...seasonably clean and a prelude to justice

So if you hadn't been keeping up on the weather situation in the northeast, It's finally starting to feel like spring 'round these parts... In large part the snow is gone and the temperature has been an extraordinarily seasonable 50ish degrees for the past four days. The best part is that the streets aren't perpetually wet and grimy anymore, meaning my use of baby wipes has decreased dramatically.

I had meant to give this further credence in a full post entitled "...washing the bike: my way or the highway" but figured it didn't have the gravity to be a stand-alone post. In short, washing one's bike is a critical part of bike maintenance, providing a golden opportunity to spot and fix any potential problems, though during the winter months can be a finger-numbing, icy affair.

After riding around on less than ideal roads, I would bring my bike in and proceed to spend an hour, a quarter roll of paper towels, and a couple ounces of green clean getting my ride all sparkly clean again... then I discovered the baby-wipe miracle...

Not only are they ideal for sanitizing the rear-ends of one's spawn, they make cleaning your bike a cinch! A pack of these "hops" wipes goes for about $2 at the local grocer and using only about ten, I can get my bike VASTLY cleaner than any combination of paper towels and liquid cleaner. Plus, they're already soaked with some antibacterial stuff.

Of course nothing can beat giving the bike a good douse with a hose, but to give your wheels that new-bike sheen, baby wipes are the way to go. Additionally, considering I've adopted the most roadie-esque variety of handlebar tape, packing a few in my jersey pockets for a ride make it possible to maintain the tape's whiteness while allowing mid-ride fiddling.

Anyway, despite the fair weather and outdoor bike-washing opportunities it presents, I got this in my e-mail inbox last Wednesday:

FROM: Brooklyn Spring Series - CANCELED
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-------------------

All,

This Saturday's Brooklyn Spring Series race at Floyd Bennett Field is canceled.  While most of the snow from last week's snow storm has melted on the course the resulting affect is huge lake-like puddles have formed on the course and it's not safe to have the race.  With more rain/snow predicted this week the decision has been made now to cancel the race.

Since you have pre-registered for this event I would like to extend a credit to either the March 20 or March 27 race.

Please let me know which race I can add you to the start list for.

Charlie Issendorf
Race Director
Kissena Cycling Club


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This message was sent as a service to promoters
of BikeReg.com.  Please notify tech@BikeReg.com
with any abuse of the service.  Thank You.
-------------------------------------------------

So I replied that I'm down for the March 20th race, so be on the lookout for a post detailing my experiences therefrom. I've read that it's a good idea to keep a cycling journal of one's experiences at races as a training tool. Most obviously so you can look back on your palmares, relive victories, and study defeats; but it also acts as a fail-safe in case your attendance or (heaven forbid) your podium spot is overlooked by USAC.

So I'm planning on using this blog as that "race diary" for three interconnected reasons:

1. This site is already up and running...
2. I often can't think of anything to write...
3. I'm lazy.

Speaking of cycling journals, If aren't already privy to Embrocation Cycling Journal you should definitely give it a read through, it's fairly well written and updated frequently...

Anyway, I always see the "embro guys" when cycling upstate or at the popular spots around the city, and their jerseys make me long for a nice espresso drink while churning away the miles.

(reblogged via riding pretty)

If only I had SAG support vehicles to bring me tasty beverages while on-bike...

Alas I do not... the only vehicles following me are blind hasids and bored cops trying to fill their quota before year's end.

I don't think I made mention of this but on New Year's Eve I got a summons for riding without a "bike hat" (cops words, honest) and despite my thorough knowledge of traffic laws, could not convince them I was in the right and that they were wasting everyone's time issuing frivolous summonses.

So I've printed out copies of the NYC traffic code, NYS traffic code, highlighted all the relevant passages, and assembled them all in a lawyer-chic legal manila folder... Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on if you enjoy "sticking it to the man") much of my indignation and ire has burnt off since that unpleasant exchange with the police, and I'll have to muster some courage to not shrink from my constitutionally protected right to have the floor and state my case against the city.

No, I'm not suing anyone, though I know I'll feel as though I pussied out if I just go, let the judge dismiss the ticket, and go about my day, so I'm going to demand a moment to scold the government for their refusal to defend cyclists' rights and instead pester us and impede our pursuit of life and happiness at the cost of both my wages and the judicial system's time.

To that end, I'll let you know Thursday how tomorrow's trip to the county courthouse went...If they'll listen, that is.

Oh well, wish me luck, I'm speaking on behalf of everyone on a bike...

...all done!

Ok... so after an obscenely long wait for two minor parts, my bike is finally "done."

After spending my hard-earned (and saved) money for a long ass time, I was finally able to turn my Allez into an ultra-light race machine. The nice thing about upgrading the Allez frameset is that, with the exception of material, it is essientially no different (geometry) from the top-of-the-line Tarmac. The major drawback of getting the less glitzy bike at the outset is that the components are either heavy, of low-quality, or both. This is not to say that I didn't enjoy it stock, but it certainly had considerable heft and a few mechanical shortcomings (stay away from Shimano Sora if you can help it, seriously).

I think there's a misconception amongst cyclists and bike shop people. Everyone says, "buy the best bike you can afford." While this is usually pretty good advice, I feel like it's only solidly true for more high-end road bikes when you're deciding between SRAM Red, Dura Ace, and Super Record, for instance. But even on $5000+ racing bikes you'll get a nice carbon frame, (say) Dura Ace STI levers, and rear derailleur, but then they'll toss on a 105 or Ultegra front derailleur and Ultegra cranks. I've never understood why it seems damn near impossible to get a homogenous gruppo on a complete bike unless you order it custom from someplace online like R&A or cross the $8,000 threshold at a place like Bicycle Habitat.

When it comes to less pricey bikes, they do the same thing, but to the extreme. I feel like you get a very decent frame and fork, and then Shimano (or whoever) just tosses on the cheapest parts at random so that it'll just work good enough so the untrained cyclist won't complain... Or you get another bike where the frame and fork leave something to be desired but you get slightly nicer components like 105 or Rival (though still somewhat cobbled together).

So it's a judgement call right?

I went the route of the better frame and fork with crummier componentry since I knew I'd eventually be tinkering with things and replacing other things... which I did.

So here it is (fellow cat 5 racers, you may start quaking your fuzzy legs now):

 

  

The abridged spec's are:

Drivetrain:

SRAM Force doubletap levers (UD carbon & magnesium)

SRAM Force Crankset (UD carbon)

SRAM Force front and rear derailleurs (aluminum, UD carbon, and titanium in places)

SRAM Powerglide Cassette 23-21-19-17-16-15-14-13-12-11 (23-11, 10spd)

SRAM Powerglide Chain with masterlink

Truvativ bottom bracket.

Everything else:

SRAM Force caliper brakeset with Swisstop pads

Neuvation R28 Aero 4 Wheelset (j-bend bladed spokes, 16f -20r)

Continental GP4000 racing tires (handmade in Germany bitches!)

Ritchey WCS 4-Axis stem in "wet white"

Ritchey WCS Alloy seatpost in "wet white"

Black SRAM cables and housing

Cinelli cork handlebar tape (white)

Shimano Ultegra SPD-SL road pedals

So there you have it. Basically a brand new bike.

It really gets under my skin when people say something is the "best" only because it's what they have or use and not for any quantifiable reason, so I'll try and keep the gloating to a minimum cause I know there's always something better, lighter, and sexier out there (assuming one has the resources to obtain said things).

In all honesty, at first I really didn't like the SRAM doubletap shifting. This was due in equal parts to the fact that I wasn't used to it, and that when you first put on new cables, they stretch rapidly and shift quality quickly degrades, necessitating frequent readjustment in the first month of use. I found it awkward to use the same paddle to shift up and down and was constantly mis-shifting or shifting accidentally. 

Then I got used to it, had the cables tensioned again, and now I absolutely love it. I especially love the fact that when riding in the drops, you can pull the shift paddle away from the brake lever and shift up by simply flicking your wrist toward the inside. That said, downshifting in the drops isn't as easy since you'd have to rotate your whole arm around the bar to get it far enough to shift. Also, if you try to do the wrist-flick to downshift, it feels like you're about to break the paddle off which is a little scary to say the least.

With Shimano, I was used to having the feeling of actually Shifting the chain with the lever... you could literally feel the shifter move sideways, and though it was indexed, shifting to larger sprockets always felt like it took some finger strength. With SRAM it's like a mouse-click and the derailleurs do everything for you. and it's damn precise too. I heard that the Red stuff shifts a little faster and more precisely, though I'd be curious to see if I could actually tell the difference because the Force drivetrain is (as far as I can tell) completely without issue. Where my Shimano stuff would occasionally click or creak or lag in certain spots (no matter how finely tuned I tried to get it), SRAM is like the hyper-obedient child in comparison to the Shimano brat.

I don't know how people review brakes because as far as I can tell, as long as you come to a stop smoothly, they work. end of story. The SRAM Force brakes are pretty sweet lookin' though. they're all skeletonized (unnecessary material drilled out) which looks neat and they work silently which is good.

Well, enough of the technical mumbo jumbo; it tips the scales at 15.5 lbs (give or take a few ounces), and that's what matters.

P.S. If anyone wants to rummage through my parts bin, I have the shimano/specialized version of basically everything listed above... shoot me an e-mail or call me and I'll tell you how much (if anything ) I want for it; some of it's real good shit.

...the weekend madness (installment 9)

So this weekend past, I had planned a number of exciting activities for myself in attempt to stave off boredom more effectively than in previous weekends. Friday I did essentially nothing, I presented myself at work in a timely fashion as usual, and then went home and caught up on satirical punditry before going to bed.

On Saturday I did manage slightly more productivity, doing laundry and cycling around from bike shop to bike shop hunting for another knog frog to compliment the two I already own. I had noticed that not only were my knogs getting dimmer with age, my front light needed a compatriot so that I could mount them on the fork blades without worrying about which side I was weighting more.


At any rate, I found the "frog" surprisingly difficult to track down as it seems Knog is promoting their "beetle" light now and all the LBS's are flush with beetles and devoid of frogs. Because of that, I was forced to finally settle on a frog in the clear-ish 'colorway' as opposed to my usual choice of black (depicted above).

Still not wanting to appear unbalanced, I removed the electronics from the new clear-ish frog and swapped them out with the red light from one of the frogs I already owned. This allowed me to be able to affix the two black frogs to my fork blades and the clear-ish frog to my seat post, where the red light would be more visible from the sides through the rubbery housing.

Also, I bought new batteries for the two frogs I already had, but was shocked at the steep cost of frog ownership, for the batteries it requires (2032's I believe) are "medical batteries" and $8 a pair at Duane Reade, which is just crazy. On that note, I needed to buy batteries for my camera as well (hence the extreme lack of first-person documentation on this blog recently) but opted to wait since I was going to see the Decemberists at Terminal 5 later, and didn't want the hassle of toting around a brick of AA's at a concert.

As I had come to expect from these Oregoners, the concert turned out to be pretty awesome. They got some MC to draw songs written on plastic balls from a tumbler that the band would then play before a preppy looking tennis guy came out to lob the song ball into the audience.

I didn't manage to catch one of the balls, but I did catch a cool vibe from both the band and my fellow spectators. This was the first crowd I had pushed my way through (in following the much smaller girls toward the front) that peacefully accomodated my path by scooting aside as much as they could or pointing out gaps that I could exploit to that end.

For me, the Decemberists were merely an indie-rock group that my girlfriend liked, and that was the end of it until I actually took the time to listen to their work. I'm no musical authority, but I found that I really enjoy their music and even moreso their good-clean-fun approach to putting on a show.


After the concert, we went home to sleep though I was having trouble doing so, either because of or in spite of the fact that I was planning a ride to Bear Mt for Sunday morning. I washed my bike, filled my water bottles and tires, packed a fresh tube into my seat bag and set out all of my gear and clothing for the morning.

Then Sunday morning everything went off without a hitch, I left pretty much right on time and was well on my way out of the city enjoying the cool weather when my bicycle broke.

I'm being vague about what "broke" because to be honest I have no idea what happened or why. All I know is that while riding normally, my pedals seized up for a split second, then made a very loud snapping/cracking sound and then I could no longer shift smoothly in the rear or at all in the front.

Using my meager set of bike maintenance skills, I attempted to reset my front derailleur but could not get it to work, so I pedaled back to Soho from about 170th St in my next-to-lowest gear (aka slower than molases). Once I made it to Bicycle Habitat, the head mechanic, Hal, corroborated that my front derailleur was both out of alignment and bent badly. As usual, he happily fixed it while dropping some lesser known bike facts on me about the parts he was fixing.

(my derailleur looked like the photo on the left, above, though much more exaggeratedly bent)

For a while I had noticed that though I have only two chainrings my derailleur was indexed for a three-chainring setup. Not quite understanding why this was, I chalked it up to the fact that my bike came with mid- to low-end components that may not have been paired properly with my setup. Hal elucidated for me why this was: apparently its just easier for companies to include triple-indexed front derailleurs on all the bikes they make. This, like the tire misconception, is another instance of people's stupidity driving product development.

If you have a geared bike, one of the first things you will read about shifting gears (If, like me, your inclined to read at length about such topics), is that the #1 no no is what's called "crossing over". This just means that its bad for the life-span of your sprockets and chain if you get into the habit of riding with the chain on the leftmost (smallest) sprocket in the rear and the right most (smallest) chainring in the front, or vice versa. So Shimano, Campy, and SRAM all offer triple indexing so that you can "trim" the derailleur position if the chain is rubbing it when you're crossing gears badly.

Hal went on to say that if bothers you to the point where money is no object, then the top-o'-the-line Dura-Ace comes in a "double indexed" variety; but at those prices, most people are content to deal with the extra click required to shift.

Anyway, by the time He straightened everything out and bent the derailleur cage back into position, it was already well into the afternoon and thus far too late for me to get anywhere interesting and back before nightfall (though I am still itching to try out my new 'lightway'). Knowing this and bummed that my ride was scrapped before it even really got started, I rode home and cleaned house with my roomate.

Oh well; 'til next time y'all, maintain your drivetrain...

...all about tires

As you may or may not know, I recently bought a new set of tires for my bicycle. I went to Ride Brooklyn for my purchase and was again quite satisfied with the level of service and selection there.

See, when I need to buy something bike related (which is surprisingly often), I sort of go on auto pilot on my evening commute, first trying Bicycle Habitat which I think suffers as the most widely known bike shop in the city. Every time I go there I have to wait around forever to learn that they don't have what I want, and this experience was no different. Not only did they not have the tires I was hoping to get, they didn't have a single matching set of 700x23's, which is pretty lame for such a big and supposedly "well-stocked" bike shop.

If I don't find what I'm looking for there (which is frequently) I'll stop by Toga in downtown and see what they've got. Though they usually have a broad inventory, I always get the feeling that I'm getting shafted a little when I go there. So often I just leave without buying anything, and see what Ride Brooklyn has.

As usual, they not only had the exact tires I was hoping to buy, but even the colorway that I wanted too! Ride Brooklyn is moving up in my book, I can tell you that. Here's a blurry shot of one of them in all its branded glory with my tired coworker in the background.


Maxxis Xeniths are foldable due to the nifty Kevlar® bead so getting them on the first time was a little weird. It was like wrapping a wheel with a broken slap-bracelet until I managed to pump it a little so the tube would encourage it to start taking shape. Though after getting them on and pumped up to around 125psi, I took a quick spin and what a difference they made!

Though it is possible that being brand-new tires, they highlighted the inadequacies of my previous set of Specialized Mondos which I wore down to nothing, after a few days of varied riding on the Xeniths, I can say confidently that they're simply better all around.

When it comes to bike stuff, the old mantra of "you get what you pay for" couldn't ring truer; and at $65 a pop, these bad boys are at the top end of racing clenchers, and it shows on the sidewall where in big white letters 'HORS CATEGORIE' is emblazoned. Perhaps it's just marketing mumbo-jumbo, but I like to imagine they allow me to climb faster on the numerous "beyond categorization" climbs we have here in the northeast.


So the reason I'm going on about tires today is because in researching which tires would be best for my riding style, I consulted the venerable Sheldon Brown and came away with a very thorough understanding of another common misconception people almost unanimously ascribe to.

You may have noticed that both of the sets of tires I referred to above have no tread pattern whatsoever, which may strike you as a slippery solution to old rubber. When I first got my bike, it came with treadless tires as well, and I was very cautious about cornering until I got familiar with the tire's limits, but still I doubted their effectiveness during less than ideal weather. "Surely bald tires have a propensity to hydroplane," I thought.

Thanks to bike-nerds who have the desire and know-how to figure things like this out for the rest of us; apparently it is nearly impossible for bicycle tires to hydroplane, even with no tread pattern! Sheldon spells it out most succinctly:

Bicycles canNOT hydroplane because:

1. A bicycle tire has a curved road contact. Since a bicycle leans in corners, it needs a tire with a rounded contact area, which tends to push the water away to either side.

2. A bicycle tire is narrower [-than a car tire], so not as much water is in contact with the leading edge at once.

3. The high pressure of bicycle tires is more efficient at squeezing the water out from under.

4. At high bicycle speeds, hydroplaning is just possible for car tires, but is absolutely impossible for bicycle tires.

It turns out that true hydroplaning is difficult even for cars, and is of greatest concern for airplanes landing on wet runways, so Sheldon then refers to a table calculated by "the aviation industry" which shows that a round-section tire running at 40psi (think mountain bikes and beach cruisers) would have to hit water at 55mph to initiate a hydroplane; at 100psi it would have to be travelling at over 100 mph; and at 120psi (a typical racing bike tire pressure) one would have to go nearly 115mph!

So for most cyclists in cities, a treaded tire is no more useful than the guards on the GWB. Further proof of this comes when you examine the road surface which you're riding on. The asphalt or concrete is riddled with little indentations that are bigger than typical tread patterns found on most road tires. Since the tire is flexible and bends over these bumps and dips anyway, the tread really serves no purpose whatsoever except to reduce the amount of rubber in contact with the road at any given time.

Though apparently tire companies have noticed people's apprehension toward treadless tires because of this assumption, and mold patterns into tires to increase sales despite knowing that they tend to eat away at performance.

Unlike the great helmet conspiracy, this trend is motivated by profit directly and is a curious example of how catering to the unsophisticated reduces quality and efficiency for others. Because people are scared of slipping and falling, so-called 'racing slicks' are branded as "Hors Categorie" or "Open PRO" (whatever that means) and subsequently a surcharge is added because you want what is deemed by the idiocy of others to be pro-level equipment.

Sometimes companies will even go so far as to sell mediocre products at grossly inflated prices thanks to these marketing shenanegans. The tires I just replaced, the Mondos, make a great example of this phenomena.

After riding on them for thousands of miles, I noticed that I kept thinking they were flat. I'd reach down and pinch my tires at every other red-light wondering why they felt so doughy. Understandably, this started to bug me and after doing a little research, I found that this is a common problem on Specialized's mid-range racing tires. Some have speculated that inferior rubber is used so they wear out fast and you either keep replacing them or spend the extra buck on their "pro level" tires.

Whatever the case may be, the bottom line is this, if you notice your tires when you're biking, one of three things could be wrong:

1. you don't have them inflated to high-enough pressure.
   
   
2. your tires aren't as expensive as they could be.
   
   or,
   
   
3. you're looking at them, which is dangerous.

Anyway, here's to my vain hopes that signage will one day be more accurate, as evidenced by this brutally honest bus stop ad...


...and less like this car that was photographed and forwarded by a friend: