Equipment - Bike Timeline, Part 5 - Post Actual Size

This part of the bike timeline has to do with my boomerang, first leaving Cannondale, then rediscovering the brand.

I had a good friend with a Specialized M2, and I decided to get a matching bike.

1995: Specialized M2 S-Works, same parts as the red bike. Peak wheel count at this time = about 30 pairs of wheels. Rider weight approximately 142-145 lbs. Max speed on this bike - over 64 mph, my highest ever on any bike.

I returned to 170s on this bike. Take-off cranks, actually, cranks that a customer told us he didn't want. He sponsored our team for a couple years, and, trust me, he didn't need the old cranks.

The original Campy Vento wheels, higher spoke count versions of the original Shamals. They weighed a ton but were strong, fast, reliable, and stiff. Well, until you hit a sunken manhole cover at 45 mph while drafting an 18-wheeler.

Note the Scott Rakes optimistically installed on the bike. Setup with mountain bike pedals (winter time, and I wore insulated mountain bike shoes), a single shop bottle, and a white saddle I still have and use. You can see the N-Gear Jump Stop as well, peeking out from behind the small ring. I've tried to install one on every bike I've had since I discovered them.

I figure I took this picture in the winter, or before some big road race. By the time summer rolled around I'd usually have given up on the Rakes, I'd put on a second cage, and some trusty old aero wheels ended up on my bike. The white saddle, the heavy wheels, they all scream "steady speed efforts".

Winter, in other words.

Or not:

The M2 in angry mood. Picture by GMF. Zipp 340 front, the ever trusty TriSpoke rear.

14 cm stem, crit bars, and Ergo levers. This would be an 8 speed bike. I can't believe he caught me in the middle of the field, at a perfect moment. By now I was running SPD-Rs (the non-Look Shimano pedal) and Sidis. My weight would have been in the mid 140s.

With Mike K at Ninigret Park, RI.

This was earlier in the day from the picture above. Some optimism still shows in our faces. The actual race didn't work out so well.

This was our era of "professional Cat 3 racer" lives. We'd train after the shop closed for the night (Mike worked there too), ride, then spend an hour or two overhauling our bikes.

Repeat each evening.

Crazy.

A tough moment in a tough race. Keith Berger is on my wheel. The Punisher, at the front, is punishing me for beating him at the Tour de Pump.

Unbelievably that's the first turn at Bethel. The dirt lot behind is now a parking lot for a big building housing Navone Studios. One of the Sleepy Hollow riders from this story sits behind Keith.

The M2's claim to fame? I left the original spec headset in place (sold off the rest of the bike to finance the frame/fork purchase). I figured the round bearing headset would be good for a few months and then it'd be toast. I started planning on my cool Chris King headset purchase. Only one problem.

I never needed to replace it.

In fact, it's still good.

Anyone need a threaded 1" headset? Good condition.

Yeah, I still have the frame and fork. I finally cracked the right chainstay and had to retire the frame.

2000?: Giant ONCE TCR, size Med, Campy 9s Daytona (before it changed name) build kit. The kit had Chorus cranks among other things. Claim to fame: built on my washer and dryer. I also weighed 203+ at some point while I raced this bike.

The Giant had the first threadless headset system for me. I hated that system for a long time - it was hard coming off of the Specialized headset, one that never needed anything. The threadless wasn't so hands-free.

The laundry folding table.

I built the bike on the washer and dryer.

I'm not sure why I took pictures of the build but I did.

Almost done.

Closer up of "almost done".

After the build. No tape because I'd ride the bike on the trainer before I wrapped the bars.

Interestingly enough, that's the saddle I have on the Tsunami, right now. In 2010.

An early, heavy race. Years later, when I saw this picture, I actually wondered who was wearing the green kit. The missus wondered how I got into the kit, it was so tight on me. My friend Greg.

I weighed about 200 lbs and lasted maybe 4 minutes in the first race that year. I won a field sprint later in the Series. It's amazing what a little racing will do for the legs.

I rode Spinergy wheels for a long time, promoting the brand because I wanted to do so. My friend worked for them and I have a passing acquaintance with the actual inventor (I've mentioned him earlier in this bike timeline series - he helped design the original Cannondale race frame). If only they'd have refined them a bit, with no UCI meddling (like the 16 spoke minimum rule), I think the wheels could have been great. They had a lot of potential, but, ultimately they were only "medium".

A current wheel guru said that he wished he had that tensioned spoke patent. Those are some significant words coming from the guru in question.

Within a year or so I'd ditched the red stem in favor of one by Ritchey WCS. I haven't used a non-Ritchey stem since (except on the tandem).

The Giant had a 55.5 top tube with a 73 degree head tube. It was the first bike I ever raced that had a 73 degree head angle - the other frames were crippled with anywhere from a 70.5 to 72 head angle. The 73 made me feel like I could slalom around little gravel stones while sprinting full bore.

I cracked the chainstay on the first one. I got another and fell hard when I unclipped sprinting out of a corner of a crit. I'd loosened my SPD-Rs so I could unclip without hammering on my shoe with my fist, but I'd loosened them too much. I gouged the top tube so relegated the frame to indoor use.

Hammering with my fist didn't seem too bad after that.

Claim to fame for that crash? The first one the missus kinda sorta witnessed. She didn't witness the crash. She did wonder where I was in the field when the field went by the start/finish line. She didn't see me because hen it went by her I was crawling off the road, onto some broken glass of all things, a few hundred meters away.

I got up, got to the pits, got a sympathetic grin from the original Bethel Spring Series official (he was the pit official), and got back in the race. A bent chain link meant I couldn't stand in any gear, and my road rash started getting uncomfortable. I sat up, my gears skipping, my chain about to fail.

I rode back to the missus, bleeding from various spots around my body.

That's when the missus realized how hard I'd gone down.

I visited the ambulance and got a bit bandaged up. I'd forgotten how much road rash stung - the last time I'd gotten road rash was back in the early-mid 90s.

As I lost weight I started yearning for a lower bar position. The tall head tube on the size Medium Giant worked for my heavy self, but even 10 pounds less and I felt like I was on a mountain bike. I bought a Ritchey adjustable stem and pointed the stem down all the way. It didn't seem right, to need to do that.

So I searched and searched for a frame that would let me connect the dots (cranks-saddle-bars) without too much weirdness.

I retired the frame after taking a lot of measurements one winter and finally finding a frame that would work. I can't find the pictures, but I Sharpied the frame with all sorts of cryptic markings. Using advanced plane geometry (for me anyway) I realized that I could replicate my saddle-bar relationship on a size S Giant. So size S it was. The yellow Giant would be retired.

Hanging in the basement.

2005: Giant TCR Carbon, Small, Campy 10s Record/Chorus. Minimum weight of rider 175, max 198? lbs. Reynolds DV46 tubulars for race day, some clinchers for training.

I upgraded the drivetrain to 10s towards the end of one of the Bethel Spring Series. I'd been struggling in the races, but on the first day on the 10s I won the field sprint. I joked that if I upgraded the whole bike I'd win my next race.

I used Eurus exclusively for a while - the only 10s wheels I had.

I used carbon 175 cranks for a while, eventually replacing them with Campy Record cranks for their lower Q factor (i.e. the crank was narrower overall, making the pedals closer to the centerline of the bike.)

I got the tubular DV46s in preparation for the 2005 Bethel Spring Series. Combined with a long training camp in California, with a prior one in Florida, I was flying in the Series. I finally won it on the last day.

2006: Giant TCR Aluminum, Small, Campy 10s R/C (back up for carbon TCR above). I rarely rode this, disassembled it to steal parts (just the stem, post, and bars) for the Cannondale and then the Tsunami.

My 2006 California training camp. Note the squared off road bars - this meant I wasn't working on my sprint at all. My host Rich is with me. I borrowed the missus's wheels for the trip.

I loved the feel of the size Small Giant, and when I spec'ed out the Tsunami, I used the Giant's seat tube as the basis for my seat tube requests. It's 4 cm shorter than the carbon Giant, measuring 40 cm to the top of the top tube, 44 cm to the top of the seat tube.

I had to change the fork - the original Giant fork wasn't good over 45-50 mph. Seemed a bit flexible.

The two Giants at Bethel. The aluminum one is the lighter colored one with the white saddle. Note the Reynolds Ouzo fork on the aluminum bike.

Let's transition back to the carbon Giant because, although I bought the aluminum one later, I rode the carbon one the most. And, towards the end of its career, I made a significant change to the bike.

Power.

Carbon. From this post. The Coke bottle is upside down, a trick I learned from a visiting Rabobank rider (visiting the area, not me).

The Giant had the first ever powermeter I owned - a PowerTap. Once I had power I never looked back. I started looking for a crank based power system after I realized that I would need to buy four or five PT hubs to rebuild my wheels, and that one or two of them would be impossible to build with a PT hub (the 21 spoke Eurus, the "no-spoke" TriSpoke, and my 20 spoke Reynolds).

I found an awesome deal on an SRM. It was about $1k more than the cost of the power system, but it came with a free SystemSix frame, Fulcrum 1 wheels, and a Record build kit.

Yeah, it was a System Six team replica SRM Record bike. I called the missus to feel out how she felt about me buying the thing.

Her response?

She wondered why I hadn't already done a "Buy It Now".

2007: Cannondale SystemSix, 52 cm frame, SRM/Record 10s. Post, stem, bars from the aluminum Giant above. DV46 clincher wheels to replace the stock Fulcrum 1s.

Bike as set up shortly after it went together, with the Reynolds clinchers.

Initially I set up the bike with one of my trusty Ritchey stems, crit bars, trusty Thomson post, and a yearned-for Reynolds DV46 clincher wheelset (to perfectly match my DV46 tubulars).

Then, after a year on the stock 170s, I moved back to 175s. Immediately felt better for certain races. Immediately felt worse for others. I think starting the season on 175s is best for me, moving to 170s for the faster, warmer part of the year.

That's about where I've been for the last couple years.

And now?

The Tsunami.

(You'll have to wait a bit for that post since I haven't done a post-test ride post on it.)

Equipment - Frame Fit Session

As planned I made it to the local shop just down the street. Of course, as usual, I was running really late, and instead of getting there at 10 AM, I got there at about 1 PM.

I set up the fit bike thing myself, puzzling over the different settings and such. I brought my pedals, bars, shoes, saddle, and a kit.

For the record, my current bike is a SystemSix Liquigas Replica, 52 cm, with its standard geometry. To save you from flipping back and forth to the geometry page, the important numbers are as follows:

Seat tube: 52 cm, 50 cm to the top of the top tube
Top tube: 53.5 cm
Seat tube angle: 74 degrees
Head tube angle: 73 degrees
Head tube length: 11.5 cm

I look something like this on the bike:

On the green/black Cannondale. My arms hang straight down.

Okay, once you get past my doughy build (perceived 175 lbs on my optimistic scale, which was actually 185 lbs), you may notice that the bike seems really, really short in length. My goal is to get my bike a bit longer.

That other night I took to my bike with a tape measure.

First, I want my saddle to be in the middle of its rail adjustment, not shoved all the way forward. I held my tape measure to the center of the rails, and the line went 2 centimeters further forward than the present seat tube. This meant I needed a substantially steeper seat tube angle.

How much steeper I didn't know, but that's what a builder is supposed to figure out.

The steeper seat tube would move the whole top tube forward by 2 cm. However, based on my current set up, I figured I need at least another 5 centimeters in length - I could put my hands a full Ergo lever in front of the actual Ergo lever.

Based on that number, I figured a 58 cm top tube would work well. It would move me forward a total of 6.5 cm (2 cm from the steeper seat tube angle and 4.5 cm from the 53.5 current length to the new 58 length). This would let me play with a shorter stem, an 11 or a 12 cm stem, not always having to search for the longest possible stems out there.

I also want a short head tube, shorter than the current 11.5 cm, so that I can go buy an 80 degree stem. This would free me from just 73 (-17) degree stems. There are lots of 80 degree stems out there, not a lot of 73s.

And, finally, while I was at it, I wanted to get a short seat tube, something like the 44 cm seat tube (as I remember) on my size S Giant TCR aluminum frame.

Armed with this information, I emailed Joseph at Tsunami Bikes. His initial response seemed a bit hesitant - my ideal frame, after all, would resemble an oversized BMX bike.

We started talking and I described how I arrived at all the numbers. Again, he seemed a bit hesitant. He asked for some pictures of me on the bike, and ones of just the bike itself.

I sent pictures and called to follow up.

Now he seemed a bit more receptive to the whole "tiny frame" concept (as named by Hans). I told him that I'd want to do a sanity check, one where I actually have a regular bar to hold onto, not resting my hands on a plastic tote bin.

I strolled into the shop and got down to business. This new fangled gizmo was a new experience for me, so Hans would occasionally tell me "do this" or "do that".

Fit starts at the bottom bracket, goes up to the saddle, and then forward to the bars. Therefore I started with the seat tube at 75.5 degrees. I raised the saddle (that I brought into the store) to my right height, centered the saddle on the rails.

Then I got the top tube to a more reasonable 56.5 cm. I borrowed a 14 cm stem, a -5 degree stem and mounted a spare set of 3ttt crit bars (Gimondi bend, bars I got thanks to RTC's detective work).

Finally I put my Keos on, trotted off to the bathroom to change, and trotted back in my new kit. I even brought the long sleeve jersey because I didn't want to get cold in the shop.

I jumped on the bike and, BAM, it felt awesome.

I fiddled a bit with the stem height, played around, and realized that, hey, it's pretty much perfect.

On the tops. Left foot forward.

My arms are bent a bit, but outwards. I wanted to keep my arms out of the way of something, not sure what I was thinking. I'm sitting square on the saddle, and the saddle is square on the post. w00t!

On the "hoods". Foot at bottom.

My legs look bulky.

Reminds me of something. I made a comment at the track last summer - I was watching the As and watched as powerful looking racer rocketed off the front. He looked freakin' powerful - big legs, big arms, aero carbon frame, aero carbon wheels, and, man, he was flying.

"Holy smokes, look at that guy's legs."

The guy next to me looked at me and said something unusual.

"Don't underestimate yourself."

Hm.

Drops, and right foot sort of forward.

Imagine, my arms point forward. And my back is kinda sorta level. The position in the drops feels really secure, really good.

I thought I forgot my camera so Hans took a few pics and sent them to me.

I sent the pictures to Joseph and left him a message. An hour later he called back. He said the pictures really helped, and things looked good. He kind of laughed - I'm still not really forward, relatively speaking, and I'm sitting on a 75.5 seat tube angle.

We went over a few details, things like ride quality and such. I have no knowledge about tubing materials so I'm leaving it up to him. I just want a ride that's as rigid as the Cannondale - I'm good for 6 or 7 plus hours on the frame, and I don't want to have something more flexy.

Paint will be later, but I think some kind of a red. I haven't had a red bike since forever ago, and my first race bike, a Basso, was red. It would match the kit and it would look kinda cool.

The other choice would be a blue to match the blue car, but I don't have anything blue in my kit so that's out.

After our talk Joseph emailed one more question - one about seat tube length. I went and checked my two Giants, since I like the aluminum one a lot, and since the carbon one is "fine" (the Cannondale is a bit high for me).

Seems that I remembered wrong. The aluminum Giant has, get this, a 40 cm seat tube to the top of the top tube (44 to the top of the seat tube). The carbon Giant is 4 cm longer.

Whew. I sent my preferences (40 c-to-t, but 44 c-to-t is fine), along with payment.

And now it's up to them.

Equipment - N-Gear Jumpstop

A short one today.

During races and rides you'll sometimes (hopefully infrequently) experience a somewhat normal bike riding experience - dropping your chain off the front ring. If you go "over the top" of the big ring, you can recover the chain just by pedaling lightly.

However, if you drop the chain off the inside, it can be a bit more dramatic, especially since you usually shift down because it's getting hard and you're pedaling harder than you want to pedal.

For some reason it seems much easier to pick up a chain dropped off a Shimano drivetrain. Campy seems much more difficult.

For the longest time I've been extra vigilant with my front derailleur adjustment, careful with dumping the chain fast (I don't), and I've been rewarded with maybe one chain drop on the Cannondale.

Of course the chain broke my SRM pick up mount, got jammed up down there, and stopped my ride (with SOC) for about 10 minutes.

Because dropping your chain is somewhat normal, and because it can be really inconvenient, there are a number of companies out there selling devices to prevent the chain from dropping down.

Okay, if you look, there are about two devices out there - the "Third Eye Chain Watcher" (under various names), and my favorite, the N-Gear Jumpstop.

Third Eye Chain Watcher. I find the black plastic inevitably slides a bit, exposing the hose clamp, and allowing the jagged hose clamp to dig into the delicate seat tube. Plus I've cracked the few Watchers' "shark fin". (Image taken from Excel Sports)

Professional pictures are so... professional.
(image taken from N-Gear)

I like the Jumpstop because:
1. No chance of metal on seat tube contact.
2. Nice stainless guide for chain.
3. Adjustable in a very fine way - you can adjust angle and distance, and the guide had an inch of "guiding" length because it's flat (not rounded like the Watcher).

Drawbacks:
1. Proprietary nut (I lost one and trust me, you need their nut).
2. Pain to install.

I used these for a long time until I got my first Giant (and with it, its oversized seat tube). For whatever reason I lost interest in preserving my chain's bottom bracket virginity, probably because my racing really toned down.

Plus, I figured another way of avoiding dumping the chain - never put it in the small ring. So in the most important races, like the 2005 Bethel Series, I'd keep it in the big ring the whole race.

I haven't mentioned this device before because the Jumpstop only works on round seat tubes (i.e. below the front derailleur), and my Giant's seat tube base wasn't round. Yeah, I know, I have a Cannondale now, and I bought a Jumpstop, but I only decided to put it on the other day. I mean, I knew I had it, and I knew it was sitting around in the new house, but I never mentally pictured the Jumpstop on the Cannondale. So the Jumpstop lay there, forlorn.

When I finally put Jumpstop and Cannondale together, there was no stopping me.

The Jumpstop has one parculariar difficulty when mounting it, otherwise there'd be no illustrated steps on its installation. Basically it's a totally pain in the butt to put on the bike. The screw needs to go through two long, straight holes, so the two ends of the strap clamp have to be parallel. Since the plastic strap stretches a bit, N-Gear is nice enough to give you a slightly undersize strap.

In other words, it's a pain to install.

I turn the clamp sideways, stick the bolt in, and clamp together gently with channel locks. Make sure some threads are sticking out the other end.

Turn it so it faces the correct direction (bolt head forward).

Thread on proprietary nut and tighten bolt.

I'll test it out in California.

After I clean the bike.

(You can purchase the N-Gear through their site. And, no, I'm not getting credit for this review - I bought my N-Gear through a shop.)

Equipment - Riggio Track Bike, Numbers

I'm a bit tired but I ran some numbers to satisfy my own curiosity. They are rough but reasonably accurate.

Measured Item Riggio Cannondale
Seat tube, c-c 50 cm 48 cm (it's a "52 cm")
Top tube, c-c 52 cm 52 cm (it's a "53.5 cm")
Head tube length 11.7 cm, 16 w/hdst 12 cm
Chainstay length 38.5 cm min, 39.5 cm 40.5 cm
Saddle-BB height 67.8 cm 67.7 cm
Stem length 14 cm 13 cm
Stem drop, approx 2.5 cm 0 cm
Bar width, c-c 39 cm 40 cm
Bar drop, approx 18 cm 15.5 cm
Front center (BB-hub) 56 cm 57 cm
Crankarm 170 mm 170 mm
BB drop, approx 5.2 cm 6.5 cm
Wheelbase 95.5 cm 97 cm
Seat-bar drop, approx 28 cm 25 cm
Seat center to drops 82 cm 77 cm

Some of the values are approximate since I don't have a super accurate way of measuring certain things. One measurement is variable - the track bike's chainstay length (BB to rear hub) differs based on chain length and gearing (you move the axle to take up chain slack). Currently it's 39.5 cm. If I went to a 52x15, I'd shorten it by 0.5 cm. A 53x16 may not fit, or it would put me at my minimum 38.5 cm (and make it virtually impossible to get the wheel in).

The huge differences are in the "aggressiveness" numbers - wheelbase length, chainstay length, BB drop (or lack thereof), short front center, and big saddle-bar drop. All are different by a centimeter or more, unusual for such critical frame specs. However the difference between track riding and crit riding is also different by such magnitudes, and the bikes simply reflect what works for what.

Interestingly enough the Cannondale is a very conservative race bike. It's equally at home on long rides, steady climbs, and harrowing descents. My first (racing) road bike had a much shorter chainstay, I think in the 38.x cm range, the same length as the minimum on the Riggio.

This means the Riggio is also a conservatively designed bike. Although it has some steep angles (long ago I used a protractor and convinced myself I had a bike with a 74 degree head tube angle and a 75 degree seat tube angle, but I think this is about as accurate as a day dream) it's otherwise a very forgiving and easy riding bike. My ham-fisted handling of the bike never put me in the pavement nor did it ever freak out on me. The only thing I wish it would do is turn faster in a full sprint.

For now though, like all the problems I have with the Riggio, the main issue is the nut that holds the seat down.

Once I get that working reasonably well I should be all set.

Training - Summer Night Ride

My first year of training a lot has resulted in a rediscovery of such forgotten things as burn out, fatigue, and general malaise.

Part of this is due to the fact that I've been doing way fewer races in the last 5 or 10 years compared to the glory years of the 90s and 80s. Instead of 45-55+ races, I've been doing perhaps 10 or 12. The lack of racing is a direct result of two things: fewer available crits and a shorter acceptable drive time. I used to drive an hour for 10 minutes of racing, so an hour crit in Baltimore was worth 5+ hours each way, but now my ratio is more like an hour for half an hour of racing. As a Cat 3 that rarely does races over an hour, this limits my travel radius to about 2 hours.

And, yes, road races would extend my range, but since I'd race the first 5 or 10 miles and train the rest, it's sort of like paying to have marshals at the corners of a training ride. Not something I'm willing to do anymore.

Another "malaise" factor is the solo training. I rarely race, rarely sit on a wheel, and rarely get to actually talk to someone when I train. I've taken to talking to our cats at home in somewhat normal voices and I figured that is a bad sign.

I've managed to get out a couple times with a very local ride. Unbelievably it's the first group ride I've done while I've been up here (it took 10 months to do the first one and an additional month to do the second one) if I don't count the random riders I've met while out on a solo ride.

To fix the lack of racing as well as the lack of social interaction, I've taken to doing a weekday night crit series. That's worth a post in itself so I'll talk about that some other time.

Another fix for the social interaction thing is to do a local group ride. There happens to be one right up the road, low pressure (my 205 watt ftp is at home here), and reasonably long - I think we end up spending about 2 hours out there. Combined with the 30+ minutes for the round trip there (I ride there - no driving involved) it makes for a nice ride. My ambitious self has thought about doing an hour or two beforehand, a la pro, but the most I've done is about 30 minutes.

The final thing I've done to break up the training routine is to ride a little bit after the group ride, i.e. after the ride has ended. This has a number of effects on my riding.

First, it's getting dark so it introduces that whole "riding at night" thing. It's cooler (literally), cool (figuratively), and simply a lot of fun. Night riding also allows me, for some reason, to maintain a much steadier tempo. It might be related to the fact that I don't have a good speed reference since the pavement makes it look like I'm going fast the whole time and I don't see much else. Night riding also helps me focus on pedaling, handling, and my overall attitude with my bike. I've alluded to this before but it helps to rediscover it.

Second, if I know I'll be riding at night, I have to carry all the lights and stuff so I'm prepared to do so. Since most of the group ride is in daylight, the extra gear helps to tone down my naturally jumpy riding (sprinting after trucks and such). This helps keep me from being too much of an obnoxious, elitist "racer" when riding with the group.

It also starts to make my bike look like a "winter bike" rather than a summer bike. Winter bikes have lots of gear and resemble a grand touring car whereas a summer bike resembles a bare-boned race car. A few months of either set up and I'm ready to return to the other one. Since it's virtually August that means I'm getting ready to revert to "winter bike" mode.

Finally, night riding means getting some cool gear out of their storage bags and hanging them on the bike. As a total bonus the bike looks frickin' awesome with all the light gear on it.

To wit:

What you see from the side at night.

I'll have clearer pictures below but the bike had three sets of lights. A NiteRider front light (10v halogen, no longer made, I think it's called a TrailRat), a Down Low Glow pair of blue lights (dual light set), and a SuperFlash rear blinky. The blue halo from the DLGs are the best and I have people slowing just to check them out. I call them my "Fast and Furious" lights.

A front quarter shot, the headlight is starting to die. Fast and Furious bike. I feel like the car needs them now too.

Note: the two above pictures had a shutter exposure that is about 1/2 second and I'd just finished my ride so there is a heartbeat "bump" in there blurring things up. Sorry about that.

Even with the flash the DLGs are super bright. The headlight is not as bright but it projects more, i.e. before my uncharged battery started to give up the light would let me see road hazards before I stumbled into them.

From this angle you can see just how bright the DLGs are, how much attention they attract. It's a very, very good thing when riding in the dark. At dusk they don't do too much, just put a blue glow on your legs, bottles, and frame, but when it gets darker they put a blue halo around your bike. Since they mount under tubes the rider doesn't see it and therefore doesn't see blue lines everywhere they look. Or would they be yellow? I don't know, but you know what I mean, you don't have the DLG tube burned into your retinas.

I feel like a bike racer in Pro Cycling Manager with the "selected rider" halo on the ground around me.

Note the round "halo" on the pavement around your team's riders in Pro Cycling Manger.

Anyway, the set up is really cool. It does take some time to set up - yesterday I had this idea to "pre-ride" a bit, perhaps 1-1.5 hours, then go to the shop to meet up with the ride. Instead, with my small frame and correspondingly limited places to put all my lights, I spent that whole time (and more) getting things hooked up just so. As it was I had to time trial to the shop and barely made it there before the ride left. So much for my 1.5 hour "pre-ride".

If you want to fit all this stuff on a 52 cm Cannondale, read on.

What I have on the bike and a clearer picture on how it fits.

From the front:
1. NiteRider headlight, mounted upside down on the bar mount. The SRM head got in the way so this was a puzzle for me to work out. I tried to put the light on the helmet, trying one helmet, then another (both weren't really stable), then went back to the bars and decided to mount the light upside down on the wrong side of the bars. That worked and it helps that the light has no up or down, it's just "a light". Plus it was getting late and I needed to get going. As a bonus I have nothing sticking up above the bars so the bike retains its low front end look (critical part of a Winter Bike look - low front end with tons of gear everywhere else). I like that.

2. Valve adapter #1, taped to the bottom of the stem. My Blackburn floor pump is fine with the little of the valve it can grab but my Blackburn AirStik is not. I carry a valve adapter (or extender, I guess) so I can use the AirStik.

3. SRM head, because, you know, I want to see stats on my ride. This caused problems because the headlight would sit in the same spot but it all worked out. Yay!

4. Battery pack for NiteRider mounted on downtube. It's on there pretty tight and didn't move even on some very fast and bumpy descents. It's heavy, relatively speaking. It didn't fit under the top tube and although I've mounted it under my stem on other bikes, I didn't like the way it made the bike handle. The down tube worked out well, and the battery has some anti-skid things on them to keep it from moving.

5. DLG blue lights - one under the top tube, one under the downtube. The top tube one is supposed to go on the left chainstay (it elongates the blue halo) but my cranks and spokes hit it. This is what you get with a close clearance design. On my mountain bike it's fine, on the road bike I had to fiddle and put it under the top tube.

6. Two bottles. I forgot to fill one, sort of on purpose, because my bike was getting really heavy with all the stuff on it. My tall bottle only fits on the seat tube since it doesn't clear the NR battery. The short bottle sits fine on the down tube.

7. DLG thing, it's a black box about 1/3 the size of the DLG battery. It transforms the battery stuff into the blue stuff so that the blue stuff glows from the sticks. Okay, it's probably just some electrical converter, but I think of it as a "Blue Glow Compiler". It turns electricity into Blue Glow. The BGC works well but I had to find a place for it - it sits to the left of the seat tube bottle cage, and it's the reason for the excessive electrical tape on the seat tube. There is no strap for it, normally you'd stick a piece of velcro on the frame and use another on the BGC. Since I didn't want velcro on the frame I decided to just tape the BGC in place.

8. Valve adapter #2, taped to the right seat stay up top. Just in case, you know?

9. DLG battery pack. This is lighter than the NiteRider battery but still not a freeby. It weighs about as much as my saddle bag, maybe a bit less. I put it on the seat tube between the seat stays. It looked like it wanted to slip so I put some antiskid tape (i.e. electrical tape looped so it's double sided) so it wouldn't migrate downward with each bump. The ploy worked successfully and the battery didn't move at all.

10. SuperFlash blinky. The best ever blinky. No tools to change the batteries (AAA, I use rechargables), a screwdriver to tighten onto the post (standard and oversize with one clamp).

11. Saddle bag. It has a tube of course but it has more. I have a Ritchey tire lever that also has a screw driver, 5 mm allen, and something else. There's a multi tool that has an 8mm allen, chain tool, and the rest of the allen wrenches. I have a small chain tool (just in case, I have two chain tools). And some normal tire levers and some tube box cardboard for booting severely cut tires. On very long rides (over 80-100 miles) I'll stuff a second tube in there, and in very long rides where there is no cell coverage I'll carry a third tube.

12. I'm missing my pump from this picture which I carry in my jersey pocket for now, but it would normally get tied to the bottom of the saddle bag. Alternatively I'll strap it to the side of the seat tube cage. I didn't do either because I lost the mounting strap for it.

I got back from the ride when it was pretty dark (I grabbed our camera and took pics right when I got home) and it was a great ride. I have to charge the NR battery because it's pretty much dead but the DLG battery is good for a while. Too bad I'll have to wait a bit to do my next night ride.

Till then...

Equipment - I Want This Bike!

The BIKE

So as not to freak out the missus, no, I have not tried to get one. Yet. But, man, talk about a bike that would fit yours truly.

52 cm seat tube. Not a big deal - I have one now.

58 (!) cm top tube.

Holy smolies. That's 5 cm longer than my current top tube. I might even go down to a 12 cm stem! Maybe even an 11 cm stem.

And it's stiffer and all that.

Look, the mold's already there. It wouldn't take much to just, you know, lay a few pieces of carbon in there, some resin, do whatever hocus pocus they do, and then borrow a bit of carbon fiber oven time to cure the thing.

Heck, it's made in Pennsylvania. That's only, what, a 7 or 8 hour drive away? I could do the lay up. Just give me some of that carbon fiber... wait, I could even buy the stuff. Well, I could at least pay for it. I think you can buy that stuff on the internet. If you can buy steroids, you should be able to buy carbon fiber.

Then I could do the work in the Bedford factory. You know, on the real workers' lunch hour. They'll be munching on sandwiches or going on their ride or doing both at the same time and I'll be carefully laying down one of hundreds of pieces of carbon into whatever a mold is.

Or however all that works.

Abracadabra and all that too.

I promise I won't reveal any production secrets to anyone.

Maybe they could justify it as a spare bike for Bennati. If that's the case, I'll hold two for him. Just in case he needs a bike in, say, the Nutmeg State Games. Or whatever other Pro race he might enter in the area. If he does one of those big races we could put one of the bikes on the team car, the other on the neutral support car. And afterwards, for safe keeping, I could take care of the bikes.

For safe keeping, of course. I could even bring myself to ride the bikes, to make sure everything keeps working.

So, Cannondale, what do you say?

Equipment - DV46 Clinchers

Last winter, before I became a full time cyclist, I sold off a bunch of wheels to finance the purchase of some Reynolds DV46Cs - 46 mm carbon rimmed clincher wheels. They are a virtual twin to the DV46Ts I race on - just the clincher's "more white" decals alert users that I don't have the tubulars.

I got them for a bunch of reasons. The last one is that they are really cool looking. There's something about the image of a deep carbon wheel spinning in one direction, cranks (with the chain on the big ring) spinning the other direction. It screams speed, of fast, of exhilaration.

Imagine someone hammering on this bike, wheel spinning one way past the chainstay, cranks the other. Screams speed, fast, exhilaration, doesn't it?

And, thanks to the Cervelo and Zipp marketing gods, it also reminds me of CSC.

Anyway, the last reason is the least justifiable. It doesn't win budget conversations with the missus ("But honey, these wheels just scream speed, fast, exhilaration... they look so fast. Hello? You got that glazed look on your face again. Am I doing it again?").

I like my bike a lot.

More logical reasons trump cool, fast, exhilaration. I'll list some below.

1. I race on DV46Ts. The wheels feel so different (super light, super fast, different rim profile compared to any non-Reynolds wheelset I own) from any other wheel I had that I would spend a few miles getting used to the wheels. On race day I tend to warm up very little so some of those miles getting used to the wheels occur during the race. You know, while elbow to elbow with 80 or 100 of my closest (in a physical sense) bike racing friends.

This procedure is best described as "Not Ideal".

Riding similar wheels (the DV46C is about as close as you get) would let me get used to the wheels when training. Lo and behold it has. No more weird brake action from yours truly in the first few laps of a race, no more swerving a bit in turns, just the standard "just riding along" stuff.

2. I used to use the same standard brake pads for my aluminum training rims and the DV46Ts. I realize this isn't ideal but I don't feel like swapping pads before each race, changing how the bike feels etc. I didn't want to ruin my DV46Ts by scraping holes through the sidewalls so I decided that I should use the carbon specific pads. But I didn't want to swap the pads all the time so it was either get new race wheels or get new training wheels.

I got new training wheels.

With the DV46Cs I put carbon specific Swiss Stop pads on full time and am now used to the way they brake, feather, etc. There's no surprises when braking on race day like there was before.

3. Since the wheels have the same hubs (I made sure I was buying the same generation of wheel, with the non DT hubs - White Industries I think), there is no need for any fine adjustment when swapping between wheels. Not the case with some of my other wheels.

4. Since the wheels are both nice, the clinchers are a good wheel pit wheel set for the tubulars. Nothing wrong with racing the DV46Cs.

5. I have faith that the wheels will get me home when I go training on them. I popped a spoke in the DV46T front wheel about 10 miles into a 30+ mile circuit race (Prospect Park) and felt fine finishing the race with 50+ mph descents, tight fields, and a massive field sprint, all on a 15 spoke front wheel. I think I got 6th in the wild sprint (which reminds me, I still have a helmet cam clip to finish up - of that race), spoke twanging on the fork the whole time. If the tubular wheel made it through that, I figure I'll be able to get home if the same thing happens on my clinchers.

My stats and riding habits, for comparison sake:

1. I weigh about 170-175 now, topped out at 190+, min will probably be 165 (that was my minimum in the last 10 years or so). I ride a SystemSix pretty much exclusively at this point so not some super flexy frame. I usually carry a small seat bag (very densely packed - weighs about 2-3 pounds), 1-2 bottles, and a mini pump. I don't really load the bike up too much. Anymore stuff I put in my pockets - in other words, when I hit bumps, that stuff normally unweights along with me.

2. I bunny hop everything that significantly threaten my wheels, unweight when riding over normal bumps, and tend not to run into deep potholes and stuff. The last time I pinch flatted a clincher was when I double flatted at 45 mph drafting a truck, maybe in 2004. The rims were unbent. It might have been my panicked hop but I doubt it - the tires blew. It's probably just some luck. I'm pretty sure the last rim I bent bent was in the mid 90s.

What I'm trying to say is that I tend to be easy on rims.

3. I ride 23c tires (Krylions, excellent tire for everything a Cat 3 would do), am religious about checking pressure, and typically run them at 105/110 to 115/120 psi (front/rear). I don't neglect my tires and I don't run stupid narrow tires.

4. I train both indoors and outdoors on the DV46Cs. My rides are anywhere from 30-45 minutes up to 6-7 hours long. Typical rides are 1-3 hours long.

I do have some DV46C dislikes:

1. At 50+ mph on descents with gusty wind (i.e. either gusty wind or a passing truck a few feet off my elbow) the front DV46C gets a bit unstable. I'd prefer a box section front wheel for situations like that and I'll be building one up (aluminum) for those times I may want something more stable.

When I say "unstable" I don't mean "crashingly unstable". I mean I feel the need to get out of my "hands next to stem" tuck and get into a "hands on drops" tuck. I also lean over a bit less - my underside of my chin isn't about to be burned by the tire (it's happened before). With a box section front wheel I feel comfy at 55-60+ mph, chin hovering over tire, hands by stem.

2. I don't like the bladed spokes. The wheel swerves a bit when sprinting. I switched the tubular to round spokes (2.0 DT Revolutions) and it made a huge difference. I am waiting to pop a spoke on the clinchers and then I'll do the same.

I bought the DV46Ts new, the DV46Cs used. Used, Campy freehub wheels like mine are typically sold at $850-900/pair on eBay in good shape, with tires, cassette. Figure $150-200 less for tubulars. I admit I paid on the high side for the clinchers but they included spiffy tires, tubes, a titanium cassette, and some wheel bags.
I'm pretty sure the wheels weigh about the same, but with a training cassette on the clinchers (all steel 11-25, versus a half titanium 11-23), clincher tires/tubes (about 200 grams or 1/2 pound heavier), I figured there should be a slight difference in weight. I confirmed this by weighing the bike with the tubulars fitted first and then the clinchers fitted next. The latter give up about three quarters of a pound penalty, so not very much. With the clinchers the bike weighs in at about 16.5 pounds, about 15.75 pounds with the tubulars. Not illegally light but nothing to complain about.

The tubulars are in front. Note the two different colors in the cassette - the bigger cogs are titanium. Also note the brighter decals on the clinchers -more white and silver make the decals much brighter.

Both sets of wheels. The clinchers are on the bike. The front tubular has silver round spokes. The rest of the wheels have the stock black spokes (round on driveside rear, otherwise bladed).

Incidentally my previous bike, with the identical DV46Ts (including cassette, skewers, and tires) on, weighed 17.5 pounds. It feels noticeably heavier than the SystemSix.
Because I now know it takes a few minutes to swap pads, I'm not as concerned about mixing up my wheels with aluminum rimmed ones as I was before. Changing between aluminum and carbon rims doesn't faze me now. I simply don't have a race wheel set up at this time. Plenty of training wheels but no nice, light, 28H tubulars ready to go.

A final note. It might be my imagination, or it might be that I'm just used to aero wheels, but these wheels, they don't seem that aero. They seem more like the old Zipp 340s I had - light, super quick acceleration, but they top out quicker than more aerodynamic wheels. I don't know, I don't have any data on this.

Plus it's still cold out, and that makes it worse. I ride with a jacket on top of everything else every time I go out. It feels a bit constrictive and not as fast, so I don't like doing max speed efforts at this time. So my top speed efforts are a bit misleading. And finally, right now, without any speed measuring devices on the bike, I can't measure anything anyway.

So much the better, that's what I think.

I'm just waiting for the warm days to hit. And then it'll be time to go out and play.

Equipment - Preparing to Race

With my upcoming West Coast Training Camp coming up, I started to finalize preparations for the trip. I've been hoarding the clothing I'll bring out there so I don't have to worry about washing and drying stuff the night before I leave. I've been careful to put extra parts and pieces as necessary in my gear bag.

And, as of last night, my bike now has a zero setback post and the criterium bend Mavic 350 bars.

Since I got two scales for Christmas, one for components and one for bikes, I decided to weigh the parts I removed and compare them to the weights of the parts I'd be installing.

Unfortunately for me, the net result of my "fit" work was a gain of about 90 grams, 0.2 pounds. I removed the lightweight Alien carbon post (whose design I'm not fond of anyway) and installed in its place a Thomson post (the normal one, not the lighter Masterpiece) and a shim to adapt it to the 31.6 mm seat tube. This resulted in a 53 gram gain, but the faster, more forward position should be well worth it.

What it looks like now. It's level, the angle makes it look like it's pointing down. I stayed with the Fizik seat.

I got to raise my seat a bit (because to keep the sacred BB-seat distance consistent, if you move the saddle forward, closer to the BB, you also have to move it up). This minute change will also improve my aerodynamics since I can hold a low position more easily, and, I hope, my top speed.

The latter reason is in my head since I have no empirical proof, but it seems to hold true. And therefore it works for me.

The tape before I removed it. Seemed a pity but it had to be done.

The other thing I did was to lose the 3ttt anatomic road bar, the wide and squared off bar I like in the winter. It's great for long rides but horrible for sprinting or threading through miniscule gaps in the field. I replaced it with a long-discontinued Mavic 350 crit bar. These narrower bars are better for getting up front when necessary, and the extra centimeter of drop will let me hold a more forward rotated, lower position.

As far as the numbers, I gained 10 mm in drop, lost 15 mm in width and gained 37 grams in weight.

Again, though, this is functional weight. I wouldn't sacrifice the fit of the crit bar for a few grams of saved weight.

The last thing I need to do is to swap out the normal brake pads for the carbon specific Swiss Stop pads. After a fruitless search for exactly how to do swap the pads, I winged it. I'll be posting my 'findings' in a later post.

With the right brake pads I can slow how and when I need to do so, and that'll give me the confidence necessary to descend like a madman out West. With the shorter descents around here I've been able to comfortably hit 45 mph with no sprinting, no unusually aggressive tucks, in freezing cold conditions, all this on non-aero box section wheels.

The warmer climate out west lets me wear thinner gear, allowing me to tuck much more aggressively, sprint faster, and attempt to attain higher top speeds. The Cannondale SystemSix frameset feels much more stable and predictable than my Giant TCR, and on that Giant I was hitting 50 mph before I lost my nerves out west. With the aero wheels I recently got for training, I hope the SystemSix will let me accelerate until I hit the aerodynamic wall, not force me to brake once I lost confidence in the bike.

As a follow up to the weight gaining fit updates, I attempted to lose some of the gained weight by swapping out the standard cable housing and replacing it with the Nokon stuff I have on two other bikes. I'm not keen on the shifter housing but the brakes should be fine. I don't know the weight difference but the Nokon stuff feels noticeably lighter than the steel Ergo housing.

I confirmed this when I swapped out the brake housing. Without compromising any shifting (I prefer the real stuff for the shift housing), the Nokons dropped 25 of the 90 grams I gained for a net gain of 65 grams. Not a lot for the significant functional and fit upgrades which caused the gain.

After a final session of riding, to make sure the levers are straight (because no matter what they're always crooked) I'll be wrapping the bars.

And then the bike will be done.

Review - Prelim Cannondale SystemSix, Fizik seat

I rode four hours this weekend. Okay, so it was four hours over two days. Well, about 15 minutes short of that. But it was still a significant amount of riding. I did sort of the same loop - headed up north, went up this particularly daunting climb ("Mountain Road"), then headed back down to the apartment. Saturday I headed immediately back at the end of the intimidatingly named road; today I wandered a bit before heading south.

In my wandering (I went about 1/2 mile the other way) I actually found myself on the Barkhamsted Reservoir Road Race course - recently reincarnated as the Tokeneke Road Race. It's a hilly course, not one for me. The last time I raced it I almost got lapped by the break - and that's on a 20-odd mile lap! The race was the site for my favorite wheel change ever, and I try to help out the new promoters when I can.

Anyway, my meandering brought me to a familiar looking intersection (although I'd last raced it about 15 years ago) and after pedaling a bit, I passed the big field where the racers parked. Nowadays there's a paved area as the new promoters moved the start/finish to line up with a building instead of a field.

Progress.

What's been nice is that although my rides left me a bit tired ("zombie-like" might be appropriate), I felt completely recovered the next day. Blame the HGH I just started on, or... oh, wait, I forgot, I don't take that stuff. Whatever the reason, I've been recovering nicely. Granted, I'm not going really hard - over the two days I struggled to maintain over 200 watts even on the flats.

There are some familiar sensations, those "getting back into the groove" things. A stiff neck that's gradually getting a little less "cricked", an equally stiff back that's slowly stretching out (now I can ride the drops somewhat comfortably), and legs which seem to have remembered how to pedal.

I've actually put about 8 hours total on my new bike - the Cannondale SystemSix Liquigas Team Replica thing I got a short time ago. I installed a different bar/stem combo, wrapped it with tape, and stuck my blue FiR Zenith slash Campy Centaur wheels on there. I didn't bother moving the magnet to the sensor side on the front wheel until Saturday so I didn't know my speed till then. And it seems that the heartrate strap went AWOL so I haven't gotten a beat off of the SRM.

So how's the bike so far?

First off, I should point out that I did two rides on the trainer, sort of the "shake down cruises" to get any settling components settled. The cranks (Cannondale Hollowgram cranks using the now-public BB30 standard) settled a lot - I was glad I could sit on the trainer and stare at the chainrings while I pedalled.

I re-routed the derailleur cables, letting the front derailleur cable enter the right cable housing stop, the rear cable go to the left. Then I criss-crossed them under the downtube to line them up with the correct derailleur. This makes for a more graceful housing arc and a less stressed set of derailleur cable housing. I've done this since the 90s sometime and it works well.

I set off on my first "outside" ride, a double of the familiar one-hour flat loop, always in cell phone range, no super tricky descents, and basically all flat roads, a rarity in this region.

I noticed the light feeling front end immediately when I first starting assembling the bike, but I thought it might be me being excited about the bike. However, when I traveled around with the fork (to get it cut down), I realized how insanely light the fork felt. Apparently this isn't an unusually light fork - so I can't imagine anything lighter. So with this psychological factor in mind, I tried to make myself forget the light front end.

I couldn't.

50 meters from the driveway I have our now-familiar traffic light. I rocketed away from said traffic light, shifting up, rocking the bike. It felt immensely more responsive and I quickly over-accelerated past 30 mph. I promptly exploded and sat down to spin the pedals a bit. The frame felt wonderfully responsive. No perceived BB flex, no crank mushiness, and the front end damped vibrations nicely.

On the other hand, I had no idea if the "aero" seatstays were doing anything aero, and the extremely wide top tube let my inner quads rub if I felt like it. I love the big, chunky head tube with the relatively dinky stem sticking out from it. I remember this image from the Road Bike Action which "reviewed" HealthNet's SystemSix bikes - I thought the bike looked massively cool, rock solid, fast, and very "pro".

Well, except for the STI levers. But I could live with that.

When I stood to ride up about the longest incline on the loop, I initially over-threw the bike side to side, it felt so light. I had to adjust - sort of the same way I adjust when I slap on the Reynolds DV46s, except today I still had the stand by FiR Zeniths with their 500 gram (facetiously) wire bead Schwable Blizzard tires. I have no idea what a Blizzard tire does but I can imagine one thing you don't want it to do - have a flat during a Blizzard. So far, the tires have been solidly reliable, with the emphasis on "solid".

Other than the cranks and the frame/fork, the bike had only one other "different" component from my Primary Giant - the Fizik (I'm not even trying all their accents and stuff) Arione seat. It's a seat I've maligned frequently offline and I even offered it up for sale before I sat on it. But a trusty friend suggested trying it out - he'd heard some rave reviews and as he knows a lot of bike people, if they give rave personal reviews, well, it was worth checking out.

Plus it came in matching colors. I had to try it.

With about 8 hours on the seat, I'll admit it. It's not bad. I don't remember if my tights (Nalini, both windstopper and not) have any unusual padding but I do know that, due to my "trainer" training, I tend not to stand up too much. Plus I'm heavier than I used to be so it's not efficient to stand up. So I've sat on that saddle for about 7.9 hours - and I'm no more uncomfortable than I normally am after a few week layoff. In fact, I felt more comfy than normal. I felt zero discomfort on the day after a 2 hour ride - usually I feel a twinge when I first sit down.

In addition, the seat really does have a long "sitter" area. I can slide pretty far back to power up some of the annoying climbs in the area, but it's not a big deal to move forward something like 5, maybe 8 centimeters to get a bit more on top of the pedals. I really like this feature and it's now become a pre-requisite for any seat I try.

The cranks are the most different aspect of the componentry, but they will have to wait until I get some more data and experience. So far though, the two big changes - the frameset and the saddle - have both worked out well. I just have to see how this translates into sprinting up to some familiar finish lines.

Equipment - SRM and Cannondale

So I was waiting to post this because I was waiting to bid on one SystemSix Cannondale "Team Edition" with an SRM crank, Record components, and Fulcrum 1 wheels. There's some other stuff on the bike too, like the Alien seatpost and the Fizik seat (probably taking that second thing off). I know I'll lose the bar and stem and put my own stuff on instead.

For some reason I'm looking forward to putting a dinky stem on top of such a massive head tube.

This is all because of my season long thinking on how to get power readings when I'm racing. A lot of guys pshaw the idea of measuring power while racing but to me, measuring power while racing is critical. Training is fine but it's when I'm racing that my mind and body wake up. A few of the guys have told me, over the years, that whatever happens to me in training is fine (getting dropped, etc., usually comments after a ride where I got dropped). They point out that when I'm actually racing and really wanting to do well, I find the form from somewhere, dig it up, and use it.

It's like those french fries under the car seat - if you look long enough, you'll find one or two.

Anyway, after all my thinking (obsessive wasn't exactly a term I'd have used but now that I think it over, obsessive might be appropriate), I came to the conclusion that I can't use the Power Tap system. I have too many wheels and to spend $800 or so on each of them to PT them simply didn't make sense.

I'd have to find my power elsewhere. Ergomo was out as I don't like that they only measure one side (versus the other). The iBike, to me, is still unproven (give me one on a 3 month, money back guarantee, and I'll give it a go, but otherwise, no thanks). There's a new crank thing that starts with a Q but it's not here yet and will cost as much as its main competitor - the SRM.

So that leaves me with the SRM system. It's good, it's reliable, works, and best of all, I can use any wheel I want with it.

As a gauge of cost, I went to my trusty eBay and looked up SRM. I noticed a formerly local good guy was selling his DA setup (but it's too wide for me and it's since ended). Another guy is selling a pair of cranks with one computer (appealing as I could have two bikes with SRM - this is still open - but they're for a normal bottom bracket). And then I saw a Cannondale Team Liquigas bike, with Record, SRM, everything.

Its opening bid was about $1000 more than the cost of a new SRM setup and about $1600 more than what the local DA SRM sold for.

For a whole bike.

With Record.

Hm.

I spoke with the missus a couple times about this. More than a couple. It started out over the early summer with buying at least one more PT hub. Then a rim for said hub. Then perhaps the SRM and sell the PT (that was recent when I missed out on a 24H Campy PT hub).

Today we spoke again and I mentioned I was a bit nervous because the Cannondale auction was going to end in about 90 minutes and no one had bid on the bike. When I mentioned the cost of a new SRM to her, she said that I really ought to buy this thing.

I didn't even have to go into how light the bike is, how the Hollowgram SI SRM is the best of the SRMs, nothing.

With my mind at ease about this (I wouldn't have done it if my mind wasn't at ease - that's perhaps a bit compulsive I suppose) I decided to bid on it.

Mind you, at that point I had already put in a bid amount, confirmed my account, and only had to click "Confirm bid" to place it officially. I can get that close and if my Spidey-sense goes off, I'll back off. I've done it a number of times, literally making my mind up not to buy something in the last 30 or 60 seconds of the auction.

Speaking of which...

Since every single thing I've bought on eBay (all 8 items) I've waited till the last second to bid, I decided to do something similar. But with a bunch of things with work distracting me for 15 or 30 minutes at a time, I decided to bid with 30 minutes to go, else I'd be kicking myself if I missed it.

As it turns out, no one else bid. I bought the bike :)

This is the first new complete road bike I've bought since late 1982 (!) when I bought a Basso with Campy (Nuovo) Record and Excel Rino. Since then I've always bought either drivetrain parts (rear derailleur, cassette, chain, and Ergo levers), "long term" parts (cranks, bottom bracket, seatpost, stem, bars, seat), wheels (or hubs, spokes, and rims), or a frame set - and never all at once.

I never thought I'd even contemplate buying a new bike. A lot of my muttering in the last year or two has been the insane frame prices. My perceived value of a new race bike is about $3000 (without pedals and with nicer level clinchers). My perceived value on an SRM equipped bike is perhaps $2000 more - and that's just over what I bid for this bike.

I rarely spend this much money at one time. In fact, my last purchase in the price range (other than home improvements - but for example all the very nice stainless appliances in the kitchen cost about as much as this bike) was the beloved Passat I bought about 6 or 7 years ago.

So this is a really big step for me.

There will be a whole bunch of changes when this happens as well.

1. The Cannondale frame is essentially non-compact (it slopes a bit but not really a lot); it'll be the first time in many years I'll be on such a machine. Stiff frame, high top tube. Very stiff - I found some article where they measured how many pounds it took to flex the bottom bracket one inch to the side. Cannondale was around 1200 pounds. The Giant? Something like 700.

Yo that's my bike! 700 pounds? What kind of a wimpy carbon piece of...

I can't wait to stomp on the pedals on this bike.

I also checked the stand over height because I want to have kids (and do all the things you need to do to have kids too) - and for Mr. Short Legs here, I'll be sitting on the top tube when I'm straddling the bike. If my voice goes up significantly after I get this bike, you may know why.

2. 170 cranks. Why not the 175s I've been preaching since I switched to them? I know it's easy to change cranks but not when they cost about $2100 for the SRM version of the crankarms. So I'm not planning on changing them. I've had a hard time justifying this but this year I did a lot of thinking and pondering (obsessive? me?) on going back to shorter cranks. I'd thought about trying to increase my top speed in my sprint, perhaps going to the track and seeing how things work out there. I thought about how I used to feel comfortable at 110 rpms at my threshold - and with 175s it went to around 90 rpms.

Perhaps, then, it's time to get back to the spin days. I didn't do a lot of scientific equations or anything though. Ultimately it came down to this - McEwen uses 170s and he gets the job done. I think (I hope?) that I can exert the leverage necessary to pull off a 1500 watt sprint with 170s (3% less leverage, a loss of 45 watts). My big hope is that my pedal speed will go back up and I'll be able to break through the very frustrating 40 mph barrier that seems to be in the way right now.

Incidentally, this will require the purchase of at least one set of 170s, for whatever my backup bike ends up. If I can find another SystemSix...

3. Weight - 15.9 pounds without pedals, for a 56 cm I think (since that's the frame they weigh for their frame weights). For a 52 it'll be a bit lighter. My current bike, the Giant carbon TCR, size small, with the Reynolds DV46 wheels, weighed 17.5 pounds on a shop's digital scale. As the Reynolds weigh about a pedal set's worth of weight less than the Fulcrums, the bike should weigh in at about 16 lbs complete, maybe an extra 1/4 pound for my old school bar and stem. Say 19 or 20 lbs ready for training (currently my carbon bike easily gets into the 20s when I'm going for a training ride).

This light weight will be my first significant upgrade in weight since I was pedaling around a 17.5 pound Cannondale 2.7 in the early '90s.

4. A fancy bike - my current frame set is the one that came on the Ultegra Giant TCR - hardly the top line bike (and in fact, the top line Giant had a different carbon frame and fork). My previous frame was the aluminum yellow Giant TCR Team - and that was for real, it even had the ONCE bits on it. Before that was an S-Works M2 frame, but again, it was the frame that came adorned with Ultegra.

Along those lines I have a few Record components but never had a Record front derailleur or Record brakes (always cheaped out and bought much lower - as in Daytona/Centaur for a front derailleur and similar or -gasp- Ultegra for brakes). This bike has the whole Record thing on it (minus the cranks since they're the Hollogram SI SRMs). With the fancy paint job (which coincidentally matches my current kit's colors), I'll have to ride faster - no better motivation than that.

So I won, I paid (for some reason I can't wait to pay once I win), and now?

Now to wait for the bike.

I'll be selling a few things of mine as I won't need them anymore. The Power Tap setup of course, and a few fit related things on the new bike (seat, bar, stem). And since I'll be getting a sweet set of training wheels (Fulcrum 1s), I'll sell one or perhaps both of my Eurus wheelsets. Or the Fulcrums.

I don't know yet, I'll have to obsess over this for a bit.

I may sell all those wheels (perhaps put a set on the missus's bike) and just buy a set of carbon deep section clinchers for proper training ($1000 from Williams Cycling - sounds pretty good to me, and they weigh just about the same as the Fulcrums). The Reynolds will be my race wheels. Perhaps I can buy a disk wheel too. It would be a cool wheel to use in certain races (crazy for others).

They're all good things to think about.

I have to confess something though. I knew my gut instincts were steering me towards the SRM because somehow, in my drowsy "just woke up and haven't had coffee" state, I took the PT wheel and computer head off my bike this morning.

See, it was raining outside.

And if the PT gets wet and grimy and something happens to it, I can't sell it as easily (both in practical as well as conscientious terms).

I put on my kit (it's nice having all the right gear - matching knickers, SS and LS jerseys, wind vest and black booties, gloves, and head stuff, perfect outfit for 50 degree rain) and ventured out. Once the initial shock of cold wet wore off I was okay. I hunkered down and tried to keep the hoods dry by keeping my hands there. I stood up when I could because you can't do that on a trainer. I felt secure on the bike - stable, no sliding, wheels nice and solid on the ground.

Felt very flahute with the booties, knickers, layered top, and long gloves. The peeking shin is critical in this flahute feeling, as is the long sleeve top.

Didn't avoid all the puddles or pavement cracks.

Intentionally.

Thought about SRMs and aerobic base and slid forward on the seat to do a little speed effort when I got too excited thinking about such things and thought about training in the rain and how much I liked it as a kid.

Got back, rinsed off the bike, lubed the chain. Threw all the gear in the washer, then the dryer. Laid out my shoes in front of a fan.

They're all dry now, ready to go again.

I hope it rains tomorrow.