June 2015 – Page 2

June 9, 2015

Let’s Talk: Traveling with Bikes and TSA Confiscations

Let’s talk. What is your experience shipping your bicycle for a special ride by plane or delivery service?

Thule bike case allows you to ship your bike safely.

I am flying to ride RAGBRAI via Southwest Airlines to Des Moines. They allow 2 checked bags to fly free. I read somewhere that this includes bikes in a case. I was checking a bag through to LAX today so I asked the Southwest employee handling my suitcase if there is a fee.

Als, they do charge $150 each way for “oversized luggage”. I asked if Southwest charges for golf clubs. No. I smiled and lightly protested sports discrimination. She said she would pass my comment along to management.

I was planning to rent a Thule case from Mike’s Bikes for $50 a week or approximately $100 with my travel time tacked on to the 7 day ride across Iowa. So this would be $100 plus $300 Southwest luggage fees or a total of $400.

Versus $110 each way shipping with FED EX with my bike in a box. The helpful FED EX representative in Davis gave me that quote and encouraged me to bring it to them because they have a lot of experience shipping bikes. Say it is slightly more expensive, shipping with FED EX is still $250 compared to $400. I will probably ship my bike to my Cousin David in Des Moines and save the box for the return shipment.

Any advice?

Let’s talk. When is Homeland Security going to review the rules around what we can bring through security?

As a seasoned traveller you would think I would know better than to try to bring a small jar of very thick, premium chocolate sauce through security. TSA confiscated it.

I would say “bring on board” instead of through security except I am sitting on the plane a vente ice tea that I bought at the Starbucks in the terminal. Why my jar of chocolate sauce from Ginger Elizabeth so thick it doesn’t move until you heat in the microwave is more dangerous than all of the liquids I can purchase after security, I fail to see.

I offered to pop the seal and show them how solid it is. The security person and the supervisor declined to investigate and just said no. I confess in my frustration I accused them of just wanting my chocolate sauce. She said it will go straight into the garbage. Sure, but will it stay in the trash?

How many of us want to speak up about the many indignities that are now a regular part of air travel but do not out of fear we will be put on the No Fly list? Are we really any safer because TSA daily confiscates thousands of dollars worth of expensive hair gel or chocolate sauce or jam that exceeds 3.5 ounces?

Maybe you can tell by my slightly snarky tone that am experiencing a horrible, no good, very bad day. I want to go to Australia.

June 6, 2015June 6, 2015

Dining Next to the Mayor

Shipping containers make an interesting building.

I enjoy living in midtown Sacramento because it is a complete neighborhood. My neighbors range from people without homes to the 1% with a Maserati in the parking garage. Within walking or biking distance I can find every imaginable restaurant and shop I need. I am meeting friends for a drink or lunch more often. Tonight my friend Monica and I met for a walk and stopped in at the Federalist Public House.

The Federalist Public House is built with shipping containers, which makes a fun and funky atmosphere. We ordered a pizza to split and beverages and then sat down at the end of one of the long rows of picnic benches. Everyone sits community style so we started our meal next to strangers. People watched the baseball game on television and others played bocce ball in the astroturf bocce court along the back wall.

At some point the couple next to us left and the waitress put a “reserved” sign down on the table. Then out of the corner of my eye I see a man sit down and put his iPhone on the table. I could tell by Monica’s face that she recognized him, but she did not say hello. I glanced over and realized it was Sacramento Mayor and former Phoenix Suns basketball star Kevin Johnson. A few minutes later his wife Michelle Rhee, the education reform advocate, sat down across from him.

Monica and I played it cool. Other people in the restaurant interrupted to say something to Mayor Johnson or take a photo with him. And the wait staff kept bringing Kevin and Michelle additional dishes including the polenta and then a giant ice cream sandwich. We could not help but ooh and ahh at the two supersize oatmeal cookies filled with vanilla ice cream and dipped in chocolate and rolled in pistachios. They offered to share with us and so we got to taste it. Yum!

We thanked them for our taste and then continued our walk. I love a cup of coffee after dinner so we stopped at The Trade, a relatively new coffee place on K Street near 24th Street. Then we hurried back because of the gathering dark clouds and marveled at the unexpected lightning show.

June 4, 2015June 1, 2015

One month until Tour de France

I pedaled to the Avid Reader in Sacramento–the only bookstore left between Arden Fair Mall and Elk Grove where new books and magazines are sold. I was looking for a specific book and browsing for new fiction to read this summer. Much to my surprise and delight the Velo Tour de France 2015 Official Guide was on the newsstand!

Ultimate 2014 winner Vincenzo Nibali heads to the starting line wearing the yellow jersey.

I read this issue from cover to cover every year. The Velo Guide cover traditionally features the winner from the previous year. Vincenzo Nibali dominated and ultimately won the 2014 Tour de France. The reporters had an irritating habit last year of saying “Nibali retains the yellow jersey…” and then adding “after Froome and Contador crashed out.” Ignoring that Nibali wore yellow before they crashed out. And that not crashing is one of the objectives of the race, essential to winning.

This year the sportswriters are salivating because Froome, Contador, and Nibali are all starting this year. I am excited because Nairo Quintana returns after a year off. He took the 2013 Tour de France by surprise placing second overall. His team Movistar bet on Alejandro Valverde last year and sent Quintana to win the Giro and was on his way to winning the Vuelta when he crashed out. It should be an exciting battle.

The race leaders run the gauntlet of news reporters after each stage.

The Velo editors rank their favorites for the Tour each year. The magazine is written several months ago so it does not reflect the spring season. They rank the leaders in the following order: 1. Alberto Contador, 2. Chris Froome, 3. Vincenzo Nibali, 3. Nairo Quintana, 4. Thibaut Pinot, 5. Tejay Van Garderen, 6. Andrew Talansky. Contador just won the Giro. How will that impact his performance at Le Tour?

This issue also features profiles of each of the teams. For the first time, there will be an international team from Africa: MTN-QHUBEKA. It is helpful to track the changes in names as familiar teams change names as sponsors change. My favorite team is much easier to call out as their name is shorter: Etixx-Quick-Step.

Peter Sagan fine tunes his bike before a stage. He is wearing his "second skin" the green jersey. — Peter Sagan fine tunes his bike before a stage. He is wearing his “second skin” the green jersey.

They spend much less time handicapping the other jerseys. I was disappointed with the feature on the green jersey. At one time the green jersey point system made it the sprinter’s jersey. Then they changed the scoring system with more emphasis on intermediate sprints that perfectly suited new rider Peter Sagan. I love watching this exciting cyclist. He has completely dominated the green jersey in the last three years. The writers did not have the advantage of seeing Sagan win the Tour of California before they wrote this article and they cast a shadow on his chances. The bigger miss though was a clear explanation of how the green jersey point system has changed to reward sprinters more.

As Cyclingnews reported in October:

“The changes favour stage winners and will only be in place for the nine flat stages of the race. The winner of the stage will score 50 points, 20 more than the second placed rider, who will score 30 points, boosting the stage winner’s points total and rewarding stage winners more than rider who place consistently.

The first 15 riders to cross the finish line to be rewarded with 50, 30, 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 points respectively on the nine flat stages. The remaining 12 stages will continue to award points in the same distribution from 2012 to 2014 when the classification was last changed with 45, 35, 30, 26, 22, 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 points to the first 15 riders across the line.”

I will be interested to watch how this changes the competition for this jersey. And I will be watching the continuing evolution of major talent Peter Sagan as a racer.

The issue also features a stage by stage description of the race. It changes ever year. This year it moves counter-clockwise around France after a time trial in Utrecht and a second stage in the Netherlands. If you look at the profiles of some of the stages you might think the Tour is not as hard as its reputation. Exhibit A. It is not the challenge of any one stage, it is the relentless pounding day after day, kilometer after kilometer. With hundreds of other nervous riders. On narrow European roads including cobblestones. Exhibit B. The mountains–Pyrenees and Alps. Just ask Secretary of State John Kerry who recently broke his leg riding one of the Tour de France routes.