CX in the SUMMER!

Summer CX you ask? Yep tonight!!! Each year at the mountain sports festival in Asheville, NC AVLCX hosts a race in the park. The crowds are big, the bands are loud and the beers flow heavily! Tons of people are there participating in roller hockey, disc golf, ultimate frisbee, a Tri and a 5K to boot.

My plan was to camp afterwards... somewhere then ride Bent Creek that morning before driving home. Well, old man winter threw one last cold snap into eastern Tennessee, coming tonight, with the lows going to be mid-30's tonight so I don't feel like loading enough crap into moto-van to keep warm to camp. We'll just hit Papa's and Beers afterwards and make up for it!




LAter G......................

Tour Schmoor.... who cares?

Well the Tour of California has all but wrapped things up. Who cares? I don't! Pro road racing does not deserve any media coverage in my little opinion. As in one of my previous posts (or maybe rant)USA Today said it best "The Lance Armstrong era is over" and thank God!

 

 

Road bike sales are down in our area and I blame two things. Cheating low life pro roadies and triathlons. I read Mr. Tilfords blog a bit and he was all over Levi.... again.


Levi Leiphemimer announced on the last day of the Tour of California Sunday, that he was officially retired.

Just forget about the doping stuff for a second. With his statement that he “sort of” misses the racing, he picked, as if he picked it, but whatever the reasons, the time was right and he shouldn’t be racing if he doesn’t yearn for it.

Levi never really interested me as a bicycle racer. He was positive for doping back in his amateur days. It was completely obvious to everyone in the sport, at least anyone racing against him, that he doped seriously, very early on. Winning the National time trial in 1999 and then finishing 3rd in the Tour of Spain a couple years later, Levi fast tracked his way to the top of a polluted field. Levi, who admitted using drugs, was a boring guy to watch race. A follower on the climb and then just time trialed. That makes him even less interesting. I know that sounds weird, but is one of the reasons that Marco Pantani is so deary worshiped and missed.
  
I guess Dave Towle, a great announcer and friend of mine, called Leipheimer to the announcing stage Sunday morning in Santa Rosa, calling Levi “The King of the Amgen Tour of California.” which he won three times. Dave finished with “A huge, huge thank you for all you have done.” I know Dave has to fill time, but this wasn’t the way.

All his results are suspect and should have been thrown in the trash. Oh, I forgot, he admitted doping from June of 1999 to July of 2006, then won an Olympic Bronze medal clean, then the Tour of California clean in 2007, only to go back to his old ways of doping in July of 2007. His more proud moments of his career. I’m sure another one is when he smashed the Leadville 100 record set by Lance, stealing a super result from JHK.

When Floyd Landis called Levi out, Levi responded by denying it and say it was “jealousy,” “bitterness” and a “vendetta.” More truthfulness there. - Steve Tilford



Cycling does this though. It cycles (get the pun?) Different bike disciplines have sales surges. In BMX you'll have 3-5 yrs where it's down then they'll be a surge for a couple of years. Mountain biking and road biking do the same. Keep this in mind; I'm speaking from only my experiences in Tennessee but it happens all over.

Some consumers don't care and will keep tuning in during July to NBC Sports thinking that the sport has shed all the cheaters and it's now a clean fair sport. Well let me sell ya some ocean front property in Montana if you truly believe this. Cheaters, liars and low-lifes in my opinion. But that's my opinion and I"ll respect yours if you'll respect mine... maybe. The pro peloton isn't clean and won't be until the UCI cleans itself. A nice comparison was made that it's like asking a thief to keep an eye on a thief. Oh yea, that'll work.

The Cycling championships are coming to Chattanooga......... guess what I don't care. 3 hours away and Pro Cycling spurs no interest with me at all. To tell you the truth I don't trust or wish to see any Pro Cycling event of any style. I'm just being honest. I still have an interest in BMX pros though, heaven help me if they're doping.

I guess the thing that I don't understand is how do these "losers" win a medal, a big tour, a huge stage or whatever then live with themselves KNOWING they didn't get it legitimately. Doesn't matter that most everyone else is doing it. You have to to be competitive , or any other lame excuse. I mean when does the conscience kick in?

Today I skipped my ride to do a little, no make that alot, of maintenance on Moto-Van.  All new steering linkage, ball joints, Serp belt, all new pulleys and tensioners, alternator, all main radiator hoses along with a coolant flush. After getting the wheels balanced I leave the tire place and I still have a vibration at 35 and 65 mph respectively. So after returning home I check the drive shaft.... ugh. I guess tomorrow I'm installing U joints too. Watch, after I do all this maintenance it'll be some $2 dollar part that breaks me down on the side of the interstate out in the middle of nowhere USA during my summer bikeapalooza trip. Yea, I'm trying to get Moto-Van road worthy for a multi thousand mile trip sometime in June or July. I can't make my mind up on when to leave. I'll do a post of what I want to do soon. As for now It's 1am so I better hit the hay so I can get up and pull the drive shaft from the van early if I want to ride tomorrow.



LAter G...........................

Lost art of the group ride

I just had to post this from Bikelaw.com



Every so often, I’ll ride a recreational group ride. I love the comraderie of cyclists, the talk, the last minute pumps of air, the clicking in, and the easy drifting out as a peloton. “I miss riding in a group,” I’ll think to myself.

The magic ends by mile 10. The group will surge, gap, and separate, only to regroup at every stop sign. I’ll hear fifteen repeated screams of “HOLE!” for every minor road imperfection. And then no mention of the actual hole. Some guy in front will set a PR for his 30 second pull. Wheels overlap, brakes are tapped, and some guy in the back will go across the yellow line and speed past the peloton for no apparent reason. A breakaway?!
I curse under my breath, remembering why I always ride with only a few friends. Doesn’t anyone else realize how dangerous this ride is? How bad it is for our reputation on the road? There are clear rules of ride etiquette, safety, and common sense. Does anyone here know the rules? Who is in charge?

But no one is in charge, and the chaotic group has no idea of how to ride together. As a bike lawyer, I get the complaints from irritated drivers, concerned police, controversy-seeking journalists, and injured cyclists. It needs to get better, but the obstacles are real:
First, everyone is an expert these days. The internet and a power meter do not replace 50,000 miles of experience, but try telling that to a fit forty year-old, new to cycling, on a $5000 bike. Or, god forbid, a triathlete. No one wants to be told what to do.
Second, the more experienced riders just want to drop the others and not be bothered. It is all about the workout, the ego boost, or riding with a subset of friends. But a group ride is neither a race nor cycling Darwinism. As riders get better, they seek to distinguish themselves by riding faster on more trendy bikes; but as riders get better they need to realize two things: 1) there is always someone faster, and 2) they have obligations as leaders. Cycling is not a never ending ladder, each step aspiring upwards, casting aspersions down. It is a club, and we should want to expand and improve our membership.

Third, different rides are advertised by average speed, but speed is only one part of the equation. This approach makes speed the sole metric for judging a cyclist, and creates the false impression that a fit rider is a good one. Almost anyone can be somewhat fast on a bike, but few learn to be elegant, graceful cyclists.

Fourth, riding a bike well requires technique training. Good swimmers, for example, constantly work on form and drills; so should cyclists. Anyone remember the C.O.N.I. Manual or Eddie Borysewich’s book? They are out-of-print, but their traditional approach to bike technique should not be lost. More emphasis was given on fluid pedaling and bike handling.
Before the internet, before custom bikes, and before Lance, it was done better. Learning to ride was an apprenticeship. The goal was to become a member of the peloton, not merely a guy who is sort of fast on a bike. Membership was the point, not to be the local Cat. 5 champ. You were invited to go on group ride if you showed a interest and a willingness to learn. You were uninvited if you did not. You learned the skills from directly from the leader, who took an interest in riding next to you on your first rides (and not next to his friends, like better riders do today). Here is some of what you learned:

To ride for months each year in the small ring.
To take your cycling shorts off immediately after a ride.
To start with a humble bike, probably used.
To pull without surging.
To run rotating pace line drills and flick others through.
To form an echelon.
To ride through the top of a climb.
To hold your line in a corner.
To stand up smoothly and not throw your bike back.
To give the person ahead of you on a climb a little more room to stand up.
To respect the yellow line rule.
To point out significant road problems.
To brake less, especially in a pace line.
To follow the wheel in front and not overlap.

 

The ride leader and his lieutentants were serious about their roles, because the safety of the group depended on you, the weakest link. If you did not follow the rules, you were chastised. Harshly. If you did, you became a member of something spectacular. The Peloton.



LAter G............

Gravel Fetish?

I don't know why but I have this urge to search out long gravel roads or trails to do long mileage on. Rails to trails, forest service roads, fire roads or back country roads it doesn' matter. In the next couple of weeks Im going to grind out the New River Trail near Wytheville, Va and possibly the next, or vice versa, I'll hit the Greenbrier River Trail near Cass, WV. This is pretty close to Snowshoe Ski Resort and that's 4 hrs away. There's a few more I'm eyeballin' too.

The Niner EMD that I converted to a gravel grinding CX bike rides pretty sweet and riding it beats the same old road bike routes around here. To tell ya the truth I'm almost over road riding. I would have long given it up if it wasn't a good tool for training. At all the local road rides I've been attending it's hard to socialize anymore because most of the group wants to race or they seem think it's some sort of weekly training ride. Several of us have started falling off the back to regroup and do our own thing. There's also something in the works to totally get away from all that crap soon with covert operations to be taking place in a different area. Even the beginner ride we host on Monday is averaging 19-20mph. Thank goodness we have only had one or two beginners so far this season.

That said, is one of the reasons I ride alone for the most part anymore. I do have a couple of buds I like to turn the cranks over with from time to time but work and class schedules get in the logistical way most of the time. So these gravel grinders I'm lining up seem like the perfect thing. More than likely I'll get to camp one night since the mileage one way on these things are 60 miles for one and 80 on the other. I'm not up to grinding out 120 or 160 miles in one day. I have no insecurities that make me want to do that crazy stuff. I stopped doing centuries many years ago! Oh, you say you rode 200 miles in one day? I hate to tell ya that the only one that thinks that's cool is.... well, nobody.

Next on the summer to do list is a no-holds barred trip out west in moto-van. Just a care-free trip with no time constraints of when to be back. The preliminary plan is to leave here traveling west on I-40 with stops planned in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico as I meander up to Colorado. There's a few more minor details to iron out before leaving but that's the plan so far. If that falls through plan B is to head up to Maine or upstate New York. There's trails out there that I need to ride! I hope to roll out of here mid-June if everything pans out the way I want.





LAter G..........................

Time for Some Bashin'

I met, what seemed to be, an avid cyclist today on the greenway beside my townhouse today. His head was full of all kinds of crazy info about the top three bike manufacturers in the USA though. This was unlike me, I sat there and listened the whole time and never disputed him once for the entire conversation. To tell you the truth I can't remember how this all began in the first place.... oh moto-van, that's it. Huge sticker on the back...

He some how still believes that there are several of the "big companies" making bikes in the USA. He won't purchase anything but "made in the USA". For the record here the "big companies" from here on out will be in reference to; Giant, Cannondale (crack and fail), Specialized (special-ed) and Trek (over priced metal and fibers). He goes on about where he's read this and that about this brand and that brand. I let him go on.... He's been to the Trek factory years ago, blah, blah, blah. The only reason I kept listening to him because he was entertaining me so.

FACTS: (and you can find these yourself)

Giant, Trek and Specialized are the biggest bike brands in the world, plain fact. Giant, for the most part, manufactures most every one's frames. Yes all you Special-ed, Trekkies and Crack and Fail fans swallow your pride because most all of us ride Giant bikes. (The Madone high-end frame is still manufactured in Wi..... for now) Merida slides right up there close with several manufacturing plants in China and Taiwan just like Giant. Oh, Merida owns 49% of Specialized just so you all know. Dorel industries owns so many damn bike companies I'm not going to waste the time to type them all out, google it for yourself! Many of the greats have fell into the Pacific Bikes Corp "junk bike pit" over the many years gone by in which Dorel rightly owns.

Here's another amazing fact from Bicycle Retailer: All of the "serious" cyclists, you know the ones that race their local world championships every week, you, I, them, we've all done it. Oh yea the serious racers too, we only make up a little over 10% of all bike sales in the world. YES!! That's correct! The other 90% are department store sales whether you believe it or not. I've seen countless people get mad when a popular company that's selling bikes like mad amongst the "10%" goes out and makes a deal with the likes of Costco, Walmart or Target to start selling their bikes in the dept. stores. Why wouldn't they? If I owned a company I would want the most sales possible. Mind ya now that the quality takes a real dive into the poop bucket right after that just so they can meet the price points that the big department stores require though. Sorry, can't blame them.

It seems like the majority of the 10% think that if a bike costs alot it's "better" than what everyone else is riding. It's true! You know it they do. We have peeps roll into the store and get totally pissed off because they over spent on a bike by sometimes as much as 35% from another brand.

Let's take a Trek entry level non-disc MTB. These go for around $400, sometimes higher. The same bike of a lesser popular brand, like a Raleigh, is $360. Why? Hell the frame is probably made on the same welding line in China - it just takes a detour at some point to paint and decals. But you have to tack on $40 more bucks for that name "Trek". It's not a better bike. Its the same bike.

Another cute point; Specialized now has their own wind tunnel. Wow! (not) who cares? Guess who paid for it? Any of you peeps that bought one of their bikes...... suckas. Branding at it's finest. Just cause it's expensive doesn't always mean its the best, do your research.... seriously. Just because a pro rider wins on a brand doesn't mean you will too. Buy what fits YOU and works for YOU not someone else and 'nother thing; quit trying to keep up with the Jones'. When I go to races and I see some cat roll up on an old beater and wax these (and mine) guys butts it tickles me to death, I get such a good inner chuckle when this happens but oh these guys that spend thousands and are so serious racing locally/regionally nearly have heart attacks losing to these cats. It's hilarious!

 

This thing makes it easier for Special-ed to suck dollars from their customers pockets.

Oh, just release recently, you can buy a special-ed"ition" Cav replica frame for alot of extra money just so you think you have the only one on the world. That's right if you buy stuff like this.... No stupid it won't make you faster! It's the same frame you can buy with the "normal" paint job for much less. Ah well, just go ahead and buy it - then hang it up in the garage with the rest of the collection.

 

 

USA Today said it best; "The Lance Armstrong Era is over, and mountain bikes are back in style".

 

LeMond was right.... "that's all I have to say about that" - Forest Gump

 

 

 

 

Talk about R&D waste at Crack and Fail.....or employees with nothing better to do. Oh yea, they are the ones that tried to make a motocross bike that looked like a Honda back in the day. Boy were their heads somewhere else. Looks cool though. Wonder how many they'd have to sell to recoup the costs of that?

not in a LONG time...

 

 

 

Last but not least..... Mr Sinyard; The guy that stole, some say bought, Fisher/Ritcheys' idea and mass produced it. It's ok Mr Fisher and Mr. Ritchey your'e way cooler...  I so used to be a fan of specialized before I learned many things.

 

What about the two employees that wanted to go out on their own and start a bike company? Last I read Special-ed was suing them...

Well all that ma-larky leads me to this little Craigslist jewel below. A 2000 Trek 6000 with cargo-kit.... Asking $950.

Lets see; a 2000 Trek 6000 that retailed for $659 back in it's day (now 13 yrs old) and a cargo kit that costs $340 shipped to your front door for a total of a $999 investment. The best part on this whole bike is the derailleur, an X9, other than the cargo kit of course. RST fork and V-brakes..... oh lord. This may hold some sort of sentimental value so I should be cautious not to pee anyone off with my commentary.

My point, why do folks think Trek, Cannondale and Specialized stuff is so valuable? Better yet, why have I wasted an hour typing about this? I'm not busting on this ad just confused. I'm bored, it's raining outside. I think I'll take a bike apart just to have something to do.

LAter G...................

What I Did Today...

I've been wanting to put the Niner cross bike to the extreme test for a while now. Well, since classes are over and I have much more free time the time was near to take this thing up to the Creeper Trail for 68 miles of gravel goodness. Sky-lar sent a text and asked when I was planning to do this ride fest. B has been in the hospital for over 2 days so I was taking care of the shop by myself so I was waiting for him to get well then it was on.

That day was yesterday, Wednesday. Little did we know it would be change your tubes day. Sky-lar shows up at the house with a flat. No biggie, we fix it and hit the road. This year I'm going tubeless in cross. I've built up a set of wheels with Stan's Alpha 400's just for this application. I had a bunch of Maxxis CX tires layin' around in the quiver so I used a mud wrestler for the rear and my all-time favorite locust on the front. The first time seating the locust it blew off the rim twice so I should have known they were too far stretched to be using them for tubeless (and that they weren't tubeless either). Well I was right. We get to Damascus and head out within 1/4 mile the back tire blows completely off the rim with only 35psi. Sky-lar was getting a great chuckle, no big deal. I didn't like it, the flat, but I quickly threw a tube in there and was on our way - Sky-lar can keep laughing. We did make a quick trip back to moto-van and get all the tubes and Co2's we had just in case...

Now, we are motoring along about 22mph. Bike feels pretty good but it was needing a couple of fine adjustments. All I ended up doing was raising the seat a tad and rolling the bars back to me about 10mm after we reached Abingdon. For an aluminum MTB frame it rode pretty smooth but I'm going to give the credit to the bad-ass Niner carbon fork up front w/Easton EA70 carbon bars. There's also a carbon seat post sitting up under me as well. About 2/3rds of the way back the front tire (tubeless at this point) decided to do what the rear did earlier.... kaboom! It was humorous this time though. We were approaching a man and his son walking with a stringer full of fish. They jumped when the tire blew but hung around to talk to us while I put a tube in the front. Now that I have tubes installed I was thinking "I better not get any flats or I'm gonna be pissed" I didn't so its all good. I'm going to have to get new non-stretched tires if this tubeless things is to work for cross though. I was trying to take the cheap way out and use old tires I had laying around. It was a good learning experience to say the least.

Our plan of attack was to ride to Abingdon from Damascus and then back, refuel and knock out the climbing part of going to White Top. The first 34 miles out and back was pretty easy and took us 2 hours with about 400 ft of elevation both ways included. The next would grind me to near bonking. We talked to a couple of people before hitting the upper part and was advised that from Green Cove to the top was closed for construction because of flooding and part of the trail being washed-out. That would eliminate roughly 3-4 miles overall of the trail and leave us with 63-64 miles of riding, I wasn't complaining inside one bit. We stopped for a couple of minutes to catch our breath as Sky-lar was laying down a pace I couldn't sustain 'til the end. After the breather he stepped up the pace a bit more and rode off out of my sight. I did manage to slug out the miles to Green Cove several minutes behind wonder boy but I thought I was smoked after I sat down. I think I drained the water fountain dry at that point. After about 10 minutes we saddled up and headed back. It was so much easier heading back.... it was downhill. We were in the 20's mostly and a couple of times cracking the 25mph barrier in the gravel. I was surprised at myself that I could hang in after feeling totally wiped out before starting back. Sky-lar did lay the hammer down and drop me at 61 miles. That left me with about 3 to go solo. I was spanked when I got back to moto-van, seriously spanked. A quick soak in the cold river did the legs some good afterwards. 63.8 miles down and 1900 ft in elevation for the day. I was surprised there was nearly 2K of elevation on the creeper trail to tell ya the truth.

 

All the vendors and AT hikers were making their way in to Damascus for the annual Trail Days celebration. We timed this ride perfect, this weekend will be so crowded.

 

We were about 2/3rds the way into our ride but we had to stop and get a pic of the perfect blue sky and green mountain valley. Most of the trail is wide enough for a car but in this section it's a converted drive that's on private property. The Abingdon side has many gates to pass through but the upper White Top section only has one small one for this field section.

 

 

 

First big ride on the converted Niner into a gravel grinder / CX bike. Oh, all you disc brake haters keep hatin'.......... they rock! One finger braking baby!!!! Effortless too! I would have never believed that a 140mm rotor (rear) brakes so well if I hadn't have tried it.

 

 

The face of an unhappy camper.... I thought I was toast at this point in Green Cove. The weather was perfect by the way. Sunny, beautiful and 80 degrees... just right!

 

 

 

Afterwards it was food time. We chose Subway. Neither of us wanted anything greasy from many of the cafe's up there. Why do I have a picture of the contact info from the napkin here? Because the service SUCKED. I don't eat out that much but when I do, even if it's fast food like this, I expect good service. After getting my sandwich I went to get a glass of tea, there was none. I asked. The lady said she's out and walked off. Well, I asked if she could make some more and she said no that they're only allowed to make two batches per day and they had already made them. What the hell??? SERIOUSLY?????? We're in the south dammit...... tea should be EVERYWHERE!

 

Here's what they did after Sky-lar and I got our sandwiches.....

 

 

"They" say; you get what you pay for... "I" say; in today's economy people should be grateful for what jobs they have and should act accordingly. Unacceptable!

 

******************************

Enough of my ranting. Working at the shop this week this jewel came rolling through...  Maintenance people.... Do It!!!! Homie was riding with one bearing locked up and probably didn't even notice. If he hadn't broken something it would've probably never seen the shop for quite sometime. Bad, bad, bad!

Nasty!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This weekend, if the weather holds out, it looks like there's trip to F.A.T.S. trails in Augusta in the works.



 

 

 

LAter G.......................

A Yucky Mess

Yesterday was the second annual Karl's Kaleidoscope race at Hungry Mother Park in Marion Virginia. Last year I lucked out and won this race due to it only being 18 miles long. This year they upped the mileage to almost 30 for sport class and left the expert mileage at 52. I had planed after last year's podium to move up to the expert class although I knew I didn't have it in me. Well, since they upped the mileage for sport I decided I'd stay put in the sport class and if I was lucky enough to manage another podium I would move up next year to the 52 mile expert class.

The weather was dreary, to say the least, at 5am. Although the 1.5hr drive up I-81 north to the park was dry that would soon not be the case. Upon arrival it was wet, very wet. The creeks were full to over-flowing and that was just in the park. Later in the race we would find out how full the bogs would be.

It was a mass start at 8am this year. Last year we had staggered starts where the experts left at 8:30 and the rest of us started at 10:00. This year the sport and experts lined up to start at the same time. This, I knew, would have most of the sport riders tearing out with the testosterone rush in front with the experts. Myself and a couple of others played it smart and eased out. I used the first 30 minutes of the race to warm up as did last years 3rd place finisher. We hooked up with the expert girl that was leading and got a nice pace line rolling after leaving the park, well for MTB's on the road that is, and started catching peeps ahead of us. The course used a 4 mile stretch of road, both ways, to link us to the other trails outside the park's boundarys. After a couple of creek cattle crosings that were like muddy quick sand we made it to the single track finally. We turned into a 7 person group upon entering the trails known as "Crawfish".

Crawfish? Yep. This was my first time riding this trail and I had seen pics of bogs and creek crossings before but they were to be nothing like the pics I had seen. It had started raining and the trails were a mess. The experts had blasted through and just tore them up a little bit leaving the rest for us to trash. The first creek crossing looked more like a mini-river and ...... deep! 2/3rds up on a 29er wheel made it a little difficult with the swift current but we managed. Oh, the water was freezing since it was the first one but after that the temps didn't seem as bad. We crossed that creek several more times before getting to the fire roads and each time the water was at the rim of it's banks.

I managed to slug back in for a 7th place after riding with the three other guys I hung in with. There were a couple of sandbaggers. One raced expert last year and dropped back to sport (to each their own I guess) and the other one (the winner) is a habitual sandbagger around here. So to me the guy that finished 3rd was the real winner but that's just me and I don't make the rules. What would one of my posts be with complaining about the sandbaggers huh? right?? Of course.

I do know that on the way back in on the road a couple of us were freezing. Mid 50's, rainy, cloudy, soaked to the bone, muddy and a nasty little head wind made the last 30 minutes miserable. A big ole thanks to the Hungry Mother Park rangers for opening the B campground shower house so that we could wash off. That hot water felt soooooo good. The jersey below looks better at the finish than it did up on the single track. We all were covered in black mud from the bogs but the rain on the road section of the race rinsed most of it off.

That's what I did this Saturday. What's up for next weekend? The Charlotte Maxxis race is on the calendar for next weekend but I'm up in the air to go or not. The following weekend has us back over at Asheville for the River Festival and the summer night CX race. I've been craving some gravel road action on the new Niner CX bike so if I could find a gravel grinder close......





LAter G..................