Something has gone horribly wrong. Seems everyone I know is going crazy over some new item, just released!
So far I haven't seen anything to tempt me whatsoever.
I'd take a free snow bike, or maybe an even lighter carbon 29er frame with similar geometry to my Alma- but neither one is all that pressing.
Where is the release of the light, hydraulic cyclocross disc brakes. I know I won't choose to be able to afford them, but DAMN IT! I need something to drool over. What about the 10 speed gripshifters that I wouldn't have to order from Europe?
My road bike has been completely torn down. My Viner now has a bunch of fancy 7800 DA bits hanging from it and some fancy new TRP stoppers. The only thing that really remains is picking up some new tubular tires (racing ralph?).
Cyclocross is looming large. I find myself daydreaming about it at my desk. You better go back to yours- this was a useless post.
8.25.2011
Cervelo R3 SL and Jamis Nova Pro carbon frame repairs
Cervelo was done for more or less an actual customer. It had been in a low speed car accident and needed minor repairs in two locations on the headtube and a major repair on the non-drive side seat stay. I wound up having to change the paint scheme a bit in order to make things easy on myself (3-tone jobs are beyond me... I'll be sending anything more complex than this to my friend Lin who did my Look).
before shots (did take some pictures of just the carbon work, but they aren't on this computer right now. We all know what they look like anyways)
I think it turned out pretty decent.
I also did a Jamis for Trevor Olson. I've been bugging him to ride more cyclocross for about a year now and this will pretty much mean that he has to! I believe it will be built with Ultegra 6700.
This one had a cracked drive-side stay. I had to remove the cable stop, make repair and then re-bond the stop onto the frame.
8.17.2011
Tuesday night rides
THE Tuesday Night Ride was right after the Tuesday night time trial with the tri-group.
This, apparently, happened while I was in crushing Diet Cokes, Waffle Fries, Reubens and PBRs in a mad rush to find equilibrium.
This, apparently, happened while I was in crushing Diet Cokes, Waffle Fries, Reubens and PBRs in a mad rush to find equilibrium.
8.16.2011
mafia racing/jagwire cable kit, tubulars, three stars cycles
I wrote a review of the cable kit and a bit of an ode to tubulars, Kruck is interviewed etc..
Go check it out at almanzo.com
Go check it out at almanzo.com
8.15.2011
going to have to make another blog for carbon repair
Drew's Plastic Fantastic?
Acme Carbon Repair?
This frame has a relatively long story attached to it and a couple other small repairs needed. I'll also be doing some sort of paint work. The stay is strong enough to hold my weight. The pictures show it with the repair complete, but it's obviously not cosmetically complete.
Acme Carbon Repair?
This frame has a relatively long story attached to it and a couple other small repairs needed. I'll also be doing some sort of paint work. The stay is strong enough to hold my weight. The pictures show it with the repair complete, but it's obviously not cosmetically complete.
Great weekend of riding!
What an awesome weekend!
Dairyland Dare did not disappoint. The course was beautiful and the riders were awesome. Where else do you get to ride with Charlie Farrow and Robbie Ventura at the same time? Overall, similar vibe to the gravel endurance races, just with even more and bigger hills than the Ragnarok. Very fast pace up front with a host of riders from "Vision Quest" coaching including Robbie Ventura. I was forced to let them go after about 100 miles. I didn't feel so bad letting THAT group go! I went into solo-time-trial-endurance mode as from the Almanzo and things began to feel like a sort of recital. My confidence was high and I was riding better than I'd have hoped. Everything came crashing down when I realized I'd missed a 50k loop. Long story short- use your maps and don't trust others (particularly if you are then going to drop them and ride solo for hours before noticing you've effed up). What made this possible was that the entire course was marked with the same color and as such there was no way I could tell that I'd made a mistake... I just followed the markers on and on until I reached a rest stop with no volunteers and realized something was wrong. I'd gotten there an hour before it was supposed to "open". It was a huge let-down, but the beauty of the route and the day did a lot to overcome that as I rode it in (going back was out of the question due to time constraints). I will be back next year.
Took out some of my frustration with a 110 mile trip to the Mississippi yesterday morning. Even nicer weather and an equally good route. We rode through such towns as Douglas, Oronoco, Mazeppa, Belvidere, Frontenac, Lake City etc. and got some great views of the river and bluffs. I was happy that I actually felt stronger on the return leg (and after eating a couple of burritos in Lake City).
I'll add a picture or two later if they become available.
Dairyland Dare did not disappoint. The course was beautiful and the riders were awesome. Where else do you get to ride with Charlie Farrow and Robbie Ventura at the same time? Overall, similar vibe to the gravel endurance races, just with even more and bigger hills than the Ragnarok. Very fast pace up front with a host of riders from "Vision Quest" coaching including Robbie Ventura. I was forced to let them go after about 100 miles. I didn't feel so bad letting THAT group go! I went into solo-time-trial-endurance mode as from the Almanzo and things began to feel like a sort of recital. My confidence was high and I was riding better than I'd have hoped. Everything came crashing down when I realized I'd missed a 50k loop. Long story short- use your maps and don't trust others (particularly if you are then going to drop them and ride solo for hours before noticing you've effed up). What made this possible was that the entire course was marked with the same color and as such there was no way I could tell that I'd made a mistake... I just followed the markers on and on until I reached a rest stop with no volunteers and realized something was wrong. I'd gotten there an hour before it was supposed to "open". It was a huge let-down, but the beauty of the route and the day did a lot to overcome that as I rode it in (going back was out of the question due to time constraints). I will be back next year.
Took out some of my frustration with a 110 mile trip to the Mississippi yesterday morning. Even nicer weather and an equally good route. We rode through such towns as Douglas, Oronoco, Mazeppa, Belvidere, Frontenac, Lake City etc. and got some great views of the river and bluffs. I was happy that I actually felt stronger on the return leg (and after eating a couple of burritos in Lake City).
I'll add a picture or two later if they become available.
8.12.2011
Dairyland Dare setup
That's what I'm riding and everything I'm carrying.
Decided to go with the ultra-light tubulars for many reasons. Biggest ones are the weight and that I want to "prove" my rim repair by riding them in a long race. More to come on why I like Tubulars soon (on the almanzo.com site).
I'm carrying basic tools and extra gels in my feed bag, the spare tubular on my seat post, 6 extra gels in case I get hungry away from a rest stop.
6 am tomorrow morning will come up early!
8.10.2011
My first race- getrevengeance.com response
This, was posted here---
http://www.getrevengeance.com/
with the caption "Drew's first race"
Which is quite flattering, considering THIS is the real "first race" picture...
8.03.2011
More on "why"
There are many reasons to ride. This isn't the first time I've tried to write about the reasons I do.
My recent, accidental, emphasis on road racing combined with the pending Dairyland Dare 300k has me thinking about the pull of racing a bike. At some point in endurance racing the finish begins to pull. You realize that you can and will finish. It's a sort of emotional epiphany. You've been riding along for hours without really thinking and then you REALIZE THAT. You become aware of your own ultimate awareness. That you've been pedaling along rhythmically with nothing on your mind but being. You've been "in the moment" and now you've received the gift of realizing it, enjoying it. My mind flips wildly from ecstacy to defeat and then I think about taking control back but never quite do. It's better just to continue on. In the moment.
On the road or in a criterium you get a burst of the same thing. It's just a hint, but you also didn't have to put in the same effort to get there. Approaching the final turns of a criterium or the final meters of a road race the pace goes up and it feels like there is nothing more left. Then I feel that same pull. This time there is not time to consider it and savor it, to realize it. Instead it shifts immediately into forgetting. The pain goes away, the thought only becomes the line and the pedaling. You get a few seconds of the ultra-endurance drug, but it's a very concentrated few seconds. Then you sit up and look around and know that you've shared that with the guy beside you.
It's all one and the same. I'm grateful for every time I get the opportunity and the strength to push through to that point.
Today I leave in an hour- it will be my last long ride prior to the Dairyland Dare. Plan to go explore for 6-8 hours with the OCR setup in a way that works for any road. Probably won't even pick a direction until I start riding. Hope you're planning a ride.
My recent, accidental, emphasis on road racing combined with the pending Dairyland Dare 300k has me thinking about the pull of racing a bike. At some point in endurance racing the finish begins to pull. You realize that you can and will finish. It's a sort of emotional epiphany. You've been riding along for hours without really thinking and then you REALIZE THAT. You become aware of your own ultimate awareness. That you've been pedaling along rhythmically with nothing on your mind but being. You've been "in the moment" and now you've received the gift of realizing it, enjoying it. My mind flips wildly from ecstacy to defeat and then I think about taking control back but never quite do. It's better just to continue on. In the moment.
On the road or in a criterium you get a burst of the same thing. It's just a hint, but you also didn't have to put in the same effort to get there. Approaching the final turns of a criterium or the final meters of a road race the pace goes up and it feels like there is nothing more left. Then I feel that same pull. This time there is not time to consider it and savor it, to realize it. Instead it shifts immediately into forgetting. The pain goes away, the thought only becomes the line and the pedaling. You get a few seconds of the ultra-endurance drug, but it's a very concentrated few seconds. Then you sit up and look around and know that you've shared that with the guy beside you.
It's all one and the same. I'm grateful for every time I get the opportunity and the strength to push through to that point.
Today I leave in an hour- it will be my last long ride prior to the Dairyland Dare. Plan to go explore for 6-8 hours with the OCR setup in a way that works for any road. Probably won't even pick a direction until I start riding. Hope you're planning a ride.
8.01.2011
Hillside result
Very sore hip, terrible headache and a DNF.
Ouch! Glad I crawled into work this morning though.
Ouch! Glad I crawled into work this morning though.
7.31.2011
7.30.2011
Finally a mountain bike race!
Looking forward to a full "feature length" mountain bike race at Hillside tomorrow. Great place for a race and a venue that I've ridden enough to sort of know.
I've missed getting my mountain bike gear ready.
Weather looks to be very hot and humid. Glad my Dad is coming with. I'll have to stick to a plan for eating/drinking and getting bottles handed up from him can act as a reminder to finish my current bottle, eat a gel etc..
I've missed getting my mountain bike gear ready.
Weather looks to be very hot and humid. Glad my Dad is coming with. I'll have to stick to a plan for eating/drinking and getting bottles handed up from him can act as a reminder to finish my current bottle, eat a gel etc..
7.26.2011
trying this differently- Giant OCR repair/build
I
That pretty much sums up my ride. After sending my Look to paint I got a little antsy. I also was realizing how many of my skills from working on cars/car audio transferred to carbon repair. Then I remembered this interesting frame that was hanging in one of the local bike shops. $100 later I had the frame/fork/misc. goodies home. 2 days later I was 100k from home on it and snapping pictures by the river. Wound up riding Rochester, plainview, minneiska, elba, whitewater on home. Check out the mmr gravel pics!
This bad boy has a ton of tire clearance and pretty much rules. My new backup road bike and very likely my go to gravel race bike. Parts are all the stuff I've been rocking on the Look... so ultegra/force level.
I've already ridden this OCR about 240 miles including to 2nd place in the 4/5 crit at the southside crits yesterday. I'll be racing it again today too. Can't wait to get the Look put back together, but sure is nice having something like this to fall back on.
Here's one last picture (in gravel trim)
For what it's worth that seatpost/stem have been swapped out to something more pleasing to the eye (and which allowed me to shift my position on the bike slightly more forward). The wheels have also been painted gloss black. They are my Zipp 404s/dt240s that I've been racing on for almost everything within the last year.
That pretty much sums up my ride. After sending my Look to paint I got a little antsy. I also was realizing how many of my skills from working on cars/car audio transferred to carbon repair. Then I remembered this interesting frame that was hanging in one of the local bike shops. $100 later I had the frame/fork/misc. goodies home. 2 days later I was 100k from home on it and snapping pictures by the river. Wound up riding Rochester, plainview, minneiska, elba, whitewater on home. Check out the mmr gravel pics!
This bad boy has a ton of tire clearance and pretty much rules. My new backup road bike and very likely my go to gravel race bike. Parts are all the stuff I've been rocking on the Look... so ultegra/force level.
I've already ridden this OCR about 240 miles including to 2nd place in the 4/5 crit at the southside crits yesterday. I'll be racing it again today too. Can't wait to get the Look put back together, but sure is nice having something like this to fall back on.
Here's one last picture (in gravel trim)
For what it's worth that seatpost/stem have been swapped out to something more pleasing to the eye (and which allowed me to shift my position on the bike slightly more forward). The wheels have also been painted gloss black. They are my Zipp 404s/dt240s that I've been racing on for almost everything within the last year.
7.24.2011
random
Been extremely busy...
Mountain bike races keep falling through- bad weather, overtime at work etc. has conspired against me making it to many.
Crits and road races have taken the places of a few of them- I think I've earned my points to upgrade to cat 3.
I've been working on fixing some carbon stuff and it's going well...
... or it was going well until I destroyed the carbon thing I value the most by running it into a building on the roof of my car. This ones not repairable. Guess these are the best pictures I'm going to get of this bike with the proper matching painted fork on it...
Feeling Lucky I didn't break the frame!
In the mean time I'm hoping to find some time to get out on the mountain bike and make a few races while also pushing the endurance a bit in preparation for the Dairyland Dare.
Mountain bike races keep falling through- bad weather, overtime at work etc. has conspired against me making it to many.
Crits and road races have taken the places of a few of them- I think I've earned my points to upgrade to cat 3.
I've been working on fixing some carbon stuff and it's going well...
... or it was going well until I destroyed the carbon thing I value the most by running it into a building on the roof of my car. This ones not repairable. Guess these are the best pictures I'm going to get of this bike with the proper matching painted fork on it...
Feeling Lucky I didn't break the frame!
In the mean time I'm hoping to find some time to get out on the mountain bike and make a few races while also pushing the endurance a bit in preparation for the Dairyland Dare.
7.05.2011
Ulwelling Memorial road race, 1st criterium ever at Northfield crit, carbon repair!
Stuck around Rochester for the holiday weekend. Laura needed me to attend a co-workers wedding and I didn't really feel like traveling much anyways. Plus, here were two road races in the area that I could easily attend.
Dan Ulwelling Memorial race-
The Dan Ulwelling 25 mile bike race was on Saturday as a part of Austin's "Freedom Fest". My Domestique (his word, not mine... he would beat me on this day!), Al, and I left Rochester around 10 am. Our plan was to create a similar performance to the Death Ride despite facing more difficult competition.
I scouted the finish during my warmup and started second guessing my normal "plan" of being OK with a sprint finish on the road. This was downhill and downwind with a very long straight leading to the line. My ability to accelerate would likely be trumped by guys with more of a diesel type power unless I played my cards right.
The race pace was reasonable with a few half-hearted attacks and solo breakaways (including one real lame one and one real good one of my own). However, on none of those instances did anybody link up with the break and try to do any work. The teams at the front seemed very content to let it go to a sprint and there really wasn't anything we could do about it, despite my best efforts.
Al worked very hard for me all day and was right there leading into the last few miles. For some reason I wound up at the front of the pack and put in a little bit too much work over the last mile or so. This was partly due to being unsure where we were on the course. The map I had seen had made it look like our return loop would work a little different than it actually did... and it's not like dead flat roads in Austin are easy to distinguish from one another.
Anyways, by the time we got into really ramping it up I just didn't feel right. Usually when the finish or a big hill is in front of me I feel the adrenaline and lose track of any pain or thoughts other than the line. This just didn't happen to me in this race. The group started to attack and I caught a wheel in 3rd or 4th (which was probably about perfect with how early the sprint started), but then the surge happened out to the left of the guys I was behind and I was trapped in no man's land. I could have gone around to the right into the wind by myself, and feel that on most days I would have, but it just didn't happen today. Al was still on my wheel at that point but was able to catch a wheel and move left into a decent (5th?) finish. I watched the group kick it in and crossed at the back of the lead pack of 8, 12?
Milltown Cycles' Northfield Criterium
Figured this would be as good as any opportunity to try my first criterium. Did some online research, watched some videos and talked to some friends about how to approach this race. Advice boiled down to this- Stay at the front, expect it to be very very fast paced, be happy to finish the first one- you'll learn.
I definitely wanted to do well too- I was disappointed in myself for how Saturday had gone. Focused on getting some quality rest on Sunday and prepped my bike etc.. Warm up went well, it was awesome to see a few of my friends volunteering on the course and a few other racing or spectating. The scene was set for something... I at least knew that I would have to give it my all, no matter what, with all those people I know out there.
Made two quick laps of the course right before the start, but still managed to get a 1st row spot. Felt no nerves and felt appropriately warmed up etc.. The race started and I couldn't get my pedal clipped in. I flailed at it a few times and then CLANK! my chain popped off.
At that point time basically stopped in my mind as the entire race disappeared around the next corner while I fumbled with my bike. I got back on and I immediately got that feeling I had been missing on Saturday. I rode very hard for about 5 laps, worked my way up quite a bit with each one and eventually settled in riding between 2nd and 8th wheel for 8 or 10 laps. Then when a single rider got a couple hundred yard gap on the field I was able to move up to him. We rode 5 laps well ahead of the field, but then with 4 laps or so to go he (we?) both started to play games. I didn't want to pull up the hill every lap and he probably didn't know what to think about me (apparently most of these guys know each other and being an "outsider" makes their strategy with me different). Anyways we both sat up and let the group catch us. It's too bad another 1 or 2 rides hadn't bridged up with me- we'd have had a much better chance of staying ahead. Regardless, it was pretty damn fun to be out ahead of the field for a while! I rested in 3rd or 4th wheel until one lap to go and both he and I were again able to get some distance from the field up the hill.
I chased him through the final corners, but did not catch his wheel due to swinging too wide. Meanwhile a train of riders cut down to my inside and 4 or 5 of them got ahead of me. I pushed hard and was able to edge my way back in front of most of them by the line. I definitely learned a lesson about how to approach a sprint in this situation... I needed to be on the wheel of the guys who were moving and not just out there by myself if I wanted to win. That said- the easiest way for me to have won would probably have been to attach with about 1.5-2 laps to go, which I think I could have done successfully if not for the "extra" work I'd put in earlier... lesson learned?
I earned myself an envelope with cash in it! Which is actually fairly important to me. I told Laura 18 months ago that it was a goal to "finish in the money" for her and I've actually only done so a couple times before. She wanted to know what I was going to buy her... a burrito!
I think my CX experience really paid off in making my first crit an enjoyable ride. This thing was incredibly fun too! I'll be looking to fit a few more into my schedule.
Carbon repair-
During the race I messed up my rear Zipp 404. Thankfully I caught it early enough that I will be able to repair it myself. I will also be strengthening the head tube on my Look where a small hairline crack has begun to form. I'll have plenty of extra material (and I do have some expertise in doing this stuff). Let me know if you need any carbon stuff repaired...
Dan Ulwelling Memorial race-
The Dan Ulwelling 25 mile bike race was on Saturday as a part of Austin's "Freedom Fest". My Domestique (his word, not mine... he would beat me on this day!), Al, and I left Rochester around 10 am. Our plan was to create a similar performance to the Death Ride despite facing more difficult competition.
I scouted the finish during my warmup and started second guessing my normal "plan" of being OK with a sprint finish on the road. This was downhill and downwind with a very long straight leading to the line. My ability to accelerate would likely be trumped by guys with more of a diesel type power unless I played my cards right.
The race pace was reasonable with a few half-hearted attacks and solo breakaways (including one real lame one and one real good one of my own). However, on none of those instances did anybody link up with the break and try to do any work. The teams at the front seemed very content to let it go to a sprint and there really wasn't anything we could do about it, despite my best efforts.
Al worked very hard for me all day and was right there leading into the last few miles. For some reason I wound up at the front of the pack and put in a little bit too much work over the last mile or so. This was partly due to being unsure where we were on the course. The map I had seen had made it look like our return loop would work a little different than it actually did... and it's not like dead flat roads in Austin are easy to distinguish from one another.
Anyways, by the time we got into really ramping it up I just didn't feel right. Usually when the finish or a big hill is in front of me I feel the adrenaline and lose track of any pain or thoughts other than the line. This just didn't happen to me in this race. The group started to attack and I caught a wheel in 3rd or 4th (which was probably about perfect with how early the sprint started), but then the surge happened out to the left of the guys I was behind and I was trapped in no man's land. I could have gone around to the right into the wind by myself, and feel that on most days I would have, but it just didn't happen today. Al was still on my wheel at that point but was able to catch a wheel and move left into a decent (5th?) finish. I watched the group kick it in and crossed at the back of the lead pack of 8, 12?
Milltown Cycles' Northfield Criterium
Figured this would be as good as any opportunity to try my first criterium. Did some online research, watched some videos and talked to some friends about how to approach this race. Advice boiled down to this- Stay at the front, expect it to be very very fast paced, be happy to finish the first one- you'll learn.
I definitely wanted to do well too- I was disappointed in myself for how Saturday had gone. Focused on getting some quality rest on Sunday and prepped my bike etc.. Warm up went well, it was awesome to see a few of my friends volunteering on the course and a few other racing or spectating. The scene was set for something... I at least knew that I would have to give it my all, no matter what, with all those people I know out there.
Made two quick laps of the course right before the start, but still managed to get a 1st row spot. Felt no nerves and felt appropriately warmed up etc.. The race started and I couldn't get my pedal clipped in. I flailed at it a few times and then CLANK! my chain popped off.
At that point time basically stopped in my mind as the entire race disappeared around the next corner while I fumbled with my bike. I got back on and I immediately got that feeling I had been missing on Saturday. I rode very hard for about 5 laps, worked my way up quite a bit with each one and eventually settled in riding between 2nd and 8th wheel for 8 or 10 laps. Then when a single rider got a couple hundred yard gap on the field I was able to move up to him. We rode 5 laps well ahead of the field, but then with 4 laps or so to go he (we?) both started to play games. I didn't want to pull up the hill every lap and he probably didn't know what to think about me (apparently most of these guys know each other and being an "outsider" makes their strategy with me different). Anyways we both sat up and let the group catch us. It's too bad another 1 or 2 rides hadn't bridged up with me- we'd have had a much better chance of staying ahead. Regardless, it was pretty damn fun to be out ahead of the field for a while! I rested in 3rd or 4th wheel until one lap to go and both he and I were again able to get some distance from the field up the hill.
I chased him through the final corners, but did not catch his wheel due to swinging too wide. Meanwhile a train of riders cut down to my inside and 4 or 5 of them got ahead of me. I pushed hard and was able to edge my way back in front of most of them by the line. I definitely learned a lesson about how to approach a sprint in this situation... I needed to be on the wheel of the guys who were moving and not just out there by myself if I wanted to win. That said- the easiest way for me to have won would probably have been to attach with about 1.5-2 laps to go, which I think I could have done successfully if not for the "extra" work I'd put in earlier... lesson learned?
I earned myself an envelope with cash in it! Which is actually fairly important to me. I told Laura 18 months ago that it was a goal to "finish in the money" for her and I've actually only done so a couple times before. She wanted to know what I was going to buy her... a burrito!
I think my CX experience really paid off in making my first crit an enjoyable ride. This thing was incredibly fun too! I'll be looking to fit a few more into my schedule.
Carbon repair-
During the race I messed up my rear Zipp 404. Thankfully I caught it early enough that I will be able to repair it myself. I will also be strengthening the head tube on my Look where a small hairline crack has begun to form. I'll have plenty of extra material (and I do have some expertise in doing this stuff). Let me know if you need any carbon stuff repaired...
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