Why are these called “pandas?” Well, ya see, there’s this rad chick who goes by the name faster panda kill kill. She takes rad self-portraits while riding her bike. They are so rad, in fact, that a group was formed to record similar self-portraits cuz, really, just about anyone who has a camera and rides bikes also takes these self-portraits.

Here are some examples

Here are some, done by other people, that I really like

Check out the Flickr group, get out your camera, and have some fun!

But what does it mean when we insist on waging war upon ourselves, flagrantly dismissing dubious weather forecasts, common sense, and good advice from friends in some perverse determination to ride 100 miles in bitter cold temperatures at the end of November—just because we could? Nearly 72 hours have passed since I completed the coldest century ride of my life and I’m still trying to figure that one out while I de-thaw.

Background: over the past eight years, Heather Rizzi’s (in)famous Sweat & Ice Century has become an annual tradition cyclists from around the region (and those willing to travel) look forward to and swap tall tales about. Starting in Clifton Park, you traverse mostly rural and low-traffic roads through Saratoga County, into Corinth, up and over West Mountain, around part of Sacandaga Lake, over the Bachelorville Bridge and then hit a series of (perpetually-upwards) rolling hills in Edinburgh and Fayetteville before shooting through Charlton and back to the starting line. Designed to test a cyclist’s strength, hill-climbing capabilities, pace and endurance levels, many return to the Sweat course through the Adirondack Park year after year as a means of testing and benchmarking their fitness.

Three years prior, having purchased my first road bike that August and only completing one century in my life two months beforehand, Heather duped me into signing up that fateful day in November 2005 by promising: “You’ve only done one ride before this distance? And you haven’t ridden much at all the last 4 wks. b/c of rain? And you’re still riding in sneakers with toe clips & basket pedals? No problem! It’s a flat course. I tell people it’s a flat course—only one small hill.” Ummm, yeah…she failed to mention that her definition of “flat” included almost 5,000 ft. of total elevation gain, and “one small hill” was named WEST MOUNTAIN. During my first introduction to that beast I had to stop 4 separate times to bring my asthma under control. I ended up finishing in the dark that year…But from that experience, a biker chick addicted to long-distance rides that push one’s boundaries of endurance all definitions of “reasonable” was born.

Flash forward to this past Sunday: 7 cyclists assemble in a frozen parking lot and assess the situation. Thermometer is currently reading 21 degrees (and that’s not factoring the fierce winds blowing upon us). Wool? Check! Winter gloves and booties? Check! Craziness? Double Check! Let’s get moving before we change our minds.

Decked in my finest layers of winter cycling attire, I came prepared for the cold. Weather.com predicted a high of 37 degrees for the day; I figured as long as we kept moving, we’d be fine. After all, I rode last year’s Sweat & Ice Century in 28 degree temps, enjoyed myself thoroughly, and rocked it with a 5:48:33 course time (a new personal record). What I was NOT prepared for were the galling headwinds that plagued us for nearly 90 miles: factoring wind chill, 21 degrees become FIVE. Any body heat generated on the hills or climb up West Mountain was rapidly whisked away by the ferocious winds blowing off Sacandaga Lake: pedaling along the naked shore with trees stripped to their bark, you could see large waves being blown toward you churning in a dark and angry maelstrom. In desperation, I put my head down and cranked those pedals as hard as I could in hopes of escaping that wind.

When I arrived at the Edinburgh General Store, our 58 rest stop, I was dismayed to learn our warm-up oasis was closed and a bunch of cold and tired cyclists were forlornly huddled on its front stoop. Jon Stillman, along with Terry and Bryna, had ridden out to say hello and join folks for part of the course: it was nice to see them, at least for the first 5 minutes until I got dropped. :) No hard feelings, guys: Sunday’s ride was all about SURVIVAL.

Words cannot begin to describe how damned cold I was the entire ride, or how much extra force had to be exerted to battle the wind, simultaneously draining you of your energy and will to live. My lips and fingertips were quite literally turning blue and it was difficult to form words or sentences—not that I was in a coherent state of mind, regardless. LUNA bars and bananas, frozen solid, became difficult to chew and swallow. Good luck washing it down or replenishing liquids lost during your hard efforts: water literally froze in our bottles, preventing you from drinking unless you stopped to pick a few slushy ice chips out of desperation—the consumption of which only cooled you down further. According to the sag vehicle’s thermometer, the maximum temperature of the day was 24 degrees, which quickly plummeted after the sun disappeared behind the clouds ~1:30pm or so. True to the ride’s namesake, it was eerie to feel sweat trickling down your back while at the same time shivering so hard I had difficulty maintaining a straight line. When it started snowing on us around mile 75 and I spotted solid ice formations within the longitudinal cracks and potholes in the roads around Charlton, it was a surreal experience.

Never had I been so thrilled to roll back into the parking lot and peel off those cold and sweaty cycling clothes so I could ensconce myself in all the layers of the thickest wool clothing I own. Sunday’s ride was more difficult than the Riedlbauer`s Round Top Rally MTB Race in the Catskills, or the ADK 200K and 300K Brevets back in March and April…and it had very little to do with the course.

So, if you’ve read this far, you might be asking: why put yourself through such an endeavor? Are you trying to prove something? Have deep masochistic tendencies that need to be fulfilled? Or just plain nuts?

My answer: perhaps D) all of the above? But I’d like to share a quote from A Cherokee Feast Of Days that’s served as my mantra on more than one occasion: “The effort put forth to move gives strength to do it-and moves us to more effort. But like the tide, the effort to move is followed by a rest, and then movement again. Each effort makes the next time a little easier until there is maximum strength or full growth. Some things challenge our very existence. It is the nature of things. But every effort we make weakens the challenge. If we will not give up, but we move and rest, move and rest, the breakthrough will come.”

I have put forth great effort…and now I look forward to reaping the benefits of a great rest. (Well, at least until Friday. :) )

Read Paul Lambrie’s ride report: http://web.mac.com/paullabrie/Paul_Labrie_photos/Winter_Nutz_Blog/Entries/2008/11/24_Sweat_%26_Ice_Century.html

For the number-crunchers and data geeks: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/7194998

Maybe too many people have left Rochester to play Bicycle Photo Tag anymore. Prove me wrong, folks!

This next photo tag target is kind of easy. These distinctive gates were at the last stop on last night’s Critical Mass:

Have at it, Rochester crew!

“The old spot was Monroe High School on Alexander ave. Fiocca and I rode over there a long time ago with a new wednesday night rider Rob and came up with another shot that I’ll use for a later tag I guess, I cant seem to find it.”

So here’s their picture of Monroe High School:

And here is the NEW Bike Photo Tag target:

Better hurry, I think that those plows are a seasonal installation that may disappear once the snow is gone. Fortunately I think the train engine truck behind them is there year round. Happy hunting!

Here’s my blurry cell phone picture again…

And the hint–my bike is not in the picture because this horse is on the second floor of the building, and the building is a school on the route of the previous Team Rocbike trip to the market.

This is near the corner of South Avenue and Gregory Street, near Lux.

And here is your next target…

p.s. In other news, Kyle at Full Moon says that there will be a TNUA ride tomorrow night, New Year’s Day. What a way to start your New Year!

So we took off from there and before long came across the faux storefronts of a turn of the century town. So here it is, Bike Photo Tag target #8, good luck and happy hunting!

Eric was trying to send a telegraph

It was on a lovely evening last weekend that I grabbed a photo of myself at the location of Bicycle Photo Tag #6. The purple-walled spot in Manhattan Square Park is now a construction site (I believe they’re renovating the ice skating rink, which makes me sad, because I enjoy ice skating there).

It was on this very night that I came across some hippies celebrating the solstice. Jump onto your bike, find this town square, snap a photo, and you will win the next round of Bicycle Photo Tag!

another shot with more locational details

This should be a pretty easy find for anyone who tries, give it a shot!

While Jason was frustrating and confusing Jack with the most recent Bicycle Photo Tag target, I recalled the fact that Jason maintains another blog at SignWall.com. Sure enough, that blog features a post about this sign and divulges its exact location.

The sign is about 2 blocks from where Caitlin works, so after dropping her off this morning I headed on over and snapped this photo:

Then as I continued on to work I passed a statue featuring a guy with an awesome mustache. He’s the next photo tag target:

Good luck!

This is a tough one, but worth the hunt. Rochester is home to one of the only — if not the only — existing painted electoral signs from one of FDR’s presidential campaigns.

Victory — Peace — Jobs — Security — Vote For Roosevelt

A closeup of the “Vote For Roosevelt” section

Good luck!

Bring me your bananas, your man-cubs, your Samsonite luggage yearning to be jumped upon:

She lifts her lamp beside the Epilepsy Foundation

You may have a cycling addiction if you’ll ride an hour through the pouring rain to take a picture of a gorilla dressed as the Statue of Liberty. This particular primate is in front of the Epilepsy Foundation office at 1650 South Avenue. It was part of ESL’s Animal Scramble in 2003. When I got home from the ride, I was soaked through — but happy!

Hard to tell the difference, ain’t it?

I’ll have target #4 up soon.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ship ahoy!

That means Brian is IT. And here’s his entry:

A planet where apes evolved from men?

Brian sent this clue:

The boat was at Artisan works on University Ave, and the next spot was made by the crafty people there, but is not actually there. Happy hunting and have a great turkey day!!!

And here’s Brian himself at the mystery location:

Brian’s on the left

And so, I have just one thing to say:

“Damn you! Damn you all to hell!”

Joey and Karl tag-teamed the first round of Bicycle Photo Tag:

More photos here.

This sculpture is in front of Strasenburgh Planetarium at the Rochester Museum & Science Center.

Joey and Karl are now “It(s).” Here’s their new target:

More pictures are here.

Go find it! Then post it on your blog or send your photo to tag@rocbike.com and I’ll post it here. Either way, let me know so we can start the next round.

Let’s play Bicycle Photo Tag!

A quick refresher on the rules:

1. “It” posts a photo.
2. Everyone else has to find the spot in the photo and take your own picture.
3. Then either (a) post your photo on your own blog or (b) send it to tag@rocbike.com for inclusion on this site.
4. The first person to post a photo is then “it.” They go find something to take a picture of, etc.

Try not to make it anything too obscure, anything you need special permission to get close to, or anything too far away from Rochester.

Ready? Here’s my photo:

Good luck!

I stole this idea lock, stock and barrel from Jeff at Biking Duluth. Here’s Jeff’s explanation of the game of Bicycle Photo Tag:

One person is “it” and they can go take a picture of something in Duluth, not too crazy far away, of something somewhat “identifiable” and then everyone else can go try to find that thing and take a picture of it also. The first blog post with that image and that person is now “it” — they will go take a picture of something new, and the fun continues.

So that’s the game. Substitute “Rochester” for “Duluth,” and you’ve got it. If you don’t have your own blog, or if you’re a member of Team RocBike, you can post your photo here. I’ll start, and my first picture will be up later today. Ready?