This and That

I'm riding tomorrow. If it hurts...it hurts. I need to get outside and get some sunshine on me. It'll probably be a short ride, and definitely won't be very hard, but I'll be on the bike.

Going back to the disc brake discussion...
There's are pluses and minuses.
Yes, there is a lot of stopping power. Yes, they'd be better with carbon wheels, as the chances of de-lamming a wheel would fall to zero.
That's about it for me.
In my eyes, it's marketing, and planned obsolescence.
Sorry, but they just aren't needed. One can see that a LOT of pro CXers are back on cantis this year...even in the mud/wet.
Here's why WE, as weekend warriors don't need them...
The VAST majority of riders could change caliper/canti pads. It's not hard to figure it out. Most can also adjust them if necessary.
Hydros? I'd be willing to wager a sizeable roll of bank notes that 90% of those with discs can't change the pads, adjust the calipers, nor bleed the lines.
If a person shows up to a ride and tells me that they just bled their brake lines before the ride, I'm going home.
A fair number of people don't take care of their bikes as it is. Discs are not something that one can say, "Oh, I'll do it next week...after this mountain ride..."
The other thing is ability. Disc brakes do not impart knowledge, nor ability. They do not allow you to do things that properly set-up calipers/cantis will do.
Someone in town stated that they're going to get discs because they will allow for later braking on descents.
That's REALLY not how descending works...
You just cannot stab the brakes right at corner entry. One must brake BEFORE corner entry, and roll the apex. Grabbing brakes, and scrubbing get handfuls of speed will cause crashes. The rider will eat it from too much brake, or get run over from behind by riders who are faster.
Modulation, and the learning thereof, is the key.
And road discs are failing. You won't read about it in the magazines because the rags are betrothed to their advertisers, many of whom make/market/use the brakes. Money talks.
I can tell you though, guys who are using them out in Colorado have had failures. Disc, caliper, and line failures from overheating.
One guy had a failure on a gravel/road ride...on a descent...and had to Fred Flintsone it across a T-junction intersection, and ended up in the woods on the other side. Not hurt, but his sphincter didn't un-pucker for a solid hour. Thankfully, there were no cars...
These instances are not rare, nor anecdotal.
My friends who ride out there? Calipers.
Will I get discs? Maybe. For now, I have too many wheelsets to warrant going to a different standard.
That being, if I go, it'll be on the CX bike first.
I'm not against them. Just do your due diligence, and ask yourself the hard questions before throwing down Benjamins.

Townie bike by Primate. Yeah, it has discs. I can see them being useful on a townie, when one MIGHT have to stop quickly to avoid getting flattened by a sorority girl.

How about an Alu race rig?

The guys at VYNL are channeling the old school. I like aluminum bikes. I like feeling what's going on...
Or how about a LUGGED stainless rig?

Hand-cut lugs, and a MAX fork from DEMON. Enough said...

And if you like/appreciate handbuilt things, check out the "Jet-Hot Double Down" from Bryan Fuller @ FullerMoto

Custom. Handbuilt. Fully engineered. Beautiful. Crazy.
835hp and < 1000kg.
Better have it pointed in the desired direction of travel...

And with that, I need to go outside and gather leaves.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Hurry up and wait...

Second MRI was last night. To be honest, the tube doesn't bother me. I know people flip out when inside of the machine. I like it.
Probably says more about me than others...
Two words though : Satellite Radio.
Listening to shitty country music for 45 minutes without the ability to get away from it is far more mentally taxing than ANY claustrophobia.
Appt. at the Surgeon is early next week. Joy...

I'm getting even harder to get along with after 4 weeks of NO riding.
I'm gonna need a project if knee surgery happens. I think I'm going to tear down the Noah, and paint it. I'v gone thru several schemes in my little squirrel brain. Thinking the main color will be Lamborghini Grigio Titans...

Silver decals and some other graphics...

Koksijde CX


Masterclass taught by the Professor. Just watch the race. It was like watching a fight between an experienced fighter, and a young buck. And Sven showed EXACTLY how to win a race before it comes to the sprint.
Brilliant...
Here's how ONE of his bikes finished...

Betting the sounds coming from drivetrains was heartbreaking.
Ritte shop car...yes please...

Roger had style. Period.

As an aside, it looks like the UCI is going to allow discs in road competitions in 2017. They can yap all they want about safety, but it's about marketing, and selling bikes. Just more planned obsolescence.
Calipers have worked just fine for a century.
Cannot WAIT to see the carnage caused in a high-speed, 50 rider pileup during a Grand Tour.
Wheel changes will be REALLY fun for neutral support...

Have a good Thanksgiving kids! Go outside and ride, for those of us who can't...

And so it begins...

So the knee is obviously injured worse than previously thought. A visit to the Orthopedic Surgeon is on the docket this afternoon. Wonderful...
As my relative inactivity has done little to alleviate pain, or leaven any sort of healing, the thought is that I've torn my ACL. Lots of clicking, popping, and instability.
It's great! Please don't ever try it...
If the ugly spectre of knee surgery DOES raise it's head, I think I may tear down the Noah, and send it of for a repaint. Time to break out the crayons....

Monday time suck...

Asper-Gavere CX (Women)



(Men)



And as we know, politics are verboten on this dumb-assed little page. I'd rather think of Paris like this :



Or '09 when HTC delivered Cav to the line...

 Remember, Aero has been around for decades. How about this Mercury train in Chicago? 1938...

Rob English makes tasty things...
If you're gonna be a bear...

...be a grizzly.

 Time to take The Duke to school. Enjoy this sunny Monday.

Enough already...

Yeah...planned to ride yesterday. Didn't happen...
I went to sleep in Mid-October, and woke up in the North of England. It's 52 and raining today. The sun hasn't broken through the clouds in 12 days. We've had nearly two feet of rain in the last month.
Supposed to break tomorrow. I'm gonna ride ether way. I'm not letting the terrorists win...

Got my Shimano RS81 wheel back on Saturday. Props to both Shimano, and Outspokin', for the service. Probably would have gotten little more than a ration of shit from that other shop.

Oh, you discovered riding dirt? So did these guys...in the 1936 Vuelta.

 $1500 Specialized Allez. $3000 Bora wheels. Priorities...

 Seriously...it's a Mapei Dream w/ Campy. Level your saddle.

Ruddervoorde
Women :


Men:

Be careful if you ride outside today...

Back on the bike

Sort of...
Figured I'd go out yesterday. Haven't been on the bike in almost two weeks, just to let the knee heal up a bit.
The knee feels fine. Everything that stretched out on the back of my leg...not so much.
I could ride, but there was a little discomfort. Oh well...

We haven't seen the sun in a week. Seriously...it was last Friday. Welcome to the North of England.
I got on the Salsa, and headed out in the 65 degree gloom.
I figured The PowerStation would be underwater...and it was...

 This is high ground, about 200m into the road. No sense going any further...

The stream under this bridge is usually a trickle, and a SOLID 8-10 feet below the bridge...

I tried to sneak through the paved trail to get out. Nope...
The water got deep in a hurry, and was cold. Nothing to do but turn around head back out they way I came in.
And special thanks to the City of Cayce. They are out there trimming limbs, but didn't bother to remove them. Piles of limbs are covering the first part of the road. Good job guys. Way to render to road useless for recreation.
Up thru Cayce, Gervais, and the 'hood. An easy 90 minutes.
And honestly, the knee feels a bit better today. Supposed to rain this weekend...again...
Maybe I'll ride...maybe I won't...

New Scott Foil...it's a sexy beast...

 Skinsuit?

 BunBun wasn't quite quick enough. He's lucky it was the non-disk brake side...

And remember, even if you think you're the "cool" parents...

Have a peaceful weekend kids.

That thing...

You know...that thing...?
The thing were you aren't REALLY injured, but have a little knock, or ache, or pain?
Yeah...that thing...

My knee is bothering me, and seeing as no Euro teams are watching a 45 y.o. guy, I'm taking a week or so off the bike. It's feeling better every day.
Sure, I could probably ride, but It's November, and motivation is pretty low at the moment. And we won't mention that it's raining...AGAIN...
I planned to get back on tomorrow, but a trip to the Chiro is on tap. Supposed to be crappy Wednesday as well.
Looks like Thursday might be the day for an easy spin while Junior Management is at school.
I DO need to get back on it though. I was slack for most of October, and there's a LOT of candy in the house right now.
Damn kids...

Koppenbergcross was pretty good yesterday...


Poor Sven. At the front, only to be submarined by a mechanical...
The new Northwave CX shoe. Me likey...

And Tommy D's "B" sample is held up (he doped) because the FBI is investigating is his ex-wife could have "spiked" him (he doped), thus causing his positive. Seriously! One can't make this shit up!

If he's cleared (he doped), it's further proof that USAC is a joke.

And why would his ex-wife (#2 is I'm not mistaken) want to "spike" him? Let's just say that Tommy has an affinity for podium girls. Maybe it's all that testosterone rushing through his system?
I'm just wondering how long it'll be until he has his own Gran Fondo.

The folks at DEAN are bringing affordability to the Ti CX frame game.

$1200. Straight gauge American 3/2.5 Ti. 44mm headtube. Add an Enve fork, and a King headset, and you have a $1700 forever CX frame.
Then again, for just $300 more, one could get this...

Diamondback Haanjo Trail Ultegra. $2000. Alu frame/carbon fork. FULL Ultegra 11v with hydraulic brakes and HED wheels. A better bargain is hard to find. I'm sure the brand snobs will dump on it though, and that's cool. You go ahead and spend that extra $1K or so to get the same bike.

I'd tell you to go outside and play, but it's pretty crappy outside. Rain, fog...60 degrees. Stay inside.
Me? I'm thinking some retail therapy will make my knee feel better.

It was a ride.

Yesterday was a ride. No more. No less.
Started with Kevin's F/D issues. We rolled up to Service Course. I fixed his bike in about 3 minutes, and we were on our way.
MAYBE 15 minutes from Service Course, Dean's F/D cable snapped.
The little ring was en vogue it seems.
We rolled on. Dean in his 34. Kevin in his 36. Me in my 39.
Out on MLK, Dean ran over a chunk of glass. We stopped. He changed his flat while mosquitoes the size of hummingbirds buzzed around. Not wanting to get carried off by said insects, Kevin and I rolled around in circles.
From that point, it became a tour of Lower Richland flood damage. And believe me, there's DAMAGE out there. Just seeing the high water lines in certain places was amazing enough. Then, we rolled up on the hunt club on Old Bluff, near The Swamp.

This used to be a VERY full pond/lake. It seems the 15+ inches of rain created a little added pressure on the dam/road, and as we know, water does what it wants. Bye bye road. Bye bye water.

Further into the ride, we headed down Airbase to see the railroad damage for ourselves. Certain words shouldn't be used as descriptive adjectives, as they may be a little inappropriate. This fact notwithstanding, the washout of the RR and road was impressive.

 That's a 10' culvert pipe, and a standard heavy excavator. The gap in the tracks won't be repaired for a while. There is LITERALLY only one way to get the repair materials out to the site. The RR service company has retro-fitted dumptrucks with train wheels, and is backing the truck down the track ONE AT A TIME to dump stones.

Airbase Rd. YOU SHALL NOT PASS. Don't look for this to be repaired anytime in the next...I don't know...year or so.
The gap? Easily 100'. One can see chunks of the bridge downstream. There are LARGE sections of tarmac 100...200...300+ feet downstream, and in the woods. Crazy.
For here, we turned around, and headed in. Good miles, good conversation.
I will say though, staying in the small ring for 3.5 hours, and keeping cadence high, is tiring. My legs are SHOT today.

Zonhoven was yesterday. No full race video is up yet, but here are the highlights...

Women


Men


And here are 9 things drivers need to stop saying when whinging about cyclists...
WIRED article...

Enjoy your Monday kids! I'm headed down to Service Course to fiddle around a bit.

Back at it...

Well...sort of...
Seeing as I cannot back down from a challenge, Junior Management told me that I couldn't punt a soccer ball the length of their field. It's about 60m.
I grabbed a ball & pulled the laces tight on my futbol boots. Did I mention I did NOT warm up...at all?
Yeah...
Not wanting to take more than one try, I backed up, took 5 steps, and let it rip. The ball flew high, and straight, clearing the goal at the other end of the field.
I also hyper-extended my right knee in the process. Not badly, but enough to limp around, and put very little power to the pedal...not that there was much to begin with...

I rode Tuesday...gingerly. Small gears. A LOT of spinning. As the knee feels a little better today, I went ONE cog bigger on the back this morning. Didn't "hurt" per se, but there's definitely some stiffness.
It's freaking beautiful outside...

 55 and sunny. Just some Mad Alchemy on the legs....

No Garmin. No care. Just ride...

Knocked down almost two hours both days. Riding in the sunshine beats strapping the lights on the bike...EVERY time.
I'll show at a few night rides, but they'll be few, and far between...

And as usual, I made it almost all the way home before having a run in with a driver. Some dumbass Shandon mommy, likely on her way home from a stretching "workout" @ barre3 & yapping on her phone, decided that she had the right of way in her Volvo SUV, and turned right in front of me. And yes, I had the right of way...
This is for you dear. Bless your heart.

Shut up and take my money!

And with that, I'm out...

Initial impressions...

So I picked up a set of Shimano RS81 C24 wheels. Couldn't really pass up the price...

They're Shimano's take on bulletproof, yet still relatively light, carbon clinchers.
No carbon fairing here. The carbon is structural, and makes the wheel stiffer, while reducing weight. Out of the box, mine weighed 1470g. 1502g with the Shimano plastic rimstrips. Stated weight is 1505g.
A bike part weighing what the manufacturer said it would weigh? Shocking...I know!
These came with Schwalbe One 700x25c tires. On the 21mm wide rim, they are pretty fat. They fit on the Noah, but JUST. More on the rubber in a second...

The wheels themselves were dead true out of the box. Spoke tension is HIGH on the aero, straight pull spoke. The hubs were a bit tight, but Shimano's new hub system makes adjustments ridiculously easy. No more cup, cone, and loose balls. These have angular contact bearings, thus adjusting the hub is little more than popping off a dustcap, removing a 5mm axle end, and a little (and I MEAN little) turn of a fat washer. Easy peasy.
Once loosened up, I threw on a cassette, and put some latex tubes in the Schwalbes.

They look pretty good on the Ridley, eh?

I rode them Sunday morning. Nothing like a 100km to shake down a wheelset.
Initial impressions?
Smooth. Buttery smooth.
Stiff. Way stiffer than expected. Stiffer than my Williams WS28 alu wheels AND the 50mm carbon wheels.
 --Methinks Shimano is correct in their assertion that the fact that the hubs flanges are WAY outside makes a stiff wheel.

High-ish flanges, big bracing angle, and straight pull spokes = stiff.
Not at all harsh though. The carbon dampens the road buzz considerably.
Roll really wheel. Even with the light hoop (>400g per Shimano), they seem to just roll along. Response to acceleration is immediate.
No drama through turns either. No flex, no drama.
No braking concerns either! Alu braking surface FTW!
I was pleasantly surprised.
Now...let's get to the problem.
The rear wheel developed an annoying hop that grew increasingly bad/annoying throughout the course of the ride. I thought it was a tire issue. Lumpy casing, or I may have done something upon install.
Once home, I fiddled with it. Same tire. Same hop. Switch ed a Vittoria Open SC. SAME hop. SAME spot on the wheel.
Upon further inspection, the rim itself has a 30mm section of one bead that has a flat spot...right on the weld.
Inside the rim, the weld wasn't sanded/machined down properly. It gets up INTO the hook bead itself, and doesn't let the tire seat correctly. We found the cause of the hop.
The front is fine.
Up to Outspokin' we go.
The consensus is that one slipped past the old Quality Control goalkeeper.
It's going back to Shimano for warranty.
No big deal...it's almost November. I can wait.

I was honestly surprised by the Schwalbe One tires. I ride Vittoria, period, but as these came with the wheels, and get great reviews online, I figured I'd give them a shot.
They're truly nice tires. They roll well and turn well. I got 25s, and they're big, fat, and round. They come in 28s, if you're into that sort of thing.
We'll see how they get along thru the Fall and Winter.

As for the ride, it was pretty good. We fouled up by going out with the dead tailwind. I will say though, it's pretty nice going UP Fish Hatchery at 35kmh w/o turning oneself inside out. After a Belgian crosswind section into Swansea, the ride home was an exercise in head down, teeth gritting, headwind riding. It was one of those winds that one just has to push through. Slowing down and going easy isn't an option. Doing so would yield a 20kmh ride home, and ain't nobody got time for that.
100km in the sun, and wind, on a 65 degree October day.
I'll take it.

Once the rear wheel comes back, and I get some miles on them. I'll post a full review.

Hope everyone had a productive weekend. Gonna be nice this week. Go outside and get it on you.

Better than expected...

No, not me. I still suck.
Still fighting this poison ivy thing. Thankfully, Mayor Benjamin single handedly got the City safe water. That guy is amazing.
Anyway, at least I can soak myself in an epsom salt bath. Between that, the African black soap, and some high dollar steroid cream, the tide seems to be turning, and we're making inroads in the battle.

I actually got on the bike yesterday.
The water has receded, sort of, and the PowerStation is in decent nick. It seems the water was flowing down the road at a fair rate, and it took a lot of the top layer of sand and dirt with it. Gravel-y and rough is probably the best descriptor for the first couple kms. It's rideable, but just not as smooth as some might remember.
The middle section is about the same. Most of the debris that #2 and I cut, and pushed off the trail, floated right back onto the trail. I didn't clear it yesterday, as I was pressed for time, and already have enough poison ivy. It's passable, but not at high speed.
The washout is about the same...shockingly...
I figured it would be a small chasm after that much water flowing back and forth.
Once past the gas line, the ride stopped. There's still standing water on the road, and in the ditches. It's orange, fetid, and I'm just not riding through that.

Overall, it's definitely rideable. No real surprises. No giant holes to eat you. The animals are VERY active though. I saw turkeys, deer, birds of prey, and a BIG rattlesnake. Be aware of your surroundings. Tae the earbuds out and use all of your senses.

The PowerStation seems to be none the worse for wear. Water still laying on the last km, past the gas line. I'd guess the water was @ 8 feet thru this section.

A photo posted by MM (@mminsc) on Oct 15, 2015 at 8:41am PDT

Tour de Leaves is this weekend. While it's a great ride, I'd rather stay here and be itchy, than suffer for 3.5 hours in the mountains.

Mmmm...
Triumph Scrambler...
And if you like gas powered things, poke around on Silodrome. Pretty cool site.

Time to go get cracked and stretched. Have a good weekend. Go outside and play!

Back in the Saddle...

(Subtitle : Around your ass to get to your elbow)

After the rains, which made yet another multi-inch visit yesterday, we finally got to ride this morning. Thing is, the normal routes are ostensibly gone. Roads are just gone. Not just backroads, but main thoroughfares.
Most of the "flat" routes are interrupted by road, and/or bridge washouts.
We had to area adjust to out into the hills today. In looking at the road closure list from the DMV, we're going to have to seriously adjust a few loops.
Listen, I'm not complaining, we're riding bikes here, not splitting the atom. In the grand scheme, what I'm doing on the bike is pretty unimportant. Honestly, I almost feel bad for being out on the road, on a bicycle, while others have lost much, and are trying to get by. Believe me, I get it....
It was good to go outside and play!

At the same time, I've been stuck in the house with three children for a week, as school has been out. Did I mention that The Boss was gone on business for most of last week?
Oh yeah, and I have a case of poison oak that would kill a mortal man. If I could take a cheese grater to it, I would. Not itching the shit makes my 14 years of sobriety look like playing Chutes and Ladders.

These are my travails...YMMV.
Oh, and here's a couple of pictures of one of our main routes...

The "stream" that usually runs under it is usually about 10' wide and 2' deep. Don't fuck with water...
And YES, the train tracks are just hanging there...

Euro CX started today. Looked like a nice Summer day in Belgie...


And the Tour of Abu Dhabi came to an end. More camels than people watched...
And Peto, in his white kit (shudder) decided to rock the black shoes...

Just NO! And I see that the Big S made him ride the new Venge dumptruck...
Ugly, AND rides like crap. What's not to love?

Hopefully, the children will go back to school at some point this week, and I'll get to go check out The Powerstation. Wondering how big the washout will be? Hell, it might be big enough to just ride down into, and up & out of the other side.

Maybe we'll get back on a regular schedule around here....

Quick update...

No riding going on. We live in South Carolina, which is currently under a Federal State of Emergency due to the rains and floods.
The ENTIRE State is under water. Homes are inundated. Dams are still breaching. Roads and bridges are simply washed away.
We had 20+ inches of rain at the weather station near my house. This was after it had already been raining for a solid week.
My town in is disarray. Some parts of the State are in far worse shape. It's pretty bad. The national news was here, put has done a pretty piss poor job of coverage, and telling the stories.
Life here will be affected for a long, long time.
If you want to see what's really going on, dial up WLTX News 19 on the intarwebs, or get on Twitter and search #scflood. 
Thankfully, we live on high ground, and suffered no damage. My family is all safe. We have power and a trickle of water.
I don't care who you pray to, or if you pray at all, but if you choose to hit your knees, or turn your face to the sun, say a word for the people here who have been hit extremely hard.
I don't want to make comparisons, but the scope of the damage will pan out to be on par with Katrina.

This is an underpass that I-77N crosses. The water is about 10-12 feet deep in this photo. The creek that flooded is about 400m to the left of this spot. Much of the land surrounding the creek, all the way from Northeast side of town, to the river, was under this much water.


A couple of bike things...

 The guys from Erirea prove that one doesn't need all of the high dollar BS associated with cycling. They were rocking Ultegra at Worlds.

Peto!! Come on man! White shorts. Ain't nobody got time for that!!

And with that, I get back to work...trying to help rebuild South Carolina.
Have a good Tuesday!

Um...shit...!

So yeah, Hurricane Joaquin is churning out in the Atlantic right now. It's not forecast to hit SC, but we are expected to get 10-12" of rain. Yeah, that's not a typo...

Normally, I like pretty colors, but in this case, GFY Mother Nature. Seriously...
Working on the general assumption that there will be no riding outside. If I am forced onto the trainer, I won't be a happy monkey.
A thought DID occur to me though....

Are these flippers Keo compatible?
If there's a break in the rain, just enough to get out the door when it's not dumping down, I'm outside. It's just rain...and maybe some wind...you're not gonna melt.

I got out on the road bike this morning. Made the executive decision to lower the saddle on the Ridley. It just FEELS higher than the saddle on the Salsa. After about 20 minutes this morning, and feeling like I was tippy-toeing the pedals, I stopped, and knocked the saddle height down by 5mm. Doesn't sound like much, but with my back injury, I'm the Princess and the Pea.
Felt low at first, but after about 10 minutes, it was all good, and felt pretty much like the CX bike. Methinks I need to scooch it back a bit though. Yeah, I said scooch...
Knocked down an easy 90 minutes this morning, hit Service Course, and mowed the grass. #dadbrick

Last 40km of Worlds. You know you want to watch again...


And an open note :
Quit whinging about the coverage. It was fine. People who complain about having hours of cycling coverage on LIVE TV are spoiled, period.
The coverage was choppy at times because of how TV works.
The signal was taken for the motos, and shot to a helicopter, then back down to the truck, and out to us.
The helo cannot simply follow the race around city streets, thus, the signal gets interrupted but buildings, bridges, tunnels, etc.
And no, a fixed wing aircraft would make NO difference. In fact, in Richmond's case, it would likely be worse, because the plane must fly at higher altitudes, and be FURTHER frm the camera motos.
Welcome to the World of wireless TV signals.
The only way to get around it is static cameras that are hard-wired to the TV truck, and as it's not exactly a 4 corner crit, that ain't gonna work.
Be happy with the fact that we can watch cycling on TV, and on the intarwebs. It wasn't all that long ago that the only coverage we got was of the Tour...on Sunday...for an hour.
Now get off my lawn!!

Skillzzzz...

And if anyone is in the market, my polished White Industries H1 hubs are on the 'Bay.

32 hole. Built once. Ti freehub. Spoke holes are in good shape. Smooth as butter on a bald monkey. Can't buy these anymore. 74g front/224g rear. Build into a light, stiff, bulletproof wheelset...

And a diet tip:

Peace out. If you live on the East Coast of the US, stay inside this weekend. If not, go outside and play!!