the spin...

The spin. When it gets easier, you shift up. When it gets harder, you shift down. What do you do when you’re on a ss or direct drive?

Adjust your pedaling.

What happens when you ‘run out’?  When your pedaling meets the gear ratio that you currently have set up?  When you physically cannot rotate the pedals any harder or faster? 

Enjoy it.

A perfect Zen experience. Where there is no emotion. There is no positive or negative emotion being put into the pedaling experience. Just the spin.

Where your legs, feet, pedals and cranks are all working as one. You begin to float. Your pedal stroke is perfect. You reach a point of enlightenment. Of peace.

This same experience may happen during meditation. During an experience; whatever that experience may be. When all desire melts away. When all judgment melts away. Where there is no positive karma put into it. Where there is no negative karma put into it. When the experience is experienced as the experience, and not something that we put into it.

We may even find a little Nirvana here, right now.  But we know what happens; as Buddhist, as single speed riders…

We hit that small gradiant, a hill…and that perfect pedal stroke is gone. We must put effort and emotion into that stroke. That experience.

Here’s to the perfect spin.

Amitabha…

Mara

The mind itself is the realm of Mara.

Mara is the demon in Buddhism that tempted the Buddha with material things of this world to try and keep him from achieving enlightenment.  Mara personifies unwholesomeness. Death of the spirit.

In today’s cycling world there is a lot out there.  From 11 gears, lighter bits & parts, carbon this and that, suspension out the wazoo; and what does all of these do? It takes away from the spirit of the ride. By that I mean things are getting and have gotten a little too easy. They are presented to you on a nice silver platter, and you just enjoy.  Think you’re taking the ‘hard way’ and building up a bike from scratch? What groupo do you want? Slap it on there…done. Enjoy.

Have you recently taken a look at the mtn bike categories? So many different genres that I could make your head spin. Do you remember a time when you just picked up something with knobby tires, pointed down (or up) a hill and went? I do. We were happy back then to just be on a bike in the woods. Not worrying about this angle, or how many inches of travel we had. We just went.

Do I have enough gears? Mara. Do I have the right suspension set up? Mara. What about this wheel size thing? Mara. I would have cleared that spot better if I would have had…Mara!

Doubt. Temptation. Mara. You begin to doubt yourself and your own ability to ride a bike with any kind of confidence. Sorry your dad/mom isn’t holding your saddle anymore.

As we are able to reject Mara, we are able to reject the temptation and doubt that comes along with. 

If we ride a single speed we have no doubt. No temptation. All we have is one fucking gear. As we trudge up a hill, doubt may creep in about gear choice on that day (if we have the insanity to have such an option); but often those thoughts are quickly erased, and we have to focus on the task at hand…get up the fucking hill.

We find a gearing that is a well-rounded gearing for the riding that we will be doing most of the time, and the other time…well; we just deal with it. There is a piece called the “Tao of Single Speed”, and I will refer to it often in these pieces; in it, it states, “Accept difficulty willingly.”  This is a struggle with the single speed. It is often difficult; but we didn’t pick the single speed because it was easy, and no one said that riding your bike up and down a mountain was going to be easy.  But it sure is fun. This will teach us acceptance. Acceptance of the gearing. Acceptance of the terrain. Acceptance of the ride…itself.

Let go of the troubling mind & accept what is; not what could be.

Amitabha…

Fixed Zen short intro....

Fixed Zen is an idea/concept that I have regarding Zen Buddhism, Taoism and the Single Speed bike. I refer to Single speed to include both direct drive and freewheel Single Speed. When I speak of direct drive exclusively; I will state it as such.

I believe that there are many similarities between the two ideas, and it is here that I want to explore them in a conscious way. I think there’s a play there, but I am able to look at that at a later time….

I want to sit down and write a very coherent, well thought out blog for this purpose. I wouldn’t mind seeing where I am able to take this and how far, how many connections that I am able to make.

These are my original ideas and thoughts put down here in blog form for now. I will obviously pull from Buddhist sources and cycling sources; and when I do, I will site the sources. I’m not a plagiarizer.

Any ideas, thoughts, comments, and criticism is welcomed. I am not a polished author.  This is the first time I’m doing anything like this. Before it has just been random posts and ideas that in some way come together (I think).

I am not going to dive into the western religions. This is for a few reason, that I do not and will not get into here. I will stick to eastern religions as stated above my main focus will be Zen Buddhism and Taoism. I will put in history when needed. I am not here to ‘convert’ you in any way. What will be here under the Fixed Zen headings is, simply, the observations that I have made with Buddhism and riding a Single Speed bike.

So I hope you enjoy the readings…

Amitabha…

A short bio…

As the title states I would like to tell you a little about myself; or at least my cycling self.

I’ve been in the bike industry for about 20 years. I got turned onto cross about 15 of those years. And it’s become a drug to me. I enjoy cycling, but I really love and have a passion for cross. Going through these years, I have even grown a certain snobbish appreciation for cross bikes. I’ve developed my own philosophy, that I keep tweaking (not twerking). I use my cross bike for everything. So it has to be as versatile as it can possibly be. Geared. Single speed. Knobby tires. Smooth tires. ‘What’s your pleasure?’

As an example…I build every cross bike that I own around a set of handlebars that they don’t make anymore. So I have at least three sets hanging out just in case.

I LOVE CROSS. I love racing cross. I love the people that put the races on. The time and energy it takes to do it. I have been racing for just as long as I’ve been riding cross bikes. 15 years. I gladly pay my race fees to race. To hang with friends. To make new friends.

On the flip side…I have a critical mind, and I do see things in a different way. In a different light. And there are times that I am seen as being negative, and my apologies for this. My wife tells me that I do come off as a dick sometimes, and there is more to what she said; but that’s for another post. However; I do not mean to. So in some sense this is also an apology.

An apology to anyone that I offend. Piss off. Upset. In my years of racing; I’ve never been so close to the sport for various reason. I used to show up 30 min before my race. Race. Go home. Now I don’t.

Just as the blog title is; I see myself as a bit of a Renegade. And I do want to put my two cents in, but maybe mid stream is not the time to do it, and that’s what the off season is for. (wait…did I just type ‘off season’? no such thing)

In short…don’t take my ramblings as a ‘hater’, but simply as a critical eye on things that do not mean harm. I am a philosopher after all, and I do have a beard.

Amitabha...