Cloak-nDagger Cyclocross

Cloak-n-Dagger Cyclocross:

So if you’ve heard me talk of Cloak-n-Dagger Cyclocross (CDCX) then here is my idea in full…kind of…

I will send you a Strava route that I have already done. Depending on route, I may also send you a GoPro video that I have done of the course as well, to give you a better idea of what the course is.

After you receive this info, you will have 72 hours to complete the route. If for some reason you cannot do a course in a given week, please let me know ahead of time, so I can plan accordingly.  As many laps as you can do in 40 minutes plus one lap; like ‘normal’ cyclocross rules. You will have to record this on Strava. Once you have completed it, send me the final Strava route for final time keeping on my end.  I will keep an xl sheet with all the people participating in my madness, and their times/laps. The other fun thing…I will NOT tell you whom else I have signed up for this. So you will not know. I will not send out two people at the same time. So your time, is your time. When I give you your time, I don't care about weather or anything like that. So no excuses! If it's raining...it's raining. Plan accordingly.

I will keep all the records private. I will not have more than two riders doing the same course in the same week. As of now, courses are on the west side to the south-west side of things. I am using many different kinds of terrain. From road, to gravel, to dirt; so after watching the video (if one is provided) or checking out the Strava, plan bike accordingly. I do have these set up for a cross bike, but if you want to use something else, I am not going to bitch. So bike choice is yours.

At the end of it all; and as of right now, this is just a trial run of things; you will get something. Not sure what that is right now. It may just be a swift kick in the ass or something kind of cool. I’ll figure that out as I go. I tend to do things on the fly, but they always work out, if you are flexable. Hell…I may have you do Fight Gone Bad at my local gym…

That is about the idea of things.

Why am I doing this?

Well…that’s a little deeper.  To get that answer you may have to get me drinking; which isn’t hard to do ;)

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…