Passport2Pain, here I come!

Click, click, click, and done.

The Passport2Pain has been on my bucket list for quite some time and it looks like 2015 is the year.

Have I ridden on Vashon Island before/do I have any idea what I'm getting myself into? Yes. It's going to be hard. Bring on the adventure.

one thing leads to another

A few days ago I was riding home and noticed that the rear wheel on my commuter bike was wobbling. I figured I had broken a spoke but when I got home and took a look the right flange on my hub had fatigued and a piece had sheered off causing me to lose TWO spokes.



So I grabbed a wheel off of my mountain bike.

In the process I noticed that not only was my front tire pretty sketchy (several cuts has been patched with duct tape) but my rear tire was worn down to the threads in no less than FOUR places. Yikes. Guess I need to cool it on the skids.

Lessons learned.

1. Having spare parts on hand is great! I had a spare wheel, two spare tires (thanks to Recycled Cycles) and I was ready to roll in relatively little time.
2. No bike gear lasts forever and this Neuvation wheel has been on my commuter for years. I would happily buy another but they stopped selling 26" wheels some time ago...
3. Getting a 20% off email coupon from one of your online bike parts sources when you need it rocks.
4. Disc brakes - like it even needs saying - are the bomb. No way could I have ridden home with my rim wobbling around this much. I can honestly say I have purchased my last caliper brake bike.

I've got a new rear wheel and some more tires on the way.

People are stupid, forever.

I need to give Gregory Mackenzie credit for this post title.

Many years ago when I was working in the Bicycle industry I had the chance to go to the Interbike industry expo a few times.

In those days - and probably still these days - there was a 'Taiwan pavilion' with booth after booth of products from Taiwanese manufacturers who were hoping to get some OEM spec on bicycles. Back then (we're talking the late 1980s and early 1990s) it was pretty much what you would suspect meaning lots of neon nick-nacks, crazy Hello Kitty handlebar baskets, center-stand kickstands, etc. But even back then, before Taiwan became one of the most respected aluminum and titanium and carbon manufacturers on the planet, there were some pretty progressive wares on display so I figured it was worth a look-see.

The one item that stood out to me and that I still remember to this day was a set of 'power cranks'. I think that's what they were called anyway.

This image that I recently found is exactly the same as what I saw back then with the one exception of the bottom bracket spindle being splined now instead of the old school square tapered variety. The premise of this crank is that you supposedly get the best of both worlds.

• You get the massive lever arm of longer cranks thus giving you more torque when you push down on the pedals.
• You get the cornering clearance of shorter cranks.

Turns out this product is still marketed by dpardo(?) and if you go to their web site you will see the kind of claims they laud on the 'Sickle Crank!' we laughed at it back in the freaking early 80s and I'm still laughing at it now. Here is a quote.

58T gear Road bike pedaling feel like 50/34!
The new style of crankset~
Pedaling feel like 50/34
Amazing!

And then there is this.

Sheeeit, how could you go wrong...?

Well, one way you could go wrong right is by actually staying awake during your 8th grade high school physics class. I mean c'mon people.

Last I heard a rigid lever arm is as long as the distance between the two moments so unless that crank is flexing, you simply measure the distance between the center of the bottom bracket spindle and the center of the pedal spindle and all the extra business is just wasted material.

Speaking of wasted material, in this age of lighter at all costs, what makes these guys think they can sell this boat anchor of a crank? But obviously they are counting on the customer NOT thinking so that's kind of incidental.

Then there's the whole English as a second language thing... or Engrish if you will. Making fun of people that can't speak your native language as well as you can is rude but when a company is trying to market their product to you and doesn't hire a native speaker to even glance at their copy? You gotta love quotes like these.

Pedaling 56T gear is as easy 48T, He succeed in cursing less than 50 km/h by MTB.

Now we are testing with 55/42/30T gear. Pedaling feeling is still too light because the RPM goes too fast. We are going to test with 58/44/32T gear.

Classic.

If you have the time, check out their 'scientific justification' for more of this nonsense.

I want to leave you with one more image. I found this one on their 'Riders' voice' page. Just like all the other bikes on the page, this is some happy customer's ride and it's been equipped with the Sickle Crank! For those of you that don't immediately recognize what kind of a frame this is, I'll tell you. It's straight gauge steel (and I do NOT mean chromoly), it has stamped (not forged) dropouts, it has safety (read: not safe at all) brake levers, it has foam handlebar sleeves and all the cable housing is attached to the frame with clamps because it has no braze-ons. The shifters? They're on the stem - right where they should be.

This proud owner was not only conned into these cranks, some one also sold him a new set of wheels and a seatpost and saddle. No doubt he could have purchased an entire bike that would out-perform this ride for less money than he sunk into the 'upgrades'.

What is even funnier than this Sickle Crank! is that this shit doesn't die. Oh no, here it is 2013 and someone else is pedaling exactly the same fairy tale only this time they are called Z-Torque cranks:

http://www.bikerumor.com/2013/01/08/z-torque-bicycle-cranks/

It appears this guy has a 2nd rate Kickstarter page going, only because he got booted off the real Kickstarter.

Over and out.

Technorati Tags: dpardo,Sickle Cranks,Z-Torque

I still have a cycling hero and his name is Greg LeMond

Most people idolize some person or some athlete when they grow up and I was no different. I used to read VeloNews cover-to-freaking-cover back when it was a tabloid-sized newsprint magazine and of course I purchased all the World Cycling Productions films I could afford.

The person I idolized was Greg LeMond. I'm not sure if it was because he was American (probably not) or because he used to be a skier and then became a cyclist (as did I) or because he was the perennial underdog (probably). Whatever, watching Greg attack, win against all odds, come back from injury and show the establishment what could be done was incredibly inspirational.

I was reminded of Greg when I happened across this video today.

The Rapha Continental: Carson City, Nevada with Greg LeMond from RAPHA on Vimeo.

Which of course reminded me of this video.

Which in turn prompted this post.

Say what you will about Greg's reaction to the press doping in cycling has received recently or to the establishment or the way he lived his life since being a professional athlete, the dude seems like a straight shooter to me. If he has gotten into a jam, it's perhaps because he lacks the best filter and says what he thinks? Then again, I don't know the half of it and am just armchair quarterbacking it here.

Thanks Greg. For making this sport called cycling that much more magical to me. Your inspiration and this sport has served me well for most of my life.

Technorati Tags: Greg LeMond,cycling,1989 World Cycling Championships,1989 Tour de France

Open Letter to Pat McQuaid from Greg LeMond

This letter was posted on Greg LeMond's Facebook page earlier today. He asked for help in spreading the word. I'm happy to oblige him. Do I think that Greg was clean? Who knows. For sure I want to believe he was clean but I also wanted to believe Tyler and Floyd and even Lance. I do agree the UCI is messed up. BIG time. And knowing how hard it is for people to change (just look at all the professional cyclists that lied for all these years) I agree with Greg that the UCI leadership should go away. Far away. One thing though, I don't think you should forgo buying a USAC license, not entering local races isn't going to fix this problem. Still, as far as rants go, this is a pretty good one. Enjoy.

Can anyone help me out? I know this sounds kind of lame but I am not well versed in social marketing. I would like to send a message to everyone that really loves cycling. I do not use twitter and do not have an organized way of getting some of my own "rage" out. I want to tell the world of cycling to please join me in telling Pat McQuaid to f##k off and resign. I have never seen such an abuse of power in cycling's history- resign Pat if you love cycling. Resign even if you hate the sport.

Pat McQuaid, you know dam well what has been going on in cycling, and if you want to deny it, then even more reasons why those who love cycling need to demand that you resign.

I have a file with what I believe is well documented proof that will exonerate Paul.

Pat in my opinion you and Hein are the corrupt part of the sport. I do not want to include everyone at the UCI because I believe that there are many, maybe most that work at the UCI that are dedicated to cycling, they do it out of the love of the sport, but you and your buddy Hein have destroyed the sport.

Pat, I thought you loved cycling? At one time you did and if you did love cycling please dig deep inside and remember that part of your life- allow cycling to grow and flourish- please! It is time to walk away. Walk away if you love cycling.

As a reminder I just want to point out that you recently you accused me of being the cause of USADA's investigation against Lance Armstrong. Why would you be inclined to go straight to me as the "cause"? Why shoot the messenger every time?

Every time you do this I get more and more entrenched. I was in your country over the last two weeks and I asked someone that knows you if you were someone that could be rehabilitated. His answer was very quick and it was not good for you. No was the answer, no, no , no!

The problem for sport is not drugs but corruption. You are the epitome of the word corruption.

You can read all about Webster's definition of corruption. If you want I can re-post my attorney's response to your letter where you threaten to sue me for calling the UCI corrupt. FYI I want to officially reiterate to you and Hien that in my opinion the two of your represent the essence of corruption.

I would encourage anyone that loves cycling to donate and support Paul in his fight against the Pat and Hein and the UCI. Skip lunch and donate the amount that you would have spent towards that Sunday buffet towards changing the sport of cycling.

I donated money for Paul's defense, and I am willing to donate a lot more, but I would like to use it to lobby for dramatic change in cycling. The sport does not need Pat McQuaid or Hein Verbruggen- if this sport is going to change it is now. Not next year, not down the road, now! Now or never!

People that really care about cycling have the power to change cycling- change it now by voicing your thought and donating money towards Paul Kimmage's defense, ( Paul, I want to encourage you to not spend the money that has been donated to your defense fund on defending yourself in Switzerland. In my case, a USA citizen, I could care less if I lost the UCI's bogus lawsuit. Use the money to lobby for real change).

If people really want to clean the sport of cycling up all you have to do is put your money where your mouth is.

Don't buy a USA Cycling license. Give up racing for a year, just long enough to put the UCI and USA cycling out of business. We can then start from scratch and let the real lovers in cycling direct where and how the sport of cycling will go.

Please make a difference.

Technorati Tags: Greg LeMond,Pat McQuaid,Hein Verbruggen,Paul Kimmage,UCI,corruption

We can only dream that our kids will be like this...

The video and Malcolm's words say it better than I ever could.

Technorati Tags: mountain biking kids

Hello my name is Dmitry Gunda

The cycling team I belong to has the standard 'contact us' page on our web site and we get a fair number of messages from that form. Yesterday we got a great one.

Message:*: Hello my name is Dmitry Gunda
I'm a cyclist from Ukraine
i am 19 years old
stable rider
the season finished in the top 10
I'm looking the team to continue their careers
  In Ukraine, there is no future for the rider
I've been to the European Championships and even various events in Europe
I ask you to consider my request for membership in your club
Thank you.

I am still cracking up.

Who cares if this is spam, it's hilarious. What was Dmitry thinking I wonder? Did he mass-mail every cycling club in the US in hopes that one of them was a legit team and would pay for his plane ticket over here?

Also, what the heck does 'stable' mean? And top 10 in what? People amaze me.

One the one hand, go Dmitry! On the other hand, get a clue.

Technorati Tags: cyclist from Ukraine,Thumbprint Racing

So you are a great Mountain Bike racer

Funny how memories can be triggered by the most random thing.

I was recently looking at some old email and came across this one from the organizer of the TransPortugal mountain bike race that was sent to me in April of 2005.

So you are a great Mountain Bike racer, you've won podium places in the races you've gone to, or you have been a finisher in the most demanding and outrageous races in the world. You´ve been everywhere and you've done all that with the caring help of your support team and the "provide it all" Race Organizations.

Now, suppose that you have to do it all on your own, in a race where support is not allowed, there are no aid stations along the race track, you race in complete isolation through the most remote country side, alone and following an unmarked trail, no arrows or ribbons.

Just how good a racer are you then?

You will find this challenge in Portugal next June. A different endurance race where your toughness is put to the test in 11 racing days along 1200 kms. But the Transportugal is mostly the race where you challenge your limits. The terrain adversities are numerous but the main adversity is heat.

How good a racer are you when the variables you have to deal with appeal to your best planning ability and adaptability is your wining edge?

How good a racer are you in a race where your younger age and gender is levelled out with the rest of the field, and you can be beaten by an old man or a woman?
Put yourself to the test, come and race in Portugal next summer. See it all in www.supertravessia.com

Best regards
 
ANTONIO MALVAR
CICLONATUR DESPORTOS LDA. Rua Manuel Teixeira Gomes, 15 H
2795 - 540 CARNAXIDE, PORTUGAL Tel: +351214170907

In retrospect I'm not even sure why I got this email. But boy did it plant the seed. And in 2007 I ended up participating in the race. Ah memories…

Oh yeah, everything Antonio claimed about the race was true. The night before each stage they would upload the following days' route to your GPS and then the next morning they simply said, "Go…!" See you at the finish. You had to follow the route or get lost. Competitors were handicapped by age meaning the older you were the bigger your head start was.

Technorati Tags: TransPortugal Garmin,Antonio Malvar,Ciclonatur,GPS

Ceramic bearings? No thanks.

Every so often a disease infects cycling and it spreads like an epidemic. Of course by 'disease' I mean fad and by 'spreading like an epidemic' I mean people seem insistent on shelling out tons of cash for no reason (or just because of effective marketing).

Ceramic bearings was (is?) one of those fads.

On the one hand I am a huge fan of anything that gets people out on bicycles and that pumps up the cycling industry in general but really, how bad do we need things like ceramic bearings? That's rhetorical, we don't.

My own personal experience with ceramic bearings goes something like this.

Some time ago I purchased a new set of wheels. The upcharge for ceramic bearings was minimal so I figured why the hell not! Right? I mean if everything I was reading about these miracle balls was right I was going to be saving some serious watts.

In the shopping process I discovered that cartridge bearings with ceramic balls seem to come in two flavors for the most part.

1. ceramic balls with steel bearing races
2. ceramic balls with ceramic bearing races

The former was reasonably priced - and it's what I got - the later was outrageously expensive.

After only a handful of rides on my new wheels the bearings went from smooth as the proverbial baby's bottom to utter shit. I replaced them with traditional steel bearing cartridges and did some research to find out what the heck happened to my dream wheels. What I discovered is the following.

• The ceramic material in the bearings is MUCH harder than the steel bearing races. Of there is any amount of incorrect load on the bearing cartridge or if the cartridge gets contaminated with even the least bit of dirt the bearings (which are practically indestructible) will grind the races into dust. Figuratively that is. What happened in my case is they wore a grove around the entire race. Not so smooth…
• The seals on these ceramic bearing cartridges did not keep out the water and dirt nearly as well as the seals on the steel bearing cartridges.

One of my favorite newsletters of late is from Neuvation Cycling. John Neugent has been in the cycling industry for ages and in addition to being a talented sourcer of products he has recently discovered some writing aplomb. He always has a 'deal of the day' and it's accompanied by some wit or tech tidbit industry insider news. I love reading it. Here is his newsletter from today and guess what… he agrees with me when it comes to ceramic bearings.

I get asked about ceramic bearings all the time and at one time sold them.  They are still one of the buzz words although the buzz is dying pretty fast.

Ceramic bearings in bikes came about when some Northern Europeans started putting them in pro’s bikes.  Virtually all sealed cartridge bicycle bearings are stock bearings.  I don’t know of any that were created specifically for bikes.

Contrary to popular belief, ceramic bearings gain their performance advantage not from being rounder or harder, their advantage comes because they use a thin grease or oil instead of standard grease and a contact seal that has less contact.  If you take a stock cartridge bearing and change the grease to oil and use the same low contact seal you would have essentially the same performance.

Because of this, we just switched our contact seals to have less contact in all of our wheels..
Steve Hed, of HEAD wheels said it perfectly and I paraphrase “We could find no measureable performance advantage in ceramic bearing wheels in the real world, but we do notice that if you take a wheel and spin it with your fingers that the ceramic wheels will spin better.”  I guess what he’s saying is that if you spin wheels rather than ride them buy ceramics.

Now I know about half of my newsletter readers have ceramic bearings and are not that thrilled with me right now.  All I can tell you is that I sold them too and that there is a lot of advertising out there saying they are better. And yes, the pros do use them but they also take off all of the seals on the TT bikes to gain every single possible advantage.

Thanks for reading – John Neugent

The only bummer now is that it appears ALL of the wheels from Neuvation Cycling will come with what I think are inadequate contact seals. Bummer. Especially if you live in the Pacific NW like I do. Or go mountain biking.

Technorati Tags: ceramic bearings,marketing hype,Neuvation Cycling,John Neugent

roller races at the MVA Season Kick-off Party

Last night was the second time I have ever tried a roller race and it's amazing how they can make even 20 seconds feel like a freaking age!

The first time was just prior to checking out the Bicycle Film Festival way back in 2010 and last night the occasion was the MVA Season Kickoff Party at the Hales Ales Palladium. This is where they hold the annual Moisture Festival by the way. I guess they call it 'moisture' because it's in Seattle…? Whatever.

Back to roller races. They are exciting! And at only 20-25 seconds long very spectator friendly. I was pretty much not going to participate in this spectacle but Tom Wick corralled me and convinced me to ride in the first grudge match of the evening in an attempt to coax the attendees into participating. It worked. It also made my legs pretty shaky!

This facility is awesome. Very warehousey feeling kind cluby at the same time. It was such a contrast to come from the blinding sun into this dark space with a bar and DJ loft and stage and concrete floors.

Belts! They had belts and prizes for all the winners. How thoughtful.

Ringers? Of course there were a few. In fact, right after Tom and I finished up the next pairing contained Harley Sheffield and David Mann.

Go faster legs!

Here are all the pictures and video.

Technorati Tags: roller races,MVA,Marymoor Velodrome Association,Hales Ales Palladium

File this under, "These kids are ready for the circus."

Today Shelley and I wen to the Seattle Bicycle Expo. It was really fun! In addition to all the truly exceptional people watching (are there more nerds personalities in cycling than any other physical activity?) we saw loads of the requisite vintage bikes, some incredibly custom frames, some old friends from when I first started racing and back when I was employed in the bicycle industry and the most amazing show put on by the Laurelhurst Elementary School Unicycling Team.

These kids are nuts.

Here are all the pictures and video. You have GOT to check them all out.

Technorati Tags: Laurelhurst Elementary School,Unicycling Team,Seattle Bicycle Expo,Cascade Bicycle Club

How fast is fast? Stage 4 of the Tour of Qatar was.

How about 52 kph? That's over 32 mph and how it's how much road was covered during the beginning of stage 4 in the 2012 Tour of Qatar. FOR THE ENTIRE FIRST HOUR.

And then guys get ridden off of the leader's wheels. The average speed for the entire stage? Over 48 kph. Just nuts. Please pass the 11.

Technorati Tags: Tour of Qatar,stage 4

Go Paul E!

A friend of mine just got into the Dirty Kanza 200.

First of all, congratulations Paul, this event only accepts 350 entrants and this year it sold out in 2:38. Amazing.

Secondly, how cool is this race? That's rhetorical, it's freaking epic.

• It is 200 miles long.
• It is on dirt.
• It is a ROAD race for ROAD bikes.
• There is no support.
• Check out the scenery. Oh god, what amazing scenery…

From the rider's bible.

"If you do not feel you are prepared to meet such a challenge, please stay home. (For your sake, as well as ours.)"

Technorati Tags: Dirty Kanza 200,Shoestring Racing,Paul Errengton

See Hovding In Action!

Oh my f'ing god. Is this for real? I guess it had to happen sooner or later; check out this inflatable (like a car air bag!) bicycle helmet.

Behold the 'before' shot.

And the 'after' shot.

Nice. Now go see it in action: http://www.hovding.com/en/film/

All I gotta say is good thing I only fall down once per ride.

Technorati Tags: Hovding,airbag for cyclists

movies really are the new pictures

You know the expression,' A picture is worth a thousand words."? Well let me just say that a movie is worth a boat load of pictures.

It seems like a lifetime ago now but back in 2003 I competed participated in La Ruta de los Conquistadores and the memories are still vividly etched in my brain. I just saw this movie of stage four and it brought them all flooding back.

Here are a few things I remember clearly that have not changed one bit

• Road closures…? What you talking about…? Seriously, bikes AND the race caravan were all over the road.
• Pictures, even movies, do not do justice to the incline of the roads and trails.
• That helmet cam has extremely;y good anti-vibration software. Those railroad ties are freaking bumpy!
• Beaches can be fun to ride on but a bear to race on. And watch out for falling coconuts.
• That last left turn onto the beach at the finish is heavenly. I wanted to ride right into the surf.

Technorati Tags: La Ruta de los Conquistadores

Just more amazing bike riding!

As one person put, it, "And another video was born containing not even a single iota of anything that is possible for me to do on a bike…"

And I love it so.

LOTEK/GARRETT REEVES from Lotek on Vimeo.

Technorati Tags: BMX

one man, one dream, one speed, 100 miles

Occasionally one feels the need to strike out and try new things. in 2011 that new 'thing' I wanted to try was racing my single speed mountain bike. I've ridden a single speed and fixed gear road bike for years but in the dirt…? That was totally new.

I was originally inspired by my friend Tom L who I met when we both competed in TransPortugal. This guy shows up on a 3-speed, fully rigid mountain bike and does very well! Since then I met others that rode single speeds in the woods and even a single speed mountain bike tandem(!) so obviously I was not going to breaking any new ground here.

But it was so damn exciting! One of the appeals about riding a single speed on the road is the huge mental relief. You never need to worry about what gear you should be in because you only have one. With that incentive in mind I built my bike and headed out for a ride with friends.

My first outing was a 25-30 mile north of Lake Wenatchee. We started out with a significant climb and ended with a significant and rocky descent. And to my surprise I did just fine… Oh sure, the pace was pretty social but even when it hotted up some on occasion I was able to hang.

Next up I tried Tiger Mountain which is NW staple. Again I did okay. So let's raise the bar shall we?

This summer I have been competing in the NW Epic Series and it has been 1) fun, 2) a learning experience and 3) hard because I chose the long course for each event. The final in the series is tomorrow; it's the Capitol Forest 100 and I don't mind admitting that I am just a little nervous.

Back in the day I competed in a couple of 100-mile mountain bike races in OR but that was then (read: a LONG time ago when I was young and foolish) and it was never on a single speed bike much less a fully rigid bike.

This series is unique in that the races are extremely well supported. There are food/drink stops every 10 ish miles and after almost literally not needing my CamelBak for the first two events I am going to leave it at home for this finale. That's right, think light and fast.

I was looking over the finishing times from last year and the fastest geared bikes were coming in in around 9-9.5 hours. A guy I know that is a little faster than me did it in 9:47. Single speed bikes were 10.5-11 hours. My stated goal is to go under 11. Hopefully if I eat and drink intelligently that's attainable. There has been one single speeder that has been absolutely killing it in the series this year and I know he's out of reach. But on a good day I think I can compete for 2nd? At the last race I got 3rd by not so much. Then again, it might be a totally different field for this much longer event and if all the genetic freaks come out all bets are off.

Another stated goal is to have fun and not let the race mentality take over. 11 hours is way too long to be stranded in the forest hating life on some death march so I need to remember to have fun, enjoy the view, the trail and remember why I ride a bike in the first place. Because I like it.

Nothing like going big. Here's hoping I don't have to go home prematurely.

Technorati Tags: Capitol Forest 100,NW Epic Series,single speed mountain bike

Dead Baby Bikes Downhill

Counter your culture people because the biggest(?) alternative cycling event in Seattle is just one month away. Check out this video from last year.

Tall bike jousting - yes!

You absolutely, positively want to enter this at your own risk.

http://www.deadbabybikes.org/DBB.html

Technorati Tags: Dead Baby Bikes Downhill

Trials of Lance Episode 3: Lance and Fabiani on Web PR

.I am really starting to like TheThirdFrankie.

The Internet has so much to teach us. One lesson too often forgotten is that when you register one domain (like facts4lance.com for example) it might behoove you to also register some other common domains like .net and .org. Especially when it's so damn cheap and you are trying to bolster someone's public image.

WARNING – facts4lance.org is not safe for work. Unless your work is cruising that is

Technorati Tags: Lance Armstrong,doping,Mark Fabiani,facts4lance.com,facts4lance.org

Trials of Lance Episode 2: Lance and Fabiani Talk PR

This has quickly become a must see YouTube channel for sure.

Technorati Tags: Lance Armstrong,doping,Mark Fabiani