Back in the saddle (Alternate title; Why are roadies assholes?)

So, in the past 7 days, I've only missed one day of riding and that was last Tuesday to allow my ass and legs a short chance to catch their breath after getting back on the bike following an unwanted month-long break. It has felt good to feel so crappy on the bike. I swear, it feels like I am in worse shape after the past 3+ months of sporadic riding than I was after my crash-induced break from riding. Since September, I don't think I've put together more than two weeks of riding in one chunk and have had more than one month-long break. Needless to say, it's made me fat and whiny... and I'm not sure which in larger proportion (though I did go from a much better 195lbs back to 210+... ugh).

It ain't like I've been logging major miles or mega hours, but I have been managing to get an hour to two at a time and have been trying to insert a little bit of intensity into the rides... without totally ripping myself to pieces and working my way into yet another injury. I've been doing some relatively simple rides during lunch at work and then did some quality riding over the past three days off. I've been putting some good miles on the fixed gear too, which I really love- for as much as I love my lightweight, high performance race bikes, I am happiest when ploughing along on my steel road fixed. Spinning a 46x16 with 170mm crank arms on a 20+lb steel bike just feels like "home" to me. That said, I've certainly been getting out on the geared bikes as well. The roads around the office are so not-flat that it kinda hinders my desire to ride fixed in the deplorable level of fitness I currently possess. Once I've gotten enough fitness to muscle over the hills at work, I'll be back to doing hill repeats and sprint intervals on the fixed during lunch... but until then I am happily grunting my way along on my race bikes. (It's good to be this spoiled.)

I find the ride data from the past three days to be kinda interesting (but then again, I'm a total dork)...
Friday- fixed gear ride around the bay area here and one of my regular training loops with only one real "climb" riding back home through downtown to my apartment; 1:12:30, 17.5av/35.2mx MPH, 21.3mi, 80av/ 157mx RPM, 144av/ 175mx HR.

Saturday- hopped in on the local training ride- "Chilis"- and suffered with the group for about 40min before blowing apart, though I did have two good efforts in the group first. I then peeled off on my own and put in a couple of solo efforts with a bit of intensity; 1:48:26, 18.3av/ 42.7mx MPH, 33.28mi, 70av/ 129mx RPM, 138av/ 180mx HR.

Sunday- rode down the hill from my place on the fixed to Fiesta Island (local flat, circular training loop) and put in a couple of high intensity efforts riding deep in the drops of the bars (to simulate racing on the track) along with recovery laps; 1:31:59, 18.7av/ 33.3mx MPH, 28.71mi, 84av/ 146mx RPM, 153av/ 182mx HR.

None of the numbers really stand out, but I am pretty pleased with today's numbers after the way I blew apart on Saturday's ride. Given how dead I felt after the ride Saturday, it's nice to see that my legs and heart both turned around pretty well for today. After a slow start this morning, I was pretty happy with how my legs felt during my efforts. Not that I'm likely to follow through on the "threat", but those hard efforts had me contemplating an attack of the Masters Hour Record... or at least attempting to build up the fitness to try. I just need to get somebody willing to motorpace me on a regular basis... any takers out there?

****

All this recent return to riding has plagued me with a burning question; why are roadies (and I am one) such assholes? I love "my people", but many of them are regular sh@theads. Many people far better than me at writing about the topic have covered this before, but it's an amazing fact that so few road cyclists- especially the Ricky Racer types- appear to have any kind of social skills, or are the most obnoxiously elitist and self infatuated bunch of jerks on the planet. Don't get me wrong, I have many friends who are nice people and even happen to ride road bikes... but the overwhelming majority of people I encounter on the road are seemingly unaware of the world around them, or are far too important to acknowledge the existence of others on the road.

Now, I'm not such a candy ass that I'm all upset about not getting a wave or hello from my fellow riders. I'm "upset" (and have been for years) that there are so few folks who seem willing to recognize that they do not have sole possession of the road or that they are not, after all, the greatest thing to ever grace the surface of the planet.

I have all kinds of cycling apparel after all these years on a bike and on teams, working with various companies (previously working for a clothing company) and having good friends who are kind to me. My clothes range from the team kits for teams I am on/ have been on, teams I have worked with or still work with and "regular" cycling apparel. It never ceases to amaze me how I am treated by other racer-types if I'm riding in camouflage by not wearing team gear, but regular cycling clothing- you can almost smell the disdain and the "what a dork" disgust. The flipside to that however is the response I occasionally get from "regular riders" who give me the "elitist jerk" stares if I am riding in team gear... or the need to chase me down, pass me, and sprint for the next light or hill so they can "win" or "beat the racer". About the only folks who don't seem to have an immediate attitude are the people riding beat up mountain bikes as road bikes or the occasional recumbent riders.

Seriously, what happened to not being a prick? What happened to not instantly judging somebody by their clothes or their bike? Honestly, many years ago this was not the case- I have more than a few fond memories of riding as a young roadie in Alabama and never being given the types of attitude that fly around so easily now. We cyclists were a tiny group, so we were much less exclusive and much more inclusive of others on bikes... any bikes. Maybe now that our numbers have swelled, it has become necessary for some to treat all other cyclists like underlings who must bow to their superiority. (One could make all kinds of assumptions about the manhood/ womanhood of some of these people... bald spots, little blue pills, the need for younger wives and expensive cars to compensate for shortcomings, etc...)

I have made it a personal crusade for many years to make an effort to at least nod or give a slight wave of the hand from the handlebar when I see other riders- riders of all types. I've even been known to exaggerate the wave or sit up and scream "hello friends" to passing groups of riders, just to get ANY response from them. Unless you are at lactate threshold during intense interval training and are blind/ deaf from the effort and intensity... nod your damned head at least! For real people, is it any wonder that many people see cyclists as pariahs? We treat our own people like sh@t, run red lights and stop signs with abandon, yell at motorists who don't see us (right or wrong) and generally act like total jerks... why?

I'm sure I'll get blasted by some folks for these comments, but for crying out loud... this "I'm better than you" BS needs to stop. I have a feeling that if we treated each other with a little more respect, we might start to get a little more respect from non-cyclists. How does the expression go? You can't be loved by somebody else until you love your self?

If you're reading this, maybe you're not one of the people profiled above, but I'm sure you know the people I'm talking about. Maybe you actually are one of the elitists I'm talking about... if so, pull your head out of your ass, clean off your glasses so you can see the world around you and try acting a little less like your bib shorts are three sizes too small. If we all agree to at least acknowledge each other's right to exist and have space on the road- whether we approve of the other's bike/ clothing/ drivetrain choice or not- maybe we can actually get back to the business of enjoying the sport of cycling... rather than finding ways to separate ourselves from each other.

Maybe I'm the one who's the asshole here... I wouldn't be shocked... but I have a feeling I'm not alone.

Tim

Happy to be alive.

I just need to remind myself that I am happy to be alive because today was an infuriating day of dealing with our "healthcare" system.

Never get sick.

Never get hurt.

Never ask questions.

I'm blessed to be surrounded by people who love and support me and help when, where and how they can.

Ok... rant done.

Tim

This is gonna hurt...

(Cross-posted over on the Kool-Aid site...)

For years now, the bike industry has been riding a wave of popularity not unlike the "bike boom" of the 70's. Not only has this boom been good to the US bike industry, but the entire worldwide bike industry as well. It's been a really good ride, but almost all of us in the idnustry (Yes, I meant "industry"... smartasses...) knew it would have to come to an end one day.

The world is not going to come to an end for the bike industry or for cycling enthusiasts and consumer, but there is going to be some noticeable change very soon.

Bicycle sales, especially in the US market, have been doing very well over the past 10 years. In many markets, that can be traced back directly to that Lance Armstrong guy and all those French bike races he managed to win. At least one brand really made out well on that deal, but at the same time many of the rest of us got a boost from their good fortune. Road bike sales climbed to an all-time high during the peak of the boom. Other categories faired pretty well too, in the end, with overall interest in cycling reaching higher levels than ever before. All in all, the past several years have been good to the bike industry.

The very competitive nature of the industry has lead to incredible values for consumers. Many years ago, a $1,000 bike was a pretty good bike. Maybe even a great bike. But now, the amount of product and technology present on a $1,000 bike is amazing. It is still possible to buy a bike that is not worth the money you pay for it- at all ends of the pricing spectrum- but it is pretty hard to. Technology and manufacturing have created a time where consumers typically get a very good product for the money they spend- this is especially true of bikes sold in the IBD/ specialty retail channel (ie- not Wal-Mart, Toys-R-Us, etc).

The down side of all of this pricing competition has meant that many manufacturers (and retailers) have had to operate with incredibly small profit margins- selling at lower than reasonable prices to gain market share. In essence, buying floor space (at the wholesale level) or buying loyalty (at the retail level). Thing is, it's hard to keep a business afloat like that and it is the major reason brands or stores come and go from the bike industry. Worst of all, when you operate on such narrow margins, any kind of increase in costs of goods means an increase in ultimate sell price...

... which brings us to my point...

Over the past few months, the bike industry has seen the "perfect storm" of circumstances hit it (like much of the rest of the economy); a slumping US and global economy, a massive increase in manufacturing costs, a dramatic jump in labor costs in both Taiwan and China, a sharp drop in the value of the US dollar and an increase in value of nearly every other global currency. The Taiwanese dollar, the NT, has gone from a little over $34NT/ $1US to just barely over $30NT/ $1US in just over 3 years. That may not seem like much, but it adds up quickly and doesn't even take into consideration any of the cost increases- that is just a loss in currency value. When you add in the cost increases for the actual products, it can become significant very quickly.

By some estimates, the cost of steel alone is going up as much as 65%! For my brand, which is heavily biased towards steel these days, that spells some pretty serious sleepless nights. Aluminum is going up. Carbon is going up. Anything petroleum-based is going up- like the materials used to make handlebar tapes and saddles. These costs are increasing leadtimes significantly as well, since many vendors are now unwilling or unable to spend the money to stock vast quantities of materials. This means that they need to order more often to meet their demands, but at least they don't have their capital resources tied up in raw materials.

In China, recent laws there are forcing a much needed increase in wages being paid to factory workers- as well as limiting the amount of overtime a worker can work. These are good changes, but they mean an increase in costs just the same. In Taiwan, there is a massive shortage of qualified skilled labor. The bike industry was once one of the best paying in Taiwan, but the rise in power of the tech industries there has drawn in a lot of the once strong work force in the bike industry. So now wages have gone up to compete for and retain good labor. It's a good time to be a factory worker in both China and Taiwan... or at least a better time.

In the past few months, I have seen 3 and 4 price increases from the same vendors. Just in the past 6 months- from some of the biggest names in the industry. Some vendors will not even quote a price any longer until they have a firm PO and then the pricing is only good for that one PO. This makes it impossible to accurately forecast the cost of a product and very difficult to create a selling price- when you have no idea if you will be making money on the product in 6 months. For me and the other brands at Haro, we print one price list per season and we live with that pricing for the duration of that product cycle/ season. This year though, we've had to issue a price increase to compensate for some of the price increases we've seen recently. We do our best to absorb those increases and preserve the pricing we've created, but when you are seeing double-digit increases, it becomes impossible to swallow all of those costs.

What does all this mean? Well, it certainly means there is a lot of nervousness in the bike industry right now. Many of us are very concerned about what the consumer is going to do; will they simply stop buying bikes (partly in thanks to what the economy is doing as well), or will they understand that we (the manufacturers and retailers) simply have no choice if we wish to stay in business? Some of us smaller players even worry if the Big Guys will simply eat the increases in the short term to maintain market strength and wait the situation out/ drive competitors from the market. Most things I have seen and heard indicate that those Big Guys are likely to pass on at least a small increase to their customers too. It would be hard to believe that they can afford such an increase in costs without passing along some of that burden. More to the point, it means that prices for Masi Bicycles are going to increase a little. On some bikes it will seem like nothing, but on others it might be more noticeable- when a bike goes from $700 to $775, it is more noticeable than when a bike goes from $4000 to $4300. Based on percentage, it is much less significant and the typical consumer in that higher price market is not as phased by the increase- generically speaking of course.

Bottom line- as much as it sucks, the bike industry is raising prices to slightly compensate for the rapid and painful increase in costs to produce a quality bicycle. I am seeing anywhere from a simple 5% increase to a massive 15-20% increase in my costs... and that's just the ones I know about so far, but that does not mean the retail price (or dealer price) is going up that sharply. In all likelihood... more increases are coming. And coming fast. Does it mean you are getting any less of a bike for the money? No, not at all. It just means that you'll be paying what is a more realistic price for the bike you get. Sure, there will be a slew of new low-spec bikes showing up on the market to keep the perceived necessary price points met. Some manufacturers will undoubtedly find ways to cut spec to keep a certain price (not our plan though). I'm not saying they are wrong to do it and we might find ways to create new models in those sensitive price ranges- it's just going to be a fact of life.

How long should this last and what does it mean long term? Well, that has yet to be accurately predicted to my knowledge. My guess is that prices are not going to be coming down any time soon. The global economy is still looking pretty volatile and the US$ keeps taking a beating. The Chinese Yuan is getting stronger, as is the Taiwan NT, and the Euro and the British Pound... so it is unlikely the Dollar is going to regain enough strength in the short term to eat up the cost increases. The overall volatility is likely to settle down, but as oil/ gas/ petroleum costs remain high, costs of goods will remain high- as will the costs to transport them. The global demand for raw goods- like steel- isn't going to decrease either. China and India, specifically, are eating up massive amounts of resources of raw goods as their economies expand and their development and growth increase as well. So, yeah... it's not too likely things are going to change any time soon to keep prices where they are now. I do predict that some smaller companies (retail and manufacturing) are going to pay the ultimate price for these increases and will either fade into history or be eaten by healthier competitors.

All of this would seem to point to very dark days for the bicycle industry, but things have actually been coming back up a bit after a mild slump in sales the past two years. Road sales have dropped, but are remaining strong- especially at the higher price points- and MTB and BMX are both seeing nice signs of life across the industry. At first glance it would appear that the industry is getting some support from consumers who are seeing the price of their other purchases going up all over the place. Costs of nearly everything across the board are going up... it's just a fact of life right now.

So even though buying a new bicycle might not feel as fun, due to the sudden increase in price, you're still getting a great deal on great products and the industry you are supporting is showing good signs of health... which hopefully means I get to keep my job a bit longer... I hope.

Tim