The Sporting Life: The Old Fallback to Cycling

Bicycle Commuting and Other Seasonal Happenings

Changing Seasons and Sport Rotation

With the days getting shorter, my sailing season is coming to an end. The approach of fall is also usually my cue to get back to outdoor cycling.¹ Looking forward to getting back outside and benefitting from the subtle shifts in perspective that come from seeing familiar places by bicycle.

My return to cycling is also driven by seasonal temperatures. We usually get a second summer in Los Angeles in September and October, where the weather can be as hot and nice as any place’s peak summer, but the morning and evening lows can be moderate. The resulting decrease in sweatiness takes the bicycle commute from the merely possible to the actually desirable.

The Bicycle Commute and the Luxury of Different Bicycles

The short bicycle commute to the office is mostly flat, but involves some major(ish, as it’s all relative) streets. For this and other short rides, I am on an inexpensive road bike. The goal is to have a certain amount of performance and aesthetic presence without the bike being so nice that someone stealing it becomes an invitation for soul searching. I have also stopped using my panniers lately and instead just use the toddler seat on the back of my bike for my work bag (safe enough for my children, safe enough for my laptop is my thinking). I also think the bright blue child’s seat adds some visibility to me when I’m in traffic—it might even make me look a little bit pitiable and a less deserving target of a driver’s rage. Extra protection is never a bad thing.

An unusual shot of my commuter bicycle, a Public R24, c. December, 2020. Will have to remember to take better pictures of my bicycles when I’m out riding.

The panniers admittedly look cooler, but I've kept the toddler seat to add visibility and because it removes the need to swap what's on the rack constantly.

I’ve also wanted to resurrect my 1986 Miyata road bicycle. I’ve been a bad steward of this bicycle and examining it recently was like being greeted by an old friend. I haven’t ridden it in years and it’s sometimes (okay, a lot of the time) been exposed to the elements. I’ll be undertaking a reasonable amount of refurbishment before I can ride it again, but a new saddle, toe clips and moving my panniers to this bike are all in order. My hope is to use this one for solo weekend rides over the next few seasons and then for participation in the California Eroica in fall, 2024 (see “Happenings” below).

Detail from a catalog of 1986 Miyata offerings, mysteriously provided by a [checks notes] Children’s Theater in Ottawa? At first I thought this was Rag and Bone the clothing brand, but this being from Rag and Bone Theater is much better and stranger. My Miyata’s color is also a kind of eggplant meets brown that I’ll attempt to capture in photographs.

The Flying Fish

The bicycle commute uniform versus the longer weekend ride uniform deserves space for its own detailed examination in the future, so I’ll close by saying clothing choices on the bicycle still matter. This is especially true for the longer weekend rides, where cycling kit is worn for performance and endurance, but is equally on display as a signifier to the other riders. You are passing people fairly quickly, but it’s fun to communicate your views on things in a kind of snapshot (and to receive the gist of the other riders in the same manner). It’s like shuffling a deck of cards of cycling looks and lifestyles. I might be telling on myself, but the cyclists’ nod can often be granted or withheld based on what I make of the exchange of our cycling kit snapshots.

Of course, there’s a world of hierarchy and signifiers in cycling clothing. To me, the coolest/highest level is cycling in clothes that don’t make sense: think a swimsuit or jeans, an aloha shirt, a tank top or shirtless, and some sandals (bonus points for no helmet or some kind of hat that creates tons of drag). These people are enigmas living outside our workaday rhythms and deserve our respect. Special commendation for anyone riding around in dress clothes—you see it on European Instagram, but never on the Marvin Braude bike path. Then there’s people who are wearing clothes for cycling. Results here seriously vary (speed suits covered in logos that make you look like a rally car, a sad jersey someone’s employer gave away for free as part of a doomed health and wellness initiative, and then people looking like Bond henchmen in Rapha). I was never a Rapha customer. The signature white armband and dark neutrals of their jerseys (black or navy seem to be the only colors I see out in the world) always make me feel like the wearer is dressed for their own cycling-related funeral. It’s appropriate given how dangerous cycling can be, but it’s not very fun.

I am sorry for your loss.

I greatly prefer Cafe du Cycliste.² Build quality is as superb as Rapha, but prints and patterns are incredibly fun (and price point just slightly more Earthbound). I especially love their gravel line for my weekend rides, which has a flying fish as its emblem. Only downside is that Cafe Du Cycliste purchases show up via DHL International courier. I inevitably think about what an extravagance (okay, maybe waste is the actual word I’m looking for) it is to have chamois, cycling gloves or a jersey cross an ocean for me.

Importantly, the gravel collection does a great job of not immediately looking like cycling clothes. I may be a middle-aged man in lycra, but it takes a few crucial seconds longer to identify me as such. Cyclist return nod granted.

Cafe Du Cycliste explains their motif: “The Fish That Flew: Somewhere between the sea and the sky, the fresh air and the deep blue. The flying fish badge is placed on pieces built for riding off the beaten track.”

The gravel shorts, when worn with the baseball tee-style jersey takes slightly longer to recognize as a cycling outfit.

Potpourri:

Happenings

Some great things happening this weekend. I’m highlighting them here as my penance for not supporting/attending:

• The Eroica California takes places this weekend up on the Central Coast in Cambria. A beautiful ride emphasizing the use of historic cycling equipment (pre-1986, although they have a ride for newer bicycles as well). Please consider this my (semi) public commitment to Eroica, CA 2024.

• The Catalina Island Museum unveiled a new exhibition this week, Cabinet of Curiosities. Hopefully I’ll find some time to get to Avalon and see what kind of nautical and other ephemera they have on display.

• Presquile Winery in Santa Maria is having its Tri-Tip cook off event (now sold out as of print time). As someone who likes to spread the good news of Santa Maria-style barbecue, I’m sad to be missing this one. Hopefully next year (the notion that dates might align again and it could be paired with the drive to or from the Eroica in Cambria and some Central Coast wine tasting is especially tantalizing).

• Last, but certainly not least, Sequoia Sunrise takes place this weekend in on the Kern River. Three days of art, music, workshops and slightly more real people. Think of it like Burning Man, but thrown by friends of friends.

  To Read

• A Washington Post article by Rachel Tashjian is pulling together a few of the disparate threads I’ve been thinking about/seeing in terms of individual curation and the commodification of taste. The vehicle to explore all this is Jenna Lyons on the new Real Housewives of New York somehow, but I’ll take every champion of rejecting algorithmic content that we can get.

• Food & Wine has a delightful article following chef Evan Funke (Felix, Wolf Mother and the upcoming Funke) running around Sicily to source new/heirloom ingredients and flavors. And he’s with Davide Baroncini of Ghiaia cashmere. An unexpected, but very good LA pairing.

• Sometimes I become aware of something and a pang of regret sets in—I tend to know very quickly if something is going to become an expensive fascination. Such is the case with Dieter Rahm’s 606 Universal Shelving System. They read my mind and even put a Tivoli on there.

  

  What could possibly go wrong now that I’m aware of this?

• The Blancpain blog has a great in-depth hands on with its Blancpain X Swatch Scuba Fifty Fathoms. The watch is tremendous fun, with its colors, maps, nudibranchs and all. Haven’t like a yellow watch this much since the Hermes H-08. Still not sure how I feel about it, but I possibly prefer the stewards of these great brands not releasing zombie versions of their most iconic pieces. Does a Blancpain running on a Sistem 51 movement ultimately mean anything? Nice shot of the Pacific version’s case back and the official wording on the mystery of repairing this watch.³

  

  Screenshot from the Blancpain blog.

1. It’s also shoulder season for Calvados and mustaches (peak season is October through late January).

2. Given freedom within a category, I’m often choosing something French (or anything from the continent) over something English.

3. Per the official blog, the watch is possibly serviceable (maybe by opening the case and putting in an entirely new movement?).