My new Lynskey Cyclocross frame arrived on Friday. It is sweet! Got it built up this weekend and it came in at a whopping 16.4 pounds! I got some TI axles for my Egg Beater 2TI pedals, so that helped shed a little extra weight off the bike. I have already replaced every steel bolt on the bike with a Titanium one from Hyper Bolts. I really don’t have any more upgrades I can do to it, so I guess this one is done. Special thanks to my generous sponsors; Ritchey and Crank Brothers for supplying me great parts for my rig and to Lynskey for building me a frame that exceeded my expectations. Here is the parts spec:

Frame: Lynskey Pro Cross (Size Medium)
Fork: Ritchey WCS
Headset: Chris King
Stem: Ritchey WCS 4-Axis
Handlebar: Ritchey WCS Classic
Shifters: Campagnolo Record 10 speed
Front Derailleur: Campagnolo Record 10 speed
Rear Derailleur: Campagnolo Record 10 speed
Crank: Campagnolo Record Ultra-Torque 10 speed Compact
Pedals: Crank Brothers Egg Beater 3TI

Cassette: Campagnolo Record 10 speed 12-25

Chain: KMC X10
Brakes: Paul Neo Retro w/ Kool Stop Cross Pad Holders
Seatpost: Easton EC90 Zero
Saddle: Fizik Aliante TI
Wheels: Zipp 404 Cyclocross
Tires: TUFO Flexus Primus 700x34 Tubular

I will post a review of the bike after the first race.

Cross Season and a New Bike to Start It Out Right!

It has been a while since I posted and I apologize for that. My favorite race season of the year is just around the corner and man am I stoked this year. Cyclocross!!!! Check out the www.kansascitycross.com if you are not familiar with cyclocross. I really don’t know what to expect out of my body this year. Taking close to a year off the bike was not the best idea I ever had and it has been and still is a hard road back. Training has been going well, but I really don’t expect any podium finishes this year. I am sure everybody I used to race against has moved up a category or 2 and I will be fending for myself this year. I have heard tale that the fields are a lot bigger than they used to be, so that should make it more interesting. I guess my goal for this season is to get my skill set honed and hopefully Cat up to a 3 by the end of the season.

I should have my new cross rig built up by next weekend. The folks at Lynskey have been nothing but the best to work with. They have done everything in their power to make sure my buying experience was perfect. If you are not familiar with Lynskey, they are the people that started Litespeed. They sold Litespeed a few years back and decided to get back into the Titanium frame building business again. Anyhow, they are building me a cross frame to replace the used Seven Muse I bought off eBay a few years back. The Seven just never fit me quite right, as it was really 1 size too big. I am building the Lynskey up with Campagnolo Record 10 speed. I swapped out every bolt I could with a Titanium one and spec'd it with all the lightest and stongest parts I could. As the old saying goes, "Light, Strong, Cheap - Pick Two." I want this to be THE cyclocross bike!

I guess the big news is that I have made a commitment to ride cross tubulars this year, so I had to get a couple of sets of tubular wheels to mount them to. I sold some wheels and other spare parts to pay for them, but ended up making enough to get a set of Zipp 404 Cyclocross wheels and a set of Williams 58 Carbon tubulars. No question who Zipp is and they make quality stuff, but Williams is a fairly new brand that uses non-dimpled Zipp 404 rims and Ceramic Hybrid bearings in their hubs. I mounted 700 x 34 Tufo Flexus Primus tubulars to the Zipps, as they are going to be my main race wheels. The Williams are going to be mounted up with 700 x 32 Tufo Cubus tires and will be my mud/snow/ice/rough/crap course wheels. I am a little nervous about running carbon wheels only during the season, but there are a lot of people who are running them on their cross bikes now-a-days, so I am going to give it a shot.

The bike should build up at sub 17 pounds, which is pretty light for a cross bike. I will post pics, specs and the final weight when I get it built. It should be one sweet ride………………

Paci’s Bicycle Rally

I wanted to post this for my friend Joe and for all bicyclists out there on our roadways. On June 18th about 7:00 PM on N. Cherry leading out of NKC, a driver purposely struck Joe Pace while he was riding his bicycle. Joe was riding with Anne single file up N. Cherry, when they heard a motorist come up behind them blaring on his horn (this has happened to about all of us). Joe told Anne to just get as far over as she could, so the car could pass. The motorist came around Anne making sure he got as close as he could get to her and then purposely swerved into Joe, who was just a little farther up the road, striking him with the side of his car. Joe’s left arm and wrist took most of the impact, while the rest of his body slammed into the vehicle. Joe then crashed onto the street, hitting his hip and head on the pavement (he had a helmet on). The driver sped off, without knowing if he had seriously injured somebody or worse. Thank goodness Joe’s injuries aren’t life threatening and he is going to recover. There were witnesses who got a description of the car and the driver, but no license plate number. A police report was filed and a $500 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of this criminal.
Joe is having a bike rally at is Restaurant/Bar, Paci’s, on Saturday, June 27th at 7:00 AM. The rally will be covered by Channel 9 News. They are doing a cover story on the Heart of America Bridge and why the city should make bicycle lanes on it. Steve Mahoney interviewed Joe and Anne for the story and are hoping to use Joe’s story as a lead in to the Heart of America bike lane piece.
The address for Paci’s is 1825 Buchanan, NKC, MO. If you can make it on June 27th at 7:00 AM, that would be great. Hopefully we can help raise awareness that bicycles are out on the roads and we have just as much right to use the roads as cars do and maybe we can get the guy who hit Joe off the street, before he attacks another cyclist.

Take It Easy on the Commuters

Thought you would find this funny. I was riding a casual pace into work this morning and I am going up one of the many climbs on my route. I see this guy on his bike come up behind me and then downshift his gears and attack me on the hill. I am trying to decide if I just let him go or counter-attack. Well, I decide to just let him go, because I was not in the team kit and he was a nobody to me - just a guy on a training ride. Then, when I crest the hill, I start seeing him looking back over his shoulder. There were no cars in sight, so I knew he was seeing how big a gap he had on me. It was a pretty good gap, as I never turned a pedal in anger to catch up to him. He was pedaling like crazy on the downhill and I thought to myself, "it is time to put this guy away". So, I dropped the hammer. I ended up passing him on the next uphill section and didn't let up. As far as I was concerned, this guy was going for my podium spot and that wasn't going to happen. I could see him in my mirror giving it all he had, but so was I. He was never able to catch me and my hope is that he thinks twice before attacking a commuter with a rear bike rack and bag the next time. He's lucky I wasn't on my road bike, without the 10-15 pounds of extra gear. I would have really demoralized his a$$. I was toast by the time I let up, but I finally lost sight of him and I figured that was a job well done. Don't let the plain clothes full you…...

KC BikeWeek 2009

Well, this is the first year that I did not sign up for the CarFree Challenge. My new contract does not start until next week, so I really don't need to go anywhere this week. So I elected to not participate this year. I am bummed as it is always a good time riding in with my good friend Chris Locke. I want to wish everyone participating this year a safe and trouble free ride. Go Cow Town!

OK, I Admit It, I am a TI Freak

There is no denying it, I am a Titanium freak. I went from a steel Panasonic DX-4000 in 1988 to a carbon Kestrel 200 SCI and then I bought my first TI road frame back in 1999 (a Litespeed Vortex). Titanium bikes offer the gold standard of ride quality -- incredibly lightweight, forgiving and stable while maintaining lateral stiffness, all while being much more durable than carbon fiber. What more can I say? I can't get enough of the stuff. All my rigs are titanium now, so I guess I am done....... Currently I have a Seven Axiom w/ Campagnolo Record, a Seven Muse w/ Campagnolo Record/Chorus mix, a Ritchey BreakAway TI Cross w/ Campagnolo Chorus and a Seven Duo with Shimano XTR. Here are some pics of my current stable.

A Little Here, A Little There

Since my last post, I've been trying to ride at least 15-20 miles a day, as time allows. Sometimes I make it out, sometimes I don't. Went for a 38 mile ride this morning with Chris Locke and his wife Carolynn. They were on their tandem and I was on my trusty Seven Axiom. It was one of the nicest days yet. The wind was low and the temps were in the 60's. I met them up at Worth Harley Davidson and we headed over to and down 210, then up through Liberty and Pleasant Valley to home. I felt great, but definately not fast yet. I should blame it on being out late at my buddy Art's house, but I am still just out of shape.

Good times and good friends, that's hard to beat. Besides Art, my long time friends Jim and Steve were there, as well as others. I've known these guys since High School or longer and we all still hang out and torture our wives with stories of the good old days. Always a good time. Well, Art got the Pacquiao-Hatton fight on pay-per-view. Man, if you didn't get to see it, check out the hi-light of the TKO in the 2nd round. Pacquiao clocked him into next week. He was hit so hard, that his ears shook (no kidding). I clocked out at about 11:30 and headed home since I was riding Sunday morning with the Lockes, but things were still going strong when I left.

I am really enjoying the bike again, so hopefully I can ramp up the training and get ready for some road racing prior to a full cyclo-cross season. I hope to at least do the Tour of Lawrence and the Tour of KC.