Wednesdays are important days for cyclocross racers. The body is just healed enough for hard training if it raced both days of the preceding weekend and after that training there's just enough time to recover for the weekend. This wednesday turned out to be a glorious one, weather-wise and an average one, training-wise. Sunny, no clouds, mid-70's temperature- as good as it gets! So, even though I was still feeling a bit battered from the weekend, it was a damned nice backdrop for my training efforts.
I rode over hill and dale getting to my training place in the Marin headlands. I saw a big hawk *almost* snatch a smaller songbird out of mid-air: the hawk came ripping down out of nowhere with it's talons out, but the little bird got the jump and went ripping into some low bushes. Lucky! It was a cool little show that happened right in front of me on the trail.
I did some dismounts and remounts for a bit and then did laps on my practice course at a medium tempo for 20 minutes. Once I was more or less warmed up, I cranked out a good hard lap that took about 7 minutes... I hope I'm faster by the weekend because I felt kinda sluggish. I pedalled back home through Sausalito rather than back over on the dirt. As I was rolling up to Thai Terrace, I went for my phone to call my Dad to invite him up for a bite since he lives more or less across the street from this place.
As I'm opening my pack, my phone starts to ring and not only is it my Dad calling me, he'sactually calling me from inside the restaurant as he's getting ready to order! Crazy! I love telepathy! We had some killer Thai food and I made my way home.
Next, I got cleaned up and headed over to Rachell Lloyd's house for massage. I haven't had a rub in a while and it felt great, I'm recovered nicely today as a result- she knows how to fix tired bike racers! Rachell and I ended up going down to the bike shop afterwards to buy some glue, I made her double ride me on her and Sam's new Surley "Big Dummy" cargo bike which was pretty fun. The massage made me feel kind of loopy so it was probably best for me to be on the back!
So, today I just have to put that glue to use and get some tires stuck. Nice to get that hard training behind me- I'll rest today and then prepare for sunday's CCCX race over the next few days. New track @ Laguna Seca, that should be fun!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
It's cyclocross time and I've got "new" bikes!
Cross has been happening in Norcal for some weeks now and as if that's not thrilling enough, I've also got a lot of cool new stuff hanging from my bikes. These are frames that I've had for a couple seasons now and thankfully they're still in great shape. Paul Sadoff really got these right for me, I don't look forward to learning to ride different ones some day. The Scandium frames are super light, stiff and fit me beautifully!
We've been really lucky to have support from some of the best companies in the business for some of the more overlooked parts on bikes. I got headsets from Chris King and (gold!) brakes from Paul Components a couple years back and needless to say that stuff is still working like when I first got it.
One sponsor that is not new but has stepped up for us BIG TIME this year is Easton. I am using Easton's full range of cyclocross worthy parts this season: forks, bars, stems, seatposts, wheels and cranks. Not only am I lucky to have Easton's product on my whips, I've pretty much got Easton's BEST and NEWEST stuff! The wheels are unbelievable- my EC-90 SLX wheels weighed 1185g before I glued them up. On the B bike I use the EA-70x aluminum tubulars which are really great wheels for cyclocross and a more realistic option for most budget minded cyclocrossers. The carbon wheels combined with the new EC-90 SLX carbon cranks/ceramic bearing BB (100g lighter than DA!) get my A bike's weight down to under 16.5 lbs.
The bars are incredibly light and stiff too and they have a great shape that feels great and doesn't undermine my traditional sensibilities regarding handlebars.
I got Easton's EA-90 aluminum stem and EA-70 seatpost as well, these parts were chosen for durability, reliability and light weight. I've used the Easton full-carbon fork for a few years now, I think it's the best cross fork made especially now that they've managed to fabricate them with threads in the steerer for headset adjustment. This eliminates the need for a troublesome mechanical plug to be utilized.
Bell is providing the hard-hats for us agin this year. The Sweep model is what we get, and thankfully it fits my head wonderfully. Nothing's worse than an ill-fitting helmet.
Sheila Moon gives us hats, base layers and arm and knee warmers!
I am using GU products this year as well! This is a very good new sponsor for me, I've long used their product when I race and it's great to have all my old favorite flavors of gel to choose from before and after the races. Their new Roctane gel is something that I've also been experimenting with, it's really amazing on longer training days and anytime I want some caffeine on the bike. The Roctane flavors make it easy for me to go a little over board with the caffeine so I try and control myself with that stuff. The GU20 electrolyte drink is also a training and racing essential for me, that stuff tastes so good when you're thirsty and best of all it isn't too sweet.
I'm really glad to be getting help from these great companies. I'm on the best Norcal team and we have the best bikes, so it's hard to hope for more than that! I've managed some nice wins as a result and I've had a great time over the last few weeks seeing everyone at the races and watching the battles. If you see me at the races, say hi or heckle me when I'm suffering- I'll do my best to put on a show!
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Sandy's Felt Tri-bike
My customer Sandy James has a new bike and a half-ironman triathalon coming up so I spent a bit of time getting her ready to race yesterday.
This bike came with some seriously long cable housing and the first order of business was to get everything trimmed down to take better advantage of the aero inside-the-frame cable routing and tidy up the cockpit.
I set the bike up with her Easton Tempest II carbon wheels and made sure everything was ready for battle. Her race includes a bike leg of nearly 60 miles so she opted to mount a Profile dual water bottle holder behind the seat. The saddle that she's using has been a good fit for her, but she was having some discomfort on longer rides. We decided to modify it a bit.
I drilled a bunch of holes and got busy with a razor knife to make a relieved area in the underside of this saddle. This made the saddle much more flexible where it counts, so hopefully this will help her ride more comfortably on the long days. The initial test ride seemed good!
Sandy's been living at altitude and she's looking fit, so I'm hoping everything goes well for her this weekend!
This bike came with some seriously long cable housing and the first order of business was to get everything trimmed down to take better advantage of the aero inside-the-frame cable routing and tidy up the cockpit.
I set the bike up with her Easton Tempest II carbon wheels and made sure everything was ready for battle. Her race includes a bike leg of nearly 60 miles so she opted to mount a Profile dual water bottle holder behind the seat. The saddle that she's using has been a good fit for her, but she was having some discomfort on longer rides. We decided to modify it a bit.
I drilled a bunch of holes and got busy with a razor knife to make a relieved area in the underside of this saddle. This made the saddle much more flexible where it counts, so hopefully this will help her ride more comfortably on the long days. The initial test ride seemed good!
Sandy's been living at altitude and she's looking fit, so I'm hoping everything goes well for her this weekend!
Friday, August 29, 2008
Bike pranks!
Assembling and repairing bikes can be a rewarding job; there's a certain sense of accomplishment that comes with creating a bike for someone after carefully choosing a frame that fits and parts that will meet the rider's needs. Indeed, after taking a well worn bike and bringing it back to it's former glory after months or years of heavy use and neglect can make the mechanic feel like a veritable good-samaritan, doing his or her part to keep a useful steed out of the landfill and give someone a way to run their errands without firing up the car.
But after the warm and fuzzies wear off and the grim reality of the workaday grease-monkey sets in, the mechanic may occasionally feel the need to lash out at co-workers, "friends" or riding partners. Bike shop wage slaves need their fun, and what's better than fun at someone else's expense? In this spirit I've compiled a few little tricks that I've come up with over the years, or have heard of from other mechaincs (or from the victims, who will remain unnamed).
Some of these tricks I've never actually tried, but many of them I have. I've actually had more fun talking about these kind of tricks than using them, because I learned long ago- don't ever fuck with someones bike unless you're ready to have your bike fucked with. A seemingly harmless and hilarious filling of a co-worker's bmx bike's inner tubes with water once came back to haunt me in the form of a hot dog hidden in the seattube of my steel xc racing bike that went undiscovered for months. So be prepared, and don't start shit unless you're ready for all out war. So, to be prepared for war, you're going to need an arsenal.
Installing infuriating and mysterious noises is a good place to start. These won't really hurt the bike or the rider and are generally easy to reverse if someone really reacts badly to the prank. Let's start with ball bearings...
-Pop a few bearings in the handlebar. Easily diagnosed, reversed and not really even enough to start a shop war.
-Ball bearing in top tube. Works best on steel bikes, but could be applied to any bike with vent holes that can be accessed with the seatpost removed. For maximum effect use the largest bearing that will fit in the hole, making removal more difficult.
-If you have time, and you want to be a real bastard you could remove the bottom bracket and pop a bearing in a less accessable spot like a chainstay. This trick varies depending on the bike, and if you want to use something non-ferrous removal can be made even more difficult since steel things can be removed from odd spots with a strong magnet.
On a bike with a steel or aluminum fork steerer there is a particularly diabloical trick that can be performed. Simply drive the existing star-nut to a depth of 2 or 3 inches. Drop a large ball bearing in on top of it and then set a new star-nut where the original one was, leaving a bit of space between the 2 for the bearing to rattle. Reassemble and adjust headset. Thanks to Ryan Bontrager for this one, I'd never heard of it till the other day. This one is tough to remove and to diagnose.
Other noise making tricks can involve little bells like you get off of christmas tree ornaments or cat collars. These can go many of the same places that a ball bearing might go, but they can also go other places where ball bearings won't work. A good spot for little bells is inside the inner tube. It's easy- just cut a small hole in an inner tube, squeze the little bell through the hole and patch the tube. I've been riding an innertube with a bell installed on my cross bike for a while, it emits a quiet and intermittent jingle that could easily send a fussy rider to the brink of madness.
Mechanical tricks are good for certain victims, particularly tricks that involve gearing changes. Riders who obsess about their condition and climbing abilities are particularly good targets for gearing tricks. Changing out the 39t inner ring of a road crank for a 42t can really make someone question their form on a hilly ride. It doesn't require any derailleur adjustment (as changing the big ring would) and if you have a duplicate of the rider's right crankarm set up with a 42/53 combination, it can be changed very quickly and even be switched back and forth several times throughout the week or season. Obviously, 110mm "compact" cranks also lend themselves to this sort of tricks as well.
How about a trick for riders who like pushing big gears on the flats? This trick is great for crit riders and those who mash around in the harder cogs of the cassette. You'll need 3 or more cassettes for this one. Simply take the 16t cogs from the cassettes and arrange them in succession on your victims freehub. As he or she shifts up through the gears and begins to apply the power, they just get gear after gear of the same ratio till -clunk- the chain lands on the 13t or the 12t and they're totally over geared. I just set up a wheel of mine to try this one and it's effect is very odd. I just chose the 16 because it's a very useful gear and one that would have a subtle effect on the rider, it may take a while before they even notice that no gearing change occurs as they shift around in that range of the cassette.
Switching the shift cables will really render the bike unridable, and possibly unsafe. It is pretty hilarious to see someone roll out their driveway and go to shift a few cogs easier when the rear shifter is actually controlling the front derailleur. This will totally ruin a days ride though, so save it for someone you hate. It goes without saying that switching the brakes is only for someone that you want to kill, and same goes for hooking the shift cables up to the brakes and vice-versa. That would be mean.
That's all I can think of for now, anybody know any other good ones?
But after the warm and fuzzies wear off and the grim reality of the workaday grease-monkey sets in, the mechanic may occasionally feel the need to lash out at co-workers, "friends" or riding partners. Bike shop wage slaves need their fun, and what's better than fun at someone else's expense? In this spirit I've compiled a few little tricks that I've come up with over the years, or have heard of from other mechaincs (or from the victims, who will remain unnamed).
Some of these tricks I've never actually tried, but many of them I have. I've actually had more fun talking about these kind of tricks than using them, because I learned long ago- don't ever fuck with someones bike unless you're ready to have your bike fucked with. A seemingly harmless and hilarious filling of a co-worker's bmx bike's inner tubes with water once came back to haunt me in the form of a hot dog hidden in the seattube of my steel xc racing bike that went undiscovered for months. So be prepared, and don't start shit unless you're ready for all out war. So, to be prepared for war, you're going to need an arsenal.
Installing infuriating and mysterious noises is a good place to start. These won't really hurt the bike or the rider and are generally easy to reverse if someone really reacts badly to the prank. Let's start with ball bearings...
-Pop a few bearings in the handlebar. Easily diagnosed, reversed and not really even enough to start a shop war.
-Ball bearing in top tube. Works best on steel bikes, but could be applied to any bike with vent holes that can be accessed with the seatpost removed. For maximum effect use the largest bearing that will fit in the hole, making removal more difficult.
-If you have time, and you want to be a real bastard you could remove the bottom bracket and pop a bearing in a less accessable spot like a chainstay. This trick varies depending on the bike, and if you want to use something non-ferrous removal can be made even more difficult since steel things can be removed from odd spots with a strong magnet.
On a bike with a steel or aluminum fork steerer there is a particularly diabloical trick that can be performed. Simply drive the existing star-nut to a depth of 2 or 3 inches. Drop a large ball bearing in on top of it and then set a new star-nut where the original one was, leaving a bit of space between the 2 for the bearing to rattle. Reassemble and adjust headset. Thanks to Ryan Bontrager for this one, I'd never heard of it till the other day. This one is tough to remove and to diagnose.
Other noise making tricks can involve little bells like you get off of christmas tree ornaments or cat collars. These can go many of the same places that a ball bearing might go, but they can also go other places where ball bearings won't work. A good spot for little bells is inside the inner tube. It's easy- just cut a small hole in an inner tube, squeze the little bell through the hole and patch the tube. I've been riding an innertube with a bell installed on my cross bike for a while, it emits a quiet and intermittent jingle that could easily send a fussy rider to the brink of madness.
Mechanical tricks are good for certain victims, particularly tricks that involve gearing changes. Riders who obsess about their condition and climbing abilities are particularly good targets for gearing tricks. Changing out the 39t inner ring of a road crank for a 42t can really make someone question their form on a hilly ride. It doesn't require any derailleur adjustment (as changing the big ring would) and if you have a duplicate of the rider's right crankarm set up with a 42/53 combination, it can be changed very quickly and even be switched back and forth several times throughout the week or season. Obviously, 110mm "compact" cranks also lend themselves to this sort of tricks as well.
How about a trick for riders who like pushing big gears on the flats? This trick is great for crit riders and those who mash around in the harder cogs of the cassette. You'll need 3 or more cassettes for this one. Simply take the 16t cogs from the cassettes and arrange them in succession on your victims freehub. As he or she shifts up through the gears and begins to apply the power, they just get gear after gear of the same ratio till -clunk- the chain lands on the 13t or the 12t and they're totally over geared. I just set up a wheel of mine to try this one and it's effect is very odd. I just chose the 16 because it's a very useful gear and one that would have a subtle effect on the rider, it may take a while before they even notice that no gearing change occurs as they shift around in that range of the cassette.
Switching the shift cables will really render the bike unridable, and possibly unsafe. It is pretty hilarious to see someone roll out their driveway and go to shift a few cogs easier when the rear shifter is actually controlling the front derailleur. This will totally ruin a days ride though, so save it for someone you hate. It goes without saying that switching the brakes is only for someone that you want to kill, and same goes for hooking the shift cables up to the brakes and vice-versa. That would be mean.
That's all I can think of for now, anybody know any other good ones?
Friday, August 8, 2008
The ladies have spoken and they want $300 jeans that actually fit!
Beth Newell has come up with a pretty rad new concept for everyones favorite pro cycling team and haven for busted (and soon to be busted http://www.velonews.com/article/71575) dopers: Rock Racing. Her posts about this are here: http://bethbikes.blogspot.com/ As a jeans company that markets specifically to cyclists, it makes perfect sense that they'd create jeans for the specific needs of certain body types common among cyclists; namely the strong and sizeable quads that come from repeatedly unleashing a raw and powerful sprint (not that I fit into this demographic, since my hat size is a full 8cm greater than my quad measurement; but I digress...).
Beth has found that the email "michael@rockracing.com" seems to work, and it presumably belongs to either Michel Ball himself or Michael Creed, one of the teams riders. Either way, it's possible that emails sent to this address could eventually end up in front of the Ballmaster himself, so I went ahead and shot him an email of my own:
"I, for one, am a fan of ladies track racing and women's cycling in general and I think as a major player in the cycling world I think you'd be wise to address the needs of cyclists as customers- You would be making a real statement by introducing the "keirin cut" to your line and give a stylish option to athletic women everywhere.
There seems to be a bit of a disconnect between your jean models and real life women cyclists. There's nothing wrong with making jeans for unrealistic body types, but take a look around when you're at a pro crit or at the track: the demographic that's most exposed to your primary marketing often times can't even fit into your product!
Here's your chance to walk the walk: cyclists everywhere have heard of your company, now's the time to give them what they want!
Sincerely -josh snead"
So if you feel like sending off an email to either Michael Ball or Michael Creed- go for it! It's pretty fun and who knows, maybe they'll start making pants that people can actually wear!
Beth has found that the email "michael@rockracing.com" seems to work, and it presumably belongs to either Michel Ball himself or Michael Creed, one of the teams riders. Either way, it's possible that emails sent to this address could eventually end up in front of the Ballmaster himself, so I went ahead and shot him an email of my own:
"I, for one, am a fan of ladies track racing and women's cycling in general and I think as a major player in the cycling world I think you'd be wise to address the needs of cyclists as customers- You would be making a real statement by introducing the "keirin cut" to your line and give a stylish option to athletic women everywhere.
There seems to be a bit of a disconnect between your jean models and real life women cyclists. There's nothing wrong with making jeans for unrealistic body types, but take a look around when you're at a pro crit or at the track: the demographic that's most exposed to your primary marketing often times can't even fit into your product!
Here's your chance to walk the walk: cyclists everywhere have heard of your company, now's the time to give them what they want!
Sincerely -josh snead"
So if you feel like sending off an email to either Michael Ball or Michael Creed- go for it! It's pretty fun and who knows, maybe they'll start making pants that people can actually wear!
Thursday, August 7, 2008
The Bounty of the Roadways
It is widely known that the "career" of the amateur cyclist is relatively thankless. Sure, bike racing is fun, but at the cat 1/2 level there is an awful lot of saddle time that is required for most folks to even get just the requisite fitness needed to simply finish a road race or crit at that level. There's no getting around it: if you want to be a P/1/2 mid-packer in our area, you're going to have to commit to some 20+ hr weeks of training from time to time. Even in the middle of the season, upwards of 15 hrs/ week is not uncommon.
So aside from at least average race results, what does all that chamois time get you? For most folks I'd say you can expect to spend some quality time with you imaginary friend(s), your ipod, and the elements. But if you're vigilant, the roadways can yeild a surprising bounty- poorly secured items that have fallen from (or been tossed from?) cars!
I've found lots of great stuff as I'm out slashing along the roadways preparing for cat. 2 glory. I've managed to accumulate a fair amount of top notch tools this way. The best of these includes:
A 10 mm Snap-On combination wrench.
A 12" Allen Tools crescent wrench.
A large pair of really decent channel-lock pliers.
A "Husky" folding box cutter knife.
These are all just from this year's training. I've found other stuff in the past, including a surprising amount of porn. I feel that porn should be left on the roadside for everyone to enjoy, but just because I didn't bring it home with me doesn't mean it didn't brighten my day.
So, keep your eyes open out there. You never know what kind of treasures you may come across!
So aside from at least average race results, what does all that chamois time get you? For most folks I'd say you can expect to spend some quality time with you imaginary friend(s), your ipod, and the elements. But if you're vigilant, the roadways can yeild a surprising bounty- poorly secured items that have fallen from (or been tossed from?) cars!
I've found lots of great stuff as I'm out slashing along the roadways preparing for cat. 2 glory. I've managed to accumulate a fair amount of top notch tools this way. The best of these includes:
A 10 mm Snap-On combination wrench.
A 12" Allen Tools crescent wrench.
A large pair of really decent channel-lock pliers.
A "Husky" folding box cutter knife.
These are all just from this year's training. I've found other stuff in the past, including a surprising amount of porn. I feel that porn should be left on the roadside for everyone to enjoy, but just because I didn't bring it home with me doesn't mean it didn't brighten my day.
So, keep your eyes open out there. You never know what kind of treasures you may come across!
Monday, August 4, 2008
The Long Bike
Here's a project that I did for my friend and customer Jeff Cleary. He wanted to be able to get around town with his kids and create a practical bike that could be used for running errands and general skylarking with the boys. This bike has a lot of fun details, we started with a steel Soulcraft frame that he was no longer using and combined it with the Xtracycle rear end (http://www.xtracycle.com/) to create this bitchin' townie.
The Xtracycle has a wonderfully simple mounting system and attaching this part to the frame was a breeze. It has a disc mount and we went with an Avid cable actuated disc brake and oversized rotor to control the speed when the bike is freighted with kids and groceries.
Because this frame was made to be used with a suspension fork, I chose a Soma suspension-corrected rigid fork to make this an efficient pavement pedaler and not mess with the handling. It's surprisingly nice to ride even with the extremely long wheelbase as a result. Jeff wanted to use his old Mavic Crossmax front wheel and some left over XTR v-brakes on the front, so it was fine for this fork not to have disc mounts. If this bike was going to be used for more demanding rides, I'd have probably used a disc brake up front. With the rear disc underneath whatever load this bike may be carrying, it actually stops pretty well.
I used an old Race Face MTB crank that had a 110mm bolt pattern that could accomodate a 34/50 chainring combination. This allows a good range of gears when used in conjunction with a 11/34 cassette. The super long chain shifts really well with this configuration. I had some 9 speed bar end shifters kicking around and I converted them to top mount shifters using the Paul Components "Thumbies"- these things are such a great way to recreate the old top mount thumbshifters from days gone by. I really like these things and I'd love to set up a bike of my own with them some time.
Other highlights include the Crank Bro's Mallet pedals for use with or without mtb cleats, pimped out cut-down Easton EC-90 carbon bars for the stoker stem that's mounted on the seatpost, custom upholstered padding on the kids seat and last but not least the rechargable "down-low glow" lighting system that shines blue on the pavement at night! The kids totally love this bike and it was great to see it in action when Jeff came to pick it up after a cleaning the other day.
The Xtracycle has a wonderfully simple mounting system and attaching this part to the frame was a breeze. It has a disc mount and we went with an Avid cable actuated disc brake and oversized rotor to control the speed when the bike is freighted with kids and groceries.
Because this frame was made to be used with a suspension fork, I chose a Soma suspension-corrected rigid fork to make this an efficient pavement pedaler and not mess with the handling. It's surprisingly nice to ride even with the extremely long wheelbase as a result. Jeff wanted to use his old Mavic Crossmax front wheel and some left over XTR v-brakes on the front, so it was fine for this fork not to have disc mounts. If this bike was going to be used for more demanding rides, I'd have probably used a disc brake up front. With the rear disc underneath whatever load this bike may be carrying, it actually stops pretty well.
I used an old Race Face MTB crank that had a 110mm bolt pattern that could accomodate a 34/50 chainring combination. This allows a good range of gears when used in conjunction with a 11/34 cassette. The super long chain shifts really well with this configuration. I had some 9 speed bar end shifters kicking around and I converted them to top mount shifters using the Paul Components "Thumbies"- these things are such a great way to recreate the old top mount thumbshifters from days gone by. I really like these things and I'd love to set up a bike of my own with them some time.
Other highlights include the Crank Bro's Mallet pedals for use with or without mtb cleats, pimped out cut-down Easton EC-90 carbon bars for the stoker stem that's mounted on the seatpost, custom upholstered padding on the kids seat and last but not least the rechargable "down-low glow" lighting system that shines blue on the pavement at night! The kids totally love this bike and it was great to see it in action when Jeff came to pick it up after a cleaning the other day.
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