The Monkey at GoLiNiel

Laurent Fignon, a Frenchman who twice won the Tour de France but was defeated by American rival Greg LeMond in arguably the event’s greatest race, died Tuesday after a battle with cancer, the French Cycling Federation said. He was 50.Fignon announced in June 2009 that he had advanced cancer of the digestive system and was undergoing chemotherapy.

Fignon had worked as a television commentator for the state-backed France 2 network since 2006 — and right through this year’s Tour, which ended barely a month ago. His voice was gravelly from his illness and treatment.

“He was a great champion who used a combination of talent and will to win the Tour de France twice,” French Cycling Federation president David Lappartient told The Associated Press. “He had an iron will, and was also a very intelligent man.”

Seven-time Tour champion Lance Armstrong, who himself battled cancer, called Fignon a “dear friend” and a “legendary cyclist.”

“I will never forget the early 90s when I first turned pro, of course terrified of these ‘older guys,’ Laurent was always a friendly face with words of advice,” Armstrong said in a statement. “He was a special man to me, to cycling, and to all of France. Laurent, we will all miss you.” (more…)

Popularity: 4% [?]

So, here we are in the evening, catching up with the final significant stage of the 2010 Tour de France. Thanks to our Tivo, and the Versus channel, we have seen every minute of the 3 week Tour de France. But that is a lot of TV hours. In order to fit all this into our daily work lives, we have adopted a schedule that includes both training and relaxing. Every morning at about 6:00 am, we climb on to our training bikes, as the Tour starts at 5:30. Using our tivo we can see over an hour of the tour in about 45 minutes. We can spin on our bike trainers prior to work while we watch to tour. But, just watching the race is not enough. We needed some encouragement to work hard and increase our heart rates.
To do this, we have created the Phil Liggett/Paul Scherwen training game.

Phil and Paul are famous for their catch phrases. So, every time they use a catch phrase, or other events occur, we then spend a minute either sprinting, or doing a standing climb.

We start these one minute heart increasing intervals whenever they use any of their catch phrases of:

• “Completely and utterly”
• “Sport of bother”
• “Dancing on the pedals”
• “Master of this discipline”
• “Ride of his life”
• “Thin angry line”
• “Backwards out of the”
• “Stamps on the pedals”
• “A very select group”
• “Hell of the north”
• “Damp squid”
• “Heads of state”
• “God of thunder”
• “Spartacus”
• “Tapping out a rhythm”
• “Put the hammer down”
• “Circum-navigate”

Also whenever this happens

• A commercial
• They tell us of any structure that is built before 1500
• Dave Zabriskies name is mentioned, his name is listed, or his face is shown.

Popularity: 6% [?]

 Cycle Oregon Weekend of 2010 started in Monmouth, at Western Oregon University.  For this tour Honey wanted an actual bed to sleep in, so we opted for the dorms.  Ours happened to be on the third floor, which required hauling all our stuff and bikes up and down the stairs, but it also came with its own bathroom, so that was a good thing.  We stayed in the “Gentle” building. How nice.

The very first stop of the day came at 9 miles.  Really way to early to really be hungry since we had breakfast just before we left.  But, as a family friendly ride, I imagine it was appropriate.  We did have some seriously steep ass climbs just prior to the stop, so it seemed about right.  The stop was at the Ankeny Vineyards which has a very nice garden and public area. Their wine tasting room was open, but since it was only 9:00 am, and with 69 more miles to ride, it seemed just a tad early so we skipped that.

On our ride back into Monmouth, we detoured south, for a rest stop at Sarah Helmick state park.  This bridge is adjacent to the park, and it crosses the Luckiamute river.

This is an old barn in the farmlands east of Burns Crossing.

Not all folks out in the country are happy to have people just drop by.

The Shimanek bridge,  located on Richardson Gap road east of Scio.
The first documented covered bridge was built in 1891.
Truss Type: Howe   Bridge Length (ft): 130   Year Built: 1966

The Gilkey bridge,  located on Goar road east of Scio.
The first documented covered bridge was built in 1939
Truss Type: Howe   Bridge Length (ft): 120   Year Built: 1939 *1998

The Buena Vista ferry crosses the Willamette river a few miles south of Independence. We came up to it just as it was heading across the river.  On the next trip it took the next group of riders, with the operators cutting us off, just before we boarded. We made it on the third trip.
It can carry four cars, or, approximately 60 bikes.  I did notice that they only had 30 life jackets though.

Each night at the main stage,  Johnathon Nichlolas gives a welcoming talk, and he is a very good speaker. After announcements, there is music.

Weekend Summary:
Two nights in dorm - concrete dorms are hot, and have single beds
Two days on bike - Mostly low traffic road
78 Miles on Saturday - Independence, Scio, Jordan,  Jefferson, Buena Vista
48 Miles on Sunday - Dallas, Ellendale, Falls City, Burns Corner
6 full meals - cafeteria style, but plenty of if.
4 food stops with wide range of fruits, drinks, and carbs
3 ice cream bars, because I like them.
4 State Police motorcycles, 2 ambulances
1 CD and 1 Vinyl album purchased - by “The Dimes” (New, local music on vinyl, how cool is that?)
1 Soy Latte to revive sleepy Honey

Popularity: 6% [?]

Ideal ratio: 2 to 1.
Any higher and you’re not riding enough.
Any lower and you can’t focus on training because you are getting divorced.

~ Scott Martin

Scott Martin, author of the eBook Spin Again containing 181 of his witty, sometimes wacky, and occasionally heart-felt observations on road cycling.

Popularity: 23% [?]

“Hello Monday has designed Copenhagen’s new board game that draws inspiration from classics like Monopoly and Besserwisser. Authenticity is a key concept in the design and brings together historic and contemporary elements to give players a real Copenhagen experience.” —Hello Monday

For now the game is only available for purchase through Danish retailers: gamesweb.dk and DACbookshop.dk.

Popularity: 32% [?]

We took a little time to ride around Oregon City prior to the new Year. It was really pretty cold, but sunny and clear, and with the right layer of clothing we kept pretty comfortable. The ride took us late into the day and snow began to fall as we made our way home. But, we made it home, and into the hot tub prior to the heavy accumulation began.

On the west side of the Oregon City bridge, above the locks on the road to Willamette, we had a great view of Mt. Hood.

The esplanade between Mcloughlin Blvd and the river is complete, and open. It is a great space, well designed for walking and biking.

Just opposite the Oregon City elevator, is Classic Cycle. It was closed on the Monday that we rode by. We hope to return on another day. They have several of these bikes in the area.

The bike boulevard on Spokane street, off Tacoma at the Sellwood bridge is done. These curbs are intended to slow traffic, constricting it, making it safer in the intersections.

Popularity: 30% [?]

Poffertjes, are a traditional delicacy sold from poffertjes kramen (booths) in Dutch villages and towns in the Netherlands.  Often they are sold from a colorful tent which is pitched at the village for a few days and moves on to market them elsewhere.  We did in fact find a tent in a park during one of our rides, and it was there that we found shelter from the heavy rains, strong Dutch coffee and warm poffertjes.

My first hint that these little things existed is when my first  pannekoeken was delivered, with a shaker of powdered sugar that had a picture of what I mistook for Danish aebleskiver. I later asked our captains wife if they served aebleskiver, and while she was impressed that I knew of such a thing, no, they aren’t served here.  We soon agreed that what I was thinking of were poffertjes.  And while she attempted to insist that they would not be on the menu for the week, under relentless pressure from young Rhian, Linda did in fact surprise us with a small helping during one breakfast.  That lead to the later treats under the tent during the rainstorm.

Somewhat similar to a Danish aebleskiver.  The differences being whereas the aebleskiver are round, and the size of a handball, the poffertjes are more clam shaped, about the size of a golf ball.   And while the aeblskiver is slightly fluffier due to whipped egg whites, they are both very good when they are hot, and covered with butter and powdered sugar!

There are recipes all over the Internet.  This one is from our “Dutch Style” recipe book, that we picked up at the “Scandanavian Festival” in Junction City.  (where you can have fresh hot aebleskiver, but not poffertjes.)

“Pella Poffertjes”

1 cup flour
4 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup hot water
3 eggs
4 Tbsp vegetable oil
butter
powdered sugar

Mix flour, sugar, and salt. Add water, eggs and oil.  Mix well until batter is lump-free. Fry on poffertjes grill, or fry silver-dollar-sized pancakes in frying pan. (or try aebleskiver pan ~ ed.)  To serve, spread with butter and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Popularity: 24% [?]

This may be too much information, but I don’t really suffer from saddle soreness due to long hours on the bike.  To me, the key is finding the correct seat and shorts that fit.   In our cycling circles, there is a somewhat odd allegience to Bag Balm, an old trusted standard in ointments to heal and prevent that sort of thing.

But this one has got to be worth some attention.

Review: Anti Monkey Butt Powder
by Richard Risemberg
From http://www.bicyclefixation.com/ambp.html

This will be (if you will forgive me) a “brief” review, for what we have been road-testing for the last few weeks has been a medicated talc you put in your briefs to prevent chafing on long hot bike rides.

There. We said it right out front. Once you all finish giggling, read on. Because the stuff really works!

This despite the gross misrepresentation embodied in its name: it should be called, of course, “Anti Baboon Butt Powder”!

But I’ll forgive them. I was an English major after all, and the prosodic qualities of “Anti Monkey Butt Powder” are, to my mind, superior to the rather flatter poetry of the more-correct version.

It’s talc, a bit of fragrance, and calamine, the latter being the magic ingredient, a compound of zinc that has been used to treat skin conditions for decades, perhaps longer.

And it works: I’ve it now on several very hot-weather rides, with temperatures over 90°F–often well-over. Sometimes I wore padded tights under my knickers, more often just boxers. A number of forty-mile round trips to South Pasadena (a weekly run for me), a seventy-miler down to Long Beach and back with a group ride in the middle, and a crazy forty-five-miler that involved 3900 feet of climbing, 2200 of it on a dirt fire trail on a treeless ridge, which I rode fixed on street tires.
The stuff kept me cheeks quite comfy throughout the duration of every ride.
Not only that, but an incipient saddle sore that was not responding to my usual regimen of benzol peroxide and antibiotic ointment disappeared a week after I began testing the AMBP. Could have been a coincidence–but my tail is happy, and as I’m a daily cyclist, that makes me happy!
The downside is applying it. Talc is very white and flies all over the place at the least provocation, and the majority of cycling shorts, tights, and pants, including those we manufacture, are, if not black, generally quite dark. Till I got the hang of it, the applications were pretty messy. I now usually apply it to hands first, then transfer to the booty. Carefully.

It’s worth it.

I thought, because of the silly name, that the product might turn out to be frivolous and ineffective, but it seems to work as advertised, and I plan to keep using it.

See the company’s website at www.antimonkeybutt.com for more details and a list of retailers.

Popularity: 21% [?]

Early Sunday morning I found myself deep in NW  Portland, with my bike.  I had no set schedule, and no required route, which gave me the chance to just ride in any direction that seemed interesting.  Soon I found myself at the Union Station train-yards where I discovered the Union Station pedestrian bridge.  Nice looking bridge, going over the tracks.  But for what purpose I wondered.

There is a nice elevator at each side, but I was a little surprised that for a newer Portland bridge, it really didn’t have any bicycle friendly access.  Other than the elevators. I took the elevator.

A very similar design to the Springwater trail bridge over McLoughlin Blvd.

Apparently, this bridge was built to get people from the train yard area, over the tracks, and into the courtyards of “The Yards” apartment complex.  Oh, and once you get down and around all the steps of the courtyard, it will put you out on to Naito Parkway. It doesn’t seem like a real heavy traffic flow need, but perhaps I am not aware of the needs of the residents of The Pearl district.

\

Once down to Naito I ran into The Race for the Cure in progress.  40,000 women walking the streets of Portland. Time to move on.

Then, on to Sellwood, to ride out onto the Sellwood bridge during another one of its regular closings.  Last Sunday they closed it to replace the asphalt that had broken away from all the joints.  This week they were sealing all the seams, and using their lift truck to inspect the underside.

Honey thinks that one day soon they may close it for the day and just decide not to re-open it. She may be right.

By the way, September 30, 2009 is the next open house for the Sellwood Bridge Project.

The goal for this meeting is to share information revisions made to the preferred alternative that have been made since the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (Draft EIS) was published. These revisions were made to comply with various agency policies and regulations. They include:

• Refining access to properties with driveways on SW Macadam Avenue
• Mitigating historic and natural resource impacts
• Improving bicycle and pedestrian facilities on the west side
• Narrowing the bridge cross section near the west side interchange
• Planning more detailed connections to transit and trails

Popularity: 20% [?]

Our week long bike tour was made possible by “The Zeeland” and its fine husband and wife crew of Audry and Linda, and a ships mate. Actually two different mates. Otto worked the ship for a few days, then left and was replaced by another much more quite  guy, whose name was never offered.

This weeks tour included the following passengers.   George and Lena, from Germany.  The family of Paul, Angela, and children Huwe and Rhian from Worster England, Nadia came by herself from her home in Italy,  and then “The Americans”, of Monkey and Honey.  Hannamieke was our fun, energetic, and incredibly patient cycling guide who spent the week teaching us about Holland, showing us all the sights, and becoming a great friend.  A great bike rider that we followed all week long, she set up all the stops and sights, kept us all together, and made sure no one was lost for too long.

Zeeland is located in the southwest of the Netherlands. It is criss-crossed by the Ooster- en Westerschelde estuaries. To the west is the North Sea; to the north, the province of Zuid Holland; Noord-Brabant is to its east and Belgium is to the south.

The boat was actually a working class, ocean capable ship, that has since been slightly retrofitted into a tour boat.  These tours are billed as bike and barge trips, and our expectation of a barge was a slightly lower, darker, slower, lesser furnished version of a boat than this.  Perhaps the word barge doesn’t mean the same thing in all countries.

The Zeeland has three levels.  The sun-deck and captains bridge on top.  The dining area, bar, kitchen, a toilet, the shipmates cabin and the captains quarters were on the main deck.  With the passenger cabins, laundry, storage and engine area down below.  The ship was well maintained, and painted.

The main deck is is the gathering area.  You enter the boat on the main deck level through large sliding glass doors. To the right is the captains quarters and the stairways to both other levels.  To the left, is the front of the ship where the dining area, bar and kitchen is.  The dining area is full of teak and mahogany and furnished with clear pine tables and cabinetry.  There are a half dozen tables, with one reserved for the captain and, for our trip, two larger tables where we all ate together.  Eating breakfast and dinner together at the same table made for a very comfortable setting as we all got along quite well together.  At one end of the dining area was a buffet area that, each morning promptly when the bell rang at 8:00 am, we found full of breads, cheeses, cereals, fruits, meats, juices, and sweet snacks that we had for breakfast, then bagged up the rest of it as we pleased to serve as our lunches while out on the road.   Beyond that was the bar where we could go to get water and drinks for the meals. Behind that was the kitchen, in which we were not allowed.

This stairway leads to the cabins below. We were used to the No Smoking sign.  The “no drugs” sign seemed  to us to go without saying, but hey, this is Amsterdam…….

Below deck there are 10 cabins, with 27 beds.  Each cabin with its own bath/shower. Our cabin had 3 single beds.  A bunk bed set, and an open space bed.  There was a sink,  closet, and electrical plug-ins.  This came in handy in making coffee with our personal size  water cup heater.  Of course this also required the power converter to go from the 110 volts used in the states, to the 220 volts used in Europe.  That heater made the water boil very much faster with the 220!  The sleeping area of the cabin also had two small portholes, that we were not allowed to open during the day while the ship was out in the water since the portholes are only slightly higher than the water level.  There was also a porthole in the shower area.  We opened all these each day as we returned from riding and did not close them again til we left for the next days ride, as it does get stuffy down there, and the breeze aided in drying the clothes that we had washed and hung out each night.  As would be expected, the toilet/shower area was quite small. It is actually all one molded fiberglass unit. One step into the room, and you are actually in the shower, with a curtained area just big enough to turn around.  Using the toilet means standing in the shower, made slightly inconvenient in that the slope of the floor meant that the basin never fully drained on its own.  But we were provided a squeegee that we could use to squeegee all the water into the drain so that Honey didn’t get wet feet in the middle of the night.  But the water was hot, the toilet works,  and the rooms were clean and bright.
Down the hall was the laundry room, and Linda provided us with clean towels every third day.

The bikes were stored on the top deck, but there was plenty of room for them, and all of us, and chairs and all the other boat type supplies that would be needed.  Part of it was covered, which came in very handy during the rainy times of our trip.  And of course the captains bridge, which was polished and neat and contained a computerized navigation system that apparently made it easy to stay on course in the river channels without a lot of human steering.

A very nice boat, and a wonderful week.  We will remember the trip and the people for a very long time.

Popularity: 28% [?]

 Today’s ride is expected to be a relatively short 55 kilometers, along the Ijssel river from Arnhem, through Doesburg, then turning slightly north, in to Zutphen.  Everyone on board follows the schedule. The Zeeland leaves the dock promptly at 7:00, as this is the time our captain told us he would leave.  The breakfast bell rings promptly at 8:00, as this is the time the captains wife told us that the door to the dining room would be open, and that breakfast would be ready.  The Zeeland drops us off at the river wall just prior to the lock that enters the lake like area of the Ijssel, at Doesburg a few minutes before 9:00.  The lake area doesn’t really have a different name, just a really wide spot of the river. We hurry to get every thing off the boat, as the next opening of the locks will be at 9:00.  And we are then off.  We must ride from the north side of the lake area, around the west side, then south side, then east side, in order to continue on to Zutphen.   The weather on this day, as with most days of our tour in The Netherlands were cloudy,  with continual mixtures of wind, then rain, then sun. By the time this day was through,  Honey and I were beginning to adjust to the slow pace of riding in a group of family/recreational riders.   Many stops for food, restrooms, pictures, horses, coffee, waiting for everyone to gather, etc.  On this day, we completed the ride of 55 kilometers in 9 1/2 hours.  Say it again, this…..is…..a……vacation……..

Much of the ride did follow the river, and we were able to see The Zeeland pass us by on their way up to Zutphen.  It happened on many occasions that our boat would pass by, and wave. Though I don’t think they ever thought about stopping to ask if we wanted a ride.

People in The Netherlands expend a great deal of energy in maintaining their homes.  The homes here are very neatly trimmed, clean and painted, with flowers everywhere.  They also pay attention to their traditional appearance without necessarily adhering to traditional methods.  Here a home was being re-roofed in thatch, with the help of a crane.

We spent a while touring the town of Doesburg. The area is famous for its mustard production, and this sidewalk cafe proved to be a great spot for a bowl of Salmon/Mustard soup, and coffee, while we watched the bikes go by.

Unlike the U.S. much of the riding through the country side can be done on paths completely separate from the roadways.  In this area we rode for mile on a pathway that was on top of the dike system, elevated from the roads, and separate from another bike path that ran near, but not connected to the road. Kind of like the business route, and rural route, for bikes.  Paths mostly go through sheep pastures, cow pastures and cornfields, as the Dutch don’t think that a bike path really has to follow along any road.  Perhaps 60% of our riding for the entire week were on paths completely separated from any roadway.

Today’s ride did take us to several windmills, which will covered in another post.  And in addition to the stop for coffee and soup in Doesburg, another stop for coffee and desert in Bronckhorst, a small town that has about three streets, all cobble-stoned, whose appearance likely hasn’t changed in the last 200 years, with the possible exception that its main industry now is tourists.  The town seems to be full of bicycles.  I think that even the Dutch people take their vacations on bikes.    We finished our day with dinner, served promptly at 6:00, followed by a walking tour of Zutphen led by our guide Hannameke.

Popularity: 24% [?]

The barge casts off at 7:00 sharp, and we head up the river. This gives us time to settle in for breakfast, pack our lunches and gather our gear.  The Zeeland drops us off near the town of Heavendorp about 11:30 to start our ride for the day.   Early on in the day we have a very short ferry ride over a river, and then perhaps one of the biggest rainstorms of the trip as we stop to visit the castle near Woofheeze.

The heavy rainstorms turned this 5 minute break, into a 30 minute coffee stop at the cafe, much to the chagrin of our cycle guide Hannamike. Most of the riders were enjoying the shelter of the converted horse stables, and the warm drinks, but she knew how much more riding we had for the day.

The ride then heads north through the De hoge Veluwe national park, with our lunch to be at the Kroller Muller museum. The vegetation of area of the park was sort of a high desert meets the heather of Scotland.   The museum is a large indoor/outdoor art facility, with its main attraction being the largest collection of Van Gogh paintings in the world.  Parking is limited and expensive in the park and for that reason, they maintain a very large collection of white bikes for people to ride in and around the park.  A separate post will cover the white bikes.  We were only given about 1 1/2 hours to have lunch and see the exhibits before we had to start riding again. So we skipped lunch and headed directly to the Van Goghs. That took most all the time we were allowed so we had to skip much of the rest and eat our lunch as we hurried back to the bikes. Returning through the narrow paths through the fields of the park, Honey had her one fall of the trip.  While we were passing some riders, Nadias inexperience caused her to spook and veer, forcing Honey off the path, dropping her a into some rutted muddy area which caused her to loose balance and fall back onto the pathway.  Nothing broken but pavement hitting bare knees is never a good thing.  A little bloodied, but spirits intact, she  rode on.

From there it was back south the Arnhem, on the banks of the Ijssel.

We arrived at the boat about 6:30.   After dinner, there was time for a quick shower and change, before we took a stroll through the town of Arnhem.

Many of the hansaetic towns in the area were fortified with walls, and had a main gate to the city.
This was the main gate to Arnhem.

The Zeeland was docked just down river from The John Frost bridge, site of the Battle of Arnhem, during world war II, and memorialized in the movie “A bridge too far”.

Popularity: 26% [?]