Cycling Miscellany

[RC Vikings]

It cost around $240 but was worth every penny as the bike felt brand new on yesterday's ride. Having a bike shop that's competent, trustworthy and reasonably priced is a very good thing.

Couldn't agree with you more. Nothing bother me has much on my bike as some unwanted noise and to have a bike shop that can figure it out is truly a tender mercy.

Good to know. Any thoughts on bar tape? Is it a commodity, or are some better than others? The tape on my road bike is unraveling, and I'd like to get some new tape on there.

Cincelli tape is cool. A lot of companies make nice bar tape anymore but the day I make up my retro bike it will have Cincelli tape on it.

[OceanBlue]

Did my first 100k this morning. Had the option to do a 100 miler but I'll try that later this summer.

[Joe Public]

I just got my bike back from the shop. I went with Lizard Skins for the bar tape. It looks promising.

[mtnbiker]

I'm back on the trail again after my son welded the rear triangle. Santa Cruz didn't have any 9-year-old parts hanging around, and the only things I found online were entire bikes, not just rear triangles. Fortunately, my son is a very good welder and was able to re-weld the frame. I taped it off and sprayed with rattle-can primer and automotive paint, but it looks like it's chipped already. Oh, well, just shows it really gets ridden.

So much for that. The frame broke again, in the same spot. I ended up getting a 29-er, and have about 3 rides on it so far. Even though it's the same suspension type, it's a little strange getting used to the larger wheels, longer wheelbase, and slightly different compression & rebound characteristics of the bike. It floats over rough terrain more easily, but it still feels a bit odd on the steeps. I'm also finally on tubeless tires, which is nice considering some of the rocky terrain on some trails, where I always had to be careful in some spots or I'd get pinch flats.

[bluegoose]

Here's a good read about Barry bonds current role in the cycling world. Has taken a pro women's team under his wing. Mentions several times that cycling has saved his sanity and even possibly saved his life.

http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/1...shifting-gears

[Moliere]

As the grand tours begin to kickoff, here's one of my all time favorite clips:

[Moliere]

Anyone else following the Giro? Contador went down yesterday in a bad crash right before the finish. Looks like he dislocated his shoulder, but didn't break anything. He got some ice and rest and went back out and rode 264km finishing in 30th place on the day and losing only 3 seconds. Granted it was a flat course, but that is a crazy thing to do on a recently dislocated shoulder. It'll be interesting to see how he does on a serious climb when he has to really get out of the seat and push it.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/...est-day_370351

[Dwight Schr-ute]

Anyone else following the Giro? Contador went down yesterday in a bad crash right before the finish. Looks like he dislocated his shoulder, but didn't break anything. He got some ice and rest and went back out and rode 264km finishing in 30th place on the day and losing only 3 seconds. Granted it was a flat course, but that is a crazy thing to do on a recently dislocated shoulder. It'll be interesting to see how he does on a serious climb when he has to really get out of the seat and push it.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/...est-day_370351

You obviously missed my post in the "Questions for Doctors" thread. Not following closely, just casually. I can't imagine having to spend that much time in the saddle with a dislocated shoulder. They had to make a special pink jersey just so he could put it on. We'll see how well he does coming off the rest day tomorrow.

Also interesting to see the Giro and Tour of California going at the same time. Crazy that the event has gotten big enough that guys like Sagan would leave Europe for it instead of riding the Giro. A nice option to ramp up for the Tour.

[Moliere]

Sagan's victory today was awesome. It was even better given the ride he had yesterday on the mt baldy climb. Very cool of him to have won a semi-decent tour.

[mtnbiker]

Crazy that the event has gotten big enough that guys like Sagan would leave Europe for it instead of riding the Giro. A nice option to ramp up for the Tour.

Well, they can't be in top form for 3 straight months. Riding the Giro would take too much out of a rider to be a realistic threat in the Tour. Much better to ramp up to top form by riding some shorter races. Wasn't the ToC raced earlier in the year in past years? I think the change to a later date on the calendar has helped to attract talent, too. Seems like they had some pretty awful weather in the past.

[bluegoose]

Cycling Miscellany

The Atoc started out the first couple of years in February. Nice idea, but the weather can be pretty iffy that month throughout the state. May was a much better choice, knowing that the weather would be a little more predictable and that they would get a few good riders for the reasons MTB mentioned.

This year they did a public ride/race of the course in conjunction with the main pro race. Not sure of all of the details, but a friend of mine here in town just finished the entire race route today. He logged it all on strava, so it was pretty cool to be able to follow his daily progress. A ton of miles, with a couple of the stages being crazy hard.

He said mount Hamilton was steep, but taking it easy on the lower slopes made the upper parts manageable.

I think it was Friday or Saturdays stage that was a monster. 81 miles with almost 12,000 feet of climbing. He was pretty whooped after that one.

He'll have to reintroduce himself to his family when he gets home. Not only was it a solid week on the road for the race but he was spending up to 20 hours per week training for the last several months. That, on top of being a very busy orthopedic surgeon. Seems pretty crazy to me, but he was happy to have done it and done it well but the sounds of it.

[Dwight Schr-ute]

Doh!

http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/...as-help_370932

[Moliere]

Doh!

http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/...as-help_370932

Seems like a dumb rule. I wonder what caused it to become a rule.

[creekster]

Seems like a dumb rule. I wonder what caused it to become a rule.

I think it's to maintain the integrity of the team concept. Otherwise you might have rampant abuse of national or ethnic affiliation, exactly as shown by Clarke and Porte here. It has happened a few times before (especially with the Spanish and the basque, as I recall) but that is pretty blatant.

[Moliere]

I think it's to maintain the integrity of the team concept. Otherwise you might have rampant abuse of national or ethnic affiliation, exactly as shown by Clarke and Porte here. It has happened a few times before (especially with the Spanish and the basque, as I recall) but that is pretty blatant.

That's interesting in light of the fact that it's almost certain the peloton would have slowed down to wait for Porte if they weren't already near the end and trying to catch a break away. Cycling seems to have some "gentlemanly" rules, which aren't written, one being that you shouldn't lose a race due to a mechanical. Didn't Ulrich once stop and wait for Armstrong back in the day?