Cycling is strange in the respect that you tend to run into people while out training and they can converse with you. I’ve never really just been out running or doing some other sport and a random guy comes up and starts talking to me. And out here in Southern California, it happens all the time. Probably because there are just so many more people out riding and probably the guys out riding tend to be on the same roads.

A couple days ago, I was riding North, about ready to descend Torrey Pines, when a guy rides up and asks me why I wasn’t wearing a helmet. Then he asks me how many miles I ride, for the day, the week, the year. He then says I must be really good and asks me my “record time” climbing Torrey Pines. I told him I didn’t know, but I’m sure there is a Strava segment up the thing. He tells me that Floyd Landis holds the record at 4:10, but he was “juiced”. I was thinking that 4:10 sounded pretty fast for climbing Torrey Pines, but I really didn’t know.

He then goes on to say that he is a runner and that he is just using cycling for training to run. He goes on to quote the mile record times for virtually any age group of runner. He was only talking about male times, not female. I wonder if he knew the female times too?

Anyway, he tells me that if I could run a 4:25 mile, I’d have a world record for the mile. Next year it would be 4:35. 4:35 doesn’t sound that quick for the fastest ever ran. I figure the reason for that is that by the time most great runners are in their 50’s, they’ve destroyed their knees enough that they can’t really run very fast.

Anyway, the guy was a numbers genius.

On the way back down the coast on Sunday, we rode up by a guy that looked like he was homeless. We got stopped at a light and I looked over and realized he was a bike tourist. I said something to him and he tells me he has ridden 150,000 miles and had been to 60 countries. I told him I had him on the mileage, but not the countries. I asked him where he was going and he said wherever the wind takes him. I guess Tijuana if that was really the case. I guess about asked him if he wanted to stop and get something to eat, I’d was interested in hearing a few of his stories, but somehow I missed the opportunity.

Anyway, both these guys were really interesting and added to my day. Cycling allows that. I like it. Randomness is a good thing sometimes.

Sue passing the tourist in Solana Beach.

Mile record times for males.

Strava segment for Torrey Pines. I’ve never killed myself up the thing, on a tailwind day, so maybe the KOM isn’t out of reach.

I’m putting together a new bike and haven’t ever routed the internal wires for Di2 before. It took a little while to get the hang of it, but after I had it down, it went pretty quick. I was thinking as I was doing it how much different it is assembling a bike now compared to when I first started racing.

Putting a bike together now is really easy compared to the “Campy days”. Just putting the downtube Campagnolo shifters on used to take a while. So many pieces, grease, etc. All you do now is put the levers on the bars and it is done.

Stems and handlebars are a breeze now that the stem have removable faceplates. That was a big upgrade in my opinion.

The bottom brackets too. Cup in each side and done. No more bearings to mess with, grease, adjustment. Easy.

The Di2 wires are a one time deal. You put them in and never again have to mess with them, in theory. Changing cables is a thing of the past. And a good thing too. I hated internally routed derailleur cables. Tensioning them was a hassle. The whole thing was a hassle.

But no matter how much easier the bike setup is now, I do miss the process of tuning a bike before a race.

When I was a kid, working at a bike shop, all the guys that were going to be racing that weekend would get together and nearly completely rebuild our bikes. Bottom brackets, hubs, headsets, all the bearing. Depending on how important the race was, we’d sometimes use oil instead of grease to lube our bearing, knowing we’d have to just take them all back apart and put grease back in them.

I have fond memories of those days. The camaraderie was the reason it was so memorable. And the learning process of how a bicycle really works.

I think it is sort of a lost art. Many guys I ride with now can hardly adjust their derailleurs, let alone rebuild a hub. There is a huge advantage, being a bike racer and knowing exactly what is going on with your bike. Hearing an odd sound and being able to identify it is really important, especially riding off-road. If you don’t know the sounds of your bike, start listening and learning them. It’s important.

Anyway, I guess I’m a little old school in my thoughts, but pretty practical and modern in my practices. Believe me, it a few years, we’ll be saying we used to actually have mechanical cables that ran from the shifters to the derailleurs, and the young guys will look at you like you’re a 100 years old.

Lots of parts in an old Campy downtube shifter. I, many a time, had to rebuild these for guys that put them together in the wrong order.

The wires and such don’t seem quite right, but after it is assembled, it looks and works so much better.