The Win

The team got the first win of the season yesterday. Also won the bunch gallop for second, so it was a satisfying day all around. Dr. Drea went with about 600 meters to go and managed to hold off the field for a well deserved win. Nothing else to add and the picture does the win more justice anyway.



We took some team photos after the race, and I think Phil must have glammed them up a bit as we all look like we're fresh from the tanning salon.





Rode home, crawled up the 18% wall that is Brian's driveway, had some belgian beer with breakfast before the first barbeque of the season with the lovely girlfriend. Kind of a perfect day.

One final note on the below photo from Liz. I know Elliot is a lawyer now, but he's still PRO in my eyes and every time I ride with him I can't help but think "this guy rode the Giro!"

Budget Racer

It's the start of a new racing season (more on that later) which has me thinking about new racing bikes. There were several new ones at yesterday's start line. Steeds that had been put together over the winter, polished and shined up to be brought out to impress and maybe inpire more dedicated training. I love my bike, but I can't - and really, what man can - help thinking about a new one.

Obviously, in a money is no object world I can think of a lot of nice bikes I wouldn't mind riding, but I'm going to try limiting this post to bikes at $3,000 or under. Cheating in a couple of areas, I'm going to assume that existing race wheels can be swapped over, saving money there. Saddle too.

#1. I keep coming back to Cannondale's CAAD range. I just don't think that from a value for money perspective that it can be beat. Sure, it's aluminium, but I think a good metal bike is better than a bad carbon bike. It's also less likely to die a sad death in a crash. The CAAD9 4 version is equipped with a mix of Sram Rival and force and has a BB30 bottom bracket - all for $1,800. That price leaves you plenty of room to swap in some nice bars, stem and seat post and still be right around two grand. Throw on your own wheels and it's ready to go. I found these two online that have been nicely speced.



Can't tell which I like more, the white or the black...



#2. Ridley Damocles. This one is a little more, but still a good deal. Before I say anything else I going to cite two references for this bike. 1) Brendan Quirk, the man at the worlds best bike shop chooses this bike to ride from all the bikes available at his impressive store, and equips their semi-sponsored team with them. 2) Pozzato rides for the Ridley sponsored Katusha, and of all the bikes available chooses and wins on their 'third tier' frame.




It's a very cool bike, and if you buy it without wheels and with Sram Rival and 3T bars, stem and seat post it's going to come in right at $3,000.

#3. Pinarello FP3. Looks great. Pinarello geometry. Will always be cool. Fully equipped with Force, Rival and FSA parts for $3,200. Say no more.



#4. Willier Mortirolo. This frame is going for $1,200 right now and while it's slightly heavier due to less expensive carbon fibre, it shares a lot with the Le Roi model that took Ballan to Worlds victory in 2008. Again, go with Rival and this is around $2,700. Or, with some savings gained from the frame's price spring for some Campagnolo Athena 11 speed and keep the Italian theme going.

Borrowed Bikes

When I was a student I was poor. So poor that my 4th year job folding laundry was a promotion from working as a Subway Sandwich Artist earning $7 an hour before union dues and taxes where taken out. A whole day of work would get me home with $50 Canadian (and a backpack full of smuggled out subs to 'subsidise' my salary) and my bike reflected my bank account.

I had an aluminum Specialized M2 with such a ramshackle mix of components that a store I'd dropped it off to actually reported it to the Police as stolen. My ride was the bicycle equivalent of a chop shop job.

Three years later I got a badly scratched Eddy Merckx frame off of Ebay for $306. During the last five minutes of the auction as the price ticked upwards I remember being really nervous: 'if this thing goes above $310, I'm going to have to back out.' That was my economic line in the sand, across which would have meant self imposed fasting for longer than I'd have liked. (As it was, front derailers were incompatable between frames - clamp on vs braze one - and that non-existent $46 meant 18 months of small ring only riding).

After getting a real job one of the first things I did was buy a new bike. Shortly after that I started riding a lot less as life (read job) got in the way. That resulted in a relationship that's likely universal to all un-sponsored cyclists and graphed below:



It paints an ugly picture, and since the idea of downgrading my bike is crazy, I'm going to have to work on the other metric here.

I'm thinking of this because I came across this great photo of Juan Antonio Flecha the other day as a kid.



I love this picture. Look at that top tube, it comes up to his hips with the saddle slammed all the way down he must have had to jump off when coming to a stop. Stopping would have been a bit of a problem though, he's only got one brake on there! The leather helmet, the wool jersey a size too big. It's classic stuff. He must have really like riding to go around like that. But hey, now he rides a Di2 Pinarello Dogma.

Like I said, unless you're PRO I think this is the all but inevitable life course for the average cyclist. I only wish that while I was out trying to rectify my bike:speed ratio, Dominique wasn't reminding me how cool I used to be as he flys by on his own borrowed bike.

What you missed this morning.

There's plenty of time later in the year to hammer the 6:15 ride so for now I'm enjoying the scenery over slow rides and good conversations.

Big Maggie is Really Big

- I mean Huge. I had the pleasure of meeting Magnus Backstedt over the weekend and was just blown away by what a nice guy he was. He had nothing but patience for my rain-man-like-cycling questions (he wants Hincapie to finally win Roubaix in 2010 and thinks Boasson Hagen is Merckx for a new generation) and was gracious recipient to Dr Drea's insistence that he try a Dark n'Stormy (which he liked).

It's always great when the stars you admire turn out to be just normal and decent human beings in person. I especially liked his advice to aspiring juniors, "just always give 100%, that way no matter what happens you'll know that you tried your hardest."

One final note from the big Swede that can go under the topic of "benefits to cycling they don't advertise enough"

Me: "So, if you win Roubaix, do you ever have to buy a drink again?"

Magnus: "No...it's pretty rare."

He's doing some good things with a small team. It's not going to get you a sponsors spot on his team kit, but I'm sure it would help the cause to buy some of his coffee here.

- I found myself sucked into the black hole that is MTV's Cribs over the weekend. It's a train wreck of too much money and bad taste; did you know that Dale Earnhardt Jr has a Western village in his backyard complete with period dressed women? It's as though all US celebrities live in a world of expensive LARP. Each time I saw the garages full of Beamers and Bentleys I'd wonder to myself just how many bikes I could fit into that space if given the money. Then last week I found out that Michael Barry has his very own Cribs-style bike porn garage full of vintage one-offs. These are his bikes - not including his stable of 10 years worth of actual PRO rides.



- If you're like me you often find yourself staring at the TV in July in absolute awe, wondering how much more training you'd have to do to get up those hills so fast. This picture of Dutch climbing sensation Robert Gesink helps answer that question. You just need a beach body that isn't going to win you many ladies (unless of course they're very into cycling).



- Velonews had a look at the logistics behind Garmin-Transitions recently. I knew it took a lot to support a team, but didn't realize it was akin to supplying a military operation. Just look at the photo below. Those boxes contain 22,000 camel back water bottles. Those things retail for $9, that's $200,000 a year just on water bottles that get used once before being flung into a ravine in the French countryside. Add the thousands of gels, bars, bar-tape, tubulars and pedals that the team goes through in a year and they have a whole warehouse just to keep the team stocked.



- I've been nothing but cold on my bike recently and it's testing even my love of the sport. A quick Google of "how to stay warm while cycling" revealed mostly boring answers. Yeah, who knew that wearing more clothes would help? But I came across this great suggestion here that advised I cover my legs in duck fat! Answers like that are the reason I love the Internet.

I have to say I'm tempted, but it would be just one more thing I'd add to the list of cycling quirks that my lovely girlfriend will never understand. That, and I'd fear dogs chasing after me.

- On a recent group ride I was looking around at the body language in the group. By and large we were man handling our machines, rocking our shoulders side to side trying desperately to squeeze every last watt out. While I'm on the Roubaix theme, I found this video of Moser winning the '78 race in the World Champion Stripes. It's text book perfect cycling technique. I've heard that Moser used to ride his rollers in front of a mirror just so he could dial in his technique. Watching this makes me believe that leaves me striving for that effortless technique only attained through thousands of miles.

I think most pro cyclist interviews are really dull (Question: What's your training secret? Answer: I ride a lot in the mountains and I don't eat). I came across this interview from some Cat 1 rider and wished this guy taught interview lessons to the pros:

Lanolin: You’re quite a good climber. What’s your secret?

Alan: My mother was a social climber. My father was a corporate climber. I have no friends and no money, but I can do this.

My bike is a mess

I've ridden almost every day over the last two weeks.

I keep thinking that nature will reward my perseverance with a day or two balmy skies and gentle breezes. How foolish, it's been nothing but gale force winds and cold rain on almost every ride.

As a result my bike is a hot mess. Next time my lovely girlfriend is out of the house post-ride I might give this a try: