GOLD COASTING OCT A monthly publication of the Long Island Bicycle Club The Don t Mind the Cue Sheets Tour

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1 OCT 2001 GOLD COASTING A monthly publication of the Long Island Bicycle Club Meeting Place Usually, meetings are held the first Thursday of each month at 7:30 p.m. at the Averill Blvd. Park in Franklin Square, Check the Bulletin for changes and details. Directions: Take Cross Island Pkwy. to Hempstead Tpke. (Rt. 24) east to Covert Ave. (Mobil Station on corner, next to Stop 20 diner). Make a left on Covert and a right on Drew (just past a school) and follow to the park. Club Meeting No meeting due to low attendance. See you on the road The President LIBC on the Web Get club information on the internet at: Club Roster LIBC members can receive a copy of the club roster by sending a SASE to Mike Friedlander, 323 Frost Pond Road, Glen Head, NY (or him at MikeLIBC@aol.com). List Club members can add their name to the LIBC List by sending a message to MikeLIBC@aol.com. The subject of the message should include your name and the words Send LIBC s. The Standard Ride The standard ride takes place every Saturday, Sunday and holiday from the Westbury HS. Rides leave promptly at 9:30 a.m. Directions: Take the Northern State Pkwy. to exit 32 north. Go north on Post Ave. The school will be on your right just after Jericho Tpke. Park by the tennis courts. Riders will pause at the Syosset firehouse at about 10:15. Club Jersey s for Sale You may have seen some of your riding buddies in the club colors. Guess what? You can have one of your own. Good for standing out on rides. And, if you re good for $45, you can buy one from Bill Selsky. To reserve, call or bselsky@cmp.com or see him at the lot. The Don t Mind the Cue Sheets Tour By Bill Selsky, LIBC president The tours with surprises are the one that keep you on toes and are the most memorable. After two tours with the good folks from Colorado HeartCycle, I thought I knew what to expect: a well-planned tour with exact routes and two sags at a fraction of the price of other tours. This year, I didn t feel like flying and persuaded a bunch of other LIBCers to come along on the Mohawk Hudson Tour. Phil, Maria, Glenn and Pat Mullen had all been pleased by previous tours and would this year be joined by Daniel Goldschmidt, Rich Suttenberg and Jo Vlastaris. Plus, there were a total of 23 others on the tour, including Ron Kahn, an LIBC Westchester transplant. The week-long tour began in Albany and went to Johnstown, NY, then North Creek, NY, then Glenn Falls, NY, with a tour of the Serotta bike factory, then North Adams, MA, with a layover day that would take us into Bennington, VT and through the Hoosick Battlefield, then to Saugerties, NY and finally back to Albany. Jim Bethell, the tour leader, ed us a few weeks before the tour began that a planned stay in Cooperstown would have to be canceled due to lack of accommodations. Then, just before the tour began, one of his sag drivers canceled out, and he ed asking for volunteers at $50 a day plus expenses. Then he e- mailed again that a replacement had been found, and everything was okay. The replacement turned out to be Jack, a sixtyish-man from Colorado, who was flown out to drive the second sag. The first night at the Comfort Inn in Albany began on a discordant note when the inn s restaurant waitress asked if we were part of a tour and then said the restaurant wasn t prepared for us. She and the kitchen managed somehow, and we ordered and ate, and sent back the check when she overcharged us. The first day of riding was around 70 miles and included the first of many steep climbs for the week. The cue sheet directions in some spots were not too clear, and Phil, Maria and Pat added 4miles to the ride by finding the lunch spot in a round about way. Another couple added 10 miles, and another had a hard time finding their way out of Albany. Glenn had contacted food poisoning before he left Long Island and was a little shaky on the ride. Just before the lunch stop at around 45 miles, John Howe s shifter cable snapped. The shuttle, which had picked up Glenn, dropped Glenn off and picked up John and brought him to the rest stop. Bethell handed John a cable and said, You know what to do with this, and John said he did and handed it back to Bethell. Bethell threaded in the cable, but the shifter would not shift. John s rear shifter was broken and would need to be replaced. He was able to complete the rest of the ride but was told he needed to go to a bike shop to get a repair. We still enjoyed the Holiday Inn and its pool and had dinner at an Italian Restaurant. Bethell let us borrow one of the vans to get there, and Daniel drove. The next morning, it was raining. The ride was to be 85 miles for everyone to the Inn on Gore Mountain in North Creek. Except John was headed to a bike shop a few blocks from the Holiday Inn, and he would, according to Bethell, be able to do a 50 mile more direct ride to Gore. I offered to stay with him, and we ran over different scenarios: if the bike shop didn t have the shifter, I suggested that John might have to pay more to have one transplanted from a bike on the floor. (continued on page 5)

2 LIBC President Bill Selsky / bselsky@cmp.com Vice President Mike Friedlander / MikeLIBC@aol.com Treasurer Glenn Collins Membership Brenda Walker Publicity Bob Maziarski / r.maziarski@worldnet.att.net Recording Sec y Patrick Cuvilly / patrickcuvilly@yahoo.com A Ride Chair Phil Ayvazian bike74@surfbest.net B Ride Chair Rich Suttenberg / rgsutt@aol.com C+ Ride Chair Nancy Cymbalsky C Ride Chair Irma Klein iklein@bear.com Bulletin Editor Modesta Kraemer th Ave College Point, NY / MSuardy@aol.com Web Page Editor Walter Costanza / libc@retsambew.com 10% Discount for Members At: Bicycle Planet Syosset Bikeworks East Hills Brands Wantagh Breaking Away Cycles - Williston Park Carl Hart Bicycles Middle Island Cycles Plus - Huntington Danny s Bicycle Center Levittown Open Road Cycles Brooklyn Peckham Cycles, Ltd. Wantagh Port Washington Cyclery Pt Washington Tulip Bike Shop Floral Park Visentin Oyster Bay Guidelines Bicycle safety is promoted on all rides, but riders must assume responsibility for their own personal safety. The use of helmets is mandatory! Rides are graded according to the degree of difficulty: A For very strong cyclists, mph avg, miles, few stops, hills likely. B For strong riders, mph avg, miles, few stops, hills likely. Ride leader will try to wait for slower riders. C mph avg, miles, stops as needed, hills likely. Ride leader will wait for slower riders. C mph avg, miles, stops as needed, some hills to be expected. The group will wait for slower riders and assist those having minor mechanical problems If you are in doubt, try out a ride with a slower group and work your way up. Rules to Ride By 1. Arrive 15 minutes early and be ready to leave on time. 2. Make sure your bike is in good working order. 3. Carry a spare tube, patch kit, pump, and water bottle. 4. Practice safety and obey all traffic laws. 5. Leaders are not responsible for those who ride ahead of the group. SKIING ANYONE? Why in the world would anyone be thinking about skiing while the weather is warm and we still have two months of hopefully great weather for cycling on the LIBC calendar? Baring an arctic blast we will continue to be out there well past our last scheduled ride on November 25. But, perhaps this year s weather will be similar to last year s and come New Year s Eve we ll be watching the snowflakes pile up outside our doors. The Long Island Cross-Country Ski Club has already had their planning meeting and has set the calendar for the coming year. There are ski weekends, 4, and 5 day trips planned from New Year s right through the first week of March. And if the weather allows, we will meet at such popular ski sites right here on Long Island as Muttontown Preserve, Bethpage Golf Course, Caumsett Park, and perhaps impromptu off-island trips to Faunstock Winter Park, Rockefeller Preserve State Park, Croton Point Park and other such sites. Long Island X-Country Ski Club will hold their first meeting of the year on Thursday, November 15 at the Plainview Old Bethpage Public Library, 999 Old Country Road in Plainview (1/2 mile east of the Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway). If you love x-country skiing or just want to find out what it s all about plan to join us. Social time begins at 7:45 p.m. and the meeting will start promptly at 8:15. The first meeting of the year is always very social and exciting as that is when the year s schedule is announced and people start signing up for various trips. LIBC WEEKEND - BRANDYWINE, PA Please note the date change for this weekend. We will be in Brandywine on the weekend after Columbus Day. That is Friday Oct. 12 through Sunday October 14. Our accommodations are for Friday and Saturday night, with a continental breakfast on Saturday and Sunday. There will be a group dinner on Saturday night. We will be staying at the Chadd s Ford Ramada Inn. The rides range from miles. The area offers beautiful country riding as well as non-riding activities such as Longwood Gardens (a world class garden), Brandywine River Museum (largest Wyeth collection of the world), the Brandywine Winery and Winterthur Museum and Garden. The cost will be at most $69 per person double occupancy (excluding Saturday night dinner), but it may be less. If you are interested, you should let me know as soon as possible. Please contact me for cost and other information. Marv Strobing at WANTED Want inexpensive used wheels with clincher rims to replace wheels with rims for tubeless ("sew-up") tires. Call (516) or to jhazel1@optonline.net LIBC WINTER BULLETIN SCHEDULE The next bulletin is a combined November and December issue, followed by a combined January and February issue. The monthly bulletin will resume with the March, 2002 issue. Make sure that you take this schedule into account when submitting rides and other events for publication. October, 2001 GOLD COASTING PAGE 2

3 A Rides Schedule Saturday, OCT 6 The Flat Century miles - Mike Friedlander This is Bill's favorited century because he knows that it goes to Lake Louise, the Columbia Icefields and many other places that he loves. Mike humors him and Bill loves this ride. Lunch at the newly opened Umberto's in Jasper, B.C.. Join Mike for a flat century in a traditionally mountainous area. Meet 7:30 to leave at 8 A.M. Sunday, OCT 7 The Famed Sis Boom Bah Ride - 52 miles - Phil Ayvazian This one is out of the archives with some additional roads thrown in. No Firehouse (poor John) and lunch at Mario's. Monday, OCT 8 If the lot is still there then we will be there too. Roads chosen by those who speak the softest. Friday, OCT 12 - Sunday, OCT 14 LIBC Brandywine Weekend. This one is Marv's baby so he'll fill you in. For those who don't go, the rides will go on from the lot. The Golden Apple Ride -75 miles-phil Ayvazian This one could be renamed the Water Ride. Lakes, reservoirs, streams and some other sources of water make this ride really beautiful. It was officially held last month. We have cue sheets and the red arrows may still be there. Will we make a couple of wrong turns? Of course, but with a little patience this could turn into a club tradition. Meet 8 to start at 8:30. I-684 to Exit 6, left at light at end of ramp, left at second light onto Woodbridge Road. The lot is 1/4 mile on the right. Last off Island ride of the year. Bill's Wyandanch Relaxation Ride - 55 miles - Bill Selsky This one will be easy and relaxing. I can't even knock Bill for this ride anymore because everyone likes it (including myself). Join Bill and since Glenn will be on the ride and controls the purse strings lunch will be on him. The Northport Ride - 55 miles - John Howe John sorts of likes going to Northport so join our latter-day Jordan for an amusing and probably fast ride. B Rides Schedule Saturday, OCT 6 Rich Suttenberg miles east and north. If the timing is right, lunch will be at the Cold Spring Harbor deli. Sunday, OCT 7 Ross Selinger miles to Wyandanch. Monday, OCT 8 Columbus Day. No leader, but if you're around, stop by. Saturday, OCT LIBC Club trip to Brandywine, PA. Daniel Goldschmidt told me where he was going, but I forgot. Expect a very strong B pace. Maybe an A or two will join? No leader, roll your own. David Junowitz will do about 50 miles. No leader, roll your own. E-BOOK "BASIC TRAINING FOR ROADIES" OK, summer is nearing an end. So who needs an ebook about training? You do! If you want to make 2002 a great season, it's not too soon to start designing your program. In this comprehensive guide, Fred Matheny delivers time-honored training advice as well as the most-current techniques. This ebook is for fast recreational riders and racers - people who want to ride like an athlete. $9.95, 130 pages, 24-hour delivery. Read an excerpt, see the table of contents, and order at The Never Ending Hills Ride - 55 miles. At press time we think we have a club member who loves to lead hilly ride drafted for this one. Nothing is confirmed yet, but if he is out he promises many, many hills. Know who it is? October, 2001 GOLD COASTING PAGE 3

4 C+ Rides Schedule I wish to announce that although I have enjoyed being the C+ ride lead chairman for the past 3 years, due to my new responsibilities as a mom and working full time, I will be resigning after this season as ride leader chairman. I would like to ask one of my fellow C+ riders to take a turn. Thank you, Nancy Saturday, OCT 6 Nancy & George Cymbalsky miles. The tandem returns at a slower place and George knows the way. Sunday, OCT 7 Daniel Goldschmidt miles. Centre Island; lunch in Oyster Bay. Saturday, OCT 13 Charlie Elioseff miles approx. Caumset Park in Huntington. Lunch in Huntington Sunday, OCT 14 The Andy Warhol Ride Patrick Cuvilly miles. Destination: open June Robins miles. Destination: open Kenneth Schack miles Patrick Cuvilly miles. Destination: open LET YOUR EYES HELP YOU GLIDE THROUGH TURNS The main cornering mistake most riders make is not using their eyes. Instead of looking at the turn carefully, well in advance of approaching it, they stare too near their front wheel. Scanning the turn early helps you choose the correct speed and best line. Then: Approach the turn as wide as traffic and other conditions allow. Cut through the turn on nearly a straight line. Exit wide, again using as much of the road as you can safely inhabit. Keep an eye out for potholes, gravel, oil slicks, and errant pedestrians. These obstacles are easy to avoid by adjusting your line slightly. But you can do so safely only if you see them well in advance. Whenever you ride, and especially when coming to a turn, remember the advice of your old linebacker coach: "Keep your head on a swivel!" C Rides Schedule The terrorist attacks that led to the destruction of the World Trade Center and a section of the Pentagon, symbols of our United States and the free world on Tuesday, September 11 have left us all shaken and feeling the world will never again be quite the same for us. We grieve for family and friends that we have lost and for all those that we will never have the opportunity to know. We, as a nation, have not been brought to our knees however, it has only strengthened our resolve to keep our way of life intact, brought out our patriotism and brought the countries of the free world together as never before. Let us all take a fresh look at our way of life, family and friends and appreciate what we have. Ride these roads that we take so much for granted, and realize how very fortunate we are to be alive and able to ride them. Saturday, OCT 6-8 Monday October 8 (Columbus Day) We leave Mallorca Saturday and will spend a few days in Barcelona for some sightseeing. Those of you left at home Roll Your Own. We ll be back next week with lots of photos and tales to tell. Saturday, OCT 13 Al Rutsky Aposteriori, ride. At this writing, given mood so somber, thoughts ahead stultified by need to remember the good, the joy, the appreciation, of what life means in this great nation. No need, right now, to decide or describe, what is to be October s ride. Sunday, OCT 14 Irma Klein miles. Huntington was a delightful ride and worthy of another visit. Beatrice Kee miles give or take. We will possibly repeat a great ride, Sea Cliff and East Island? Mike Woloch About 40 miles. We ll point our wheels toward the Brookville Labs and Heartbreak, then it s on to Centre Island and Bayville. Let s see how Heartbreak measures up against those hills of the Sierra De Tramuntana. Clara Meyerson Beautiful roads with just enough challenge to make the ride more fun in this most beautiful of seasons. George Stafford Bethpage State Park Bike Path and then Wantagh for lunch. The road home will be through Eisenhower Park. Easy Rider Group Schedule For the occasional or new rider we offer two rides this month. Fall is a lovely time for a ride on Long Island s roads when the colors of fall are everywhere and the air is cool and crisp. Put on a sweatshirt or a light jacket, don t forget your helmet, and come out to the lot and enjoy this very special time of year. Saturday October 20 Al Rutsky (516) Al knows all the right roads where you can enjoy this breathtaking time of year. Sunday, October 28 Clare Schwartz (516) or so GENTLE miles. An easy ride through Oyster Bay and Bayville. Lunch at the beach?? October, 2001 GOLD COASTING PAGE 4

5 The Don t Mind the Cue Sheets Tour (from page 1) The bike shop wouldn t open until 10. We watched the others take off, in the rain, and a few hours later, cycled over in the rain to The Bike Works, owned by Doug Mosher and his wife. We watched Mosher s ten-year son set up a customer s bike, while Mosher told us he only carried mountain bikes and couldn t help us. He let us use his phone to call other shops in Saratoga and Glenn Falls. Most of them didn t have the part either. Rick of Rick s Bike Shop in Glenn Falls said he would take a shifter from a bike on the floor. We were two days away from Glenn Falls. We were trying to decide how to get to either Glenn Falls or a shop in Saratoga that would have put a Shimano 105 on in place of John s Ultegra, when John saw a bike much like his own just sitting in the shop. It turned out to be Mosher s. After some persuading, Mosher agreed not to force us to rent a car and took the shifter off his own bike and put it on John s. At around 1 p.m., John s bike was fixed. We grabbed a quick lunch at Subways and began cycling to Gore, taking Bethell s suggested route of Route 30A to Route 30 to Route 8. The shoulder was a bit rough on 30A and 30, and just as we reached 30, John had a rear flat. We fixed it quickly and continued on, making one more stop to buy GatorAid. We hit Route 8 and discovered we were cycling more than 50 miles. And, where 30 and 30A had been flat to rolling, 8 had a gradual climb. After we had climbed for a while, a car stopped across from us and said we must be with Colorado Heart. The woman driver said her husband Jerry Bache was also doing the tour. She was not a cyclist and had spent the day in Cooperstown, but she wanted to check on directions with us. We looked at her map and weren t quite sure that the end was as near as we hoped it would be, but it was, and we reached the top and descended down to the road to Gore and the Inn. We pulled in at 6 p.m. and were told we had 15 minutes to get ready for dinner. Colorado Heart picked up the tab for everyone s dinner that night. We had cycled 61 miles. No one from Colorado Heart checked on us at any point during the day or early evening. Meanwhile, most doing the 85 mile ride got a little lost and ended up doing 90. Rich and Daniel did a little more, climbing all the way to the top of the Gore ski lodge. Day 3 was to be a short one of only 57.5 miles, allowing time for us to tour the Serotta bike factory. We cycled along the Hudson for a while and it was quite beautiful. Bethell was with us a good part of the way and took us into the Serotta factory, though missing a turn or two. At one point, I said we were off the cue sheet, and he stopped and looked at the map, saying he hadn t done the ride in 4 years. Rich, Pat and Daniel pulled into the factory as we were finishing, having had to ask directions after falling behind with a flat. We all were warned by a road construction crew to be careful on a long-winding downhill. John repaired another flat at Serotta, and found that although he had been looking forward to the factory tour, once he got there, he couldn t wait to leave. The factory was stuffy and not air conditioned. Day 4 we cycled 80 miles, going into Bennington, VT, and ending in North Adams, MA. As we pulled into North Adams, and stopped at a light, Daniel asked where Main Street and the Holiday Inn were. The driver pointed up the road, and there it was in plain sight. Phil and Jo, cycling in separately each stopped to ask directions, and we all ended at about the same time. Day 5, we had the option of doing our own thing or doing the 77 plus ride through the Hoosick battlefields. Most of us did the ride, which included a long climb at the beginning and end. Bethell told us we blew by a turn, but no one seemed to have found it, and it didn t affect the general route. We did have to ask directions in town for the park lunch stop. Going back took us up Route 2 and the Taconic Trail, a four mile climb. Day 6 was one of the easiest riding days, no long climbs, though through one busy stretch with road construction. When I stopped to look at the cue sheet and map after having successfully negotiated the Rip Van Winkle Bridge, a car coming from the opposite direction, stopped and the driver yelled to me that other riders had continued in the direction I was heading. Colorado Heart treated us all to dinner at a Mexican restaurant that night. Day 7 was the last day of riding, and one of the longest. We would go from Saugerties to Albany covering 84.6 miles, according to the cue sheet. We were warned that we had a tough climb almost immediately. Sure enough, at around 4 miles into the ride, we took Blue Mountain Road up for around 4 miles, coming down around Hunter Mountain. We also rode through the Windam Ski area. Jo, John, Daniel and I, among others missed a turn, before lunch, adding about 2 miles to the ride. After lunch, many of us found the cue sheet directions difficult and made several wrong turns, with Daniel acting as the map interpreter. We finally got to the last sag stop at around 75 miles, made a brief stop and continued on. The next hitch was approaching Albany. The cue sheet had us turning down a one-way street, only for a block or so, and we did it, and then the next couple of turns didn t seem to exist. Two other tour riders joined us, saying they had asked directions at a police station. We ended up following signs to the Albany Airport, near where the tour began and was ending. Everyone of our group said they had a great time despite cue sheet errors and would do another tour with Colorado Heart. Daniel said his first bike tour was one of his best vacations. He said he never had time to think of work or any of the everyday stresses he and everyone take vacations to get away from. So, next year, we may have an even bigger group along on the tour, with or without perfect cue sheets. ASK COACH FRED MATHENY How Can I Get Stronger on Hills? QUESTION: Climbing kills my legs. On a long hill or a sequence of short climbs, I can feel my strength ebb. What's the best way to ride a hill, and how can I build strength and stamina? -- David W. COACH FRED: The usual reason riders die on consecutive hills is simple -- they attack the first one too hard and then have no zip left for the others. If you go so hard that you're panting uncontrollably, you're in big trouble. On a single long climb, it's the same story. Don't go too hard during the first third or you'll die before the top. The second reason is overgearing. Your pedaling cadence while climbing should be almost as high as on the flats -- at least 80 rpm. This means that you probably need lower gearing than you have. Lance Armstrong climbs in a 39x23-tooth gear, or even a 25. He produces more than twice the power of the average masters racer, not to mention recreational rider. Yet many roadies have only a 39x25 low gear. If Lance uses a 23 or 25, most of us need a triple crankset to get gears low enough for climbing with a high and efficient cadence. Finally, to climb well, climb. Many people avoid climbs on their training rides and wonder why they're no good on hills. Seek out hills once or twice a week and go up at a brisk, steady pace. You'll improve October, 2001 GOLD COASTING PAGE 5

6 Long Island Bicycle Club Forwarding and Address 6 Osage Drive Correction Requested Huntington Station, NY Information for the NOV/DEC, 2001 bulletin needed by OCT 15th LONG ISLAND BICYCLE CLUB MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION Membership in the LIBC includes a 10% discount at selected bicycle shops, access to club rides and events, and the monthly bulletin. The cost of membership is $20. Each additional member of the household can join for $5. Name(s): Address: City: State: Zip: Phone: Please print your address very carefully Signature(s): Each member must sign LIBC membership: $20.00 additional 5.00 each: Total amount enclosed: Make check payable to: Long Island Bicycle Club Send this form and your payment to: LIBC, c/o Brenda Walker 6 Osage Drive Huntington Station, NY In signing this release for myself or a member of my family who is under the age of 18, I acknowledge that I understand the intent hereof, and I hereby agree to and will absolve and hold harmless the Long Island Bicycle Club and its officers and members and any other parties connected with clubsponsored rides or activities associated herewith. I also consent to and permit emergency medical treatment in the event of injury or illness. I shall abide by traffic laws and regulations and practice courtesy and safe cycling. I also understand that the Long Island Bicycle Club requires the use of helmets when participating in all club rides.