Regular Feature #2?

Word of Blog...

Starting back with the comment rich made:

Did you digest his comment on Nys' speed... 22mph avg... on a very sandy cross course... good christ...

Regarding Brooke's Tonkin Interview.

Yeah. I caught that. That is wicked fast. Not just fast, but like FAST. And it made me think a little about components and gear.

Specifically that front crank. COULD you do that with a single ring up front? I wonder. I just haven't noticed many of the super fast guys running singles, meaning, like Euro Pros or the Domestic guys who go to Belgium (ie Tonkin). It would seem ya NEED to have that 46 or 47 or 48 on there to get the speed ya need without turning into some track spinster.

Advantage? Running a 36-38-39 inner ring instead of a 42 with a 27 in the rear gives ya some solid low grunt gearing. And like solobreak says: you don't HAVE to use the low gear. But it is there if you NEED it.

Anyway.

Reading the Bummer Life (how to avoid) it brought memories of the Swobo booth (back in their orignial incarnation) at CABDA (chicago area bike dealers association). And that brought on the name of the guy from the shop, the quintessential swobo wearer. Stemler. STEMLER we'd yell across the shop. Great guy. Stew Demler was the alternate name. He had headed out of Michigan to somewhere in the southwest. And so i figured hell can i pick up his name anywhere with a google search? His photography skills were mad mad mad. AMAZING shit. He had that eye. Anyway. There he is, wrench science!

Okay so not really word of blog, more of memory lane.

Back to the word of blog.

CPQ#8 is back.

Again some killer responses...
Always my favorite question is #24:

24. In three words or less, describe how you feel about top mount cross brake levers.
Amature.

#36 is good too:

36. Any words of advice for those new to cyclocross?
Do lots of intervals and mounting/dismounting practice.

And on the other tell it like it is front.
Myles gets a bit frank on Cyclocross Magazine.

Because i feel pretty much the same way as he does i'm quoting the whole 'rant':

“The area we live in is pretty into minority rights,” says Romanow. “And quite frankly, I’ve always personally believed that Katie Compton and Lyne Bessette should be racing longer than a 15 year-old Belgian teenager. And they should be racing for the same prize money as men, or maybe one lap less than the boys and perhaps prorate the prize list accordingly. The point is, $800 for a field is bullshit. Even if a rider wins, her prize money may not even cover her airfare. And we’ve had women’s lib for 40 years? Come on! It’s just as bad in Europe. Christine Vardaros keeps telling me they are trying to give her cans of soup and clogs for winning races over there. Now I’m certainly not saying I deserve accolades and angels and cherubs playing songs for our race — although we have been known to hire some pretty good punk bands. I like watching the women’s races. And I think some of the most compelling personalities in the sport right now are women. Katie Compton probably draws more people to more races than any other ‘cross racer in America, male or female. More importantly, my sponsors like watching the women race. They want to see the very best come to their town and they’re willing to pay for it.”

Right on.

Oh and Caffeine. How much is good? Read up at the Feedzone.

This has to be one of the funniest items i've seen in a while. Too bad no one can see da words when you are riding!

Mr CrossNut.com mentioned his wife has a Croll. And that he had met with Walter and all to get it. Well. Decided to dig around. Croll disappeared pretty soon after i got my frame. I think i figured it all out. This link sheds a bit of light. My Croll doesn't have Walter's name anywhere. The paint job is abysmal. Clear coat is flaking off and scratched up. Soft and bad. And mine is TIG'd 725, not lugged. But. It is still my bike. I must have bought it from the Bicycle Factory (what ever that is, info? email me with some) after they got the name and stickers from Walter. Ah well. 'sall good. I got a nice steel cross bike. Okay. Retract that. I got a steel cross bike, that fits. It even has a new chain.

And it has new Rubber.

I gotta say. Those Racing Ralphs are nice. NICE. Sure, they ain't FMB/Challenge/Dugast. Not even tubular. But. They hook up a bit better than the Baldy and the Vreds.

But that said. I do feel like i have a solid quiver of tires to cover all courses.
Mud? Bring on the Vreds. Flipping the BEST gd mudder tire i've ridden. Sure, they are 28s, wicked skinny, but they hook up like velcro in mud.
Hard pack fast? Baldys. I'll probably run the Baldys at courses like Glawster
Amsebury type courses? Ralphs... i'll probably bounce back and forth between the Baldys and the Ralphs unless the weather gets funky.

One big (pun intended) advantage the Ralphs have is the 35c is freaking HUGE. As big as my 38c Serfas commuters. I ran them at the "Factory" low point of 3.5 Bar. Yeah, that was alot of pressure, and no, i didn't bottom them out. Too many years of riding rocky sh!t on an unsuspended Mt Bike i guess conditioned me.

Oh.

Last comment.

Solobreak posted somewhere (too lazy to dig it up) about the practice getting on and off the bike at a walking pace.

THERE ISN'T BETTER ADVICE OUT THERE. If you want to get rid of the stutter step remount. IS your remount not smooth? Do you stutter step?

Do it at a walking pace. remount 100 times in a row. AFTER a hard ride. Don't do it with fresh legs. Do you EVER have fresh legs when you are remounting the bike?

take exactly the same steps everytime when remounting. The left right left on the bike (1, 2, 3 on) is the best advice i've found. It gives you a specific rhythm and it gives the bike time to settle down after putting it on the ground.

Greg mentioned wanting to do 1000 remounts before the season started. I think i got close. Maybe only about 500-600. But. lemme tell you the difference it has made.

It doesn't take more than 15 minutes at the end of a ride to practice it. Commuting home? Ditch the bag, grab the cross bike (if it ain't your commuter) and head out the door for a few minutes. Do that 2x a week, 50 is a minimum number in my opinion per session, and you can rock star the remounts. Walking pace. 200 or more over 2-3 sessions and then start speeding it up. Not before.

I did manage to get out for the run part of Cross training last night. 15 minutes. I was really tired. I tried pushing it but the HR never topped 165. Not once, not even when i was doing some speed intervals (short bursts between slowish running).

But i did get the running done. It hurt. But hopefully it means less hurt in Glawster.

Get out and hurt. It is supposed to make you faster.
G