R.I.P. John

John Wessel died close to this spot in the Texas Hill Country in October 2010. He had not been in Texas very long, having moved here a short while ago to retire. It’s a truly beautiful spot on a quiet country road which follows the clear waters of Onion Creek and is surrounded by majestic live oaks.

John was a fine cyclist and took great pride in his two “top of the line” road bikes. On the road, he had the maturity that comes with years in the saddle but consistently demonstrated that he could easily “hang” with riders half his age.

He had quickly embraced our cycling club, participated in many of its activities and was already making plans to ride with us at the Easter Hill Country Tour in 2011. Sadly, we shall be riding without him.

WEEKDAY CYCLING WITH WILLIAM’S WALNUTS

Do you work from home, are between jobs or retired? Then consider riding with the Walnuts. We are a diverse and sociable group (male/female, ages 20s to 60s) and are fortunate enough to be able to ride our bikes on weekday mornings.

Most of our rides are moderately intense and are intended for self-confident riders who would consider themselves to be at least intermediate in ability. All rides are “no drop”, assuming that the participants have realistically matched themselves to the ride description. Cue sheets and/or maps are usually available. See the table for a list of rides and below the table for ride leaders, ride descriptions and start locations etc.

Last-minute rides tend to be arranged via an email distribution list which will hopefully be converted to a Google list. Check us out on http://www.williampedalson.blogspot.com/ or send an email to WilliamPedalsOn@gmail.com

Most Walnuts rides are part of the Austin Cycling Association’s “Hosted Rides” program. More details of their rides can be seen at http://www.austincycling.org/ Take a look at ACA’s other Classic and Hosted rides and learn more at the FAQ section. Membership of the Association is not a pre-requisite for riding with us but it is a truly great organization, fantastic value and well worth joining.

We also have a Facebook page which is sometimes up to date. Search under Austin Cycling Walnuts. Photos of us are at http://picasaweb.google.com/WilliamPedalsOn/Walnuts#

Last but not least we have a breakfast spot (usually Wednesdays at 8 am) at www.lacasitatx.com and a pub of choice www.draughthouse.com

Date	Time	Ride (see link below for ride details & start locations)	Leader (see below for phone/emails
Tues. 26th Oct.	8:30 am	Cotton Capers (modified)	William
Thurs. 28th Oct.	5:00 pm (approx.)	Thursday Night Social Ride. Watch email for start/meet-up.	William
Tues. 2nd Nov.	8:30 am	Mt. Bonnell > Jollyville	William
Thurs. 4th Nov.	9:00 am	Devil’s Backbone	William
Sun. 7th Nov.	9:00 am	Lone Granger ***	William
Tues. 9th Nov.	9:00 am	Pfluggerville Pflatts	David
Tues. 16th Nov.	9:00 am	Mozart’s > Creedmoor	William
Sun. 21st Nov.	9:00 am	Fischer Fissure ***	William
Tues. 23rd Nov.	9:00 am	City Park > Jollyville	William
Tues. 30th Nov.	9:00 am	Cotton Capers (modified)	William
Tues. 7th Dec.	9:00 am	Mt. Bonnell > Jollyville	William
Sun. 12th Dec.	9:00 am	Uhl Love It ***	William
Tues. 14th Dec.	9:00 am	Old San Antonio Road	William
Sun. 19th Dec.	9:00 am	Pedernales Pedal ***	William
Tues. 21st Dec.	9:00 am	City Park > Jollyville	William
Tues. 28th Dec.	9:00 am	Pfluggerville Pflatts	David
Tues. 4th Jan.	9:00 am	Mozart’s > Creedmoor	William
Tues. 11th Jan.	9:00 am	Mt. Bonnell > Jollyville	William
Tues. 18th Jan.	9:00 am	Cotton Capers (modified)	William
Tues. 25th Jan.	9:00 am	City Park > Jollyville	William

*** See www.austincycling.org/rides/classic for details

RIDE LEADERS (completed the ACA class)

Billy Martin
Chris Cambell
David Tietz	512-297-1492 (cell)	DavidTietz@me.com
Dustin Dunnam	512 873-0447 (cell)	dustin@etechsolutions.us
Ira Kaplan
Jerry Kollath
Misty Conn	----	mistyconn@speakeasy.net
William Hudson	210-387-7340 (cell)	WilliamPedalsOn@gmail.com

THE RIDE DESCRIPTIONS, DISTANCES ETC. HAVE NOW MOVED. FOR THESE, PLEASE GO TO:

https://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=19o6XwZkf5Xjg94ZzgjV4nrHLAH6VBLmB55LxQneegCQ&hl=en&authkey=CJPcyLoK

He's baaaaaaaaaaaaack !!!!!!

Today was Stanton's inaugural ride as a "New Man". Fifteen of us helped him celebrate his return on the bike. Eight weeks after a massive cardiac arrest, 25 minutes or so on the "other side" and finally a successful quadruple bypass. His experiences were enlightening to us all from a temporal perspective. However, from a spiritual point of view, his ordeal was of no use to us. No insight as to what awaits us when our number is up. So I guess I will keep riding my bike on Sundays. Click on the photo for a full screen view.

Beating up on a Mannequin

Beating up on a mannequin and then on a plastic doll did not seem to be a gentlemanly sport. But they could not protest and so the pummeling continued. And that is what it takes. When somebody’s heart has stopped, perhaps far from medical resources, CPR is the most effective way to keep oxygen flowing to the brain. And a defibrillator can sometimes restart the errant heart so that hopefully the outcome is not a tragedy.

Inspired by Stan Truxillo’s remarkable recovery from a massive heart attack, in large measure the result of quickly-administered CPR, fifteen ACA members took the First Aid/CPR class offered by the Austin-Travis County EMS folks.

In addition to the CPR training itself, we learned how to recognize and respond to strokes, choking fits, seizures, heat-stroke, bleeding, broken limbs, snake bites, bee stings and a host of other potential disasters that we might encounter while out on the bikes.

The class was well-run, effective and fun for most of the time! Take it: you might save a life.

Note: the rest of the pictures are at

http://picasaweb.google.com/WilliamPedalsOn/CPRClasses?authkey=Gv1sRgCJjngtjF0v7R5AE#

The Ultimate Bicycle?

Robert Penn’s recent book, “It’s All About the Bike” is an account of the search for his dream bike http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/7906972/Its-All-About-the-Bike-by-Robert-Penn-review.html

It is a delightful blend of eulogies to contemporary component manufacturers, Penn’s own cycling reminisces and the historical background that explains why things are the way they are in the bicycle world. It’s the book that every self-respecting cyclist wishes they had written themselves. Getting paid for buying a custom bike ….. come on.

Inevitably there are some historical errors in the book (for example, aluminum frames originated in the late 19^th century, not in the 1930s) and oodles of subjectivity but it is the latter that makes the book so entertaining. Any true bike nerd knows which component is “best” and any half dozen nerds in the same room will have as many opinions.

Penn chooses steel for the frame. I have had bikes in all four major materials and for sure, none is “best”. My current road bikes are titanium (the Spectrum by Tom Kellogg) and carbon (the Crumpton by Nick Crumpton). Thus my next custom frame (sorry Sharon) will logically be steel. However, Penn chooses Reynolds 953 ….. stainless !!! http://reynoldstechnology.biz/our_materials_953.php And it can be polished. Curiously, he opts for TIG welding rather than a lugged frame. Why would you give up the opportunity to have such artistry?

He chooses Brian Rourke Cycles as the builder www.brianrourke.co.uk/. Rourke must surely be one of the last great British frame-builders that is still family-run. Roberts is another obvious example and there may be more. This is another Rourke build:

In the U.S. there are a myriad of first-rate builders. There are those that hail from the “revolution” of the seventies (Richard Sachs, Tom Kellogg, Ben Serotta, Bruce Gordon etc.) and many other younger artisans who continue the tradition. I almost salivate at the thought of the North American Handmade Bicycle Show that comes here to Austin in 2011 www.handmadebicycleshow.com/.

You can get a flavor for the delights in store by browsing “Custom Bicycles” www.dailypeloton.com/displayarticle.asp?pk=15904. One of the book’s openers is a drop-dead gorgeous blue Reynolds 953 frame by Dave Anderson www.andersoncustombicycles.com/ I think it has my name on it.

A Campagnolo Record grouppo was a no brainer and Penn opted for a Cinelli bar/stem which would have been the traditional choice in the days of aluminum. In today’s carbon environment, I would opt for Ritchey that arguably have become the industry standard over the last decade www.ritcheylogic.com .

He switches out from Campagnolo to the Chris King headset (another no brainer) but interestingly opts for Royce hubs that I had never heard of www.genisysconsulting.co.uk/royce-uk/ The wheels, using DT Swiss rims were then built by Gravy in California www.gravyprowheels.com/95.html Undoubtedly superb wheels but, in the U.S., there are other top-class choices, for example Joe Young (http://youngwheels.com/), Dave Thomas (www.speeddream.com/) and Wheelbuilder (www.wheelbuilder.com/).

A Columbus Carve fork, Continental 4000 tires and a Brooks’s leather saddle complete the picture. Well, almost. No mention is made of pedal selection. I have always used Looks (with a brief flirtation with Dura Ace some years ago) but others swear by the latest Shimano. Lastly, even though shoes are not a bicycle “component”, as long as one is discussing industry superlatives, Sidi must be mentioned. Not cheap but the best made, most comfortable shoes on the planet. Next time you are in a group of dedicated road cyclists, look down at their feet and you will see what I mean.

Robert Penn implies that his “bike to end all bikes” will last a lifetime and well it might. However, keeping older bikes going is getting more and more of an expensive challenge. The highly competitive search for superior components has dramatically accelerated in the last twenty years. They now become incompatible very quickly and spare parts are harder to find. In the last few years, for example, Campagnolo introduced the QS front changer around 2007, moved away from square taper bottom brackets around the same time and made the inevitable jump to 11-speed a year later. I keep a modest stock of pre-2006 “New In Box” 10-speed components but deciding when to make the quantum leap can be very difficult. Unless, of course, money is no object.

Personal Reflections on the Return of Mr. One Percent

Ominous moment #1. David exclaims, “Oh no!” as we ride towards our friends ahead. One is sprawled on the ground; it is Stanton with a man in scrubs over him, methodically carrying out CPR. Stan had keeled over after telling Steven & Tammy that he felt so bad that he was going to stop and call Susie to come & pick him up. Eventually the emergency services arrived; an ambulance, a hospital car and two fire trucks. Soon there were up to eight paramedics round him: CPR, defibrillators, drips and goodness knows what else. Stan had long since stopped gasping for breath and looked, well, dead.

Into the ambulance with me in the front. Ominous moment #2. The paramedic team leader says, “of course, he is dead but we are still trying”. More CPR, more defibrillation. We arrived at the hospital. I was bundled off to the waiting room and the stretcher carrying our friend disappeared into the emergency room. I was then sent up to the cardiac waiting room and Susie arrived not long after. Mildly flustered but certainly not panicking. Ominous moment #3. The cardiologist says to us: “you need to know that of 100 patients that come into the hospital in his condition, only one leaves alive”. Inspirational moment #4. Susie says, with a quiet smile, “that’s OK ….. he is the One Percent”. In case you are confused already, inspirational moments 1, 2 & 3 were the prompt reactions of Tammy, Mitch, Steven and Michael at the scene, the compassion of the Good Samaritan who stopped to help and the professional dedication of the paramedics.

Then it was into a low-temperature controlled coma for Stan to prevent swelling of the brain. At some point his heart had been resuscitated but he had been clinically dead for about 20 minutes. Sharon and I saw him the next day; he looked awful with an odd jaundice-like skin color. All signs of activity seemed wholly artificial. He was, after all, totally at the mercy of all the machinery around him, keeping him “alive”. Susie stroked his hand as she talked to him and never, ever waivered. He was going to make it. I suspect that the rest of us, in our heart-of-hearts, feared the worse when Stan was to be brought out of the coma. To not succumb to complete brain-death after what he had been through was almost unheard of and to contemplate the decisions that Susie might have to make was just too awful.

Inspirational moment #5. Stanton was brought out of the coma and had all his mental faculties. He had survived the ordeal and promptly become the cause célèbre of the cardiology community through Austin, and maybe Central Texas. He and the very few like him are the reasons that the paramedics, nurses and doctors do what they do, in the face of normally insurmountable odds. When I saw him later that day Stan looked just terrific, both physically and mentally: bright, alert and almost chipper! I thought this was a done deal. Now it was simply a matter of a quadruple by-pass, a piece of cake for him now.

I was very naïve. The by-pass surgery and subsequent tests were totally successful but inevitably, wiped poor Stanton out and left him very frail. The irony is that I am not sure that it really matters. His rehab will continue at a pace that defies all conventional wisdom. He will make his one hundred percent recovery and before too long will be back on his bike, kicking my butt as ever. He said yesterday that he would be careful not to “drop” me when we ride, though of course he owes me nothing. He does not understand …… inspirational moment #6 will be when, once more, I see him cruise effortlessly away from me, leaving me gasping for breath in a futile attempt to hang on to his wheel.