Team Vegan Interview

I checked in with Bradley Saul, the founder of Organic Athlete (organicathlete.org) and Team Vegan manager/racer to get the inside story on the team, the past season and what is in the works for the future.

Founded in 2003, Organic Athlete’s mission is to “is to promote health and ecological stewardship among athletes of all ages and abilities by sharing information, building community and inspiring through athletic example”. In 2007, a multi-disciplinary cycling team called Team Vegan was established, with Bradley at the helm. Team Vegan includes all categories of racers from the elite category 1 & 2 (about 10 right now) to the club level (about 75), with racers across North America.

(Bradley Saul on the left, fellow racer Antonio Castelli on the right)

Paul Parker: What sets Team Vegan apart from other teams?

Bradley Saul/Team Vegan: One, our team is just part of a much larger organization made of up athletes of all different sports called OrganicAthlete. OrganicAthlete is a membership organization for athletes of all ages, sports, and abilities. We have over 550 members worldwide, and these include runners, triathletes, bodybuilders, surfers, and more.
Two, we're a team of vegans.
Three, we have riders from across North America who are members of the team.

Paul: What was behind the launch of OrganicAthlete?

Bradley: Before I started OrganicAthlete, there were no organizations actively promoting and educating people about the benefits of a vegan lifestyle through sports. Plenty of veg organizations used athletes as role models, but there was not an organization for those athletic role models.

Paul: Must riders meet any minimum requirements to be a part of Team Vegan? Are there a set number of races that they have to do?

Bradley: The only requirement to be part of the club is 5 hours of volunteer work per year. All members of the elite team must be vegan and commit to the team schedule, which we're still working on for 2008.
When building the team schedule, we are looking at both cost and time, but also we want to consider the team's development. We need to enter races that challenge us as a team, but we don't want to overdo it.

Paul: When racing, do you or the other athletes find it difficult to find food that meets your dietary needs?

Bradley: No, plant foods can be found or bought everywhere we go. We know that race sites often have very limited suPaullies that meet our dietary needs and so we try to plan ahead. We carry what we need in our team van, a 1982 VW Vanagon with a turbo diesel that we run on bio-diesel when we can

(The Team Van: "Harold and Estelle")

Paul: Name 2 things that helped you get through this season.

Bradley:
1) Our mission. “Founded in 2003, OrganicAthlete unites people in a global effort to create a better world through sport. Through individual initiative and teamwork we can achieve the extraordinary and inspire the pursuit of personal and planetary health. Our mission is to promote health and ecological stewardship among athletes of all ages and abilities by sharing information, building community and inspiring through athletic example.”
2) Organic bananas.


Paul: Have you received any taunts out on the race course? Your bib shorts say "Go Vegan" on the back, and that must elicit some response.

Bradley: Any taunts usually come from our friends. We've gotten a lot of respect for what we're doing and what we stand for.


Paul: When racing, how important are team dynamics, on and off the course?

Bradley: It depends. We're a new team that's just learning how to work together in local and regional races. In the bigger national level races, we're pretty much trying to hold our own. A good team can definitely take advantage of the disorganization in the peloton that is characteristic of smaller races, but you have to be strong enough to do that.

Paul: Who are your 2 favourite cyclists right now?

Bradley: Christine Vardaros - a pro cross racer and member of OrganicAthlete's pro-activist team. christinevardaros.blogspot.com/
Scott Nydam - a local BMC pro rider who has completely shredded me at countless Tuesday night crits. He's a nice guy, too. www.bmc-cycling.com/team_nydam.html

Paul: What is in store for the team in the future?

Bradley: We're growing as fast as OrganicAthlete is growing, and we'd like to have a continental level pro team in the future. This year, the elite team is sticking to the West Coast with the possibility of entering a couple of international races.
I would love to do the FBD Ras (www.fbdinsuranceras.com/event/) in Ireland again. I did this race in 2000.

Paul: Who are the stars of Team Vegan right now?

Bradley: Molly Cameron finished 5th overall at the Tour of Ohio (www.mollycameron.com/). David Glick finished 20th at the San Dimas Stage Race (http://www.u.arizona.edu/~dglick/cycling.html%20). We were stoked about those finishes. Of course, there's Sami Fournier who won the Masters Women 40-44 National Championship in 2006 (spokepost.com/diary/sami/).

Paul: I heard that you have recently opened a bike store Sebastopol, CA. Tell me a little bit about the shop and how your core values as a vegan and cyclist are expressed in the design, merchandise, marketing of the store and your role as a business in your local community.

Bradley: The name of the store is the West County Revolution Bike Shop (http://www.westcountyrevolution.com/). Though Steve Michel (part owner) and I are hard core roadies, we also recognize that we are the only shop in our town to sell bikes. We try to have a range of bikes from kids to the dedicated racer. Charity Kirk (also part owner) keeps us in line organized and focused on our goals.
This year the store opened just weeks before the Sebastopol Tour d'Organics. As the ride director and shop owner, I was pretty busy.
At the store I do most of the buying, so I don't buy any non-vegan nutritional goods. I do my best to purchase non-leather saddles and soft goods. Ultimately, the ethos I bring to the store is compassion. I want to see more people riding bikes, as I believe it is healthy for people and the planet.

Paul: Shout out your sponsors.

Bradley: Our sponsors rocked this year:

• VegNews Magazine (http://www.vegnews.com/);
  
• Organic Spa Magazine (www.organicspamagazine.com/);
  
• Clif Bar (www.clifbar.com/);
  
• New Harvest Organics (www.newharvestorganics.com/);
  
• Melissa's (http://www.melissa.com/);
  
• Mill Valley Cycleworks (www.millvalleycycleworks.com/);
  
• Beljum Budder (www.beljumudder.com/);
  
• Bio-Lube (www.bio-lube.com/); and
  
• Verge Sport Clothing (http://www.vergesport.com/)

Track Part 2

The track school at the velodrome is run by volunteers, people with a great love for cycling and who want to see the velodrome succeed. Their approach is to introduce participants to track riding and get people on and off the track safely. The cost of the Track 1 course is $30 including bike rental. A team from PedalPerformance.com was there with me along with a couple of other first-time riders.

The program starts with bike setup. The velodrome has a number of bikes in a variety of sizes that are far from a custom fit, but are just fine for the first time track rider (bike #21 was mine). The bikes at the velodrome have a shorter wheel base, track specific bars, and possibly a steeper position than your regular road bike (it may be close to your tri/TT bike). The wheels were clinchers, tires were garden variety (save your money and just buy a good quality tire, not a track specific tire I was told) and inflated to about 100 psi. Participants need to bring their own pedals/clips.

Gearing at the track is limited to 48X16 or less in order to restrict speeds in what was described to us as the shortest and steepest track in North America (138 meters, 50 degrees in the corners, 15 degrees on the flats). According to Sheldon Brown's Gear Calculator (700c, 172.5mm cranks), a rider with a crank RPM of 80 would travel at approximately 30 km/hr. That means that if you want to go 60 km/hr, which people do reach on the track, you would need to pedal at 160 RPM.

The first lesson is just learning to ride the bike. If this is your first time on a track bike, be prepared for cross over between your front wheel and foot on the forward portion of the pedal stroke. The drills practiced speeding up, slowing down, steering by turning the handlebars instead of leaning and beginning to be comfortable with the momentum or speed that track bike stores up. The many kilometers that I put in on the fixie over the past 2 years prepared me for riding in a straight line, but adjusting to the new turning technique took a little while. "Twist your shoulders!" was the mantra that followed me around the track. It is also possible to coordinate turing with the pedal stroke so that the wheel is always turned away from the leading foot, allowing you to avoid contact between your foot and the front wheel, although I was only successful at that about 50% of the time. If this happens, just keep pedaling, do not panic.



Next we worked on manuevering between sets of cones placed on the floor, followed by moving on to and off the track. Hitting the bank on the straight-away for the first time was pretty exciting and my mind was very busy doing calculations (too busy I would soon find out). The technique is:

1. Shoulder check
2. Twist the bars and ride up the track, don't lean into the track
3. Slow down at the top cone
4. Shoulder check
5. Ride in a relaxed angle down and off the track, controlling the speed of the bike

Next we were given the chance to get on the boards. Riders need to be mindful about the entrance and exit angles to avoid contacting the pedal with the track surface (as so many have clearly done as indicated by of the scars on the boards) and to maintain about 30km/hr to stay upright in the turns. On my first attempt I was stiff as a board and I did not accelerate as fast as I should have. I came into the first corner and felt the press of gravity as the bike leaned on its side. The sensation was so foreign that I fought the track instead of staying loose and I soon found myself riding off the track about half way through the turn. No wipe out, but my over-thinking almost had me sliding down the boards on my first attempt.

After watching a few others, it was my turn again. I loosened up, gave it a good push at the entrance and all of the sudden I found myself up. I let out a couple of "woohoos!" that echoed through the building and 2 laps later I was back down.

The leaders then set up a pace line of 5 and the instructors led us around the boards, along different lines at different heights on the track (black is the lowest, red next and the blue line at the top, the yellow line is really a warning line that you are at the top of the track and are about to launch into the rafters). On the second lap the lead rider peeled off and rode above us. That was a little alarming at first as in the turns, we would basically be stacked up, one rider leaning over the other. On consecutive runs, I relaxed more, fiddling with my position on the bike, practicing the art of steering in the corners and using the slingshot of the turn to pick up speed. There is nothing quite like the feeling of being pressed into the bike as you build up energy and are fired out the other end.

All totaled, I went around the track about 40 times, or about 5.5kms.

Key Points I Learned

• Relax the arms
• Press on the left side of the handlebars in the turn to correct your line if you are edging up the track
• Use the turns to accelerate and be careful not to go too hard into a turn.
• Be aware of the pace and learning how to gauge your speed to prevent going too fast and working yourself up the bowl and over the rails!!
• Enter and exit at the right place on the track
• Always check over your shoulder before changing lanes or entering and exiting

The next step is to schedule the Track 2 lesson and participate in the Sport-Rec session on Thursdays.

Track Rider Lean Analysis: http://www.analyticcycling.com/genmodel/LeanAnalysis.html

Track Part 1

On Saturday November 17, 2007 I will be heading down to the Forest City Velodrome to partake in the Track 1 class. This is the first of 2 pre-requisite classes to be eligible for track racing at the velodrome in London Ontario.

The velodrome is housed in what was once the "Ice House", or the "London Gardens", the previous home ice of the London Nights and the site of many jubilant outings to watch hockey when my family lived in London Ontario. I even had the opportunityu to play on that surface as part of a AA team in London.

I returned there last winter to watch the 5th day of 6 Day Racing and have been thinking about getting on the track ever since. My goal for the day is not to crash, and if I do, to get up and ride again.

More on Sunday...

Wikipedia info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-day_racing

HED wind calculator

http://hedcycling.com/images/template/launch-yaw-calculator.gif

This is a nifty little tool that is intended to help you with wheel selection, but also gives you some idea of the effort you will have to put out under various wind conditions to go a certain speed.

Figuring out how to use this was pretty easy. Start with adjusting the rider speed and then place the wind direction perpendicular to the rider. Bump up wind speed and watch the bottom line graph change. This number correlates to the apparent or approximate wind resistance and should give you an idea of the amount of work required. Higher number = more work. Perhaps they should have added little sweat indicators and sounds of someone wheezing in the background.

The diagram in the bottom right hand corner shows how the rider experiences the wind. Note that a perpindicular wind direction at 20km/hr results in an wind that is felt slightly from behind, but as the wind speed increases the side wind becomes more pronounced.

What this means for wheel selection is that if you expect direct on head winds or mild side winds you may be best off selecting a disc or very deep dish wheel. The more that the wind is expected to slam into you, the more a middle depth (50-60mm)deep dish or aero spoke wheel makes sense. A strong compromise is to run a trispoke on the back and a deep dish on the front (a very versatile combo).

Keep a few of things in mind:

1. The depth of the front wheel has more influence on the handling characteristics of your ride than the rear. It also gives the greatest aero advantage, which may explain those with only an aero spoke wheel on the front and a traditional rim on the back.
2. Your body may actually contribute more to handling difficulties in heavy cross winds than any set of aero wheels.

Keirin Carnage

Most Keirin races will have a few crashes and I can only imagine that the adrenaline must be pretty high out there. This clip from the Leigh Valley Velodrome was particularly alarming as the last crash took place after the end of the race.

-----------
From: http://www.reference.com/search?r=13&q=Keirin

The keirin is a mass start Track cycling event in which 6 to 9 sprinters compete at one time in a race with a paced-start. Riders draw lots to determine starting positions and start as the pacer (which could be a motorcycle, a derny, or a tandem bicycle, for example) approaches. The riders are required to remain behind the pacer, which starts at the deliberately slow speed of about 25 km/h, gradually increasing in speed and leaves the track approximately 600-700 meters before the end, at a speed of about 50 km/h. The first cyclist to finish the race is the winner (sometimes finishing at 70 km/h). Keirin races are about 2 kilometers in length (8 laps on a 250m track, 6 laps on a 333m track, and 5 laps on a 400m track).
------------

Keirin is supposed to be Roller-Derby on bikes, but the last crash in the video just seems excessive. Cyclingnews.com gave the following update: (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2005/aug05/aug04news2)

The final result was few suspensions and thankfully no permanent injuries were sustained by the riders. Some may say that it is all part of the race, but a tackle/check like that is the same as finishing a play after the whistle blows in hockey; dirty and dangerous.

Bikes of Oaxaca

A reposting from the trip to Mexico 2 years ago. I think it may be time to go back there.

--------------------------------

Oaxaca bikes are a collection old and new, a smattering of high end, but most are on the cheap side. As cobble stones are common here, shocks and suspension are also popular on the more modern models. Here is a sampling of some of the more interesting ones. Note the second top tube. Very common on the popular single speed models.

Bike-alog's BikePedia

http://bike-alog.com/BikePedia/Default.aspx

A gem discovered one day as I searched for the bolt circle diameter of the crank on my 2006 Lemond Fillmore, the Bike-alog BikePedia is an essential web site for anyone wanting the specs on anything from full bikes to components without the manufacturer hype or annoying flash based navigation. This one site pulls everything together in a simple and neat format and is intended for shops and manufacturers, as well as the consumer looking for that special top-tube pad for a vintage steelie conversion.

Here is the Fillmore: http://bike-alog.com/BikePedia/Quickbike/BikeSpecs.aspx?Year=2006&Brand=LeMond&Model=Fillmore&Type=bike. Although I've changed it a little bit (more on that to come).