BEWARE OF KMC CHAINS

NEVER buy a KMC chain. I have broken 2 in less than 17 miles. The second one destroyed the outer cage on my Campagnolo Record front derailleur. Use them if you dare, but they are dead to me.

Going Nowhere

I can’t even remember the last time I posted, so I thought I would update on my winter training. I started a spin class at work the first week of January, do to all the cold weather we have been having (no relief in sight). It started out as just me, then after a couple of days, another guy joined me. We are now up to 5 strong on most days. It is great having the opportunity to “ride” at lunch. We generally follow along with one of the Spinervals videos or the Carmichael CTS Training Series. The favorite one of mine is the original Cyclerobx video that was the precursor to the Spinervals series. I’m not sure if I am getting anything out of the spin classes, other than the fact that I am maintaining my cyclocross season fitness. I guess we will find out when I do my next Threshold Test on February 20th.

Although I planned to participate in all of the Gravel Grinder Series, I only made it to one of them. I went to the Paola, KS ride with Guru. The ride itself was a blast, but the aftermath is what has kept me from going back. The conditions that day started out cold and then as the day progressed, it warmed up enough to thaw the gravel roads into a gravel mud mess. I was covered in gritty gravel mud by the day's end, as was my bike. This is where the aftermath begins. I get back home and my garden hose is frozen, so I can’t spray my bike clean. I had to Spray-N-Wash all of my clothes before throwing them in the laundry. Ended up having to wash them twice and they still ended up being slightly stained (strike 1). The next day, my hose was thawed after throwing it in the garage, so I sprayed my bike as clean as I could get it. My chain was in really bad shape, so I soaked it in paint thinner for a couple of days and then soaked it in synthetic motor oil for another 2 days – it works, but still needs replaced (strike 2). I noticed my crank was a little rough, so I pulled it and the Non-Drive side bearing is trashed (strike 3). I also noticed that my brake pads didn’t fair so well and will most likely need replaced as well (strike 4?). So, that ride is going to end up costing me close to $75 in parts to recover. I don’t mind regular mud, snow, rain or even the cold for that matter, but you can keep the “gravel mud”. I don't want to discourage anybody from doing the gravel grinders, because they are a blast, but I think I will stick to the pavement and my trainer this winter.

Speaking of trainers, I’m using a Kurt Kinetic Pro and I would highly recommend it to anyone. It is quiet, smooth, stable and has a great progressive resistance curve. Don’t let the sticker price scare you away, as this is a one time investment (lifetime and crash replacement warranty) and will actually help to make riding indoors just a little more enjoyable. All the manufactures talk about simulating road feel, but I don’t know what that means, quite honestly. I have never been on a trainer that feels like riding on the road. The only thing that feels like riding on the road is, well, riding on the road. So, if you are seriously considering a trainer, check out the Kurt Kinetic Pro. I’m not sponsored by them or getting kickbacks, but I hate riding on the trainer and this one works so well, that it is actually not that bad to ride indoors anymore.

Xtranormal

I have watched a few of these xtranormal movies and they crack me up, so I made one about one of the many conversations I have with the Cross Guru.

De Stad Cyclocross Van Mud Bath

The final event of the De Stad Cyclocross Van Kansas Series was Sunday, November 15. I would have to say that it was definitely the most memorable event of the series. Chris Locke had truly designed what I thought was a great course for the Series and Kansas State Championships. It did not favor either the mountain biker or the roadie. The course had its normal start on the brick pave’ and dumped into the grass at the normal place where the brick ends and the pavement begins. Then it turned slightly upward towards the wheel pit and snaked through this cool little wooded section, before diving down a long descent and turning back up another hill which switched back to head down through a wooded section towards the ball field and a small run-up that was ride-able for some. After that section, you curved around the ball field toward Mt. De Stad, a gigantic wall that only a few could ride up. Once you climbed the giant, you worked your way down along the brick road, on the grass though, past the start line to the Spiral of Despair. The spiral basically circled in on itself and back out again. It would look cool from the sky, I am sure. Once out of the spiral, you worked your way through some turns to Chamois Butt’R Alley which ran along the pond and used the pond itself as the outside course marker. After the alley, you snaked up through a wooded section and back onto the brick pave’. The brick section took you up to the opposite side of the road where you had to climb a small hill and then ride an off camber section to a nice short flowing downhill corner that took you along the brick road in the grass towards the Cow Town Barriers. After the barriers, you did a U-turn and headed up the brick pave’ towards the finish line. It was truly a thing of beauty.

Now, take everything I just said and throw it out the window. The class that raced at 10:00 AM was the only one to enjoy the course as it was meant to be. It started to rain steady at about 11:00 AM, just in time for the start of the Master’s races. The course turned to soup pretty quickly and those that could ride in it had a huge advantage. I tried to watch the Master’s closely enough to see who was riding the mud well and how they were riding it. Cow Town’s Tige Lamb and Local Cycling's Mark Studnicki were battling back and forth through the entire race for first and second. On the final lap, Mark had his front wheel wash out on him, so Tige put in an attack to open a gap that Mark was unable to close and won the Kansas State Championship for the Master’s 35+ Category. Congratulations Tige! After the race, I asked Tige if he had any pointers and he said to basically avoid taking the line through the corners and try to take them wide to avoid the mud. That was my quick lesson of how to race in the mud, because this was going to be my first muddy race.

I lined up at the start of the Master's 35+ CAT4 race and was in a good position, 5th I think, exiting off the pave’. We went past the wheel pit and that is where the fun began. The cool section that went through the woods after that was a sloppy mess. Nobody was hammering through it, because if they did, they would have ended up on the deck. The long downhill stayed in good shape, but the uphill after it was a challenge to climb, as it was nothing but mud. I was maintaining my position, when the guy in front of me lost it on a sharp corner and went down hard on a stake. I tried to avoid him, but when I made a sudden movement in the mud, my front tire washed out and I was passed by 3 or 4 guys. I tried to get going again, but we were all riding at the same speed. Now, I am sitting in about 9th and trying to claw my way back, when we get to the little run-up and the guy in front of me loses it on his dismount and then he couldn’t get unclipped from his pedal, so I got passed by about 3 or 4 more people. I tried to get settled down, so I could focus on the task at hand, which was pulling back the 8 guys that passed me, including my teammate Jeff. I bombed down the hill towards Mt. De Stad and on the run-up the hill, the guy in front of me slipped out and I had to change direction and go around him. Are you seeing a pattern here? No problems on the downhill leading to the Spiral of Death and I actually was gaining some ground back on the people who passed me. We got to Chamois Butt’r Alley and the pond bank was deep rutted sticky mud. I tried to ride it on the high side, but I got stuck in a deep rut and had to unclip. That was the race for me. The gap opened back up and I could not close it. The rest of the race was most of the same, but I didn’t lose anymore places. That is cyclocross racing for you. Anything and everything can happen during a race. I ended up finish 14th out of 25 on the day.
I was unable to really watch any of the other races, do to my volunteer activities associated with helping out at the event, but I do know that Cow Town's Christopher Locke won the Junior Men's Series Title and Tige Lamb won the Master's 30+ Kansas State Championship. Congratulations to both of them!

Chris has already called me to see when we can go out to work on repairing the grounds. There are a few other races still to come around the area, but this was probably the last race of the year for me. It is time to start re-building my engine for next season as a CAT3. Stay tuned……

Veteran's Cyclocross

Today was the Veteran's Cyclocross event, which is part of the De Stad Van Kansas Cyclocross Series. The course seemed very hilly to me for some reason. There were 3 fast long descents, one of which was fairly technical through the woods. Other than that, it seemed like I was climbing the rest of the time.

I rolled up to the start line and my legs just felt bad. I was thinking that it was just pre-race nerves, but once the race started, I realized that wasn't the case. I was hanging in about 5th place until about half way through the first lap, then the lights just went out. It has been a while since I melted down so quickly. My mouth was total cotton and the insides of my lips were sticking to my teeth. Maybe I wasn't hydrated enough and that just caused me to shut down. Who knows, but it was a bad day for me physically. I conserved what I could and ended up finishing 12th out of 19. Not really the finish I wanted, but I was just thankful to finish today. I know results probably won't come this year, but I sure would like to crack the top 10 at some point. Heck, I wouldn't even care if that meant getting 10th out of 10 starters.

On the bright side, I didn't have any mechanical problems this week, so hopefully that trend continues. Stay tuned.......

I Just Can’t Catch A Break!

Cyclocross season has been a lot of fun this year, but I just can’t catch a break. The Smithville course had a lot of turns, a lot a straight-aways and it really tested your fitness. Chris designed an epic course! I lined up with the Master’s Cat4 35+ and got a great start, solidly sitting in 3rd around the first bend off of the pavement starting straight. I was feeling good and had a lot of motivation, and then it all ended on about the 3rd sharp corner. I heard and felt a thud and my rear wheel would not move. I had rolled my tubular tire off the rim. I shouldered the bike and started to run the 1 mile back to the wheel pit to get my spare bike. Bill Anderson hollered at me to roll the tire back on the rim and ride to the wheel pit. I had not even thought about that with all that adrenalin pumping through me. So I stopped and managed to roll the tire back on the rim. In the meantime, the entire field had passed me and opened an enormous gap. Bill reminded me to take it easy through the corners and hammer it on the straight-aways. So, that’s what I did. I could never really develop a rhythm on the first lap and it seemed really slow, but I managed to reel in a few people before getting to the wheel pit to switch bikes. Then it was game on. I can’t remember a time that I have ever ridden so hard. I just kept pushing as hard as I could, eventually blowing up and having to ease up a bit. I ended up bringing back 10 people and finishing 14th out of 24 starters. My results really don’t reflect how hard I rode today, but believe me; I made up a ton of ground to get to 14th. I would have to say that this was one of my best performances to date.

I have been having a lot of bad luck this year; broken skewer, dropped chains, bad starting positions and now a rolled tubular tire. Chris called to give me a hard time and asked if I wanted him to look my bikes over. It’s frustrating, but I am really close to having everything dialed in. The broken skewer was do to a poor Taiwanian design, the K-Edge chain catcher will take care of the dropped chains, I am trying to make sure I get to the starting line early enough to line up in a decent position and the rolled tubular tire was the result of using an old can of glue. Hopefully after I re-glue the tires with fresh glue, I will be set. Stay tuned……….

Lynskey Pro Cross Review

Thought it was time to post a review of my new Lynskey Pro Cross. Lynskey is a name that some people may not be familiar with, but the Lynskey family founded Litespeed Titanium Bicycles in 1986. They sold Litespeed in 1999 and in 2006, formed the company that bears their name, Lynskey Performance Designs. These are the folks that are solely responsible for my titanium obsession. I remember the first time I laid eyes on the Litespeed Ultimate in 1998. To me that was the coolest looking frame of that era with its curved seat tube, bladed down tube and curved seat stays. I was hooked! I was able to scrape together enough money to get one, but when it was time to pull the trigger, the dealer I went to happened to also have a Vortex in my size on hand and when I picked it up, I couldn’t believe how light it was. That started me down the weight weenie path. I ended up getting the Vortex and I have had nothing but titanium road bikes ever since. So, when it came time to get a new cyclocross bike, I called up the people that started it all for me, Lynskey.

Enough about my history with titanium, let’s get on with the review. As soon as I pulled the frame out of the box, I knew this thing was going to be special. The welds, the tube shapes and the weight were everything I expected from Lynskey. With my build kit of Campagnolo Record 10-speed, Zipp 404 Tubular CX wheels, Crank Brothers 3TI Eggbeaters and a full compliment of Ritchey WCS parts along with the fact that I replaced every steel bolt on the bike with a titanium one; the bike came in at 16.4 pounds. So far, so good!

I didn’t even get a chance to do a test ride the bike before taking it out to race it at the Chris Cross Cyclocross Challenge. I knew from the looks of the massive bi-axial ovalized down tube that this thing was going to be stiff. What really surprised me was how smooth it was. From the get go, I was awed by the comfort of the Lynskey's ride. The frame seemed to absorb everything the course threw at it. I honestly don’t know if it was the Ritchey WCS fork, the Zipp 404 wheels or the Lynskey frame, but the vibrations that hit the wheels were absorbed and never made it as far as my body. The almost complete absence of flex in the top tube and down tube is proof of the superior knowledge that Lynskey possesses when designing and tuning a titanium frame. There's no twist or give in the frame and that enables you to concentrate all your power to the pedals and that power is mainlined right to the rear wheel. So, this bike is comfortable, yet stiff and you might think that compromises the handling performance, but you’d be wrong. The bike handles awesome when you dive into corners. It never once got sketchy on me and I found myself hammering through the corners with my only concern being that I did a good glue job on my tubulars and they weren’t going to roll off the rim. Wow, I am impressed.

Now, if I can only get the engine whipped into shape, I have the tools to get the job done.