St instead and go to Kelly’s French Bakery …

Ben (RBR reader, former Santa Cruz resident)

Lynn Dexter

Great pictures! Looking forward to reading the next installment!