Chad Files

I am presently faced with a moral dilemma. During the last few years I have competed in a marathon, a triathlon, several long bicycle events and a few 5k races. Each time I do one of these I cannot help but notice the amount of resources that go into them. First off there are all the people driving around to haul stuff to the event and then to set things up along the course. Next there are all the participants, most drive and some come from far off places. Then there is the event itself; piles of paper cups and plastic water bottles, more people driving about on the course for support, goo wrappers, spectator trash, and so on and so forth. It is truly appalling when one considers the amount of energy and resources that go into these events.

The dilemma I face is that I really enjoy participating in these events, but seriously do not like the toll they enact on our environment. There are a few event organizers and organizations that are trying to change things, but change is slow and never easy. This very issue is a large reason why I no longer follow or support professional and collegiate sports. Think of the resources that go into a single professional sporting event. Now think about how much better off the environment would be if these organizations cut their seasons in half, or better yet took notice and try to make meaningful, sustainable changes to the entire way they operate.

At any rate, the registration deadline for the Little Rock Marathon is looming and I cannot decide if my desire to compete will out pace my greater desire to always consider how my life impacts the world around me. I fundamentally believe that exercise should only involve the most basic equipment and rarely ever involve transportation. However, it is good to have a goal for the time spent exercising, like a competition. I have until November 1st to decided…time will tell.

This morning I found the Cyberbike. This thing is an exercise bicycle that hooks into a Wii. That is all well and good, but how about doing this instead…

• Create, or modify, a real bicycle trainer that allows me to use my bike.
• Make a game that drops me into the Tour de France or puts me on a long ride out in the country.
• Have the trainer adjust the resistance as hills come into the screen. Also have the trainer track my speed and output so I can actually race other riders on the screen.

The possibilities for cyclist are boundless with a setup like this. Want to race against Lance in the 2002 tour? How about riding against Eddie Merckx? Want to race your local riding buddies along the Tour of California? Maybe you are a track guy and want to race along with Bradley Wiggins in a Madison? All of this would be possible.

I would buy the system in a heartbeat. It would make indoor training enjoyable instead of just a means to an end.

Over the past six months or so I have been working on establishing a bicycle collective in Conway. The primary purpose of the collective is to recycle old bicycles. There are several things we want to do with the old bikes and one of the projects is to create a community bike share.

To get things started I created a prototype bike to show how the bikes will look and function. The basic idea is to reduce all of the bikes to single speeds, or internally geared hubs depending on the bike. Each bike will have the same color scheme: blue frame with an orange fork, and handlebars if they are not chrome. I also want to put a rack or basket on each bike but those cost money. The prototype bike was created to show off so it has mostly new parts that are clean and shiny. That said, the frame, fork, handlebars, stem, seat post, and barrings are all original. Not bad for a 20 year old huffy that has been sitting in the rain for at least a decade.

Since I am going to be the one riding this bike, I built it to suit my taste. There is no rear brake and the chain ring is a thigh blasting 52. The ratio is 87.7 and not suitable for most folks. The actual share bikes will be something in the ballpark of 65.

I still want to get some decals for the bike: a logo on the head tube, our group name “Conway Advocates for Bicycling” on the top tube, and a list of sharing rules to put on the down tube. If you know of a place where I can get a small quantity of three color vinyl decals for cheap, please let me know.

Rebuilding the bikes is a slow process at the moment. Each one has to be completely disassembled, sanded, painted, and put back together. The construction, deconstruction parts are easy, the paint takes the better part of a weekend because of drying times and such. Hopefully we will have a few ready in the coming months.

Earlier this year I started rebuilding bicycles, and since then I have become fairly good at it. To that end, I also started rebuilding too many and created a surplus. During this time I also started coming up with ideas for innovative new bicycle products. Add all of that together and it starts to sound like a business plan.

So…I give you Drew Gracie Cycles. Right now it is just a website with information about some of my bicycle overhauls. In the future it will be so much more. I plan on rebuilding old bicycles and making them better than they were originally. I am also going to finally put some of these ideas rolling around in my head into actual products. Stay tuned for more.

While you wait, go read about my 1980 Schwinn Continental Single Speed Conversion.

For the past three days I have been in Bentonville Arkansas riding bicycles, talking bicycles, learning about bicycles, and more importantly — learning how to share all of that information with others. The League of American Bicyclist, arguably the worlds largest bicycle advocacy group, has a huge education program to teach people how to cycle smart and safely. The program this weekend made me part of that program. I am now a League Certified Bicycle Instructor — I know, watch out world.

I went down this road for several reasons; one of the primary reasons is to put some credit behind all of my bicycle related interactions with the general public, political officials, and fellow cyclists. The main reason however, is to teach others have to safely drive a bicycle — yes, I did say drive.

The seminar was long and intense. Last night, after returning, was the first full nights sleep I have had since Thursday. We sat in a class room, we did handling drills in a parking lot, and we rode our bikes (over and over again) across the craziest, busiest set of intersections man has devised — at least by Arkansas standards. After it was all said and done I came away with volumes of new information and the confidence to effectively pass that information along.

I did have one really embarrassing moment this weekend. We were in the parking lot doing quick avoidance turns. These are basically 90 degree right hand turns, at speed, through a 4 foot corridor. During one of my turns I did not have enough speed to sling shot my bicycle and unconsciously started to peddle. Normally this is not a problem, but when you have your bike banked leaning into a turn your inside food can really get low to the ground. Mine got to close, my peddle clipped the asphalt and I took a tumble. My first true bicycle crash since childhood, and it happened at a bicycle instructor training seminar. Fortunately a few scrapes, a bruised ego and some ribbing was all the damage I received.

Another cool thing about the trip was being able to stop in Fayetteville on the way up and ride the new cross town bicycle trail the city just installed. This is one heck of a utilitarian bicycle trail. It literally runs from one side of the town to the other with an awesome tunnel that goes under Interstate 540. Along the trail local businesses have tied into the trail to provide the users easy access to their shops. It is awesome to see projects like this. My only complaint is the city installed clover leafs at busy intersections that put the trail users on very narrow sidewalks facing oncoming traffic. There are going to be some serious incidents on these portions of the trail. I say that because we almost had one. I turned up the cloverleaf on the right side of the trail, which is a blind turn, and two cyclist were headed straight at me. None of us had enough room and the only place to ditch was into traffic. Fortunately, I was able to stop and allow them through before something bad happened.

The weekend was fun and enlightening. Now the real work begins, scheduling and teaching. I am sure there will be more to come on this topic.

Last week I came into possession of a 1986-1987 Bianchi Premio that had not seen the road in many years. Unlike most bikes I end up with, this one needed minimal work to be road ready.

New tires, a lube job, a wheel true, a new saddle and it was ready to go. This morning I took it our for its maiden voyage, and it was amazing. This is the only road bike I have been on since I bought my Allez earlier this year. Now I fully understand why people like riding steel bikes in urban settings. This bike absorbed bumps way better than any carbon or aluminum bike ever could. It does not mean I am going to ditch the Allez (at least not yet) but I am more than happy with this bike.

During my ride this morning I noticed that fall is fully here. The trees are all shades of red, orange, and brown. The grass is becoming dormant. And it is really cold when one is zipping along at 20 MPH on a bicycle. This winter is going to be interesting if I do not find some good warm cycling clothes.

Trek Bicycles started an interesting new challenge. They are challenging people to trade their car keys for a bike. The cool thing about how they did this was showing each pledger the amount of CO2 and gas they are saving; they thrown in calories burned for good measure.

I had never sat down and crunched these numbers since I went almost all bike. What it made me realize is in a normal week I did not ride to commute very much at all; about 110 miles total. This is of course helped because of my work from home situation.

They even created this groovy little widget to show your pledge:

I am sure they will receive tons of pledges; they are giving away a brand new bicycle everyday of the challenge. I took the pledge because it is a cool thing to do, but a free bicycle would be cool too.