Cyclocross Season is over, time for some road riding....

With 'cross season over, its time to get ready for winter and spring racing. Time to build base miles and time to be ready for the summer. This is the time of year when the riding is wet and its time to build miles and fitness.

This year, I will build those miles, and I will build that fitness.

To inspire that work and that fitness, I decided to get my road steed a little more ready for riding. Since I'm a weight weenie, I had to get some weight off the bike.

I started by getting my carbon wheels set up for road tires. This alone took one pound off my ride.

 

Next up is some new bars and a new bottom bracket!

 

JourneyCross

This was our second year to host a cyclocross race in Cordova. This year the difference was that my entire team was part of it. The team really pulled together to make this happen. Anthony Parks was the inspiration of the race and the leader of putting it together. Members of Journeymen Racing were the arms, hands, legs back and voice of making the race happen and as a result the race was great!

We started the race in cold weather with plenty of rain. This unfortunately made us think that the race would not turn into anything good. However, Cyclocross races are not fought out in the sunlight, and the local racers know it!

The rain settled down just as the B race went off, and as a result the course was absolutely sloppy and absolutely awesome!

 

After a great B Race, we had the A Race go off and again we had a great race.

 

 

 

With a little luck and a lot of persistance, we'll have the race again next year and the results will be awesome!

 

Fall Racing Continued.....

To continue this story!

After hitting the Cyklocrunk series, I ended up hitting two races in Nashville. The first was the first 'Cross The Way' series race for 2012. Unfortunately, I went there and broke my fork on my first lap.... not a good way to find success. The good news was that I helped out Dylan and Seth. They ended up placing 1st and 2nd in all the races of the day. Pretty good for some young punks!

 

With that, I ended up rebuilding my bike completely. New fork, new headset, new stem. I painted everything up with the same paint and clearcoated the whole thing.

 

 

And with that done, I headed off to the second cyclocross race in Nashville. This one was in town in a park in the middle of town. This race went much better for me. The end result was that I finished and did not take DFL. I felt better at this race, but it was really a tough one.....

 

Unfortunately, that finished off my season - at least as far as my racing season was concerned.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fall Racing!

Its been wayyyy too long since I've posted anything, but the truth is that I have not because I've been busy.

Some of this busy has been good (finally racing again) and some bad... (work).

The racing? Well, I had the opportunity to hit 3 cyclocross races and 1 six hour mountain bike race. Some good, some bad again, but thats the way things are in life. My wife would say, 'Life is not all butterflies and rainbows!'

The first race I hit was Cyclocrunk 1. Frankly, I went better than I expected, but it was hard. They even made the race only 30 minutes, but by the end I could taste blood on my breath. It was that hard.

Then I had the opportunity to hit the 6 Hours of Herb. I teamed up again this year, just like 2 years ago. My teammate, Brad, turned out to be a great relay partner (not that I expected any different!). The race started early in the morning with temps nothing above 50 degrees, and rain absolutely pouring down. Brad took the first lap and did well -then I went out.

My first lap was slow. Not terrible, but definitely not great. A bunch of things were against me on that one- I had not been on the MTB in months, and the slick trail made for sketchy riding. I did not go down, but that meant I was not pushing hard enough.

With my first lap in mind, as Brad rolled in, I rolled out hard. I flew across the dam and dove into the woods, and I really dove - face first into the trail at a very high speed. I taco'ed my front wheel and smashed my right side hard on the ground. I still have bruises from it 2 weeks later. It took me a long time to get up, and even longer to straighten my wheel enough to ride. Sure enough, 3 miles later, my back tire went flat - so much for the new Bontrager sealant, won't be buying that again.

When I came in Brad was definitely worried, but he went out and did a killer lap. While he tore up the course, I moped around a bit and then decided to straighten the bike and get ready. With the wheel straight enough to do the job, I hit the course hard, but this time I mean fast instead of painfully.

In Brad and my last laps, we pulled from 7 place in relay to 4th place, just a couple minutes off the podium. I really feel like we could have podium'ed if I had not laid the bike down!

Two days later, I hit Cyclocrunk 2. This time, I went as hard as I could and actually had a race going between myself and a few other racers! I have no idea how I did overall as they don't post results for a training race, but I know I did well and felt like I went fast. Unfortunately, I did manage to lay the bike down again, only this time as I tripped over a barrier. When I got up, I race for the finish and beat out another rider. Good race overall......

To be continued.

Modern Versus Vintage

Several years ago, one of the better British cycling magazines did a nice comparison of Vintage bikes and modern bikes. They did all the typical comparisons like weight, number of gear ratios and stiffness. I think it came as no surprise to any of the readers of their pages that the modern bike won.

There is a lot to be said however for vintage bicycles. There are so many wonderful things that are going for them. For example, Steel bicycles have a ride which truly is incomparable. They don't just mute the bumps, they spring with them. You can feel the bicycle respond under your legs and arms - In that regard, Carbon and most aluminum just feel 'dead'.

Next on the list is the character of vintage bikes. My Colnago was put together by somebody named Giuseppi or Giani, or some other name that ends in 'I'. Additionally, it was ridden by Beppo Saronni to the World Championships and the Giro D'italia title in the early 80's. How many bikes can make the same claim!

I'm a 'vintage' kind of guy, so for the last 9 months, I've ridden basically nothing but the Saronni.

Unfortunately, I have also gotten to the point that I can't keep up on group rides, not even with the B group. Thats my fault, not the bike's, but I could not keep up nonetheless.

Needing to change something up, I decided to get the modern bike out last week and got it back on the road. I really did enjoy it. I can feel the greater number of ratios when riding. Its not about a highest or lowest gear, but the ability to finely match your optimum cadence to the speed the group is riding.

When I showed up to the group ride, my friend Stacey made a comment to the effect that the modern bike would be much better to which I replied that our group ride did not have any climbs and that was really the only place that it made a difference.

Well, I have to give Stacey's comment some credence. While the bike was surely not the only factor, I was able to hang with the 'A' group for the first half of the ride, and stay with the 'B' group for the finish. This was the first time all summer I've been able to do that.

As I drove home in the cool air, I struggled to think of why I was able to do what I was not able to do the entire summer. Was it the great temperature, the great group I was with?

Then I began to think about the bike. With more closely spaced ratios, I was able to stick to my optimum cadence much more closely - that could have had an effect. Then something hit me which was not mentioned in that earlier British bike magazine article- Riding my Vellum with its brake/shift lever combos is essentially brainless. Need a slightly different ratio, its just an easy click away. Upshift, Downshift, it is just as easy.

Sometimes riding needs to be a brainless activity. Sometimes it should be an activity where only your legs and cardio system are involved. It really is that factor that makes cycling such a beneficial activity to our bodies and our minds. Ride the modern bike and turn off your mind and just follow the wheel in front of you as you sweat out the stress of the day or week.

That still leaves a big question - Which is the better bike? I'm sure you have an opinion, but I'm undecided. Both have their benefits and both suit at least one person, maybe more.

A Better Climbing Gear!

I've been hoping to find myself some better climbing cogs for the Colnago. With the rear end having 126 spacing, and the hub being a 126, I am pretty much limited to 6 or 7 speed. The Super Record derailleur also limits me to roughly a 26-28 tooth big cog.

After searching the 'bay for quite a while, I decided to call my buddy Charlie. Turns out he had several NOS freewheels in his stocks. Several Regina's and an NOS Suntour 14-26. The gearing and the price was right on the Suntour, so while its not Italian made, it had all the other right factors - including price!

I have not ridden it yet, but it seems to operate pretty well.

Hesjedal!!!!!!!!

Ryder. What a name for a cylcist!!!!!

With Cadel winning Le Tour last year and Ryder winning the Giro this year, we now have two Grand Tour wins in two years by former mountain bikers!

I think this really does say something about how mountainbiking has changed, and even improved the sport of cycling. It makes for an interesting situation when a mountainbiker whoops up on the traditionally powerful roadies.

I'm a cyclist, not a MTBer or a roadie. I'm both. But all my time in cycling, I've watched as mountain bikers were looked down on by the road scene. The reality however is that all disciplines of cycling are challenging. All disciplines add to the skill set and abilities of those who practice them.

Congratulations Ryder. Buono Giro!