SWer Dain Zaffke's Santa Cruz Black Cat...MEOW!

            Check out the latest whip from south sider Todd Ingermanson at Black Cat Bicycles.

Jet Set WÜleurs living right...& I'm taking notes

I have been thinking quite a bit lately (since 0800 on May 8th) about my vocation and what it all means as I continue to log an endless amount of hours this summer working for the California bear. Sometimes the act of  trading life energy hours for money is hard to swallow, however recently I have had the unique opportunity to work along side some of the most professional, ethical, and hardworking blue collar folks I have ever met and that makes it all worth it...almost.

Speaking of hard working folks who have paid their dues (and then some)...
So let me get this straight, all I have to do is continue to work hard all my life, take impeccable care of my family, provide a top notch professional service, maintain ethical purity, keep my body in excellent condition, create a sense of community, and Mama WÜleur and I can be pedal pushing grandparents who explore random villages in the Czech Republic and the Island of Mallorca and look like this- sign us up!

                              Brand & Linda Wiles enjoying Cesky Krumlov (Czech Republic)

 Mallorca

                                                                            Mallorca
 

blue collar boogie bike SW style...

                                          ... for more pics of this Caletti go to Cycle EXIF
 

Let's roll cuz...

                                                          photo by Grandma WÜleur

Freedom: being able to pedal your Caletti with your older cousin around town.

Chasing granite...

                    16 hours of pushing circles and a solid NW wind will get you to 'The Captain"
            
            
            

A butterfly floats on the breaze...

                                                              photo by Luke Grenier

 

                           ...of a sun lit day, uncle and Mia feel their worries gently fade away
                          Rest Day rule #1 - no bikes, no books, no babyruths (in the pool)
                           
                          
                                           

Hi Thursday, it's me again...

If you keep the sun up until 3, we'll promise to say hello to Miss Henrietta. 

 

For the record: Todd helped me break 4 hours to the top, unfortunately this is an out and back boogie and the wind was on our 12 o'clock for the second 4 hours...

Ball Mauler 3 -only 10 miles from home but...

Ball Mauler is at it again, below are all the details..

Saturday April 19, 2014 for the third running of The Ball Mauler. The route covers around 71 miles with about 11,000 feet of climbing. Meet at Kelly’s French Bakery in Santa Cruz. We roll out at 8:00.

Below is the approximate route with mileage and elevation gain, so you can plan how much of the ride you want to do:

1) Kelly’s Bakery up Western up Empire Grade to the top of Jamison Rd: 17.5 miles/2,900ft
2) Down Jamison to Hwy 236 and back up 6mis (then ride Empire Grade Rd south to the top of Alba 4mis): 10 miles/1,600ft
3) Down Alba Rd to Hwy 9 and back up 7.4mis (ride Empire Grade Rd south to the top of Pine Flat Rd 1.9mis): 8.3 miles/2,200ft
4) Down Pine Flat & Bonny Doon to Hwy 1 and back up 14.8mis (ride Empire Grade Rd south to the top of Felton Empire 1.8mis): 16.6 miles/2,100ft
5) Down Felton Empire to Hwy 9 and back up 7.2mis (ride Empire Grade Rd to Santa Cruz Mountain Brewery 9.8mis): 17 miles/1,600ft

TOTALS:
5 climbs

71 miles

11,000 feet of climbing

And for my next trick I will...

..fillet braze an adirondack chair for DZ and rid you all of spandex

Todd holding court Black Cat style in the SC Mts

patiently waiting for the 1:15 Gazos line

Thanks to Giro a small group of  unassuming pedal pushers wiggled their way safely through the back roads of the Santa Cruz Mountains without issue. We came to the conclusion that the belt loops, zippered flies, and handsome wool had a lot to do with it...

Babe, what should we do for spring break...

Steel WÜleur family road trip 0.0 MPG from Jake Hess on Vimeo.

Dad, can I get a cookie & some m&m's...yep

We got out of dodge for a week on a 200 mile family cycle touring trip of the central coast and quickly discovered the benefits of packing my trusty Grundig short wave radio. We successfully wiggled our way out of a couple storms thanks to some familiar faces who happened to be on night watch at the local fire house. Olive scratched out this rendering of our trip while we waited for some french fries in San Simeon. We already have our next trip planned! Stay tuned for photos and ride report...

Steel WÜl Trivia- Santa Barbara greyhound

Question: Who is this sinewy sultan of suffer-snot 

Hint: He and Eric Cech used to put the hurt on all the dopers in February and March when they would come out swinging for the fence at the first big races of the season. 

Bohlman On Orbit: 24min & 56secs of hell...

...for Tracy Colwell anyway in 1997 (record holder). I was wondering what the profile was after pedaling octagons up the damn thing the other day. 

Hi Thursday it's me, can we pedal early today?

I've had to get creative with my weekly pedaling schedule so this morning Doug E. Fresh and I headed into the mountains at 6:30 and chipped out 10k feet by noon. I think I like this new approach because the first few hours tick by effortlessly as the morning slowly catches up to you. In other words, I had to be home by noon.

Ride Name: Charlie-Bohlman-Charlie
(Rodeo Gulch, Granite Creek, Charlie, Skyline, Bohlman & the sting in the tail finish with Black Rd.)

                    Create Maps or search from 80 million at MapMyRide
               

Allan Peiper & Kelly Slater practice yoga...do you?

Gabriel Benjamin pre-ride

Yoga for Cyclists and Athletes! Saturday, March 8th 2 to 4 Divinatree Yoga.

An excellent program designed to assist with recovery and relaxation for the athletes body and mind. Our postures will address the needs of the legs and full range of motion of the hips with some gentle toning exercises for the spine and the core. Weather a professional athlete, weekend warrior, or non athlete that just wants to come stretch this program will leave you empowered and elated. 

Gabriel Benjamin is a long time cyclist, yogi, nature lover, and poet. He teaches workshops and retreats internationally and takes his bike with him were ever he goes to enjoy cycling and sight seeing around the world~ 

$25 Prereged by march 2 $30 after

https://www.facebook.com/events/514267832003335/

Protected class...40 year olds

Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle will always be 40 to me.

My chrome is shining just like an icicle...

..the Slovakian rides around California on his Cannondale bicycle-bicycle. Make sure to get out and support the city of Monterey for hosting stage 4 of the Tour of California on May 14th.

SW Trivia - Tour of Nevada City the Clinton years...

Question #1. Who is in the yellow jersey with the gold bling?

Question #2. Who is the guy on the far right (dark t-shirt) who announced the race and what movie was he in?

Hint: The race winner had a wicked sprint for being a skinny dude (I found that out the hard way) and he won on an incognito Bridgestone RB-1 with a orange Ritchey paint job. The race announcer had to learn some Italian for his movie bit...oh yea and be quick with a silca pump...

Steel WÜl Trivia - Cotopaxi hill repeats...who's in?

Question: Who is this lung-on-a-stick?

Answer: Esteban Fraga

You don't get get-away-sticks like those by cycling alone, he spent some time in the old gym at UC Davis. He was the original high cadence spin master and was named KOM in Philly even among all of the unethical cheaters...

Is it time for bed, because I'm starving...

As I write this post, I'm 24 hours into a 36 hour renegade fast. There's no rhyme or reason behind this particular haphazard calorie strike, I simply became intrigued after listening to a KSCO podcast discussing the topic and the arguable benefits to it. My only fasting experience has been the obligatory 12 hours mandated by a physician for a garden variety blood draw. Considering you usually sleep the majority of that time away, I don't think those count.

Mama WÜleur agreed to 24 hours of sans caloric intake and reported no "real" issues other than being a little "grumpy" and safely ended her version at 24 hours and 1 minuet with a plump salted cashew. It's safe to say that cashew along with a tasty concoction of sweet potatoes, onions, feta, and olive oil had been on her mind all day.

Being a lifelong cyclist who has experienced every iteration of being "bonked", I thought I would feel a bit more hypoglycemic and have delusional thoughts of food as the day unfolded. I felt surprisingly balanced even after a tandem mountain bike ride with Olive (on our blue Co-Motion thank you Craig). As usual, my tapeworm announced a couple of grumbles early in the day (10:15am) which made me kind of nervous because I historically fix that problem with a couple of bananas, a half a jar of almond butter, a handful of chocolate covered cashews and 2 yogurts.

Today was different though, I had to push through those moments of perfunctory hunger and remind myself that this dude has more than enough stored calories to sustain life on a typical weekday (or two or five). We read about the health benefits of intermittent fasting and blood pressure, blood sugar, and memory seemed to be the topic of discussion on the majority of sites.

The one benefit that was missing from all of the fasting sites is that your perception of time practically comes to a standstill (in a good way). Mama WÜleur and I both felt as though useless distractions seemed to melt away and take a back seat to everything present. We look forward to our next episode.

-Happy Hungry WÜleurs