Great Training Spot in the GA

For the past three years a group of fellow cyclists and myself have headed south each winter to log in some great miles during winter vacation and get away from the worries of civilization other than the never ending question of what for dinner. I've had some friends ask about where I ago, hoping they can experience the beautiful weather and great roads during their spring breaks, here are the details everyone has been asking for.

The past few years have been getting colder and colder in GA for my annual retreat south, but if you want some details of what to expect in Jan or disregard temps and get a feel for a trip any other time of the year, check out the next few hyper links.

Official Tumbling Water Cabin Site Click Here

Tumbling Waters: First Days @ Tumbling Waters Blog Posting

Typically we stay at these awesome cabins called Above Tumbling Waters, this provided link is through their past renting agency but has some more great photos. They now rent out their cabins direct to you to save  youcash so please be sure to contact Carol Toll @ (706) 348 - 7532 and tell her Dallas from the Wisconsin cycling group referred you and she may discount your stay.

Unfortunately this past year temps were in the 20's and descending in temperatures that cold is not safe as you may have gather from Waitey's blog. But for spring, summer and fall training camps or relaxing travels I would recommend Above Tumbling Waters to anyone.

Check out the hyperlinks below to read up on the second part of our Georgia trip, where we relocated to Savannah Georgia to find warmer temps and were met half way with days in the 40's and nights in the 20's

Savannah Ga: Day 6 Day 7 Last Day

A big thanks to Waite for writing up a training camp recap. His blog is mostly about riding, but I forgive him.

Dry Spell Broken by Fantastic Article

I didn't realize it had been more than two months since I posted last. I'll be sure to keep periods of new updates down to a minimum and post more frequently.

Being removed from the inner workings of the cycling industry I admit that I have some catching up to do with all the new tech coming out. The most confusing technological changes occurring seems to be the new standardization and re-standardization of the bottom bracket. Back in the day it was easy enough to get a new BB by just knowing if your bike was road or mountain and if your crank was campagnolo or not. Now with the addition of external crank you need to know if its Campy, Shimano/FSA/RaceFace, Truvativ/SRAM and with the recent trend to internal press fit bearings, I could really use a club to take care of some engineers and their ideas.

Trek/Gary Fisher has been paving a new road for their own line of bottom bracket design with Shimano following close behind by trending towards press-fit bearings. Integrated bottom brackets are labeled one of the following ways, BB90, BB86, BB92, BB94 and BB95. Once you understand that the numerical number is the width of the bearings outside to outside and for the most part this system makes sense.

90mm is the standard distance between crank arms on a road bike, BB86 is 4mm narrower and would require spacers to get up to the 90mm standard and BB95 is a new design in mountain bikes that requires no spacers since mtb spindles are 95mm long. The same principles to BB86, BB90, BB95 apply to all BB-labels except BB30. The BB86-BB95 series systems utilize the same bearings found in externally threaded cups but are simply pressed into a carbon/alloy bottom bracket shell.

BB30, according to the above standard is the odd man out.  The BB30 label is linked to the diamater of the spindle and not the bottom bracket width, personally I like BB30 of all the integrated bottom bracket systems due to the light crank sets and the enlarges stiffer spindle. If companies are gonna make us either by the tools or go to shops to press in bearings I want some added stiffness and reduced weight. While Trek claims  the new system they are using is lighter, no arguments there, they still employ normal cranks and traditional crank spindles.

Now to paying repsect to a great article. BikerRumor.com, a link on the side of my blog, has posted some great articles and their article on bottom bracket techonology 101 is a great go to reference when you want more information. Check it out below.


Bottom Bracket Tech 101


A little 2 cents from Lennard Zinn

** This little extra bit is courtesy of a fellow teammate Marc Steele who is looking to upgrade his 2009 Specialized Expert Carbon with a new crank. Contacting Specialized tech department turned out to be useless since all they did was regurgitate information from their site, Yes I know I am a cycling, but I can read. Upon doing some closer looking at photos supplied by Marc, if you are looking to Upgrade a the crank on your 2009 Specialized Expert Carbon please note that your bike employs the shimano press-fit bottom bracket (BB92) design and will accept all Shimano/FSA/RaceFace mountain bike cranks that use external bearings. You will not need the external bearings since your frame has them already pressed in but when you remove the currently installed crank be sure to take off the small 3mm spacer ring on the drive side of the spindle and transfer it to your new crank.

new elite racing squad with a charitable twist....

In the works is a new racing team based out of a fox valley shop.  I have the great honor of being an essential member getting this new team from an idea on my computer to a tangible group of individuals with a positive mission.  The team is slated to be a small group of individuals who are excited to embrace this new opportunity and stoked to be able to give back to the community.  Team members will not just be competing in local, regional and national races, they will also be committing themselves to supporting charitable rides.  In addition to a schedule that will most likely include The Tour of America's Dairyland, Super Week, Tour of Elk Grove, Joe Martin Stage Race, Matt Wittig Memorial Race, Tour of the Gila, Atlanta Twilight Crits, Tulsa Tough and various WCA races, the team will also pledge itself to raise funds and participate for charitable rides such as Tour de Cure, Trek Hope 100, and the MS 150.

As the team page gets built up and the spring season approaches I will be leaking more information about the roster, official schedule, sponsors, jersey design and the team webpage.

This team will rely heavily on individuals such as yourself to make the success of this developing team possible, so please check back in the future (May, June and August) for opportunities to donate to the causes they will be riding for and check back weekly for updates and leaks.

Gotta love rants and raves.....

It really breaks my heart when individuals have a blatant disregard for borrowed property.  The UW cycling team has club property it lends out to people in need but on occasion, well just one occasion so far, person(s) take advantage of the system. If you're going to borrow something you ought to care for it better than your own belonging because it may bite you in the a$$ later when you want to borrow things again. AND if you borrow something don't fight with the guardian of that equipment and define the terms of your possession, it only makes me like you less. Item in question below.

A few of many reasons to go by bike!!

           For me the past weekend and past few days have reminded my how much more simple it is to just go by bike for everything when going everywhere, other than buying cement or now salt for this storm. Saturday after working for Jacque Jadin at Trike 2 Bikes, I helped my dad replace his rotors and brake pads. Helping him led me to getting the motivation to fix mine since he already had the caliper piston resetting tool, not to mention that my brakes front and rear are 196K miles old.

           Working on my car would be the demise of my weekend, with older cars if your repair is going to cost $100 you better allow $250 in your budget for who knows what will happen. It started out fine with the front driver wheel and turned downhill with the front passenger caliper mounting bracket. When I had replaced the front hub on that fateful side last spring I may have used the wrong locktite. I ended up stripping out a bolt and didn't have enough real estate to improve and ended up cutting the bolt to release the bracket from my car.  That wasn't so bad until no one, NOBODY in Green Bay had a replacement bolt, damn, now it's 9pm Saturday and I just don't wanna deal with it at that time.

           Sunday was spent driving around in big loops trying to find a bolt to get back to Madison in time to hand in my paper for Monday morning. With no success finding a stupid bolt at Tires Plus, Advanced Auto Parts, AutoZone, Napa Auto Parts, and some other large garage open on Sunday, I decided to bleed my whole brake system since I was stranded to atleast Monday when Gustman Pontiac opened. This decision to bleed my brakes led to my next problem. Sooooo when you try to bleed calipers that are old, have experienced heavy use and the car is stored outdoors rust begins to set in and salt takes its toll. The bleeder valve of the rear driver caliper snapped off, after moving to a slightly open position and began leaking all over the floor, fantastic. At this point Sunday afternoon I have made peace with the broken bolt and caliper and purchased 4 new rotors, new brake pads, big ass bottle of brake fluid, brake cleaner, 2 new calipers (one front, one rear), but still missing that bolt. Grumble.......................

All was fine until the snow started to fall Tuesday!

          I soon learned that the new tyres I had bought in March are useless after one summers worth of driving, yet again another reason to go by bike.... cheap tires. Word to the masses spend a few more dollars on Bridgestone tyres, its worth it in the long run. My last tires ran me 80,000 miles and these will squeak out 20,000 miles and these Falkens were harder compound to grip less and wear better. My car will now remain in a heated parking garage while this storm blows over and the roads clear up and hopefully I can get my winter tyres put on soon! I figure thats best since the curvature of the road is enough to gutter my car while trying to get from the SAC to college library (about 3 blocks).  I wont even get into what happens when I try to go up a hill.

Going by bike is just purely the best thing to do, cheaper to fix, easier to clean and maintain (hell I even shower with mine like this guy)

A Review on Hardcases by a sensible traveler and not some toy crazy fool

Traveling with E.S.T. was an experience I will never forget and am already looking forward to the next one. When I was asked to go to Cozumel, I was skeptical never having left the country before and now I’m hoping to get asked back in the future. Everything was for me was new and my Spanish has never been better, nor have I bashed US standards or traditions before, mainly related to education and some to health. I think the way they teach Spanish in schools is terrible and not effective, it’s too regimented, by the book and boring. I think learning through conversation is the best way to go about learning, and even if you make mistakes people are happy to help you learn with corrections and accommodate bad language. But what am I getting into this is a blog about bike products and boy have I got lotz!

 Bottom line airlines suck for transporting a bike, some suck worse and harder than others, but my case is destroyed. Somehow round trip travel to Europe only managed to put a few scratches of paint on the outside edge, while one direct flight from ORD to CUN managed to pinch the case top to bottom so it won’t latch shut and one flight from CUN to DFW managed to puncture a hole the size of your fist into the side. If money is of no concern when flying (oversized or overweight) and you plan not to travel to Europe, a case available through TriAll3 is pretty good, fork mounted, super rigid and their no jigsaw puzzle to figure out.  If you want something a bit more economical cases by Thule and another called Hardcase have well positioned wheels, buckles lock shut on 2 sides and have no hinges for the airlines to destroy. (Photo: Cases closest to bed - Tri All 3, Cases by TV - Crate Works, Case Vertical Front Center - Trico Hardcase, Case far left - Generic Hardcaes)

I’m still lusting over trying a Sci-Con travel case. I have not had the pleasure to see one but a new friend of mine has one and loves it. The case is contoured to hold the wheels in a better position away from vital frame parts, accommodates even a Felt B2 with an 808 and 1080 just fine. This case is among one of the lightest made and is Italian, like Mario “Cipo” and Briko, so you know its got to be good sh!t. (If you have Briko stingers, I want to buy them off you)

But the downfall to all bike cases…. They are all outrageously expensive, so review twice and purchase once. Keep in mind that wheels that swivel will, eventually, get damaged or removed

 

Hardcases in review:

Trico Iron Case

Kinda like their saddles…. Just okay. Its very generic and for the price the Thule is nicer with more straps and better padding.

http://www.cambriabike.com/shopexd.asp?ID=11070

MSRP 395

SunLite Travel Case

Terrible…. Hinged suitcase design is susceptible to damage

http://www.amazon.com/Sunlite-Deluxe-Hard-Bicycle-Suit/dp/B0011G0JCQ

MSRP – 350

Thule Round Trip Hard Case

Phenomenal… easy to use two piece case, and uses strap to stay close rather than buckles. Very Airport friendly

http://www.orsracksdirect.com/thule-bike-box-travel-case-699.html

MSRP 395

Tri All 3 – Various Configurations Available

The compact Velo Safe is my recommendation… if you plan to fly to Europe or are looking to save some green when flying in general the compact case comes in nearly at half the width as the original case.

http://www.triall3sports.com/cases-bike.php

Crateworks Pro XL-C Plastic Bicycle Box

Great case for the racer on a budget and where size may not be an issue. This cheap case flew on American Airlines for $100 and had no issue with its sizes. It among the larges cases, but is pretty light given its cardboard design. Wheels are available for it.

http://www.bikemania.biz/Crateworks_Pro_XL_C_Bicycle_Box_p/crateworksproxl-c.htm

MSRP $190

Sci-Con Aerotech Evolution

This case is expensive but well worth the price considering the R&D that must have gone into it. Being a poor college student I hope to have the pleasure to use one soon, perhaps on a trip to Chile. The case takes into consideration the fact that hubs stick outward and the case accommodates this by bulging at the hub reducing overall case size and reducing size. This case is ideal for anyone who travel internationally often and especially in Europe.

http://www.scicon.it/aerotech.htm

MSRP $1000

Best: Sci-Con & Thule

Worse: Sunlite and other similar suitcase designs

Post Ironman Cozumel Cooldown...

After finally having returned to the States I will begin to update the blog with likes and dislikes about, pretty much, everything related to tri, bikes, and travel.... Check back soon for postings every other day or so.

Slant Six Only a Concept

I heard back from Kenda that the Slant Six that was showcased at InterBike Las Vegas is not currently being produced, but hopefully soon. A contact @ Kenda advised me to check back to test out a pair. I'll have to wait for spring I guess. Photo courtesy of BikeRumor.com

Bloody Hell

I will admit it has been a while since my last post but the nice weather has kept me outdoors and school work kept me in the café shops when I wasn’t riding to prepare for the Iceman Cometh Challenge this past weekend. The race was a mix of the bad with some good, but mostly bad fortune. I had the chance to ride out some new products for the first time like the new Bontrager XR1 tyre, Stans NoTubes setup, Trek Sonic Helmet and a BlackOps 420mm fork to complete a 69er setup for the fast race.

Most of you may already know but for those who don’t let me bring you up to speed. On September 5th, I fractured my greater trochanter, a part of the femur above the femoral neck/head. After that I took the following 6/7 weeks off to rest and recover and didn't started riding/training until a little over 14 days before the Iceman Challenge.

Pre-riding Friday, I felt great and fell in love with the wheel Russell built me a few weeks ago and the XR1 I installed on it. During our Friday ride I was feeling great, no problem with the hip at all and the lungs and legs felt fine, despite my taking time of leave. The rear XR1 hooked up great during the pre-ride and race, even with all the leaves that covered the trail. Despite not being recommended for tubeless use, I ran the Team Issue XR1, the tyre seated up great on a Mavic XC517 with the standard kit from Stans and didn’t burp once during the 28 mile endeavor.

Just as easy as setting up the tyre with a floor pump, was the installation of the Stans tape and rim strip. I followed the directions online by drilling a new hole, installing their yellow tape, and sliding into place the rubber strip. I would highly recommend using soap to install the rubber strip to help slide it into place, otherwise you will be wrestling with the devil to get it to center. Getting the bead to seat properly with the tubed style rim was a slight hassle. With memories of Gehling blowing off tyres at the East side Trek store, I was reluctant to go above 35 psi given the equipment being used. The tyre pumped up fine to about 55 psi and the rim hook held on the tyre bead well enough for it to seat properly--which surprised me. I once ran X717 rims with the DT Swiss Eclipse kit and the max pressure for any tyre was a weak 35 before blowing up in your face. Kudos to Stan for knowing his sh*t.

This year the ride was made better when I decided to swap my White Brother 445mm carbon fork for a BlackOps 425mm fork to complete the 69er setup, which handled great. There was little difference running the short rigid fork with a 29er wheel versus running the recommended 100mm travel fork and 26in wheel. The fork had just enough flex to absorb the hard hits yet super rigid during descents, allowing the bike to track straight in technical rock sections. I had a slight issue with clearance, once or twice the tyre buzzed the tip of my shoe enough to turn it black, but not enough to rip the material. This could have been from the huge 2.2 tyre on the front since I couldn’t locate my Kenda Small Block Eight.

Riders and spectators couldn’t have asked for better weather; with the showers disappearing from the forecast, we all enjoyed temperatures in the low 60’s come race time for the pros. The pro race didn’t go off without its few hitches, the start was plagued with crash after crash after crash. 20 meters past the start line, caused by god knows what other than what a few of us caught before going down. It seemed to begin with Jason Lummis of Quiring Cycles surging towards the front of the pack, next all hell broke loose, metal on pavement, tyres exploding and carnage everywhere. As some of us cautiously made our way around the 5 or so riders on the ground, the riders behind us were riding with their heads down plowing into us, causing a handful of others and myself to go down. As the pack rolled on down the road into the headwind, four others and myself gathered our lost glasses and bottles and began the pursuit to not be DFL. I guessed that, due to the crash, I was among the last 8 riders to leave the start area and begin the 28 mile adventure in the place no one wants to be--dead last. After a few seconds and a couple choice words cursing out my broken rear brake lever, I mounted my bike and attempted to pick off as many riders as possible.

The course was not like the Cheq 40 this year, it was not super fast but was a mix of pavement-like sections and sandy beach sections, never reaching a compromise of part sand and part hard pack. It was tough and lonely trying to pick off riders and groups, trying to avoid being caught by riders from behind. A few riders managed to pass me and I continued to pass other riders, slowly inching my way up in the rankings to obtain a respectable finish after 6 weeks off the bike. With no rear brake I couldn’t have asked for a better tyre in the rear to keep contact with the course, but the front Bontrager XDX tyre failed me once and slid out in a corner--but my worst crash, after the first, didn’t happen until 1.5 km to go. In the last section of single track, I failed to scrub enough speed for a switch back and flipped head over heals cracking my helmet and filling it with dirt. I will say though that up to the point of crashing, and during the crash, the Trek Sonic Helmet never let me down; doing its job of failing during a crash and keeping my head well vented during the summer-like race conditions. My roommate Kathleen was rather upset over the helmet--since it was hers before I traded her some sunglasses for it. She claims there was sentimental value to it.

Despite the crash, which was upsetting since you expect a certain level of competency in a pro race, the bike and myself held up well. The broken bone never hurt once, the legs felt strong, despite it being so late in the season, and the course was fantastic. All in all I had a good time but left a little disappointed because I felt that my results didn’t accurately reflect my ability. But people as told me at the finish, “everyone has a bad race and there’s always next year… oh and did you forget 4 weeks ago you were in a brace?”

Driven indoors by rain... outcome isn't that great

The past few weeks have Wisconsin receiving vast amounts of rain. WCA had to recently postpone two CX races for sometime in November due to standing water and other unsatisfactory conditions. With racing canceled and the lack of will to ride while its raining and 45 degrees, I have been forced to ride indoors like many other Wisconsin riders trying to stay sane. I have learned a few new things from the bad comedy shows I spin to and the terrible commercials that accompany most TV shows. Lifetime Movie Network always seems to have some movie playing with people making out or some girl getting pregnant, I think they had two of the latter genre on in one day. Not only do Snuggies come in more than one color now but someone created a snuggie sutra blog. I would say this is work place safe since the diagrams use stick figures but really no one should own a snuggie and have a use for this blog.

Now onto something to look forward to. I was recently contacted by Global Ride Productions about reviewing their indoor Training DVD. I don't want to get into too much detail off the bat but by all means google them and come back later for my review. I'm hoping that their DVD's make winter riding more exciting than Carmichael does where you ride looking at other people riding bikes, where the scenery never changes. I'm stoked to check out the DVD's put out by Global Ride.