Jure de Force

Jure Robic, the man who logged a 518 mile day to hallucinations of angry wolves and Mujahideen fighters, is back again to compete in the 2010 Ride Across America (RAAM). Robic has set a blistering pace, averaging 18.84mph. Although this may sound like a recovery ride, the average speed is measured by calculating time resting, eating, sleeping and hallucinating on the side of the road. Robic is hoping to break the average speed record of 15.4 mph. The race begins in Oceanside, California and finishes in Annapolis, Maryland, covering over 3000 miles of America... and most places in the USA aren't all that.

Loving The Winners : Best Bike Blogs

Darryl at Loving The Bike has announced his list of winners for the Best Cycling Blogs IN THE WORLD!!!!!

His CRANK Directory is full of bike blogs divided by category and by region. I hope everyone can swing by and visit his site and use his directory to expand the cycling universe.

A Different Trip Around The World

Another Taiwanese man has embarked on a round the world trip. I find this story interesting compared to the recent story of the young Taiwanese couple that set out on their honeymoon around the world by bike subsidized on donations if they would advertise the ROC's 100th Anniversary.

Here's the whole story:

Taipei - A 28-year-old Taiwan man left the island Tuesday to spend two years cycling around the world.

Wu Shih-chang, a painter, said he wanted to encourage people all over the world to love life and fulfil their dreams.

'I am both excited and scared because starting today, my life has changed,' he said at Taoyuan International Airport before boarding a flight for Alaska.

Wu plans to cycle through North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia.

He is to cycle most of the way, but will fly or take a boat when crossing from South America to Europe and from Europe to Asia (duh!). The trip is due to end in Australia.

Wu's supplies, not including his bike, weigh about 25 kilograms.

He plans to spend eight US dollars a day on the trip, and has saved 8,000 US dollars for the expedition.

Money is a problem because has not found a sponsor.

The other challenge could be getting entry visas from countries which do not have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, as the island is recognized by only 23 states.

The contrasts are stark. Rather than the thousands of dollars in donations and government support, this traveler is going to scrape by on his own. I guess there is an allegory of the Taiwanese experience somewhere. I figure this ride will not be a tribute to the 100 years of the ROC.

Night Ride to Caotun Stats

I decided to run the fatigue out of my legs after Sunday's century and do a ride out to Caotun and back along the Changhua side. As a solo ride at night it wasn't so bad. Too much traffic to watch and it took me way too long to get the legs to wake up, but it worked. About half-way through everything started feeling perfect. My legs spun circles, my tires felt properly inflated, my ass felt right on the seat and I felt comfy in the drops, which is good for a mile an hour. Now maybe I can get a sound sleep.

Unhappy Endings for the Post Ride Massage

Like a lot of people I enjoy a good massage after a long ride or when my muscles feel beat all to hell. Unfortunately, a good massage is hard to find as nobody seems to put enough elbow grease into it and it just ends up tickling. Anyways... like most people I assumed the massage was a great way to recover. It unknots muscles and flushes the toxins and lactic acids that accumulate in the muscles during exercise.

The only problem is that... it doesn't flush out anything. Or at least that is the conclusion reached by Michael Tschakovsky, an associate professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

"The results, published in the latest issue of the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, are a blow, at least to those of us who justify our massages as medicinal. It turned out that massage did not increase blood flow to the tired muscle; it reduced it. Every stroke, whether long and slow or deep and kneading, cut off blood flow to the forearm muscle. Although the flow returned to normal between strokes, the net effect was to lessen the amount of blood that reached the muscle, particularly compared with the amount that flowed to the forearm muscle during 10 minutes of passive recovery. Meanwhile, active recovery reduced blood flow as well, since muscular contractions, however slight, compress blood vessels in the muscle briefly. But the overall reduction of blood flow was significantly less during active recovery than during the massage session."

Although the conclusions of the study do not dispel all claims that massage after exercise is beneficial, but it does cast some doubt on the pseudo-scientific claims associated with massage therapy. Regardless if the feelings of recovery are a placebo or related to other aspects of therapeutic massage, if it works and is enjoyable... then I don't see any reason to stop.

Show Your Skills: Naked Cycling Event 6/12

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Taiwan Mountain Biking (Video)

I understand that at times it might seem like I am an ARP (arrogant roadie prick) because I might cringe or comment on all the loaded, fat tired, heavy mountain bikes on the roads in Taiwan that never see more in the way of off-road than a sewer cap. I would just like to say that that is not the case. I am in no way against mountain bikes in any way. More accurately, I am all for seeing bikes used... and even more for seeing bikes used for their intended design purpose or build type. I love seeing road bikes perform on the road and heavy mountain bikes perform in the dirt.

That is why this video is so awesome. This is why bikes should have full shocks, fat tires and soft tails. Really amazing stuff! I love it.